Review of Strava – An Online Training Tool and Community

Review of Strava

With the explosion of social media more and more niche communities and tools are sprouting up that allow you to share your workouts with others online.

I Personally love these kinds of tools and communities for a number of reasons:

  1. I like having my training and workout information online, so I can access it from multiple locations and devices.
  2. Making something public (like your training or a specific challenge) reinforces most peoples desire to not fail, increasing the likelihood that you aren’t going to miss sessions and let things slide.
  3. Niche communities in particular allow for interaction with others, participating in similar activities. This allows you to share workout ideas and compare your performance against others, which further adds to that sense of motivation to out-do someone else and not let them out-do you.

I currently use 2 main sites: Strava (which I am convering here) and Garmin Connect. The following article is a personal review of Strava, which in my opinion is massively under marketed at the moment given its functionality and the opportunity.

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Free 18 Week Advanced Marathon Training Plan

Advanced Marathon Training Plan

Having recently entered the Singapore Sundown Marathon, which takes place in May 2012 I decided to get my act together and make sure that I followed a fairly regimented training programme to get me into race shape.

The attached plan, which you can download at the end of this post is designed for more advanced runners who are generally used to running a minimum of 60+ miles per week.

A less regular runner could utilise this plan, but should add additional base laying weeks onto the front in order to gradually build up their ability to handle high mileage.

For the avoidance of doubt I am in no way a qualified coach, but I have ran all my life and trained with some great coaches and athletes over the years.

I am an above average runner looking to run under 3hrs for the marathon so whilst this plan will be a challenge for me to complete I believe it will get me close to achieving that target time.

If you’re already a strong runner (i.e., you can do a 30 minute+ 10km) then following this plan could get you into the 2hr30m bracket.

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Singapore Sundown Marathon 2012

Singapore Sundown Marathon

To set 2012 off with some focus I’ve just entered the Singapore Sundown Marathon, which is being held on the 26th May. I’ve opted to complete the full marathon so I can tick off another item from my bucket list - unsurprisingly its the one called complete a marathon.

Aptly named the Sundown marathon the event starts at 00:00 and runs (no pun intended) through the night allowing runners to enjoy a slightly cooler running experience than is normally felt in Singapore – reckon I’ll still need the salt tablets though.

You can download my marathon training plan here: Advanced Marathon Training Plan if you can follow and complete this plan then you’ll be looking at a time between 2:30-3:00 for the marathon.

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Running the Yorkshire 3 Peaks

Yorkshire Three Peaks Run

There are two walks in the UK that are generally known as the “Three Peaks Walk”. The first is the National Three Peaks Walk, which takes in the summits of Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowden within 24 hours, and the second is the Three Peaks of Yorkshire, which takes in Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough within 12 hours.

The Yorkshire Three Peaks Walk takes in the summits of Pen-y-ghent (694 metres – 2,276 feet), Whernside (736 metres – 2,415 feet) and Ingleborough (723 metres  2,372 feet) all in one circular route.

Whilst there is no set starting point, most people begin at Horton-in-Ribblesdale and take on Pen-y-ghent first, followed by Whernside and Ingleborough. The route in total is 24.5 miles (39.4km) and covers around 5000 feet of climbing.

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