End of the first month of 2018

With January coming to a close, a quick update on my progress this month. My half marathon training is drawing to an end, and I've got just over a week until race day. The training has seen my mileage increase massively and I've now covered nearly a quarter of my target distance through the Under Armour You vs The Year challenge for the year in 31 days.

At this rate I will hit the 300 km marker during my the Worthing Half Marathon race on 11th February.

I mentioned I had order the Suunto Spartan HR Baro in my last post, and I've now been using this a few weeks. Really like the watch and battery life is excellent as well as the support that Suunto provide. I've joined a beta program for a new app for the watch and it's been great seeing the feedback the company gives and receives on this program and certainly seem to be listening to customer feedback as they develop the new app. Right now I'm syncing into Strava still and can't see me changing that but the detailed stats the watch produces is much better than I was seeing from the Apple Watch. I still love the Apple Watch and that is still on my wrist.

Another challenge I set myself this month was to fill all my activity rings on the Apple Watch through January as well as workout everyday. As it stands, I only have my Stand ring left to fill today and with only 7 hours left to record at 09:56 I think I can assume I'll achieve that goal.

I'm now pretty much doing 10km runs as my short runs 4 days a week or so, with a long 21km+ run on a Sunday. I'm amazed how much fitter I have become in such a short space of time, although getting the longer runs in means getting up much earlier and right now the weather hasn't been brilliant!

I haven't spent a great deal of time in the Gym this month, but after I get the next race out of the way I want to focus a little more on strength to fully prepare me for the marathon in April. In between the Half and Full I have now signed up for the Lancing College 10k. This is a new race and pretty much on my doorstep so a good option for me.

I've rounded the month off with my fastest 10k and last weekend managed to hit my objective for the Half Marathon of 2 hours on a training run. Happy running!

100Km in!

A great start to 2018 and I've got my 100km badge for the You v Year challenge already and on target to get 200km in the bank by the end of the month! It took me until November to finish the challenge last year so hopefully I can smash this in 6 months.

In my last post I talked about the Suunto Spartan and have taken the plunge with the Spartan HR Baro model, should hopefully be here this weekend and I can get my long run in using it.

I've also got another new pair of shoes, Saucony Hurrican ISO4's to replace my Hoka One One Araki's. As much as I loved the Hoka's I was finding them a little cramped in the toe and was getting some really bad blisters on my long runs. The Saucony's are almost as cushioned but a feel great on the long runs so I'm feeling quite happy for the races ahead. For xmas I got some Runderwear and they are awesome! I've also got some weird Injini toe socks which seem ok and take some getting used to but will keep trying them and work out what my sock of choice will be for the race later on.

New Year - New Gear

As my mileage has been ramping up; sadly my Apple Watch battery isn't coping as well and I'm finding the battery not lasting the day if I do a long run so I've spent some time looking at watches and leaning towards the Suunto Spartan line. I like Suunto as a brand as I've got a few for Scuba Diving and they have served me well. As much as Garmin seems to be the goto brand I haven't really been a fan of my sons so not convinced I'll go with that.

As far as training is going, I'm using the Half Marathon training plan from Strava and ran my 2nd Half Marathon distance this morning. Around 6 minutes quicker than my last one so happy with the progress and think a 2 hour half marathon is the target time for me.

As its New Years Eve, the goals for me next year:-

• Half Marathon - Feb
• Marathon - April
• Under Armour You v The Year 2018 (1018KM in the Year
• Beat my 5K time for 2017
• Beat my 10k time for 2017

Have a great new year eveyone!

Under Armour 2017 Run With Fight

This year I set myself a few goals following last years weight loss and the unexpected interest in running.

1. Run a 10K in 2017
2. Run a Half Marathon in 2018
3. Run a Marathon in 2019
4. Complete the Under Armour You vs The Year Challenge for 2017, 1017 km in the year.

In September, I completed my first target and 2 weeks ago I completed my 4th target. I also upped the ante a little and completed a 10 mile run in October. 

As you will have seen in my last post, I entered the Half and Full Marathons for next year.... why wait a year! So, I'm in the midst of my training for the Worthing Half and on Sunday went for a long training run and completed my longest run to date, the half marathon distance. Wasn't quick but helped me work out what I need to do for both races next year, namely sort some new shoes out and deal with my little toe which seems to be twisted and causing a blister.

Outside of these, I've really enjoyed running and a highlight was on my trip to rome last month where I got a couple of early runs around Ancient Rome and saw the major attractions without crowds of tourists. It's a great way to see cities and something I intend to try and do when I am away.

As you can see below, my You vs The Year challenge is completed,although I am wanting to get to 1117 before the end of the year just to say I did.

Have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Bright10

This weekend I completed my 3rd running goal, the 10 Mile by running the Bright10 which was a great run along Hove and Brighton seafront. Going into the race I had no idea what time I was aiming for, it was more about completing the challenge but last weekend I went on a 17km very windy, hilly run around Lancing and Sompting in 01:48 so expected a 01:40 would be a comfortable target to go for. On the day, I was joined by my two brothers, both of which had run this before. One was aiming for the 100 minutes, and one was aiming for 90 so I decided to push for the 90. I'm quite pleased they provided a 90 minute pacer and resisted the temptation to go out fast and stuck with him. My brother stayed with me for about 3 km or so and then increased his pace but I went in with a plan and was sticking to it. 



As I approached the half way turning point above Brighton Marina I saw my brother coming in the opposite direction, he wasn't too far ahead but I was sticking with my pacer. Coming around the loop, it was great to see my Mum had come over to cheer us on and was a great lift as the pace was starting to get to me. I'd got some SIS Energy Gels for this race, and decided it was time to take one and quite frankly the fairly instant energy boost was welcome. Entering East into Madeira Drive I could see another loop and kept lookout for my brother again on his return West. Once I finally saw him I could see I was catching up with him and my constant pace was working well. It wasn't much further and I could see him just ahead and caught him by the Palace Pier at about 12.5km in.

Another SIS Energy Gel, and I was reminding myself I had less than a 5k run to go and I was comfortable with the pace I was running. The final segment was busier with lots of people cheering and as we ran the final stretch to loop back towards the finish line I could see my family which again was another boost. I had this! With 1km left to go I started to pick up the pace, thanked the pace setter and sprinted to the finish and beat my target by 30 seconds to get 01:29:30.

Towards the half way point, I also achieved 900km towards the Under Armour You vs The Year challenge so only have 110km to go to complete this years goal.

Buoyed by the achievement of today, I've entered the Worthing Half Marathon for February and also entered for the ballot for the April Brighton Marathon. I'm really pleased with how this journey has evolved, starting less than a year ago and challenging myself to do a 5k run before the end of 2016, then for 2017, a 10K and 1017K for the year all pretty much achieved. Next year's goal was to be the Half Marathon, with 2019 the target for the full Marathon but I'm sure I can do them both next year.

What's next!

Chestnut Tree House Littlehampton 10k

So today saw me take on my next challenge, a 10k run. This was the Littlehampton 10k running for the Chestnut Tree House charity, a very worthwhile cause and a relatively local course for me.

I didn't put any specific training for it beyond my normal runs but completed another Parkrun at Hove Park last Saturday and pushed it fairly hard. The result of that was a very respectable PB for me of 24:22, 43 seconds better than my last time of 25:04.

For the 10k, I went off relatively quickly after the inevitable shuffle to the line. I would have been quite happy with any time under an hour for my first 10k but completed in an official time of 52:29

Final goal for the year is completing the Under Armour You v The Year Challenge of 1017km. I am currently at 829km so expect to do that by early November. Brighton 10k, or even Brighton Half Marathon in 2018?

Run 5.30

This morning I woke up at the obscene time of 4am to take part in the Run 5.30 Brighton event. The 5.30 is a 5K run/walk that takes place in town centres around the world at 5.30am, before a regular business day and today's city was Brighton and it's currently been run in various cities in Italy and today my home town of Brighton.

Brighton Run 5.30 - Before the start

I've been suffering with knee pain for a the last week and have been taking it relatively easy and wanted to do this race but as an experience and not go too mad. Taking it easy, on a flat course I managed a 5k time of 24:38 and an overall time of 25:09 which makes it my fastest race 5k and second fastest 5k. My first bit of running bling though!

Quite pleased as I was taking it easy. The knee held up well but was a little sore after and I've had it wrapped in an ice pack which helps. Toying with entering a 10k next, maybe Littlehampton in September.

Progress on the 2017 1017k Challenge is going well, just shy of 600k now and I'm well on track to finish by the end of the year. I'm amazed at the progress in such a short space of time and it's obviously infectious as my wife has started the Couch to 5k program and my son finished his first 5k run yesterday.

I've also recently discovered the Relive application, which makes a video based on your Strava run. Below is my run of the 5.30 at 5.30.