Ross Running...

It's 12 days before the Manchester marathon!!  Obviously due to the head operation at the end of February, my running in March has been kinda limited!!  And my running for the second half of February was pretty much non-existent too!!  Not great training for the marathon, but if I am going to give it a go, what do I need to do?  Clearly the aim now is not to worry about pace, but just try and get round it, ideally without stopping!  Even breaking four hours is not a goal - that's too quick for me in my current state.  But maybe 6m/km is achievable for a marathon.  That would equate to about 4:13h which is, if anything, faster than I should be aiming at!!  The not stopping is bizarrely important to me, because I have a possibly daft feeling that the knee/calf problems I have had in long runs only happen after I stop.  If I keep going, even very slowly, the pain won't start until I stop, which is hopefully after the finish!  So I am lookin...

It's been about 6 weeks since my last blog post and there has been quite a big running gap!  Just over a month ago my head was hurting, right at the top.  That's part of where the metal plates were put in after the TBI.  The result of the previously mentioned bicycle accident in 2020.  So I was a tad concerned but figured probably ok.  I kept on running but took it a bit easy, and then I had to go to Glasgow for a few days for family stuff.  My sister, Jo, is a dentist, so very medical.  I mentioned to her the sharp pain I had been occasionally getting, and she had a look at the top of my head.  She saw a bit of metal protruding from my head, so she took a picture and told me to get back in touch with Preston hospital, and send them the picture.  I did this, and unsurprisingly they wanted me to come in for an appointment.  That was booked for the 22nd of February, and I went and they had a look.  They needed a scan to know how serio...

It's been a month since my last post and today was a long run.  But, more importantly, I've moved house!!  On the 19th of January I moved to Manchester and I've even joined a local running club !  Today was my first long run here, and the weather was sunny and I loved it.  But, oh man, I was slow!  I didn't mind what pace I did it at, I just wanted lots of time-on-legs, and it certainly ticked that box, at 144 minutes!  But my average pace was 6:09m/km, which is only just above walking pace, and I couldn't go any faster!!  I don't think I could have kept going for even 5 minutes longer, but if I can keep that pace for a marathon it would equate to 4 hours 20.  Not quick, but 20 minutes quicker than last year, so it'd still be a success!  There are about 10 weeks to go, so if I can get to a point where I can be comfortable at that pace for 4 hours or so then I'll be happy.  I jogged to Platt Fields for this, which is where the South Manch...

It's been just over a month since the last post, and today was a long run, so I figured worth a post!!  The plan for today's run was 121 minutes, but I am still adding my extra 20 minutes or so at a gentle pace.  That made the plan to be 141minutes in total which was ever so slightly terrifying!!  It was on a treadmill so perfect terrain/weather, and I thought somewhere around 26km would maybe be achievable.  Nowhere near a marathon, but getting there, and I would have been very happy!!  But I failed 😢.  It wasn't a disaster, in fact it was kinda decent really, but one reason for posting is to share my feelings about why I failed!!  I clearly don't know the reason, but I have a guess.  And it is something that I have been thinking for some time now.  Treadmill running is very different to running outside for all sorts of reasons!!  I prefer running outside, but there are pros and cons.  Running outside means not having to go to a g...

It's been nearly a month since my last post and the last few days have been a little interesting, so I'm gonna blog it.  I'm still following the Steve Palladino marathon training plan, and so far so good.  I've continued wearing the calf and knee protectors on my right leg, and they seem to be doing the trick, but time will tell!  The plan started on the 7th of November and it's four runs a week, so I've now done 17 runs of the 84 or so runs of the plan.  Still a way to go before Manchester, but slowly getting there...  The last blog was talking about the first long run in the plan which was 80 minutes.  This week the long run was 101 minutes.  Not a huge increase, but I guess upping the distance a little every week makes sense.  It's the same shape of plan, with 10m gentle running at the start and end, and in the middle a big chunk at a slightly quicker pace and 15m  at a decent pace.  But recently I have been thinking about the maratho...

No real need to write a blog note today, but this week I started training for April's Manchester Marathon, and today was the first 'long' run...  😊 .  As usual for me, given my fragile post-injury state, I am going to be mainly on the gym treadmill, as was the case today and all the training days so far..  I put the word long in quotes, because an 80 minute run seems long to me, and is the longest of the training plan so far, but I guess for marathon training it's not very long!!!  I started doing the Steve Palladino marathon training plan on Tuesday, and it started with a gentle 35 minutes which was nice.  Then a run on the Wednesday and Thursday was followed by bowling on Friday (which I lost ) and parkrun on Saturday.  So today, Sunday, was the fourth run in the plan and the first reasonably long run.  As always, it's all power and time based rather than raw speed, and today was 10 minutes of low power at the start and end  Then 45 minutes of ...

I haven't blogged for about six weeks, as little to report, but this morning was the Langdale half-marathon, so I reckoned that was worth a mention...  As previously blogged, I had knee/calf/ankle problems after the Kirkbride half-marathon.  And the at the start of September I was knocked back a bit by falling over on a training run.  So training for Langdale hasn't been great, but I have been following the plan on the gym treadmill for the last few weeks, and I felt I could give this race a go.  Landale is a stunningly beautiful event, and even the weather was nice, so I enjoyed it a lot!!  But my time was simply awful!!  Two and a quarter hours, at an average pace of 6:21m/km!!  Not exactly great, but there are reasons/excuses...  😁 .  The first thing was the slight lack of training that I have just mentioned.  That meant that I had done almost no long runs, which is not brilliant for a half...  But the main reason for the slow p...