Category Archives: Running

My thoughts on running, training plans and anything else vaguely connected to the sport.

Three hikes in the Grand Canyon

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Incomprehensibly, gigantically, stunningly beautiful. I could go on.

But neither words, nor images can come close to experiencing the Grand Canyon first hand. I am just so glad I got to see it and I’m sure that I’ll be back there one day soon for some proper hiking and camping.

Georgie and I went on three hikes (not counting the walk to Shoshone Point, even though that is probably the best view of the Canyon from the South Rim that we came across!) and I just wanted to share them with you here, along with the GPS data from my Garmin Forerunner.

And if you’d like to see more photos from the trip – they’re over on my Flickr page.

Bright Angel Trail to the Indian Garden Campground

The Bright Angel Trail snaking off to the lush green Indian Garden campground in the distance. Taken from the rest house three miles from the South Rim trailhead.

The most popular hike in the Canyon, probably as it’s so easily accessible from Grand Canyon Village and burros are available to take you down and up (we decided to walk!). Also our longest hike of the three, we made it to the Indian Garden before turning around for the hike out. Totally knackered after that ascent!

Bright Angel Trail

8.5 miles
3 hours, 22 minutes
2,986 feet from highest to lowest point on our hike

Hermit’s Rest to Dripping Springs

Not too far from Hermit’s Rest – on the way to Dripping Spring.

A stunning hike with some spectacular views and a surprising amount of trees and shade. Also, the descent flattens out after 1.3 miles and 1,364 feet.

Dripping Springs Trail

6 miles
3 hours, 10 minutes
1,542 feet from highest to lowest point on our hike

Grandview Point to Horseshoe Mesa

The aptly named Horseshoe Mesa

Probably my favourite trail of the three. Accessible from the aptly named Grandview Point, Horseshoe Mesa is ‘only’ a three mile hike away from the trail head. The first of those three miles was probably the most difficult stretch of trail we experienced. It gets a little less steep after that, but there quite a few boulders we had to scramble over. All really good fun!

As with Dripping Springs, we didn’t actually make it to our final destination (we didn’t want to overdo it on our first trip to the Canyon) but that doesn’t mean we enjoyed them any less.

Grandview trail to Horseshoe Mesa4.1 miles
2 hours, 37 minutes
2,006 feet from highest to lowest point on our hike

My Hamburg Marathon training plan

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This is the kit I wore to run the Edinburgh Marathon in 2011, so I thought it would be appropriate to use it again here. This time I will a fourth if not a fifth Gu packet. I only had three in Edinburgh and by the last 4-5 miles I was relying on the kindness of strangers holding out gummibears and any other sugary items to keep myself going.

Top tip: I used safety pins to fasten the Gu packets to the waistband of my running shorts. Provides easy access and you don’t have to worry about any wonky reach-around action to ill-placed zippers and the like.

Comparing the Edinburgh and Hamburg, I have to say I am very much looking forward to Hamburg’s flat course without all the ups and downs from Edinburgh. Also, I suspect that the atmosphere will be better in Hamburg, given the course cuts through the heart of the city and you aren’t lost somewhere in the outskirts of Scotland!

Edinburgh Marathon 2011

Edinburgh Marathon. Those little dips & climbs in the latter part of the race? PAIN. Source: my Garmin data.

Hamburg Marathon. Looking less painful already. Source: Official site.

On to my training plan.

I’ve managed to build up a strong base in terms of mileage in January, so I’m not too worried about fitting in a Marathon training plan in just 11 weeks. I’ve moved around some of the longer runs to match the Strava challenge timings, otherwise the plan is as calculated by the Runners World Smartcoach feature. Nifty little tool.

Week Date Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Total
1 4/2
10/2		 Rest
/XT		 Easy Run
Dist: 3mi
@9:17		 Rest
/XT		 Tempo Run
Dist: 5mi, inc
Warm; 3mi@7:47; Cool		 Rest
/XT		 Rest
/XT		 Long Run
Dist: 13mi
@9:17		 19 mi
2 11/2
17/2		 Rest
/XT		 Easy Run
Dist: 4mi
@9:17		 Rest
/XT		 Speedwork
Dist: 5mi, inc
Warm; 2×1600@7:21
w/800 jogs; Cool		 Rest
/XT		 Rest
/XT		 Long Run
Dist: 9mi
@9:17		 18 mi
3 18/2
24/2		 Rest
/XT		 Easy Run
Dist: 4mi
@9:17		 Rest
/XT		 Tempo Run
Dist: 5mi, inc
Warm; 3mi@7:47; Cool		 Rest
/XT		 Rest
/XT		 Long Run
Dist: 10mi
@9:17		 19 mi
4 25/2
3/3		 Rest
/XT		 Easy Run
Dist: 3mi
@9:17		 Rest
/XT		 Tempo Run
Dist: 6mi, inc
Warm; 4mi@7:52; Cool		 Rest
/XT		 Rest
/XT		 Long Run
Dist: 20mi
@9:17		 29 mi
5 4/3
10/3		 Rest
/XT		 Easy Run
Dist: 6mi
@9:12		 Rest
/XT		 Easy Run
Dist: 5mi
@9:12		 Rest
/XT		 Rest
/XT		 Easy Run
Dist: 6mi
@9:12		 17 mi
6 11/3
17/3		 Rest
/XT		 Easy Run
Dist: 2mi
@9:12		 Rest
/XT		 Speedwork
Dist: 7mi, inc
Warm; 3×1600@7:17
w/800 jogs; Cool		 Rest
/XT		 Rest
/XT		 Long Run
Dist: 14mi
@9:12		 23 mi
7 18/3
24/3		 Rest
/XT		 Easy Run
Dist: 2mi
@9:12		 Rest
/XT		 Tempo Run
Dist: 6mi, inc
Warm; 4mi@7:47; Cool		 Rest
/XT		 Rest
/XT		 Long Run
Dist: 16mi
@9:12		 24 mi
8 25/3
31/3		 Rest
/XT		 Easy Run
Dist: 2mi
@9:12		 Rest
/XT		 Tempo Run
Dist: 7mi, inc
Warm; 5mi@7:51; Cool		 Rest
/XT		 Rest
/XT		 Long Run
Dist: 20mi
@9:12		 29 mi
9 1/4
7/4		 Rest
/XT		 Easy Run
Dist: 2mi
@9:06		 Rest
/XT		 Speedwork
Dist: 8mi, inc
Warm; 4×1600@7:12
w/800 jogs; Cool		 Rest
/XT		 Rest
/XT		 Long Run
Dist: 18mi
@9:06		 28 mi
10 8/4
14/4		 Rest
/XT		 Easy Run
Dist: 2mi
@9:06		 Rest
/XT		 Tempo Run
Dist: 5mi, inc
Warm; 3mi@7:38; Cool		 Rest
/XT		 Rest
/XT		 Long Run
Dist: 8mi
@9:06		 15 mi
11 15/4
21/4		 Rest
/XT		 Easy Run
Dist: 2mi
@9:17		 Rest
/XT		 Tempo Run
Dist: 5mi, inc
Warm; 3mi@7:47; Cool		 Easy Run
Dist: 2mi
@9:17		 Rest
/XT		 Marathon Race Day
26 miles		 35 mi

104 miles in January – on my way to the Hamburg Marathon

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Asics Noosa Tri 7 on snow

Source: Thomas Knorpp on Flickr

My January runstreak lasted 17 days before I had to give in to particularly nasty combination of long work days and dangerously slippery walkways around my flat. I managed to pick things up again for a bit while on holiday in Philly (running with Momo is huge fun!) and I felt proud of having cracked the century mark for the first time in my years as a runner.

Running activity in January 2013

Source: Strava

What’s on the plan in February and the next few months?

I’ve joined the next three Strava running challenges: a half-marathon in February, a 20 miler in March and a marathon in April.

Now, while I know I’ll be able to motivate myself to run a 20 miler in March, running a marathon by myself would be pushing it. So I looked around for possible runs in the UK that match the Strava challenge timings – without much luck. Searching further afield, I hit upon the jackpot. The Hamburg Marathon on April 21. Having heard nothing but good things about the course and with friends living there who’ll hopefully be kind enough to offer their couch for me to crash, it was an easy decision.

This’ll be my second marathon, and I’m looking to beat my 3:59 from Edinburgh.

So, dear friends in Hamburg – expect an email asking for a place to crash very soon.

#8BitLane and a 9-mile-run along the Thames

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Entirely by accident, I came across the 8 Bit Lane that Disney have set up at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane in London to promote their new flick “Wreck-it Ralph” via good old Twitter. And as I’d planned to head out on one of my favourite runs in London – Tower Bridge to home – I thought I’d combine the two.

So all layered up, I headed out to Brick Lane, enjoying some of the wonderful street art and the way to the Brewery.

Finally at the Truman Brewery I took in the great 8 bit art on show. It’s an interesting stunt and I throughly enjoyed it. I didn’t play the life-sized Wreck-it Ralph game via the Blippable building – and I didn’t see anyone else giving it a go either. Instead, everyone had their smartphones out and were taking photos. The explanation on the poster was straight forward – but to me it was just another example that while these augmented reality apps, nifty little gadgets that they are – just aren’t mainstream enough and perhaps require more effort in their implementation.

Also, unless you recognised the angry looking character from the Wreck-it Ralph game (I didn’t) or knew that this was about the soon to be released Disney flick (I didn’t), there was no messaging I could see explaining the exhibition to passers-by. Only through googling once home was I able to pull it all together.

How can you not love that wee ‘pixel pup’ (HT @surfpunkian) with his little bit of digital doodoo?

All pixeled out, I stripped off my trousers, vest and jumper – garnering some rather alarmed glances that quickly turned to relief as people realised I was wearing running gear underneath – and headed off home.

Screen Shot 2013-01-13 at 17.07.472°C and scattered clouds. 9.1 miles, 1h19m18s, 8m40s/mile – via Strava

No points for guessing why this is one of my favourite runs in London: it goes right past some of the most inspiring sights in London, all the while being dwarfed by the newest addition to the London Skyline, the Shard. Of course you do have to contend with the all the tourists, especially around the Tower of London, along Embankment and especially by the Houses of Parliament.

The beautifully restored Albert Bridge signals that there’s just under 2.5 miles left to go bringing my total for the Strava Run Base Mile Blast 57 miles in 13 days. Chuffed to have kept my January runstreak going so far!

All images from the day are also on my Flickr and edited using Snapseed for iPad for some added oomph (loving the ‘Drama’ filter).

Steady 9 miles to hit the quarter century

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7°C and foggy drizzle. 9 miles, 1h18m24s, 8m42s/mile – via Strava

After my first British Military Fitness session yesterday this was never going to be a fast run, but I am super chuffed with getting to the 9 mile mark, racking up 25 miles on the Strava Run Base Mile Blast and for keeping the Janathon runstreak going for six days now.

That said, I don’t think I’ll be able to move my arms anytime soon…

My runstreak begins with a Leg o’Mutton

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6°C and sunny. 6.2 miles, 52m36s, 8m32s/mile – via Strava

A beautiful, sunny day in London today, perfect conditions to get this runstreak (or Janathon if you prefer) started. An easy 6 miles along the Thames, one of my favourite loops between Hammersmith and Barnes bridges (although more on a slight twist to an old favourite below). Great to see so many other runners out and about at 11am – and why not – it’s been a while since we had a sunny day in London.

Usually I run along the towpath or Lonsdale Road to get back to Hammersmith Bridge. Knowing that the towpath was going to be ridiculously muddy after all the rain we’ve had, I kept right and on a slightly higher and less muddy trail between the towpath and the road. Before I knew it, I had entered Leg o’Mutton Nature Reserve.

Annoyingly, I did not bring my camera, but I will definitely bring it the next time I come this way. A wonderful little oasis complete with a wide range of wild birds (at least according to the signs and Thames Wilderness page about Leg o’Mutton Reserve).

Running 125 miles in January – at least 1 mile a day

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For a while now, I’ve been playing with idea of going on a run streak. As it is the time of the year for New Year’s resolutions, I thought the time was right. So come January 1, I will attempt to run at least 1 mile a day, for 31 days. And who knows, I might keep going? After all, there are people out there who have gone for 50 days or 48 years(!).

Momo may need sunglasses with all the neon

At the same time, I have also joined the Strava Run Base Mile Blast. My goal is to hit the 125 mile mark and here’s how I’ll try to do it:

  • run home from work 2-3 times a week (5 miles)
  • do another 12-15 miles on each of the four weekends
  • complete at least 1 mile on the other days

That should be doable – providing of course I don’t get injured.

To complement all that running, I have finally signed up for my first session with British Military Fitness. I’ve heard nothing but good things from friends who do and swear by it and thought I should finally have a go at getting screamed at by ex-military personnel. We’ll see how I feel about that after the first free session on 5 January.

Best of all: as I’ll be spending a week in Philly in January, I’ll be able to run a few of those 125 miles with Georgie and Momo – clad in glorious neon, naturally.

My Edinburgh Marathon 2011 sub 4:00 training plan

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15k

Week 1 of Marathon training is underway.

I’ve used the Runners World 16 week, 4h Marathon training plan to put the plan below together. I was able to download the entire plan to my Garmin Forerunner 405cx using the target training paces as a guide. So all I need to do to stick to the plan is check what’s on the agenda for the day, pick the training setting on the watch and off I go. The watch will then track my distance, tell me when to switch from slower warm up sessions to speed sessions, and make sure I run in at the proper pace. The beeping noises take a bit to get used to, but after a while you don’t even need to look at the watch anymore. 

I’m aiming for a sub 4 hour finish even though this is my first marathon. While the main goal will simply be to finish the 42.16 kilometre race, I’d also like to finish in under 4 hours. From previous half marathons and 10k races I think that is a reasonable goal to aim for.

Here’s hoping I can keep this up for 16 weeks! 

Legend

M = miles
m = metres
easy = 6:26/km – 6:39/km
slow = 6:16/km – 6:28/km
steady = 5:35/km – 5:47/km
brisk = 5:21/km – 5:34/km
fast = 4:54/km – 5:06/km
wu/cd = warm up/cool down, 6:26/km – 6:39/km for 1M each 

Week 1

Monday, 31 Jan rest
Tuesday, 1 Feb slow 3M
Wednesday, 2 Feb slow 4M
Thursday, 3 Feb steady 2M
Friday, 4 Feb rest
Saturday, 5 Feb easy 3M
Sunday, 6 Feb slow 7M

Week 2

Monday, 7 Feb rest
Tuesday, 8 Feb 2 x 1.5M fast
Wednesday, 9 Feb slow 5M
Thursday, 10 Feb brisk 2M, wu/cd
Friday, 11 Feb rest
Saturday, 12 Feb easy 4M
Sunday, 13 Feb slow 8M

Week 3

Monday, 14 Feb rest
Tuesday, 15 Feb 3 x 1M fast
Wednesday, 16 Feb slow 6M
Thursday, 17 Feb steady 3M, wu/cd
Friday, 18 Feb rest
Saturday, 19 Feb easy 4M
Sunday, 20 Feb slow 9M

Week 4

Monday, 21 Feb rest
Tuesday, 22 Feb 4 x 800m fast
Wednesday, 23 Feb slow 7M
Thursday, 24 Feb brisk 2M, wu/cd
Friday, 25 Feb rest
Saturday, 26 Feb easy 4M
Sunday, 27 Feb race 10k

Week 5

Monday, 28 Feb rest
Tuesday, 1 Mar fartlek 4M, wu/cd
Wednesday, 2 Mar slow 4M
Thursday, 3 Mar slow 5M
Friday, 4 Mar rest
Saturday, 5 Mar easy 4M or rest
Sunday, 6 Mar slow 11M

Week 6

Monday, 7 Mar rest
Tuesday, 8 Mar 8 x 400m fast
Wednesday, 9 Mar slow 6M
Thursday, 10 Mar brisk 4M, wu/cd
Friday, 11 Mar rest
Saturday, 12 Mar easy 4M
Sunday, 13 Mar slow 13M

Week 7

Monday, 14 Mar rest
Tuesday, 15 Mar hills x 9
Wednesday, 16 Mar slow 7M
Thursday, 17 Mar steady 6M
Friday, 18 Mar rest
Saturday, 19 Mar easy 4M
Sunday, 20 Mar slow 15M

Week 8

Monday, 21 Mar rest
Tuesday, 22 Mar 3 x 1M fast
Wednesday, 23 Mar slow 8M
Thursday, 24 Mar brisk 2M wu/cd
Friday, 25 Mar rest
Saturday, 26 Mar easy 3M
Sunday, 27 Mar race half marathon, 5:21/km – 5:34/km

Week 9

Monday, 28 Mar rest
Tuesday, 29 Mar 12 x 200m fast
Wednesday, 30 Mar slow 7M
Thursday, 31 Mar steady 8M
Friday, 1 Apr rest
Saturday, 2 Apr easy 4M
Sunday, 3 Apr slow 17M

Week 10

Monday, 4 Apr rest
Tuesday, 5 Apr 3 x 1.5M fast, wu/cd
Wednesday, 6 Apr slow 8M
Thursday, 7 Apr brisk 3M, wu/cd
Friday, 8 Apr rest
Saturday, 9 Apr easy 3M
Sunday, 10 Apr race half marathon, 5:21/km – 5:34/km

Week 11

Monday, 11 Apr rest
Tuesday, 12 Apr fartlek 6M, wu/cd
Wednesday, 13 Apr slow 6M
Thursday, 14 Apr steady 10M
Friday, 15 Apr rest
Saturday, 16 Apr easy 4M
Sunday, 17 Apr slow 19M

Week 12

Monday, 18 Apr rest
Tuesday, 19 Apr 3 x 1.5M fast, wu/cd
Wednesday, 20 Apr slow 8M
Thursday, 21 Apr brisk 3M, wu/cd
Friday, 22 Apr rest
Saturday, 23 Apr easy 4M
Sunday, 24 Apr slow 19M

Week 13

Monday, 25 Apr rest
Tuesday, 26 Apr 5 x 1M fast, wu/cd
Wednesday, 27 Apr slow 7M
Thursday, 28 Apr brisk 4M, wu/cd
Friday, 29 Apr rest
Saturday, 30 Apr easy 4M
Sunday, 1 May slow 22M

Week 14

Monday, 2 May rest
Tuesday, 3 May 6 x 800m fast, wu/cd
Wednesday, 4 May slow 6M
Thursday, 5 May steady 9M
Friday, 6 May rest
Saturday,7 May easy 4M
Sunday, 8 May slow 18M

Week 15

Monday, 9 May rest
Tuesday, 10 May hills x 12
Wednesday, 11 May slow 5M
Thursday, 12 May brisk 3M, wu/cd
Friday, 13 May rest
Saturday, 14 May easy 4M
Sunday, 15 May steady 12M

Week 16

Monday, 16 May rest
Tuesday, 17 May 6 x 400m at 10k
Wednesday, 18 May slow 4M
Thursday, 19 May rest
Friday, 20 May rest
Saturday, 21 May easy 2M
Sunday, 22 May MARATHON! 5:35/km – 5:47/km

3 weeks in and loving it, training for a half marathon and back to photography

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The new job with Sainsbury’s is now three weeks old (and I am still loving it!), which also explains the relative quiet here in my personal blog. There are a ton of things that the amazing team in the press office deals with on a day in, day out basis. On top of that, we’ve had the President of South Africa visit our eco store in Greenwich, London; our CEO Justin King ran 32 miles around the UK for Sport Relief, and we’ve opened more than a dozen new stores around the UK. 

At the same time we’ve kicked off our digital media strategy, which will centre around a connected group of sites, all held together by our corporate site. These including a corporate blog, Twitter, Youtube and Flickr accounts through which we are actively engaging bloggers and online journalists. Of course we will push out all our news through these channels (in so far as it makes sense), but we are of course also opening ourselves up to feedback, comments and criticism. We still have a lot of work ahead of us but I truly believe that we are on the right track and am massively excited to see where this takes us. 

As you might expect, focusing on the online world in a professional capacity for Sainsbury’s has taken up most of my time, so much so that by the time I get off work, I am quite happy to remain in the offline world before heading off to bed. :)

Still, I have managed to (more or less) stay on track in my training for my very first half-marathon in Berlin at the end of the month and not even the British Airways strike will be able to keep me from competing. Today, I ran the Sport Relief 6 Mile run at Embankment and was very happy with my 49 minute time and am looking to tame the 21 km through the German capital in less than 2 hours.

I’ll leave you with our recent and utterly unforgettable trip to Little Palm Island in Florida. Four days of total relaxation inspired me to pick up the camera again and get back to shooting and I am really quite happy with some of the results.