6K with hills

I have a standard 5k run set out that I frequently do when I am wanting to have a quick blast. It's not very nice to be honest and I should really find another route, however it serves it's purpose.

Anyway, on said run, at around the 2nd K I always pass a path the leads up in to the woods, so today I decided to take the path (adventurous I know) I was feeling adventurous and wanted to do some hill running, and I was not disappointed with what the mystery path had in store.



It started with a very steep accent through the woods and didn't really stop going up for about 1.5 K. it was the first time in a while that I had done any hill training, so needless to say I was a spluttering, panting, red faced mess when I got to the top of the hill. However this lovely view over the west of Edinburgh proved to be well worth it.

The whole run was only 6k altogether, but I think it will my replace my depressing road run. The only views I get from that are smokers at the bus stop and traffic jams, nothing that will be missed.

Edinburgh Half Marathon - Team Relay

Yesterday, I signed up to run the Edinburgh Half Marathon team relay and I am 'relay' excited.

My colleague at work asked if it was something I fancied doing, and within a few hours we had a team together and we had signed up. The last day for signing up at the £100 per team rate was yesterday so we were just in the nick of time, if you want to sign up now, it is £120 or you can run for a charity where the entry fee is waved as you raise a certain amount depending on the charity.

The race is split in to 4 legs of varying distances, I presume to account for the inevitable differences in abilities within teams.

Leg 1: The Royal Leg - 8.6 miles
Leg 2: The Cock & Pan Leg - 5.5 miles
Leg 3: The Gosford Leg - 7.6 miles
Leg 4: The Glory Leg - 4.5 miles

As the most experienced runner in the group, I put myself forward to do the first (and longest) leg of the race. I anticipate this will take me around an hour to run, although maybe slightly longer. My hopes are high though, as the course was voted as "THE FASTEST MARATHON IN THE UK" by Runners World Magazine readers.

 Also, as you can see from the graph, the first 8 miles look like a piece of cake, its virtually all downhill, I will be flying!!

We also had to buy a team ticket for the bus, which was a very reasonable £24. This will drop everyone off at their starting points, and will give you a lift back to the city centre once you complete the race.

I will be posting about my training for this race, and any updates from now on, so stay tuned for that!

Interval Training

As I said in my original post, speed is my ultimate goal. Fitness, loosing weight and generally being more healthy are all great by-products of running a lot, however my ultimate aim is to get faster (10k in under 40 minutes is my dream).

One thing I have been doing a lot recently is interval training. This is a really great way to increase speed in longer distances. In the past I have found that this has increase my overall race time significantly and I would recommend at least 2 interval training sessions a week.

I use the built in Interval training function on my Garmin Forerunner 305. I sprint for 30 seconds, rest for 30 seconds - repeating this 10 times. The watch is great for this excercise but not essential. All you need to do is pick a point in the distance roughly 30 seconds and sprint to it giving it everything. Then stop and run back. Another method people use is to walk back to the original start point, then start again but I feel this let's my heart rate drop too much.

I would definitely recommend intervals, if you are trying to loose weight or get faster at running. I am going to be doing a lot of this type of training in my quest to get under 40mins on my 10k.

Garmin Forerunner 305 - A runners best friend

Last year, for my birthday, I got the Garmin Forerunner 305. I am a complete gadget fiend and love anything that is powered by electricity and beeps. So it was not a long, drawn-out decision to buy myself a GPS watch when I started running more regularly.

Ever since buying this watch, my running experience has transformed. I now know enough stats about every run I complete to satisfy my inner stats geek. Life has never been the same.

Comfort

When I was researching the watch, I heard that one of the drawbacks was the size. This was not enough to put me off (evidently) and I am glad. The watch is actually very comfortable to wear. It is a bit big, but I like that, it allows me to see all the important information when running, and I think if it was any smaller, it was loose some of its functionality.

Functions

There is a nice review here which shows you some of the functions in action. I will just go over the functions I use and like best. The beauty of this watch is the fact you can personalise the screen you see when running to suit you, so whatever functions you like best can be on display.

The watch does everything you would expect (Monitors heart rate, speed, distance, pace, and calories burned) but the virtual partner is the function I use most, it really is amazing.

I run home from work fairly often, and the virtual partner keeps me going. It is really easy to set up, you just save a run the first time you run it (e.g a run home from work), then the next time you run set up the virtual partner and it tells you how you are doing against your best run on the course.

The watch tells you how far ahead (or behind) you are from your best time. I love this function and it really helps me get faster (I am very competitive - especially against myself).

The other function I use regularly is the Interval training option. As I keep mentioning, my goal is to become a faster runner, and Interval training is great for this. You can set up the watch to help you with your intervals, by entering either distance or time you would like to run, and time you would like to rest. Once you hit start your watch bleeps and tells you when to start and stop running. This is great, and really helps motivating you through the gruelling Interval sessions.

Mutli-sports

If like me, you enjoy several sports, the watch comes in very handy. Unfortunately it is not waterproof enough to allow you to swim with the watch on, so triathlons are out of the picture (at least while wearing the watch).

I do however enjoy mountain biking and there is a great attachment for you bike that allows the Garmin to be mounted on your handlebars.

Heart Rate Monitor

The watch comes packed with a Heart Rate monitor ban that you wear around your chest. Again this is very comfortable and I got used to wearing it very quickly. I still need to figure out exactly what I am meant to be doing with the monitor and what my heart rate sold be (any tips on this would be greatly appreciated).

Cons

The only major draw back for me with the watch is the time that it takes to find satellites. This can take up to a few minutes depending on where you are. However if you plan it right you can turn the watch on 5 mins before your run land out it on the window ledge, this works a treat for me every time.

All in all I love the Garmin Forerunner 305, it has revolutnised the way I run and my training would be incomplete without it. If you are not planning on swimming with the watch then I would definitely buy this watch over the more expensive models, it does everything I need to very efficiently.

Hello Running World

My name is Jude Moir, I have been running for a few years now but have made the decision to really start seriously trying to get faster! That has always been one of my primary goals when running. I enjoy competing against others and that is a big driving force.

The reason I have started writing this blog is to catalogue all the hints and tips I discover about how to become a faster runner. One of the things I will be struggling with is IT band syndrome. I have weak knees and will be trying various ways to overcome the fact that my knees are made of glass!

I also now want to set myself the challenge of running a 10k race in under 40mins. To date, my personal best is 43mins and 39secs which was ran last year at the Fourth Road Bridge 10k.

Running is going to be a big part of my life over the next little while and I hope you can keep me company through the process.