Hello everyone . Realbuzz is a hive of activity at the moment and i am really enjoying the blogging from you all. Never underestimate how motivating it is to read your stories.

I was intending to write this post on Monday but somehow I never found the moment to write this week . I have just fed myself and the youngest son and have just enough time to write this before I whisk him off to his cricket practice . As I mentioned in my last post I am following the MAFF method and attempting to build my fitness by training to heart rate . I am happy to report that the training is going very well and I am convinced that there is improvement in the four weeks I have been doing this . I run a regular route 3 times in the week and a long slow run along the canal at the weekend . I stick to the same routes in order to guage my progress along with the stats I get from my watch. I can see that my pace has quickened while keeping the heart rate average at 145 bpm on runs up to 5 miles . The trick now is stretch this out so I am running below maximal effort for as many miles as possible . My 11 miler on Sunday was interesting , I follow a route that takes me south from Leighton Buzzard onto a very quiet stretch of canal and where I hardly see a soul. When the sun is out it really is a pleasure running this section , the only downside being the towpath which for many miles is unmade and full of mud in places. On several occasions I could feel the mud pulling at my shoes but luckily I tied them nice and tight ! Also , runing in a few spots is impossible , i just slip and slide and so I walk those bits rather than risk falling into the water :) .Maybe a pair of trail shoes would be better for this ? Again my average heart rate was below 150bpm for the duration although in the last mile I did have to slow to a jog on a couple of occasions , which is to be expected . This is still an improvement on the previous weeks where I would slow more often to keep within range , so a good indicator that my fitness is indeed improving. The whole idea is to train the body to rely on burning fat for fuel rather than relying on sugar , and ultimately avoid the wall and stay stronger when running longer distances. Will it work ? who knows , but what I do know is that I am not the first person to try this method and to be honest I am really enjoying it because it is a challenge . 

Speaking of challenges I realised I had to pull my finger out and book an event or two but bearing in mind my new training regime I wanted to give myself a little more training time . I missed the deadline for Silverstone but i am not too sad about that as I have run it 3 years straight and I won't miss freezing my nuts off at that one again !! The Milton Keynes Festival of Running is too soon so in the end I entered the Reading half marathon. I haven't run this before but a friend of mine has and he loved it . I know it is a PB course and I am really looking forward to it as I haven't 'raced' since Luton last October. I am already in the BUPA 10000 so at least I have two events to aim for. Maybe a race in June or July . Any ideas anyone ? this weekend is going to be a cold one so I guess I will be wrapped up for my canal run on Sunday . I can't wait , just bring it on . 

Have a great weekend 

Sean