Good news and bad news

Four bits of exciting news since last time:

Becky completed her Moonwalk with flying colours. I don't think she'll be doing it again though - combination of missing out on a whole night's sleep, bad route (seeing finishing line about 10 miles from the end isn't ideal psychologically), and a fairly miserable atmosphere (I suppose they miss out on the jazz bands, supporters etc.) That said I am IMMENSELY proud of her.

Someone (actually Steve Smedley from Suffolk) has mentioned my blog in his blog (http://www.millwalkhouse.co.uk/2006/04/running-along-tram-lines.asp) - very exciting. There's probably a term for a blog being blogged - any suggestions.

My chip has arrived. Not the kind of chip I'd usually get excited about I'll grant you, this is the one that measures your EXACT time if (and only if) you remember to thread it through your laces before you set out. I'm guessing that quite a few of you don't share my excitement on this one. Probably the majority that aren't going to scan the web to look for the new season's football fixtures at 10am on 22nd June. Oh well, each to their own.

Having done a fair few 4 mile runs and even a couple of 5.3 milers I decided on Sunday to actually do a 10k. I finished it albeit in an agonisingly slow 68 minutes (that's the fourth exciting bit of news) but did something to my knee whilst running. Bugger. As it is getting a bit better every day I'll wait and see how it goes.

My priorities for this race on Sunday week were:
Finish in an hour or less

Now they are:
Start the race
Finish without walking
Finish in an hour or less

I realised that I could probably beat the hour mark (with which I've become so obsessed) if I do the run/walk/run thing but I don't want to do that which has shown me that running it all is more important to me than time. I think.

Final word on the psychological side of things:
1 - In the first 20% of the run you'll want to turn back, go home and have a nice cup of tea in front of Big Brother. DON'T. Think of the feeling you always get when you finish.
2 - There will be periods on the run when the going will be both painful and agonisingly slow. For every one of these there's a period just after where everything picks up a bit and seems just a little easier. Stick with it.

Hope to write again before I hobble round 10k.

15,000 women - all in bras

Becky is doing the Moonwalk this Saturday night. This is a 26 mile walk (taking about 7 1/2 hours) both starting and finishing in Hyde Park. The start is at midnight! She's asked me again to thank everyone for sponsoring her. Very impressive, I'd far rather run for an hour than walk for seven.

And she's doing it in her bra which is I believe the norm for these sort of escapades.

All going well on the training front for my 10k (in UNDER a month). I followed the Friday 4 mile plod with a Monday 4 mile much faster plod. I was immensely pleased with this and took the opportunity to book myself into another run - an 8.2 mile run in Kingston in October. I hear Jamaica's lovely that time of year. Boom, boom. I felt I needed to book another run so that I had some motivation after I'd finished the 10k.

Thursday was indoor footy - very good - felt full of energy.

Due to either myself or Becky being out a lot at the moment there are limited evenings I can get out onto the 'open road'. Because of this I decided to revisit the treadmill at work. On Friday evening I programmed in 10k/hour with an incline of 3.0 (3.0 what? Percent? Hamsters? Who knows) and off I went. Very strange experience and somewhat artificial. No kerbs or dips in the pavement, no landmarks against which to measure your route. The only exciting thing was the screeching noise the machine went as I strayed away from the middle of the 'tread' and onto the 'mill'. Didn't fall off it - I'll leave those sort of shenanigans to young Geoffrey. I had to put my towel over the display and only let myself look at it every 4 songs (the display, not the towel) otherwise you look at the time which says 1 min 24 secs and the next time you look it says 2 min 10 secs etc. etc.

I know a few people who use treadmills. Mark so that he can kill 2 birds at the same time and watch the footy. Chrissy because "And of course living where I live (it's hilly in Wales y'know) it would be pretty near impossible to find a 5 or 10k course round here that does not have a crippling gradient to navigate, so best stick to the treadmill induced euphoria". Fair point but it's definitely second best for me. Give me the South Circular any day of the week.

Last Sunday was a slow 4 miles (I've measured 5 on that swanky new website I told you about last time and will definitely do it in the next couple of weeks) mainly due to the fact that I didn't set out until gone 9.30 for many reasons - most of them child-related. When I say fast and slow, there's a 2 minute difference between them ranging from about 38 mins to about 40 which is dangerously close to my 10k hour target.

Today, Wednesday, was another treadmill session at work. A fairly tough but immensely enjoyable 40 minutes. Getting the hang of the tedium and only letting myself look at the counter every 5 songs. Seems to work quite well. Next run will probably be Sunday night although I may do a treadmill session on Friday if I'm not aching too much from Thursday night footy.

Steve Vaught - www.fatmanwalking.com - has finished. See website for details. Impressive.

Just time to quickly repeat 3 very basic things to help very new runners (I've moved up from very new to just new now)
1 - Sort your breathing out. The more efficient the better and don't forget the pursed lips to greatly reduce the risk of stitches.
2 - Lean slightly forward when running. Helps with the momentum I find.
3 - Punching with clenched fists when running. Also helps although not entirely sure why.

Once again, best wishes to Becky and Sarah on the Moonwalk this weekend.

The Goody, the bad and the ugly

Where was I?

Oh yes, that’s right. Just done my first 4 miles and feeling pretty smug. I did another one on the following Saturday (22/4) in about 7 seconds slower but that wasn’t a problem. The only problem was saying hello to a complete stranger at the 3 mile mark – thought he was someone else. Possibly because he was just a blur. Possibly not. I was very pleased with doing 2 x 4 miles in under a week. Very pleased indeed. The day after was the Marathon. Rosie and I decided to go up and watch armed with jelly babies TO HAND OUT TO THE RUNNERS – don’t laugh, a hot tip from a couple of people who’ve done it before – which were extremely well received. It’s only a very slight exaggeration to say that the runners, now on their 24th/25th mile, couldn’t have been happier if we’d been handing out £50 notes.

The whole experience was quite emotional and despite missing both of my two known runners (BOTH FINISHED, CONGRATULATIONS SAM AND KATE) definitely an experience to be repeated. I might even do it myself one day. Many thanks to Andrea, Neal and assorted families for finding a perfect viewing spot and generally looking after both myself and Rosie.

I was going to talk about Jade Goody’s marathon behaviour/training regime but I think it’s all already been said. A couple of people thought I was doing the marathon this year – ha ha - I wonder if it’s because of the fuss I’ve made and the build up that I’ve given this humble 10k?

Anyhow, it was after the marathon that things started to go downhill.

I played football at work on the Wednesday and despite feeling a bit fitter and generally putting in the effort I did something to my back that is still troubling me a week later. I’ve been told to go to the physio but as there’s been a constant improvement from day to day I may well just wait and see. It’s only as I’m writing this that I realise that of the 3 hours 15 minutes I spent watching the Marathon approximately 2 of those hours were spent with a 4-year-old (now 5, then 4) on my shoulders. It all makes sense.

I’ve cancelled all exercise – AGAIN – to get my back straight and once it’s OK I’ll avoid the following:
Putting kids on my shoulders
Playing football at work (but not indoors on Thursday)

I’d very much like to do another run this weekend but I don’t want to really foul things up.

On the subject of other news, my friend Rupert was over from NY for a week and introduced me to an excellent website - http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/ - on which you can plot your runs and work out your distances without looking like an idiot driving round Barnes at night in a Honda CR-V. Which I believe is what some people do. You can also plot towpath distances etc. Very exciting.

Cash has gone up to over £770 due to another round of begging emails. I think one more ‘cash push’ on the week of the race should do it. I hate ‘hassling’ for the money but it’s all in a good cause etc. If I ever do another race (like to do half then full marathon in the fullness of time) I’m not sure where the sponsorship is going to come from but I’ll worry about that if and when it happens

Talking to Geoff about this running lark he hit on a good point when discussing how much is psychological, at least for us newbies. Many a time I’ve had doubts and generally negative thoughts in the first 5 or 10 minutes – that’s when you’re most likely to turn around and go home in my opinion. On the other side of the coin it’s a great boost when you find yourself on the ‘homeward stretch’ whether it’s the last mile or the last 5 miles. The treadmill people won’t appreciate this at all sadly.

** STOP PRESS **
Did another 4 miles last night (Fri 5/5) after a gap of about a fortnight. Absolutely knackering, very, very slow and I wanted to go back a couple of times BUT I did it. Over a minute worse than the 2 other 4 mile runs but extremely pleased that I did it. Have I mentioned that I did it?

Another one tomorrow or Monday methinks.

PS Green Wing still brilliant, Lost started again, Earl very funny and Prison Break highly addictive. Surprising I ever find the time to waddle, I mean run!

A rest is as good as a change

Both the whites and the light blues let me down badly that weekend. The whites had an awful game against Pompey. Only one change from the team that BEAT CHELSEA but they just looked like they couldn’t be bothered. So much is dependent on how ‘up for it’ a team is regardless of skill which is how we were able to beat a team of Chelsea’s ability in the first place.

Cambridge were poor as well. Never mind, always next year.

On the Monday I did the usual circuits class which was tough. Not sure why but whilst I found it rewarding it was very hard work. I did the usual 3 mile run on the Tuesday which was good although carrying a bit of a sore hip for some reason. Finished it in quite a good time so I was reasonably happy. That run and the 3 previous ones were all within a 6 second band so I think it was fair to say I had found my level. I’ve since heard from various sources that your speed doesn’t get faster but your recovery time gets quicker. Played football at work on the Wednesday lunchtime and not only contributed next to nothing but felt very, very achy afterwards. Back, hip and knees were all letting me know that I was carrying too many years and pounds.

Luckily I had already cancelled my usual Thursday night football so I had plenty of time to recover until my next run which I planned to run ‘sometime that weekend’. Saturday night was a busy night so I decided to run on Sunday morning which would be the first time I’d run in the morning rather than under cover of darkness.

It was a disaster

I went out at 10 am. There were far too many people ‘out and about’. I was completely and totally lacking in energy. I thought that was because I hadn’t eaten anything that morning but apparently the really early morning runners don’t eat anything pre-run. Quite apart from lacking in any energy I was aching all over with the old favourites of back, hip and knees being the main culprits although I couldn’t rule out some sort of additional groin pain providing the icing on the cake ailments-wise.

Ok so not really a disaster on a global scale. No deaths occurred.

At that stage I decided to have a week off any and all forms of exercise from circuits and work football to running and my usual Thursday night indoor football. A quiet week followed apart from my enquiries to Becky about whether they do hip replacement operations on 40 year-olds. Her response was to remind me that it’s probably not unusual to run with a bit of pain and I probably won’t notice it after a while.

My ‘barren’ week wasn’t wasted as I had time to go out in the car and measure out a 4 mile run as I’d already done 5 3 mile runs and felt that I needed to move up sooner rather than later. For info the new 4 mile run takes me past the chip shop, Ask Pizza, Barnes station, Rosslyn Park, down the Upper Richmond Road for what seemed like bloody miles and back along St Leonard’s road past Jessie’s nursery finishing at Mortlake bus garage.

I was debating when to do my ‘comeback’ run and putting off the date from Saturday to Sunday and then from Sunday to Monday. Physically I was ok, or not too bad, but mentally I was dreading going out after my last experience. Finally I donned the appropriate attire on Monday evening and set out unsure as to whether I was going to run 3 or 4 miles. I bit the bullet and did 4. It was hard work but the feeling I got at the end was amazing and better than anything I’d experienced before in this short running ‘adventure’. No pain at any stage apart from my upper legs feeling very tight 36 hours after the event. My plan for the future is to do 2 4 mile runs a week until further notice but as the evenings get lighter I may well head for the towpath and abandon any fixed length runs in favour of running for 40 or 50 minutes.

I know 2 people who are doing the marathon this weekend – Kate, a good friend of Becky’s and Sam, our next door neighbour - and I wish them both luck

I’ve decided that I’m now a beginner and not an absolute novice which puts me in a good position to offer more titbits of advice/observations to absolute novices

- Run don’t walk. Whilst this may be the absolute opposite of what you’ve heard in swimming baths and school corridors I’ve got a friend who has just taken up running for similar reasons to me except without the run date at the end. He has been doing better times than me because his ‘run’ consists of run/walk/run/walk/run/walk/run. Is that defeating the object? Apart from my two aborted runs I’ve run every single inch of the way. Does that make me a better person? Is incorporating a walk defeating the object? Discuss

- My running has a goal. The 10k on 11th June. This gives me something to aim for and in turn increases my motivation. Simple.

- Posture. A combination of ‘pumping my arms’ and leaning slightly forward whilst running makes the run that little bit easier. Possibly. Breathing efficiently helps as well.

- Fast food outlets and restaurants. Try not to run past (or indeed into) too many of these. Not a good idea especially when hungry.

- Boombastic, Mambo no 5 and Ooh ah (just a little bit) are surprisingly uplifting running songs. Possibly not the best three songs in the world and the boombastic lyrics are interesting to say the least but very good for running to. IMHO.

- People walking on the pavement are annoying. Don’t they realise what the pavement is for? Fools!

- Spitting is disgusting. I’ve hated it for 40 years now. Sadly I have to do it about twice a mile. Just thought you’d like to know

Just two more things to report.

Celebrity spot this week was Michael Ball (singer) in a bookshop in Barnes and Dad. Thought I’d add Dad as he’s been in ALL THREE episodes of Green Wing so far. Most impressive.

Finally if anyone wants to do a 10,000 word Maths project on Magic Squares then can they contact me immediately.

Please.