No Marathon for me, not this year.

Once, a while ago there were 9 colleagues and me deciding to do a Marathon, more specific the Amsterdam Marathon on 21^st October 2012. Meanwhile only 3 or less are still in. For the others different excuses like injury, relocation and motivation came up over the summer.

For me it seems to be overload of my knee due to the long and hard uphills during my bike tour. Did not feel it during the tour but back home I only had one good run in Amsterdam. Since then I had to stop running after 5 to 8 kilometers and walk back home. The first time was the worst one. I planned a long run in the forest and was in pretty deep. As soon as I started to walk I was slow enough to be a target for mosquito’s, no street nearby and no cell phone net. I had to walk half an hour before I reached a street and was able to call my wife for a pickup. Embarassing…

After checking with specialists and having a MRT the doctor said my patella tendon is not so strong and due to unconscious load removal here I have an irritation in then Meniscus. Painful only during runs but it did not improve in weeks so I have to give up for now to restart very slow with very short runs.

Less sports same food intake quickly results in weight gain. Plus 2 kg in 4 weeks:

I will try again next year in Spring, likely again with colleagues, likely again in the Netherlands, likely in Rotterdam. Already looking forward to it but much more to the next longer painfree run!

Training Increases and Body Composition Improvements

Firstly sorry it has been a little while since my last post, it has been exceptionally busy here at Tanita with new product developments and increases in product demand, which is great news. Since my last post I have significantly increased my training volume and also been away on a weeks training holiday to Lanzarote. The weeks training in the sun gave me a real solid base to build on and has assisted in keeping me motivated and feeling strong during this fitness re-building phase.

I have been recording all my training using a Garmin 610 and uploading the data to my Garmin Connect training pages and Endomondo which the Tanita Team use to share training sessions with each other for group feedback and motivation. Below is a screen shot from Endomondo to show how many training session have been completed in June.

on the right hand side of the image you will see my latest run from the weekend, unfortunately after around 6-7 miles I had some pain in the left Tibialis Anterior, so I had to slow, and have been icing and compressing to try and help it recover.

Injury is one of the reasons why the training above has been varied between, running, cycling and gym sessions, this will help to decrease the stress associated with running on the lower limbs. Today is Monday and thankfully I have very little pain in my left leg so I hope this is now ok and can begin the next phase of training. I believe that increased mileage and running shoes have contributed to this small injury, changing and updating your running shoes after about 500miles is a good idea. Running shoes will start to lose their cushioning and support after long miles and it is important if you are to stay free from injury to replace them. Fortunately I have some new Brooks GTS on their way along with some new racing shoes Brooks Pure Cadence as I now start to add some speed session and races into my calendar.

The next Phase of training is a combination of Speed development alongside increasing the long runs on the weekend to help prepare the body. Updates coming soon.

Another Benefit of the increased training volume and improvements in base fitness and strength has been the changes in my body composition, as I have previously stated I measure my Body Composition every Monday using a Tanita BC-1000 paired with my Garmin 610. I have had a decrease in body weight from 75KG to 69.5KG which of course has helped with improvements as my muscles now have less weight to move forward at speed, losing 5.5kg of excess weight has of course improved my Body Fat levels as shown below. You can see from the chart below that I had a little to much turkey and cake at Christmas which increased the readings but since January it has been a constant improvement.

I will ensure I post another blog asap as the speed training is bought into the plan and we edge ever closer to the first challenge of my 30’s. Dont forget you can keep track of my training and Body Composition developments via my Twitter account using @SimonBradeley.

Any questions or comments please get in touch we love to here from you!

SB

Barefoot Running and other ways to improve speed

It looks like I am not really talented for running, at least not for running fast so I have to search for the one or other shortcut to catch up with my colleagues who, by very little training, still outrun me by far.

Improve technique:

One can read a lot about improving the running technique and running more efficiently by running barefoot. I did this during my holiday at the beach with some 4-8 km runs and experienced quickly how much fun that is. Automatically I land more on the mid/forefoot, the steps are shorter and the cadence higher. 

Unfortunately I am back home and there is no beach nearby but I try to do the shorter runs in “barefoot shoes”, the Vibram FiveFingers now. As the paved roads are much harder than sandy beaches I have to be more careful and after a longer run I felt my calves so I have to wait with the next barefoot run.

Improve training:

One can find a lot of training plans to lead to a marathon but those are not personalized enough for me as I have another target, I cross the Alps by mountain bike mid August so I use the help of Anke from www.MyGoal.de. She writes a detailed monthly plan about how, how hard and when to train.

I like long and slow runs but in the plan there are only very few. Instead I find what I don’t like: Sprints, intervals, strength training but it seems to work. I cannot really say for running because of lack of experience but it made me faster and gave me more endurance on the bike.

Optimize Weight

A reduction of 1 kg body weight statistically improves the Marathon speed by 3 Minutes. Compared to 9 months ago this should shorten my run by 21 minutes:

But even more important: My hamstring and left leg look and feel back to normal which the Tanita BC-601 proved lately:

The June is not really warm this year. Therefore I am happy to have this beautiful “Train with Tanita” Running Jacket:

Testing Video Blog

Lanzarote 2012 Training holiday.

Running in the Winter Wonderland

February was great when it comes to running but one reason was the super cold weather so I could not do much else. 125 km in 16 hours in four countries. Germany of course but also Amsterdam  at night with my colleagues Martine and Hiroki:

Actually it was too cold for Amsterdam which means train delays, cancelled trains, tram doors which don’t close , power outage, only cold water, …

But what still works is the bicycle infrastructure:

Back to running: Next was Sofia and one cannot imagine how much snow they had (it is around the same latitude than Rome). I started directly from the hotel and up a mountain. 500 Altimeters first day and 760 second day not much running uphill though, rather hiking or partly even crawling to avoid to sink in too deep. Downhill running and sliding:

Signs don’t help much here:

But Garmin helps. With this feature you can always be sure to find back to wherever you started. I try not to use it but it feels good to have it:

And last was Melk, Wachau, Danube Austria. One evening and one morning run not as spectacular as Sofia but also not as exhausting. Lot’s of castles and this huge Monastery around:

By the way, I could not improve my weight but at least the speed a little bit. On a long 21 km run beginning of February it was obvious that it is a loooooong way to go to finish the 42…

That’s my February in Garmin Connect:

Nice hip of runners

Sunday morning of 15th of January, it was almost zero degree in Bois de Boulogne, Paris.

However, many runners, walkers (including Nordic walking), dogs (but no cats) were enjoying

the find weather of winter.

I found all runners passing me have a nice shaped hip.

Fast runner, better hip – that I found that day.

Hiroki

When is it time to “Don the Ron’s”!

Ok so I realize the title of this post may not be understood by all, but hopefully after the next few paragraphs you will get the meaning!

So its January, a strange month and pressured month for me, as with most people the new year can be a time for reflection on the previous 12 months, and also and importantly it is a month which is often for many people a time for new years resolutions and our minds are often full of ambitions for the new year!

This is especially the case this year for me, as my birthday is also in January and this year I will turn a magical 31 years of age. Now you might ask what is so special about being 31, why not 30! Will I figure that 30 was the test year for being a real grown up adult, but 31 well that’s serious and is definitely the time to do adult things and target the more serious challenges such as a marathon, Ironman,  or maybe growing a beard

Now at 30 almost 31 years of age I still cannot grow a beard, I can achieve a slightly adolescent, patchy cat like whiskers, but not a full beard, much to the amusement of my “mature” running friends. I was out training with these guys over the Christmas break and my friends were joking about turning 31 and the fact that I had the look of a teenager and how it was time to stop worrying about how I look when I go running and it was time to “Don the Ron’s”, for those who do not know “Ron hills” are a traditional type running pants which were traditionally only worn by the more mature runner!

For those who live in a cave, Ron hill as I hope most will know is a legend in terms of marathon running and has completed in World and Olympic marathons and has a PB of 2:09:28. Ron also has held numerous world records for other events. I have been lucky enough to meet Ron on lots of occasions and not only is he inspiration he is articulate and a warm friendly gentleman. If you have the opportunity Google “Ron Hill” or buy his book. Having said all that im not sure its time to wear Ron Hill Tracksters yet!

So 2012 is the year when I will run my first marathon and the winter training was a great time to really get stuck into the training, I managed to run or ride the bike everyday apart from 25th December, and I feel like I was getting quicker and stronger on every run. I took the time to also do some training plans and schedule a few mid years races, so in March I have a 5miler which I am hoping to go Sub 30 minutes(not done that for 3 years), and April see’s my first Duathlon in 6 years, so it is all taking shape.

Anyone who has not done it yet, take the time in January to plan for 2012, and make it realistic, we all know that if we are not realistic it wont last and we will revert back to being lazy in February.

So 2012 the year to succeed achieve and hopefully grow a beard!

Simon

 

 

10K Fast lap by Marc op Garmin Connect – Details

10K Fast lap door nldmaka op Garmin Connect – Details.

Saterday I tried to run as fast as I can for 10K. The result; 47 minutes….
That’s it, as fast as I can…..after 10K I felt that I will never be able to go any faster.
Of course that is probably not true :). But the question is; how do I achieve that ?
I need a schedule…..

 

 

Explore the World running

I love to run (and cycle) in unknown regions. Last week it was the North Sea, Bensersiel. As expected it was windy and wet 

While Running I passed this nice but lazy guy: 

and during low tide I ran pretty wide into the sea where I seen this clam cemetery:

That’s the map for the clam run. First on the dyke then through the watt:

In Garmin connect it is possible to set targets. My target is 10 hours running and 10 hours biking per month. While I managed to run 10 hours I reached only 61%. Due to increased party activities I had two rather inactive weeks. Here is a screenshot of the calendar (including Weight from BC-1000):

And all the readings from BC-1000 including my jump around weight:

Horses on the beach, La Baule

The beach is free, in winter, for horses also, in La Baule, Bretagne.

While walking with my dog, a couple of horses came to the beach.

Look at this silhouette over the shining sea.

29th of December 2011