This Sunday (11th March) is the Silverstone Half Marathon. It is the 4th event in my year of running. Unfortunately I have been having a little trouble with my right knee and haven't been getting in as much running as my training plan would like. Last week I managed 4 miles without too much trouble but this is far off doing the 10 – 12 I should be doing before a half marathon and nowhere near where I should be on in the run up to the Edinburgh Marathon on May. I was therefore starting to seriously consider whether I should go through with the Silverstone Half as it may put the more important runs (Edinburgh and Liverpool Marathons) in jeopardy. 

As I have said in previous posts I've been hitting the bike quite hard trying to strengthen the knee up again so it can handle the running but I wasn't sure whether a) it was working or b) whether I'd be ready for the Silverstone Half. Today I went out for a run from work and can very happily say that my knee held up fine and my pace was plenty fast enough still. 5.96 Miles on 55.48 giving an average pace of 9:22 minute miles which would put me just over the 2 hour mark on Sunday which I'd be quite happy with at this point. 

So the verdict is … I'll be going to Silverstone on Sunday and aiming for a sub 2:10 finish. However I'm fully prepared to slow up and if need be stop if the knee is being a problem. At the end of the day this is just a training run for Edinburgh and I want to make sure I am fighting fit for the end of May. 

So having been injured my running has been somewhat less that intended this month but I've been putting the miles in on the bike (both outside and on the rollers) to try and strengthen the knee up and get back out running. Not long to go until Silverstone so have some work to do. 

Walking: 13.47 Miles

Running: 25.35 Miles

Riding: 142.28 Miles

Total: 181.10 Miles

So Sarah keeps telling me I need to mix up my training and do some short fast runs as well as trying to do distance. Today I went out for a short run around new campus with the aim of and average pace of 9:30. I did 3.88 miles in 37:39 giving an average pace of 9:43 so didn't quite make my target. It's quite hard trying to run at any other pace than plodding! Apparently I need to do some interval sessions … I don't even know what they are but I've seen what they do to Sarah so they can't be very pleasant!

Last day of January and therefore last day of Janathon tomorrow. I've not managed to do as much as I had hoped this time round, but my running distances are well up on November. The main difference is having not been out on the bike very much. That's partly due to some icy weather early in the month but also due to trying to cram in the running. I've certainly not managed every day as I did in November so that's hurt the numbers. Although if I can carry on trying to get out 4 – 5 times a week I'll be quite happy. The effects of trying to exercise every day, and succeeding in exercising most days, have been pretty impressive so far. Since September I have lost about 11 pounds and since February last year I have lost nearly 25 pounds! I am no longer 'Obese' and now just 'Overweight' but am hoping to get towards the 'Normal' range before this year … if I manage that I'll have lost nearly 4 stone!

I went out for a run with Kelly and Sarah today. We built in a shorter loop for Kelly and then headed out to the beach aiming for around 10 miles. At about 3 miles I didn't think there was any way I was going to make it to 10, especially not with Sarah running 2 paces in front of me all the time. I don't know why but it really winds me up. Sarah definitely has a very different running style to me … I'm very much a plodder whereas she likes to push it as hard as possible all the time. I had planned a route in advance to try and take in some of the trails in the woods around Formby that we used to mountain bike on when we were kids. I figured Sarah would really like them as she is much happier off road than on. In the end we managed 9.81 miles of which around  5 miles was offroad with that being a mix between the beach, sand dunes and pine woods. I think we both could have gone a little further but we were starting to run out of time and light! Average pace was 10:56 and we were out for 1:47:17. 

A result of all the offroad is that the tops of my feet hurt now. I think I curl my big toes up when I am coming down steep uneven terrain which pushes the top of my feet against my trainers. Hopefully it will subside soon. Then I need to stop myself doing weird things with my feet when offroad! 

Just did 3.96 miles today around the two University of York campuses. Felt a bit tight but it is my first run out after the Brass Monkey. 3.96 miles in 40:06 giving an average pace of 10:08. 

So it has been a few days since the 2012 brass monkey and I've had some time to think about how it went and what it was like. 

Usually when I do something as silly as running 13.1 miles I can't walk for a week afterwards and coming down stairs is something to definitely be avoided. Even the last half marathon I did, the Great North Run, back in September caused at least 3 or 4 days of proper inability to function in the leg department! This time though was different, for the first time ever I trained well for the event. I'd been nowhere near the distance but was consistently running 6 – 8 miles almost or at pace and being able to go out and do it again the next day. If it hadn't been for the break in training over the new year I may even have run the distance before the event, maybe?! 

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Today was the Brass Monkey Half Marathon in York. I'll write more about it later but for the time being I shall just say … 13.10 miles in 2:07:18 which gives and average pace of 9:42. This knocks around 25 minutes of my personal best and around 38 minutes of my recent best time for half marathon. Needless to say  am quite happy with this given I was aiming for 2:30:00. 

Today will be my last run before the brass monkey half marathon on Sunday. I'd hoped to have done the distance prior to the brass monkey this time round, but for one reason or another I've had a couple of breaks in my training that mean I am a little behind where I wanted to be. That said I have never been consistently running 7+ miles at the pace I want before doing a half marathon before so maybe that is a good sign. I tried to run a flatter route today so that it was a little more like what I'll face on Sunday and was quite pleased to have run out of time, rather than energy, after 8 miles. Unfortunately I had a GPS fail today so only have vague timing which probably aren't very accurate. Total distance was 8.18 miles (mapped after the event due to GPS fail) in roughly 1 hour 23 minutes (ish, give or take!). 

Swimming tomorrow morning to loosen the legs of then a quick spin on the bike on Saturday before the Brass Monkey on Sunday sums up my next few days. The a bit time doing short recovery runs before getting the set for Edinburgh. The Silverstone Half Marathon in March and Leeds Half Marathon in May should be nothing more than training runs as I should be running further than that before then. 

I almost slipped up on Tuesday by nearly entering the Liverpool Marathon. We'll see how the next month goes and see if I'm going to do my first 2, and possibly last 2 if I have any sense, marathons in 1 year.