Oh well, just thought I would say Good Afternoon Dogbloggers just before mum, dad and I go out for yet another training run. It’s only 10 days now till mum & dad do their race so it is proper head down, training time. Our plan is as follows:
This week
Tuesday: 4 miles (done)
Thursday: 4 miles
Saturday: 6 miles
Sunday 3 miles
Next week
Tuesday: 6 miles
Thursday: 3 miles
Sunday RACE DAY (10k/6.2 miles)
I am not allowed to do the race itself, but I will be minding the house and sleeping which I suppose is the next best thing. We have all been training solidly now since the beginning of January so I guess we are fairly up to the challenge. I mean, can any of you run 6 miles without stopping? I bet you cant 
So off we go in a short while and mum says we are going to run along the canal, so I will get lots of chances to sniff and run around like the daft canine that I am!! (OOO, did I just say canine? I must be cleverer than I think!!)
Love
Peggy xx
22:34vUpdate: We can now cross of Thursday cause here is our run on Nike+
Me in the car
Phew, I am shattered! I have just come back from Delamere Forest where we did about 4 ½ mile run. It was well warm, but it didn’t bother me, I am HARD I am. The run took us about an hour and we did stop after 30 minutes so that I could have a drink. Dad got me a collapsible water bowl (which is brilliant) so that when we are out on walks so that he can fold it up and put it in his rucksack and then get it out when I need a drink. I was properly thirsty today and had a massive slurp of water.
Anyway, mum & dad ran with me and they had a lovely time too. It’s only a month now until Mum & Dad run the Manchester 10k, so we still have loads of time to get some more training in. WHAT could be better? Erm Chicken I think xx
Just a little post to say Hi and let you know that I have done my first training run today for nearly 2 weeks!! Peggy dog is back in the game!! Woof Woof!! It was great – mum, dad and & all went out and did a 3 mile hill session on the “New Road” and it all made us a little out of breath. 
It was BRILLIANT Woof Woof. Bring it on xxx
You might have guessed from the title that mum ran 6 miles today which means she officially able to run the distance ready for the Manchester 10k on the 17th May. As you can see from her photo, whilst she is a little sweaty, she is dead chuffed with her little self.
I am STILL barred from going out with mum & dad which makes me a little sad, but hopefully I’ll be better soon.
Dad also did some training today as he went to help Auntie Alison train as he ran with her for part of the 20 miles she was doing – phew.
It’s all a bit too much for me, so I am going off for a sleep with my cone. Night night all. x
Hello everyone, I’m back with my first post on Dog Blog for a long time. There’s been a lot going on with Peggy and her mum and I wanted to give you my view on what’s been happening.
The biggest thing this year has been my “employment” as Gill’s running coach for the Manchester 10k in May. I’ve been running semi-regularly since 2003, and having trained for a marathon and a number of other races I decided it was time I helped Gill with her training: I just had to wait until she asked so she thought it was her idea.
I think we had about 16 weeks in total to prepare when we started and the first thing I had to do was fill Gill’s “stamina bank” with, well with stamina. The idea of the stamina bank is that you fill it with lots of low-intensity miles, and they get your heart and other muscles ready for the harder training to follow.
The low-intensity means keeping a steady, but easy pace, and never becoming out of breath. This helps make the heart stronger and prepares all the other muscles for the rigours of training. Every part of your body needs to adjust to running, and this is what the stamina bank training helps with. We also decided to take Peggy on as many training runs as we could and this has had great side effects as we’ll see later.
So, stamina bank: Has it worked?
Yes, it’s worked amazingly well. Gill is now very fit and able to run 5 miles without getting out of breath. This means she can still hold a conversation with me so the search for the thing that shuts up a woman continues. Peggy can now comfortably handle 5 miles too, and over the weeks her behaviour has changed so that she is an even more calm, better behaved dog than before.
What next then? Well, the three-times-a-week stamina bank training gives way to a combination of training runs that are designed to increase strength, speed, and the all important stamina.
Once a week is the long run. Currently at five miles, this will be pushed to six and then seven miles before training finishes. The long runs are all done at easy pace. The main purpose of these runs is to train the body to withstand running for over sixty minutes and to enable it to do so comfortably.
One of my favourite running sessions is hill training. The basics are: run up a hill for sixty seconds, jog back down, and repeat as many times as you can manage without killing yourself. It’s an excellent session for building running strength and stamina and also mental strength. Hill training is deceptive, because the first thirty seconds seem easy, but keeping that same pace for the last ten seconds when your legs are on fire is torture.
So, I’ll be torturing Gill most weeks from now on
The last session we’ll be doing each week is what we call a tempo/interval run. This will consist of a 1-mile warm up at easy pace, followed by two miles at a faster pace, followed by a 1-mile warm down at easy pace. This run is designed to train the body to run at higher speeds, but we only use short(ish) distances so as not to exhaust the body. Over time what happens is that the easy pace on the long runs will become faster without any increase in effort, i.e. heart rate will remain the same.
We’ve done a lot of training now, so it’s about time I did a report.
Gill’s Half-term report
Attendance: Gill has not missed any training sessions yet except where the trainer (me) called them off.
Attitude: Gill has shown an excellent attitude throughout training and her perseverance through “stamina bank” training has paid off.
Effort: Gill has put in a tremendous amount of effort so far and has taken to hill training and tempo training with gusto. She does, on occasion, lie down in the middle of the street when it all gets a bit much, but that’s because of her effort not due to a lack of it.
Overall: 9/10
I’m absolutely delighted with the training because now I know things about Gill’s running that she doesn’t know I know.
For example, I know she is capable of running 6 miles – despite not having done the distance in training yet – and will be able to do it without getting out of breath or so uncomfortable she wants to stop.
I know she has an irrational fear of hills, despite always being able to manage them and getting back to normal pace in minutes.
I know that her biggest fear is the demons in her mind, but if she could only see how she repeatedly vanquishes them on every single run she wouldn’t have the fear anymore.
And our wonderful Peggy-Dog has become such a good runner too. The look of excitement on her face when the running shoes, waist-belt, and lead come out is lovely to see.
In fact, my new favourite thing is for the three of us to go running together.
Onwards and upwards!
Michael (Peggy’s Dad)
Well the answer to the question above, is very very happy We have just come back from a 5 mile run around Carr Mill Dam in St Helens. It is a lovely day today all sunny and spring like – who’d have thought in Spring eh… So, the clocks went forward as well last night, so we lost an hour – but we did the run anyway 
I enjoyed it loads and met so many lovely dogs and their owners, although there was a boxer dog that I didn’t like very much. Hey ho, I started the morning with a little hide/snooze under mum & dad’s bed and it just got even better from there. Check out our pictures – it was too cool!
Mum is almost up to the actual 10k distance (6.2 miles) and I am sure that she will be able to do the race no problem. In other news, Auntie Alison has run in the Liverpool half marathon today (show off) as part of her preparation for the London Marathon in about 4 weeks! I’ll let you know how she did!
Love
Peggy xx
UPDATE: Just found out Auntie Alison did the Liverpool half marathon in an amazing time of 01:53:00 She even said it felt easy – she is a superstar! WELL DONE AUNTIE ALISON X X
Oh my goodness, I guess its feels like nothing and everything has happened lately. It has been a bit quiet, but lots to look forward to and other fantastic stuff. Well where do I start? Firstly Auntie Jenny is now recovering at home following her operation on Monday, we were all dead worried about her, but hopefully she’s now got her bionic heart and is all fixed! Next it’s Great Grandma Jessie’s 87th Birthday tomorrow so I will have to remember to wish her a Happy Birthday. Then on Sunday it’s Mother’s Day and everyone is coming around to our house for Mother’s Day Brunch. How brilliant will that be eh, hopefully if there are sausages and bacon being cooked, I might get the odd bit from someone? I will just have to put my best “hang dog” eyes on and stare at people until they give in and throw some on the floor – works every time
I had a visit yesterday when Grandma Barbie and Grandad Wack came to visit – I love it when come, as they always tickle me and give me lots of cuddles! I was a really good girl for them and was very sad when they left – but I am sure I will see them again soon. Woof Woof!!
We have been out tonight on another training run, but as it’s getting a little warmer, I am not sure I will be able to go on the really long runs with mum & dad….. but I am 10 years old you know (70 in human year) and I do wear a fur coat!
Before I go, I thought you might like to visit the website of a friend my mum made through Twitter. She made contact with the owner of this poorly puppy called Wally:
Mum them went on Wally’s dad’s website and found the best page in the world – just check out the employees of Wally’s Dad’s Company!! Follow this link: http://www.ehousestudio.com/whoweare/ It made us giggle and wish we had a company where we could do exactly this!
Love Peggy xx
Hello there! Well then, you know I said yesterday that we would be going for a run, well guess what – we didn’t go!!!!! Mum was just too tired from all the training, she has run Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday this last week, so is understandably a little stiff and sleepy!
Well anyway, we have been today and mum & I have been on the Coke and Crunchie run whilst dad went to train with Auntie Alison. Have I told you about Auntie Alison? She is running the London Marathon in a few weeks and is like a running machine – MUCH better than that Paula Radcliffe 
I am pretty tired now so I think I will go and take up my usual Sunday afternoon position next to the radiator. I always wait patiently for it to come on so I can have a sleep!
So it’s only a little over 8 weeks before mum & dad run the Manchester 10k and I am going to ask all you lovely dog blog readers to sponsor mum for as little or as much as you can afford. You can either click on the just giving button on the right hand side of this post, or go to this website http://www.justgiving.com/gillibobs
Thank you very much and have a very woofly day xxxx
Oh my goodness, I am POOPED!! Literally Mum. Dad & I have all been out today on our training run (as mum posted yesterday) and it was brilliant! We were going to go just before lunch, but then it started to hail and to be honest we just didn’t fancy getting wet! So we had some food and went later on. It did hail a little bit whilst we were out, but mostly we were fine. We went on our “coke and crunchie” route, which is so named as when we just do a normal dog walk, there is a shop half way round which we normally stop at whilst mum & dad get a Can of Coke and a Cadbury’s Crunchie! We didn’t stop today though, we just kept on running. I was on the lead for the parts where we ran on the pavement, and dad did his thing again where he tied my lead to his belt - ace. For the rest of the time, I was doing my thing, zig-zagging along the path in front of mum & dad, sniffing and loving being outside. I even met a lovely collie puppy that wanted to play with me, but I know the rules and just had a little sniff before I ran off to catch up to the pack (aka Mum & Dad). Anyway, here is a map of where we went:
Today's route
And here is the widget, which shows you our stats on Nike+:
Brilliant eh! I just love walking and running especially with mum & dad – it’s the best. So finally, for those of you who doubt that I actually do all the hard work on this blog, here is a picture of me blogging! I rule xxxx
Told you!
Hello all, Peggy’s mum Gill here. Just borrowing Peggy’s blog once again to tell you a little about our Manchester 10k training. We are planning to do 4 miles today and this is in keeping with our training plan. Up to now, we have just been doing easy runs and I think we are going to carry on doing this for another week, then we might start on the hill training and tempo runs! Eek! Anyway, just to let you know that we have added a new page to the site which contains the details of our training plan. You can either click on the link Training Plan to the right of this post. Or click here