State of Play

As I was running through the (notably autumnal) sunshine yesterday morning I reflected on the previous few days and thought it worth updating and recording.

First the good news:

• I've ran 16 miles in the last 2 days and am starting to feel like a runner again.
• I've comfortably got through a weekend in terms of staying within calories.
• I have no obvious groin pain despite the mileage and running on consecutive days.
• Dropping the rate of weight loss to 1.5lbs seems to really help.

And now the bad news:

• I have my first race in less than 2 weeks and ran the course at 9:00 minute miles on Saturday, though I'd hoped to be able to drop that by 1:30 a mile for the race (and that didn't feel likely).
• I feel sluggish when I run.

On the whole that's pretty good though isn't it?

In terms of the race and pace concerns I'll try and run in a more structured manner for the next 2 weeks and see where that gets me. I can't really do more, though its interesting that the Sunday 9.5 miles was done over 30s a mile quicker than Saturday's 6.4 and in terms of the mean average doesn't compare badly with LSRs from May - July when I felt I was running well.

The rate of loss change feels like it could be a master stroke.

It stems from the rejection of weighing. Previously I was very focused on weight changes and (almost invariably missed) target dates but as I don't know my weight I can't set specific target dates so going for the maximum loss doesn't feel so pressing. So, using that to give myself an extra 250kcals a day really eases the pressure especially on rest days where 1250 limit was very tough to stick to - even if I ate frugally through the day the evening could be too challenging and lead to feelings of failure and mini-binges.

It also reflects a thought I had about moving from loss to maintenance and how the closer the weight loss kcals are to maintenance the easier it must be. There's no question that the extra 250 makes it feel more 'normal' and less restrictive and I might even take this further and try to transition to maintenance with the last 4lb, taking 6 weeks by dropping the rate of loss to 1lb and then 0.5lb.

Good idea?

In other news...

I made an excellent minestrone soup on Saturday, saw a very good production of Billy Liar that evening, Leeds United came from 1-0 down to beat Swansea 2-1, Leeds Rhinos came from 14-0 down to beat Wigan 27-26 and we had a pleasant walk near Grassington and Linton yesterday.

I didn't have to wear a leotard

Yesterday was back on track.

I know why the previous couple of days had been difficult and unsuccessful so I'm happy to just put them behind me - I'm not worried that they're indicative of some more deep seated issue.

That's good as I had a gnawing doubt that perhaps taking pressure off myself in terms of weight and timescales was just a way of making failure more palatable. Not so. It was just 'life' and as soon as the problem was over I was able to get back on track. That's not something that has always been the case when obsessing over weight and rate of progress when a couple of 'off days' meant a fear of getting back on the scales and led to prolonging any stress induced blips by simply changing the cause of the stress.

Yesterday gave a belated first run of the week: 5 miles from home, downhill on the way out and uphill on the way back. It was a run carried out with no particular aim or plan other than a wish to run at an easy 8:00 to 8:30 pace. First mile was well on track at 7:56 but after that I had a couple of difficult miles in the September sunshine that I'd put down once again to poor hydration (something I need to address as routine as its previously been a strength of mine). I slowed down and the sun went in and gradually things began to feel easier leading to a pleasing last uphill mile at 8:12 and an on track average of 8:21. The last mile was especially good simply because it felt 'right' - smooth and efficient. I probably ought to do a bit of hill training over the autumn.

Yesterday was also a landmark for me: my first ever attendance at a gym class. I've always shied away from these. I've got good balance but struggle to copy 'moves' very quickly and I'm self conscious of that fact, probably compounding it. However, the physio suggested Pilates might be good for me so I attended a beginner's class yesterday and got on OK.

There were only 6 of us and the instructor went round each of us pointing out faults and aside from my feet rising off the floor as I lay back (difficult to explain) nothing was said to me so I assume that meant I was OK. I suspect that might be the case as I have learned to engage and hold the core muscles and much of the posture is identical to that suggested in Chi running (in fact...more on that in a later entry I think) so I had some experience of that too.

Even that first session was taxing enough for me to think 2-3 sessions a week could well be a real benefit, particularly as my ability to keep up with core exercises at home still proves pretty variable at best.

Testing times

I didn't plan to take risks with yesterday's run. It just happened that way.

The two 'proper' runs I've done in the last 3 weeks (as opposed to the jogs with Bethan) both proved to be really tough but a rest day on Monday, cutting back on the cardio intensity at the gym and a few days off from running seemed to have left my legs feeling fresher and the sustained core stability work seems to be pushing the groin pain away.

So when I set off with the notion of doing a normal or easy run of six to seven miles yesterday I felt pretty good but didn't intend to push myself: it would be a test in itself - especially for the groin.

As I headed out along the canal side I felt pretty good and when I glanced at my watch after a couple of minutes I was surprised that I was running just below eight minute mile pace. Somehow my gait felt easy and the effort less than that pace would imply (the opposite of the last two runs) so I decided to carry on like this for as long as it felt good.

By halfway I had slight soreness in the right calf but that wore off soon after and I was able to keep the core muscles engaged pretty much throughout. In the last mile or two it felt harder work and I was having to give occasional reminders to myself about maintaining cadence but the run had become the sort of test I really wanted but hadn't dared to set out for - something close to a tempo run.

Mile splits were fairly even at:

7:51
7:55
7:41
7:39
7:40
7:41
7:24

Slight uphill at the start, up a 2 rise set of locks on the way out (the ones above - the very same), down them on the way back and downhill for last 20 metres or so. Beyond that pretty much flat if occasionally uneven.

Minor stiffness in the calves yesterday evening and this morning but nothing major - I just need to get a massage at some point to loosen them up properly - and most importantly at all no groin pain.

This leaves me thinking I could run a PB at Birchwood on Sunday but having made the decision not to race I'm actually reassured that I've had a moderately tough run this week and done OK. I'll still limit the long run on Sunday to 8-10 miles as distance wise I've no longer races for nearly 8 weeks and can afford that additional caution. Then next week it'll be more back to normal in terms of running.

Most importantly of all I'll keep up with the core stability exercises!

On the horns of a dilemma...

...which is an uncomfortable position to be in. It'd play havoc with my hemorrhoids (if I had any...).

Yesterday's weights session was nice and tough but hasn't left the same degree of DOMS which is pleasing so I assume there's been a hint of adaptation by the affected muscle groups. I warmed up with 10 minutes on the rower and finished up with a hugely tough 30 minutes on the cross trainer - high RPM and resistance.

That left me pretty tired today and I felt it in the run. Also, my quads and calves felt sore during and after. I suspect that was down to the extra 10kg I added on to the leg press. Its also the 6th day on the bounce of exercising so there's unsurprisingly some general fatigue ahead of tomorrow's planned rest day.

The run felt hard work. Not as bad as Thursday's by any means but progressively tough, though I was pleased that I was able to test myself with the up hills and came out OK.

Mile splits were:

8:19 (downhill)
8:12 (downhill)
8:21 (half uphill then half downhill)
8:16 (downhill, uphill, downhill)
8:24 (uphill)
8:41 (uphill)
8:34 (uphill)
8:09 (uphill)

Groin feels OK after. Certainly no worse. Didn't feel like I could have ran 80 seconds a mile faster though (even on a flat course) ahead of the scheduled 10k race in Cheshire next week and therein lies the dilemma: do I race or not?

It feels a bit like I have a little devil and angel sat on a shoulder each giving conflicting advice.:

You're just beginning to get over the recurrence of a chronic injury. You're obviously not in great shape. Birchwood was only ever about setting a new PB so why risk hurting yourself further chasing a very unlikely PB? Skip the race and target the PB for Horsforth in 6 weeks...

Stop being defeatist. The injury is being controlled, even the physio said you'd be OK to race. Run at the pace you did at Castle Douglas and there's a dead set PB on the cards. Today was hilly and you're just tired that's all. Lay off the heavy weights for a few days ahead of the race and you'll be reet...

What should I do? I'm not even sure which one is the devil and which the angel...

Ouch

OK, three things to update about today: the run, weights and physio.

Actually, make that four: I continued my controlled eating throughout Thursday and Friday (though I, admittedly, went over my 1000 deficit target yesterday by nearly 400 but that was deliberate to aid recovery...).

The run. It was awful. Absolutely awful. Not from the perspective of groin pain though.

I set off and glanced at the Garmin after 1/4 mile and was at 9:15 pace so pushed a little harder. It felt tough though and the first mile still took 8:49 so I stopped for a stretch. Carrying on it felt somewhat easier at 8:22 and 8:25 with another stop just before three miles where I turned round but it still felt a good 30 seconds faster than that. Mile four was grim. It was like the end of a marathon: my legs felt dead and I couldn't help but slow. I stopped 3 times in the last mile and a half and slowed down to close to nine minute miles again.

I think it was down to two things. First up my hammies felt shot from weight training the night before and I was fairly knackered still overall (more on that later) and also I hadn't really ran for 16 days if you ignore the very slow plods with Beth.

The plus though was my beloved groin. Made a point of engaging the core and suffered no big ill effects during or after. In fact the feeling of stiffness I'd had in the adductors was eased by the run.

So, onto the physio at 8am yesterday morning. The regular physio went on maternity after my last visit in May and passed me on to a colleague (hence the trip to Harrogate). Unfortunately it was her last day yesterday and they'd lost all my notes. That made it a more difficult appointment but the upshot was she thinks a few things combined to bring back the pain:

• I stopped doing the daily exercises a couple of weeks too soon
• I was probably not quite doing enough each week for maintenance
• Its likely that I'd got lazy on form and was treating it as a numbers game just to get through
• I'd possibly not engaged the core consistently through the last runs (where the pain came in)

However, she thinks its probably controllable again by going back to basics:

• Daily exercises for the next couple of months
• Maintenance of 3 times a week thereafter, increasing to 5 times a week if training volume/intensity raises e.g. marathon training
• Be mindful of form - always - starting with pelvic floor exercise before each set

She even thought racing could be OK too. I'm not as convinced of that though.

The discomfort hasn't completely gone and in order to race next week I'd need to feel daily exercises were eradicating this and that I could run on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday with a bit of zip. If I can't run a potential PB I don't see the point in taking the risk. we'll see how the week goes.

Lastly the gym. By Thursday evening my traps, lats, hammies were all very sore with some discomfort also in my calves, glutes, triceps and forearms. The new programme obviously works! Even yesterday I was still sore in lats and hamstrings so I pushed the weights back to today and opted for core, cardio and alot of stretching. Forty minutes on the cross trainer helped the hamstrings and ten minutes rowing certainly loosened the lats. Stretching also helped as my hamstrings were particularly tight.

Today I'll take Beth for a run, go to the gym and cook a curry. Champion.

Nerd porn

After 10 days without really having a laptop its good to be back online on my new netbook. I've even pushed the boat out and bought MS Office so there will be no more messing about with MS Works spreadsheets.

Its amazing how much is stored on a pc - pictures, videos, weight/running/training/racing spreadsheets, lists - all now lost.

One thing that is good to be back with is Garmin Connect. Fortunately, as its not stored locally all the old data is still there and I've been able to look at the last few runs. Twostick out - the 14 mile LSR from the Sunday before last and the Castle Douglas race.

The LSR looks to have been slightly hillier than a normal LSR by about 200ft extra of elevation with pretty constant ups and downs but the first half generally downhill and the second half more generally uphill, giving mile splits of:

8:57
8:15
8:17
8:10
8:00
8:15
8:28
8:22
8:11
8:20
8:27
8:12
8:19
8:28

The notable increases/decreases look to match pretty well to changes in gradient, so happy with that.

Castle Douglas was more of a surprise. I'd remembered the course as constantly undulating gently and the first mile or two bein generally downhill. That doesn't seem to be the case. Mile one and two look to be billiard table flat, mile three had a long uphill drag and short decline giving a small net ascent, mile four was up and down a fair bit and mile 5 had two downs and an up to give a slight net descent.

That gave rise to confirmed mile splits of:

7:15
7:17
7:29
7:12
6:43

I don't think it tells me anything that will change the plan for Birchwood though.

A weekend of excess

Excessive food consumption but also excessive exercise.

Hopefully the latter will cancel out the former.

Saturday was pretty good through the day and I treated myself to a really good gym session. Over the last few months trips to the gym have been hurried affairs - straight in, straight out but on Saturday, with the family out shopping, I took the opportunity to take my time.

I managed a very good weights session with weights up to a point where I'd got slight DOMS in triceps and glutes by Sunday morning, 10 minutes HIIT on the stepper, 30 minutes steady on the cross trainer, 12 minutes on the treadmill, a very quick swim and sauna and even a Costa coffee while I read the Guardian after.

The treadmill was quite pleasing. Generally speaking I avoid them wherever possible. Partly as I don't see the point when you can run outdoors and partly because I find a flat constant speed in a still warm room to be quite difficult. Saturday wasn't too bad though. I had to guess pace a bit but started at 12km/h and increased to 15 km/h. I suspect that for adding in a really short recovery jog; doing 40 minutes when the roads are icy or even practicing running form could all be doable on there. I might add in an occasional use.

After I got in I cooked a vegetable biryani. Of sorts. Unfortunately I didn't look at what I was doing and added brown pilau rice instead of the white the recipe called for. As a result the rice was still hard after the cooking time and I needed to add alot more water and cook it on the stove. That left the whole thing rather more moist and stodgy than I'd wanted but it was OK. Unfortunately, later in the evening I ate several rounds of toast and had a couple of curly wurlys as well as 2 bowls of Weetabix. With sugar! I doubt I'll have gained from that but it will have used up most of the day's planned deficit.

Yesterday was long run day, and due to the heavy rain of the last few days I modified the 'normal' route in a few places in order to stay mainly on road. That left an 11.7 mile run with a few more drags up and down hills than usual and a last 2 miles that were relentlessly uphill.

I found it hard going from the outset. I suspect that was mainly because the previous 36 hours contained a trail race, a reasonable amount of cardio and some weights. In any event I started and finished slowly and finished with an average pace of bang on 9 minute miles. Just about still inside the LSR target pace range but at the opposite end of the range to normal.

After a quick shower, protein shake, and three bread cakes we booked a campsite for the first week of the kids' summer holidays (when I'm off for 2 weeks too) then set off for Langstrothdale to do a short walk. Before reaching Kettlewell the rain started to come down heavily and remained that way throughout, so it was full waterproofs on before walking up the hill and along from Hubberholme to Yockenthwaite and returning along the river. The river is normally languid, shallow and clear but after the recent rains it was a deep, dangerous, fast moving torrent that was slightly unnerving to walk alongside.

After that it was treat time and we headed to the White Lion at Cray where I had a huge (and lovely) horseshoe gammon, chips, salad, 2 eggs, tomato, mushrooms, onion rings; followed by 4 'balls' of toffee ice cream and the kids leftover puddings (chocolate fudge cake and Dutch apple crumble). Stuffed. No idea how you'd count that lot but the walk and the run should have offset the damage. Still, it really was gorgeous.

Onto a new week, and this weeks objectives are to stick to exercise plan:

Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Club tempo run
Wednesday - Rest
Thursday - VO2 max test
Friday - Weights & cardio
Saturday - LSR
Sunday - Weights & cardio

As well as maintaining some consistency in diet, sticking close to allowances each day rather than the more up and down approach I had last week.

I'm a Guinea Pig

I'm going to make the uncommon (for me) move of updating a couple of days into the week.

Monday was a rest day; just a bit of caution after Saturday's difficult feeling run and recognition of some possible groin discomfort.

Not sure whether the latter is real or not. In a response to Alison's excellent blog (linked to on the right) I stated my belief that marathon training is as much a mental challenge as a physical one i.e. one that's filled with obsessive introspection, doubt and phantom concerns. I think training harder after a long injury is similar. I probably get little niggles all over my body and think nothing of them but if its in my lower abs I take the slightest twinge to be a portent of doom.

Whether real or imagined I'm starting to do the core stability exercises that I have largely, but not entirely, neglected since the middle of May. If it is real I hope they'll nip it in the bud.

Back to Monday. I certainly embraced the rest and refuelling principles, as having been good all day I weakened and allowed myself to go through half a dozen slices of bread, a 9-Bar and two Club biscuit bars in the evening to take me comfortably over calorie target. Its tough on 1250 kcals without any exercise calories to burn and, perhaps, I needed it.

Yesterday I reclaimed half of the excess. A long trip down to Essex and back during the day along with a planned run in the evening limited my ability to eat (though even then the diet Gods looked down kindly on me as when I stopped at a petrol station I decided to get a chocolate bar to help keep me awake but found myself at a 'pay at the pump only' pump). Then, in the evening, I headed up to Fewston & Swinsty reservoirs, north of Otley, to recce the three relay routes for Friday's relay event with a group of Abeey Runners, most of whom were faster than me. In all I covered 9.6 miles, with the first 3 miles at 10k pace and the remainder at half marathon pace. I'm happy with that, particularly as it was largely off road in the pouring rain and featured several short, sharp inclines.

Overall, despite being about a stone heavier than where I want to be I feel I'm running better than at the equivalent weight last year and possibly better than I was when racing half a stone lighter.

I found out yesterday that I've been accepted to take part in a trial at Carnegie Sport College that'll consist of 2 hours running to exhaustion in a VO2 max test and then a second test a couple of days after. The second of these is the day after the Pudsey 10k race I've entered, and as a result I'll pull out of the 10k. I'm not too bothered by that. Its a horribly hilly route that wouldn't really tell me anything much about my condition or form; probably more an invitation to injury than anything else.

Happy with that

Overall I'm happy with the last week - even if the weekend proved to be a bit of a challenge.

Monday was a rest day and also proved to be a rhubarb crumble day too! As a rest day there weren't that many calories in the allowance to start with but I had done well until early evening. By then Sue went back to work for a bit and left me, the girls and a rhubarb crumble in the oven. I intended to resist but when I put theirs out it proved futile and 3 helpings later I left it alone!

Tuesday was good though. Stuck to target and clawed back some of the previous day's crumble damage through an undulating 6.4 mile trail run with a faster group in the evening. I was pleased with that as there were little or no breaks and I managed to hold the pace far more comfortably than I'd have expected.

Wednesday was a rest from running but I did head to the gym to do some weights. Still able to increase weights further without any doms afterwards.

Thursday meant speed training in the evening. In this case cross country pyramid intervals of 6, 8, 10, 8, 6 minutes ostensibly at 10k pace, plus warm up and cool down runs. It was hard work but I found myself doing them at more like 5k pace which, again, was pleasing.

Maybe that inspired me to run again on Friday, even though it wasn't planned. Possibly a mistake. I headed out along the canal to do 4 easy miles but it was extremely hot and muggy and I felt jaded from the outset. On a whim I decided to head back the longer route back along the river but felt I had no energy and had to stop 4 times en route. The experience wasn't helped by the path being overgrown with long grasses, brambles and above all nettles leaving me stung from ankles to the tops of my thighs. Did also mange a trip to the gym where, at last, I found a couple of taxing weights to lift - not that that makes me in any way strong, its purely relative - and which left me with a bit of soreness in the left deltoid/upper triceps area by Sunday.

Saturday wouldn't normally be long run day but with my marshaling on the Sunday I had to switch. I don't know if it was the runs the previous days or the heat but it was another toughie. I set out more slowly than normal without realising and whilst the first 5 miles got progressively quicker they were all some way slower than a normal LSR average. I expected the pace to naturally lift from there but by 6 miles I'd slowed again and was finding it hard going. After a brief stop I did another 5 miles but these were slower still, then after a drink break did a slightly brisker final 1.5.

It was tough, it was pretty hilly and it was certainly sunny, hot and muggy. Afterwards we went to Gateshead for the athletics and by the time we got home I felt absolutely zonked.

On Sunday I just cycled to/from the marshaling at the Eccup 10 race - no more than 8 miles. When I got back Sue and the girls had left for her parents in order to attend a family gathering (that marshaling and work stopped me going to) and whilst I resisted the lure of the takeaway I did hoover up most of the crap from the fridge and cupboards. I'm not going to be hard on myself for that and maybe I needed it after a couple of hard days.


Overall I'm pretty pleased.

Exercise wise I did all I intended to do - albeit that it included an extra run and one missed gym trip - and the quality of the 2 club runs was pleasing. The two runs that I found harder I'll just shrug my shoulders at and move on.

I'm probably even happier with the food intake - despite going overboard at the beginning and the end of the week - because I'm pleased at what I didn't do.

I've learned to recognise my binge triggers:

• Stress
• Being alone at home when Sue goes away
• Tiredness
• Over training

All of these played their part last week. Sue was out on Monday and Wednesday evening as well as going out for her second meal out of the week on Thursday while I was running; Wednesday was probably the most stressful day at work for a very long time and that carried over into Thursday & Friday; Saturday and Sunday I felt tired, partly through not being able to sleep well Friday night and partly from running 3 days on the bounce; yesterday I was home alone from 12.30pm.

I did over eat those two days but I didn't on Wednesday and managed the stress challenge really well. I resisted the takeaway on Sunday as well as the strong temptation of nipping to the shop for biscuits or chocolates. When we went to Gateshead, despite being tired, pooped from the run and 'out' I resisted the chocolates, crisps and sweets at the refreshment kiosks. That might not sound like much but the challenges I had could have made it far worse!

First week back

First week back on track went OK. Biggest challenge was illness. Not sure whether it was viral or stress induced IBS. Maybe a bit of both. Anyway, here's how it panned out:

Monday
A rest day after the previous day's long run and over on my calorie target but logging it all and in the weight loss zone.

Tuesday
Managed to win back the calorie surplus from Monday and still fit in a meal out with work (beef baguette, salad and chips). Felt a little under the weather in the afternoon and very gassy so wondered if the club run would be OK. In the event it was. Set off virtually at 10k pace to test myself and was fine so left the group and ran on my own to increase the miles - 7.6 miles at 8.00m miles.

Wednesday
Broadly on target calorie wise and went for another run at dinner time. Did 4.6 miles but found it incredibly tough. Assumed it was heat and previous night's run but with hindsight may also have been a virus.

Thursday
Still feeling a bit under the weather and gassy again but on target calorie wise and did speed training in the evening. Was on the track at Carnegie and did 8 x 3 minutes at 5k pace with 1.5 minutes rest between. Went OK but I was behind people I might have thought I'd be up with. Weigh in that morning was nearly 5lb down since Monday.

Friday
Here's where it got more challenging. Felt a bit jaded and gassy during the day but went to the gym early evening. Managed 20 minutes on the cross trainer but really struggled to do even that. In the evening had really bad stomach and back cramps.

Saturday
Felt a little better first thing and went to the gym to get a weights programme worked out. Managed only 3 minutes on the cross trainer - no energy in me. Abdominal cramps came back until early evening. Over ate considerably on bread as I'd heard that if its viral or bacterial you need to send a good amount of fibre through to clear it out.

Sunday
Felt 90% better and did 13 miles in the morning, slightly faster than last week, then 4.5 miles walk in the afternoon. No aches or strains from either so very pleased with that.

Overall I have to be pleased with the week. It threw up some challenges in the form of illness but the exercise didn't suffer too badly and calorie wise I was just about OK for the week.

Beth and Sue each lost just over half a pound which is good but they might have hoped for a fraction more. Mind you they're each just trying to eat more healthily rather than logging what they eat.

Overall result - 3.8lb off.

2 weeks on: everything changes yet stays the same

Lets start with the running. That's been going pretty well - aside from a few aches and pains.

Club runs on each of the last two Tuesdays have been good. We're just getting into the longest days of the year meaning 10 weeks or so of being able to run off road, usually around Eccup Reservoir. That's been good - far more pleasant than pounding the busy streets of north Leeds.

On the two Thursdays I've attended club speed training sessions. First one was on the fields at 'Bedquilts' and was 4 x 1.1 mile intervals. I was surprised and pleased by that. Firstly that I ran at what was easily at 7:15 a mile (despite weight) and secondly because it caused no pain groin wise. Last Thursday was on the athletics track at Carnegie, and consisted of some drills and then 15 x 0.25m intervals done at 5k pace (6:15 - 6:50 pace for the inervals). That was tough but enjoyable. Only downside was that the faster I go the more prone I am to run on the forefoot, and repeatedly going the same way round a curved track like that led to quite deep blistering around the ball joint, especially on the right foot.

Besides that I've done a run with Bethan, a couple of runs from home on a mix of public footpaths and pavements and two longer runs of 9.3 miles and 10.1 miles heading on trails and road around Adel, Harewood, Alwoodley and Bramhope. The poor old canal just hasn't had a look in! 25 and 30 miles in each of the last 2 weeks and looks like it'll be about 30 again this week.

All pretty much pain free. Last week's trip to the physio confirmed that my core stability is good
now. Whilst I can't neglect that, the focus now is to build up my left glute - which is far weaker than the right one (and as such an underlying injury risk with regards to groin injuries). A couple of weeks ago I was doing 20 - 30 exercises a day to strengthen glutes and core but the last week that's slipped a lot, initially through DOMS in my core and then through inertia.

The weight has been up and down. I've weighed as little as 12st 4lb and as much as 12st 10lb during the last 14 days, as I've struggled to maintain focus for more than a few days at a time. I've set myself an ambitious target of getting down to 11st by the weekend of 24/25 July when there is a family get together on the Saturday and the Pudsey 10k on the Sunday. At my lowest point that looked perfectly achievable but with a fortninght of not really getting anywhere it'll now be a challenge. Still, I do love a challenge!

Putting a date to the target will help. Previously I've only done consistently well when there's been a time limit - without one there's no great imperative to stick to limits. The other thing that I hope will help is having a few days off bread. Its always been an achilles heel for me - I can go into the kitchen and easily eat 5/6 slices of bread or toast, and when I do I tend to move onto something else for a mini binge. A week without should give a decent start.

Club run tonight and hopefully speed training Thursday but the next 4 days sees meetings in Barnsley, Poole, Bridgend and Nottingham as well as an overnight stay in Somerset, with Thursday's session being dependant on the traffic heading back from Bridgend.

The last few days

Wednesday provided a pretty solid trip to the gym but Thursday, just like last week, proved a poor run. I couldn't get into any sort of rhythm and everything felt hard work. I cut the planned 6 miles down to 5 as a result.

However, I did get out for another 2 that evening with Bethan as she'd started running again the day before (so I had a 2 mile jog as my pre-gym warm up), and considering her time off is doing really well.

Friday was 10k row day and I broke my record again, and by some way, but was still annoyed to have missed going under 41 minutes by 4.7 seconds!

Saturday was the highlight though. Off out early in the morning sunshine for 7.5 miles along the canal. Just like the equivalent run last week I stopped after a mile to do some dynamic stretching. Whereas Thursday I couldn't maintain any sort of running rhythm, on Saturday it was the opposite, with the run itself coming in 7s a mile faster than the previous week and the last mile and a half being done at 10k pace. It felt really good and, once again, pain free afterwards after engaging lower abs throughout (something I also failed with on Thursday).

Food/weight wise its been ok. Last night I had a mini-binge on Burgens linseed bread, but that aside had been doing very well and the weigh in this week had me 1.4lb lower than last week despite the over indulgences of last weekend. Happy with that.

The curse of modern technology

My Garmin 405 is a fantastic piece of kit and, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, I'm completely lost if I'm without it (figuratively - I don't use it for navigating!).

Its usually extremely reliable too; as am I for that matter - aside from the very occasional hiccup I tend to be very careful about switching it on/off at the start and during any stops during a run.

Last night it looks like we both failed though!

It was a club run around some back rounds and Eccup reservoir and until I reached the reservoir it seems to have worked fine: an 8:51 opening mile running with the group followed by two miles in the upper 7s where I headed off ahead on my own, both look accurate. The last mile and a half look about right too - quick at first and then slowing right down as I ran back with the group along an unlit uninhabited road in the dark.

Its the reservoir bit that looks wrong. Near the end of that section the guy I was running with tripped and fell in the failing light and I suspect I switched the watch off then but didn't restart it. Fifty metres further on we stopped for the others to catch up and I think the press of the button then will have restarted it rather than stopped it as when I looked at the watch my average pace when we set off again had dropped by over 30s a mile.

I thought that was it, as it would seem to explain why the pace was out so much, but the distance also looked wrong - by more than 50m! After uploading today it looks from the map like it completely lost the signal for a good chunk of the reservoir route (or more likely was switched off?) as it seems a mile or so short.

Ah well, that means I'll have to assess it more on feel than figures, and on that score I think it was good. Again, no pain during or after even though I wasn't quite as fixed in focusing on engaging the lower abs. I managed the hills well too when running alone - maintaining a below 8 minute mile pace even for stretches with steep bits. One hill in particular, the steep access road from the reservoir was particularly pleasing as I took that deliberately hard as a test and despite feeling sick towards the end managed it just fine.

All in all a good and enjoyable run with good company. Its a shame I'll have to miss next week's as I'm away in Birmingham in the afternoon and very much doubt I'll be back in time.

Beyond last night's run its been an uneventful couple of days. Monday became an impromptu rest day - I hadn't had one for a while and felt jaded - and diet has generally been poor (quantity rather than quality) for the last couple of evenings.

Today is another day though...

A real breakthrough!

If Thursday's run was a disappointment, Saturday's was the complete opposite.

On Thursday I just couldn't get going. I got through the distance ok, I just felt a bit unresponsive.

On Saturday I decided to do a little over 7 miles, heading out from Apperley Bridge to Shipley and back.

I felt far better from the outset and stopped after an 8:12 opening mile to spend a minute doing some dynamic stretches. This is something I'd got out of the habit of doing but both the injury prevention workshop and the latest book I'm reading expound on the virtues so I've decided to quit being lazy and bring them back into the running routine.

I felt good as I set off again and decided to focus on just one thing - engaging the deep abdominals and keeping them engaged. This has been a key focus of the physio work - preparing me for identifying and using these muscles to help stabilise my pelvis - and is also regarded as something that takes alot of conscious effort to maintain while running. Previously, when I'd dabbled with Chi running it was something I'd think about but within 20 seconds my mind would wander and I'd relax them without realising.

That didn't happen this time. Instead, I was able to keep them gently but noticeably engaged for the remainder of the run. From a proprioceptive point of view the run felt noticeably different - I felt a little more solid, more upright in the torso and more 'together'.

That last bit is difficult to explain but if you think of the body as machine made up of a series of connected levers, at times, when injured especially, my body has felt like some of the levers are slightly misaligned but this time it felt like all the levers were perfectly aligned and well oiled. That made the run feel more efficient and sustainable.

By the time I reached Shipley and the 3.7 mile turnaround point the average pace had reduced to 8:01 a mile without my realising. I ran back feeling equally comfortable and with the aid of a couple of short downhills at the locks on the way back, speeded up a little more still so that when I finished the average had reached 7:51 a mile. That's only about 10 seconds a mile over half marathon race pace, which based on injury, lack of training and current weight is pretty good.

However, the most important factor was that I had no groin pain during the run (which is common enough now) but also no pain at all later in the day or the next day (which although reducing has still been occurring each run). On the basis that the distance was greater than I'd recently been allowed and the pace was the fastest since the autumn it wouldn't have been too worrying to have had a little more than of late but this time there was nothing!

So, without wanting to get too excited, it feels like I'm definitely on the mend and that by following this approach I'll certainly get a more economical gait and prevent pain.

Its dynamic stretching every run and for the next weeks a conscious effort to concentrate on engaging the deep abs for stabilisation throughout every run in the hope that it becomes second nature.

It must have been like watching Douglas Bader line dancing.

Me doing last night's injury prevention drills that is.

It was a session organised at the running club with Alison Rose, physio for the likes of Kelly Holmes, Jess Ennis and Alistair Brownlee; and consisted of a series of warm up drills targeted to improve balance, coordination and ultimately running form and economy. It was tough. I can watch someone doing a simple repetitive movement but find replicating it extremely difficult, until something suddenly 'clicks' and I can do it. Mind you, I wasn't alone in my stomping, ungainly efforts and apparently many elite athletes (sprinters especially) are the same. That provided a crumb of comfort anyway!

Prior to the session I'd enjoyed a decent little run. It was a reasonably hilly 5.5 miles with a slow downhill first mile but everything after that was done between 7.10 and 8.01 pace. Bearing in mind I'm still nearly a stone heavier than last autumn and a stone and a half above where I'd like to be, I'm pretty pleased with that. It still feels maybe 20-30 seconds slower for the same perceived effort as last autumn and is only covering short routes but much of that will be down to weight and overall I'm pleased. No obvious signs of injury either (despite the lunges in the drills - the one bit I could do - feeling like it was ripping things!).

Last but not least, today's weigh in not only got rid of the remaining gain from the week off but took me down 0.8lb beneath the pre-break low. On top of that the percentage body fat also reached a comfortable new low.

Very happy indeed!

These DIY temporary fillings are good...

...its amazing how much you can eat with them :-s

Managed to get in at the dentists on Wednesday but they can't fix the tooth (which is painless) until 7th December. Oh well.

Another mixed week for me.

Didn't manage to get out on Monday or Tuesday but did manage to fit in a short run on Wednesday. A very short one. A very, very short one. The Ronnie Corbett of courses in fact.

I set off along the same route as I've been doing lately - along the river Aire - but the recent heavy rain meant the trail was very muddy and slippy and often hidden beneath long puddles. In itself that was fine but for much of it I was one slip from the fast flowing, swollen, debris filled river and whilst I'm not a bad swimmer I didn't fancy putting my skills to the test. That put me on edge a bit and even had my imagination going into overdrive when one 'lump' of debris looked to me like a bloated corpse. Nice.

What shortened the run though was that at just under 1.5 miles the trail and river merged where the latter had burst it's banks. It wasn't over by much - not much above ankle depth on the trail - but I knew that even if I picked my way through that the path further ahead would probably be worse as its virtually at river level already. I turned and headed back to the car.

No run on Thursday - work again - but I did get out in the torrential rain on Friday. That was an opportunity to test my new Gore Running jacket - it passed. I took a cross country route across fields to the canal, along the canal for half a mile or so then a mile and a half through the woods before heading for home. About 5 and a half miles and (I counted) 24 stiles and/or fences and lots, and lots of mud.

Yesterday I decided to try a long slow one so did a little over 12 miles along the canal from the edge of Leeds to Shipley. Like the week, it was mixed. I'm pleased I did it and pleased that the pace was as quick as many of the shorter runs of recent weeks but the downside was that I started getting groin pain from before 2 miles. This got imperceptibly stronger until about 9 and a half when it then became really difficult just to keep my left leg lifting and moving.

That's a worry as I've had quite alot of disruption of late and I'm only 4 weeks from marathon training kicking in. Didn't seem too bad through the day yesterday but this morning, as I waited to carry out my marshaling and t-shirt distribution duties at the Leeds Abbey Dash, it was horrendous. I've kept 800mg of ibuprofen on the go since and done quite a long stretching session this afternoon.

Will get off to the physio asap this week and book a few sessions. Really want this right before the mileage and LSRs go up dramatically.

Oh, and I'm toying with the idea of doing Windermere marathon 5 weeks after Paris...

Back on track

So far this week I really have been back on track.

I've logged everything on www.weightlossresources.co.uk and kept comfortably under the target for the week to date.

I've also started running again but its amazing how quickly your fitness goes.

I ran Monday, along the canal to Apperley Bridge and then up onto the road to Woodhouse Grove school and around the fields onto the riverside path back to Rodley: 4.85 miles.

Its a nice route along the river: peaceful, scenic, muddy and quieter than the canal towpath. I did the same route on Wednesday and on neither day did I see another soul along the river. Maybe its the mud that puts people off or maybe they just don't know its there but in certain stretches you feel like you're in the dales rather than between two large industrial cities.

On Monday I stopped twice during the run and felt worn out despite a very modest pace. I was also extremely sore afterwards in the psoas to the point where I struggled to walk the kids back home from school that afternoon. That was worrying as I'd hoped 2 weeks of rest might have cured it.

Wednesday was better. Hardly any quicker but only one stop and it felt slightly easier. Most pleasingly there was no real psoas pain during or after. I'm hoping I can stretch my way through that now.

Marathon training starts in five and a half weeks. If I can finish this week on about 20 miles, then nearer 25 next, then carry on into the upper 20s for the remaining 3 weeks but do that fairly pain free that'll be the best I can hope for.

Neither that nor the likely weight at the start of training will be what I'd planned for but the weight wont be too far out the running won't be too bad as long as the psoas is settled enough to allow a big ramp up in frequency and mileage once training begins.

I guess that all remains to be seen.

That was the week that was

Overall, I guess that was a good week. Up to four runs again, got Beth doing her first run since August, did my second longest post Paris run and had 2 good club runs. I also got my Paris training plan sorted.

As has been the routine for the last few weeks, Monday started with a rest day after the exhertions at Harewood.

Tuesday was Abbey, with a far lower turn out than usual, presumably down to it having rained all day right up to run time. That was a pain as I'd worn a gilet in the expectancy of getting wet but the rain stopped just as we headed out, and with no rain and no wind it was warm! It felt a fairly tough 7 miles (the reverse of the previous Tuesday's route)with my legs feeling tired after Sunday's race.

Next day it was Kirkstall. Despite the (even hillier) 7 mile route I probably felt slightly better and was able to push myself fairly hard for the last 5 miles - even surviving the hard slog up the ring road from Rodley to New Roadside.

Thursday and Friday were rest days once again and then on Saturday I cajoled Beth into doing a slow 2 miles along the canal. She was reluctant to go but I think she enjoyed it in the end as the weather was good, we saw some Abbey runners and she had a few questions about canals and railways.

Yesterday was initially meant to be a cross country race day but in the absence of getting any information on it I decided to do a long slow run. At first I thought of 12 miles then decided I should up that to 14.

It proved tough. I've done alot of training and racing since the end of July that's conducive to speed and endurance for up to 10 mile races but I'd only once ran over a half marathon distance (over 2 months ago) so I'm possibly lacking in the extra endurance and certainly not used to the extra time on my feet that 14 miles at a deliberately slow pace entails.

That's a bit of a worry ahead of the Bridlington half next week, but there is hope!

I've recently entered the Central Lancashire half for the 3rd January so Brid is the first of 3 decent PB attempts at the distance and yesterday's run and next week's race will certainly help in terms of training for the Lancaster half on 8th November. Plus, next week I'll run at a faster pace so at least I wont be running for so long.

Had a rest day last Monday following Sunday's exertions then ran as normal with Abbey on the Tuesday - 6.7 hilly miles averaging (despite a slow first couple of miles) 7:45 a mile.

Next day I ran again, this time with Kirkstall Harriers.

They run Mondays & Wednesdays so there's the option to join them as second claim club as the training fits nicely around the Abbey nights. My thinking is that during the winter when its dark and wet it'll be difficult to motivate myself to go out and keep up with the planned marathon training but if I have routine club nights I'll stick to them.

Similar sort of run - hilly 6.77 miles with a couple of slow miles at first and a final average of 7:49.

Thursday and Friday were rest days ahead of Saturday's trail race, the Saab Salomon Turbo X in Sheffield.

That proved to be a very taxing race. It consisted of a 10 mile route through woods, up and down extremely steep hills (on all fours to get up some of them), over felled trees, through a couple of becks and also several hundred yards of mud filled trench with the stinking grey mass between knee and bum height!

I got round ok but it was far more tiring than the 10 miles (or time that was 30 minutes slower than my pb for the distance) would imply. Really good goody bag and Salomon technical running shirt though. I finished 94th out of getting on for 400.

The next day was the Horsforth 10k. I know, its crazy to do two races on consecutive days, but it was local and as I'd payed my money I wanted my t-shirt!

Trouble was, my calves and glutes were really stiff and sore when I woke Sunday morning. I don't normally get any post race DOMS so it showed how tough Sheffield had been the day before. I got there early, did half a mile warm up and had a really good stretch. I felt better after that - still sore but ok.

I still had a real dilema in how to approach the race though. Common sense said to run it very slowly but, muscle soreness aside, I felt good and wondered if I could get a pb on a relatively difficult course...

The course profile is 2 miles uphill from the start along narrow private road, then 2 miles downhill to the canal, followed by 2 miles flat along the towpath and a couple of undulations in the last 0.2 miles to the finish.

I started a bit further back than I intended and was boxed a bit for the first mile. The uphill was a real challenge to aching calves and by the end of the second mile I was 67 seconds off target pace. I accepted then that a pb wasn't on the cards but recovered about half of that time in the next 2 miles of descent.

The canal section proved to be the most difficult. By that time my legs felt uncharacteristically tired and, feeling the effects of the previous day, keeping close to pace felt mentally very, very tough. I managed to pass a few people and battle it out with a girl from Kirkstall (eventually giving in on about the 4th time she tried to pass me) which helped drag me along but I lost about another 8 seconds by the time the 9km mark was reached.

I speeded up a bit then though and had a sprint finish of sorts, probably passing another half a dozen people, finishing in 46:13. That's 10 seconds away from the pb but considering the course profile and my legs being shot I was very pleased!

Problem was that within minutes of finishing every muscle south of my waist was seizing up....

...but that's the story of the first half of this week!

Four down - seven to go!

On Saturday I remembered that there was a 7.25 mile trail race on in Kirkstall so decided to substitute my planned LSR for that. That increased my planned races to 11 between 23/08 and 29/11 but now its done I'm still over a third of the way through.

It was a challenging but enjoyable race, starting with a lap of the grounds of Kirkstall Abbey's ruins, across Burley rugby union's pitches, a drag up the A65, down and along the river until the footbridge at Newlay, then across some fields to the canal which was followed until The Railway pub. That was just over halfway and the turnaround point.

From The Railway we headed over the ancient packhorse bridge across the river Aire and then broadly alongside the river before heading up a steep hill to a new housing estate and back to Newlay to head back up the valley to the A65 and a descent that reversed the opening 1.5 miles.

This featured paths that I didn't know were there but it was hillier than I'd expected and at one point - after the steepest section - I could feel the bile rising and was reduced to more of a shuffle for 100m or so. That particular hill immediately followed an undulating but long and general uphill track away from the river and I'd decided to take it easy up there. Trouble was a couple of Abbey supporters had positioned themselves there and their cries of encouragement made me feel I had to go onwards hard!

The other difficulty I'd had was that my Garmin had frozen just before I went to register. This meant I had to run with no guide as to how far we'd gone or what pace I was maintaining. This wasn't essential as I wasn't chasing a PB but it felt strange. Not sure if it may have helped me though as despite the terrain, the hills, the extra 1.05 miles and the twists and turns I completed it in 53:25 meaning my average pace was exactly the same as for the 10k PB in Sheffield a fortnight earlier!

I only ran two other times in the week. Partly because there was little opportunity to run with Bethan but mainly as I was taking it easy on the psoas.

I ran with the faster group at Abbey on Tuesday evening. The overall pace was 8:01 - faster than I ran with the slower group as you'd expect - but there were very few stops and those there were lasted only a few seconds, meaning we covered 7.28 miles in a couple of minutes under the hour. I'll stick with them from now.

Thursday's run wasn't so great. I did a little over 6 miles but it felt hard work. Opening mile was done in 8:20 and each one hereafter got progressively slower, yet each felt like I was running a minute a mile faster. That's the last two Thursdays that felt tough, but I've a plan to tackle that (more later).

My other fitness thing for this week was taking delivery of a bike on Tuesday. I haven't rode a bike in nearly 15 years and even through childhood didn't ride that often so I felt a bit nervy taking it out for a short ride on Tuesday. Yesterday I went out for an hour and a half with a friend and by the end of that felt alot better about hills/gears/bends/traffic. It was a nice ride round Bramhope, Otley Chevin, Guiseley, Carlton, Yeadon and back home. Also pleasing that my running fitness transfers fairly easilly to cycling.

Weight was also good news. By Friday I was down to 11st 11lb. I've over eaten and not logged since then but I'll be back on track today and hope to see a further drop this week.

Yesterday's run also gave rise to another idea.

I'm facing 16 weeks of long runs along the canal again before Paris*, starting in mid December. I like the canal side runs - traffic free, scenic, quiet, flat - but I do want some variety, espescially after my last 2 runs there haven't felt so good. I do have the Abbey run on Tuesday evening but need to do one or two more decent runs a week - especially while Beth isn't running as much )which had added in short, light 'filler' runs).

The solution: Kirkstall Harriers run Monday & Wednesday doing runs of 6.5 - 7 miles. I'm going to look into running with them and maybe joining as second claim club. That would give me another run, in company and of a reasonable length, that I could do each week assuming I did one or the other of the Mon/Wed with the Abbey Tuesday run fixed.

I'm in Birmingham on Wednesday but hopefully could get back in time to try a run with them this Wednesday.

If I do that as well as Tuesday plus the 2 races planned for the weekend that'll take me over 30 miles for the week even without warm ups, cool downs or a run with Beth. Only possible fly in the ointment is a trip to the physio today to check out the psoas where rest might be reccomended.