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Monday Musing: Outdoor v Treadmill

For today's Monday Musing, I would like to know your opinion on treadmills.



Treadmills are incredibly popular and have many advantages over outdoor running including being easy to judge pacings with, they are all weather and are safer to use than going outside.

However, I personally find them dull and monotonous. Despite being a gym member I honestly cannot remember the last time I used one myself. I run to the gym and find myself warmed up and ready to lift weights or box when I arrive. I cannot stand the thought of running on one of these machines!

How about you? Do you love or hate them? Please let me know in the comments below!

Neil Macey
RunRight

Sunday Story #2: GoodGym Missions

On Friday I posted the following picture and asked the simple question: what is happening here?

In today's article I wish to share a different type of running that I feel very passionate about: community and charitable running.

In December 2015 I joined a charitable organisation called GoodGym which encourages runners to use their training activity to help others in their community!

They do this in 3 ways: Large Group runs to train together and help on a large project, Individual Coach runs to visit an issolated eldery person and the subjecvt of today's article: Mission Runs.

On a mission run a small group of 2 or 3 runners will run individually to meet at the home of garden of an elderly person to do a task that they are unable to do themselves. Common examples include some gardening, moving furniture or fixing something that has broken.

In this particular picture, I was changing a set of curtains. This is a great way of making a small difference to somebody's life and inspires you to run as you do not want to let that person down.

GoodGym is available to runners of ALL abilities and is FREE. Mission and Coach runs require you to be DBS checked but group runs can be done by anybody, are held all over London (and increasingly the country) and you can just turn up, no need to book!

PhotoFriday #2 What am I doing here? That's not running?

For the second instalment of PhotoFriday, I have a much more criptic clue...what do you think is happening in this photo? How does it link to running? Where, what, when and why? Why not have a guess in the comments below?

Thursday Training

Thursday Training

Even though I am an endurance runner, I still try to incorporate one SPEED  training session per week into my routine. There are numerous ways of improving your speed and many benefits to doing so, which will be a topic for a longer post in the future. This is a simple yet effective strategy for runners of all abilities. All you need is a standard Olympic-sized running track (400m around) or a pre-measured place to run the same distance.

The main benefits of tracks are that they make measuring distances simple and they are usually flat and quick to run on. A disadvantage is that many require membership and they can be difficult to locate one.

The routine that I use is as follows. I use it in the weeks leading up to a race and simply reduce the rest times steadily as weeks progress:

Example:

 After a while of doing this routine I was able to eliminate the rests between interval types completely. It is good training as heart rate stays high and a range of speeds are used.

Why not give it a try? What do you do for speed training?

Weekly Wednesday Update

In this weekly update I want to do a post about the progress of the RunRight brand. A week is a long time and it is nice to provide an update to our existing and potential customers about how we are progressing.

Less than three weeks ago, RunRight was just a twinkle in my eye...an unformed idea. We have come far. Our website (www.runright.uk) has had three style relaunches from our first grey appearance to the white with yellow trim to what I think is the best one yet; our bold black background with red and white foreground. I think the website stands out and looks sleek and professional but I am a little biased...what do you think? Talking about the website, it now hosts 19 products all of which come with free UK delivery or £2.99 to the rest of the world.

We also now have an accompanying blog (here) and facebook page. We have a growing customer list, who receive discounts and news updates by email. Special offers are also available on our website.

Still, we are not resting here. We strive to improve for you, the customer. What features do you like? What would you like to see more of? Is there anything you dislike or would like to see scrapped? Let us know via
email: NMacey@runright.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NMRunRight/
or in the blog comments below.

Best wishes,
Neil Macey
RunRight

Quick-Tip Tuesday:- Busy Lifestyle and lack of time

Are you a busy person who struggles to fit running into your day? Do you have other commitments that compete for your time and stop you from meeting your running (or other) goals?

Our new weekly section, "Quick-Tip Tuesday", will look at a common running problem (often with a real-life example) and offer some practical solutions that should be helpful to others in that situation.

Week 1: Neil Macey (Me). Problem: busy lifestyle and lack of time.

The problem:
Like many people living in the modern world I have many competing demands for my time and even with the best will in the world and plenty of motivation it can be a struggle to maintain a work life balance and fit in those runs. Does this sound like you? You are not alone!

A recent pole found that the average Londoner works 38.4 hours a week although that rises to 48.2 hours for teachers like me with 20% of us workig over 60 hours per week! As a nation we are probably working too much. So how can we "fit in" those much need extras in our lives that we don't want to miss out on?

My solution:

There is one simple step that I took a long time ago that has resolved this issue for me and I hope it can be of help to you: routine.

Put simply I no longer have to "fit" running into my life...it is a part of my daily routine just as much as brushing my teeth or having a shower (except the occasional day off running isn't disgusting!). Being a teacher I have a Monday- Friday job in a fixed location so I know I'm going to be making the same journey every day. Each day when I leave work I leave my smart clothes and work shoes in school and get changed into my running clothes. This is my routine, I do it everyday. Since I am wearing my running clothes I might as well run home, right? It's better than waiting for the bus! And I have to run past my gym on my way home...so I might as well pop-in, right? I'm wearing the right clothes anyway. What I have done is removed the barriers that would otherwise have stopped me.

The best result though comes the next morning...my work clothes are still in school so what do I do? I take a clean set of running clothes and I run to school! At home time I've got all I need and the cycle repeats. All I need to do then is bring home 5 dirty work shirts on a Friday and my little 1.5 mile each way run has turned into 15 miles (1.5 mile there, 1.5 miles back, 5 days a week). And I have saved myself £15 in bus fares and arrived at work in a good mood each day.

The results:

Here is a two week period from my strava account. This is a typical week for me in which I wasn't training for a particular event. Each dotted line is a day of the week and each circle represents a run. You can see straight away that every weekday starts with a 2.8 ish mile circle. That is my commute to workand home again and makes up a significant part of my total weekly milage and then I just need a few longer runs at the weekend and some harder training drills a few evenings a week.

Over to you:

How do you fit running into your life? Do you have any strategies to share? Any useful hints or tips? Do you need any advice? Let us know in the comments below!

Monday Musings #1:- Weather Conditions

Introducing my new weekly series "Monday Musings"...I'm going to hand the debate over to you, the reader. Every week I'm going to introduce a topic that is a common (or not so common) point of contention, state my opinion and then leave it to you to discuss.

Here in England it has been snowing a lot (by our standards anyway!) Schools have been closed, public transport has grounded to a halt and red alerts have been announced in many parts of the country.

So, the first controversial topic I have chosen is running in the snow and other unfavourable weather conditions. How extreme does the weather have to get before you swap you trainers for a duvet?

Firstly I don't want to trivialise the weather. It can be potentially deadly and this winter in the UK people have sadly lost their lives because of it. Equally, I know that in the UK we generally have very moderate weather as I have lived for many, many years in countries that experience typhoons, earthquakes, freezing cold and blistering heat.

Having said that I have found living in London during this snowy period refreshing. I have been able to go out running with little or no traffic and found the cool air refreshing and motivated me to keep the pace up. Yes, there has been a lot of ice but that was a good excuse to finally open my trail shoes I bought in November. The snow has reduced my weekly milage but not stopped me from getting outside.

How about you? Do you enjoy the cold or does it put you off entirely? Do you worry about your safety or have you been injured in the cold? Let us know in the comments below!

Sunday Story #1: Mount Fuji Marathon

My new weekly feature "Sunday Story" is here. This is a chance for me to share something a in a little more  detail such as a story, a special race or event or a detailed look at an interesting topic within running.

On Friday I posted this photograph and asked for people to guess where or what it shows. Thank you to Jonny Blair for his guess...he was only out by 6,985 miles although I think there was a splash of irony in his answer!

The logo on the front of the train was the clue...this was the train that took me to the MOUNT FUJI MARATHON in Japan.

The Facts:
The Mount Fuji Marathon is an annual event that ran for the sixth consecutive year on the 25th November 2017. Despite its name, the Marathon route actually goes around two lakes (Kawaguchi and Saiko) at the foot of Mount Fuji and therefore starts at an altitude of 850m but is not particularly hilly. Entry each year is limited to 12,000 people and costs 12,800 Yen. Participants have 6 hours to complete the course and receive a medal and T-shirt on completion.

My Opinion:
I am privaleged to have competed in different race distances and events all over the world and yet I have chosen to write about the Mount Fuji Marathon as my first race review. Why?

Firstly, and in my opinion most impressively, the views. But there were many other aspects that made this Marathon so memorable.

When I raced in November 2016 the landscape was picturesque. There had been heavy snow in the week leading up to the event causing fears that the event might not run and yet on the day the skies cleared and it was very cold but serene.

The start line for the Mount Fuji Marathon

On a very clear day I could just about see Mount Fuji on the horizon from my classroom (on the 26th floor of a skyscraper in the heart of Tokyo). Still nothing could prepare me for the view that would hit me a few miles into the race. Japan is famed for its excellent customer service and this was exemplified by the provision of special trains from Shinjuku and a couple of other major transportation hubs in Tokyo direct to the Mountain range. And yet there is a notable absence  of Mount Fuji itself from the scene. There are other mountains all around and beautiful lakes but no Fuji!

The opening scene

After circling the first large lake you enter a short tunnel...just for a few minutes but then you emerge and your breathe is taken away...there it is in all its glory: MOUNT FUJI!!!

 

 The race organisation was excellent with bands playing and other entertainment on route, plenty of water stations and excellent support in English provided at the start/finish line. A selectionof goodies were given out at the end including this fantastic medal, a great T-shirt and a really nice bag.

Have you ever raced in Japan? Would you like to do this race yourself? What is the most scenic race you have ever taken part in? Pleae let me know in the post below!

RunRight Blog Launch and FREE Competition

To celebrate the launch of RunRight's new FREE blog I am having a FREE competition to win a FREE running accessory of your choice from www.RunRight.uk. Just follow the simple steps below:

1. Like our Facebook Page 

2. Read the blog article  Why I run to find out a little about me and my motivation for keeping a blog

3. Leave a comment on the above blog post describing why YOU run. (One word, one sentence or one page is OK!)

That's all! On Saturday 31st March 2018 I will choose one lucky winner at random and send you a private facebook message asking you to choose from a reflective belt, LED armband or glow in the dark shoelaces and to provide me with a delivery address. I will pay for FREE SHIPPING anywhere in the world.

Photo Friday Number 1: Where is it?

Introducing The First Of My New Friday Features: Photo Friday!

What Is It?
Every Friday I will post a photograph that contains clues as to what I am going to be writing about on my "Sunday Story" main feature. Can you guess where/what/when it took place? Why not speculate and guess in the comments? If you know me very well, please don't give the answer away...instead why not leave a criptic clue for other readers?

Photo Number 1:

Any Ideas? Please post in the comments below!