High mileage...

It looks like I'm going to be hitting the 150 mile/month target this month. I put that down to doing more long runs and also having less rest days. I know that I'm supposed to have a rest day every week to let the body recover and avoid injuries but the way things have been working out I've just felt like going out running every day. The only exception being last Monday when I had some sort of 24 hour bug or maybe a mild dose of sunstroke. Or maybe it was just my body telling me to take a rest. But I was back to normal by Tuesday and have put in some good training sessions this week. Today I went for a run with Jenny and then a 1600m swim at the Garrison pool. My first swim for ages and I really enjoyed it so will try to make time for more swim sessions.

Skyline 10k

Had a great race this morning.

The Trionium Skyline 10k http://www.trionium.com/skyline/ starts at Denbies Vineyard near Dorking. The race is organised by Dr Rob McCaffrey, who also puts on a number of other running events in the Dorking area. This was to be the inaugural Skyline 10k race but the course record of 45'11" had already been set by Dr Rob himself on a solo jaunt a few weeks ago!!
The first 2k is up a steep track onto the North Downs. Then it's a further 3k along flat-ish trails until the 5k mark, at which point you turn around and run back to the start. The weather was fantastic and the views amazing. My race plan was to just try to pick off as many runners on the initial climb as I could and then really go for it on the flat section, knowing that I'd have the luxury of a 2k downhill finish. Everything went pretty much according to plan and I came in a respectable 39th place out of 169 runners. My time was 48'49" which means I was averaging about 7:52/mile. Not bad for a hilly x-country run!
The rest of the day I spent on other activities including some lawn mowing, weeding, table tennis and finally a hard game of squash with Richard.
I think I've overdone it a bit today though or maybe had too much sun because I'm feeling a bit shivery and tired now, so it's off to bed early tonight.

Bank Holiday Monday....

The sun peeped out for the first time this holiday weekend but I was back at work so didn't get to see much of it. I did, however, grab a quick run along the Thames at lunchtime. The path on both sides of the river was packed with cyclists, walkers, dog walkers and other runners so it was a bit congested and I was forced to stop a few times to squeeze my way through the hordes!
I also had a session on the weights bench when I got home in the evening. I'm bench-pressing 55kg now and hoping to build up to 75kg. That'll be more than my body weight, so a good target to aim for. Mind you, I don't want to end up looking like this...

Getting easier...

I was particularly pleased with this weekend's efforts.

Friday...

I managed to get back home from work at a reasonably early time thanks to the Bank Holiday traffic being very light. So I opted to head out on a run from home on a course that we call the 'Bourne Hill Sprint'. It's about 4.5 miles and takes in pretty much all of the hills in the nearby Bourne Woods. This makes it a pretty tough run and the idea is to time the run and sprint round as fast as possible. On this occasion, though, I decided to do the run with my back pack which has about 8 kilos of weight in it. I knew that I wouldn't be breaking any records for speed but hill running with added weight is a really good workout for the calf muscles and something I need to do fairly regularly before tackling the Picnic in June. It took me about 40 minutes to complete the circuit - slightly longer than usual due to the back pack. The run was also slightly extended as the film production people had fenced off a couple of areas which I had to detour around. But all in all a good run.

Saturday...

I decided to treat Saturday as a bit of a rest day but went on the usual 4 mile run at Hankley Common with Jenny and Jackson. We ran the course a bit faster than usual. I think Jenny's finding these runs a lot easier and manages to get round in a good time. She's looking quite lean and athletic lately!

Sunday...

I've set myself the goal of a long run every Sunday, except on weekends when I have a race. This Sunday I did my usual run which is split into two; the first 4 miles with Jenny at Hankley Common, after which she drives home and I run back via Frensham, Tilford Reeds and the North Downs. I've been adding extra loops to this run over the last few weeks and the total distance now stands at about 14+ miles.
I arrived home after about two and a half hours and felt in very good shape, which, considering the distance and terrain, was encouraging. The training is having a noticeable effect and these long distance runs are beginning to get less arduous! And I even managed a game of squash with Richard a couple of hours later. It was a pretty competitive game and I was feeling fairly confidant at two games all and leading the final game. But a late comeback by Richard sealed the match and he produced his first win against me!

Yoga and other stuff...

I started back at Yoga classes on Wednesday. There's a new teacher called Natalie. It was good to give the body a good old stretch and work on the core abdominal muscles, which are important for any sport, including running.
I'll be back to kickboxing on Tuesday too. I haven't been along for the last six weeks because I've had too much extra work to do on the South African World Cup program.

As for the rest of the week's training - I went for a 10k with Jackson on Thursday night and a tough Bourne Hill Sprints run on Friday, with the back-pack. This morning was an easy 4 miler around Hankley and I'm planning a long run tomorrow.

I've bought a new arm-band thing for my i-pod. The old one had started to get a bit moth eaten and had started to smell a bit rank. Not surprising really as I've had it for quite a few years and it's spent many an hour strapped to my sweaty arm!

Not much to report..

I was up at 5:50 yesterday morning and out for a 10k x-country run with Jackson. He's looking a bit on the thin side lately, which is probably due to the increased weekly milage that we're doing of late. I'll have to increase his food rations to compensate. I wonder if I'm looking a bit thin too?
What do you reckon??

Plans...

I've decided that from now on I'm going to use the car as little as possible and just walk or cycle everywhere when practical. So no more jumping in the car to buy a newspaper or go to the shops in Farnham. That way I'll be adding in some additional training and saving on fuel costs.

I covered about thirteen miles on a run this morning, which took me on a circuit of Hankley Common followed by a couple of miles up the road and around Frensham Pond, then through Tilford Reeds to Tadpole Lane and across to the Elstead Road and back home via the footpath that passes the Witch's cave and the old finishing school.

I'm going to aim to increase my weekend long run to about 15 miles in the next few weeks and try to incorporate a midweek tempo run of about 9 or 10 miles plus a weekly hill session. I reckon the combination of those three elements, plus a couple of shorter runs, should start to increase my fitness and endurance in good time for the 'Picnic' marathon in June.

I checked my resting pulse this morning and it was 44bpm which I think is pretty good.

Robin Hood set...

Here are some photos of the set being constructed for the new Robin Hood film starring Russell Crowe.

Ireland...

My daily routine for the 5 day visit to County Cork was:

Wake up at 7:30. Bowl of porridge for breakfast. Out for an hour's run. Second breakfast - eggs from the nearby farm. Five or six hours up a ladder, painting the exterior of the cottage. Walk or swim. Evening meal at home or at the pub. DVD and then bed.



The weather was pretty fine for the whole period that we were at the cottage. In fact, Wednesday and Thursday were warm enough days to get away with shorts and t-shirt. Not bad for early April.



I ran pretty much the same route every day. It's about six miles and passes through some really nice Irish countryside and coastal scenery.

Here's a photo of our little cottage after I'd finished painting it.



.