The day before

Well it's now less than 24 hours before the big day, 16 weeks of training, running 371 miles and burning over 55'000 calories. Met up this afternoon with my training partner Nick to discuss pre and post marathon strategy, pre consisting of what to eat, take and where to meet; post - consisting of how much alcohol to drink and where. He's been brilliant the perfect person to training with having no less then 8 marathons under his belt. I doubt I'd have come this far were it for him. He's also had to put up with my awful jokes, he did laugh a couple of times, nervous laughter I suspect.

Liversedge Half Marathon

Well it was a cold grey and foggy morning, but not as cold as it had been for one of our 'training' races the Liversedge Half Marathon. The course was tough, really tough!

There was some really nasty hills, I doubt very much I would been able to complete this course this time last year, the training plan has been doing its job.

One hill, which started on a bend by a ford in the road, was so steep there were areas set aside for cars that couldn't make the incline! Nick my training partner who had found the race at that moment was in my thoughts, none of them pleasant.

That being said, we both survived, both did really well, I managed to shave a minute off my personal best for a half marathon which I really didn't expect, so now I'm really looking forward to the next race the Wilmslow half which should be a lot easier.

I completed in 1hr 46mins

:-)

It is cold outside

View from the car on the way to the half marathon, it looks very fresh outside!

Early start

It's 7am on Sunday morning. I'm up and getting ready for the Liversedge Half marathon. It's cold and dark outside, very cold and dark. My bed is warm and cozy, I love running. :-/

Runs on ice

Oh the joys of running even the snow and ice doesn't stop the training.

Turns out that you work even more muscles trying to keep your balance, my legs are a little tender at the moment, still at least it's a rest day tomorrow.

Sub zero

This mornings run 11 miles in sub zero temperatures. This afternoons shopping, thermal gloves and skull cap.

Tomorrow looks like its going to be jolly, running in snow but on the bright side it may be warmer.

Extra reason to love Friday

... because Friday is a rest day and I don't have to run :-)

Self discipline part 2

Just got home after a reasonably fast 6.5 miles, head cleared, frustration evaporated, and that's the reason it's worth it sometimes.

Self discipline

Sometimes it's hard to give yourself that little extra shove, be disciplined and stick to the goals.

Take today, had a long and fairly hard day at work not exactly feeling at my most energetic, I get home the central heating is on, the flat nice and warm, it's freezing outside, I could go on.

Yet here I am sat in my running gear ready to go, debating whether to run or go to the gym. The latter seems more of a chore oddly, I've grown to like the semi isolation running brings, clearing your thoughts and ordering my day in my mind.

Doesn't change the fact it's bloody cold outside though!

I created this youtube animation as part of my fundraising efforts
George Runs Part 1

The current routine

So the training plan so far consists of 5 days on and a couple of days rest. The schedule came from the lovely coach Julie on the Greater Manchester Marathon website, with whom I have developed a love hate relationship.

Tonight's training consists of Nick and myself finding a hill, running up it for 40 seconds, jog back down and repeat this 10 times.

There are few hills in Manchester it has to be said, however we found two reasonable locations. One unfortunately happens to be in an area where quite a few 'street' workers hang out, and that hill is a little too short, steep and cobbled. The better one is near sports city stadium and a reasonable short run from home.

Not the most ideal of areas to run in, but that at least gives you a little incentive to run faster!

The rest of the schedule consists of a mix of runs, club runs and long distances.

Scan this..

This should be the image to scan to follow this blog, I say should, not actually tested it yet l

Hi,

Well the first couple of weeks into training have gone well, despite having to run in the dark, the wet and the cold! Currently I’m running 5 days a week and totalling just over 30 miles a week.

Certainly one highlight from the last couple of weeks was a Thursday night club run, we meet at a local sports centre and do our pre run warm up outside, on this particular night it started to hail and hail hard! 30 members outside with no cover getting pelted by hail the size of marbles, crazy… runners are truly a strange breed.

I’ve been posting my routes via facebook using the garmin device I have which tracks my run via GPS. (see my facebook account)

Nick (my training partner) and I discovered a new game which tests the accuracy of the device, basically we find a big field or open space and spell out a rude word, just like sky writing but on the ground. Nick is off on holiday soon so I’ve set him a challenge to ‘ground write’ a rude word on that continent.

Ground writing, seriously it’s the next big thing!