Category Archives: General

Keeping yourself motivated for the long run

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So you have done the training – you’re ready to run “THE” event you have been training for – but have you thought about what’s next? For me I’ve always had another event that I wanted to take part in. This has helped me in terms of keeping myself motivated and look forward to keep going on with running.

So if you are about to do your first event here are some tips to get ready and motivated for the next event!

  • Keep a log book of how often and how long you run. – One of the best ways is to sign up with a site such as Endomondo, Run Keeper or Sports Tracker. These also offer ‘free’ apps that you can use on your smart phone and can track your Kms, Heart rate and your route of the run. I find it very motivating to see the daily, weekly, monthly stats and the progress I have made. Check out my previous post on “How much do you run?”
    According to my current stats I have run 4412.79 km which is equivalent to 0.11 Trips around the world and 0.011 Trips to the moon!

    Running Summary

    Running Summary

  • Sign up for local 5k races – there are plenty of races around and these are on each week. The point is not competing against others but competing with yourself to see if you can beat your previous time.
  • Sign up for a longer event, if you have just completed Round the Bays 7km why not target the Wellington 10k that happens in June? This helps you to keep yourself motivated and keep going.
  • Traveling overseas? – Look up a local race in the destination you are going to be at – back in 2011 I was in Ireland in April and I entered a half marathon which happened to be on at the time I was there. You’ll meet some new people and even make new friends!
  • Join a local running group – In Wellington there are many options with professional clubs as well as socially organised group runs. Check out The Wellington Running Meetup Group. They organise runs every week for all levels. The Wellington Scottish Athletics Club also have many options for all levels of runners.

I am also running a small competition to help you keep going – check out my post “Keep running and you’ll be winning” for details.

Happy running!

Keep running and you’ll be winning!

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I mentioned on twitter a few days ago that I’ll be posting a competition to giveaway a pair of ‘yurbuds’ sports earphones. Needless to say these are engineered for athletes in mind.
http://yurbuds.com/products/limited-edition/inspire-limited-edition/

Competition - give away!

Competition – give away!

So here are the details of the competition and how you can win them!

Enter and run two 5km races before 31st March 2013, basically after you finish Wellington Round the bays you’ll be extending your training and using that as an advantage.
You can choose from the following two events.

 

 

Support any of the following events.. (yes I’ve changed the rules of the competition)

Competition General Rules

  • Open for all runners based in the Wellington region.
  • You must have entered Wellington Round the Bays (7k or the half marathon) and complete the event.
  • You must enter your name/details in the ‘comments’ section of this post so I know who is entered.
  • Winner will be announced on Monday 1st April 2013. Wednesday 20th  February 2013!

Happy running!

Wellington Round the Bays Training Hotspots

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If you are a runner in Wellington (New Zealand) here are some great options for running trails – check out the “Runners Guide to Wellington” it’s a great book. And for those of you in the UK (In London) there is also a “Runners Guide to London” e-book version!

Hayden Shearman's avatarA Runner's Guide

So you’re one of the 13,000 entrants in this year’s AMI Round the Bays. By now, two weeks out from the event, you should have a nice base of running mileage behind you. So the next week or so, before you begin your taper, is about sharpening up with some quality workouts.

Even top runners can’t run a personal best without workouts or build up races. It’s important to inject some speed into your legs, remind your lungs what it’s like to run fast, and get some of that eye-of-the-tiger factor back into your running.

So today (Friday 1 February) is just over two weeks out from the big race. Over this time it’s a good idea to set aside two to four days for quality (faster) running, with one of these sessions being quite intense. These workouts might include:

  • a session of 1k reps (3-6 reps at your 5k…

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Barefoot Running for the masses?

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If you have read Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run (great book and a good read for any runner) – you may already know of the arguments for and against running without shoes. Personally I think not everyone should ditch their cool running shoes and get a pair of Vibram five fingers or just run in bare feet. Even long term runners agree that it takes time to transition and even then you are not suddenly going to turn into a super human runner. In any case I found these articles interesting. “Barefoot running is catching on” (from Stuff.co.nz) “How to start Running and Walking barefoot and stay injury-free” (Garymoller.com)

Sometimes after I finish  my core run I jog a few laps around a park (usually grassy) to warm down on bare feet and finish with stretches . As far as running completely bare feet that’s not for me.

Happy trails!

Just Keep Running

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So here is my first post on why I’m choosing to talk about running and what got me here.. if you’ve read the “About” section of the site this post sets the ‘scene’ on my running aspirations. First and foremost I am not an elite athlete or anywhere near good. To put this in perspective my PB (Personal Best) for a 5km Race is 20:18 (Run on 18th December 2012) and that is after about 3 years of injury free running. The top guys can do a 5km Race in about 13-15mins. This post or this blog is not about bragging about how fast I can run or how far but rather sharing my experiences as a ‘normal’ person who started running to keep fit and if you are also in the same boat to hopefully give you that inspiration to do the same.

2010 – was the year it all began..I was the victim of too much work and not enough physical activity and something had to change. I made the choice to get back to running and slowly started going for easy runs (15-20mins jog/walk). To motivate myself I signed up for the Round the Bays 7km in February. My main goal was to just finish it and then continue on. I managed to do the 7km and thought, “well if i could just keep myself moving maybe next year in 2011 I’ll try the Half Marathon”. 2010 didn’t really go according to plan in terms of running but I managed to keep myself relatively fit by way of regular easy runs and mountain biking now and then.

2010 Round The Bays Result

2010 Round The Bays 7Km Result

When the 2011 event opened up I signed up for the Half Marathon and also made it a habit to go for a run every other day. So basically I was running two-three days and my mileage per week varied between 20-40kms. With the 2011 RTB half marathon my goal again was to finish it. Unfortunately I over did my runs a bit more than my body was accustomed to and injured my calf muscles that it became really painful so about 3 weeks leading up to the 2011 event I wasn’t running much at all. With some advice from a physio and some strength exercises I was able to start and finish my first Half Marathon!

2011 Round The Bays Result

2011 Round The Bays Half Marathon Result

In terms of running 2011 was a good year – I kept up my running and signed up for the Wellington Half Marathon in June the same year. I was able to better my time and complete the event without any injury during training.

2011 Wellington Half Marathon in June

2011 Wellington Half Marathon in June

In July 2011 my life completely turned upside down in very tragic circumstances. I could have gone either way and my personal loss and grief was great. The only escape I had was running, so I kept running. It was the only thing that made sense and kept me going. By early 2012 I was somewhat focused and back on an even keel and signed up for 2012 Wellington Round The Bays Half Marathon – by this time I was training with a different attitude and wanted to run 1hr:45min in the half.

2012 Round The Bays Result

2012 Round The Bays Result

I smashed it in 1:37! And it felt good! Now I’m hungry for more. Thanks for reading this far! And remember Just Keep Running…!