Half Marathon Training using the Adidas miCoach - Week 1

St Edmunds Tavern

Armed now with my Adidas Micoach I am using a heart rate monitor as my key method of training for a half marathon. I have never trained for a half marathon using a heart rate monitor as the key determinant.


miCoach uses four personalized zones to help you gauge your efforts during your workouts. The zones are the building blocks for all workouts with miCoach. Each zone represents a level of effort: Blue is easy, Green is medium, Yellow is hard, Red is maximal.

My heart rate zones have slightly changed since the initial assessment run and are now

Red Zone                159-165 bpm
Yellow Zone            152-158 bpm
Green Zone            133-151 bpm
Blue Zone               117-132 bpm
I re did the assessment run and the new zones are slightly higher than before which is good news as it shows a slight improvement in my fitness levels 

My week 1 schedule is as follows :-

30th Aug - 50 minute run - 5 min blue zone 40 min green zone and 5 min blue

1st Sep - 40 minute run - 5 min blue zone 30 min green zone and 5 min blue

3rd Sep - 40 minute run - 5 min blue zone 30 min green zone and 5 min blue

4th Sep - 70 minute run - 5 min blue zone 60 min green zone and 5 min blue

5th Sep - 30 minute run all blue zone

1st week is a total of 3hr 50 minutes of running. Mainly at a green zone pace

Green Zone 70-80% of your max heart rate 

This is known as the aerobic threshold and is a comfortable paced run where you can run for long periods of time as a result your heart and lung capacity are all improved . You burn fats and carbohydrates at the same 50% rate.

I completed my 1st run this morning which was a 50 min run through the centre of Bury St Edmunds .


I passed the St Edmunds Tavern in Risbygate Street. This pub has had a complete refurbishment and change of name. It was formerly known as the Rising Sun and is one of the oldest public houses in Bury St Edmunds. According to the Old Inns and Beerhouses of Bury St Edmunds guide it appeared in a newspaper advertisement in 1727. However it is thought to be older than this and legend suggests that Oliver Cromwell once stayed here.

Review of my Running in March 2010

March . One of my favourite months of the year. The first greenshoots and buds appearing the daffodils and snowdrops in the hedgerows.  It is that sense of new life, renewal , the dawn chorus and the longer days everything feels better and there is a sense of anticipation of whats to come in the rest of Spring and Summer.

How did I do with my running in March? My  stats show

•  a total of 144 miles for the month which is up from 129 in 2009.
• I ran on 19 days 
• My biggest mileage week was 41.5 miles for this week beginning the 1st of March
• My longest run was 13.1 miles on the 21st and 28th of March
• Fastest paced run was my tempo run on the 24th of March 4 miles in 32 mins 03  for 8.01 pace
• Slowest run was an easy run on the 20th of March  5 miles in 45 55 for a 9.11 pace
• My average weekly rate is currently 32.3 miles
• My target for the year is 1400 miles and I am currently up on this by about 68 miles
• Quality sessions - I  ran 2 tempo run, 2 interval run  and 6 long runs in March
• My weight is down from 86.5 to 83 kilos in this month
• No hill sessions recorded which is a weakness for me at the moment
• Races - 1 on the 28th March at Stowmarket Suffolk - Joe Cox Half Marathon
• My tempo run pace improved to 8.05 average mile pace from 8.11 in February
• My easy run pace was slightly quicker at 8.46 miles compared to 8.49 in February
• My interval pace was 7.48 a mile compared to 8.02 miles in February
• My long run pace was 8.47 in March compared to 8.58 in February

Highlight and success of the month must be the Joe Cox Half Marathon. This was my first race since June 2009 and helped to restore my confidence to do road races. 

Joe Cox Half Marathon 2010

St Mary's Church Buxhall

Finally the race that I have been training for really since the beginning of January arrived. On a dry but breezy day I set of for the new race venue headquarters which were in the small village of Buxhall in Suffolk.

The Headquarters were at a firm called John Deere a tractor and lawn mower company. There was plenty of car parking and the directions sent by the Stowmarket Striders who organised the race were good. The decision to switch the race from Gt Finborough last years venue was clearly a good one at least from the participants point of view.

As I got out of the car I was caught out a little by the weather. It was much cooly than yesterday with a chilly breeze blowing across the prominatory position of Buxhall. Walking to the headquarters to pick up my race number the views were quite stunning looking towards St Marys Church and the tower windmill in the village.

Joe Cox Medal

I wished I had brought my gloves and my thoughts were changing regarding what I was going to wear for the race. I had been confident the day before that I could just wear the St Edmund Pacers club singlet and shorts.

After picking up my race number I had nearly an hour to kill. This I did by listening to the latest episode of Marathon Talk podcast. I do think this podcast is one of the best out there at the moment. Good mix of training tips and humour in a magazine style format.

Junior Race at Buxhall

I then took in the start of the juniors funrun . There seemed to be a very good turnout of runners from the St Edmund Pacers.

It was then decision time on what to wear and I wimped out and decided to wear a long sleeved top under my race vest. The start at 11am came and I shot off too quickly carried along by those around but I felt good and I ran the first 2 mile loop in  7.43 and 7.31 miles. The course was very rural often along single track roads. The roads were open to traffic but there was very little and this didn't appear to be a problem.

Final bend

Finish in site

There were frequent drinks stations during the race I believe there was either 3 or 4. Drinks were provided in small bottles most of this being wasted after a few sips and then lobbed into the verge. This must provide the marshalls quite a lot of work in the tidy up.

After about 5 miles I felt warm and wished I wasn't wearing my long sleeved top and I toyed with removing it and chucking it but decided to just ignore it and hope for the best.

Bobby Moore Charity Runners

It has been so long since I last raced that I had forgotten how so much of the race is about the mental focus and whole miles go by once you get yourself into a trance like focus on the race and who is around you. The course was generally flat but large sections of the race were spent running up hill down in short bursts. The strong breeze was a constant consideration.

I began to stiffen up after around 10 miles and I stopped at the drinks station here to have a drink. Although I realised I had slowed my pace I was confident of finishing which was my first target. My second target was to get under 2 hours and if I ran well to get under 1hr .50 mins.

Daisy Tractor Girl

So I was pleased to complete the race in 1hr 48 mins on my watch and officially I believe in 1 .48.03. My mile splits for the race were

7.43,7.31,8.09,8.01,8.27,8.11,8.21,8.15,8.28,8.19,8.24,8.34,8.13 and 1.17

This is an average of an 8.15 pace so plenty to work on here but I am going to have a restful week before considering what to do next?

Running training - The big week

This is week 11 of my Runners World SMART Coach training plan. It is the week when I am due to run the biggest mileage of the 12 week training plan. I doubt I will do the complete 51 miles of training but I hope to get above 41 miles and that will mean I have run the highest mileage of the schedule.

Next week is a taper week leading up to the race on Sunday week. This week I am supposed to do

• Easy run 8 miles 
• Tempo run of 8 miles including 6 tempo miles
• Easy run of 7 miles
• Easy run of 7 miles
• Easy run of 7 miles
• Long run of 14 miles

Tonight I ran 8 miles and I felt really good to the point where I didn't run easy I just let go as I felt I needed to and wanted to. What resulted was one of my quickest 8 miles of the year .
My splits show an 8.24,8.27,8.58,8.21,8.34,7.36,8.21,8.40. for a 1hr 7 mins 29 secs for the 8 miles which is an 8.26 pace.

The odd thing was the 7.36 mile ?! Where did that come from seems a bit odd on my garmin .


This week is daunting scary almost but I am through day 1.

Week 9 of my Half Marathon Training

I am really uping the anti as I head towards the final weeks of my 12 week Runners World SMART Coach training schedule. The main thing for me will be to avoid injury so I get to the starting line fit and prepared on the 28th March for the Joe Cox Half Marathon  at Stowmarket Suffolk.

Today's training called for a 6 mile tempo run sandwiched between a mile warm up and warm down for an 8 mile total. The conditions were just about perfect cool bright blue skies, temperatures cool enough to make me think twice as to whether where some thin gloves but I decided not. I am still wearing tracksters and a thermal top as we haven't got to the point of bear legs for training yet. However the signs of spring are all around the days are getting longer , snow drops are abundent in the hedgerows, we are through February hurrah!!

I warmed up for a mile doing an 8.39 mile whilst listening to a new download from Podiobooks called Quarter Share by Nathan Lowell. This is a free science fiction novel where the main character Ishmael Wang just happens to be a runner in his spare time. This is a really good listen and totally free from their site.

The blurb on the site promotes the book as folows

A Trader's Tale from the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper : Book 1

When Ishmael Wang is orphaned by a flitter crash, he must make some hard decisions about how to survive in a Company-owned universe. With limited time and fewer options, he lands a job as the newest hand on the Solar Clipper Lois McKendrick and learns there's more to life than making coffee. Join Ish, Pip, Big Bad Bev, and the rest of the Lois McKendrick's crew as they sail the galaxy in search of profitable trade.

The book offered a very good distraction as I got in to my tempo run my longest to date being a six mile effort.  My mile splits showed the following times 8.21, 8.32,7.54,7.52,8.05,8.02. I was conscious that this was a 6 mile temo and took the first two miles a little to easily. When I noticed my watch I speed ap a little and my times improved so that I averaged 8.08 miles for a time of 48 mins 49 seconds. I was pleased with this though my schedule did ask for 7.58 miles so I didn't achieve this and have a long way to go still.

My run today took me out along the Mere Lane a very quiet single lane road where I generally don't see any traffic, just the odd farmer tilling the soil

I jogged home the last mile my work done in a 9.05 mile

Hundred Push Ups

This was a rest day for me but I still did some push ups.

My first push ups for a week and it showed! I decided to do week 6 day 2 programme again and did sets of 14,14,15,15,10,10,14,14 and a final set of 30.

I am not sure how many will be running the Stowmarket Half Marathon I am doing at the end of March but it won't be anyway near the number who have entered to take part in the the world's biggest halfmarathon, the Great North Run in Newcastle England. The 2010 race has attracted a record number of applications to take part in the 30th anniversary of the event.

More than 100,000 have entered  to run on September 19 - and the organisers will stage a ballot this week to confirm the 54,000 entrants.

Training for the Ipswich Half marathon on 30 Aug 09

I don't think I have followed a training schedule for many years. Mainly because it can set you for a fall as unless your time is your own you are likely to miss some sessions. Once you miss a session you then feel you need to play catch up and add in extra runs or longer distances.

However I am going to give this Bruce Tulloh (Runners World) schedule a go as the discipline of set sessions might be just what I need to kick start some improvement in my running times which have been slow and getting slower.

I have adapted slighhty to suit my needs. Firstly I only have 8 weeks so I am 2 weeks short of the 10 week plan suggested by Tulloh. However I do have a good mileage base as I have generally been running 30 miles a week all year.

This plan peaks around 40 miles a week. Not a huge increase in mileage compared to what I am already doing but I have tried to include 2-3 quality sessions each week. The cornerstone being a long run which increases gradually each week.

I don't know the course at Ipswich but I assume there will be hills and I am hopeless at them. Everyone comes past me going up them, though I tend to pass the same people when going down the hill. So I am including some hill training as part of the quality trining sessions.

Now that the West Suffolk Athletics Track has reopened with the track having been relaid I will include a number of interval track sessions.

This said I am sure I will have problems keeping to this schedule - best laid plans an all ......

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Total Miles
WEEK 1 Jul 6	6m hill reps	Rest	Warm up, then 16 x 60 secs fast, 60 secs slow Warm down	Rest	10M slow	Warm up, then 4 x 3 mins, with 3-min recovery jogs	7-8M slow	34-35M
WEEK 2 Jul 13	4M easy	6M, fairly fast	Repetitions: 4 x 3 mins fast, with 2-min recoveries	5M easy	Rest	1M jog, then 5M fairly fast, then 1M jog	10M slow	36M
WEEK 3 Jul 20	5M easy, off -road	6M, starting slow, finishing faster	3 x 5 mins fast, with 5-min jog recoveries	5M easy, inc 6 x 150m fast strides	Rest	2M slow, then 1M fast, then 2M slow	10M	36-37M
WEEK 4 Jul 27	5M easy	Rest	5M, inc 16 x 1 min fast, 1 min slow	6M easy	Rest	1M easy, then 4-5M fairly fast, then 1M jog	11M steady	36M
WEEK 5 Aug 3	5M easy, off -road	Rest	8M, fairly fast	4M easy	Rest or 3M jog	4M on grass, inc 6 x 200m strides	11M	35M
WEEK 6 Aug 10	5M easy, off -road	6M steady, inc bursts up hills	3 x 1M (or 3 x 5 mins), with 5-min recoveries	5M easy	Rest	6-7M, inc 10 x 30 secs fast, 30 secs slow	10-12M steady	39-40M
WEEK 7 Aug 17	5M easy	5M, inc 16 x 1 min fast, 1 min slow	Warm up, then 2 x 2M (approx), timed, at threshold pace	5-6M easy	Rest	1M easy, then 4-5M fairly fast, then 1M jog	10M steady	37-38M
WEEK 8 Aug 24	5M easy	6-7M at a comfortable pace	Warm up, then 2M at race pace, then 2M jog	5M easy, inc 6 x 30 secs fast	Rest	3M, in race kit	Ipswich Half Marathon	35M

Anyone else training for a half and can recomend a schedule that worked for them ?

Felixstowe Half Marathon 30th September 2007

11am 13.1 miles in 1 hr 44 mins 46 seconds
Week to date mileage 30 miles
Month to date mileage 160
Average weekly rate 30.7 miles
Average monthly rate 133
Year to date 1197
Lifetime 10790

I rate the Felixstowe Half Marathon as the best road race on the Suffolk calender. It has everything great marshaling , crowd support and an easy to find headquarters for the start of the race. Add to this a seaside promenade with plenty of entertainment for any family and friends who might accompany you to a race. Then offer a course that offers a mix of rural countryside, town centre and 1-2 hills then you have the ingredients for a great race which this event has and no wonder there was no opportunity for late race entries - you need to book in advance!

The weather was a repeat of the previous year with good sunshine but with an autumn feel.

Last year I managed a time of 1.46 .19 so this was my target to try and beat this . I decided to start at a much more gentle pace at the beginning and it took some time to reach the start line hence a difference in my official finishing time of 1.45 and my watch time of 1.44.46.

My mile times that I remembered to record went like this :

Mile 1 7.50
Mile 2 7.38
Mile 3 7.50
Mile 4 7.54
Mile 7 8.24
Mile 9 7.58
Mile 11 8.32
Mile 12 8.06
Mile 13 8.58

Clearly I slowed on the 2nd lap but unlike last year my legs didn't stiffen up to the point of feeling that I was just putting one foot in front of the other.

Once again Felixstowe TV were present and you can watch a video of the event which is fairly unique among events in Suffolk as far as I am aware. Well done Felixstowe Road Runners!

I will load many others photos of this event on my flickr site when time permits.

Felixstowe Half Marathon

11am 13.1 miles in 1 hour 46mins 16 seconds

Week to date mileage 24

Month to date mileage 33

Average weekly rate 30.3

Average Monthly rate 132

Year to Date 1218

Life time 9238

Today I travelled down to the Suffolk coast to take part in the Felixstowe Half Marathon. I was feeling far from confident based on recent training but thought I would give this race a try having never run here before.

There was plenty of parking at the seafront carparks and having arrived early there was time to venture along the beach before the race. The headquarters for the race was the sports centre and brisk business was being done on the late race entries, the weather being so good sunny warm and dry.

This course is 2 laps with plenty of contrast starting along the coast and promenade before venturing up hill in to more rural countryside before returning into town and downhill back to the seafront. Talking to runners I had been warned about a sharp hill which obviously being a 2 lap course you need to run up twice. However whilst there is a hill it really isn't that steep and on the first lap I was still waiting for the steep hill when we reached the end of the first lap.

Along the promenade you have the advantage of a very well supported crowd of spectators lining the walls on both sides shouting encouragement. The race also boasts 2 comperes who entertained the crowd with their unique sense of humour. Dressed as hooray henries or spivs they kept a conversation going with the crowd at the start.

The good weather encouraged a record entry for this race of 456 and in good warm sunshine the race set of at 11am. I felt good for the first few miles of this race. My aim being to beat my time I ran at the Norwich Half Marathon in June of 1.49.03. My plan was to make sure every mile I ran was under 8 minutes and then to see how I felt later in the race as to whether I could push on.

My splits for the race were as follows

Mile 1 7.23
Mile 2 7.32
Mile 3 7.50
Mile 4 8.00
Mile 5 7.57
Mile 6 7.42
Mile 7 7.38
Mile 8 8.25
Mile 9 8.13
Mile 10 8.19
Mile 11 9.15
Mile 12 8.38
Mile 13 8.17
Mile .1 1.00
Total 1 .46.16

As can be seen my plan worked up to 8 miles when my times started to slip badly and I began to be passed by a good number of runners. My legs felt like lead and I had a real lack of energy, my feet were burning (must look at getting some better socks) and my concentration went and rather than concentrate on the runner in front I was thinking of the finish. I supose mile 8 is rougthly where you encounter the hill on the 2nd lap. However there are plenty of downhills after this but I just didn't have the energy to pick up the pace.

My finishing time was better than Norwich by nearly 3 minutes but considering the heat I think my time at the Norfolk race was a bigger achievement.

This was a well organised race and a credit to Felixstowe Road Runners. I will certainly return again to have another bash at this course. It makes a good day out especially when you are as lucky as we were with the weather.

I finised 161st out of the 402 finishers,the winner running 1.12.57. There is a video of the race which you can watch at Felixstowe TV.

City of Norwich Half Marathon

10am 13.1 miles in 1 hour 49 minutes 03 seconds

Week to date mileage 30

Month to date mileage 53

Average weekly rate 31.7

AverageMonthly rate 138

Year to Date 734

Life time 8512

On a whim last week I entered the Norwich Half Marathon partly so we could go shopping in the city afterwards. I had entered before the warm spell of weather had arrived but this is the lottery you always face when entering any race, unknown weather conditions!.

It was warm extremely warm as the guy on the pa before the start mentioned on several occasions it was 30c. To be honest this was too warm for me and as it turned out for most of the runners as there was little shade out on the course.

The race start was from the Norfolk showground and this is an excellent venue with all the facilities you would like layed on ( apart from showers just 3 for a field of over a 1000 runners and they only dribbled!) some stalls selling running gear,water food and drink for spectators. Here there were a few trees and before the race the order of the day was to rest up in the shade.

Just before 10am almost reluctantly I had to emerge from the shade and line up for the start of the race. It took some time to get to the start line hence my official time of 1 .49.20 differs from the chip time of 1.49.03. For the first time I ran with a bottle of water and this was sensible and kept me going though it was rather cumbersome.

My splits were as follows

Mile 1 7.36
Mile 2 7.32
Mile 3 7.59
Mile 4 7.48
Mile 5 7.58
Mile 6 8.23
Mile 7 8.36
Mile 8 8.14
Mile 9 8.30
Mile 10 8.43
Mile 11 8.32
Mile 12 9.12
Mile 13 9.06
.1 of a mile 0.47

My initial plan which I felt I would be able to keep to was to run miles under 8 minutes. As long as they were under 8 I was happy. I achieved this until mile 6 which included the only off road up hill section which takes you back into Norfolk Showground.

At this point a lot of people decided to drop out. Whilst 2 lap courses are great for spectators they do provide a temptation to drop out if you are not running well. On such a warm day it was sensible to drop out and this went through my mind but I was feeling well hydrated from the regular water stations and sponge stops even though I was baking hot.

The marshals and officials were very well organised and they were supplemented by the public several of whom (don't tell anyone from the water board!) had hoses and were spraying runners who were very grateful for a shower. I used every water station to tip a whole cup over my head and drink a whole cup and I stopped to do this. I was actually running soaked through and it wasn't until I finished that I realised that my feet were sodden wet and this was obviously the cause of my getting blisters. During the race this was my worst discomfort, my feet felt as if they were burning as my socks were stinging.

From mile 6 my times became progressively worse as the race became just a case of survival and keeping moving. I was no where near my pre race target of achieving a 1.45 time though with the heat I am pleased to have completed this race and would consider again.

I did see one other runner from St Edmundsbury Pacers in the adult race and there were a couple in the junior race. The winner of the race was Simon Tonui in 1 hour 10 mins 26 seconds.

Of the 729 finishers I was 165th according to chip time and 18th in my age group.So although I was disappointed with my time on a flat course considering the conditions and nearly a 3rd of the runners dropping out I was just pleased to complete the course. After the race my right foot badly cramped and I think I have a reemergence of a previous injury a tight plantar fascia so no running for me for a day or two to see if rest is the cure.