MAF Test

Following advice from a thread at www.runningahead.com, I am going to make sure that my easy runs are run at MAF, so I have just got back from my first run. 0.5 mile warm uo and down and 4 mile at MAF, which I am taking as 150bpm.
I could not believe how easy it is to push up the heart rate. It became a little difficult to run at around 150bpm as as i went on, my pace had to slow down. This was strange, as after mile 1 I felt warmed up, yet this meant that my HR was elevated more. Anyhow I am going to keep a log of this, love it.
Here are my findings:

mile 1 - 8:39
mile 2 - 8:51
mile3 - 9:11
mile 4 - 9:32

I could not believe how easy it is to push up the heart rate. It became a little difficult to run at around 150bpm as as i went on, my pace had to slow down. This was strange, as after mile 1 I felt warmed up, yet this meant that my HR was elevated more. Anyhow I am going to keep a log of this, love it.

At the Track

Went to the track tonight with a little reluctance, as I was still feeling it from the fell race on Sat. However, I ran well - did 16x300m at 5:05 mile pace - a vast improvement on my previous session of the same. Overall pleased, as my tired legs seem to have gone too. An easy 5/6 tomorrow is what I plan to do then a day off Thurs perhaps. Really beginning to take the training serious now with every session having an objective.

First Fell Race

The last 2 weeks leading up to the race have been really nerve racking for me, today the day arrived. I prepared well: peanut butter on toast, 7:30am. porridge with banana 11am, then a banana and Powerade before the race.

The race in question is an annual one in Chipping, near Preston, England. According to my garmin 305, it worked out at over 8.5 miles, and 2500ft ascent.

The whole concept of fell running to me was new, and I was really nervous, though my brother (who is an avid fell runner talked me into it).

We arrived at Chipping about an hour before the race was due to start. It was a kind of an agricultural show being held there, as well as the race.

At 2:40pm we were all summoned to the start. We were in the middle of a field which was metal gates off from the public, incidentally there were hundreds of people all leaning over with anticipation waiting for us to start. This did not help with the nerves as I have never been in a race with such a high profile. (All my races to now have been on the road or country with only a few watchers).

Anyhow, sorry if I am boring you. I was there, in the pack with my new fell running shoes on, my shorts, vest, and hip bag, with a couple of gels in. When we set off, I just kept it in my head that this was all new to me, and that I would just intend to get around the course, and not worry about time or anyone else. It proved difficult from the start as we hit about 1.5 miles of gradually ascending fields, a little boggy, and which tested my ankle strength.

I was then faced with total intimidation as I saw the first climb. It looked as though it went on forever. I just kept my head down and plodded up it, the sheer incline rendered it impossible to run up. It seemed relentless, and went on for ages. In fact it was 0.4 of a mile in distance to the summit, and it ascended by 565ft-sheer hell.

On the way up the lactic was so intense, it felt like my calves were going to blow up. I found that when on top with some open space to stretch out the legs, I made tracks pretty well. Next there was some wicked descent which I enjoyed, but all the same it was hard, because it is at these stages I thought I need to turn on the speed a little to make up for the hills. There is a serious danger in running down these rocky, slippy, hills, but I thought what the hell, and went all out, I actually overtook 3 people on my descent, and then it was time for a monster climb again:This one was more gradual but a killer all the same, 1.3 mile with an ascent of 825ft.

After this it felt like I was literally on the top of the world. The clouds were below my feet, the wind was biting and the visibility was becoming worse. I still had 2 runners in the distance there to guide me. I managed to keep them in my sights, pushing myself harder and harder over the precarious, perilous terrain.

There were many more hills to contend with but I will spare the detail. Towards the end we had just downhill to go, and this tested my legs to the max - constant breaking really tested my quads, and it was quite difficult trying to get down the steep drop as fast as I wanted without running great risks. It was 0.4 mile descent of 650ft. At the end my legs returned to power as we hit the road, and then the fields for the final mile. I did the final mile in just over 7 mins, and ended with a sprint finish into the crowd of spectators.


I even got a pat on the back from one of the officials, saying "great finish". The results are not in yet, and so my time is a little hazy as I forgot to stop my garmin, but I know I came in 37th out of a field of about 73, so I was really happy with that.

Spoke to my brother and he thinks he was 9th, so well done to him! Now it was time for a well deserved burger.........only joking.....I settled for a bottle of water and a flapjack. Got changed and headed home. I am sat here now typing this very sore, but hell it was worth it.

I will definitely be hitting the fells more often, - hope you liked my report. Comments welcome.

hard Interval

I have stepped up my interval again. On Sun I did 14x400m with 1 minute gap averaging 1:30.5 pace. Happy with that. Glad to have done the session, left me feeling tired, but great. Will try 16 of them next week.

Longest Run to Date

Today, primarily with the guilt of last nights takeaway I decided to do a long run, in fact on completion it came to 16.21 miles - my longest to date, and I think that I am going to do this length of run every 2 weeks, increasing to a maximum of 22 miles or so. I felt surprisingly good after it, kept a nice easy pace of 8:09 m/mile.

Goal?

Tonight I go to get weighed and hopefully I will be at goal weight, fingers crossed. I have been working hard, and seriously cutting back the calories as well as doing a lot more running. If I don't get their this week I should be their by next week.

Update-I got to my goal weight, now I am 13st6. Whoooohay