The ecstasy and the agony

** Previous posts are at the bottom of the page **

It's Sunday night and despite the total raised so far being an amazing £462.80 I'm experiencing a very slight low but more of that later.

Thursday was fairly uneventful - no running but my usual 5 a side football. We got hammered and fitness wise I noticed a slight difference as I wasn't completely exhausted at the end although part of that my be lack of effort but I'm sure a tiny part of it may be due to my new fitness regime. Time will tell.

Friday was another run day (my 3rd although it seems a lot more). The good news is my time went down from 15 dead to 14 38. This means my 3 times have been 15 40, 15 dead and 14 38. Very exciting. The bad news is that Becky said I looked like 'The only gay in the village'. Shoe and sock-wise I've managed to attain the best that cash can buy, almost. From the knees up however, as I'm only running in the dark, I tend to put on old football shirts, the magic pants (groin-wise I'm possibly not what I should be but that's a story for another day) and any old shorts keeping the new ones for daylight activities. The run seemed hard work and it was another windy night on the borders of Barnes and Mortlake so I was happy to get such a good time. The MP3 player seems to playing my songs randomly - 'I just can't wait to be king' followed by 'Angels'. Good songs in their own right but Angels makes me want to set fire to something and put it in my mouth (don't smoke) and wave my lighter in the air in a way unbecoming of someone of my advanced years. It seems that with MP3 players like with most things you get what you pay for.

Saturday was a very sporting day if you count playing table football (got a proper table football table(!) from Becky, Mark H, Mark A, Geoff and Ade for my 40th), watching football results and rugby. Gary won football, congratulations, and was best player by a distance. Must be a Northern thing. Perhaps.

Sunday. Quiet day enlivened by big lunch in Tootsie's in Putney (that new wharf bit by the river diagonally opposite the home of English football) followed by early supper with the girls. Error. Left it a couple of hours after supper before running but found it tough and went round in a very disappointing 14 55. 17 seconds worse than 2 days ago. Why? The obvious thing to note is the fact that I ate before the run. On the other three runs I had supper when I got back from my run and not before. Could also have been complacency or thinking that I was going to improve EVERY time I went out. I think it was mainly the food - this will also become apparent as time goes on. Tonights run was enlivened by the first few bars of 'Don't stop me now' about 20 seconds from the end. Freddie said I was having such a good time. I wasn't. Especially after I saw the time.

So feeling a bit down but a couple of things I need to air/discuss:
1 - What music do people listen to when they run? I know a few who don't listen to music at all on the roads as it gets a bit dangerous with cars and pedestrians. My routes have to be by roads for the time being as I need exact measurements for my stats.
2 - Had I improved my time tonight I would have upped the distance to 2 or 2.5 miles for the next few runs but I think I'll stick with 1.5 miles until at least the weekend and see what happens with my time.

What I've got to remember is it's all a huge learning experience. Feel better now. I'm running this race with Niccy, my sister, and possibly Geoff, my best man (or one of them) who is wavering so I need everyone to send a blank email to gwoo@btinternet.com with the subject line: DO THE RUN, YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO.

That's all for now, thanks for the masses of extremely positive feedback.

Very quick post

** Previous posts are at the bottom of the page **

2 things:

Shall I run tonight? Do my legs hurt from 'playing' football last night?

** Amazingly I've just gone over £400 in sponsorship in only 11 days! Many, many thanks to everyone. **

That's all - watch this space.

2nd Run

** Previous posts are at the bottom of the page **

Stuff and Nonsense

Firstly I'd like to thank people who've sponsored me so far. The total is over £270 (online only) and rising every day. I've also got £30 in cash from various people and about another £30 promised so many thanks to everyone. I'll try not to let anyone down.
The link to sponsor is http://www.capital10k.co.uk/RunnerPage.aspx?BCID=1025425

I have two arms. Not particularly strong but certainly two in number. I say this because from my photo (the only one I can find in which I look even remotely sporty) it looks like I have only one. Or perhaps only one and a bit. But certainly not two. Glad that's sorted.

Does the clock on here look rubbish? Thought so. All this computer stuff is very confusing.

If Dave sponsors me I'll plug his company (see the 'Eden' on my t-shirt), if he doesn't I won't. Simple really.

Gmail is excellent, if anyone wants a gmail account then email me at john.lowit@gmail.com

You didn't come here to read my ramblings. You want to know about pavement pounding (and I do mean pounding) and the blood, sweat and tears associated with training for this 10k. With this in mind, read on:

Tuesday 21st February 2005

On the plus side I remembered to take my MP3 player (not an ipod, a cheap and cheerful 128mb player from ebay). On the minus side I programmed it incorrectly so had to do a mid-run fiddle to stop it playing 'Hakuna Matata' which you'll instantly recognise as one of the main songs in 'The Lion King'. It means 'no worries' ... etc. etc. Anyhow, I digress. I was knackered, it was windy and both the roads and pavements were more congested than the previous Sunday. Becky mentioned I'd have to be ultra-alert not to get run over whilst listening to the music. She was right.

Set off at quite a pace (these things are relative) but found my natural running speed very, very quickly. Definitely found it extremely hard going, the main reason being that perhaps in my excitement of actually surviving Sunday I had painted a rather rosier picture of my virgin run and therefore thought I could almost float through the mile and a half. I couldn't. It was knackering. People hogging the pavement. I'm sure one man coming out of Barnes Bridge station actually wanted me in the road. Grrrr. All these people possibly had a positive effect on my running as I think I speeded up as I went past them to try to give a rather better impression. Have I mentioned how windy it was?

So, mp3 player tucked into my shorts, phone clutched in my right hand (it records split times and saves them! How I love numbers and ridiculous statistics), wind rushing through my hair I actually managed to complete the 'course' in 15 minutes dead and not the 15 40 that I covered it in on Sunday. This was good news. Stats were noted, my VO2 max had suddenly become important (slightlier sprightlier slug now) and I experienced a buzz I've not had since birth of kids, getting married, Fulham getting promoted etc. etc.

5 a side football tonight so next run is probably not until Friday night or more realistically Saturday night. I'd be VERY happy with 14 50 but not displeased with 15 minutes dead again. Socks arrived this morning - special 'twin skin' anklets, don't you know. Something about keeping foot moisture away from outside world and rain away from manky (I blame my father) feet. See you soon and don't forget http://www.capital10k.co.uk/RunnerPage.aspx?BCID=1025425

Training Diary - Thursday 17th February 2006 to Tuesday 21st February 2006

** Previous posts are at the bottom of the page **

Thursday 16th February 2006

Today is the all-important trainer buying day. Very exciting. Spending opportunities are always welcome although this is a rare one as it doesn't involve my friends on ebay. I decide to go 'The Sweat Shop' in Teddington on the recommendation of Mark who has done a few marathons in his time. I can fit this in before my 5 a side football. One small problem though - I appear to have done my back in due to too much Jessica (2 1/2) carrying. Get shoes - Asics Gel Kayano XI or something similar for a bargain £85 (down from £110 - they're practically giving them away). My participation in tonight's football is no more as running is even more painful and embarrassing than usual so go home and lie down.

Friday 17th February 2006

Look at training schedules. The beginner's one on the BUPA/Capital website http://www.capital10k.co.uk/trainingschedule.asp seems to have been written for whichever one of Andy/Lou from Little Britain spends most of his life in a wheelchair. Niccy sent me another one http://www.realbuzz.com/shop/index.php?cPath=115. Don't spend a fiver on it, if you email me at john.lowit@gmail.com I'll send it to you. I'm not sure which one to follow so I think I'll probably make my own one up.

Sunday 19th February 2006

Excellent - an excuse for matrices, spreadsheets and all things statistical. In the book that my sister lent me there is something called a VO2 max index which tells you how unfit you are. It is something to measure my improvement/deterioration against and therefore I like it. There are many places on the web where you can find out and calculate this if you're interested. You basically have to measure out a 1.5m course which you have to run WITHOUT FEELING EXHAUSTED and then calculate your score using a combination of weight, sex (m/f not frequency) and time to run the aforementioned 1.5m. On the way home from my cousin's house in Milton Keynes we plot a 1.5 mile course. For those still awake it's house - White Hart Lane level crossing - Ye White Hart - Chip shop.

Here we go. Kids in bed (almost) so time for my first run. Using a combination of magic pants, footy top, shorts, spanking new trainers and sexy double-skinned socks but forgetting my MP3 player - bugger - I head off on my course carrying my phone in stopwatch mode. Note to self - buy proper racing stopwatch - possibly. It's wet and my lovely new shoes get covered in mud almost instantly but I may be missing the point. Decide to record split times, house - Tim Rice's house - Pelican crossing outside chip shop - bus stop outside Henry's (friend of Rosie 4 1/2 year-old daughter) house - bus garage. Although the whole thing took 15 minutes 40 seconds I was very, very happy for the following reasons:
1 - Didn't stop once. Ran pretty bloody slowly most of the time but didn't actually stop once.
2 - Bizarrely got a real buzz from doing it.
Now I know it's only a mile and a half but it's a start. When I got home I calculated that my VO2 max is that of a slug but it's something to be improved upon.

Monday 20th February 2006

No running but I do a 45 minute circuits class at work. Now it's not just my legs that ache but my shoulders as well. Next run tomorrow - looking forward to it. Honestly.

Introduction

Last Monday I decided to enter the Capital Radio/BUPA 10k run to be held in Hyde Park on 11th June. You can sponsor me at http://www.capital10k.co.uk/RunnerPage.aspx?BCID=1025425. I've just started training and it's a lot more interesting/exciting/rewarding than I thought it would be. I was hoping some friends would train and then do the run with me. Don't think that's going to happen but Niccy (my sister) is going to join me on the day. Now go back to that link, sponsor me and then read on.

Reasons for doing the run:

Thought it would be a laugh
Manageable distance (approx. 6 miles)
Raise money for charity
Get fit and therefore provide good example to kids (4 1/2 and 2 1/2)

Reasons for doing the blog:

Thought it would be interesting for both myself and others to do an online progress report. I could be wrong - let's see.
Possibly give an incentive for others like me (5th decade, unfit, little or no regular exercise) to do something similar when they see how interesting/exciting/rewarding it is.
Always wanted to do something like this again since my journals from Europe/India in 1998 which can be found on http://www.rgalea.com/travel/main.html (bear in mind these were written before I met someone with an inate loathing of exclamation marks)

So that's all so far - keep popping back and I'll try and update things every couple of days.

Have I mentioned http://www.capital10k.co.uk/RunnerPage.aspx?BCID=1025425 ?