Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone.

Going to definitely update this more often in 2008 which in turn will make me get off my bum and do some more running.

Other New Years resolutions to follow.

New Year's Day 10k in Hyde Park tomorrow and not going to worry about getting a PB - just going to have a good run and then watch Fulham v Chelsea after the game.

Happy New Year

John

A brief update

It's October and I've not updated this site since March. Very remiss of me.

All I can say is that since I started running soon after my 40th birthday in January 2006 I've done:



5k race x 5
5.6k race x 1
10k race x 4
8.2m race x 1
10m race x 5
Half marathon x 2

Lined up in the next 6 months are:
8m race x 1
10k race x 2
10m race x 1
Half marathon x 1
16m race x 1

PLUS

I've applied (2nd time) for the Flora London Marathon - eeek

A more interesting update to follow soon - probably

You think it looks bad now …..

..... you should see it on.


They claim it’s XXL but it feels like an L or even an M. Bits hanging out the sides that definitely shouldn’t. The current Mrs L bought me a vest a year or two ago, it wasn’t a good look at all. Neither are hats but that’s another (and only marginally more interesting) story.

Anyhow, 13.1 miles, what’s that all about? I’m doing the Reading half-marathon in just over a week and whilst I wouldn’t use the word confident I know that I can do the distance although the time may not be very impressive.

SPONSOR ME NOW BEFORE YOU FORGET!

The last race I entered into went pretty well. Bramley (nr Reading) is a lot flatter than Tadworth (nr Epsom) and as such I managed to get my time down from 2 hours (very, very, very slow) to just under 1 hour 45 minutes (just very, very slow). These times are for 10 miles by the way. I’d set my Garmin to bleep at me and shout ‘SPEED UP’ if I was going slower than 11minutes/mile and ‘SLOW DOWN’ if I was going faster than 9 minutes/mile. For the first mile whilst the Garmin was ‘sorting itself out’ I must have given a very good impression of someone playing space invaders as it couldn’t make its mind up what was happening. After that it was annoying and fairly vocal (if that’s the right word) but I think the constant warnings improved my run slightly.

One of the reasons I’m currently ok with (and almost looking forward to) the half-marathon is the long runs I’ve been on. Apart from 2 x 10m races this year I’ve done an 11m adirun and a 12.5m run last weekend. The adirun was brilliant, as it always is, and you can always find someone to run with and talk to while running, although it’s not a skill I’ve perfected due to my solo dark runs with just my mp3 player for company. It’s very organised, they have helpers at the front, middle and back and there’s biscuits, bars and tea at the end as well as a massage if needed. Having done 3 of these (5m, 8m and 11m) I’ve ditched them temporarily as a few of my fellow Fetchies organise Sunday morning runs in either Bushy Park (Teddington) or Richmond Park which start at 8am so I can do 12.5 miles very slowly, have a cup of tea and a bacon sarnie and still be home by about 11.15.

Last weekend 6 of us met up at the Bushy Park main car park (by Diana fountain) and set off together through a bit of Hampton Court Palace, over the main road and along the river from Hampton Court towards Walton. I’ve never run here before although the Kingston run in October did go over Hampton Court Bridge before heading towards Scilly Isles, Surbiton etc. The weather was perfect (although did get very hot later) and the scenery was gorgeous. There’s nothing to beat running along the river in my opinion and when the nights get lighter I’ll be doing a lot more of it. While I only ran with people for about 5.5 of the 12.5 miles (4 at the beginning and 1.5 at the end) it wasn’t a problem. People need to go at their own pace and be neither hampered nor unnecessarily stretched by others and I like to feel I can run just as well (or do I mean badly) with others or on my own. The one problem with my towpath plan is the cycling community who think they own it and in my opinion need taking down a peg or twelve.

Other recent good news is the other week, the day before Bramley, Rosie (nearly 6) expressed an interest in running with me. We went to Richmond Park and ran together, very slowly, along the running track that goes all the way round the park doing 3 x 200 metre jogs (approximately) and then running back without stopping. I had to stress to her that the greater the distance the slower you should go to conserve energy as she wanted to sprint off quickly. The good news is that she really enjoyed it and we plan to make it a regular activity. Becky didn’t get into the Moonwalk this year so may do one of these 5k race for life things. I think quite a large percentage of people do these as a run/walk exercise but she seems fairly determined to run it all so watch this space.

Juggling work, family and running wasn’t difficult enough so in an attempt to further my career I’ve started CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) which involves lessons for 2 evenings a week and no small amount of homework. I may have to cut down the running a bit or just organise myself a little better. Just realised I forgot to add FFC into the whole juggling equation. Oh well.

Why blog? Isn’t it incredibly egotistical?
The reason I’m doing this is three-fold:
1 – I enjoy running and feel I’m improving but I’m not a natural runner/athlete by any stretch of the imagination so I do thrive, to a certain extent, on encouragement and the more people who know about my running, the more encouragement I get to carry on. Sounds a bit strange now I’ve typed it but I think it’s correct.
2 – I always feel I have to aim towards a goal i.e. a race or else the likelihood of me packing it in would increase greatly. Entering a race is also a good opportunity to raise some money for a charity that I wouldn’t do otherwise. If people have bothered to sponsor me, I like to tell them how I’m getting on.
3 – I think it will be fascinating to look back on these in a few years when I’m either 28 stone wedged into a chair somewhere or a world class athlete with new knees.

Other random odds and sods:
- Got lost in Chiswick doing an 8.5 mile run in the rain. I love running in the rain. Got through the creepy dark part of Chiswick, turned right at Barnes Bridge and ran along the railway for what seemed like hours. Found my way back onto Barnes Bridge and Robert was indeed my mother’s brother.
- Did 174 miles last year (took August off for hols and November off for injury) and have already done 117 miles in less than a third of the time

Last call for sponsorship

Anyone recognise this picture?

I was running there about 2 days after this picture was taken (not by me, by another local runner who can be found on Warrior Women ) but not on the day of the snow. Not bloody likely. I can barely walk in the snow let alone run. Walking to Barnes Bridge took about 3 times as long as usual due to a fit(ish) 41-year-old walking like an incontinent 83-year-old with dodgy ankles.

January has been an excellent month for many reasons:

- My fund raising total for CLIC Sargent (for Reading half marathon) has gone up to nearly £400
- My mileage for January was the most I’ve ever done in a month. About 52 miles if you include the 10 mile race I did on 7th January. Which I have. Obviously.
- My New Years resolutions held up very well. Watched far less telly and went to bed a lot earlier. The telly being out of action for just over a week obviously helped but I’m going to try and keep to these resolutions for a bit longer. The only thing I really missed was Match of the Day although that situation may change when Lost returns.
- I found 2 new and indeed exciting ways to train. More of which later.

Before I forget, websites you need to look at are as follows:

http://www.warriorwomen.co.uk/running-routes - Good running routes involving Kew, Barnes, Hammersmith and Chiswick bridges

http://www.therunningdan.com/ – Someone trying to run 26 marathons in a year, raising money for Parkinson’s disease. Amazing. I think he’s currently on 3 down, 23 to go.

Ok, so they’re the only two I can think of so far but Volzy and News Biscuit are always good for a laugh – see links in far column.

'If you want to win something, run 100 metres. If you want to experience something, run a marathon' - Emil Zatopek

That’s surely rubbish. The second sentence should read half marathon and the first sentence is just plain wrong. I could never win 100m race unless the other competitors were under 4, over 88 or didn’t have the required amount of legs. Even then it’s no certainty.

Something quite exciting going on at the moment, or at least from now until the London Marathon are Adiruns. These are basically organised runs ranging from 5 to 17 miles with free advice before, during and after the run, people to run with, drinks and ……. I’ll let them explain it.

Sweatshop is proud to have teamed up with adidas to provide newcomers and first timers with guided training runs from a selection of our Sweatshop stores. These runs are designed to provide runners with little experience the opportunity to train in a friendly and fun atmosphere, perfect for building up your mileage and preparing for what might be your first ever 10k, half Marathon, or Marathon. Click here for full details of all Sweatshop adiRuns.
In addition, Sunday morning runs will be staged in partnership with our original Sweatshop Teddington store from nearby St Mary's College, Twickenham. The running in this area is fantastic, and our guides will take you on runs of varying pace around the beautiful Bushy Park, the adopted training home to several of the World's best Kenyan runners, and the year round home to 320 friendly deer!
Sweatshop adiRuns are organised by an experienced team especially for the first time Flora London Marathon runner. These are perfect to help you grow in confidence and fitness as you approach the big day and, you couldn't be in better hands!

All completely free!

The first one was last week. I spent a lot of my youth in Bushy Park and almost as much climbing over the walls of St. Mary’s College, playing football/tennis without permission, being chased by a scary man with an Alsatian and climbing back out. It was nice to be there legally for a change.

The run was good. Only 5 miles but a great deal different to usual as it was in the day and I decided to ditch my ipod. Talked to a few people as I ran (not easy, the talking that is) and it seemed that all of them were training for the Marathon. Not for me quite yet, I’m more than happy sticking with the half for the moment. Highly recommend the adiruns to one and all and there’s always experienced runners at the back and front to help if needed.

I’m doing the 8 mile run this Sunday – wish me luck.

Before last weekend’s run a gentleman by the name of Bud Baldaro gave out plenty of titbits of advice for the first time marathon runner. All done with great humour – I think the words “lunatics” and “nutters” were both used more than once with reference to anyone who has ever run or wanted to run a marathon.

A key thing he said was that if anyone only had time for three runs a week they should do:
A long run
Tempo running
Interval session

The way I understand it is a long run is a run of probably more than 10 miles at whatever speed you fancy just to ‘get the miles in’. A tempo run is a shorter run at a strict, and indeed fast, pace and an interval session involves running at a certain pace and then resting for a specific time before repeating the procedure.

With this in mind, I drove down to Battersea Park on Wednesday to use their running track. From http://www.runningforfitness.org/ I knew what a 41 year old male who wanted to do a 10 mile race in 1hr 45min (hilly Tadworth was 2 hours) should do to increase their running pace – don’t forget I’m on a very slow plod at the moment and wanted to get that up to a medium plod. Speaking of pace – Runners World do pacing at certain events which consist of people holding boards saying I’m running a 9 minute mile pace and those runners obsessed with time, beating their personal best etc. can loiter around the pacer for the duration of the race and guarantee the time they wanted. They do this for 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 minute miles and the next category is run/walk. Ahem. Some of my runs fall just short of 11 minute-mile pace but I’m CERTAINLY NOT A RUN WALK!! Cheeky bu**ers.

So there I was, on my own, Battersea Park, cold Wednesday night timing myself to do 4 laps (1 Mile) in under 9:33 then 3 minutes rest before doing it again. And again. And again. 4 miles in total, 4 reps of 1 mile. First one was easy – no ipod again, watching the rugby training, trying to avoid the footballers juggling on the track. I felt like I was cheating having the 3 minute rest. That was just the first time. Between the 3rd and 4th rep I was very happy to have the rest. I did ok time-wise but definitely room for improvement and I hope to make this a regular weekly part of my training if time allows it.

I’m still looking for sponsorship – go to www.justgiving.com/johnlowit or click on widget (!) at the top right of this blog

As far as training for the half marathon is concerned it’s all going well, I’m following a RunnersWorld training plan, feeling fit and confident of completing 13.1m. It’s not going to be fast and it’s certainly not going to be pretty and the general thought on these big races (mainly marathons but I’m applying it to half marathons, because I can) is the frst time you should JUST GET ROUND. You’ll be certain of getting a personal best and can attempt to improve from there.

Three final thoughts - one running-related and one not.

1 - I’ve started running late, I’m heavier than I should be and my body isn’t in quite as good a nick as it once was (!) so I’m not going to see a rapid improvement in speed but I can increase distance which is what I’m trying to do.

2 – Very refreshing running without an ipod and makes you appreciate your surroundings much more

3 – For people of a certain age, do you remember staying up till midnight to watch the ‘Thriller’ video on C4? And now you can access all the music/videos you want instantly. Bizarre. See the bottom of this page for my current favourite song/video.

Happy New Year

Apologies for this but before I rant on about what I've been doing for the last month or so I just want to start the 2007 fund raising effort. This is the 'official' story:

After raising over £1,100 for Help a London Child doing the BUPA Capital 10k run (very, very slowly) last summer I said I wouldn’t hassle people for sponsorship more than once a year.

That was 2006, this is 2007.

I’m doing the Asics Reading Half-Marathon on 25th March and am raising funds for CLIC Sargent (Cancer and Leukemia in children) this time. Any sponsorship would be greatly appreciated at www.justgiving.com/johnlowit and if you’re feeling really, really bored you can read about my training on my blog (it’s the latest thing, you know) at http://www.joggersblogger.blogspot.com/.

In fact, last summer the feedback I got from my blog helped my training enormously so as a special favour I’ll let you know whenever this is updated and you can read the latest exciting instalment. If this isn’t for you just send an email saying something like ‘Leave me alone, I’m far too busy for this tediousness’ and I’ll trouble you no more.

Cheers

John

PS Happy New Year

OK, that's done. Now where do I start?

New Years Resolutions:

Running:

Increase speed and/or distance. More of this later

Non - running:

Don't be ruled by Sky+

Get more sleep. The kids get up at 7 something these days, not 5 something

Improve handwriting. Looks like that of an 83-year-old doctor, which I'm not.

You know predictive text on mobiles and how 'awake' and 'cycle' use the same keys? I found out that 'rejection' and 'selection' also used the same keys. This was discovered when telling friends about my Marathon rejection. Fascinating, I know.

Anyone still awake? On my slow but sure recovery from calf muscle tear (and training for 10 mile race) I devised some very exciting runs that threw me out on the Thames right opposite Craven Cottage. I did this run twice, once for about 6 miles and once for about 7 miles. The first time was very exciting - the floodlights were on and it actually spurred me on from an extremely slow plod to just a fairly slow plod. That run, however, took me onto Putney High Street with far too many people including a lot with a 'Why should I get out of the way for Plodder?' mentality.

The other CC run was disappointing as the floodlights weren't on and you probably wouldn't have seen them anyhow as there was very, very thick fog. The bad news was that you could almost taste the fog as it holds the pollution near ground level and doesn't let it dissipate into the sky around you, the good news is it makes running along the towpath very exciting as long as you don't let your imagination run away with you. For some reason the tree branches dipping into the Thames looked like fingers. Possibly.

Between Christmas and New Year, including a long run on Boxing Day from Teddington to Mortlake via Hampton Hill and Kew, I did 2 runs of a distance I hadn't previously tackled. About 8.5 and 9 miles from memory and whilst I felt exhausted I felt I had made good progress in my preperation for today's 10 mile race and, more importantly, had absolutely NO problems with my calf. Running slowly in a straight line seems to be fine although I'm holding off playing football for a while as twisting, turning, sprinting(ish) and stopping may be another matter. Speaking about the 9 mile race, it was New Years Day and I was knackered, wet and just generally apathetic about running. Becky pushed me out of the door saying things like - 'You'll be glad you did it when you get back' and 'You need to prepare properly for the 10m race'. She was, of course, right on both counts.

Today I did a 10 mile race. We'll gloss over the fact it took 2:00:55 and instead dwell on the fact that it was VERY hilly, windy, muddy, cold and about as different from running on the pavements of South West London as is possible. Once again I have to report absolutely no ill-effects and a small sense of pride that less than 11 months after belatedly taking up running I'm able to run 10 miles without walking. I'll put my trumpet down now.

Somebody said to me once that she didn't feel she'd given her all in a race unless she felt physically sick at the end. I'll admit to putting on 'a bit of a sprint' but that's about all I'm prepared to 'give' at the moment.

Finally, a question:

How do I get faster?

1) Take an age reducing drug

2) Get new knees, back, calves etc.

3) Lose a lot of weight

4) Train more

5) Train differently (speed sessions etc.)

6) Do weight classes again to make me stronger

7) Don't bother. Just keep plodding and measure improvement by distance I'm able to run rather than speed.

I think 3, 4, 6 and 7 as a start.

Happy New Year again and don't forget www.justgiving.com/johnlowit