Measurement technology

Today I ran a 7K route, about half of it on farm tracks, in about an hour.  This gives me a theoretical marathon time of 6.5 hours - an hour off my target.  Of course, I couldn't really run a marathon at that speed right now, but it gives me an idea of the speed I could expect if I could build my endurance.

The route tracks some roads that used to be "real" roads before the M4 plowed through the village in the 1960s. They are lovely lanes, lined with hawthorn, sloes, rosehips and blackberries - I should go back and do some gathering for hedgerow jelly!

I've been using Endomondo to track my runs - it's a phenomenally useful app, and of course you get all you really need in the free version.  I recommend it highly to anyone who cycles or runs!  I've also been using Richard's Adidas micoach, which tracks my heart rate and run time (it would also track my pace, but unfortunately I've lost the bit that does that - but that's fine because Endomondo does it in speed terms, rather than real pace - which is practical).  I'm in two minds about the micoach - on the one hand, it's really useful for what it does at the moment, but on the other hand, you can't just buy one bit of it - if I want the pacer back I have to buy a whole new unit - wasteful and shameful!  Adidas ought to allow purchases of the individual components as part of their efforts to be more sustainable.

I like the fact that I can save runs on Endomondo - the next step will be to run the same route from time to time and try to improve my speed.  I've also been trying to work out a safe 10K route from home without too many hills, but as Richard has remarked in the past, the problem with living as high above sea level as we do is that virtually everything is down.  Actually, that only applies to the west, where you soon get to the "Cotswold Edge", a sharp drop into the Severn Vale from the plateau that extends to our east.  My run through Tormarton was of course eastward, taking advantage of the flattish Cotswold landscape.

One alternative for flat routes is to drive down to the common in Old Sodbury, as that has plenty of quiet(ish) roads that are reasonably flat.  The only thing I don't like is that there is relatively little off-road running that isn't impossibly muddy.  The common is just a huge bog - that's probably why it wasn't included in Yate.  At any rate, it just doesn't feel right to drive 4 miles in order to go for a run.

My first week of training

I have completed my first full week of training for the marathon - and it's only now beginning to sink in how much I've taken on. 

My plan was to alternate easy and hard days, and on the whole that came off well this week.  My hard days got progressively harder during the week.  My easy days, on the other hand, got progressively easier, to the point of doing nothing at all on the last one.  I must have some inner karmic impulse that is trying to balance things.

That's not a tan - my face turns
crimson when I exercise

All told I ran (and walked) 17.5 miles.  Not much, for anyone who is a regular runner, but it's a start.  Rome wasn't built in a day, and I won't be turned into a marathon runner in just a week.

I did learn a few interesting things:

• I have to eat when I finish a run - otherwise I feel like I'm coming down with the flu!
• It's not the end of the world if I don't stretch;
• I really need to strengthen my abdominal muscles - they make a huge difference to the amount of oxygen I can take in, but then get sore very fast;
• Walking hurts my legs more than running.

All of you runners will be telling me this is obvious stuff, but there's nothing like learning by doing.

I've also come to love and hate Richard's micoach.  This is a gadget that measures your pace and heartbeat as you run, and can give you readings of these, as well as elapsed time.  I normally use it on "free" mode - I keep track of my own running plans - but you can programme it to coach you to speed up, slow down, walk, etc over pre-planned intervals.  It clips to your clothes, so that's one less thing that needs a pocket.

Sounds good, doesn't it?  Unfortunately, it has two serious failings.  The lesser one is that it doesn't measure your heartbeat until you are exercising reasonably vigorously - enough to raise your breathing rate noticeably.  In other words, you don't get a view of your resting or walking heart rate.

The truly appalling thing about it, though, is that you can't download the data!  Those who know me well will appreciate how much I hate this.  The micoach produces interesting graphs which you can alter as much as Adidas has assumed you will want to.  Unfortunately, there is no facility for transferring it to your computer where you can have a proper go at analysis.

There is one final lesson I've learned from training this week: it's a really good thing that I have a six month run-up to the marathon.  I'm going to need it.  Running hard makes me ill, walking four miles makes my legs sore.  I have a considerable way to go before I can even walk the marathon in one day, never mind run it.