Went running this evening 20 minutes there and 20 minutes back. A few abs exercises too:

50 sit ups
50 leg raises
50 bicycles
50 rusties
50 seated twists

Not really a workout this evening. I went for a 6 mile run over a mixture of terrain on and off road.

This evening I went for a run and decided to use the runkeeper app for the iphone to record my run. You can see the results here. I ran 3.73 miles in 34:17 thats an average speed of 6.53mph. What is interesting is that toward the end of the run about a mile from home is a little hill, I always have to work a little harder here but what I didn’t realize that in working harder I was also increasing my mph from an average of around 6.5 to 10.3mph. I’ll be using the runkeeper app each time I go for a run from now on.

No workout this evening but I did go for a cross country run, I ran 20 minutes there and then 20 minutes back, I estimate I run at between 6/7 miles an hour so 40 minutes is about 5/6 miles.

No workout today but I did go for a 5 mile run.

Fartlek, which means “speed play” in Swedish, was designed by coach Gosta Holmer in the 1930s in a bid to revive Sweden’s cross-country ski teams. Fartlek is a form of conditioning which puts stress mainly on the aerobic energy system due to the continuous nature of the exercise.

At its simplest a run of say three miles is split into ‘intervals’. It involves running at low intensity for a short while which is then followed by a sprint for a short distance. After the sprint, you then revert to a slow jog before repeating the sprint further on. To do this while out on the road, after a steady warm-up, simply pick a landmark – for example a tree, lamp-post, or phone box – and run to it hard, then jog until you’ve recovered. Then pick another landmark, run hard to that, recover and so on. Think broader than just fartlek training though – there are infinite ways you can apply intervals to your training.

If you want to find out more about fartlek running, the names of some notable coaches and physiologists you should google are Astrand, Christensen, Saltin, Hedman, Gerschler and Watson amongst others. A run of 4 miles done fartlek was my workout for 20th June.

Not really a workout this evening, a 40 minute run home from work followed by 8 minute abs.

20min there 20min back cross country run.

Approximately a six mile cross country run, I bought the water rower as a low impact alternative to running, but, I just can’t seem to stop running.

If you absolutely must run, try to run on natural surfaces, dirt paths, grass fields, golf courses, trails, anywhere that will allow you to run with less shock and less chance of injury. The higher the percentage of your training that you do off-road, the lower your likelihood of developing overuse injuries. Concrete is the least forgiving surface for running. Unfortunately, many runners are forced to do a portion of their mileage on concrete. Shin splints and stress fractures incurred on concrete may be prevented by running on a softer surface. Tarmac or asphalt, while slightly softer than concrete, is far from an ideal running surface. Our bodies did not evolve while running on a uniform hard surface. Your joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones are not designed to withstand hundreds of miles of running on roads.

Get some good trainers, personally I prefer Saucony. Buy them in the afternoon when your feet are swelled and if at all possible get them from a specialist running shop. Keep your running shoes in good condition and depending on your size, running mechanics, and what model shoe you wear, you may need to replace your running shoes after as little as 400 miles.

Went for a run, I wasn’t sure about the area so to make sure I did at least 5 miles I ran 20 minutes there and 20 minutes back, I probably average about 7 minutes a mile (maybe a little faster) so a 35 minute run means I’ve done at least 5 miles (-: