Week 16

Well, sleep deprivation got the better of me this week, one guess why...! To be honest, it wasn't just my first born. Aside from the regular awakenings for Ava's feeding during the night, our puppy Violet also choose this week to have 'bathroom' issues and also disturbed every 2-3 hrs. Of course it is too much to expect them to be on the same schedule so, it felt as though we were up every 1-2 hours for a few days!

Despite these disturbances and also my return to work this week, I managed to maintain my schedule through Saturday, letting just that run suffer.

In total I covered 32 miles this week. That was 8 miles less than planned but I am very happy with the end result. The long run this week was 16 miles which I completed today in 2h16m at an average pace of a little over 8m30s per mile. If I could maintain that for the marathon I'd finish sub 3h45m which would be a great achievement.

This coming week sees just a 1m increase in my scheduled mileage, Sunday's run is 17 miles. Of course with my missing this weeks Saturday run I am looking to run 9 miles more this week.

I am in unknown territory now. Not only have I never run as far at one time (today's run was 2.9m longer than I have EVER run) I have also never clocked the this kind of mileage consistently week by week.

The good thing is that I am still enjoying the training and aside from my aching muscles from today's run, I am injury free. I am looking forward to taking more of my running outdoors and plan on going a Scottsdale running team in September for my Saturday 10m runs. By the end of September I in fact hope to have the majority of my runs outdoors as it will cooler by then.

Starting this week I am going to change my Tue/Thu runs to incorporate hill and interval work once each, this will help my overall stamina and strength for the longer runs.

Lets see how it goes!

Week 15

As hoped I managed to get back on track this week and clocked 30 miles which was a 20 mile week on week increase! That's obviously not how the plan was set, I of course missed substantial mileage last week (for a very good reason!) which meant the drastic increase.

The training went well overall. My sleep pattern is a wreck with the new arrival, we're waking up 3-4 times a night for feedings so I can hardly claim to be very fresh. I did however complete all of my runs in good times and am heading into the new week feeling confident.

I have another big jump in mileage this week. Assuming all goals are met I will hit 40 miles. All my runs are increasing in distance, my Tue/Thu runs are now 4 miles each, my Wed/Sat runs are 8 miles and the long run is (gulp) 16 miles!

You may recall that I have never run more than 13.1 miles, a half marathon, so the long run this weekend is a bit daunting. I missed a 14 mile run 2 weeks ago as I was in the hospital which would have made this run more 'appealing' for want of a better word. Hopefully missing that run will not have an adverse affect on me this week but, I will do what I can.

16 miles will take me roughly 2hr10 to complete, that's a lot of time to gather thoughts on a treadmill! Thank god for the Olympics, at least I'll have something interesting on the TV to keep me amused...

Week 14

What a week! Running wise, it wasn't my best but, baby Ava Helaine was born on August 1st and everything else just seems a little less important :) The last few days have been a whirlwind. I spent all day Friday and Saturday in the hospital with Nicole and Ava and ever since we have been home essentially sleeping and eating on Ava's schedule.

Training wise I completed my Tuesday and Wednesday runs relatively well (Wednesday's 7 miler was a little tough) but thereafter I missed my runs, 3 in total and 24 miles. A bit of a set back for sure but, I can justify it, it's not like I missed runs due to laziness or being hungover!!

This week is one of the 'resting' weeks I mentioned previously. My long run this Sunday is just 10 miles, the Wednesday/Saturday runs are 7 miles a piece. I have no concerns on completing any of this mileage despite missing 3 runs last week. Next weeks long run does concern me however, it's 16 miles! That's 3 miles more than I have ever run in one go, and will require not one but two changes of treadmills! (see last week...).

Although I had no aches and pains to speak off, the 6 day lay off from running I am sure did me good. Aa break of that long will not have an adverse affect on my stamina but allows my joints recover!

So, time to sign off and go and see my baby girl and baby mama who are curled up on the bed. Remember, we sleep when Ava sleeps now!

Week 13

Let me just say, running a half marathon (13 miles) on a treadmill is a little dull... I guess I should thank the Discovery Channel for starting Shark Week as it made the 1hr 50m I was running pass quickly!

I had a great week. Obviously I completed my long run of 13 miles earlier today and also did 2 runs of 6 miles and 2 runs of 3 miles. I even managed to do my cross training on Monday, I went for a 30 minute bike ride.

In total I covered 31 miles this week which I am sure is the most I have ever done in a week. 13 miles is actually the longest I have EVER run so that I am feeling good afterwards is very pleasing, the training is going so well that even runs of this distance are not having any adverse affects on my body.

The mileage increases next week by another 3 miles. The long run will be 14 miles which will come in at just under 2 hours, I'll also do 2 'easy' runs of 7 miles a piece, one will be tempo which means starting at a slower pace and building to race pace before reducing down again.

The long runs are getting a little challenging in one way; my gym limits the time you can run on a treadmill to 60 minutes... If you remember, today's run took 1hr50m. So, to do this without an abnormal stop whilst I restart the machine I actually lent over to the machine next to me and got that going at my pace then, when machine # 1 was about to stop I literally hopped over to machine # 2 and kept going, there was barely a break in stride!

I am sure the other people on the gym must think I am crazy but, it works, I did it for my 11 mile run a couple of weeks ago also! I do stop my personal timer for a second or two whilst I switch machines but the important thing is that I barely break stride. I hope to be able to finish the marathon without stopping so it's important that I train that way also...

Next week will likely see the birth of Baby Cookie. I'll aim of course to keep my training going as much as possible but I can't see myself leaving the delivery room to do a quick run! "I'll be back in a couple of hours love, just going to run 14 miles, can you hang on until then...?!"

Week 12

Now knowing that my blog is an inspiration to so many I am pleased to write about another successful weeks training.

I hit my goals this week; 26 miles total with increases in Wed/Sat runs to 6 miles each. My 'long' run this weekend was actually significantly shorter than recently, only 8 miles. Shorter runs of this type will happen every 2 weeks now, I don't know the 'official' reason why we do this but I assume it's a rest before upping mileage once again.

This coming week sees an increase of 5 miles running. My Tuesday-Saturday runs are exactly the same as last week but, my long run is 13 miles! I have never run more than 13.1 miles (half marathon) so that should be fun! It will be the longest I have run since August last year but, I am intrigued to see how it goes as I didn't train anywhere near as hard as this for the half marathon so I expect to feel much better after this run.

There was a sad moment this week when my long term running partner passed... My iPod NANO bit the dust. After due time was spent grieving it occurred to me that I would now need to get a new NANO in order to continue monitoring my runs. But, up stepped Mrs. Cookie with an early birthday present, a Nike Sports Band! It works essentially the same as the iPod, it tracks my mileage, pace and calories so I was back in business straight away! Yay for Mrs. Cookie!!!

Week 11

All things considered, a good week. By that I mean that I slipped in the schedule a bit but, considering what we did this week, I am ok with it.

We moved into our new house Wednesday and things have been hectic ever since. Although we had movers come on Saturday to move the large items, by that time we have already moved 8 car loads of gear. By we, I mean me. Nicole was 37 weeks pregnant this weekend so we of course limited what she lifted.

I managed to keep schedule with all this going on up until Saturday when my 5 mile run was missed. Not for the want of trying I would add! I went to the Community Gym at 8.15pm only to find it had closed 15 minutes earlier, I was very disappointed.

The rest of the weeks schedule was hit so I still ran 22 miles this week. This weeks long run was 11 miles which was just run in a little over 1h 30 mins. Again, I felt good afterwards. The hip/calf strains felt better and whilst running 11 miles is hardly comfortable I feel good doing it.

Next weeks runs are quite different to this. I still run 3 miles both Tuesday and Thursday but my midweek tempo run increases to 6 miles, as does the Saturday run. My long run this week is only 8 miles, a step down. This happens a lot in my training, it's a 'rest' before moving to an even longer run than the previous week, it will be 13 miles.

So, 26 miles in total next week. Easy, right?

Week 10

Glad to report a successful week with all goals met. The week concluded with a 10 mile run yesterday which felt good, I have slight niggles in my left calf and right hip but largely I am feeling ok.

I am still running 5 times weekly. This weeks schedule has a minor increase, 11 miles on Sunday other than that it is exactly the same as week 9. This is however a crazy busy week in my personal life...

As I write I am in Phoenix airport waiting for my delayed flight to California. I'll be out there the next 2 days so will run tomorrow morning (3 miles) along the Pacific. I get back Wednesday, which is the day we close on our new home!!! The rest of the week, and weekend, will be very hectic with moving but I need to be sure to fit my runs in. Sunday's will be the real challenge, 11 miles is around 1hr30m running time which is a lot to dedicate when we will have so much going on.

With the training going so smoothly thus far I loathe to slip so I will make the additional effort to make sure I remain on schedule. Continuing on the personal theme, we are into the last 4 weeks of my wife's pregnancy, our daughter is due August 2nd! That will provide another challenge to maintaining schedule and I am prepared to let it slip as necessary around that time.

Some things are more important than running :)