My last run before the Big Half this weekend, and it’s the first time my plan has set me a marathon pace long run. I’m aiming for 5.15 m/km at the moment and that seemed to go pretty well!

I opted for a simple route round and round the park because it was so wet and I didn’t want to have to navigate around cars.

Kept my stride length about normal but put extra effort into lifting my knees and trying to be fluid.

I the process, got a 10k PB too! Roll on my first (non-Parkrun) event on Sunday 🎉

I have questions about stride length! After Emily pointed out I had an unusual running style I’ve been watching a few videos about stride length. It seems I’m probably shuffling more than I’m lifting my knees, so today I actively tried to reach my knee up and stretch out more whilst still landing my foot directly underneath me. I can feel the difference when I do it but it’s hard to maintain.

On the downhill side of the park I let myself go quick with that longer stride and that felt pretty good.

Any tips appreciated!

My plan has me running three days in a row because I have the Big Half at the weekend, which will be my first running event, not counting Parkrun. Exciting stuff!

Pleased to see the blossom peeking out now that we’re coming to the end of February, although I hear we are in for a cold snap this week!

It’s two months until the London Marathon! 🙀

Because these Sunday long runs are somewhat unrelenting now I thought I’d get some inspiration and go and see the finishing line at the Mall first hand. This is the fifth week in a row where I’ve run a half marathon or longer, so I thought it would be good to vary things.

The RunGo app is really helpful for drawing out routes, and I had an idea - don’t start from the doorstep of our home, get a bus a little way in to the city centre. Then run from there to see some new places.

This meant today I got all the way up to the Wetland Center and Hyde Park.

The only problem with this bus and run idea is getting cold, but I found that a thin down jacket squashes down just enough to fit into the 5 litre hydration pack that I’ve got, so that’s helpful on the way back.

Also, I’ve been polishing my new running blog yesterday, and it seems to be working pretty well. You can find it at run.stef.io

No photo for this update, but a few of you folks have mentioned that doing some strength exercises is a good idea. So I went for an induction and have a plan involving lifting metal bars and pulling myself around with straps. I’ve never been to a gym so it was a little bit intimidating. Let’s see how this goes!

With all this stormy weather I’ve not made it to Parkrun for a couple of weeks. Nice to be back. Didn’t manage to get under 22, but I’m pleased my knee didn’t hurt at all, so next week I’ll push it a bit harder.

Emily, my wife, came to watch and observed that I looked really unusual in my running style in comparison to the other runners. Stiff, upright and a very short stride length. It seems I should investigate having a little bit of coaching and get those strides to be a bit longer.

Thanks to everyone who’s been giving me advice about the marathon plan I’m on. I thought I’d try some intervals and also check out Track East at the same time. It’s an offshoot of Run Dem Crew - I’ve been following for a while but not yet managed to get involved.

So tonight, I went along for the first time. Taking it easy, I joined in with the 1h50 half marathon pace group and did 4x1 mile intervals with 90s break in between.

It was a nice bunch of folks, all very welcoming and my new knee strap kept my knee feeling good. I even managed a little sprint at the end.

So, feeling more confident I should put some speed sessions into the plan, which probably means dropping my current novice-level Run With Hal plan and going with the intermediate one. (Which is what Matt K said at the beginning...🙄)

Anyway, feeling stronger, more confident about the plan and met some nice folks. I shall be back! 👏

Oh, and I’ve been playing with the Strava API to make a little blog of these updates for non-Strava users. Prototype here: https://run.stef.io

Up early while I’m in Amsterdam and I discovered a nearby run using RunGo. The way the roads here are separated from the pedestrian routes always impresses me. It feels much safer and calmer than running in London!

It’s a lovely park too, apparently designed by Mecanoo, the same folks who were the architects on the Birmingham Library (!)

I’ve not tried to take many photos in the dark so far, but I stopped for a couple of long exposures and the new iPhone is really quite amazing. I’ll do more of that now I know.

I’ve been struggling with my knee since this weekend’s long run. Just on my patella and lots cracks and pops. It feels a lot better today, after lots of stretching and self-massage yesterday. Keeping an eye on that.

Right - off to work to talk about carbon impact data gathering methodologies 👍

Today I took the bus a few minutes in so I could go further along the Thames and explore some more. I popped past Brunel’s Engine House, up to the Cutty Sark, which I think I’ve only been to as a kid, through the pedestrian tunnel under the Thames and round to Tower Bridge and back.

This makes four half marathons in four weeks! I’m not sure I quite understood when I got my marathon place just how much distance I’d be covering in training each week. Maybe that’s a good thing because I might not have gone for it if I’d really thought it through.

Today, I kept it at the pace I’ve been mostly going at 5.45ish - thanks for the advice Matt W. So with a couple of stops for photos and getting lost (!) it felt pretty calm and I’m feeling good now. The only problem is my knee hurt quite a lot at the end, but I think i just need to keep doing my strength exercises and stretches and it’ll be okay.

Here’s to the next four, one of which will be my first actual organise half marathon event in a couple of weeks!

I dressed for rain but was treated to a clear sky at one point. The parks are waterlogged so I was taking it easy.

I’m still trying to work out how fast I should be running on these weekday runs. I’m following the training plan but it feels a bit slow because I know I can go faster. I’m tempted to switch the plan from “Novice 1” to see what it does, but then I’m worried I’d lose my progress and get in a mess. Hmm...

It was the London Marathon “Meet the Experts” event on Saturday and I went along. I’ve been surprised about how much there is to think about around how to prepare for the big day. Training, nutrition, how much water to drink, how not to get injured... and there were a bunch of folks there giving helpful talks across all of it. Very helpful indeed!

I took the opportunity to get myself a couple of bits of branded gear. I’m not normally someone who likes wearing logos, but I’d like to have some things to wear after all this has happened to remember it!

So, tried the new leggings out on a run, and they’re great. Two pockets and zips at the bottom. Ace.

So, today, feeling strong. Not hurting very much anywhere and excited about the progress I’m making. I just run a 10k and didn’t even really think about that being a challenge!

Very sadly the London Winter Run is cancelled tomorrow because of the incoming storm. So I’ve switched my long run to today instead.

Keeping it steady and paying attention to my new virtual coach Hal via the Running With Hal app. His advice was to aim for 22.5 at 5.55-6.20 pace. At points I was finding I had to slow myself down, particularly downhill. But I got it just about on the button. I’m learning a lot in the process!

I’m finding these runs really meditative and I’m loving being able to really listen to two hours of music each weekend. This time it was Max Cooper on Nemone’s Electric Ladyland on BBC6 Music. A really great episode this week.

Thanks to Matt K for recommending I get a hydration vest. I found a half price Arcteryx one that I tried out for the first time - it was really helpful.

Stay safe tomorrow, everyone. I can’t imagine seeing much activity on here until Monday!

Working from home today so two hours of travel saved and I’ve swapped one for a gorgeous run in three parks.

I’m really pleased with Run With Hal, so I’m sticking to whatever he has to say about my training now. Today, a “marathon pace” run. I might change my target as I go but at the moment this would see me aiming for a 3.30 time which I realise is ambitious.

It was gorgeous outside, and the crocuses are already coming out. Seems a bit early but it certainly helps me feel a little calmer given there’s some work stress at the moment.

Thanks to Matt K, I’ve found a great marathon training app called Run With Hal. So I’m following the advice and this is a short, easy run. The idea is to exactly match the distance and pace that the disembodied Hal (no he’s an actual person, not a space station AI) tells you to do in the plan.

I was quite relieved that today’s run was a short one because my knee is still feeling it after Sunday. But I feel really good now after a simple jog around listening to Brian Cox and friends.

It’s pretty stressful at work at the moment so it was nice to tune that out for a bit.

Interestingly, by going slower I was able to think about my stride, and I tried to lengthen it whilst still not landing on my heels, whilst maintaining the same pace.

Anyway, no photo today - it was pitch black out!

I’ve been thinking about this run since Sunday when I ran 21k for the first time. My knees were complaining for a couple of days afterwards and I was worried it would be painful if I ran a similar distance again today.

Turns out... I was right! I’m feeling okay now but at a few points I thought about stopping, not because I was feeling tired - just my right knee was really quite painful.

Anyway, I stuck with it. Tried some gels for the first time, had extra water, and stuck to the plan. 💪

Feeling strong today, so I tried to go as fast as I could. The first lap was speedy for me, but I got out of breath and had to briefly stop after the second. Next week I'm running my first 10k race - the London Winter Run. I'm not sure I could keep this pace up for another 5k, so Tom's challenge of beating 45m will be a stretch. We shall see!

No pain to speak of, and no migraine, thank goodness :-)

I'm still finding it bizarre that we're in February now and it's ten degrees outside. Nice for marathon training, but it worries me for the planet.