Or, here we go...
I'm home. Got back around 0100 this morning after a 22 hour day and, after 5 hours sleep, I'm up and about making preparations to head south for the big event. Got the boarding pass, got the shoes, the kit, the nerves, the vest, the giant Marie Curie daffodil costume (OK, that's not true). Game On.
Still struggling to believe it's going to happen, but I suppose I have to and start getting my mental preparation sorted out. For some last amusement, I see they're shutting some of the far northern airports again because of ash, but I guess I could probably drive there now!
Starting to feel some nerves, or is it excitement, or perhaps both. The plan is to try and register at ExCel tonight to avoid the rush tomorrow, which will hopefully give me a day to recharge and recover some of the sleep I've lost in the last week. Not much physically to do now, other than a brief loosener tomorrow to check the legs still work.
So, as I head off I will leave you with one last piece of music. Some of you will know I'm a longstanding fan of Canadian band Rush, and there's really only one piece of music I can finish up with. Marathon.
Come on, you knew I would
To finish off the stats, last week's runs bring me up to 699 in training, and the 2 miler to loosen off tomorrow will get me over 700. Quite proud of that.
Watch this space...
Friday, 23 April 2010
Thursday, 22 April 2010
3 days and counting
Or, maybe, just maybe...Been quiet here on account of my holiday in Egypt being somewhat extended on account of that Icelandic volcano thing you may have heard about on the news.Was supposed to be home on Sunday, and with every passing day I've been more and more pessimistic about actually getting home for the race.
But yesterday, some hope, with the rumour that all the cancelled Sunday flights would go today. And an 0530 call to the local office thus morning resulted in a "Yes, you fly at 1715". Now, this is all still to happen, but for the first time in a week I'm starting to allow myself the thought that I'll actually make it.
I will now put the blog on (at least) daily updates as my travel unfolds and, hopefully, I meander my way towards the start line.
Oh, and by the way, just in case toy think all I've been doing is lying in the sun and drinking beer, this is not so. I've also drunk a few Gin & Tonics. And done three six mile runs up and down the path that runs between the resorts and the baech in this part of Sharm el-Sheikh. Believe me, London's going to have to be pretty warm to match the temperatures here, even a 0730. Have also managed to carb load quite effectively too - potatoes for breakfast, rice and pasta for dinner, and loads of salted peanuts to replenish the salt lost through sweat.
Hopefully I'm back on track. Keep your eyes on here for more updates...
But yesterday, some hope, with the rumour that all the cancelled Sunday flights would go today. And an 0530 call to the local office thus morning resulted in a "Yes, you fly at 1715". Now, this is all still to happen, but for the first time in a week I'm starting to allow myself the thought that I'll actually make it.
I will now put the blog on (at least) daily updates as my travel unfolds and, hopefully, I meander my way towards the start line.
Oh, and by the way, just in case toy think all I've been doing is lying in the sun and drinking beer, this is not so. I've also drunk a few Gin & Tonics. And done three six mile runs up and down the path that runs between the resorts and the baech in this part of Sharm el-Sheikh. Believe me, London's going to have to be pretty warm to match the temperatures here, even a 0730. Have also managed to carb load quite effectively too - potatoes for breakfast, rice and pasta for dinner, and loads of salted peanuts to replenish the salt lost through sweat.
Hopefully I'm back on track. Keep your eyes on here for more updates...
Saturday, 10 April 2010
2 weeks and counting
Or, getting into the Taper spirit...
I don't think the drop off in miles in the Taper is supposed to be QUITE this dramatic. Because of various scheduling problems this week, I haven't been able to get the time to do as many runs as I'd like (and yes, I know I'm now a man of leisure and should have no such excuse).
Tuesday's recovery after Sunday's last long run was a part cross-country affair through the woods above town, down to the marina and back up the hill. As it followed 2 days of heavy rain, the tracks were sodden, and much care was needed. Slipping and tweaking something on a gentle recovery would be VERY silly.
Wednesday brought the last full track session at Scotstoun, with some good speedwork, albeit slightly hindered by another unhelpful headwind. Got 3 good miles in at 6:07, 6:14 and 6:21, following the "quality, not quantity" ethos of the Taper.
That, however, was that. Had various things happen on Thursday and Friday that meant a longer run wasn't possible, one of which was my leaving do on Friday night, which had the knock-on effect of a run today also being, erm, unwise (the dehydration...). And tomorrow, I head to Egypt for a week's holiday, to which I will be taking my trainers and planning to fit in 2 or 3 reasonable runs. Reckon the early morning temperatures will be cool enough to allow a 5-6 miler at reasonable pace, just to keep the legs turning.
So that's it. A very abbreviated week and blog. Musically, though, we'll go off-playlist to celebrate the week's biggest event. As a long-suffering fan of Newcastle United, I was naturally delighted to see them return to the Premier League at the first attempt on Monday. As I'd feared the club would implode and hurtle down to League One (or whatever it's called these days), it was a pleasant surprise, and hats off the Chris Hughton and a team who failed to show any big-time-Charlie attitude and really applied themselves.
The music is the tune the Toon take the pitch to, which by a happy co-incidence also happens to be the theme music to my all time favourite film, Local Hero. By Mark Knopfler. Not Dire Straits.....
Week's summary: 2 runs, 12 miles: Long run n/a
Miles since acceptance: 681
I don't think the drop off in miles in the Taper is supposed to be QUITE this dramatic. Because of various scheduling problems this week, I haven't been able to get the time to do as many runs as I'd like (and yes, I know I'm now a man of leisure and should have no such excuse).
Tuesday's recovery after Sunday's last long run was a part cross-country affair through the woods above town, down to the marina and back up the hill. As it followed 2 days of heavy rain, the tracks were sodden, and much care was needed. Slipping and tweaking something on a gentle recovery would be VERY silly.
Wednesday brought the last full track session at Scotstoun, with some good speedwork, albeit slightly hindered by another unhelpful headwind. Got 3 good miles in at 6:07, 6:14 and 6:21, following the "quality, not quantity" ethos of the Taper.
That, however, was that. Had various things happen on Thursday and Friday that meant a longer run wasn't possible, one of which was my leaving do on Friday night, which had the knock-on effect of a run today also being, erm, unwise (the dehydration...). And tomorrow, I head to Egypt for a week's holiday, to which I will be taking my trainers and planning to fit in 2 or 3 reasonable runs. Reckon the early morning temperatures will be cool enough to allow a 5-6 miler at reasonable pace, just to keep the legs turning.
So that's it. A very abbreviated week and blog. Musically, though, we'll go off-playlist to celebrate the week's biggest event. As a long-suffering fan of Newcastle United, I was naturally delighted to see them return to the Premier League at the first attempt on Monday. As I'd feared the club would implode and hurtle down to League One (or whatever it's called these days), it was a pleasant surprise, and hats off the Chris Hughton and a team who failed to show any big-time-Charlie attitude and really applied themselves.
The music is the tune the Toon take the pitch to, which by a happy co-incidence also happens to be the theme music to my all time favourite film, Local Hero. By Mark Knopfler. Not Dire Straits.....
Week's summary: 2 runs, 12 miles: Long run n/a
Miles since acceptance: 681
Sunday, 4 April 2010
3 weeks and counting
Or, let the Taper commence...
Not quite "that's it", but this is very much a milestone that I've been looking forward to. The end of the spectacularly long runs, and the gradual wind-down before the race. The miles are in the bank now, so it's a case of letting the muscles recover and the body build its energy stores. Still some less-intense speedwork and tempo runs to be done, but it's quality rather than quantity now, and the miles drop off pleasingly. I have, as is my wont, broken out a celebratory glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
Bit of an interesting week for me - had my last day at work on Tuesday, heading out the door after 15 years of generally good times and good memories. Excited, but also quite nervous, about what the future might hold. In fact, if I look back to the first entry on here at T-25 weeks, and think about the amount of change I've seen, it seems quite startling. Perhaps it's because I've been writing it down that I've noticed it more, but it feels like an unusual amount.
My now ex-colleagues proved to be a hugely generous bunch, as I was gifted a shiny new Garmin 405 GPS watch, which will help me track the last few weeks of training. Along with PC and online logging of each exercise for later review (as you'll see presently) which allows me to release my inner geek... Thanks again for the gift and the memories, folks.
Slightly mixed up running week, missing my recovery on Monday, before a really tough Tempo at Scotstoun on Wednesday, with a strong cross-head wind on the back straight, but no help on the home straight owing to the shelter of the grandstand. Really nice Pace run on Thursday, coming to terms with my newly-found man-of-leisure status by starting it from home at a time of my own choosing rather than 12 sharp from work.
Had, unusually, scheduled the long run for Sunday this week, but I'm glad I did. It was an absolutely beautiful spring day. Sunny, mild, next to no breeze. Good chance to break out the shorts 'n' shades and go into pose mode. To last week's 19.5 run to Dalmuir, I added a 2 mile loop along the canal to Clydebank and back to get the miles up to just over 21.5.
Having picked up "Runners World" yesterday, I saw a tip that said you should do the last 5 miles of your last long at target race pace, so that was the plan. First 16.5 at typical long pace of 8:38, then picking it up to as far under 8:00 as I could manage. Which turned out to be about 4 secs / mile. Undoubtedly the hardest 8 minute miles I've ever done. The full gory details, courtesy of Garmin Connect are here. Unlike the last couple of longs, though, I was much more mentally attuned today. Probably a combination of the good weather, the thought that this is the "last one" and some more Runner's World advice about positive mental imagery (rather than the usual internal whining about how long / how far / how far to go / how much it hurts). Milestones included first time over 20 miles and first run over 3 hours.
So, on a nice day when I felt good achieved some milestones, I have to go back to my favourite feel-good running song. I know I've used it before, but when the conditions are right, it's perfect. And the "yeeeeaaaaahhhhh's" got huge laldy today. The Music - Human:
So, that's the end of the really long miles: the race really starts here. Physical recovery and mental preparation to get me to Greenwich 3 weeks today in the best possible state to achieve my 3:30 goal.
Week's summary: 3 runs, 38 miles: long run 21.5 miles
Miles since acceptance: 669
Not quite "that's it", but this is very much a milestone that I've been looking forward to. The end of the spectacularly long runs, and the gradual wind-down before the race. The miles are in the bank now, so it's a case of letting the muscles recover and the body build its energy stores. Still some less-intense speedwork and tempo runs to be done, but it's quality rather than quantity now, and the miles drop off pleasingly. I have, as is my wont, broken out a celebratory glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
Bit of an interesting week for me - had my last day at work on Tuesday, heading out the door after 15 years of generally good times and good memories. Excited, but also quite nervous, about what the future might hold. In fact, if I look back to the first entry on here at T-25 weeks, and think about the amount of change I've seen, it seems quite startling. Perhaps it's because I've been writing it down that I've noticed it more, but it feels like an unusual amount.
My now ex-colleagues proved to be a hugely generous bunch, as I was gifted a shiny new Garmin 405 GPS watch, which will help me track the last few weeks of training. Along with PC and online logging of each exercise for later review (as you'll see presently) which allows me to release my inner geek... Thanks again for the gift and the memories, folks.
Slightly mixed up running week, missing my recovery on Monday, before a really tough Tempo at Scotstoun on Wednesday, with a strong cross-head wind on the back straight, but no help on the home straight owing to the shelter of the grandstand. Really nice Pace run on Thursday, coming to terms with my newly-found man-of-leisure status by starting it from home at a time of my own choosing rather than 12 sharp from work.
Had, unusually, scheduled the long run for Sunday this week, but I'm glad I did. It was an absolutely beautiful spring day. Sunny, mild, next to no breeze. Good chance to break out the shorts 'n' shades and go into pose mode. To last week's 19.5 run to Dalmuir, I added a 2 mile loop along the canal to Clydebank and back to get the miles up to just over 21.5.
Having picked up "Runners World" yesterday, I saw a tip that said you should do the last 5 miles of your last long at target race pace, so that was the plan. First 16.5 at typical long pace of 8:38, then picking it up to as far under 8:00 as I could manage. Which turned out to be about 4 secs / mile. Undoubtedly the hardest 8 minute miles I've ever done. The full gory details, courtesy of Garmin Connect are here. Unlike the last couple of longs, though, I was much more mentally attuned today. Probably a combination of the good weather, the thought that this is the "last one" and some more Runner's World advice about positive mental imagery (rather than the usual internal whining about how long / how far / how far to go / how much it hurts). Milestones included first time over 20 miles and first run over 3 hours.
So, on a nice day when I felt good achieved some milestones, I have to go back to my favourite feel-good running song. I know I've used it before, but when the conditions are right, it's perfect. And the "yeeeeaaaaahhhhh's" got huge laldy today. The Music - Human:
So, that's the end of the really long miles: the race really starts here. Physical recovery and mental preparation to get me to Greenwich 3 weeks today in the best possible state to achieve my 3:30 goal.
Week's summary: 3 runs, 38 miles: long run 21.5 miles
Miles since acceptance: 669
Saturday, 27 March 2010
4 weeks and counting
Or, bugger me, that's less than a month to go...
The big event seems to have snuck up rather alarmingly. Whilst my attention has been diverted with matters such as pounding round the training miles, impending unemployment, booking holidays and making a valiant attempt at the company record for most hours in a week spent in the deli bar, that number on the countdown has got very small. Scarily small.
I suppose the fact that in recent weeks my vest has arrived from Marie Curie, my registration instructions and number (4018) have been dispatched and I've started the process of booking a hotel should have alerted me to the impending arrival of the need to actually DO this thing rather than just talk about it. It's all been a bit conceptual so far, but I'm starting to get a little bit excited. And nervous. Actually that's not true, I've always been a little bit nervous. Except when I've been very nervous.
This has been the last cutback week, and I've ended up doing even less than the modest amount the Programme wanted. A gentle 4 mile recovery on Monday after the Alloa half and a rain-infested 8.5 on Wednesday was it - needed to sort out paperwork on Thursday lunchtime, and was feeling the beginnings of a cold.
Despite it being cutback, I'd added a 20 miler today to cover for one of those I missed through injury / illness. Learning from last time, I ran FROM Home to Dalmuir, thus taking the dreaded uphill finish out of the equation. I also decided that I needed to do one longer run at a slightly higher pace than last time, so I settled on 30 seconds slower than the "target pace" I ran at Alloa - 8 minute 20 second miles. And I stuck almost exactly to it. The pace on the Garmin barely varied 2 seconds each way all run. Metronomic.
As is the way with the Scottish spring, weather conditions were officially "mixed". Seasons swapping every 15 minutes. This meant I had to don one of my windproof base layers to combat a strong cold wind. It has been some time since I wore said garment, and several lbs have been lost in the intervening period. This has turned it from "snug" to "loose and chafing". God, my nips hurt.
And another thing. Cyclists. Twice today groups came the other way and refused to go single file, forcing me off the SHARED pathway and into the trees. Arrogant, ignorant bastards.
Anyway enough ranting. A positive. If you look at the JustGiving widget on the left, you'll see 100%. Just come off the phone to my Mum and the pledges she'd had from folks at church have got me over the £1000. In the midst of all the fun, there was also a serious point to this.
So THANK YOU, again, to everyone who's donated to Marie Curie Cancer Care and, today, to the good people of St. Peter & St. Paul's Parish Church in Stokesley.
Music. Only 4 to go, and I was tempted to abandon the playlist rules and just stuff on what I liked. But I came across a YouTube clip that actually combines two playlist songs in one. A Dustland Fairytale by The Killers with a bit of Can't Help Falling in Love grafted on the end. Nice.
Week's Summary: 3 runs, 32 miles: Long run, 19.7 miles
Miles since acceptance: 631 (1015km)
The big event seems to have snuck up rather alarmingly. Whilst my attention has been diverted with matters such as pounding round the training miles, impending unemployment, booking holidays and making a valiant attempt at the company record for most hours in a week spent in the deli bar, that number on the countdown has got very small. Scarily small.
I suppose the fact that in recent weeks my vest has arrived from Marie Curie, my registration instructions and number (4018) have been dispatched and I've started the process of booking a hotel should have alerted me to the impending arrival of the need to actually DO this thing rather than just talk about it. It's all been a bit conceptual so far, but I'm starting to get a little bit excited. And nervous. Actually that's not true, I've always been a little bit nervous. Except when I've been very nervous.
This has been the last cutback week, and I've ended up doing even less than the modest amount the Programme wanted. A gentle 4 mile recovery on Monday after the Alloa half and a rain-infested 8.5 on Wednesday was it - needed to sort out paperwork on Thursday lunchtime, and was feeling the beginnings of a cold.
Despite it being cutback, I'd added a 20 miler today to cover for one of those I missed through injury / illness. Learning from last time, I ran FROM Home to Dalmuir, thus taking the dreaded uphill finish out of the equation. I also decided that I needed to do one longer run at a slightly higher pace than last time, so I settled on 30 seconds slower than the "target pace" I ran at Alloa - 8 minute 20 second miles. And I stuck almost exactly to it. The pace on the Garmin barely varied 2 seconds each way all run. Metronomic.
As is the way with the Scottish spring, weather conditions were officially "mixed". Seasons swapping every 15 minutes. This meant I had to don one of my windproof base layers to combat a strong cold wind. It has been some time since I wore said garment, and several lbs have been lost in the intervening period. This has turned it from "snug" to "loose and chafing". God, my nips hurt.
And another thing. Cyclists. Twice today groups came the other way and refused to go single file, forcing me off the SHARED pathway and into the trees. Arrogant, ignorant bastards.
Anyway enough ranting. A positive. If you look at the JustGiving widget on the left, you'll see 100%. Just come off the phone to my Mum and the pledges she'd had from folks at church have got me over the £1000. In the midst of all the fun, there was also a serious point to this.
So THANK YOU, again, to everyone who's donated to Marie Curie Cancer Care and, today, to the good people of St. Peter & St. Paul's Parish Church in Stokesley.
Music. Only 4 to go, and I was tempted to abandon the playlist rules and just stuff on what I liked. But I came across a YouTube clip that actually combines two playlist songs in one. A Dustland Fairytale by The Killers with a bit of Can't Help Falling in Love grafted on the end. Nice.
Week's Summary: 3 runs, 32 miles: Long run, 19.7 miles
Miles since acceptance: 631 (1015km)
Sunday, 21 March 2010
5 weeks and counting
Or, Stars on '45.
Getting to the business end now. Had a bit of a mid-week downer, as I was just starting to get sick of the endlessness of it all. Miles, runs, Programmes, plans. It seemed like I used to run because I liked to, but now it's because I have to. So, I did the miles, did the Tempo at Scotstoun despite feeling dog-awful and struggled through a rubbish Pace on Thursday.
But really, this week was all about today. The advice is always to do a half-marathon as race preparation about this far away from the main event. Get used to racing, rather than training, again; test the kit out; work out a race plan and try and stick to it. Well, Scotland in late March doesn't have many events, and I somehow managed to overlook the one that starts less than 10 miles from my front door last week (Balloch to Clydebank) and enter the Alloa Half Marathon today.
I had to think quite hard about whether to actually do it, given that I've missed at least one longer run from the schedule, but eventually decided the racing was a better idea. I devised a race plan that was intended to test my ability to run at, or just inside, my target marathon pace. I need to do 8-minute miles to hit 3:30, so the plan was to run the first 10 miles just inside this, then push on for the last 3. The intention was really to see whether I arrived at 10 miles feeling like I could run the same again at the same pace. Then go for it.
So that's what happened. Alloa is a decent sized run (about 1000 runners), well organised and marshalled, over rolling countryside under the Ochil hills. Seemed a quite serious effort, with almost half the runners affiliated. So, I just turned up and did my thing. Paced myself between 7:45 and 7:50 for the first 10, averaging 7:48. And felt really comfortable - breathing a lot less that the people I was passing and legs not too bad. So at 10 I went for it and ran at about 85% for the rest of the race. Largely, it must be said, because of the helpful downhills. Did the last 3 miles at 6:52 pace, saved a bit for a sprint finish and did 1:39:28. Great psychological boost at this stage.
Now, the spooky thing. And the reason for this week's sub heading. I turned 45 in January. My vest number for today's race was 45. I was in the MV45 category. Have a wild guess at my finishing position within this category. Yep. 45th. Does anyone know if the number 45 is lucky?
Anyway, the music will NOT be Stars on 45. But it will be related. One of the So45 compilation efforts featured the intro to this. As with so many things in life, it all comes back to The Boss. Fire.
Tenuous. Me?
Week's summary: 4 runs, 35 miles: Long run 13.1 miles
Miles since acceptance: 599
Getting to the business end now. Had a bit of a mid-week downer, as I was just starting to get sick of the endlessness of it all. Miles, runs, Programmes, plans. It seemed like I used to run because I liked to, but now it's because I have to. So, I did the miles, did the Tempo at Scotstoun despite feeling dog-awful and struggled through a rubbish Pace on Thursday.
But really, this week was all about today. The advice is always to do a half-marathon as race preparation about this far away from the main event. Get used to racing, rather than training, again; test the kit out; work out a race plan and try and stick to it. Well, Scotland in late March doesn't have many events, and I somehow managed to overlook the one that starts less than 10 miles from my front door last week (Balloch to Clydebank) and enter the Alloa Half Marathon today.
I had to think quite hard about whether to actually do it, given that I've missed at least one longer run from the schedule, but eventually decided the racing was a better idea. I devised a race plan that was intended to test my ability to run at, or just inside, my target marathon pace. I need to do 8-minute miles to hit 3:30, so the plan was to run the first 10 miles just inside this, then push on for the last 3. The intention was really to see whether I arrived at 10 miles feeling like I could run the same again at the same pace. Then go for it.
So that's what happened. Alloa is a decent sized run (about 1000 runners), well organised and marshalled, over rolling countryside under the Ochil hills. Seemed a quite serious effort, with almost half the runners affiliated. So, I just turned up and did my thing. Paced myself between 7:45 and 7:50 for the first 10, averaging 7:48. And felt really comfortable - breathing a lot less that the people I was passing and legs not too bad. So at 10 I went for it and ran at about 85% for the rest of the race. Largely, it must be said, because of the helpful downhills. Did the last 3 miles at 6:52 pace, saved a bit for a sprint finish and did 1:39:28. Great psychological boost at this stage.
Now, the spooky thing. And the reason for this week's sub heading. I turned 45 in January. My vest number for today's race was 45. I was in the MV45 category. Have a wild guess at my finishing position within this category. Yep. 45th. Does anyone know if the number 45 is lucky?
Anyway, the music will NOT be Stars on 45. But it will be related. One of the So45 compilation efforts featured the intro to this. As with so many things in life, it all comes back to The Boss. Fire.
Tenuous. Me?
Week's summary: 4 runs, 35 miles: Long run 13.1 miles
Miles since acceptance: 599
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