Running in the heat of Spain

I have been in Valencia a week and ran almost every day. I love running in the heat of summer - perhaps it reminds me of my first marathon in the Stockholm mid-summer sun or the glorious rays of the half-marathon in Palma beneath an Autumn but very warm Spanish sky.

But there has been another reason I have been drawn to running here, the amazing Jardin del Turia, the drained river that now serves as the lungs of the city and is quite simply the greatest park I have visited - Central Park has nothing on this.

Marathon Training has begun

Our Marathon Training has begun, albeit a bit later than we had hoped, due to bad weather. We are a couple of weeks in and getting back on track.

Plan for Marathon - My Suggestion

On Sunday, 6th December 2009, some or all of the NW Hilleaters will be running in the Liverpool Santa Dash, a 5KM fun run.

Six months later, on Saturday, 5th June 2010, two of the NW Hilleaters will be running in the Stockholm Marathon, a 26.2M race.

So, I suggest, the Liverpool Santa Dash be our Day 1 of training.

To give the training some structure, here are some suggested milestones:

Sunday, 6th December 2009 to Sunday, 24th January 2010

This period allows us to build in training from 5KM to 10KM. On Sunday, 24th January 2010, the Chernobyl 10K takes place. I suggest we use this to build our confidence by aiming to post good times, ie, close to or better than our PB times. Target: H - 51:00, ab - 46:00.

Monday, 25th January 2010 to Sunday, 25th April 2010

We should now be thinking about starting to up our mileage at the weekends. First, up to 10M and then on to 13.1M, we even have the chance to go into unchartered waters and run 16.3M. Again, the result of this training should hopefully result in improved times in the distances we have run before.

After the 10KM run in January, we need to start upping our mileage at the weekend. Gradually, we need to build from 10KM to 15M. We could even do the Kilomathon on Sunday, 14th March 2009. This really is new ground for us. Target H: + ab - just to finish.

I suggest we run the Ultrafit St Annes 10M again on Sunday, 21st March 2010. We should run this together and aim to improve on our time last year. Target: H + ab - 1:20:00.

The following week, Sunday, 28th March 2010 is the Liverpool Half Marathon. However, I may be doing the Bratislava Half Marathon on the same day.

As a result of this fixture clash I recommend we do the Sheffield Half Marathon on Sunday, 25th April 2010 in order to try for our PB's. Target :H - 1:52:00, ab - 1:47:00.

Sunday, 26th April 2010 to Saturday, 5th June 2010

Having hopefully achieved at least 15M in training, we need to maintain this mileage and eventually step up training to 20M+ prior to the big day.

We want to avoid straining ourselves in the final weeks. So after achieving 20M in training a couple of times we need to taper.

And targets for the big day? Target: H + ab - finish, eventually, in one piece.

Because I Just Wanted to Write Something

I think we should have a go at this sometime...

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/heaton/Home.aspx

because...

1 - It's free
2 - I like Heaton Park
3 - The winning lady last week did 22:48 which means, if i could somehow trip her up, i may have a chance of winning a race for the 1st time since primary school

Thankyouverymuch

Stockholm Entered and some Winter Warmers

Well after much deliberation, 2 NW Hilleaters have entered the fray for the Stockholm Marathon in June 2010. Shortly after we entered the Marathon reached its maximum 20,000 so we were quite lucky to get in.

To warm us up over the bleak mid-Winter, here are some dates for our diary:

Sunday, 29th November 2009 - RNLI Reindeer Run Knowsley Hall & Safari Park 10K
Sunday, 6th December 2009 - Liverpool Santa Dash 5Km
Saturday, 12th December 2009 - Great Langdale Pudding Run 10Km

Cardiff Half Marathon 2009

Last month, the NW Hilleaters made the fairly long trip from the North West of England to South Wales. It was a great weekend and resulted in 2 team members getting PB's.

Check out the photos on flickr.

Haircuts must be planned around races....

In response to the most 'photogenic member of the team ' post on haircuts, I present evidence of 'ones hairstyle must be easy to manage and still look perfect' ....