Standing on the baseline
That’s pretty much where I am as I write my first post.
I’m now onto week ten of my training schedule, with another four weeks behind that of preparation. ‘Preparation’ mainly involved doing a lot of bouldering, enjoying the last bit of pottering in the gym, and putting on a bit of chub.
Save the Children have confirmed that I can run the 2011 Virigin London Marathon under their banner, and I’m pretty psyched about that. Their support team seems good, and I must give a nod to Lucy who has been firing my enthusiasm to get this site up and running.
It’s pretty basic right now (right down to a terrible photo), but hopefully should become a good place to find out about running, cycling, training, Save the Children, coffee and a host of other randomness. Right now my Justgiving meter is forlornly set at zero: Baseline.
I’ve also had the fun of being invited to help out with a study being run by a colleague of mine who is involved with the Altitude Centre. That means I’ve been put through my paces the last few days in the gym, undergoing a battery of sprint and VO2 max tests, so I’ve now got a physiological baseline to work with too. So here’s how it all broke down in terms of heart rate during my recent test:
This comes from doing a warm up followed by some 20m sprints. The spike in the middle is caused by a block of 10x20m sprints with 30sec rests. The final scary moutain comes from a yoyo test of accelerationg shuttle runs with short recoveries. So not ideal for marathon training.
Three useful things came from the testing. Firstly, I reminded myself what it is to run hard and fast. Secondly, I found out that my HR maxed out around 192, and that things got tough around 175. Thirdly, a sesion of sprinting made every old injury and niggle in my legs remind me it was still in there somewhere. Sobering. Just need to see if I can wangle a ramp test and figure out my current lactate threshold. Thanks to Rachel Turner for running the tests!
Join an event and get fundraising for Save the Children
Read Mark’s Blog
Share this article