Lloyd Biddell

Well first and foremost I only went out for a long run on the Saturday (7 miles) and didn't bother on the Sunday so my mileage for the week was a rather pathetic 19 as opposed to the 30 I stated in my last post. Part of me was feeling lazy, part was the crappy weather and the other part was that the soreness in my knee has started to return. This could be down to the orthotic or just chance (probably the former if I am to be honest). I'm going to persevere with it as although my knee is sore its not unbearable so just needs managing. I suspect the orthotic itself is not the problem - the insoles were taken out and replaced by the orthotics which are not as soft which I think has increased the loads going through the knee. Having said that I'm getting zero discomfort in my feet when running, no blisters, nothing which is great. Although its early days I feel as though I'm running more efficiently and am suffering less muscle fatigue (especially in my calves whi

Since doing my first 40 mile week things haven't really gone to plan. On Monday I did an easy 5 miles, followed by a 7 mile run on the Tuesday. My legs and in particular my calves were very tight and clearly struggling to recover. My knees were also a bit sore as were my feet from all of the constant pounding on the round. It was either a case of rest up for a couple of days or get an injury. As a result I haven't been out between Weds-Fri. However, I hope to make up for this by doing a couple of longish runs over the weekend (hope to total about 30 miles for the week). The one good thing about my run on Tuesday was that I saw a deer in Sutton Park which is an extremely rare find. About 2 years ago it was rumoured in the paper that a muntjac deer had somehow found its way to the park, but having now seen one they definitely do exist. To some people it doesn't sound like much of a find, but for a large mammal to make its own way to Sutton Park which is urbanised for sev

At the start of this week I was meant to be religiously following the Runners World half marathon schedule. On Monday I did the easy 5 miles as planned but then on Tuesday I felt lethargic and could only manage 3.5 miles as opposed to the steady 7 miles as planned. Partly it was because I felt tired, partly the weather was dreadful and partly because I set off too fast. Just as I was about to start it began to rain really heavily to the point where streams were forming in the road, but I set off anyway and went too fast (maybe I just wanted to get it over and done with?) and did the first mile in about 5.40. I think the other problem was that I intended to do two laps - but it becomes so easy to drop out after the first lap if you feel tired. On Weds I was meant to do 4x1200 metres with 3 min recoveries, but instead I tried to tackle the 7 miles from the previous day. Instead of doing two laps I decided to head out further from home and return via Sutton Park. I think I completed 7.2 m

Since the race on Tuesday I haven't done any running and have iced the calf three times a day. The good news is that it looks likely that I should be able to start running again on Monday and might even go out for a light jog on Sunday. Since the race I have typed in my 10k time to see what the equivalent is over other distances: 1500: 4.38 5m: 28.38 10m: 1.00.09 Half: 1.19.53 Mara 2.48.29 These times are not what I will run (and not necessarily even capable of), but is the equivalent if you trained for that distance. What is encouraging is that the calculator thinks I'm just about on the threshold of being able to run sub 1hr for 10 miles. Surprisingly I have already run quicker than my predicted 1500 metre time as a junior - When I was 15 I ran 4.23. Of course that was ten years ago but all the same. If I used my 1500 pb as the base time then it says I should be capable of 33.58 in a 10k, 1.15 for a half and 2.39 for a mara . Looks like I'm under achieving!!! I think

I left work early today at 3.30pm so I could run at the home of British motor racing at Silverstone . Got home just before 5pm with just enough time to get changed into my race kit for the longish drive down. Thankfully the traffic was light and got to the circuit at 6.15pm with an hour and a quarter to the start. The parking was in the middle of the circuit, just behind the team garages. I decided to have a little warm up as there was plenty of time before the start. I did a complete lap of the circuit (5km) at a very light jog so I could take in the view and soak in the atmosphere (not that there were any spectators). The circuit has been modernised a lot since I last went there about 15 yrs ago, but at the same time it takes more than a lick of paint to rectify things so can understand why Silverstone has been close to being dropped from the F1 calandar several times in recent years. Going round the lap there were lots of balls of rubber from the tyres (looks like dog s***); liter

After my last entry where I said that I would go out for a 6 mile run on Saturday I did exactly that and managed to pull a muscle in my calf in the process. Its not a bad pull (feels a bit like a bruise) but I can feel it all the same. Its in the same place on my right leg that I pulled a couple of months back and in the area which my podiatrist identified as being the cause for some of my problems in my feet. I'm going to risk it tomorrow and run anyway but hope that I don't do more damage in the process. Might decide to 'jog' it but it rarely ever works out that way! Oh well!

Since the half at the weekend I have had a fairly easy week (though if you include the half at the weekend then it easily exceeds my highest number of miles in a week!). On Monday I decided to give the legs and feet a rest and on Tuesday I went for a short easy 3.5 miler. On Wednesday I went out for another easy 4.5 miler but was slightly concerned how heavy my legs are. I am surprised just how much the race has taken out of me. I was taking it easy by running 30 secs a mile slower than usual but still finding it a bit of a struggle. On Thursday I went for another easy 4.5 miles but stopped twice, first to buy some 1000 mile socks at the sports shop, then went to cast my vote at the local elections. Finally on Friday I did another 3.5 miles but went out hard. I did intend to do 6 miles but my legs are still not right. I will go out for my final run today to do a very easy 6 miles and then take two days off before the 10k race at Silverstone . Total miles for the week will be 35 which