The race was fairly well organised. My only beef was that there were no distance markers in the second half of the race. The distance markers is what I use to pace my run and to set mini-goals along the way. It also keep my mind occupied doing mental maths on my pace and timing. I did have a GPS tracker on my Android, but it was attached to my arm and it was awkward to check while running.

For the record below is a track of my race. It was interesting that I actually ran a total distance of 21.87km, about 770 meters more than the half marathon distance of 21.1km.

Awaiting me at the finish line:

Stats:

• Total distance: 21.87 km
• Time: 2:02 hours
• Average speed: 10.78 km/hr
• Total calories: 2, 487
• Average Heart Rate: 170
• Max Heart Rate: 187

*To put that into context, the winner of the full marathon did it in 2:13. He was going almost double my speed over twice the distance. Amazing. And yes, he was from Kenya.

I used my new Android HTC Legend with the “My Tracks” app. It works very well and easy to use.

Here is my track:

Session:

21.1km in 2:01:00 min.

Results:

• Average Heart Rate: 169
• Max Heart Rate: 187
• Calories Burned: 2,288

Session:

6.43km in 34 min.

Results:

• Average Heart Rate: 164
• Max Heart Rate: 197
• Calories Burned: 615

Hallelujah!

Today I met my old nemesis: Gallagher’s Hill Run. I had done this a half dozen times over the years. It is a hilly course, dominated by a huge, steep hill about 2.5 km into the run. I still have not completely conquered that hill!

To show the hills in this course, I used my GPS-enabled BlackBerry to track my progress, which not only records my position, but my altitude as well. So I played around with the output KML file and loaded it into Google Earth:

The hill in the foreground is the killer. I also observed that the GPS accuracy was lower than my other runs. Might be due to my new armband I am using to hold my BlackBerry.

For the record the track is shown here (Google Maps can’t show altitude like Google Earth can):

Session:

Gallgher’s Hill Run: 6km in 34:50 minutes

With an extra 2km: 8km in 47 minutes

Results:

• Average Heart Rate: 161
• Max Heart Rate: 180
• Calories Burned: 827

Note: As part of the program, each Monday will consist of strength work except for week 16 (a rest day). Each Wednesday will consist of a cross training session except for week 16 (a rest day) and each Friday will be a rest day except for week 16 when you will do an easy 3K.

The intermediate program can be downloaded below as either a PDF document or a Word document.

Intermediate program as a PDF
Intermediate program as a Word document

PROGRAM KEY

WARM UP & COOL DOWN – Warm up with easy running for 10 to 15 minutes, plus dynamic range of motion stretches and five x 60 to 80-metre run throughs. To improve technique, add running drills such as butt kicks, high knees and side strides. Cool down with easy running for 10 minutes. Then stretch!

REST DAYS – Ideally, on rest days you should not exercise at all. But it’s okay to cross-train with no-impact activity like stretching, yoga or swimming.

EASY - Run at a comfortable pace or cross-train with a sustained aerobic effort on a bicycle or an elliptical trainer.

HILLS – Run the mileage for the day on a hilly course.

HILL REPEATS – Starting with a three to four kilometre tempo run (5-10 seconds p/K slower than 10K pace) followed by five to six hill repeats run at a strong pace (not sprinting) with an easy jog back down. Jog easy for a few minutes in between the tempo run and hill repeats.

FARTLEK – The Swedish term ‘speed play’ means to change your pace regularly throughout your run. The pace of the surges can be 5 or 10K race pace.

TEMPO – Run steady and strong slightly slower than your 10K race pace.

LONG RUN – Easy to medium effort or 50-70 per cent of maximum heart-rate.

HMP – Half marathon goal pace.

I will be cutting out week 4 and 8 to squash the 16 week program into 14 weeks.

A few upper body light weights/high reps was on the cards today to give my weary legs a break. Picked up a Charcoal Chicken on the way home. Great day.

Session:

Stationary Bike, Bench Press, Seated Row, Shoulder Press, Hammer Curl, Triceps, Abs

Results:

• Average Heart Rate: forgot heart rate monitor
• Max Heart Rate: see above
• Calories Burned: see above

Today was a new form of interval training. Here is a chart of my speed for each interval run. You can see that I start to really run out of puff towards the end.

Session:

2x 5 min Run
90 sec rest
2×4 min Run
60 sec rest
2x 2 min Run
30 sec
Later: 20 min squash session

Results:

Run

• Average Heart Rate: 164
• Max Heart Rate: 180
• Calories Burned: 509

Squash

• Average Heart Rate: 144
• Max Heart Rate: 170
• Calories Burned: 280

Today was the long run, 14.9km, to be exact. I was able to beat last weeks average speed (9.9 km/hr vs 9.57 km/hr). Here is the track.

Session:

14.9 km/hr in 1:29:42.

Results:

• Average Heart Rate: 162
• Max Heart Rate: 179
• Calories Burned: 1562