Another Sunday missed

No excuses this time, well, only lame ones. Lame in the nature of the excuse, nothing to do with not being able to run either. We went to a wedding out of town on the Saturday and I forgot to pack my running kit, so I decided I'd make the most of it and enjoy the bubbly. One slight consolation is that I exercised for nearly three hours solidly on the wedding disco dance floor!

Missing the Sunday long run aside, I cycled into work three out of a possible four days and sneaked in a couple of mid-week runs and a swim, so I'm not feeling entirely useless. In summary for the week then:

• 60 miles cycling
• 1 km swimming
• 8 km running
• No gym work...again 

The right time to kick into training hasn't presented itself yet. Plenty on in the calendar with weddings, announcements and changing jobs, it suddenly dropping to zero degrees outside (in October!) and then there's our son starting at the childminder's and deciding to come down with every bug possible.

It'll get easier I know, it already is. But I won't be kidding myself, training for London is not going to be straightforward, having to fit it in around looking after a baby and it coinciding with winter. Makes New York's summer training seem idyllic by comparison. But still, I figure that once I have a routine set and my body starts to recognise what it's supposed to be doing, aside from being woken up every 3-4 hours through the night, then the whole process will seem that much easier.

I strongly believe it's all about routine and sticking to it. Writing up what you're going to do, doing it and ticking the box to show you've done it. If you don't do it, write up why to remind yourself. Of course, don't be harsh on yourself either, as with everything, there's a balance to be struck.

Week missed!

It's Monday now and I'm feeling the guilt for not having gone for a single run in the last week. Until this weekend, I'd at least managed to run a long run every Sunday for the past 9 weeks, so I'm a bit gutted to have let it slip.

I did have an excuse, I woke up on Saturday morning with a fluey ache thing and the previous night's intention of doing some interval training amounted to nothing. Why it had to wait until the weekend to make its appearance, I don't know. Still, I managed to hold it together to attend a wedding in the afternoon and evening, an altogether new experience learning to turn down top ups of Moët and wandering and registered a rare alcohol free attendance to an otherwise indulgent and such an occasion.

Sunday was a better day for me, but still had to be kick-started with a lemsip, which doesn't mix well with running, so I made the decision that, this weekend, it wasn't going to happen.

Summary for the week:

• 40 miles cycling
  
• 0.5 hours swimming
  
• 0 miles running
• No resistance training
  

The Mogford

Another week down and another long Sunday run not missed. It was the week of the Asics Run Kingston race on Sunday, where you can either run 8.2 miles or choose the 16 mile double loop option, which is what I did last year, prior to running the NYC marathon. This year, I stuck to the 8.2 miles and I smashed my PB by nearly 5 minutes, despite moderate training of 1-2 runs per week.

I crossed the line in 57:21, although the race results tell another story. In fact, Mr Mogford crossed the line in 57:21 and Mr Moggs finished in 1:08:07. You'll just have to take my word, my watch and my iPod for it that, for that particular race, I was actually Mr Mogford. I don't know what happened, I guess the timing chips got posted out to the wrong people or something.

Anyway, I was pretty chuffed and now just contemplating what that means I have to try and run the marathon in. Of course, that's a different ball game and I'm not getting any delusions about how I'll fair at more than 3 times the distance.

In summary for the week:

• 40 miles cycling
  
• 1 hour swimming
  
• 8.2 miles running
  
• 4 hours shopping!
• No resistance training

Five in a row

I've just completed an 8.5 mile run in the pouring rain, a little taster for what training through winter for a spring marathon is going to be like. Of course, it's totally fine, it does make your step slightly heavier, but it can be quite refreshing too.

Since the Nike 10k race at the end of August, I've completed a run of at least an hour every Sunday, in an effort to build up a good base on which to start my proper marathon training. I've not managed to fit in much in between, but with six months to go, I figured I've still got time.

I had a first attempt at interval style training yesterday, running one lap of the local field, followed by a two minute recovery. I managed the following, loosely based on Yasso 800s:

• 2 x 800m at pace (approx. 3m 15s) followed by 2 minute walking recovery
• 2 x 400m at same pace followed by 1 minute walking recovery

My first goal is not to increase the pace, but to sustain it for longer and do 4 x 800m, rather than having to step down to the 400s. We'll see how that goes and take it from there.

In summary for the week:

• 40 miles cycling
• 1 hour swimming
• 18km running
• 30 min resistance training