So far so good with the running; and I mean that sincerely.  Especially since I’ve been sick with a cold off and on since around Christmas time.  In fact, I’m only now just getting over my most recent one which was especially nasty.

Last Sunday I did a long run of over 16km so the build up of distance is going okay.  However!  The pain.  I keep getting pain in my right foot across the top and I end up having to have the laces on that shoe/foot quite loose or it drives me nuts.  Also, I’ve recently bought some off the shelf ortho inserts for my running shoes because the Kayanos do not offer enough arch support and my right foot (again) was hurting on my long runs from the constant pounding. 

I think I see a new pair of running shoes in my future.  I may have to go back to some old favourites like the Adidas Supernova Sequence or even waaaay back and get a pair of Nike structure triax.  They were very cushioned when I last had a pair with loads of arch support. 

So I don’t bore you with all of my runs, here is my long run from Sunday and an overview of my runs since end of Jan:-

Overall summary:-

Now, I suppose you’re wondering why I’m not posting that much?  Well, I’m just busy lately.  But I’ve been running and that’s what really matters.  As for this site, I’ll be making more of an effort to keep it updated over the next few days and updating my spreadsheets with runs and working out the total distance I’ve covered on my run across Canada.

Related posts:

1. Something’s Afoot
2. Asics Kayano
3. Emperor’s New Shoes

If you check out my current running log here:-

http://thevirtualrunner.org/blog/about-me/run-across-canada/

You’ll see that I have definitely still be running and maintaining a steady and non-exciting training regime.  That’s the thing, it’s non-exciting at the moment.  I mean, I know I’ve got a half marathon and full marathon next year but in my mind the real training won’t start until after xmas.  Is that wrong?

Santa Dash

There is only another two weeks and I will be off to the Look Out in Bracknell, Berkshire with some work colleagues.  We’ll all be dressed as a very pathetic looking Santa and walking/running to raise money for the Thames Hospicecare.

My Fundraising

I haven’t really focused on it yet, but my total fundraising at the moment is a whopping zero.  That’s right, nought.  So, feel free to donate.  I mean, even £2 is nice!  £2 is nothing?  I’m done begging now…

Traumatising Movie

I watched The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas the other day with my wife.  Very, very, very good movie.  I give it 10 out of 10.  Would I watch it again?  Never.  I simply found it way too traumatising.  If you haven’t seen it then I won’t ruin it for you….

Visiting Family

We had family visit from Belgium for a week.  It was really nice seeing them and we had a great time.  We even took them to Legoland with us for my son’s birthday! 

Growing Up

Not me, my son.  He’s three!  I can’t believe it.  We took him to Legoland for the whole day and stayed for the fireworks display in the evening.  He loved all of it.  He’s such a good boy and he was so tired by the end of it he was falling asleep on my lap during the fireworks.  Happy Birthday little boy!

Swine Flu

I’ve seen a lot of people in Canada posting things about the swine flu and everyone seems to be doing a bit of mild panicking and scare-mongering when it comes to the flu and the jabs.  Frankly I think everyone should just calm down.

As for me, I’ve been invited to have the swine flu jab because I’m considered “high risk”.  I have asthma.  So, I’m off this coming weekend to get jabbed… I’m not looking forward to it at all.

I’m very annoyed that my wife or son won’t be having it but there isn’t much I or anyone else can do about that.

This week

Some usual running going on, however I’ll probably be making an appearence back at running club with my mate Tony on wednesday.  It should be interesting, as long as it doesn’t pour down with rain!  Drizzle I can handle…

Top Gear

I’m off to watch the rest of it…

Related posts:

1. Chunky Virtual Runner dot com?
2. A lot has happened…
3. I’m covering ground!

The 405 is some pretty cool kit and I’m looking forward to giving it a go this weekend on my long run.  I was going to use it this evening for my interval training at the track but it was raining so hard that I didn’t go.  My friend and I decided that we were fairweather-runners and decided to stay in and chill-out instead.

Tomorrow morning and Friday morning I’ll be on the treadmill.  This is mainly because I go at 6am and it’s dark outside at that time so that means I would rather not run the roads around here.  Wed night running club sessions and Sunday long runs are out and about.  Remaining training sessions are at the gym.

I’ve updated my running log (up to 02 October 2009) and I’ve covered a total distance so far of 2529.83km on my virtual run across Canada.  I’ll map out where I am in Canada later on this week and I’ll update the location map as well.

On another note, I’ve been reading my list of blogs lately and I noticed that The Fat Runner has decided to run a half-marathon and is looking for sponsorship in exchange for a listing on his website as advertising space.  Obviously the advertising space won’t make a massive difference to your site (if you’ve got one) but I think it is a worthwile cause to raise money for and I’m also happy to encourage a fellow runner to achieve their goals.  I’m happy that he’s attempting a half marathon and I wish him all the best with his training.  Let’s just hope he keeps blogging and doesn’t be like me with huge gaps in posts!  (sorry)

If you’re interested in sponsoring The Fat Runner or finding out more then you can visit him here:-

http://thefatrunner.blogspot.com/2009/09/half-marathon-madness.html

When it comes to my own ambitions, you probably saw my previous post which was my rejection magazine from the Virgin London Marathon.  I should say my “first” rejection magazine because I’ll probably get others in my lifetime!  Anyway, it doesn’t matter because I have already registered for the Brighton Marathon and I’ve also booked my hotel so I’m all ready.  Just got to do that whole training thing….

It’s getting late now (10:30pm) and I’m sleepy.  I get up a 5:20am every weekday morning and it seems to come quicker every day!  Tomorrow I’m going to do some hill-work and mix it up with a bit of sprinting/intervals as well.

Related posts:

1. London Marathon Rejection
2. Points of (Un)Interest
3. London Marathon

My distance covered so far on my meandering virtual run across Canada is 2352 kilometres (1462 miles) and I’m happy to say that my motivation and drive is returning.

I’m now running in parts of my home country that I’ve never been to in real life.  The first 27 years of my life were spent in Canada and the farthest west I have ever been is Oshawa and that’s because that is where I was born.  The farthest west I have been and can remember is Ottawa.

I will see the rest of my own country in time and I’ll see it as a tourist and I’ll bring my son and wife from the UK.  I don’t know when or how but those are things to plan for the future.

I do get asked by a lot of people over here in the UK if I plan on moving back to Canada and the truth is, no I don’t.  I’m happy here in the UK and I’ve got a lovely wife, son and daughter.  I’ve built a life for myself in the UK and I enjoy it here.

As for my motivation returning, it might be linked to changing my trainers to my next new pair and because I registered for a marathon.  I was losing my motivation and it was partly linked to sore feet and achilles after runs.  The other day I decided to move on to my next pair of trainers that have been sitting in the bottom of the closet waiting for me.  I had bought two pairs of Adidas Supernova Sequence trainers (for the price of one) and I think I’ve only got about 400 miles out of them.  That’s not too bad considering I’m a heavy runner at around 15.5 stone (217 lbs).  I still can’t believe I was more than 18 stone (252 lbs) at my heaviest.  And I’m sure I was even heavier than that because at my fattest I never weighed myself… the shock would’ve been too much!

I feel much better now with my new trainers and my marathon goal.  I’ve even slowed down on my easy and long runs in order to facilitate the longer distances I’ll be doing.  All of the training plans I’ve seen for marathon distance have the average pace (for me anyway) much slower than what I have been running.  I suppose it makes sense as I will need to slow down in order to cover the whole 26.2 miles without breaking down.

As for non-running related matters, my wife is still as lovely as always and supportive of everything I do.  My son is still the cutest and the most clever little boy in the world.  My daughter and her husband are doing great.  My best friend Rob is back in contact again (kind of) and travelling around Canada on his own little adventure.  My laser eye surgery is next week (02 Sept 2009) and I’m getting excited.  We’ve got a nice little weekend holiday coming up and when we return I’m getting lasered!

That’s it for now.  I’m still running and I’m feeling it again.  I think that many people go through ups and downs in their training and not just for running either.  I’m just glad I’m feeling it again.

Related posts:

1. The Long Goodbye
2. Who you calling chicken?
3. Running Logs

Running log spreadsheet has been updated to 05 August 2009.

I’m well impressed with my increase in daily mileage!

Related posts:

1. Juneathon – Day 8 (Rest Day)
2. Running Logs
3. Feeling it again

Monday is my day of rest from running and today was no different.  Instead I opted for my usual evening of push-ups and crunches which I did whilst playing with my son and ensuring his potty training was going okay.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the number of push-ups I can do per set is much higher than it used to be a few months ago.  At the moment I can consistently do sets of 20 without too many issues.  Tonight I did the following:-

Push-ups:  5 Sets (20, 20, 20, 20 & 20)

Crunches:  4 Sets (50, 50, 50 & 60)

On another note, I’ve been neglecting to update my running log/spreadsheet which I use to keep track of my total miles since I started running.  Naughty Virtual Runner!  I have now remedied this and I am happy to provide the following update:-

Total distance I’ve run since I started on 10/06/2007:  3358.88km (2087.11 miles)

Total distance I’ve run across Canada from 06/06/2008 to date:  1977.51km (1228.83 miles)

Average daily mileage during run across Canada:  5.38km (3.34 miles) per day

Average daily mileage since I started running:  4.60km (2.85 miles) per day

Average running pace in 2007 (not a full year): 05:57 min/km (09:34 min/mile)

Average running pace in 2008:  05:44 min/km (09:13 min/mile)

Average running pace in 2009 (not a full year):  05:40 min/km (09:07 min/mile)

Tomorrow night I’ll map it out using Google Earth and see where I am on my virtual journey across Canada.  My current map location is way out of date!

Related posts:

1. Juneathon – Day 11 & 12 (Back to normal)
2. Cross Canada Run & Stats Update
3. Day of Rest

It was fantastic watching the thousands of people in the crowds, the celebrities being interviewed (Katie Price, Peter Andre, Nell McAndrew, Gordon Ramsay to name a few) as well as all the other runners.  Everyone was running for different charities and reasons and the atmosphere of the event was amazing.

Nell McAndrew was the fasted celebrity with a time of 03:10:20  while Katie Price and her husband Peter Andre finished in 07:11:00.

The winner for the elite men was Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya) in 02:05:10, the winner of the elite women was Irina Mikitenko (Germany) in 02:22:11 and the winner of the wheelchair race was Kurt Fearnley (Australia) in 01:28:57.

I ran 16.00km (9.94 miles) at a 05:38 min/km (09:05 min/mile) pace while watching the marathon and the time just flew by.  I was so engrossed in the event and coverage.

I’ve also decided (like many that watch the event) that I am going to enter the ballot for the 2010 London Marathon.  Why not?  If I get in, great!  It will be something to train for and a great day and achievement at one of the worldest biggest and best events.  If I don’t get in, no big deal.  There are other years or other marathons.  About 150,000 people enter the ballot and about 36,000 people get to run.  You do the maths.

The rest of my day was spent chilling out with my family, barbecuing and putting together a gazebo/tent thingy in the garden.

As soon as I’ve completed this rambling session I’m going to update my running log/spreadsheet with my recent runs and I’m also going to work out where I am on my virtual run across Canada so I can update my location map.

Previous two runs this week:

24 April 2009 – 10.82km (6.72 miles) at a 05:32 min/km (08:55 min/mile) pace.

23 April 2009 – 10.79km (6.70 miles) at a 05:32 min/km (08:55 min/mile) pace.

Not much variety in my runs since the half marathon and I’m fully aware of that fact.  I’m just holding steady at the moment with our wedding day coming up and the honeymoon week away as well.  I’ll concentrate more on quality training when I get back… I promise.

Related posts:

1. Virgin London Marathon Ballot
2. Virgin London Marathon Ballot Update
3. Virgin London Marathon Site Update

Thankfully I have kept a separate written log of my runs this month, however that means I have no runs to upload to the Nikeplus site. I reiterate… Piece of crap!

Anyway, this is the current situation:-

Distance covered so far in run across Canada: 1665.93km (1035.21 miles)
Distance covered so far this year: 542.21km (336.91 miles)
Distance covered since I started running: 3047.30km (1893.50 miles)

This year I am currently averaging 5.9km (3.7 miles) a day.

Last year at this date I was averaging 4.32km (2.68 miles) a day.

I’ve been neglecting my running log lately but I’m happy to say that I’ve finally updated it. I’ve used Google Earth to map out my virtual run across Canada and I’ve updated my current location map so you can see where I am.

As for the virtual run across Canada, I’m starting to wish I had taken a more direct route. Oh well, it’s all about the journey isn’t it?

I’m getting a cold (typical) but I’m still going for an easy run tomorrow in my new Adidas running shoes.

Related posts:

1. Cross Canada Run & Stats Update
2. Juneathon – Day 8 (Rest Day)
3. I’m covering ground!

Anyway, the workout for yesterday seems to go back to less then previous and went as follows:-

Set 1:  17 – Easy Peasy
Set 2:  19 – Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy
Set 3:  15 – Still easy
Set 4:  15 – Easy
Set 5:  To failure (Max 20) – I did 26 and it was of course hard.

Now that the workouts have suddenly become easier I’m questioning how this program will get me to 100 push ups in a few weeks time.

As for running (which is the main point of this rambling), I decided yesterday that if the weather today was okay I was going to go to Dinton Pastures (although there are no pastures there) to run around the lakes and get my 19k long run done outside.  I thought it would be a nice break for my treadmill legs.

When I got up this morning I had a bit of a congested right sinus and upper back part of my throat had that slight burning sensation that precedes a head cold.  I thought “to hell with it, I’m not going to let this stop me so close to the half-marathon!”.  I checked the weather and it said it was going to be grey and cloudy all morning but no rain.  Sounded good to me.

I had a nice breakfast of porridge and multivitamins followed up with fish oil (tablet form) and lots of fluid.  I got the baby boy up out of bed because I could hear him upstair kicking around and talking to himself.  I got the baby boy sorted with a bottle and some spongebob on the tv and I went upstairs to get ready and wake up my fiance.

Now for the run itself, I’ve done it a couple of times before and I’ve mapped it out.  One lap of both the main lakes is approximatley 5km so I thought I would just do about 4 laps (of both lakes) and that would be my 19k (random photos of the route for you in the middle of this posting).

When I got there I walked in a little ways first so I could find a place to stash my water bottle.  I don’t like carrying the damn thing whilst running so I had the bright idea to hide it along the route and I could have a drink every lap.

Obviously I didn’t want anyone to see me stashing my bottle anywhere because someone might have nicked it or let their dog piss on it or something.  Who knows.  The only problem is, as this is the UK, there is no actual countryside or parts of the country where you can actually go and be alone.  No matter what idea you have to go somewhere there are always other people there.  So it took a few minutes before I had an opening where people weren’t walking their dogs past my secret spot.

I stashed my bottle eventually, set my iPod and started off on the run.  It was a really nice run and I took it easy the whole way and tried to get a feel for what my “easy” pace is on the open road.  Obviously it’s different when you don’t have a treadmill telling you your precise pace whilst running.  I tried to keep my pace around the 05:40 min per km mark the whole time because that feels relaxed enough to me and my breathing is quite easy.

During the run I thought I would see quite a few other runners, especially as it is the run up to the Reading Half-Marathon at the end of the month.  In fact, it’s pretty much marathon season as there are many marathons and half-marathons during March and April in the UK.

I didn’t actually see that many runners.  Maybe two.  Everyone else was wearing wellies (rubber boots) and walking their dogs OR pushing a push-chair (stroller) and walking their dogs etc.

On the first lap around you say good morning to people but after that when you pass them over and over again, what do you say?  I just smiled and kept going.

The weather held out and it never rained and the air was cool.  Overall it was one of the best runs I’ve been on in a long time.  And to top it all off I managed my 19k, which means that was the longest training run I’ve ever done.  I was (and am) so proud of myself.  It felt like such a great achievement.

After the run it was a walk back to my secret water bottle location and a walk back to the car where I stretched and changed in to my hoody for the drive back home.

After my run this morning and for the rest of the afternoon I have been completely knackered.  I mean, does everyone feel like this after their long runs?  I do replenish my fluids constantly and I have carbs and banana afterwards etc, however I am yawning an hour after the run and I’m utterly exhausted.  I even have to have a nap in the afternoon for an hour or so too.

I’d be curious to know if there are other runners out there that experience the great fatigue at the end of a long run and how they manage during the rest of the day without looking like some sort of zombie.

As for my virtual run across Canada; I’ve updated my site with my current location and I’ve updated my mileage.  You can view my current location by clicking here.

I’ve now passed Montreal and Ottawa and I have covered the following distances:-

Distance covered so far in run across Canada:  1490.87km (926.43 miles)
Distance covered so far this year:  367.15km (228.14 miles)
Distance covered since I started running:  2872.24km (1784.72 miles)

As for non-running related matters, my baby boy is getting better and has been dutifully taking his antibiotics three times a day.  He’s a much cheerier boy now and we are planning to take him to the doctor again this week for a follow-up to make sure the infection is cleared up.

Don’t forget, it’s the first day of the month:-

White rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit.

Related posts:

1. Semi-conscious and KFC
2. Cold is a four letter word
3. Wellness Reigns

Related posts:

1. Happenings & Training
2. 10k Runs Planned
3. My First Entry