Better and more often- no, not my running but my blogging! That's my late NYR!

Two weeks ago,when I just about completed my long run, sat down and put my head in my hands totally shattered I wasn't looking forward to the following Sunday. However once I got going I felt a new me and stuck to the job in a better frame of mind. It was a bright and fresh morning which helped a lot and I managed the 16.5 miles in 2hrs 26 which was just below my target pace of 9 minutes per mile. It just showed me the value of not giving up and adopting a positive frame of mind.

I did 6 miles at lunch the following day so on the Tuesday I gave my aching legs a well earned break (and my mind watching Trinny and Susannah!).

Been looking for a new pair of Nike Pegasus as mine are worn on the outside heel after 400+ miles so perhaps time to break in a new pair which should be my London footwear. It's amazing how new shoes feel so springy- you don't notice the gradual deterioration- bit like my eyesight and hearing- or 'selective hearing' as I call it! I have a fairly neutral running style with stable arches so the Pegasus is neutral and well cushioned for my 13 and half stone frame.

I have been extending my Sunday long run in my schedule up to 17.3 miles in order to build up my stamina. A week in my schedule at the moment looks like this:

Monday: 6 miles recovery run at around 9:30 a mile pace.

Tuesday: Rest.

Wednesday: Interval hill repetitions- about 3 miles.

Thursday: 6 miles at 8 minutes a mile pace.

Friday: 6 miles easy- about 9 minues a mile.

Saturday: Rest (after Friday night!)

Sunday: Long run of 17 miles at 9 minutes a mile.

That makes a total of 38 miles in the week.

The next step is to incease the intensity of the interval session to increase my anaerobic muscle capacity increase the Thursday run distance and finally extend the long run to 18-19 miles. This will mean taking a larger water bottle on a belt to prevent dehydration and jelly babies to supply carbohydrate energy.

I build in rest days and easier runs to allow my body time to recover. On a long run I can burn over 2500 calories so replacing the carbohydrates for energy and protein to repair muscles is very important.

Being a music lover I decide to list the 'Top Ten running songs' for inspiration. The list emerged as follows:

1. Keep on Running- Spencer Davies Group

2. Road Runner- Jr Walker and the Allstars

3. Run Run Run- Jo Jo Gun

4. Run Baby Run- The Newbeats

5. Runaway- Del Shannon

6. Running up the Hill- Kate Bush

7. Run to the Hills- Iron Maiden

8. Running Bear- Johnny Preston

9. Run for Home- Lindisfarne

10. Running Scared- Roy Orbison

Any other suggestions? Steve at work suggested the alternative title of 'Hole in my Shoe' by Traffic- maybe an alternative top ten is imminent!

In addition to collecting sponsors for 'Action for Children' there are some fundraising activities being planned- more news very soon! There is a link to my Justgiving page on the right hand side of this page making it easy to donate online.

I have entered the LLanelli half marathon on March 8th to break up the training and inject some sort of pace into my running. So, back to the training and another update soon!

By the way the false statement from my last blog was about the northern soul dancing. I worked as DJ at that time but only danced very averagely to northern soul- nothing that would remotely feature in a documentary (except maybe wildlife!)