How's about a monthly update??

It seems my ability to accurately judge the passing of time is somewhat questionable, as is my ability to update this blog. Despite that, I have been out training although not quite as regularly as I planed to due to a few days away in Dublin and then being rather busy on call again.

Following the last abandoned run, I was feeling a little apprehensive about running in the wind or cold, as I hate the feeling in my chest when my lungs just don't want to play ball. Thankfully, Miss Running had been shopping for all things lycra, and was kind enough to buy me a new compression base layer. Now, I know that it being compression doesn't add anything, but I feel more the part in them and it means I'm not trying to wear two or three tops that are the same size. So with my new shiny new top under a normal running t shirt, I sent out on a slightly chilly run.

Just as hoped, the extra top was what I needed to keep my temperature up along with my pace. The run was the "new" 6km loop that is likely to become my new short distance route. The lack of the short but sharp uphill section at the start is helping me no end, whilst the rest is gently rolling. This run was finished in 38:35, giving a pace of 6:10/km, which is roughly where I want to be for now.


The next run was a little bit different as I would be running with Mrs Running, Miss Running's mum. I was told that she likes to whine and moan about as much as I do when running, so we figured we'd get on well! This run wasn't about going all that far or that fast for me, but more to get out and do at least 8km and push Mrs Running past her usual 5km mark. As we ran from her house, the route was different and was a loop to Stanford Hall, the home of the Summer and Winter Wolf Runs. Having done the Winter Wolf, the house looked a lot nicer this time around with some ancient re-enactment under way on the front lawn! This sight did mean that we had to turn round and head back up the hills we'd not long run down. But hills are good training, and I managed to not stop on them. There's no real pace info for this run, as I left my phone holder at home, so the times and distance are approximate.

From here, Miss Running and I were off to Dublin for three days of imbibing, err... culture, and not much running was going to happen. Much imbibing however, did happen! We did at least attempt to keep up the exercise a little by walking everywhere. Dublin was a great place to visit, but every bit as expensive as we'd been warned. However, the Dead Zoo, aka the Museum of Natural History, is well worth a visit as it's both free and gives a distinctly Victorian view on collecting animal specimen.


So back in Blightly, and it was back to running the 6km loop, only with a bit extra to make it 8km as it was a Saturday. This was never going to be quick after a week off, three days of beer and what felt like a lot of unintended passive smoking, but it did feel good to be back out and blowing out a few cobwebs. I do still look like a bit of a wreck when out running. That's meant to be something like a smile, and was the best of three goes at it!

The next Tuesday saw me back out with Mrs Running, and running in the proper dark for the first time in a while. This used to be a staple way of running when I lived with Felix, so I should've known better than to leave my head torch at home. Miss Running had drawn up a roughly 8Km route for us to try, but that was done via google maps which doesn't show you how far down the side streets lamp posts go in the fog......

As such, Mrs Running decided she'd had enough after a very wriggly 5km loop of the village. To be fair, it was quite foggy and not brilliant running conditions. I decided to head back to the far end of the village and back to put another quicker 1.5km on the run to finish.

From here, I was actually busy at work (quit that sudden gasp from all that know me well), and back to being on call where I was even busier for the week. As such, I didn't get any running in for 10 days and wasn't back out until the 12th. As it was a Saturday, it was long run day again. Yay. And it was drizzling. Extra Yay!! Still, it means it's a lot harder to over heat, so every cloud and all that.

My target for this run was a little different to before. The plan this time to run for 45 mins away from home/round in circles/etc and then head home for 45 mins, so running for 90 mins with no real distance target. As I was keeping half an eye on time, rather than distance, I set out on the 6km loop, with the intention of extending it as I have done before to 8Km and seeing where I was time wise at the turn around. As it happened, I got to the turning point a bit quicker than I thought I would, but equally, I hadn't really put any real thought into it either. This will surprise no-one, I'm sure. So with a few mins to spare, I set off down a different road with the intention of getting to a particular farm track and turning back from there. I stopped for a quick breather at this point, but rapidly wished I hadn't as my glasses steamed up. This photo shows the issues of wearing glasses as a runner in the rain. I can't see much without my glasses, but I could see more without them! Also, note the potentially receding hairline.......

So as I got back under way, I knew I had to take something other than the short route back, as I had in excess of 35 mins left to go, but straight home was roughly 15 mins. So when I got back to the A5, I decided to return back the way I'd come. I knew this would be pushing things a bit, but that was the point of this run. So off I went, with the knowledge that making it back home should use up just about the rest of the time for today. Things were going well to start with as I seemed to find a groove that was working, but as I neared the top of the bigger or sharper rises I was having to slow down more than I liked. But I persevered and kept going; I still had to get home one way or another. As I rounded what I hoped was the last bend, a quick look at my phone showed 2 mins remaining. Bugger, I had to go back around the block! But as I rounded the last bend again, the timer went off and I could stop. At this point I was starting to feel the extra distance quite a lot and I don't think I could've gone for much further. Having said that, the pace chart shows my pace in the last 4km or so to have been fairly even, which was a pleasant surprise.

So what was the final distance? 13.8Km!! I was really pleased with this, as I had wanted to top 12Km even though I was mainly targeting a time on my feet. This is the furthest I've gone in more than a year, and to get this far after only 8 weeks felt really encouraging, as this is about 1/3 of the way to a marathon. Now I just need to work more on regularly running three times a week and seeing about getting my pace up, as it's been a bit hit and miss this month!

The first few weeks of being back at it

So the promised Saturday update has been and gone. And then been gone for two weeks more. I'm really not doing a great job of updating this am I?!

But training continues regardless. According to Runkeeper, I managed 14.4Km in September, and am up to 32.4Km so far in October. The longer run I hoped to do on the 1st ended up being a quicker 5Km where I managed to get back to an average pace of 6mins/km. This isn't all that quick, but it was the target for the day and quicker than I had gone for some time, so I was happy with that. I ran again on the Tuesday, managing to go every so slightly faster, but only by 20 secs or so. But faster is faster, regardless of the gaps and I'm not looking to become Usain Bolt overnight! Due to feeling a bit down and being busy (excuses, excuses I know) I didn't end up running for 6 days, and it was Monday the 10th when I was out next. This was another 5km run, as I intend to build up my fitness before going too much further, and I prefer to run the same route so I can gauge how I'm doing by how I feel rather than just how fast I'm going.

Having said that, on that Tuesday I decided to try a different route with an eye to taking the short sharp uphill off the start of the run and a means to giving me longer routes without going too far from home for now. This route was also a touch longer at 6km, and felt much better as my lungs got into the swing of things a lot faster without the uphill struggle. As this was my birthday week, I chose not to run Thursday or Friday. As I had my son on the Saturday, I couldn't run then but we do go splashing about in the pool so that was something at least.


Come the Sunday morning it was time for a long(er) run again. The plan was to try for 8km, using the 6km route as a base and just extending the run down the back road where I turn round and run back on myself. As Miss Not-So-Anti-Running and I had a lazy morning, I went out mid afternoon as it was a nice sunny day and she had stuff to do. The aim of this run was not to go quickly, but to do a nice easy pace and complete the distance. As I starter out nice and gently, this run was feeling pretty good. For once I wasn't sweating my ass off or feeling like my lungs were trying to exit stage left either. Where I had slowed to a quick walk/very slow jog on the 6km version, I was able to keep going this time, which was a good little morale boost as I hit the top of the rise and the A5. From here there is a nice flatter bit as I run back to the village and brave crossing the A5. At this point I knew it was a trawl up the hill top Cold Higham, along the back road to a certain farm track turning and then back home for 8Km. But when I got to the turning point, everything felt pretty good so I kept going! I managed to keep running all the way to the top of a hill to a cross roads that had almost killed me a couple of months ago when I was following Miss Running. I was really pleased with this, even if I was now going rather slowly! Turning round and heading back down the hill to head home was a welcome relief. From here to home felt fairly flat, as the rises are more gentle and the sun was still shining. As is usual and despite my vague attempts to stop it happening, I sped up a lot on the way home, even going uphill. When I got back, I felt really good with how the run had gone, and that I managed 10km non-stop for the first time in ages. So that's the first of my distance targets ticked off already!

 

Unfortunately, I did one more run this Tuesday. This was only meant to be a quick 20-25 min run as I was expecting a guy from eBay to arrive. It looked lovely from the window, and felt OK for the first 1/2KM, until I hit an open field and the cold wind hit me. This pretty much screwed my breathing up and it felt like someone was pouring iced water down the front of my top. Despite trying to keep going to get warmer, I just wasn't having much luck, so I decided to abandon the run and head back for home. I think I cocked it up from a combination of going too fast when I was cold and not wearing the right tops. If I'd had a thicker top or one with long sleeves I might have been OK at a slower pace. Regardless, at least I know not to do that again as it was the first time in over a year that I have needed to use my inhaler! I was still squeaking hours later, which is a sure sign I've made my lungs grumpy.......

I am still alive, honest..... And back in training

Sooo, looks like keeping this up to date has gone horribly by the wayside! The last update was far to long ago frankly, and a lot has happened since. In brief I have managed to run (mostly) the Great North Run in 2 hours 26 mins, pretty much took four weeks off and then did the Oxford Half Marathon in 2 hours 5 mins, and then sort of stopped running. Renovating my little cottage has kind of taken over my life in the last year or so.

Oh, and I've found myself a new running partner, Miss Not-So-Anti-Running. She's annoyingly fit and healthy and what have you, and actually enjoys exercising, the weirdo. Despite trying, I have no chance of keeping up with her yet but I'm sure she will feature here more regularly as my training progresses.

So, why am I back in training? Well, the charity auction that Hannah and I held last year did amazingly well, and we raised a total of £4000!! This was much more than we expected to raise in one evening, and is testament to the team's hard work. Unfortunately, not long after Hannah picked up an injury that even she was told to stop ignoring for once and had to put running on hold for a while. As such, we haven't run together for a while, but I hope that her and my other training partners will all be back soon. As Hannah is unable to join me, the whole amount was available to support my solo application with MacMillan for the 2017 London Marathon. And last Thursday I got a phone call from them offering me a place! So like it not, I am now running the London Marathon!! Oh bugger.

And so it was time to dig out the running shoes, the skimpy shorts and technical tops and start pounding some pavement. Thankfully, there's plenty of places to run from my new house, but I live pretty much on top of a hill. Which is great on the downhill bits, but it's all hills round here, even more so than were I used to live. At least hills make for good training, as if I can run 20-odd miles round here without dying immediately the marathon will be less of a struggle than it might otherwise be. Still the hardest thing I'll ever do, and my biggest challenge!

So with the need to get running firmly in place, I have been out three times in the last couple of weeks getting 5km/3mile runs under my belt to get my basic fitness back. House building is good for the muscles, but crap for cardio fitness and the lungs! So my pace is a bit down from what it was, with the first three runs averaging 6 mins 20 secs/km. Still, it's hardly a surprise and I am already back up to running 5km non-stop. I know that might not sound much, but it's pretty much the only regular running I've done in 12 months so I'm happy with it for now. 10km is the next big target, along with 5km well under 30 mins. As I've got 30 weeks to go, I don't want to go at it too fast and break myself!

There will be more to come, but as I do still have to get work on the house done I will aim for a weekly update for now. My next run is Saturday, weather permitting, and will hopefully be a bit longer to stretch my legs out.