Jumpin' Januaries, Batman!

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Training Assistant? Is this the same as Virtual Partner on my 305 / 201?

Yep, same thing... the Virtual Partner is one of the Training Assistant functions on the 201, which is what I use.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

After a beaut run on Wednesday, this morning's run was awful - a complete contrast. Which is not to say I'm unhappy with it, but the conditions were terrible. It had been another 40+ degree day yesterday and a hot, sleepless night followed. Mrs MLCM and I were up before 6; she to get to her 6 a.m. spin class at the air-conditioned gym and me to hit the hot, grimy streets* before the sun came up. But it was already 30 degrees (or more to the point, 30 was the overnight low), humid and horrible with it. I was dehydrated and grumpy, and it was a difficult run, taking me some four and half minutes longer to complete the 7.7km circuit than just two days ago. I returned home red as a beetroot and seriously dehydrated, but after a copious amount of water and a shower I felt much better, pretty darned good even.

In hindsight, this was actually a really good run. I deliberately took it slowly because of the conditions, but still maintained a 6 minute (exactly!) per kilometre pace, which is excellent for me under the circumstances.

I just now have to start cramming in some weekend long runs (I've scheduled 15km for this Sunday and managed 13km last weekend) and hopefully that sub two-hour half-marathon won't be too far away.

But I could really use some cooler weather.

*Proving once again that Mrs MLCM is far, far more sensible than Mr MLCM.

[El Gordo]

*Proving once again that Mrs MLCM is far, far more sensible than Mr MLCM.

I agree!

Why not do some spinning with the missus? Have you ever done it? I love it. I even got to my class early last night so that I could treat myself to an extra 15 minutes.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Mercifully cool (17C) for this morning's long slowie. OK maybe not so long by the standards of those rip-roaring RCers in full-on pre-marathon and Almeria training mode, but a good 'un for me.

I'd planned 15km slow easy, but was still hoping that I would be up somewhere around six minute pace, and I have to say it all went pretty well. I was on the streets by about 6:30 am and it was nice and quiet and blissfully cool, which was just as well as I wasn't carrying any water (having lost my water belt).

It was a pretty straight forward street circuit loop around my beat, and I finished a reasonably comfortable 15.5km in 1h31:49, at an average pace of 5:55/km, which is about 15 seconds per km slower than I need to be travelling at to break 2 hours for the half marathon, but for an undulating easy training run I'm very happy with it.

A bacon sandwich and a mug of tea later I'm feeling very pleased. A good run. That run gave me 37km for the week and I'm already well over the 100km mark for the month, with a week to go. A great start to the year.

Only slight hiccup physically is that I've developed a ladyrunner-like bunion sort of growth thing on my right heel. It doesn't hurt at all - I didn't even know it was there until last night when I noticed what I thought was a whacking great blister but which turned out to be a lumpy kind of growth that has sprung up out of nowhere. Oh well, I'll see what develops. It's not a problem for now, but if it continues to grow it could get interesting.

Stay tuned for more footy news.

[Bierzo Baggie]

A bacon sandwich and a mug of tea later I'm feeling very pleased. A good run. That run gave me 37km for the week and I'm already well over the 100km mark for the month, with a week to go. A great start to the year.

That's excellent running MLCM, you deserved that bacon sarnie. 100k for the month is a decent benchmark and one I've certainly not hit for a couple of years. I need some of your early starts as well to get back into a running groove. Keep posting ... and try not to look at yer feet

[Antonio247]

Well done, MLCM. In a race you usually go faster than when training, so you´re about to reach the under two hour target if you´re lucky with injuries. Yesterday after 2 hours and a half going up and down a steep dirt track, I got home with a terrible pain in my left knee. Fortunaltely, after a few hours the knee seemed to be all right.

Saludos desde Almería

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Woke up to find the room still spinning. Damn - I knew I shouldn't have drunk so much last night. Oh well, no rest for the wicked, so it was into my running togs and out the door (eventually that is, I had to hang onto the door frame for a while first)... for my scheduled morning constitutional.

Naturally the first couple of kilometres were pretty grim, but after a while my head cleared and I began to enjoy it. I decided to lengthen the run slightly, partly as a bit of a punishment thing and also because the run was sobering me up very nicely, thank you. And it was a glorious morning for running. I even passed three other runners, which is three more than usual. For some reason there are very few runners in my neighbourhood it seems, although plenty of walkers and cyclists.

I covered exactly 9km all up in a respectable 51:20 - an average pace of 5:42/km which I am quite happy with.

LE JOG: Lost somewhere in the wilds of Cornwall as I am travelling by compass rather than map. All I really know is that I have to keep heading roughly north-east for quite a bit yet until the accents change. Then I can head more directly north. I seem to have lost all trace of Sweder, Ladyrunner et al, so we're clearly on different routes. Last person I asked said, "Runners? No we don't get no runners round these 'ere parts. You ain't from round here are you lad?" I might start travelling by night, just to be safe.

Oh, and thanks guys for the comments ...

[marathondan]

Phew, early morning running is hard enough; early morning with a hangover shows real determination. I'm impressed.

Brings a whole new meaning to "early morning spinning classes".

Your LE JOG shows you have been getting in some serious mileage this month. You're certainly leaving me for dust, and I'm supposed to be training for a marathon...

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Cumulative tiredness set in to the legs this morning I think. Still managed 8kms at 6:01 pace, but the calfs are as tight as banjo strings. Need to do some more (lots more) stretching...

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Brings a whole new meaning to "early morning spinning classes".

You mean there's another sort?

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

A little cooler this morning, and a little harder to get out of bed. I fear what will become of my running when the colder weather sets in a little later. However, for now it's full steam ahead with another 9km pre-dawn run under the belt. 5:43 pace today - this seems to be my new typical training speed, which I'm not unhappy with, although I feel I still need to step up a level if I'm to seriously reach my goals this year. But a great base to start from. One more run for the month to come on Sunday (hopefully a long 'un) and then back to paid w*rk from Monday and its concomitant interruptions to running routines. Ah well, it's been good to have a break from all that and to get some decent runs on the board.

LE JOG: I seem to be heading back toward the coast. My nose for direction is somewhat astray, but I'm roughly heading the right way so doubtless I will sort myself out soon. Nearly 135km completed now and the true enormity of the task is quite well established in my noggin. Just getting out of the south of England is going to take some serious running. But what a great thing to do! I guess we'll just keep plugging away.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Squeezed in a final longish run for the month - managed 17 km, although not without cost. My right calf started seizing up around the 13km mark and I had to nurse it home, including having to walk a couple of the steeper hills. It's still a little sore some 13 hours later. Nothing serious however - just that a rest day or two is called for, perhaps a step-back week even.

That gives me 152km for the month - one of my better ones, to be sure. Should be a good year from here on in.

[marathondan]

MLCM, that's a truly stonking monthly total, well done. I'm very impressed by your dedication to the dawn sorties. It sounds indeed like you're due a gentle week to rest that calf.

Out of interest, as you are talking pace... did your 17k come in much slower than the preceding 8 and 9? How do the numbers stack up for your sub-2 target?

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

MLCM, that's a truly stonking monthly total, well done. I'm very impressed by your dedication to the dawn sorties. It sounds indeed like you're due a gentle week to rest that calf.

Out of interest, as you are talking pace... did your 17k come in much slower than the preceding 8 and 9? How do the numbers stack up for your sub-2 target?

Ta, Dan. It came out of necessity, it must be said - if I didn't run early, I would have ended up having an abysmal running month, so it was that or nothing. And EG's Le Jog idea has really helped too - plotting progress on a map is so much better and far more motivating than a dull old spreadsheet.

As for pace, even with the walk breaks my average kilometre pace for the 17km was 6:15, compared to the 5:42-5:43 I've been managing on the 8 and 9km runs. So I'm not unhappy with it, but still have some way to go yet. Sub-2hr half mara pace is 5:41...

The calf is much better today, so one more rest day tomorrow and I should be right as rain - that will be my first pair of consecutive rest days in 5 weeks, so well-earned and can only help. The other good news is that the bunion-like growth on my right heel has started shrinking, so I think it was just a pressure thing caused by a combination of new shoes and new orthotics.

All in all, MLCM is travelling OK.

[marathondan]

As for pace, even with the walk breaks my average kilometre pace for the 17km was 6:15, compared to the 5:42-5:43 I've been managing on the 8 and 9km runs. So I'm not unhappy with it, but still have some way to go yet. Sub-2hr half mara pace is 5:41...

You might be closer than you think. You should be able to gain 30 sec per km just due to the race day factor / adrenaline / whatever that unexplainable thing is that causes us to run faster in races.

[El Gordo]

Good stuff MLCM - that sort of mileage will be laying some great foundations for race campaigns to come.

The calf seems to be injury of the month. Glad to hear it seems to be improving. It was probably just natural long run soreness, but keep an eye on it. A calf pull is a bugger of an injury: you don't want to have to take 4-6 weeks off when you're going so well. Stretching will help.

Everyone seems to be doing really well at the moment.

Well. Almost everyone...