training

July 27, 2009

Only 63 days till the big event and only 27 till my next half marathon.

I am so happy after last weeks training. I managed some base runs that were between 5 and 8 Km and on Saturday I had a 16 Km long run. I used 500 meters to warm up and 500 meters to cool down (light jogging), but ran the rest of the 15Km non stop. No breaks just a constant pace except for a final 200 meter sprint before my cool down. I took all my drinks while running because I am trying to control take them whilst running. This is mainly just down to my breathing.

The good thing is barring painful knees for a couple of hours after, I am pain free. I even went out with my wife, one of my son's and the dog for a nice walk on Sunday to a local lake.

I started reading a book called Chi running by Danny Dreyer. This has helped me a lot even though I am only a few chapters into the book. Just to prove a point, my previously longest run without stopping and walking was 9.5 Km which I completed on the 18th July 2009 which was just before I started reading the book. Now that is up to 15Km the following week. Also having said that I felt really good at the end of the run.

As for my overweight issue. I weighed in on Saturday at 106 Kg, to date I have lost 9Kg. I am hoping my increase in run distances will help me lose more weight (another 21Kg). It is hard to diet with the running because of amount of energy I am burning (around 2000 calories burnt on Saturdays run). I just have to make sure they are good food and not sweets or cakes.

Also I got to see two motivational films this week one by Dean Karnazes, have a look at his website http://www.ultramarathonman.com/flash/ very very very inspiring person. The second was called Running the Sahara, this was also very inspiring showing what humans are capable of, here is a link about this
http://www.runningthesahara.com/about.html

Lets see how well I can improve this week