Since damaging my knee last week I have had to rest it quite extensively.

I have had a number of Physio sessions since then and we think that there is probably a small amount of cartilage damage.

The tests that the Physio does to test whether or not it is cartilage were all positive. Nothing but an MRI scan would really tell us what is going on, but I don’t have the time for that right now. I think that this has probably been a problem for me for at least 5 years.

I damaged my knee when I fell awkwardly a few years back and didn’t think much of it. Since doing it I have managed to play many sports with no issues but it appears that excessive loading such as running long distances (and then playing stupid games like table tennis) is too much for it.

However I am not ready to give up on the half marathon goal.

As I type this I am in my Gym on the bank holiday Monday here in the UK as my wife Sarah is still trying to stick to the plan.

So tomorrow I am going to try and do a light 30 minute cycle before trying a 3 mile easy run on Wednesday to see how it responds.

You can still see what I’m supposed to be doing by downloading your own Bristol half marathon programme **by clicking here**

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Before I get too many messages I know that I have had two day 36’s but that was because I missed out a day 31 previously.

So today Sarah and I had to do the 9 mile run on my half marathon program (as we did not run it yesterday).

When we set out the plan was to try and complete it as close to 1 hour 21 mins as possible. This would mean that we were running around the 9 min mile pace, one that we need to keep up if we are to break the two hour mark.

We were close to keeping to that pace as after 4 miles we were only about 1 minute down on what we needed to be. The next 2 miles got really progressively harder until the last mile when it took us nearly 12 mins to complete.

Our final time for the 9 miles (the last mile was all up a steep hill too) was 1 hour 27 mins 24 seconds.

I thought that it was a pretty good effort but Sarah was a little disappointed as she feels that the sub two hour marathon will be too fast for here to achieve, I still have some faith that it is possible.

I felt really good at the end of my run and went off to a friends house to play table tennis for a couple of hours.

Tomorrow should be a endurance circuit day but I may well take it as a rest depending on how my legs are feeling.

Don’t forget to download your own Bristol half marathon schedule here

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As I ran out of days this week with my training I had to combine two programs that should take me 1 hour 45 mins in total, into a one hour program.

In order to try and gain the benefit of both the strength circuit and the non running long interval I combined them into one session.  I started with the strength training circuit but cut the number of sets down to two which meant I completed it in about 25 mins (including my warm up).

I then went on to complete a 35 minute non running interval.  I warmed up for ten minutes at a RPE of 7 by walking on a treadmill for 10 mins at a speed of 6.5 kmh up an incline of 7.5.

I was then going to get off and do the 20 minute rowing sprints that I had done on previous sessions but ended up staying on the treadmill.  This was because I was helping one of my young clients (the same one that got on the rowing machine before me two weeks ago) and realised he was going to need my help in order to complete his treadmill sprints.

So I decided to do some extreme hill walking.  From 10 mins to 30 mins I walked a minute at 8 kmh up a 15 incline and then for a minute at 5.5kmh up a 5 incline.  Alternating this 10 times was actually tougher than I thought (not as tough as the young client next to me was working however).

I then finished off with a 5 minute easy walk back at 6 kmh up a 5 incline.

Much easier than what my client was doing but as this was a non running day, the hardest I could work on a treadmill without running or falling of the back.

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Before I trained yesterday I had knee pain and was feeling pretty tight and sore.  It’s only some muscle tightness pulling on the connective tissue around the knee cap, but it afflicts quite a few runners.

The way I deal with runners knee pain is to make sure that I warm up enough and then do some specific muscle loosening exercises.

I use the foam rolling exercises showed you in the video clip here and some trigger point work by lying on a golf ball.

The area that has become particularly tight is my left ITB (a large area of connective tissue that runs down the outside of your thigh.  Also my right VMO which is a small muscle just above the inside of your knee.

Using the golf ball to apply pressure I am able to get the muscles in the area to ‘switch off’ and relax which reduces the amount of tension in my knee, I usually do this type of workout at home on the floor whilst watching television.

So after the warm up and resistance workout my knee felt ten times better and was only a little tight the this morning.

Anyway on to today’s time trial.

We ran the first mile in 9:36 as an easy warm-up.  The fast mile we completed in 8:10 and then the last cool down mile took 9:19.

Not exceptional but a steady 9 min mile pace.  If we’re to get in under our two hour goal we’re going to need to match that for the full distance.

This Sunday we are doing a 9 mile as fast as possible time trial which I hope we can get close to maintaining a 9 min mile pace for.

I’ll obviously keep you posted.

Don’t forget to download your free day by day blueprint here

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Today was time to repeat the strength training resistance circuit that I started last week but with a couple of changes.

I increased the number of reps to 8 and the number of sets to three.

You can see exactly what I’m doing by downloading my free day by day blueprint **Click Here**

As you know I have had to change the schedule from the planned program by running on Monday rather than Sunday.  So other changes this week are that I will obviously be doing mile three mile time trial tomorrow which only leaves one day (I need to rest a day before my 9 miles at the weekend) to do my other strength resistance circuit and the 60 min non running interval.

So Friday will become a hybrid workout of the two.

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Well I was supposed to do the resistance training strength circuit today but quite honestly my legs (more accurately my knees) felt like they were going to explode today. 
 

So I decided to take my own advice and train smart not just hard.  This meant that I decided to take the day off training for the Bristol half marathon.
 

Instead I had an hour long trigger point session with one of my massage therapists.
 

If you are not familiar with trigger pointing it is a massage technique where constant pressure is applied to a ‘knotted’ muscle for about 5-20 seconds, released and then re applied.
 

What this does is tell the nervous system to ‘switch’ the muscles of and make them relax.
 

It was incredibly painful but really enjoyable at the same time. 
 

I’m one of those really sick people that actually quite like pain when I know that the end result is I will feel better.
 

Any way, having messed up with the training at the weekend and having such sore legs now has meant the program has had to change again.  I am 1 session behind.
 

Tomorrow I’ll get back on track with the strength circuit of the resistance training schedule and then Thursday it’s time for another 3 mile time trial.
 

I’ll make a decision by the end of the week as to whether I’m going to try and catch up with the missed session or just right it off and continue on plan.
 

It may come as a shock to you to find out that I have never run that far before in my life…it really shocked my wife who just assumed that in my pro rugby days we had done that sort of distance.

Get your own Half Marathon Blueprint here

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As we had to postpone yesterdays attempt at a 90 minute run due to the lack of an Asthma inhaler, we did it today.

The plan was to use the route I had planned back on Saturday using www.mapmyrun.co.uk

Actually things went better to start with than I thought they would and we made good progress at just under 10 minute mile pace.

We ran all the way down to the floating harbour in the centre of Bristol (and managed to run some of the route for the Bristol half marathon which is now only 4 and a half weeks away).

As we made our way back home and started coming in to more high street areas the running got a little difficult.

Now I’m all for dodging and weaving in and out of people on the streets when I’m fresh and light footed but to do so in the 9^th mile of a nine mile run is a little much for me.

Finally as we approached home and I thought of where we were supposed to go next, I decided to change the route.  We were supposed to run past our house and on for about another half a mile loop, but we both could not face the soul destroying thought of running past home so we detoured of and added a few extra roads into the current loop.

Finally we headed for home and I crossed ‘my’ start finish line at 1 hour 30 mins and 2 seconds.  Pretty spot on timing.

I then stretched out, showered and preceded to go back to the map my run website to see if I had actually done the nine miles we had hoped to cover.

About 30 minutes later (I went right down so each click of the map only moved me 20 meters or so) I found out that we were just a fraction away from the planned 9 miles.  We had actually covered 8.87 miles.

That is actually the furthest I have ever run and it was fairly tiring (understatement of the year).

As I had 2 rest days in a row, tomorrow is supposed to be back to the strength circuit, but I’ll need to see how I feel first.

Get your own half marathon blueprint here.

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Today we were supposed to run for 90 minutes and follow the plan I set out using yesterdays cool website.

Unfortunately Sarah (my wife) whom I’m helping to complete the Bristol half marathon was completely out of her Asthma inhaler and there was no way we were going to embark on such a long run with out one.

So unfortunately the half marathon program has changed yet again and we will be completing our 90 minute long run tomorrow.

To follow along and do your own half marathon program then *click here*

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Today was a complete rest on my half marathon training schedule and boy did I need it.

But instead of doing nothing I planned our long run which we are doing tomorrow.

I used this cool website I told you about last week www.mapmyrun.co.uk

And have planned a rough 8-9 mile loop that I think will take us 1 and a half hours (as planned).

I let you know how it goes.

A couple of readers have asked me which half marathon I’m running, well it’s the Bristol half marathon in my home city.

You can see details of it here www.bristolhalfmarathon.com

See what stage I’m at by downloading your own half marathon blueprint.

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Today I completed the strength training circuit that I did on Wednesday and found it much easier.

Again it only took me 30 mins even with my warm-up and cool down.

Next week the reps go up to eight and the number of circuits increases to three.

Tomorrow is a rest day, so will be enjoying putting my feet up but will probably still do a foam rolling and trigger point session.

I’ll also probably plan our run for Sunday using this really cool website www.mapmyrun.co.uk One of my coaches (Carrie) showed me this excellent tool.

Get your own half marathon program here www.halfmarathonfitnessblueprint.com

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