The daunting long run

So, as I reported in my last blog, I ran to and from work last week. It's a 4.5 mile run each way and I did it a total of 8 times meaning I ran 36 miles over the course of Monday to Friday.

It's all well and good being able to run 4.5 miles but this didn't fill me with much confidence that I would be able to eventually run 26.2 miles! However, the strategy seems to have paid off...

I took the weekend off as I was away with my family in Monmouthshire - very nice and very relaxing. As I had Monday as part of this weekend break it was always my plan to do a long run when I got back to Bristol.

We arrived back in Bristol at midday on Monday and the usual thoughts of "I don't really want to do this run" and "how can I rearrange my schedule to put the long run on another day" started up. Thing is that I told sufficiently many people that I was going to run that I would have felt that I failed if I didn't, so on went the trainers.

To cut a long story short I ran to and from work twice! That's 18 miles in total all in one go.

Apart from some serious stitch at 4 miles, which I had to pause for 10 seconds and then run through, I managed the whole thing without stopping or walking. The time for the whole thing was 2 hours 37 minutes and 35 seconds - I was so pleased with this because I had aimed to do it in 2 hours 40 mins.

I feel like I've really achieved something, and that I can actually do this now. The key though is not to become complacent, so after a day of resting today I will be back on my run-to-work schedule.

Sponsorship-wise I'm now over £200 which is great! I'm nearly 10% of the way to my target. If you haven't sponsored me yet, please take the time to do it now, you can donate online via www.virginmoneygiving.com/neiltaylor or you can pass me a cheque made out to Aid International.

Many thanks for all your support!

There and back again...

I thought I'd do a mid-week blog.

I've been doing something quite different this week in terms of training. I'm not sure whether this is something a runner would recommend to do, but I decided that it would be a good idea to get my legs used to regular running and to train them to recover fast.

In order to do this I've been running back and forth from work everyday. It's 4.5 miles from door to door, so not a long run but in this case I'm going for little and often.

Apart from my initial bus journey in to the office on Monday morning I've been doing the run twice a day. So far I've done it 5 times meaning I've covered 22.5 miles in about 48 hours.

The most important thing is that my legs continue to recover before the next run which I hope they will!!

The plan is to do this for the remainder of the week and then take a break for the weekend and a long run on Monday. We'll see what happens.

I'm happy that my training seems to be happening a lot more regularly now so, whilst I'm still nervous about the event itself, I'm feeling a lot better than this time two weeks ago.

A big thank you to everyone who's sponsored me so far. On last checking I'm now at £150! If you haven't sponsored me please visit my sponsorship page at http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/neiltaylor anything you can give will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again for all your support.

Rabbit in headlights

This running week has been eventful.

I've been on two smallish runs. One 6 miler on Wednesday and a 7 miler today (Saturday).

On Wednesday I was merrily running my way to Yate minding my own business when the pedestrian path suddenly came to an end. I was on a 60mph country lane and was sure a path would come along soon - it never did. Instead I found myself running along the right hand side of the road (I believe this is the correct thing to do in such circumstances) in the pitch black with only a thin strip of reflective material on my otherwise black jacket.

I've never been so scared whilst running. I was on and off the verge of the road, in and out of hedges and occasionally running through mud. Despite this, and despite a lot of walking to prevent ankle injury I managed to make the 6 miles in about 55 minutes which wasn't too shabby given the situation.

Having had enough excitement for one week, I opted for a slightly safer 7 mile run down and up the cycle path into Bristol City centre.

I feel like I'm in the swing of things now so the plan is to hit the sponsorship advertising this coming week so beware! :-) Of course you can prevent the onslaught by donating now at www.virginmoneygiving.com/neiltaylor

Thank you for reading, and thanks for donating - it's much appreciated.

Kick start the New Year

I have done the odd run since the last post (honest) but haven't found much time to update it. However, due to snow and generally not feeling my best I finally got round to my first successful run of 2010.

I started off easy (relatively speaking) with a 9 mile run which I accomplished in 1 hour and 13 minutes.

I can't be bothered with the maths (I just finished running for goodness sake) but I think that works out just over 8 minutes per mile - which I'm more than happy with. I'm aiming to do the marathon in under 4 hours which means I have to achieve atleast 9 minute miles I believe.

I noticed today that energy is key and having not done much running recently my legs began to feel the strain - time to carb it up I think!

I also need to step up my sponsorship programme, so far I've taken the laid back approach which appears to have raised me approximately zero pounds so I need to be a bit more direct perhaps.

Please give me the motivation I need by sponsoring me. The money is going to Aid International to build and support orphanages in Lusaka, Zambia. If you can spare me some of your hard earned cash click the link to the right.

Thank you.

The whole 9 ... miles

Inspired by a run I was supposed to have done with James last week, I decided to up the mileage and go for a 9 mile run. So I planned my route last night and got up early this morning ready to start at 07:30.

So I started off, and I have to be honest I made a right meal of the first half of the run. I kept stopping because I was suffering from stitch and at one point I even got into a phone-box to reverse call home for a pick up!

Thankfully the phone wasn't working and I decided the only way I was going to get home was to complete the whole run. After getting over that psychological barrier the second half was actually much easier. At the end of it, although I was disappointed that I had got close to giving up, I was so pleased that I'd done it.

You can see my route here: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3345090
It works out to be about 9.4 miles which I managed to do (even with all my stopping in the first half) in 84mins and 13secs. It's an OK time, if my calculations are correct that speed will get me around the marathon in less than 4 hours, but I know I can do better. So I'm looking forward to the next opportunity to prove that.

This week I will try and do a 7 miler and hopefully a little bit of hill training and then if I get a chance I will do my 9.4 mile route again at the weekend.

Busy busy busy.

If you'd like to sponsor me on my marathon mission you can by going here: http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/neiltaylor

Thank you in advance.

Neil 

Excuses excuses

So in my last post I said that the second run is the hardest, but it turns out that the third is! It's been a long time (over a month)... my main excuse is that I was studying for my final accountancy exam, but at the end of the day it's just an excuse.

The training is back on and to kick off I thought I'd do the same run that I did for my first run to make sure that nothing had gone dreadfully wrong in the last month. I'm pleased to report that despite a horrendous stitch for most of the run I managed to do it in the same time (54 mins). You can check out the route here: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3247741

Although it's painful and hard work, the feeling when you complete the whole run is so good! I've just got to remember how fresh and upbeat I feel when I've done the run and not focus on the pain felt whilst running.

I'll leave you with another photo from the orphanages I'm raising money for. I haven't started "advertising" my sponsorship yet, so there's still time to be the very first person to sponsor me... do it... do it now! :-) http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/neiltaylor

Thank you!!

The Second Run is the Hardest

Don't know about you, but many of my "training" schedules in the past have been very well meaning. However, turning a schedule into reality often takes a lot of effort and I have been known to do the first run of my training and never manage the second.

I am pleased to announce that this time I have managed to overcome this 2nd-run-phobia with the help of Mr James Hennah who was my running buddy today.

iPods fully loaded, we set off on our 5.8 (actually I think it's nearer 6, see here) mile run. With both of us not wanting to show ourselves up in front of the other we managed to knock 1min 30secs off James' record for the run - woohoo.

Depending on which of the estimated lengths of our run you use, we averaged between 8min:18secs and 8min:30secs per mile which is a very decent pace if we can keep it up for the whole 26.2 miles.

So another run down - I'm pretty confident that with two in the bag I should be able to keep this training lark up.

There's plenty of time until the London Marathon - it's on 25th April 2010 - however, it's never too early to sponsor me, which you can do via Virgin Money Giving by clicking here. Alternatively, you can give me a cheque or cash in person.

Thanks for you support!

Some of the children from one of the orphanages funded by money raised by Aid International and other charities.