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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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.

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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.

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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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I completed my three miles today with the middle mile done as an all out time trial.

If you remember back on day 3 I completed a time trial mile in 7 mins 30 secs.

I use these time trials to then set my running pace for interval sessions.

It was really pleasing to run the mile in 6 mins 52 secs today.  That’s an 8.5% improvement in just 2 weeks…. not bad.

This means that next week when I do my 6 mile interval run, I will be aiming to do three of the miles (with rest miles in between) at 7:33 pace.  That’s 3 seconds slower than I did my fastest mile just 2 weeks ago.

So that was basically it, nothing more than 30 minutes by the time I had warmed up, foam rolled, done my easy mile at the start and end and of course the middle flat out mile.

Tomorrow is the return of the resistance circuit and the last time I do it for the next few weeks, from next week I transition in to some strength circuits but I’ll explain those fully then.

Please feel free to comment below and I’ll try and answer as many questions as possible.

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After doing the hour and fifteen minute long run yesterday my legs were a little tired for the weight training circuit I did today, but that didn’t stop me taking it to the next level and increasing the number of reps.

When I increase the number of reps like today I try and not change the weights. This means that if I was using 10kg last time and only doing 12 reps then I will stick with that weight and try and complete 15.

So here’s what the upped session looks like.

Resistance Circuits – Week 3
Exercise
1.Backward Lunges -15LR*
2.Swiss Ball Hamstring Curl -15
3.Plank – 60 secs
4.Step Ups with Knee Up -15LR
5.Single Arm Row -15LR
6.Swiss Ball Half Jack Knife -15
7.Stationary Lateral Lunges -15LR
8.Single Leg Bridge -15LR
9.Side Plank – 60s secs LR
*LR= left and right, i.e. 10 backward lunges on each leg.

It took me 43:22 to complete today. That was 3 minutes warm up, 3 minutes foam roll (see this post for more details) 3 circuits as described above and then 3 minute cool down.

Tomorrow is time to try another mile time trial and see if things have improved since I did it last time 2 weeks ago.

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Instead of the planned normal rest day I had to move my long run to today.

This was because my wife Sarah was away until late Sunday night so we had to make changes to the half marathon schedule.

The difference between today’s run and last Sunday’s run was that today was just for time, where as last Sunday’s was for a distance in the fastest possible time.

This is where my half marathon training differs from most other peoples (among other things). Instead of every week going out and trying to run as hard as possible I like to mix one week of doing that (i.e. run 6 or 7 miles as fast as possible) with one week of just running for a set amount of time.

So today was 1 hour and 15 minutes of just steady running. We covered just less than 7 and a half miles in the time, but as I sad that was not the important part of the training session.

Tomorrow is back to the resistance circuits but with more reps, I’ll let you know how it goes.

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Today was supposed to be a run for 1 hour and 15 mins but as I explained the other day I’m going to be doing it tomorrow.

Sometimes life just takes control and you have to change your schedule.

Never get disheartened if this happens as all you have to do is rearrange things and make sure you get all the sessions in.

If you were to have to miss a couple of days training for any reason then I would not try and catch up with the sessions, instead I would just miss them out and start with the day you should be on.

This is not an excuse to miss training but just licence to not beat yourself up and make sure you get back on track as quickly as possible.

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Usually a Saturday would be a rest day on my half marathon training programme but as I ran out of time yesterday and didn’t complete my interval training session I had to do it today.

The only change I made between the last extensive interval session I did and this one was that I did the exercises in a different order.

Instead of doing the cross trainer, stepper and the cycle as I did on day 5 I did the stepper followed by the cross trainer and finished again on the bike.

Tomorrow should be a long 1 hour and 15 minute run but as I explained the other day this is going to have to be done on Monday.

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