Running, Fitness and Health Blog for your Mind, Body and Soul
A shorter recap of this year’s Ealing Half. You can read a fuller review from last year here.
I’m not sure why I entered the Ealing Half this year. It’s a great race and fairly local, but following the Great North Run two weeks ago and a weekend chugging beer and demolishing schnitzel in Berlin, I was not feeling fully “on it”. It was likely an early bird email deal that I just could not resist! Continue reading “Ealing Half Mini Recap – Sept 2017 – The Mental One”
The Great North Run has been on my bucket list for many years. Just like the London Marathon, you wake up on a Sunday morning, make a cup of tea and switch on the TV to find its Great North Run day. You watch the coverage, get all inspired, swear that you will do it next year and then go for a run. This year, I held myself to it and did it. Continue reading “Great North Run – Sept 2017 – The Iconic One”
As ever, I’ve let things slide. Races (at which I’m excellent at booking) are quickly rushing up on the horizon.
There are 8 weeks until the Great North Run and 10 weeks until the Ealing Half.
I’ve been running and training regularly, so there’s some work in the tank. I have no idea where I’m currently at fitness or speed wise, as I have not raced or parkrun’d in a while. Sometimes, when I run, I feel good, and sometimes, I have a shocker. Continue reading “Halfs on the Horizon – Am I improving?”
What’s the best prep for your race tomorrow? Staying up till 2.30am dancing the night away at your friends 40th birthday party and getting 3 ½ hours’ sleep? Yep, that’s it. No excuses. I knew what I was doing. Just a couple of little beers and lots of water!
It was an early start on Sunday morning to get over to East London. I didn’t know where I was going, so built in a little safety. My kit was ready (number already pinned on) so jumped in the shower to wake up, got dressed, grabbed my bag and breakfast out of the fridge and was gone.
By the time I got to the Tube at Waterloo, most of the carriage was filled with runners, Continue reading “Hackney Half Race Recap 30/04/17 – The run on feel one”
I mentioned in my review of the Ealing Half Marathon that after weeks of training and planning for the race, I ended up having a few beers the night before. Not blind drunk. I had 3 bottles of Corona over the course of about 4 hours. It didn’t have an effect on me the next day, but it is a good little example of self-sabotage.
I recently read The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters. He is a psychiatrist and best known for his work with the GB Cycling team. Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton regularly sing his praises. Ronnie O’ Sullivan is also a client. Since there are so many takeaways from the book I wanted to reinforce, I also used a free Audible download to get the audio version so I could re-listen to it on the go.
What the book made me realise is that there is a Chimp (the name used in the book) in my head telling me things that are inconsistent with my goals and what I want to achieve. Continue reading “Inner chatter and your chimp”
I ran the Ealing Half Marathon last Sunday (25/09/16). I have been building up to the race for 12 weeks. You can see my training plan here.
I had heard good things about the Ealing Half Marathon. It is the winner of the best half marathon at the Running Awards for the last 3 years.
So with all this training and preparation, I should have spent Saturday night on the sofa with my feet in the air casting my critical eye over the beautiful voices showcased on The X Factor.
Stuff that, I am off to a birthday party! A pretty chilled birthday party that very conveniently happen to be in Ealing and I had also been offered a bed for the night. So no faffing with trains in the morning! Continue reading “Ealing Half Marathon 2016 – Race Review”
I went for my first long run on Sunday. I have not been on a long run for a while as I have not seriously trained for an event or had a training plan for some time.
The long run was supposed to be my fourth run of the week, but it was actually my first. It was 32 degrees on Tuesday so I gave BMF Running club a miss, which I think was sensible. Thursday I was out with a friend for dinner, so missed my tempo/hill/sprints session. Saturday’s 8am BMF session was very tough and by 9am the temperatures were already soaring, so I did not do parkrun afterwards. I did cycle to work 5 days in a row, but cycling does now make you a good runner! Unless you are Chris Froome! Continue reading “Long Run – Half Marathon Training”