Food glorious food...

As my distance runs have lengthened, I have started to experiment with sports energy gels. I have tried 2 different brands so far.
The first:

High5 Energy Gel - orange flavoured.
HORRID!! Though in defence of the gel, I did not take this in the correct manner - i.e. with water. I might revisit this gel at a later date.

The second, which I have tried twice:

PowerBar Gel - Strawberry and banana flavour. This, when taken with water, was just bareable. I haven't felt a huge surge of energy as a result of taking them, but perhaps as I extend my runs still further I might feel some measureable effect...

Today I bought 2 new gels (Organic Mule bars, two flavours), and some JellyBelly sports beans...I'll report back... :-)

A breath of fresh air and breathing to talk...

As I have mentioned, I have been struggling a bit to keep the momentum going in my training, and before my holiday in June I was struggling to get out three times a week. In fact, my runs had dropped to about one every 5 days. I took my running gear on holiday with the idea of going running a couple of times with Mr Taffi (with Mummy and Daddy Penguin looking after the little monkeys) but I felt no enthusiasm to get my running shoes on. This might have been a good thing - a break from the grind of running, and then back with gusto.

I think it has worked too. I have managed 3 runs per week for the last few weeks, and part of this is thanks to a bit of variety.

I have started running once mid-week with an old friend who has also entered the Cardiff half. This has multiple benefits:

• I run with her in the morning (Mummy Penguin looks after Monkey2 while Monkey1 is in nursery) so I don't have to struggle out in the valuable busy evenings,
• I get a variety of routes - my friend and Mummy Penguin both live in a small town in the Vale with quiet roads and lanes and lots of hills.
• My friend frequently runs with other runners, and runs at a pace that allows conversation, and by running with her, and doing the same, I am learning a whole new skill - more on this in a minute.

I've actually really enjoyed these runs - there have only been two so far as time constraints meant this week's had to be cancelled (I really missed it). It has been great to catch up on gossip, moan about various things, and just chat. Whilst I enjoy the audio books I usually use to while away the time and block out the pain, talking is better. The miles pass faster (even though we are travelling slower) and it hurts less (and I don't attribute the lower pain to just the lower pace).

I has also been a lesson in reigning myself in. I am overly ambitious, and that is part of the reason of my aforementioned disillusion - I am always striving to do better, with EVERY run, and that is just not possible. As Mr Taffi is always saying, sometimes your body or your mind is just not up for the run on any given day. It has been good just to run for runnings sake, and not for the time or distance or pace target. And it also means that finally I am doing the mid-week "Easy" run prescribed by the training plan. That "easy" run has always become a "pace" or "interval" run until now, because I am always pushing myself. It has been good to switch off the pace alerts on my Garmin watch and just enjoy without the nag nag nagging...

Comparisons over time...

I've been using SportTracks to try and gauge whether I'm improving my pace over my distance runs as time progresses - this in part to try and alleviate some of the disillusion mentioned in the last post.

As I have varied my runs it was not easy to find comparable distances to compare, particularly distances with similar challenges. I found one run from mid March and one from the end of May, and plotted 1/4mile splits. These runs were not identical, but essentially 10km down and back up the river Taff.

The trends are quite similar, but I hope it is not wishful thinking to say that my splits have improved over this period. The first shows my splits rapidly approaching 11 minute miling and then being largely maintained. In the second my splits are well below 11 minute miling throughout. The overall time 1.07:15 for the first, and 1.03:28 for the second seem to corroborate this.

I intend to repeat this run soon for comparison again - and in my striving to conquer the 60minute 10K!!

Disillusionment

My blogging has been fairly scarce of late (read as: non-existent!)...this has been in part because of the hectic nature of daily life (running around after 2 little monkeys, a holiday, and work that does not stop even when on maternity leave), partly because, as is common with all but the best blogs, or the most savvy bloggers, this blog goes largely unread, and partly because I've hit another little bit of "runners-block"...

The first problem isn't going to go away, but with a little juggling, I should find a bit of time to write.

The second problem...I always knew this would be the case, and actually made a conscious decision not to pimp my blog around on the likes of Facebook or Twitter...and anyway, this blog is for me, and if anyone else does read it, and gets anything out of it, then all the better. If you do, then please let me know! ;-)

The last problem is one which Mr Taffi says I will overcome, and after all, this is what the journey towards the Cardiff Half is all about.

I'll get the blog up to date with a series of posts over the next few days.

But one bit of news... I'm a fully paid up entrant to the Cardiff Half!! I've paid my entry, considered my charity, and finalised a plan of action... :-)

5K PB's

Since my epic run (indeed epic week of running!!) I have run my 5K 3 bridge route twice and achieved a PB both times.

The first time I achieved 29mins52seconds, thus a pace average of 9min38secs and achieving sub 30 minutes for the first time! My pace graph pleasingly shows how my splits are almost exclusively sub-10 - I'm definately improving!!

My second was actually an intervals run - 1/4mile ON, 1/4 mile OFF.



My split v average plot nicely demonstrates my ON-OFF paces. My overall average was 9min16.

My overall time was 28min55.
Clearly I am running within myself on steady runs.

Geographical Dyslexia...

Foolishly, after two fairly intensive runs that week already, I decided to run again. Again around Cowbridge as I was staying with Mummy and Daddy Penguin for a few days. I planned a 10K run (approximately) and checked it out on googlemaps to note down the villages and hamlets I would be running through.

The weather was for rain, and I decided if it was really raining I would call it off, but drizzling was fine. In the end it was not raining at all.

I set off, and noted after a mile that my pace was slower than usual because I had not let myself recover properly from previous runs, but thought: fine, this can be treated as an "easy" run, which I rarely do as I am too ambitious and push for new targets constantly.

However, after about mile 3 I took a wrong turn (I think I mixed up my Penllyn's and ny Pen-y-lan's !!)

I had a fair idea of direction from the sun that was unfortunately beating down, and I kept asking people tending to their gardens if I was still heading the right way to come out on the A48 (yes I was, though the affirmatives were often accompanied by curious looks!)

Many twists and turns later, many hills later, and a whole bottle of water later I came out on the A48 about half a mile further away from where I had expected. I rejoined my planned route, and stopped off in the Crossways inn for a top-up of water (Thank you barman!!).

The conversation went:

Me: Do you think I could trouble you for a top up of tap water. I got lost and ran further than I planned.
Barman: Sure no problem.
Me: I should have been home 2 miles ago.
Barman: Have you got a mobile to ring for a lift?
Me: Oh its okay, its only 2 more miles, and it is a matter of pride now!

(I'm a stubborn so-n-so!!)

I ran my furthest distance yet - 10miles - and averaged 11minute miling, which, for the conditions, I am very pleased about.

Here is my route - red is actual, blue is intended!!

Intended route: Cowbridge--Aberthin--Newton--Penllyn--A48--Llanbleddian(via St-Brynach/Llanfrynach church)--Cowbridge
Actual route: Cowbridge--Aberthin--Newton--Pen-y-lan--Llansannor--City--CraigPenllyn--Penllyn--PentreMeyrick--A48--Llanbleddian(via St-Brynach/Llanfrynach church)--Cowbridge......oops!

But it did turn out to be a "distance-endurance" run, not "easy"...!!

An ambition fulfilled...

The week of the Tata Steel Cardiff Bay 5 was a big mileage week for me. I'm a bit behind on my blogging but will get up to date over the next few posts...

Three days after the race I decided to fulfil an ambition of mine - to run from Culverhouse cross to Cowbridge. Mummy and Daddy Penguin live in Cowbridge, and Culverhouse is a big intersection/out-of-town shopping centre on the outskirts of Cardiff. It is one long road between the two, the A48, and it had long seemed like a HUGE target to actually run all the way.

I had scoped it out previously on one of many trips to see the Penguins, and had determined that there was a path on one side or other for about 2/3 of the way, and then a deep verge the rest of the way. I had also noted that the verge grass had just been cut, so now was the time.

I dropped off Monkey1 and Monkey2 at the Penguins' house, and caught a lift to the top of the Tumble with Mummy Penguin. The Tumble is a big hill out of Culverhouse, and I thought it would not be cheating to run from there, and would save a huge hill right at the start of the run that might have led to injury, or exhaustion too early in the run.

The first few miles were great. I made really good time, and enjoyed the different perspective on the road yielded from running not driving.

Then I inadvertantly crossed from the path to the verge too early (an extra 1/2 mile of path was available) and running on the verge was terrible - really hard-going on the feet, and my pace plummeted. I also found that the deep verge disappears just before the sliproad down into Cowbridge, and I had to run down the old Roman road track - nice scenery, but tough on the feet again.

But I achieved it. Another mental goal ticked off.

Tata Steel Cardiff Bay 5

Another race crossed off my plan...

I had been avidly checking the weather forecast for the last week, and the forecast had been for a little rain - sounds nice, I thought, not too warm. On the day, however, it was sunny and very very windy! Hardly ideal, especially as Cardiff Bay is very exposed!

I left Mr Taffi looking after Monkey1 and Monkey2, and caught the train down to the bay, registered, grabbed a quick Milkybar treat to top up breakfast, and waited to start.

I was calm and collected, kept everything I could identical to my training runs - water bottle, audio book, Garmin watch...

I set up my watch to beep if I was slower than 10min miling and beep if faster than 9min miling, and determined to keep within these boundaries as much as possible, not to set off too fast, not to care as everyone raced off at the beginning (Mr Taffi says you overtake loads who burnout by starting off too fast if you are wise at the start) and to keep to my plan.

First 2 miles - great, had about 1 1/2 minutes in the bag by averaging about 9 1/2 minute miles. The 3rd and 4th miles were slower because of the wind, and mile 5 a lot slower as the barrage was so exposed...

...but I crossed the finish in 49mins11secs (chiptime says 49:24, not sure why). I'm so pleased with the time, to have broken the 50min barrier, and in the knowledge that in perfect conditions I could run faster again!

Analysing my race, I can clearly see the influence of the wind! (this is an overlay of several screengrabs in Sporttracks...)

Every time I turn into the wind my pace slows!! You can also see a gradual slowing in my pace throughout the race, in part tiredness, in part indicating the exposure of the second half of the race.

But all in all, a stunning place for a race, and one that I will enter again...(though crossing fingers firmly for a less windy day!)

And my reward...



Running not Jogging...

With a race coming up I didn't want to tire myself out (I'm reluctant to say that I was "tapering" since the race is only 5miles!) so I just ran my 2 bridges run.

Knocked another 25secs or so off my time, and the Garmin Training Center told me that I had been running all the way (not jogging - it has categorised pace zones) **[apart from steps etc which it is difficult to run - the 7.6% below]

That feels like quite the achievement. I'm a real runner at last!!

I also installed a plug-in to Sporttracks called overlay - which allows you to compare similar runs.

Results of comparing 3 2-bridge runs taken over the last couple of months:

The bold traces are rolling averages. The green trace is the most recent and shows a marked improvement in pace. Also encouraging is the reduction in height of the peaks (indicating an improved pace) where I have to negotiate steps/ramps - showing I have the power and energy and fitness to power through these transitions.

Reluctance and progress...

The weather has been fantastic, and that, and a long holiday weekend spending time in the garden with the family meant that I had a severe case of run-reluctance.

But I eventually forced myself out on my "dress-rehersal" 5mile run in advance of the Tata Steel Cardiff Bay 5 mile event I want to enter next week. And overall I was very pleased.

I clocked the 5miles in 50mins46seconds, frustratingly close to the 50minute target. Looking at my pace chart...

And comparing it to the satelite plot...

...you can clearly see that the slow section was as soon as I crossed the river and headed back upstream. It was windy, upriver means gradually uphill, and that side of the river is exposed to the wind. Oh, and it is the second half of the run and the legs are tired!. Once under the cover of the trees again back on the north side of the river, and my pace improves.

I believe I could have broken the 50min barrier had it not been for the wind - my average was only 10:09 minute miles after all. :-)

Gotta love Sporttracks for analysis - and free too (there is a paid version with more features, and I have to say I am tempted!) - it satisfies the inner-geek...

Shorter with more pace

After my 9.5mile run the other weekend I decided upon a week of shorter runs with more pace. Thus my last two runs have been the same 5km route, first as intervals of 1/4mile on/off and then just as hard as I could maintain and finish.

The first, much like the one a week before but significantly faster - about 32minutes compared to almost 36 - I can't be too precise about my time as my Garmin forerunner ran out of battery charge after the first interval! (again my fault!!), so I resorted to the time on my mobile phone which was given only in minutes and was thus anywhere between 31 and 33minutes.

The second, watch fully charged and set to beep at me if I ran slower than 10:15 minute mile pace, was completed in 30mins33seconds - my fastest 5K. Annoyed that I couldn't break the 30min barrier but my overall splits were sub-10 minute miling which is great.

I'm also pleased that I was able to build up my pace after the first mile, running my last half mile significantly faster than my second. You can also see this in the pace v average plot below:

Overal a good run, that improved as I went (I started off feeling that running that evening was a mistake, and finished pleased that I had made the effort).

But today my legs hurt almost as much as they did after 9.5miles!

Frustratingly slow progress

I think I am being a little hard on myself. I did my 2-bridge, 2mile run again an finished it in exactly the same time as previously. Now since I had only about a week before set this time (which was in itself a vast improvement on the previous time I had run it) I think it was a big ask that I could run it significantly faster already. But I am frustrated all the same.

What I am pleased about though is the pace graph which shows how I maintained sub-10 minute miling except where I had steps to negotiate.

My longest run yet, by far...

I'm playing catch-up with my blog posts, so this run was about 9 days ago.

I ran down to the centre of Cardiff, around the back of Central train station, zig-zagging around the paths of Llandaff fields, up past Llandaff Rowing club, through Hailey park and around the rugby clubhouse and back down Llandaff North highstreet.

I was aiming to run about 8 1/2 miles (a little over a mile further than before), then worked out that 9.3miles would be 15km. In the end, due to my Garmin Forerunner watch stopping for a few minutes (my fault, not its!) I ran 9.5 miles in 1hour45min53sec. I was pretty pleased with it overall, not my fastest splits, but a consistent long run that pushed the boundaries of my abilities and allowed my to build upon my stamina.

(the one blip is due to my watch stopping briefly)

I now also feel confident that I could, if forced, continue to plod along all the way to a half-marathon distance already. I'm not ready for it, it would hurt, and be slow, but I really feel I could do it!

And I will get faster. My aim at a minimum obviously is to finish a half-marathon. My next aim is to run sub-10minute miling - thus a 2hour11minute half-marathon, and my ultimate goal is to do the half-marathon in sub 2hours. But that last goal would require a split time of 9min15, something I can't yet maintain over a 5K distance.

I'll update my gmaps pedometer links on the right with this route in due course.

Intervals

I had another go at intervals, this time over a longer distance (5K), and using the intervals feature of the Garmin forerunner so that my intervals were measured at 1/4mile on, 1/4 mile off. I'd previously been running 200m on/off intervals and I felt that the added distance would be more beneficial to improving pace and to recovery, and make for more consistant analysis in SportTracks afterwards.

A good run, with relatively consistent differences between my 'on' and 'off' pace even when one 'on' pace differed from the next. You can see from my 1/4 mile split times below that I was also able to gradually pick up the 'on' pace as I progressed over the 5K distance.

My pace-time graph is also smoother than it has been too (within the confines of performing intervals obviously!!) - and a line drawn at 10minute miling also shows how I was trying to achieve sub-10 minute miling for the 'on' periods.

Overall I am pleased with my progress, and feel that I can improve my pace over the next 6 months to the Cardiff half (and I am now feeling more confident that it will be the Cardiff Half and not just the Swansea 10K that I will be aiming for...

Putting in the miles...

Three runs since I last blogged.

My long weekend run was the longest yet - 7.25miles down the Taff Trail to Cardiff Central train station and back, taking in the Riverside Farmers' market (tempted to stop for french crepe but I resisted!) and Llandaff fields along the way. I passed a 5K charity run and wished I had known about it (lovely yellow t-shirts!). There was an element of ad-libbing in the route I took, especially as I had planned only to run to the castle and back. It felt nice to realise that I am starting to enjoy it enough to add that little extra rather than just run the distance and get home...and I still had energy in my legs for a huge sprint for home at the end.

My midweek run was going to be some fartlek, but for one reason or another that didn't happen, so it was a Friday hilly road run instead, 5.25miles around Fairwater. A fairly good run for a hills-newbie like myself.

Sunday I did a variation on a run I had planned in my head a long while ago - up to Coryton roundabout (M4 J32) and down the Taff Trail - 10K on tired legs after the hilly run on Friday. No energy left for more than thudding along for the last km.

I'll hopefully add these runs to my other gmaps pedometer runs on the right hand side of the blog soon.

My ambition is to combine the two weekend runs ultimately and thus run up to the M4, all the way down the Taff Trail to the castle, and back to Llandaff Weir. That (doing a quick calculation in my head) should make a half marathon!

(my two successive weekend runs combined to form a tentative half marathon!)

But I have a long way to go before I attempt that...

A real runner...?

Yesterday I ran 2 miles. Just 2 miles, but important ones. I ran the original "two bridge" run I first ran back at the end of January, six weeks after giving birth to monkey2.

Back then I was really pleased with myself because I ran all the way around, but clocked 22minutes.

This time I am so proud of the fact that I wiped 3minutes15seconds off my time for the route. That's a huge amount over such a short distance. It felt really good and strong, I was able to push when another runner overtook me, and was even able to "push for home" on the last straight.

I applied much of what I have learnt over the last couple of months - to increase my footstrikes per minute in order to both increase my pace and to reduce the force with which my feet land, to use other runners to push that little more, and to begin to gauge my pace.

I have my Garmin forerunner set up to beep with one pitch to warn me to speed up if my pace falls slower than 10:05, and with another pitch if my pace increases faster than 9:45 - throughout, apart from when I was climbing/descending steps at the bridges, it was indicating I was either within my specified zone, or more often, faster.

I resisted checking my pace until I uploaded the trace on the computer on my return:

The 3 peaks are the flights of steps and a short steep track upto the road where it is difficult to keep your pace up. Otherwise I maintained a sub-10minute mile pace throughout. (9:26 for 1st mile, 9.40 for 2nd).

Long run planned for this weekend, then some Fartlek or hill-running midweek.
Next weekend I'm going to attempt a 5k at sub-10 minute miling.

Clocks change tomorrow, affording me a wealth of new routes I can do in the evenings.

"Oh the hills!!!!!"

Did my first hilly run this week - just 5k - around Mummy and Daddy Penguin's neck of the woods... (Mummy and Daddy Penguin are what we call my parents...long story...)

It is a circular route about the market town of Cowbridge, and one we have walked many many times in childhood and a walk my parents still do on occasion now. It has many hills, up and down...and also very scenic.

First decision was which way to run around it - I chose clockwise on the basis that that was the direction we normally walk it, and it meant the biggest hill (at least the biggest perceived hill!) would be downward.

I was please with my efforts - the  hills, though tough, I coped with well, practising the shortening and quickening of my stride on the uphills, and trying not to lean back on the downhills...as I had read in magazines and book.

I clocked 33mins45secs - slow for a 5k but compared to my last flat 5k, and given the hills, not bad at all.

Interesting to see the plot of my pace against elevation...

I'm hoping in a month or so's time to run this circuit in both directions back-to-back to create a 10k hilly run. Now that sounds tortuous!!

Oh, and now that I look at the elevation, the perceived longest hill...? IS the longest hill!

Running for Japan

Ran just twice this week. First was mid-week, 4 miles, and an attempt to put into practise something I read in one of the running magazines Mr Taffi bought me - to start at a slow pace for the first mile, then run the next faster, then the next faster...I think my error was in setting off at the same pace I normally average, and then trying to run faster each successive mile, rather than to start rather slower...

Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither can speed be built upon one single Fartlek session!!

Saturday's run was rather better.

After my midweek run my head was most definately saying NO! to my long run. But after some persuasion from Mr Taffi, I set off to do the same 5 mile route I had run just over a week before, or, if things were going well, to increase the distance by about 10% (I had an alternative route planned out after the mile 4 marker).

The run was going just about okay, but I didn't feel my legs had the extra distance in them, so up until just before the mile 4 marker decision point I was fairly certain to run just the 5 miles. Then I remembered two things I had come across on the internet this week:

1) an incredible video of the Japan tsunami arriving on shore within minutes of the earthquake,
2) a post by Paula Radcliffe promoting Run for Japan

And from that moment on my mind was resolved on running the extra mile. I ran 6.2 miles for the people of Japan, and there was energy in my legs.

The funny thing is that I can look at the pace-distance trace and spot that moment when the decision was made. And even though that was the furthest I had run by quite some margin since taking up running again, and probably equalled the furthest I have ever run, my legs were willing to push on.

I'm glad Mr Taffi persuaded me to go out for a run that morning ("Sometimes your best runs happen when you really don't feel like it").

Then I registered my run on Run for Japan, paid my donation, and felt very pleased with myself...

Amazing the difference that 3 days can make. Now I finally feel that I can achieve the distance required for a 10K and hopefully half marathon later in the year. And hopefully I will have gained just a little more pace by then too.

And, I have persuaded a friend to run with me in the May Race for Life.

AND, I plan to escape a house of chicken pox (Monkey2 now has it!) to run a few hills this week...

Fartlek

Traditionally the weekend run is the long run of the week. But, being on maternity leave, and the past week in particular, it was actually easier to do my long run on Thursday.

So, Sunday, armed with new knowledge from The Complete Book of Running for Women, and after a long walk with a reluctant dog on Saturday to scope out suitable landmarks at approximately 200m intervals, I did my first bit of speed training.

There are many different ways of improving speed training (described in the book from page 283+):

• Fartlek - Sweedish for "speed play"...pick a landmark in the distance, run 'fast' to it, then slow to recover, then pick another...
• Pickups - more structured, and uping the pace for set time intervals (1min on, 1min off...) - can be combined with ladders/pyramids (increasing the times up the pyramid, then down again)...
• Intervals - upping the pace according to distance (400m on, 200m off)
• Tempo runs - sustained fast run for say 15mins (builds speed endurance) - a bit different from the above...
• Hill training - run up short or long hills - if your particularly masochistic then you can do hill repeats which is running up the same hill over and over!!!

I went for a slightly more structured fartlek - that is, I designed my run such that the landmarks were at 200m intervals - so a kind of "Fartlek interval run"! Ran for 2miles 200m on 200m off...results below.

You can see that I was running with an aim that my "on" periods were to maintain about 8:30minute miling (plus or minus 30s) and my "off" periods to maintain 10minute miling (plus or minus 30s). This I basically achieved (the 2 slow peaks are the turnaround point in my run, and towards the end when I stopped then decided to continue a couple more reps).

I think I need to double the "on" intervals, as per the book's description of intervals (400:200), rather than the 200:200 I did. This will make it easier to control my pace, as by the time I glanced at my watch a couple of times to check my pace, it was already time to slow.

The above graph was created with a new bit of freeware - SportTracks 3.0 - which I have not yet used in anger, but certainly lets me scale the plots (unlike the Garmin Training Center), and yet still allows plotting of a run over a satellite image.

In other news, Mr Taffi bought me 2 running magazines on his weekly food shop. I'll delve into those for useful snippits of wisdom too...

Runs this week - consolodate 5miles (more route planning to do...), another Fartlek/interval run, and hopefully a hill session (need to travel a bit to find some decent hills, but I have a few in mind!)

Building up the miles

Including the St David's day Run, I have already run 12miles this week - that's almost a half marathon...tho' eventually I'll have to put all that together at once!

I finally dug out my Garmin Forerunner watch...

Interesting to run with GPS - nice to know exactly how far you have run rather than rely on plotting routes beforehand and noting landmarks that signify the mile markers. It also means that you know your running pace at all times. The temptation of course is to spend your run with your eyes glued to the pace display, something I was keen not to do. Yet what I found amazing was how little difference there is in perception of pace between 9 and 11 minute miles. That makes it hard to judge my pace, and either run too fast and burn out (common in race conditions and something I did a few years ago on my only10K race) or to let your pace drift slower and slower. Hopefully I will get better at judging pace, and with the Garmin to keep me in check I should be okay.

I plan to go out with the Garmin soon and practice upping my pace in a controlled manner (say 200m 'sprints')

Tuesday I ran a 4mile street run (cabin fever from looking after a chickenpox'd monkey1 spilt over and I had to get out of the house at the first opportunity. Legs felt like lead after my race and long walk on Sunday.

Today I did a 5mile river run - what I call the "4 bridges" along the Taff Trail. That was better, and I enjoyed the distraction of both the Garmin and an audio book I purchased off the internet (Kathy Reichs' Grave Secrets in case you are interested!) - but WOW it was windy. I knew this, but went out for a run anyway as I had mum over to look after Monkey1 and Monkey2 and it was an opportunity for a midweek daytime run. Miles 4 and 5 were straight into gale force wind. Very hard and slow going. Still clocked my furthest distance yet, and only walked to decend a flight of steps from one of the bridges.

Uploaded my runs to the computer. I have some great software for this (Accuroute) but I've misplaced the disk and password so it might be a while before I can use this. So reliant on the far from perfect "Garmin Training Center". Not at all impressed with the basic interface which allows you to do very little. However, the ability to view your routes in Google Earth is great.

Garmin Training Center Pace v Distance

The inability to scale the Garmin pace graph is truly pathetic, though you can scroll crosshairs over the trace to view your pace at specific points.

So, what next? Consolodate my 5mile distance, and start properly attempting to increase my pace. To this end I have been reading my running book. More on this in my next post. :o)

St David's Day Run...

The British Military Training St David's Day Run was an event (albeit the 10K not 5K) that Mr Taffi was going to enter before he broke his toe... It was only on Thursday, when I discovered that there were both 5K and 10K events, that I had an idea of entering it myself. My half-marathon training App had a planned training run for today (Sunday) so I thought "why not?"

It meant a bit of planning - preparing feeds for Monkey2 in my absence (it shouldn't have meant more than 2 hours out of the house but a grouchy monkey is not a happy monkey or a happy Mr Taffi, so best to be prepared), tracking down all my running kit the night before, and an earlyish start as I had to register immediately before the race.

I took with me my latest internet (Amazon, my fave shop!) purchase: new drinks bottle...

(I really did buy the two, though the green bottle got an outing today, and the blue one stayed at home!)
...my iPod Shuffle complete with Mark Kermode's film reviews, and my entry fee.
I also wore thin fleece gloves as the weather was lovely, but bitingly cold (very glad I did).

I left Mr Taffi home with a chickenpox'd Monkey1 and a sleeping Monkey2, and walked the 3miles or so to Bute park, and registered with the other late entries at the registration tent. A smaller turnout than I was expecting, but I think the larger entry was for the 10K.

I pinned on my entry number...

...selected my podcast, stretched a bit, and set off for the start line.

Once they'd freed a couple of trapped 5K entries from the portaloos we were off.

The route is all around Bute park, so fantastically flat and traffic free, and it was a lovely (if cold) day for it.
I can't say it was the best run I have done in recent weeks, but as Mr Taffi says, the experience is good - learning to run in a crowd, coping with waiting around in the cold to start, having to travel to the start line rather than set off for a run practically from the front door of home...and learning the hard way that I should have been to the portaloos myself before the race started!

I completed the race in 31mins18secs - not fast, but actually faster than training runs, and my km splits were fairly consistant. I averaged 10mins4secs minute miling (a stop to fumble with a detatched iPod shuffle tipping it over the 10mins mark...). All in all, a good baseline race from which to improve.

A good race, well-organised, good value (still only £11 for on-the-day entry) - and you get a medal and T-shirt (the latter a useful extra layer for the 3mile walk home!). The only criticisms - (1) not so much as a cereal bar in the goody-bag (a little sweet lolly does not count as food!), but luckily I had just enough money for a St David's day welsh cake from the coffee stall to keep the hunger pangs at bay until I got home...(2) a (nice but) generic medal without the event name and date...

Please see the panel to the right for an addition to my "planned events" to include this one (even though I could hardly call it "planned"!) and the gmap-pedometer route (which strangely comes out at 5.4km).

If you happen to stumble upon this blog, please comment and say "Hi" just to let me know someone out there is reading...!

Onwards and upwards...

Gadgets and widgets...

I've added a couple of Blog gadgets to the right ------->

First is links to runs I designed on Gmaps pedometer that I have already run.
Second is a list of the runs I plan to do (the list might grow!) - I will cross them off as I run them.

I will also shortly dig out my Garmin Forerunner watch so that I can track my runs with GPS and upload them for analysis (speed, pace, inclines, etc).

And I have already fished out a book I bought a couple of years ago when I had a rather more half-baked idea about running. It shall be my running bible...

The Complete Book of Running for Women by Claire Kowalchik

Tomorrow's run is supposedly a 50minute 'long' - and I have a plan...

The going's good...

Two mid-week runs this week, as per the training app for my iPod. The training program called for a 40minute 'pace' run on Wednesday, followed by 20minutes 'easy' on Thursday.

I'm still not entirely sure what a 'pace' run is...Mr Taffi says it helps you increase your baseline running pace through short bursts of higher pace running. He also went on to describe how you do this - either increased pace for set distances (say 500m), set times (5mins) or increasing your pace to reach a higher heartrate and then maintaining for a period.

Anyhow, I settled for a very unscientific 'push on the legs' for an unmeasured distance/time.

Felt good.

I decided that my planned 4mile run, after scoping it out in the car earlier on Wednesday, was a little too isolated just after the 2nd mile point for a nighttime run. So I decided to run the first 2 miles, turn around, and run the same in reverse. Benefit. - all uphills become downhills, and vice versa. Also very good way of comparing times for what must be precisely equal distances. In reality I misread the two mile marker and ended up with 2 middle 'miles' of 0.8miles each, so my overall run became 3.6miles, but I felt really good, kept a steady pace without slowing for the last mile, didn't feel wrecked after it, and actually got a stitch in my right side not the usual left (is this progress?)

Thursday was something approximating the run I did the previous Thursday ending at the chippy - which I did again (habit...bad!) - just a shade further as I ran from a different starting point - the Polling station.

After placing my vote in the Referendum for increased law-making powers in the Welsh assembly, I set off on my 'easy' run - another really good run, and my pace was faster too.

I feel that I am starting to get somewhere now. I really do have the bug.



Progress, pods and podcasts...

I ran twice last week. The aim is for three times, but with the dark evenings, monkey1 and monkey2 this is difficult.

I ran just over 3 1/2 km on Thursday - not that far, but it fitted in with the "20mins easy" as described by the half marathon coach app, was the easiest unplanned route to do in the dark, gave me a chance to try out the new eBay purchase (see later!) and finished at the chippy...

Yes, I did say "finished at the chippy"...this is the second time I've done this. An omission to take meat/fish out of the freezer to cook dinner, exhaustion, or otherwise has now twice given rise to a brief conversation between Mr Taffi and I regarding the merits of going on a training run that will finish at the aptly named Five Star Fish Bar...and thus far has not caused disagreement between us...

Clearly not advised by any marathon (half or otherwise) training wisdom I have ever found, but the chips are good :-)

I tried out my latest EBay purchase - an iPod Shuffle (4th generation)...very cute, though not as droolsomely gorgeous as the latest iPod Nano...

(the Shuffle)

Second outing of the the Shuffle. Last run I did to music, this time to Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's Film review podcast. Both helped to aleviate the boredom and block out the heavy panting and thud thud thud of my feet. Great little purchase.

On Saturday I ran my furthest since taking up running post monkey2 birth. 6km. Completed in 42mins so hardly the pace I would like to run a 10k or even a half marathon, but I kept going, and could have carried on.

That's the hardest part actually. Pacing oneself. Determining:

1. how fast you are running each mile, and
2. how fast to run to complete your run comfortably, but not too comfortably.

Mr Taffi assures me this is something that comes with time and practice.

But I do feel that I am improving. I've already come a long way since my first 2 mile stagger just 6 weeks ago. I am feeling more comfortable, at times my running style feels more fluid, and I am hungry for more...(read as impatient for improvement!)

The Plan

11 1/2 weeks ago I gave birth to Monkey2 (Monkey1 is 2 years old and in perpetual motion). I decided I wanted to "get good at running" - read as: be able to run a 10K race in a half decent time for someone in their mid-30's and without feeling like a total wreck at the end of it.

So, six weeks postpartum (thats 6 weeks after giving birth - yes, a new word for me too!!) I staggered out on my first run. A 2 miler. And it was tough. But not quite as tough as I thought it would be.

Encouraging. So I did it again the next weekend, and the next. And it was getting slightly easier. I even added on a little extra loop to the end of the run.

Okay, so I was hooked into the idea of running now. And the idea grew.

Hopes to enter the Swansea 10K became, possibly, just possibly, if my training goes well, to enter the Cardiff Half. The 10K is in September, the Half in October. So, I can aim high, and still just do the 10K if I bottle it.

Training is a little difficult during the winter months with the dark evenings. Looking after the two monkeys takes so much time, and it's easy to collapse in front of the TV in the evening rather than to run the safe, lit-street BORING runs. At the weekend I have the glorious Taff trail to run along and explore.

Still, I have run in the evening (a run designed to finish at the local chippy!! counterproductive? Nah!) and the last two weekends I have run 5K, shaving off a few precious seconds the second time.

So, the plan...? THE plan....

• to train 3 times a week,
• to use Half Coach - App for iPod/iPhone - as a training guide,
• to use gmaps pedometer to design my runs and measure their distance,

and to enter:

• the Cardiff Race for Life 5K on 25th May 2011,
• the Cardiff Race for Life 10K on 2nd July 2011 (to set a benchmark),
• the Admiral Swansea Bay 10K on 25th September 2011, and
• the Cardiff Half Marathon on 16th October 2011 (hopefully!!)

I hope to blog my progress here over the upcoming weeks and months.
Wish me luck!