After heading into town for my PT course, it dawned on me that I’d had a pretty heated conversation with some travel industry colleagues at the leaving do and so sent them an apologetic text.

On the course, I was found out pretty much straight away and, to compound things, I couldn’t get my head around the three bodily planes of movement and spent most of the afternoon in the classes beating myself up about it all.

Nonetheless, I came home when we finished, had an hour’s sleep and then spent the best part of the evening working out which exercises move in which plane. I won’t bore you with the theory, but if you are interested in it, you can find out more here under the planes and axes section.

This morning, like all week, I was back on a simple three miler – there are too many aches and pains from Sunday and Monday’s runs to contemplate more, my body is screaming ‘rest’ and I’m trying not to ignore it for once, the last thing I need is an injury with just a couple more weeks to go.

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for a map and details of the run

Miles today: 3
Target: 1023
Miles to date: 1,424.68

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

With the weather so warm, I’ve decided on gym days I’m going to split my run: run up to the gym, do some weights and run back…. Normally that would be about three miles but today I decided to take a long route and up things to a five miler… There could be a reason for this – well there is in my head – but I’m not sure whether I should go public with it yet – I’ll see how this week goes.

I got the Virgin Active in Streatham just after opening and so it was pretty quiet, apart from the chap I sometimes see working out who seems to know everyone in the gym and greets them all with a massive guffaw and has a little bit of chit chat. Today – and I’m not sure why – it was Bond films.

There was also another girl there who I sometimes see. A young black lady, lithe as you like – I mean there is not an ounce of extra body fat on her and although she exercises alone, she clearly “beasts” herself to the extreme.

Today I found out why. She was speaking to loud bloke and I only caught part of the conversation but she is about to compete in something (not sure what) abroad next week. The guy was asking her how it was going and she seemed quite confident.

She also said she couldn’t wait to finish so she could have a bag of chips. “Really?” replied loud bloke. “Not a banana or something?” “Nah,” she said. “A bag of chips. I’ve not had one for two years.”

That, friends, is dedication.

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for a route map and details of the run

Miles today: 5
Target: 843
Miles to date: 1,103.31

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

I’ve been going through one of those stages again where I’m a little bored of just running the three miles plus I want to go on a bit of a fitness kick before my Personal Trainer course really starts to kick in early next month, so I found myself awake at around 5.30am this morning, scouring the latest edition of Mens’ Health for some more tips and things to try.

I’ve found a couple of new workouts I’m going to have a bash at in the gym and I’m also going to try and cut back on the booze and eat better (not that I eat badly but just cut some of the snacks out and try some  food that can actively aid weight loss) but I’m also going to introduce some more interval training back into my runs.

By varying your running speeds at interval training, pushing hard for a while and then slowing to recover, one should, theoretically, burn more fat as it should, to use wanky health-journalese “torch your metabolism”.

So this morning I went out, ran for five minutes to warm up, then alternated between 30 second sprints and two minute recovery jogs for the rest of the run. It must have done the trick as when I got back I was covered in sweat and it took me ages to cool down properly.

Of course, the opposite side of the coin is that it has also made me feel as though I am starving all morning. What’s the point of burning more calories if it just makes you want to eat more?

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for full details of the run

Miles today: 3
Target: 825
Miles to date: 1,081.04

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

I first opened my eyes at about 5.30am with sun streaming through the windows, managed to sleep for a little bit longer but by 6.30 I was wide awake and thinking of where I could run today. Checking the site and the details from yesterday, I realised I was just over 10 miles off reaching 950 miles, so I decided to go for it today.

Out came the lap top and the walkjogrun.net website where I plotted a route that serendipitously came to just over ten miles. It would take me from home, round Streatham Common, cut through Tooting Common to Balham, circle Clapham Common, through Wandsworth to the Common there and then back to Tooting Common before coming home.

The sun was out when I set off around 8.30 having chucked back some of the Viper Active mix I’ve been sent by Maximuscle and shoving two of the Viper gels into my pockets to refuel on the way.

The run was great: everywhere’s nice and leafy now there were loads of other people out – especially round Northcote Road in Wandsworth, an area that I’ve not been to for years. There’s a lovely fruit market there, loads of nice coffee shops and people were all eating al fresco – dead continental

To pass some of the time, I started to count the other runners I came across on the route, reaching 74 just before I got home and cursing the fact it wasn’t a round number. Serendipity again played a part though, about 300 yards before home, I was passed by a young lad coming in the opposite direction.

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for the route map and full details of the run

Miles today: 10.1
Target: 714
Miles to date: 950.07

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

At the end of a run, I always stretch in the same place outside our house and over the last few days, I’ve noticed some little white salty patches forming in the area. Whereas in the winter, rain would wash away and dried sweat, the dry means it’s now a little crusty… I wonder if, in time, I could produce a small stalagmite?

Streatham’s urban foxes had been out in force overnight too – tearing food and stuff not only from bags waiting for the bin men but also from regular rubbish bins. The area looked like a war zone in some places. I wonder if they will have to introduce those bear-proof bins they have in North America.

I’ve seen some strange things out running. Polish builders with their cracks showing drinking beer at dawn, a group of new mums highkicking their way around Tooting Common with their push chairs and a woman who just pulled her pants down for a pee in the middle of a busy road as I ran past. I saw something today though that took the biscuit.

There’s one woman I often see running past me. She’s one of those people who run to work, something I’ve never got… You get there, have to shower and then pull some rather creased clothes from a backpack you’ve just sweated through to wear for the rest of the day.

Anyway I digress, this woman always looks proper kitted out. Black leggings, black top, camelback style back pack with a tube going to her mouth, headband, running sunnies. We sometimes nod at each other as we pass.

Just behind her though was another woman. She was proper lithe and also kitted out … not for running but as though she had just come back from the gym. She had full kit on, some lycra top, baggy sweat pants, proper trainers and a hoody and was even carrying a sports drink bottle of the kind you mix your own solution from powders in. Whatever was inside was pink, so I assume it was some kind of protein drink.

It was her other accessory that struck me though – a lit fag she was cheerfully puffing on. As an ex smoker, I totally get the craving thing – just seemed such as shame that as she was making the effort to go to or return from the gym that she’s ruin that good work by poisoning herself.

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for a route map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 711
Miles to date: 939.97

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

The surprising thing is, I don’t – or at least I don’t think I do. On the one hand, I’m obviously fitter, I don’t think I could have done a marathon and three halves before I started this but do I feel healthier? Probably not…

I mean, I spend half the time limping around rubbing my legs and when sitting in one place for too long, my hamstrings just seize up. Not too bad when sitting at a desk, bloody awful if you’re on a four hour drive and don’t have time to stop.

Another question I’m often asked is about weight. How much weight have I lost? Well, it depends on what time of day and whether I’ve been to the loo or not but I would guess about, oh, a kilo, maybe two.

Before starting to run, I spent a year or so being a bit of a food fascist. Crisps, chocolate and the like were out, six small meals a day were in. While I still watch what I eat, I’m more relaxed about it now and if I fancy a bit of chocolate, well I have some. Of course, it means my weight just remains stable.

What I do allow myself to feel though is a little smug every so often. When I started, I thought it would be hard to keep up and I think some of my friends and family thought I would last even less… so I do feel a certain amount of pride that I’ve managed to keep it up thus far.

On a separate issue, one of the things I have discovered that I am really enjoying, after the Maximuscle Viper Active I used to keep energy levels up on Sunday, is the other product they sent me: Recovermax.

A blend of carbs, protein and nutrients it’s for post training sessions and the flavour they sent me, orange, is pretty tasty too. It reminds me a little of the mixed orange drink Tang that was big in the States in the 70s and 80s.

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for a route map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 705
Miles to date: 933.97

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

I had a dreadful night’s sleep, waking up with pre race nerves several times through the night and waking up in the middle of a nightmare at one point where I was dreaming that I was locked in a dark room and couldn’t see anything. I actually woke up, covered in sweat by the bedroom door, yanking it open to let some light into the bedroom.

As a result, I wasn’t feeling too fabulous when I got to the start line of the Leeds half this morning and was contemplating even trying to beat my previous time of 1hour 49 minutes.

When the race started though, I actually felt good and flew around the first couple of miles at a really fast pace. Unlike most of the other races I’ve taken part in, Leeds seems to be attended by loads of proper runners from clubs at the like and I guess I must have been pulled along by their pace.

One thing I hadn’t done was spend too much time studying the route map and simply relied on advice from my pal Steve Swift, who was also running today and who I went to the game with yesterday. Steve’s ran Leeds a few times and had said it gets slightly uphill from about 3miles on and doesnt head back down hill to about seven miles from the end.

Well he wasn’t exagerating… as we left town, the road got steeper and steeper and the sun got hotter and hotter and I was so out of breath, I almost completed knocking it on the head around the three mile mark as I felt absolutely shot.

My last card, I figured was chugging the first of the three Maximuscle Viper Active energy gels I was carrying in my shorts pocket. I ripped the top off with my teeth and and drained the small pouch, grabbing a bottle of water from one of the drinks stations to wash it down.

Somehow it did the trick and I managed to carry on going, gaining a second wind at about four miles.

While the next two miles were still up hill, I managed to do them at a fairly decent pace and was glad to see the half way mark and the fact it was all down hill from there.

By this time I knew I was on for a fairly decent time and was hoping that I could beat that 1 hour 29 minute mark, providing I carried on at the same pace. Of course, the carrying on for another half of the race at the fast pace I was running at was going to be the challenge.

Around here, my iPhone started playing up, skipping through tracks and so I ripped the ear phones out and kept plodding on, thanking the organisers foresight in having sponge stations – where you’re given sponges dripped in ice cold water – along the route.

I took my other two gels at 8 miles and 11 miles and was managing to keep up a decent time. By the last mile though, as I came back into town, I was just about going, getting through to the finish in Millennium Square with gritted teeth.

Tee shirt, goody bag and medal in hand, I bumped into Steve who coincidentally finished just ahead of me and a chap I know from the Waccoe football forum who I know only by his user name, Storry. Great to see them both and see they’d done such a decent times.

A sports massage later and we were off to Laura’s mums where we’re stating tonight, just in time to get my chip time texted to me by the race organisers: 1:45:32, a full four minutes better than my PB. Now I’ve just got to beat it again next time!

Other facts: I was ranked 802 in the race and 95th in my age group! Pictures will be posted tomorrow…

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for a route map and full details of the race

Miles today: 13.11
Target: 696
Miles to date: 922.87

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

Laura, myself and three of her mates came up to Leeds yesterday. While the girls will be horse riding around Eric, my father in law’s place, I’ll be meeting with the boys in town and staying firmly on orange juice and soda so I’m fit to run tomorrow.

I ran out and about around Eric’s place today, it’s in gorgeous countryside just outside Weatherby and the sun was bright as can be. I took the run nice and easy in anticipation of tomorrow and also took one of the Viper Active gels I’ve been sent by Maximuscle with me, taking it at around 12 miles.

It’s hard to tell how good it is at giving energy on such a short run but, unlike some of the other gels I’ve tried, it actually tastes quite nice but, like all gels, it also needs to be taken with water and, as I didn’t have any, it left me feeling a little dry. I’ll have a better idea of how well they work when I finish tomorrow’s race.

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for  a route map and full details of the day’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 693
Miles to date: 909.76

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

I’m a bit of an election junkie and love seeing the drama unfold – well all of it aside from Andrew Neil interviewing pissed celebs on a boat on the Thames – and I was hooked last night as the result went to the wire.

I remember waking up the day after the election of 1997, when most of us had been wooed by new Labour and the world seeming a better place. The sun was out, people were smiling at each other randomly and their was a real feel-good factor. Not so this morning as grey skies and a cool wind greeted the mixed messages of last night’s result.

Still, none of it did me any harm at all, given I went out, put my head down and just ran and ended up smashing by personal best for the 3 mile route with an average pace of about 8mins 14secs a mile…

I came back and within ten minutes their was a knock on the door for delivery of a box from Maximuscle. The sports nutrition company, that normally do products for building size and strength have launched a couple of products that are aimed at triathletes and runners.

ViperActive is a an energy and fuel drink for workouts and they have sent me some stuff you dilute yourself but also some sachets of gel that I can use on the Leeds Half Marathon on Sunday.

The other, Recovermax is for post exercise and is said to aid refuelling, aid muscle repair and air performance… that’s a lot of aiding…

I’ll be trying both of them out over the next couple of weeks and letting you know what they are like.

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for a route map and full details of today’s run

Miles today: 3
Target: 690
Miles to date: 906.76

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here

For the last couple of weeks my training pace has upped quite a bit and I’ve been covering my 3 miles a day in about 26 minutes. But conscious of this weekend’s Leeds half marathon, I tried to slow down a bit today and only just managed it as I did the run in 27 minutes.

What I did manage to do though was pass 900 miles – hurrah, only 195 to go before the target is complete but still another four and a half months until I complete the year.

In other news, yesterday I applied in the ballot for next year’s London Marathon while sports nutrition company Maximuscle are sending me some of their new endurance products to try out. I’m hoping to get them in time for Sunday’s race.

Click here for a link to Garmin Connect for a route map and full details of the days’ run

Miles today: 3
Target: 684
Miles to date: 900.64

Please donate to my chosen charities by clicking here