am i not running or racing enough?

away for the weekend, so only managed to fit in a 3mile jog on Sunday morning.. but that was better than nothing. and with this mild weather and some quaint and pretty autumnal Warwickshire countryside, i quite enjoyed myself.. apart from some goon beeping their horn without reason as they passed. yeah.. thanks for that..

Tuesday club training: pyramid. and quite a pyramid it was too: 400-800-1200-1600-1200-800-400 with 200m walking recoveries between the first and last three and 300m recoveries between the middle three. i actually managed a good pace throughout and was pleased with my performance. no timing, so i don't know what speeds we were hitting. but i'd say we were still sub-7min/mile during the 1600m, and that was definitely the slowest. i'm guessing the 400s were around 75s.. maybe?

meant to run at lunchtime yesterday: a slowish 5mile recovery, but i forgot my towel, and found out i needed to go buy a few things out up town. instead i ran today - and tackled the full 6miler for the first time in quite a while. it was actually my intention to run 8miles nice and steadily as a mid-week long(ish) run, but my leg speed picked up after the warm-up mile, and i didn't really control it too well. felt pretty good building up a sweat in this mild weathe,r and the tracks in Hyde Park weren't too busy. ended up coming down the east side of the park at a fair lick - probably approaching 6min/mile pace. [not wearing the watch at the moment, as i need a new battery.] it was one of those pace-sessions that occur quite rarely: your breathing goes all relaxed and the leg speed continues to increase - and you end up flying, feeling a bit like you're floating on air.. didn't really want to get to the bottom it felt so.. right.

will go out again tomorrow, probably a 5miler - maybe speed up it a bit in the middle.. will have to see how the legs and the Achilles feel. no problems as yet. the intention is to run a 7miler on Sunday morning too. there's a great run from my house that takes me through Lewisham, over Blackheath and down and round Greenwich Park, before returning up and over the other side - through the Cator Estate. hope i get the time and feel in the right place to do it. will hopefully swim with the kids too..

the question in the title of this post comes from what i'm overhearing at the club sessions. one guy there had run a 10k that previous Sunday, another had run 12miles the night before, and another hadn't had a day off running for three weeks! no wonder i looked and felt so fresh-legged in comparison.. felt a bit of a fake running round near the head of the group - with just 3miles under my belt in the previous 4 days.

the lack of miles in my week can't really be avoided - and i'm building back up quite well now. i had a great deal of hesitation about overstressing the Achilles after i started back - but i think i can get more relaxed now.

one of the guys there - Steve - asked for what i'm training at the moment. i mentioned London in the spring and perhaps the Tunbridge Wells half in February, but i got the feeling that he was looking for something more immediate. even the less speedy guys there are picking up 10ks here and there - or turning up to be a club rep at a 5k x-country meet if they can. leads me to think that either i'm less committed to racing - or even running - than these more seasoned club members or i'm not organized enough about racing - and i'm perhaps missing out on a good thing by not racing regularly - or maybe it's just that i don't have the time these guys might. the latter seems highly unlikely, so maybe i need to ask around a bit and gauge opinion. my feeling is that i don't commit to races so easily. i like to always do as well as absolutely possible. so the idea of showing up regularly but only rarely getting a PB seems quite alien. maybe it's just me - maybe i've still not done enough racing to feel more relaxed about 'taking part'. it's whether racing would benefit my training - and i think it might - that's the clincher..

the week that just was..

last week i didn't manage to get to the #runwithmo @buparunning event organized for Thursday lunchtime in Regent's Park. i knew i'd be too busy and so i ran on the Wednesday instead: 4m, usual route, about 30min.

this week: after a long weekend away in Budapest, for which packing was minimal (and my running shoes were banned), i came straight back to Tuesday night club training. that entailed a good warm-up with 3x100m strides then into the good stuff: we ran 6x1000m with 200m recoveries. i don't know the times we were clocking for the 1000s, but it felt fairly fast, probably 6min/mile pace. turned out to be excellent exercise and i was very happy to push home hard on the last lap. we ran the park to warm down, then i trundled off home, where an excellent couscous salad was waiting! really felt it in my calves the next day, so had to have a good stretch out, but no trouble in the Achilles any more..

Thursday i'd hoped to go out with one of the guys from work for a recovery run, but neither was available. i ran by myself and stretched it out to the 5mile loop up into Hyde Park. the first and last miles i covered quite relaxed as good warm-up and warm-down. the middle 3miles i started in at around 7:10 and built through to around 6:20. i didn't have my watch on me, so those speeds aren't accurate; just what it felt like. to make it a bit harder, as i was feeling good in that middle section, i tried out 3-3 breathing, instead the regular 2-2. it makes quite a difference! it's supposed to build up strength in your diaphragm if you remember to belly not chest breathe. it gave me something to concentrate on and the time went by quite quickly. i really like finishing along the road that runs the length of the northern side of the Serpentine. it's nice and flat, slightly downhill, and if you get on top of the camber, you have a lot of space around you..

racing goals, aging and being reasonable..

yesterday: 4miles at 7:20. pretty good turn around the park. was ultra-anxious, as usual, about the Achilles, but it seemed to hold ok. felt great yesterday evening, but is stlightly achy this morning. probably connected to it being cold and that i haven't fully stretched it out yet.

today will see me turn up later for my second session with Kent AC. last week was really good fun, and i liked the people and the feel of it. don't think we're back on the track yet, so that likely means we're back out in a poorly lit park somewhere. we'll see..

was thinking this morning about racing and my plans - and my age. i'm 38 now, and i guess you could say i've come to it later in life than most. i started up only a couple of years ago and have only raced a handful of half and full marathons - definitely so compared with some of the seasoned veterans on the courses who must be of an equivalent age. it leads me to think about what i want to accomplish - and how much time i've got to do some of those things. i'm running London next year, and that's always been a big (probably the biggest) wish for me - ever since i arrived 8years ago. but what other races do i want to run - where? and how?

well, another race that came to mind, and probably spurred this whole line of thinking, was the Boson marathon. entries for 2011 have just opened and closed - it filled up the same day! i like to sound of it because it comes in the right end of the year (for what i'm used to in marathon prep) and also the fact that you have to qualify. don't know why i like that, but there's definitely a draw because of it.

so London this year, Boston next year, then? well, then i'll be 40, and I guess i'll have to reevaluate my racing strategy. i've been pretty lucky this year to have clocked a sub-3hr marathon. i'm going to try my damndest to beat that next year - by a few minutes - now i know going sub-3 is possible for me. the following year, i'd guess i'll still be capable to run at those speeds. but after that i don't know how long it'll go on before i start to fade in the speeds i can pull off. i know i'm a decent runner, but i also know that i have to train very hard (find it difficult to do anything else to be honest) to get up to these standards. maybe a few years down the line i'm not going to be physically able to match what i can achieve now. how's that going to feel? when it happens - and who knows? maybe it's a while off yet - i think it's going to be hard to accept. i wonder what it feels like to know you're past your bests - no more PBs..

there are definitely some halfs that sound attractive, and probably a fair few more fulls that tickle my fancy.. it's a full intention to run at least one a year. maybe when i get on a bit and the times aren't so important, i'll be more open to running more than one a year - just to participate - and get that great feeling of achievement and belonging..

first club session..

so after some missed commitments - weights, swim on Sunday, stretching.. - i lined myself up to attend the Kent AC training session on Tuesday night. i got back from work and picking up Joe by six, then had some nuts and raisins to top up before making my way down to the Ladywell Arena for just before seven.

it was immediately clear to me that there was a good social group of people - mostly women - gathering there. i announced myself as a newbie and, after the coach there got my PB for the half, got taken to meet the A- and B-groups. their coaches hadn't yet arrived, so i took a turn round the park as a warm-up with the A-group. i wasn't on my own as a new recruit. another guy from nearby was also there for the first time. he had a similar background in running to me - although had run four marathons. we learnt from the A guys that their's was a pretty good gathering of talent. they said it was hard to get a good group of people together in London, because of everyone being so widely distributed. one of the group was away at the CWG, and i learnt that another there had a 67min half to his name and finished 30th at London this year. pretty clear this was going to be a fair bit too quick for me..

when we got back we had a chat with one of the guys from the B-group, who were going to do 6 x 1200m round the park. [the track is still closed - til next Friday - for resurfacing etc.] he was happy enough with my 10k PB but it sounded like i was going to get stretched. i decided to drop down again and take it easier on the Achilles this week. turns out that was a good idea..

so - back to the social group. it was quite a mixed bunch, but everyone in good spirits and really friendly. we headed up to Hilly Fields Park on the hill above the running track. there we did hill repeats. the uphill-downhill stretches were maybe a minute or so long, and we took 3min breaks in between pairs. from my count i think we did 4 repeats up-and-down. it took its toll, but i was pleased with how it went. i did well on the uphill sections, but took it easy on the downhill to protect my heel. seemed like the best thing to do considering even this session was probably beyond what i should have sensibly been doing in my rebuild to full training.

we jogged back and i pretty much headed straight back home. i cold-showered immediately, and had a plate of the delicious lamb stew Poll had prepared earlier - and i'd had to bear not eating between six and seven. i RICEed the ankle with 2 x 20min ice after. while it's still tender at the base of the tendon - and remains so now - it doesn't feel like it did when it came on. now it feels more controllable. i took some ibuprofen this morning to help it along, and i'll probably keep that up twice a day for a little while.

so, all in all, it was a major success. i can see me progressing up to the B-group there - if that works for them too.. would be great to get really pushed at least once a week alongside some good club runners. i think it'll stand me in great stead for any future races. very happy i went..

more running done..

ran yesterday: 4mi at 7:15-ish and Tue: 4mi at 7:00. Also swam 1km on Sunday and ran the previous Thu (4mi again).

i think the runs this week were probably just a little too high-tempo. we got out and started to enjoy getting back into the old rhythm - we even thought there might be some muslce-memory involved. i suffered yesterday afternoon, and worried through the evening that i'd knocked the injury back a few weeks by going at it all too hard. seems as though some anti-inflammatories and RICE has done the trick however. probably won't run at the weekend, as planned, but will definitely do another 1km session in the pool on Sunday.

having had confirmation that i'm in London next year has made me think about what i need to do to properly prepare this time. i have to think out which races to go for in the run-up and how to grade the training and diet to make sure i'm on top form on the day. thinking of fitting some trail runs into the schedule, as that's something that's taken my fancy recently. maybe..

neither of my good friends got in via the ballot, but that was to some extent expected. i don't think either will take the charity route either (just too much commitment), so it looks like i'm on my own. hopefully i'll be able to muster some supporters for the route. with the new mile rate cut-down to 6:27 for a 2:50 i'll need all the support i can get!

as long as the Achilles holds out and seems ok enough, i'm going to try my first session with the local running club, Kent AC, on Tuesday. the track is still closed for it's refurbishment, but they are still holding sesssions down there - in the park i think. should be good..

we go running again..

just 4mo since we last ran, me and my colleague from work ran again this lunchtime. we did a very easy going 4mi up to the bridge across the Serpentine in Hyde Park. it was great to get out and especially so as we'd been looking forward to it for quite some time. his knee's been bad and my Achilles needs no further explanation. it seems to have stood up to the challenge. I'll probably have to wait till tomorrow morning to really fond out but seems ok now. will ice it well in a few minutes.

I think we've both realised that you can't just knock out the runs now. this break has been very frustrating so I've got to do everything supportive to the running - the stretching, icing, swimming.. - to keep me out on the roads.

with the results of the London ballot out next week I'll see who'll be running with me in Apr 2011, and thus who'll be training with me too..

another step in the right direction...

this time it was actually a real step.. in fact, quite a few. simply round the parks again for a slow 2.5m jog, but it was pain and ache free.. and i can't tell you how happy that made me. i stretched-out both Achilles at 10:30 this morning, then ran at 12:30.. stretched again directly after, then showered and iced (as best I could with the ice-pack i'd brought from home this morning) it for a good 20min. stretched again this afternoon, and it's feeling ok. there's a slight twinge down the Achilles itself, but it's not painful in the pinch test, so i'm guessing there's definite movement towards recovery.

what these couple of runs have taught me is how unfit and unbalanced i've got. totally lost my running form and felt quite stiff in my running style throughout. seemingly a large amount of work to get back to full fitness.

but i guess that's what training for a sub-3hr marathon teaches you.. just how fit and fine you can get - then just how bad and poor you feel when you lose it. and i do mean poor - it's a definite loss to find yourself breathing heavily at a mile in.. at a point where you'd just be waking up previously. however, the silver lining is knowing that feeling is there to attain.. and the fun you can have getting back to it..

calcaneal bursa..

i've got this feeling that, as the physio was kinda bemused about this being your regular Achilles problem, his other suggestion could be the one: calcaneal bursitis. my feeling is that this fits as well as anything else and kinda points to the longevity of this damn thing. same treatment - rest, ice, Achilles stretching - but a slightly different explanation. don't know what good it does me knowing this - or, at least, suspecting this..

oddly, pinching my Achilles last night i could feel nothing.. which was almost unbelievable. it's back a little this morning, but i suspected it wasn't gone gone. i guess it's just an indication that it's in decline. which is alright by me.

i'll go ahead and try another short jog tomorrow, then hopefully another swim on Wednesday, if possible. maybe some weights tonight too.

have the highlights to the Great North Run taped, so going to check that out this evening. apparently it was quite an odd race with Gharib tearing off early before the great man - Haile Gebrselassie - pulled back the lead to then leave them all between six and seven miles. Magnificent time too.. 59:33.. wow!

how does it stand..

so it definitely feels better. but still hurts and is stiff. but better. don't really know how to describe it - but there's an improvement. the run on Friday didn't lead to extra pain on Saturday morning, but it does still ache and definitely painful when you pinch the Achilles itself.

swam 1km this morning, and it felt great..

probably going to end up phoning the physio back and getting the doctor's number mind..

think i'm back at it..

saw the physio last night, had some massage and acupuncture again and i'm going to try out three running styles: exaggerated heel-to-toe landing, on grass and uphill. if any of these work to not produce extra ache in the Achilles the next day there's an indication of how to proceed. if i try all of these and nothing's doing i call him back in two weeks and get referred to a sports doctor who may well end up injecting cortisone - or something lovely like that.

so i ran today. did the heel-to-toe around St James and Green parks. and i seem to be ok. we'll see about extra ache tomorrow morning, but as for now, there's very little discomfort. have to say that at the start of the run i was feeling the base of the heel quite badly, but that wore off after about five minutes.

a little excited that this means i can build back up to full fitness, so i'm going to need to restrain myself from going out for any 40min 10ks too soon.. which was bread-and-butter just two months back.. all the same, if i can combine a few short runs with some swimming and other stuff for a few weeks and see where that puts me, maybe, just maybe, i'll be back in happy valley.

weight, by the way, now 11st5lbs. coming down nicely. [eternally hungry.]

tentative today..

i've got the physio appointment later this afternoon, and it's always the case that i'm a little itchy before going. on the one hand, i'm happy because there's a chance he can finally get me back out the door again, but on the other i have the opposite fear.. not that it's a persistent injury that will never go away, but that this time will be like the others - that there won't be a solution on the horizon, or that his prescription for fitness won't work out. my hope is that it will be some ultrasound. we'll see..

also burning the candle at both ends at the moment and not getting enough sleep. from every pro-runner's blog or interview you can see that rest and sleep are a huge part of their life - as much as the exercise. that goes for everyone i guess.. but channel-hopping late into the night then expecting to jump out of bed sparky early the next morning can't go on too long before it has a detrimental effect. and i love going to be early. what's wrong with me!?

holding out a little hope..

managed to get a good swim in on Sunday morning. only 0.5k but was the first serious exercise in a while and felt great. will probably try and get to the local baths for an early-morning or late-evening session in the week too. planning a weights session tonight given time. and the long-awaited physio appointment looms - Thursday evening. i do hope he can implement something that is practical. even the smallest of jogs - down the road after Joe on the way back from nursery pick-up - has caused it to inflame. seems like a devil to get rid of. even getting the idea that it might be chronic, but drawn back from that idea by the physio's last summary of it as just 'mild' - and that it really does hurt very little (just persistent).

otherwise, on a trip to the park and a walk past the running track i saw that it's getting resurfaced - and maybe refurbished, which is great. their website says it will reopen sometime in October. maybe it's just due a refurb or perhaps there's something connected to London 2012 - a training facility, perhaps?

why do we do it?

i'm probably not entirely clear to myself what i'm attempting to do by blogging my (non-)running and even with the running itself. does it get like that for everyone? you start into something, it turns out to be really good fun, you get more and more enthusiastic about it, turns into a hobby, turns into a sort of obsession, you suffer a few set-backs, you hit a few highs, you settle back in to it being part of 'what you do', you maybe become a little disillusioned (see here), you look for a way to reinvigorate yourself.. well maybe that's it, eh? you have to keep things fresh, make some changes..

i've got a physio appointment booked next week (no chance to get in there sooner, which is a shame..). i think i should look at that as part of a turning point. i can't take this injury as a the big downer that sinks the ship (i'm getting some of those vibes from myself lately).. i should think of it as the reason to try some different things, to go at the training in a different way. it could be that i look at London next year as my last competitive outing and just relax into doing a few runs for fun. [don't really think i can let myself do that, but i should consider it..]

i'm certainly going to investigate the local running club. i've talked about it enough. i'm also going to look into different forms of running: trail running (should be easy to access and so is a fairly likely candidate - as well as getting me out into the countryside), fell running (much less likely, but we've talked about going camping in the Lake District next year, and i'd love to coincide our trip with the chance to see one of the big races) or ultra running (even less likely, but never say never - i've got that kind of obsessive personality and enough sheer obstinance that could make it a good fit). overall, i just need to get back running - and soon..

hunger strikes and getting going..

i'm on a diet. i think i've lost a single pound (already!). i'm really hungry most of the time. this could easily make me very easy to annoy and send into a bad mood. but i'm doing ok. don't know how long i can take this constant hunger, but we'll let it ride for now and see what good i can do. i'm guessing that as my stomach sinks back to a reasonable size (after the gluttony of recent weeks) i'm going to be happier with the smaller, more infrequent portions getting served up. we're actually doing ok. Polly made a fantastic spiced chicken dish with chickpeas and last night we had smoked haddock with asparagus, spinach and a poached egg. heaven!

will be calling the physio later to book an appointment for (hopefully) tomorrow night - and (hopefully again) i can persuade him to do some ultrasound to the Achilles. if i could only get back running, the weight loss would be easier and i would be a whole lot better person. this is the lightest but worst injury i've ever had. i can't help feeling i'm making a meal of it too.

getting back to training is a hard thing. it should be easy. in fact it would be easy if i could run. i'd be out there in a shot. but training on my rowing machine or doing weights or bodywork is a different matter. there's a hurdle i need to get over before i feel enthusiastic enough to do it. i also need to find the time on the week days. looks like it's going to have to be an early morning workout and evening stretching. with a schedule i should be able to make myself do the necessary. i know i'll feel better for it..

back from holiday, not back from injury..

i can hardly believe it, but this tendonitis is still holding on. my only thought now is to book myself in for some ultrasound and see if it will dissipate from that kind of treatment. definitely now missing the half later this month, which doubly annoys me because i bought the t-shirt too. only bedwear from now i guess..

back from holiday and very overweight and underfit. the diet started yesterday, and so the exercise regime needs focus. again, oppositely, i can't really believe it that i've let myself slip to such levels of sloth, but i can feel those love-handles weighing me down .. it's not good. will work out an exercise plan tonight. might even post photos of my progress to incentivize my diet, as i find it so hard to leave lovely food alone.

current weight: 11st 8lbs (162lbs). target weight (for now): 11st (154lbs).

still no shifting it..

so I'm stuck in some endless loop of laying off the running, stretching the calf, then checking the Achilles .. and finding no change. i honestly thought I detected improvement this morning. but when I checked, I was wrong.

think I'm going to sort out some swimming and probably see if I can get the physio to do some more ultrasound. I'm pretty sure that's the only thing that's had any effect as yet.

last year..

just happened to be checking on my calendar for this month last year.. and maybe i shouldn't have. what was there waiting for me? a full schedule of half-marathon training in preparation for runtotthebeat last year at the end of Sep.

guess what's happening now.. am i pushing out fartleks, sprint-training, regular 10ks in the week? nope.

it'll come back. patience, patience..

how it stands..

it's simply not happening. neither the recovery or the rehab. the Achilles is showing minor signs of improvement, but I'm not stretching the calf enough and not really working at getting it all back together. think I need to sit myself down and have a good think about where this is going. I've blown the chance of being fit enough to shoot for a 1:20 at the Windsor half on 26 Sep, so perhaps I need to just give myself a reasonable target just for getting round. that, at least, is achievable..

two weeks down and no better..

i've let this fall back in the preceding weeks simply because i have felt so down about the running. i tried to keep a positive outlook over the first few weeks after getting the Achilles injury, but it didn't shift and is still hanging around. it's lifted a bit, but the short runs recommended by the physio didn't work and just made it worse. i took a personal decision to simply rest it - apart from lugging luggage in and out of a festival last weekend.

it's definitely reducing in intensity and i think there's light at the end of the tunnel. however, as i've got no training or running to report, this column is going to be dormant for a while.

i'm thinking i might well post short updates every day just to keep it ticking over and document the improvement, but the try and make something out of a day when i can't train is first difficult in itself and second quite demoralizing in that i have to admit each time that i'm not running still.

all that said, i've worn the trainers in quite well now, and they feel very comfortable. let's hope i get to really wear them out soon.

the physio knows best (especially when he says what you want to hear)..

so i went to the physio last night - Paul this time, not Kevin. Paul took a good look and decided it wasn't so bad an injury after all (well i knew that, kinda..). He gave the tendon a good massage. [apparently, the Achilles is such a big tendon, it has a well-formed para-tendon around the outside, and it's the stickiness between that and the inside tendon, during periods of inactivity (sleeping in my case) that causes it to be stiff when you stand or get up. interesting stuff, huh.?] he then - to save time apparently - stuck a few acupuncture needles in my calf. [oddly, he asked if i'd had it before - and i had, for my shoulder, about 5years back - and whether i responded well - which i did, it was great. apparently, you can be a good responder to acupuncture or not.. take from that what you will.] then.. he went on to explain that the latest thinking is that Achilles problems may well stem from stiffness in the lower back - the fifth (if i remember rightly) vertebra. so he gave me a some massage and back-cracking for good measure.

i didn't know this before, but there some definite over-pronation with my right foot - and this could be the cause of the problem. i've got a new stretch to try out. usual calf stretch against the wall, but instead of the back foot being flat to the floor, before the stretch you raise and hold the inner arch up off the floor, thus rotating the knee outwards and stretching a slightly different way to normal. i tried it, and i could definitely feel a stronger pull on the outer-part of my calf. so we'll give that a go.

best of all: i can run again! i've had to pop up to the London Marathon Shop to get new trainers for better inner-arch support - more on those tomorrow - but i can start again. his advise was to start on a routine similar to a regular marathon schedule. so i guess i can go out and very lightly cover 2-3miles at the start and gradually build up. what a relief..

a video: me and the Mall..

so as a bit of a change, i thought i'd post a video of myself down on the Mall pondering about - guess what - running..



apologies for the background noise - the congestion charge is obviously not working quite so well as they thought.. also, apologies for my rambling style - this is actually the way i talk, not just because i've trained a camera on myself..

resolution and commitment..

i wrote a decent post about how i value running and how it compares to blogging in some way.. but it got lost in the ether during publishing, and i've not got time to replicate it now.. [grr]

it mostly aimed towards me working harder at myself and getting into better shape no matter what..

have to go and call that physio..

what can i say..

i started this blog to catalog the fun i would be having while running around London and in any of the races i entered. but when you get an injury you just can't shake, there ends up not being much you can say. how i wish i was running today. it's a beauty out there. nice and warm, a slight breeze.. boy, i'm frustrated!

up, down, square one..

after the excitement of visiting the physio last week and being pepped up with the work he did on my calf and Achilles - then advice on the right kind of exercise, i thought i was well back on the road to running again.

but that's simply .. not .. happened.

i religiously (alright, i missed a couple) followed the regimen of four to five sessions of 30-40 reps. [it was 'eccentric' stretching, by the way, not 'cyclic' as i'd written before.] but after a day of two, the load on my already tight (from the physio workout) calf was starting to tell. i was stiff all the time - not just after getting up in the morning, and i could tell that it was exacerbating the Achilles pain. so around about Tuesday, I decided to stop the exercises for a while and let my calf muscles recover fully. in the meantime, i've been icing it in the evening and taking a regular top-up of ibuprofen to hopefully work-out some of the inflammation. don't know what the effect of all this is just yet, but i have the feeling that it's getting - very slowly - better.

Zemanta just threw this item up as relevant to my post. looks kinda helpful - can't hurt.

i've decided that all this inactivity, while frustrating because i can't run (my, by far, far, far favourite form of exercise), is no good. no news there obviously. but i think it's starting to affect my sleep (currently quite restless) and definitely affecting my waistline. gonna work out a plan for upper-body strengthening and some sessions on the rowing machine - which shouldn't really stress the Achilles too much. Plus there's a good feature on core-strength exercises in runnersworld this month that i'll probably borrow from too. without a plan - or at least a list to tick off - i don't have the motivation to do this sort of workout - versus the pure enjoyment that motivates me to go running.

the cure: cyclic stretching..

went to the physio Wednesday night for a session of excruciatingly painful deep massage (calf has now overtaken hip for greatest ability to cause pain), some ultrasound (quite the opposite experience - i was lying on my front and even asked him 'what are you up to now?', when i heard the gel lid click open) and a pretty cool stretching exercise.

the basic problem is that i had tight calves before the marathon back in April (which the physio advised at the time would probably even help in the race - so we agreed to leave them tight), and have simply not done enough stretching to compensate for that stiffness and the added strain from the marathon and training since. so my Achilles has simply been taking the strain - and recently, with the increase in speed work - it's decided to protest. can't blame it really.

the massage was torture. he literally had me screaming for pain, like a baby.. i'm man enough to admit it. the stretches though are great - i knew immediately why they were so relevant.. the idea is the 're-teach' you set of calf muscles that they need to function over their full range - and not pull up short then over-stress the Achilles. so simple.

it's my right Achilles, so: find a step; step up on the edge (usual calf-stretch overhang) on you left foot right up onto the toes; join right foot to left and transfer weight to right; from tip-toes lower whole weight through the range of extension until the right foot is hung off the edge of the step - as far as it will go. this you repeat between 20 and 40 times in a row. and do that four or five times a day. so a pretty intense daily load. in this the muscles stretch out and work at the same time. they learn the range over which they'll be asked to function when you run again.

and the Achilles now? it's definitely getting better from the massage and the ultrasound. i should think within a week or 10 days, i'll be confident enough to get out for a light run or two. happy days!

London Marathon 2011 - Good For Age entry in..

i read up really early on the London Marathon Good For Age entries and got the necessary details (proof of age and proof of performance) off to them quickly. the form came back just a few days ago and i've just posted it off. [don't really know why i posted it, their office is no distance from here..]

i knew when i ran at Brighton that a good time would set me up for London next year, but i still can't quite believe it's all happened quite so simply. but that's it. now i know what i'll be doing for the first few months of 2011 - what i've done for the last two years. head down, hard slog. not that i wouldn't have been doing it for another marathon had i not got into London, but to know it's going to be the one i've always talked about getting into - the one i've applied for so many times - feels pretty good.

now got to make sure i'm as fit as i've ever been, as light as i've ever been (weight is key, i now know), and i'm super prepared. not only because i'd love to improve on the PB, but also because if you start dropping down the field in London and there's no way you are going to get back through the crowds. i saw that this year stood out at around mile 9 in Bermondsey. even at the speed i'd be aiming for there was enough people to make you worry you could keep your stride even. further back it got crowded very quickly - you'd be struggling to keep a rhythm.

what's the target? well, i've tentatively put 2:50. that'd be a 4min improvement on this year. i think it's doable. my 13mile split was slow in comparison to similar finishers at Brighton. i can work on the assumption that there's at least 2min gain if i'm better timed. i'll just have to work at the training even harder and squeeze the rest out somehow..

and then i waited..

so i'm waiting for the end of it now. laying the achilles out on ice every evening - ibuprofen gel in the morning and again when i get back - strapping it up (though bought a good bandage today) throughout the day.. and what. nothing yet. it's really difficult to tell, to be honest. i'm guessing it's edging back to normality, just slowly. god i could do with going for a run.

looking at whether there's any way i could go play football on Wednesday night. would be a good bit of exercise, and probably not so stressful on the achilles as running (right?). and then i could go down the pub with the lads after and watch the Spain-Germany game. not that that's influencing my decision on whether to risk it or anything..

i was interested to see that you can now buy all sorts of pain-relief gel. i only thought you could get ibuprofen gel. the one that caught my eye was voltarol - which i remember taking for a bad knee injury i had when i was at university and practising Tae Kwon Do. i remember it to be damn strong stuff, but maybe i've got that wrong. all i know is that ibuprofen is not only pain-relief, but anti-inflammatory too. maybe that's all i need to know. my plan is to get back to action and have as little to do with the drugs as possible.

[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/R-ibuprofen-A-2D-skeletal.png]

achilles tendinopathy..

no surprises really, but a quick check of the online literature - mainly here - makes it abundantly clear to me that achilles tendinonitis is what my problem is. now to find out what i do to fix it. and what it is that made it come on. i have my suspicions. number one would be that i've not been stretching my calves enough. i'm awful for that - and stretching as a whole. will get to that straight away. my other feeling is that i upped my fast-pace training quite quickly in order to get enough in before the 10k i was to do tomorrow. maybe i went at it a little too quickly and have suffered the consequences. whichever way round i look at it, i've made a problem for myself and i need to fix it quick.

i'm sure i can keep up the cold therapy and taping my ankle foot up to emulate a tendon strap, but i don't think i can go to the lengths of getting Poll to help me do the full-on achilles tendon taping. that seems a little extreme. i'll keep up with the calf stretching and see how things stand in a week or so. then i'll make the decision about whether i head back to BackonTrack, my excellent local clinic.

the sin of lethargy..

still strapped up round the ankle (it sort of helps, i think) and RICEing away to make this Achilles improve, but not much movement yet.. which i find strange, not simply because i'm incredibly impatient, but also because you'd think it'd be slightly better by now. there's no great pain walking around (certainly not with the strapping), and i can only feel the slightest of tightness when i climb stairs. it's worst when i get up in the morning - the stiffness then is pretty debilitating, but probably only for about 15 seconds. maybe i'm making a mountain out of a molehill.. whichever, whatever, i think i have to rest it 'til it's not doing this stuff.

Gebreselassie in his August runnersworld interview warned against lethargy. he said it's pretty much consistency and persistence that are going to make you the better runner. if you run one day, then are tired the next - still get out there.. you're not that tired. that's me all over. while i'm concerned about getting injured (see current status), i think i don't sit in the groove enough - don't commit to run early if i know it's not going to fit in the rest of the day - don't do those pull-ups when i ass the bar in our house, etc, etc.

[http://www.flickr.com/photos/giansanti_foto/4457371833/]

crocked..

injured. first time in ages. i suppose it had to happen, but i'm already frustrated and searching for a way to make it better fast. the achilles is painful and quite stiff - especially in the morning. when i had to get up at 4am this morning to carry my son back to bed, we almost both fell down the stairs as i limped gingerly through to his room. i'm told reliably that RICE is pretty much all i can do, apart from the strapping i've got on now and some simply low-stress stretching in the evening. this counts out the race on Sunday - not that i had great hopes because of my faulty preparation, but still..

what's doubly annoying is that i've not run with my mate here from work for ages - probably over a month - and we were both just getting back into a regular swing of things and able to hook up for a few runs a week. we were going to start on Friday. that'll have to push back a week or so now.

it sets your mind back to all the other times you've been injured. for me most notably before the Paris marathon in 2009. with about four weeks to go i got some serious pain across the top of my thighs - into the hips. i went to the physio and he found out that i have a very week muscle group there (oddly), and that it was getting overstretched with the amount of miles i was piling up at that point. had to lay off for two weeks and do this 'hanging leg' exercise to build up the deficient muscle in the meantime. it meant i missed out on some crucial training and failed to meet my own expectation on my first marathon. at the time i was exceedingly frustrated, offset only by the more-serious news a week later that my friend who was running two had torn his knee cartilage to shreds playing with his kids in the garden. his injury meant he totally missed out, but i was only running with less than best preparation. it put it all in perspective for me.

we all get injured, and i'm getting used to the 'i knew running is no good for you' retort. still, when you can't get out there, it's a true reality check on how fortunate you are when you can.

exhilarating torture..

Monday - 6m in 41min - mostly between 6:40 and 7:00 pace - regular route through Green Park and around Hyde Park.

so it's really hot in London at the moment.. 29C at lunchtime yesterday. while i managed to stay in the shade for most of the run round, there are some stretches where there's no cover. i'm really not that bothered by hot weather, but this was getting near the limit. got around happily and felt pretty good for most of the way. the achilles problem of last week was there at the start, but went after i loosened up through the first mile..

but last night and this morning, it's a different story. i spent the evening potting up a few plants in the garden, so we have a nice display of flowers through the summer.. and have some tomatoes to pick. when i came in, i started to feel it quite severely. i applied some ibuprofen gel and thought that would be enough. but it wasn't. later i resorted to the ice pack - and that's what i'm doing right now. no great effect yet, as it's very sore.

while it's no great shakes if i can't run the 10k on Sunday - my preparation hasn't been great, and i can always enter one later in the year on the run up to the Windsor half - it's a bit disappointing to get an injury. it's annoying at any time, but in the week before a race, it's doubly so.

weary and a tender achilles..

5m in 34min with three 0.33m @ 5:50. up through Hyde Park and a fairly direct route to Lancaster Gate. One faster-pace section there, one back to Hyde Park Corner and one to finish along the Mall. after two fairly tiring runs on the last two days, this was a weary one from the start, but had a colleague come out and join me, which pepped me up a bit. he's just back into it after a few weeks' break, so there was no pushing to go faster. today's quite hot (around 25C) and the park was very dry and oppressive. added to that was the tree pollen that was pretty heavy again today. pretty pleased with the effort i managed to muster, especially for the second faster section, which i did alone. hopefully this will all bode well for the race next weekend. however, i'm not too keen on what seems to be quite a persistent strained feeling in my right achilles. it's been around for a few days, and i rubbed in some ibuprofen gel last night and this morning - to what seems like no avail. started yesterday's run and today's slower to warm it up and get into my stride, and really didn't feel it at all in the runs themselves - not even when i went up on my toes for the faster sections. but now i'm sat back down, there's definitely an ache again. will have to do some stretching and keep adding the gel.

busy, busy, busy..

Fri - 4m in 28 min - fast up all 3 hills en route

Sun - 6.5m in 44min - last two miles in 6:20 / 6:30

today - 7.5m in 50min

not getting the time i need to really plan and run as i'd like, but perhaps this week will be slightly better. however, there's a conference across thu-fri, which doesn't help.

trying hard to up the pace in all of these training - hopefully meaning that i can get near to the 6:04 or even 5:54 pace for a 37 or 36min 10k on the weekend after next. that's a fairly sizeable 'hopefully'..

i was away at my family's home up in Warwickshire at the weekend. judging a dog show at the local fete. believe me, i didn't volunteer. apparently it was safest for an outsider to do it. only had one old lady who got a little distressed that we couldn't see her little dog's tail in the 'waggiest tail' contest. phew for that. was all made up by my brother-in-law fetching us a pulled pint of beer from the pub across the road later that day. lovely. (that's in the training diet, honest..)

the hard-to-find groove..

still not managing to get back to a regular running schedule. so many things coming up that need doing.. but you can always make excuses. or at least i can. to myself. and they sound so reasonable. i know i could get round all this with a little better organization and a modicum of commitment. i'm not going to hit 36min for the upcoming 10k now - and won't when this is how hard i try.

did get a good football session in last night - was a fairly low turnout and quite a warm night, so worked up quite a sweat chasing down as much as i could. i doubt the beer thereafter would have fallen into a normal training diet, but i'd not been down there for a while and it's good to catch up.

the intention was to run this lunchtime and the same tomorrow. however, i need birthday presents for my sister and nephew as well as something for father's day. so i've needed this lunchtime (and will need tomorrow's too now) to get out buying those. think i will need to run tomorrow morning before work, as the evening is given over to England's second game. like every foolish football patriot i am casually submitting my time and energy to supporting a cat-in-hell's chance that they might do well this time.

dieting off the holiday's excesses at the moment, so it's extremely frugal rations at all times. but also trying to to observe the Okinawa diet principle of never going under 30% full but also never over 80%.

don't think i was happier than when i was exercising every day and knowing i'd physically challenged myself. i'm still not a million miles from that, but it's certainly not happening as it was. just finished the book on fell-running and the commitment of the likes of Billy Bland and Kenny Stuart, let alone Joss Naylor, makes you shudder..

in search of lost time..

so.. it's been a while. and i didn't mean a bit of it. Wednesday morning was supposed to be a relaxed affair, involving me getting up early enough to get out for another quality run around Stanford campus leaving time for me to blog again before heading over to company offices for a couple of meetings, then the flight out. however, a number of things popped up when i checked my email before setting out and from that point there was no time left to run or write. then came the flight through Wed night and Thu morning and the subsequent jet-lag (which i'm still recovering from i think) and work on Friday. then off to visit family in Frinton (Essex) across the weekend.. and now it's Monday. and here we are..

didn't note that on the Tuesday morning, although i didn't feel so great as the morning before, i did get out for a decent 4m at 7:10. likewise, when i got back to work on Friday, I managed 6m in 40min! don't know where that came from! i included a few spurts of around 6:00 pace throughout, but i hadn't realized that i'd gone out so quick.

meant to run yesterday, while down by the sea, but the jet-lag hit me when i woke up at 7am and i pretty much had to go back to sleep for a little while - and missed my chance.

back to it today, in full fettle, with a jog to Green Park and 6 x 200m as fast as i could manage. by my watch the 200m sprints were taking around 60s. now that either means in my blurred state i was reading the watch wrong or the distance we have pegged as 200m is nothing of the sort. i'll have to download the splits from my watch later and see if i can discount the former.

now have under three weeks to prepare for this 10k, and i'm about 7lbs over weight from all the eating in France and the US. i'd like to say i didn't go overboard, but i doubt all that fresh bread, cheese and fantastic wine was really that good for me.. got a good tan all the same, though.

was odd running through those Palo Alto streets looking at the tanned, healthy-looking people and then realizing i probably looked something similar to them myself. felt pretty good to be honest. that and two people at the conference thinking i was ten years' younger than i am.. that is always going to be great to hear, eh..

early start through Palo Alto..

6m in 41min @ 7:00. ran down Hamilton to Hale then back up University Ave, thru the Caltrain underpass, up along Palm Dr to the Oval Park, then back down and around the Campus Dr / Quarry Road loop, then down Palm Dr and back thru to the hotel. set off at 5:45am and the streets were deserted, apart from the odd car or other runners..

in fact, it was a fantastic run and i meant to do more.. i just got a little disoriented towards the end and cut-off a few streets.

the downtown streets and into Professorville was lovely, for the sprinklers and the luscious plants in all the gardens. passed the John Adams Squire House on the way back up University Ave. it came as a little surprise, especially with the hugely tall palms that tower over it and the sidewalk. was great to watch the shopworkers on their way to work and the stores starting up like eyes opening..

the trees on the Stanford Campus gave off that deep pine scent and some groundsmen - otherworldly in their white suits - were tending the undergrowth and kicking up dust that covered me.

doubt i'm going to get out there that early tomorrow morning. currently waiting on a call to meet at the local Rose & Crown pub for another drink. can't say i'm relishing the idea of going out again, but it's likely i'll go if they do come. has been a long day of multi-tasking - as i handled the stream of emails left over from my week away, while listening to the presentations at the conference. quite tiring, especially after waking up at 4am. think i'd prefer to go to sleep. and wake up early and do that run again - but this time shower and head over to the corner breakfast joint and order something nice and big!

already getting a longing to be back with Poll and the kids - which is wrong considering it's just a day - but that's me.

on the flight over..

as documented yesterday, it was a pretty sedentary time in France. didn't get much exercise done. apart from the three small runs and some swimming in the pool, which hardly counts. did, however, manage to get an extremely large amount of eating done. and how.. the French do food so well, with the fantastic bread, croissants, cakes, tarts.. then there's the sausage and the cheese.. and what goes so well with all that? of course, a great bottle of wine. i wouldn't say we overindulged but we certainly didn't hold back. and our waistlines have suffered. Polly won't even contemplate going near the scales. i didn't think to do it before i left, but i suspect it's not good news at all.

i now have four weeks exactly to train for and lose weight for the 10k in Orpington. it's the only one booked for the whole of the summer, and the way things are shaping up - weekends getting taken up with visits here and there - there doesn't look like there's going to be many opportunities to arrange more. that's not great - and i should have got it all sorted much sooner. that's life..

had brought my gear to run while i'm here for the few days.. but on the walk to the station this morning i realized that my shorts were left on the drier unpacked.. planned then to buy some at Heathrow, but the sports store i remembered being in the duty-free wasn't there any more. maybe i'm just thinking of another airport.. anyway, going to chance my arm and get some either at SFO or on the way to the hotel in Palo Alto. i remember there being a Nike store in the shopping complex on the edge of Stanford campus, so that may be my destination - hopefully before it shuts. if i can get some, at least i'll be able to get out before the conference starts tomorrow morning. would be good to sit there all day (plus evening event) knowing i'd got some miles under my belt - suitably taxed for the day.

[note from the hotel: shorts found and bought.. disaster averted.. now some Gordon Biersch beer to fuel that run..]

just arrived - and off again..

just returned from a great family week in the Loire. but now have to make rapid preparations for a flight tomorrow morning for San Francisco. it's my one big trip of the year, and it just so happens to coincide with the kids half-term this year.

anyway, fitted three runs in over the week - all in the morning and all through some lovely rural settings.. tracks through forest past asparagus pickers.. that sort of thing. the only down-side is that my commitment and drive were way down and i found it really hard to motivate myself before and during the runs. anyhow, for each i put in at least a half-mile sub-6 spurt and totalled 16 miles for the three together. not much but better than nothing. here are the telling details..

30/5 - 6.1m -  42min - 6.52 ave
2/6 - 4.4m - 30min - 6:50 ave
3/6 - 5.6m - 39min - 6:55 ave

so - off to catch some sleep and then directly off to catch a mid-morning flight to SF and then down to Palo Alto and the Stanford campus for a two-day conference. i know that area pretty well now - so hope to fit in at least three morning runs. (read the Dean Karnazes book while away, so would like to think i might bump into him if i get up early enough!)

away, but.. the race i won..

i've only ever won one race. to say it was a race proper is extending the truth a bit. it was a charity run for Cancer Research UK last year. so there weren't your usual hardened club racers. it was my last 10k of the year, and the once a year i'd tried to raise a little money for charity. i only ever do that once a year, so as not to ask my family and friends too much. i'd raised £300 odd, so was pretty happy.

the race took place in Crystal Palace Park - starting and finishing in the famous stadium. the course was none too kind - as you leave the stadium, you wind back and forth up the not inconsiderable hill, then wind back down, then round the bottom of the park, up past the dinosaurs and back through to finish in the stadium. the terrain ranged from asphalt to gravel to grass - and the route marking wasn't super-clear.

i had to go on my own, as the kids had a birthday party (if i remember correctly) and my mate wasn't running. i parked on the other side of the park to the stadium and left the kids in the wheel arch - there wasn't a bag-drop at the race. i wandered across, and it didn't seem overly organized. things started coming together as they sorted the loudspeaker and organized a group warm-up. as i joined in, i really didn't know what to expect.

the weather wasn't too great - coldish and not quite raining. i decided from the look of the crowd that i should put myself up near the front at the start - to give myself the best chance. i'd promised to those that had sponsored me that i'd do my damnedest to set a PB.

the race started, and within 200m i knew the pace wasn't good enough for a PB. so i did an odd thing. i broke away as we left the stadium complex and started out on my own. there was a guy on a pedal-bike out front i guessed put there to make sure we took the right route. anyway, he latched on pretty quick that i wanted to go quicker than the others and started talking to me. just quick comments like 'left up ahead' or 'you're still 50yards clear'. it was actually a big help.

from the moment i went out on my own i was far from clear about what i was doing. all i knew was that i needed to race against the clock this time, instead of looking at others ahead. i actually always race against the clock - i think we all do - but this time that was the only gauge i had. i knew there was at least one guy tracking me as we wound our way back down the hill, but i could see he was a fair way off. as the race went on i got more confused about the whole thing, and i spent kms 7 to 9 in fear that i was going to get caught.. which was when it really dawned on me that i was going to win if i kept it up. oddly, that came as a surprise. i could see the km markers going by and it was clearer and clearer that the guy wasn't going to catch up as long as i kept the pace up. in fact, if i remember correctly, this made me speed up!

as i came into the stadium, the crowd noticed me and started to cheer. there were only 100-200 people, but still i got that chill down my spine that the top runners must feel.. 'i'm going to win! and these people know it!'

to come in at 38:08 was a big achievement for me, and the guy who rode with me was really nice in congratulating me. i had to thank him for all the support - i think he was one of the reasons i held it together. i waited for the first few others to finish and shook hands. there was a surreal moment where the guy who came in second sort of inferred that i cut a corner on the hill, but i ignored that.. and he didn't say any more. after a little while, i went over and picked up my bag from the stands where i'd left it, got dressed and took off.

there was no ceremony - the race was about raising money, not the winner - so i just got the same medal as everyone else. i walked back through the park as the others came through to the finish. no one outside knew i'd one. made it back to the car and gave Poll a call. neither of us could actually believe it had happened - even as i told her. in fact, the whole experience still feels more like a dream than a reality. i think that's helped by the fact i went there on my own, knew no one there and came away again with no recognition. even when CR UK called up after the race, they didn't know - i mean, why should they! there are no records online of the race results.. you get the picture.

so there it is. the race that wasn't really a race.. that i won, all the same. took some doing to explain that to anyone else as they congratulated me.. and i still don't really feel like i won a 'race'. but it was a great experience all the same..

away, but.. race daze..

i wondered if i could encapsulate what happens in the run up to and on the day of a race - both physically and in my head..

first, i have to own up and be honest - racing makes me anxious. it slowly builds in the days before, i can feel that uneasiness in the base of my stomach, and i know i've subconsciously started to mull over what's going to happen. for a big race, like the two marathons i've done so far, this feeling was definitely already there a week before. and it just grows. i go over all sorts of scenarios in my head, from a non-start through to the perfect race. now i've experienced both of those, it could be i'm calming into it. it's certainly no longer the great unknown. i know what to expect - each race is slightly different, but essentially you go through the same preparation and race set-up. i still worry about getting the number on my shirt (i'm awful at getting the safety pins in straight) and getting the timing chip on (and off) my shoe. so my mind reserves a little space to allow me to fret about those a little.. i think i know how to think now - positively - but there are always the doubts that mix in but i try to blank out.

as far as physical preparation goes, i'm pretty bad at the taper i think, but i force myself now - and that's under control. i eat carbs pretty heavily for the few days before, but then on the race morning, there's a set routine. i get up and as soon as possible get a very strong, small cup of coffee down me. i've already trained myself in the run up to evacuate early in the day, but the coffee serves that purpose as well as helping me perk up. i'm noticeably more relaxed then. i hot-shower and have a glass of water and a bagel or some porridge (adding chocolate shaving and salt is a good tip, i think). then i stretch and start to take on powerade and gels or bars. this is probably too soon, so i try to hold myself back a little, but it rests my mind, so i allow myself a little leeway. then i get the number-on-shirt thing out of the way, suit up and get going. i'm probably awful company at these times (in fact, i know i am), but my head always needs to get into this plane of conciousness that's separated off and totally focused on doing well exactly how i've planned.

i sip on Powerade and take gels at the pre-race, and like everyone else need to pee just before - probably twice. one thing i do like to do though is just get on the edge of needing another pee as i start. it's become a little bit of a thing for me ever since the Paris marathon last year. i feel like it's another little urgency to get me round quickly. turns out i never need to pee at the end anyway, but it's another of those things that fit everything into place.

i don't know whether that gives any insight into my race mentality. i'd only add that i'm really emotional when i finish races - especially the marathons. down in Brighton in April, i was an emotional wreck when i saw the kids and Polly. something gets me deep inside - and they're the ones i lean on.. lovely that they are..

away, but.. food, nutrition and supplements..

thought i'd take the chance to go over what i eat and drink normally, during training.

day to day, i'd say we're a pretty healthy family. most of what we buy is fresh fruit and vegetables, some meat (chicken, fish, ham/salami), pulses, beans and pasta/rice. we do buy butter over spreads, and for our sins we buy diet yoghurts over full-fat ones.

as soon as i get up i'm hungry. so i usually have a bowl of muesli (with semi-skimmed milk), a tall glass (300ml) of a sparkling water and juice mix, and a cup of coffee. debating these days whether i need that coffee - gone off it over the last year or so. mid-morning, i'll either snack on fruit, nuts and dried fruit or have a smoothy and Eat Natural bar (depending on whether i make it myself or not). For lunch i'll either have a sandwich or a salad and a few slices of homemade sunflower or wholewheat bread. During the day - at work (where i do most of my training runs) - i drink tea (maybe 3-4 cups across the day) and two 500ml bottles of water - one in the morning and another in the afternoon. depending on the heat of the day, i may even get through another in the afternoon. In the evening, we cook from fresh, but do have the tendency to eat a little too late on Mon-Wed - maybe 8 or even 9. there's no simple way round this, as the kids both eat at nursery/childminder on those days, and we dedicate our time to them from when we get back through to their bedtime. it's a balance..

dietary supplements are a new thing for me. i thought that they'd be a sensible idea about a year ago, and since then i've taken 500mg cod liver oil and 1200mg glucosamine and chondroitin combined. i also drop a 1000mg vitamin C tablet in my first bottle of water, mostly just to add some flavour, but i figure it can't harm..

i do drink the odd glass of wine, and maybe a beer or two. we'll probably have a small glass of white wine with dinner, no more (except for the expensive bottle bought cheap we opened the other night - had to have a second glass of that). on a Wednesday, i occasionally go out with the lads after football and may have two or three pints of bitter. during serious training, i back this all off and hardly touch alcohol - especially so during the first few months of the year during the build up to the marathon.

i guess my only other vice that i could claim is half-healthy is chocolate. try as i might i can't cut it out. can easily do without any other type of sweets or candy, but chocolate has to remain part of my staple diet. i wouldn't say i'm too fussy about what kind it is, but i'd err on the side of simple milk chocolate - not plain, not flavoured.. maybe with some kind of nut in. i really do believe i can feel the serotonin levels increasing and me feeling all-round better when i eat it.. that's what i like to tell myself anyway..

away for a week or so, but..

i'm off on holiday to France with my family. we're journeying down to the mid-Loire Valley. there's an old wine-pressing estate with four gites that we found last October and booked right then. going via the EuroTunnel for the first time, which should be an experience.. Joe is very excited about the whole trip - especially as the place has it's own swimming pool and lots of stuff set up for families with small kids. we are hoping for the best of weather, and it looks like it shouldn't be too bad - if not scorching hot.

there's every chance i should be able to train a little while i'm there. it looks like a lovely region to get out and run - and hopefully mornings at the gite will provide enough distraction for the kids so that Poll can have a lie-in and i can fit a few miles in too. maybe the pool's even big enough to do some laps. will obviously not be able to restrain myself on the food and wine front as usual.. it's France after all! apparently the local markets are great, so there'll be lots for us to cook, eat and enjoy. can't think of a better holiday.. [Disclaimer here for Joe that it's not near the sea, and that's undesirable - but a pool makes up for that just enough.]

i'll have no internet there to distract and leech away the hours. so to keep this fresh, i've scheduled a few posts through the week. won't be the usual daily training report, but have tried to stay focused on the running and why it's got me hooked..

recovery..

6m at 7:00 average. started off at around 7:00, but dropped back to 7:10ish by 3m in, as i was feeling a bit drained. but at 5m, on the downhill to the bottom of Hyde Park from Speaker's Corner, i picked it up and tried to maintain the just-sub-6:00 pace i'll need in the 10k to make 36min. i felt a little better at that point and thought it would be a good test of endurance and stamina to see whether i could maintain that pace for about half a mile or so. it went ok, and i found i could stay up there with a little higher heart rate and concerted breathing. weather is still good; a little more overcast - and it rained a bit last night. the tree pollen is still very high though - i could even see as a haze across the open spaces in the park. hopefully it'll die down soon.

what was apparent during that fast-paced section was the importance of form. i've been practicing the mid-foot strike and higher backlift, as well as slightly tilting my torso forward, off and on for a while now. i'd tried it earlier in the run today and noticed again how it immediately focuses one's effort and momentum - and makes you run faster. later on in the faster section, i tried this style again, and noticed the benefits immediately. will definitely have to work on incorporating this style-change into all forms of training in the coming weeks..

today was meant to be some fartlek or intervals or pyramid training. but Tuesday's hard run plus last night's football game have taken their tool, and i didn't feel up to it. i stick with the 'trust your body' mantra now, so i decided to just take the usual course around Hyde Park and run it at a decent enough pace. football was again disappointing, and i'm seriously wondering whether to keep going. will definitely enquire at the local athletic club when we get back off holiday..

racing..

so i cut through the crap in about five minutes this morning and got myself entered for the Orpington 10k on 4 July. it's also my daughter's best friend's birthday party that day, but i should be back in time. Orpington's no distance from our place, so it should be easy to get down there and ready for the 11am start. now to see if i can get my running mates to enter too. the course is multi-terrain, which is new to me, but as it's a mid-summer race, it shouldn't be too disruptive. i've put myself down for 37min, but i'll try to get as close to 36 as possible. that'd be a big jump from my 38:08 best, but i think it's on the cards, as long as i focus into some intensive training now.

i think that's all that was needed. i need goals. without goals, i'm still very keen to train, and beat myself up for not getting out there, but i lose the initiative to aim in on some specific routine. 4 Jul is five and a half weeks off now, which is ample time to get myself in the right shape, even with the holiday coming up and the trip out to the States thereafter.

don't think there's a suitable half in late July - early August to fit in with everything else. however, i might go for the Serpentine 5k at the end of July to fill that gap. maybe i'll find a half i can do in August. there is a late August 10k that's a possibility too. knowing what i know now - that i need these races to focus - i'll book myself in soon. i knew this last year, when i entered four races straight after the marathon in Paris. i already had the Stratford half booked (1:27), so i added the Beckenham 10k (38:18), the Dartford half (didn't start), the Serpentine 5k (19:05) and the Cancer Research 10k in Crystal Palace (38:08). we'd also already entered the Run to the Beat O2 (1:24) half in September. it all made for a good year, and i don't know why i've not been as active this year. let this be the start..

lungbuster..

7.5m in 51mins at 6:30, with 3 x 200m at 5:30 (at 2/3/4m). we actually slacked off to somewhere around 6:40 for the last mile and a half.. both feeling pretty empty. the weather was good, not so hot as the days previous, but still early 20s. big problem was the tree pollen coming down like rain, clogging up eyes and throats. had to stop at Lancaster Gate for water just to clear out and stop coughing. none too pleasant..

i think i might have been able to push this out just a little bit more than my mate, who called it on the pace at around 5m. i slacked off a little with him but kept it ticking over. i certainly felt it too coming down the park through that mile, but maybe could have gone on.. i chose not to, mostly because it's nice to run out together,  but also because i could feel that emptiness creeping up on me too. probably should have pushed it, but hey..

we also had to contend with the Mall and surrounding roads being blocked off as the Queen was down and through opening Parliament. it meant that we had to head up onto Pall Mall and out across Green Park, rather than up the side. not too much of an inconvenience. because of the pomp surrounding the event, we did get to run past about 200 of the Household Cavalry as they made their way back to barracks along the south side of Hyde Park. that made quite a change!

felt great to run, and run hard. my mate wasn't going to run at lunch again this week, so we compromised on the choice of run and tried to mix it up a little. the plan was to intersperse with 200m sprints every half mile, but that proved too much. all the same, the run was a real push versus what we've done recently and my lungs are certainly tired out now. good to test the lungs over the legs.

a doldrum..

didn't run again. didn't do weights as planned. someone tell me why..

sat here watching the Eng v Mex football game, having just eaten the last of that damn chocolate torte. it doesn't take me too much self-reflection to see i'm pretty disappointed in myself. and why haven't i run or exercised in three days? don't know. just don't know.. i'll definitely be out tomorrow - planning some of that speed work. and i'll enjoy it too.

maybe it's because i don't yet have a specific aim. if i knew there was a race on the horizon, i'd focus and know what was expected to get me in shape and in tune for the day. with the holiday coming up, i don't expect there'll be time for us to organize the races. i just need to keep myself ticking over and feeling like there's something coming. it's a mind game.

might go for pyramid training tomorrow - quite fancy some high-intensity sprinting and really getting myself tired. some as a punishment for this inactivity, and some as a necessary workout to limit. think i'll just play football on Wednesday, then run a quick (something like 6:30) 7.5m on Thursday lunchtime. hopefully the holiday will afford me some time to fit in a few runs. don't want to lose condition, but also don't want to make the kids or Polly wait while i satisfy my own wants.

there's something about that last point that occasionally gets to me. i would always put my family first, especially on a holiday. but sometimes i feel like i should satisfy myself too. it's certainly happened across the first few months of this year, as they've waited for me to finish up the long runs on Sunday mornings, but not much more. i fit most of my weekly runs into lunchtimes and only very rarely need to go out early. increasingly, though, i think i should make that sacrifice to myself: go to bed early, get up and get out. i think my early-bird head goes through phases - this is not one of them..

no-go zone..

weekend has been taken up by a visit from my parents. they were down to see Carmen at the O2. it was a birthday present for my dad. i went too. none of us had ever been there before, and it's an awe-inspiring venue. the show was great. however, them being here has meant i've not fitted in that long run i wanted. it was 30C at it's highest today, so even when i got half a chance around 5pm today, it was still too hot to go out - especially because i'd not paid attention and wasn't hydrated enough.

have a course all-day tomorrow. perhaps i need to get up early to fit in a decent run. Polly's out later, so no chance then..

will definitely aim for some faster, shorter runs this week. i liked the feel of those speedier runs last week, and it's going to serve well in the shorter runs planned (but not booked) for later this year.

(please don't let this be) the jinx..

5m in 34 min with 2 x 0.3m at 5:30 pace. usual loop through Hyde Park but with a cut-off at the end that takes in only the northward turn of the Serpentine. weather is again hotter (25C) and the sunshine on the edge of cruel, especially as we're running in the hottest part of the day. this was meant as a recovery run, and was taken so for the main. we started off at a steady pace, but after about 1.5m, we picked up to 6:30-6:40. i backed us off for the last mile to nearer 7:00, just to cool down and relax. this run takes me to 28m for the week so far, which while i have no races soon makes it quite high. although, this is probably what i feel in myself is actually what i want to be covering in a normal week. don't know if i'm going to be able to get out this weekend - with family down - but if i can sneak a 7 or 8 miler in on Sunday morning, that'd be great.

i'm probably going to totally jinx myself by saying this, but i'm completely injury free and my body is taking this training very well. there was the glitch at the end of last week, but that wasn't from running, it was a clash playing football. all this bodes well for the rest of the year, and i need to take advantage. definitely need to target a 10k that's going to let me go for as close to 36min (5:54 pace) as i can get, and as well finding a half (i've got this feeling Windsor - the only booked race at the moment - isn't going to be it) in which i can try to get near 1:20 (6:07). my bests are 38:09 (6:14) and 1:24 (6:30). but with the injury-free training and all the great build-up i had to the marathon, i think these times aren't completely unreasonable. it'd turn into a dream year if i could pull it all off..

quick, quick, slow..

6m in 42min with 6 x 200m at 5:30. over the usual Hyde Park loop. fitted in the sprints (or that's how they seemed to me) at around mile intervals. got very tired before the fourth one, but waited a little and took it on a downhill. the first couple and definitely the fifth were down near the 5:00 marker - for reasons of youthful exuberance, and not sense.

was to take this run with another workmate, but he backed out mid-morning to go but tickets for a summer festival, and i took the option  to include a little speedwork. did consider an out-and-out speed session up and down the hill in Green Park, but thought better of it, because i was a little tired and not feeling totally on top of my game. as well as that, i'd had a 'breakfast briefing' up town and hadn't thought enough about water intake. it was a very warm and humid day, so going out and sprinting without having drunk a good amount wouldn't have been too clever. did stop once for water on the run i did..

day was pretty full on, and when i got back it was straight into tidy-up mode, as Poll has a kids group round here tomorrow morning and my parents arrive in the evening. consequently, only just sat down now at 9pm.. and very tired. could do no better than to slink off to bed now and read my book. however, there's some delicious chocolate torte in the fridge that's calling to me..

need for speed .. and water..

7.5m at 6:50. the long Hyde Park run. didn't mean to go this fast - the preference was for a run closer to 7:10-7:20, but it's such a nice sunny day, and we got talking about all sorts of things, and we upped the pace without thinking. probably ok really, considering we'll be running shorter, faster races soon - so the training speed is going to have to go up a notch or two. it was actually quite hot along Rotten Row, around 5.5m in - no shade, running on hot asphalt.. so we were both pretty light-headed at the end. lots of water later and no need for the bathroom any time yet! supposed to only get hotter towards the end of the week too.

i was pretty tired in the run and i can feel it now too. last night i went out with one of my oldest friends, Chris. we always meet on the third Tuesday of the month. we always meet in the same place, the Cork and Bottle. there we have a couple of glasses of great wine from their fantastic board selection. then it's off to the same restaurant we always go to, rossopomodoro. Polly thinks we're crazy to always do the same thing. well, i proposed it, and we both even look forward to it now. it is a little silly considering the huge selection of great places to drink and eat in and around central London, but hey.. we used to meet in a fantastic coffeehouse on Charing Cross Rd, called caffe vergnano, and i do miss their coffee - but it's not a great way to start off an evening. not in the same way a glass of wine does. anyway, we had two glasses of wine and went on and had the obligatory pizza. i admittedly felt overly full and weary, but that's sometimes a nice way to be. was home later than planned, so we went to bed straight away. i couldn't get comfortable too easily, and through the night was up three times to get a glass of water. either the food was too salty or i'm still a complete alcohol lightweight. probably a bit of both.

not enough sleep and a restless night can really effect my performance. i'm terrible at getting to bed at a reasonable hour, and this isn't helped by me being an early bird too. Joe and i are regularly up before the girls. it's crazy that i don't make it a rule to get to bed earlier considering how great i feel when it happens and the day after, when i'm all refreshed. must try harder.

full return to training..

6m at 7:00. the full, round Hyde Park route. it initially looked like it was going to rain, but a few drops later, it gave up on the idea and backed off, so we could have a nice run in the cool shade of full cloud cover, but not so cool that it was unpleasant. probably up near 18C. the run went smoothly, didn't feel the knee hardly at all once warm. managed to pick it up a little at the end and certainly sprinted it in down the Mall at the end. just like you'd want it. my running mate's knee is still troubling him, but he thinks it's just ITB trouble and is intent to go mind over matter on it and stretch enough to make it back off eventually.

now to settle into a simple, challenging routine that i can fit into the regular work week without too much hassle. will probably go for - in the week - one 6miler at a steady rate (Tue), a speed routine of some description - a fartlek or intervals (Wed or Thu), one 7.5miler a little slower (Thu) and a 5m recovery run (Fri); then either another fast 6miler or a long run or even hill training on Sunday morning. i think that's probably enough to be too much, but better to be optimistic about what i'm gonna achieve. also need to get these damn extra runs sorted out.. my lazy fault altogether.

watched a show the other night about the changing face of British music through the eighties. reliving my youth and watching how bands like Soft Cell, Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran and the Smiths emerged, it made me think what i should be searching for on Spotify to make my afternoons more bearable! still can't get much enthusiasm for compiling playlists for the ipod to take running. i think i generally prefer no music, but every once in a while it seems like a nice idea. will have to consider buying some of this old stuff and putting it together for a test run. there's a deeper connection to that music - the music you listen to a hundred times over in your bedroom when your fifteen - and maybe that will fit in better with the way i am when i run, which itself is another state to normal.

we did go on to watch one of those pointless top 50 best ever music videos shows after that succinct historical documentary. it culminated in me finding out that Polly had never seen the Thriller video - that was inevitably number 1 - and making her watch the whole of it at midnight. nice.

running again..

4m at 7:10. ran after work, back home: off through Lewisham and up over Blackheath and straight back down through the village - then back through Lee and Manor House Gardens. just a short run to test the knee, and cross fingers it's come out just fine. this is great news - and such a relief. i'll probably try to get out most of the rest of the days this week - and it'd be better again if my running mate at work is also back to full fitness and can run too. hats off to those that run in the evening after working a full day. i find it quite the low point of the day - tired from work, needing dinner and winding down for the day. i'm pretty sure i'll always be better in the early morning or at lunchtime.

i think you know an injury has gone when you feel for it, and recognize it's still there, then realize that's not the right knee! that might be my future test.

thinking of adding panels to the blog for future races, best times at different distances. i wonder who all that would be for. probably nice for me to see, but only that - i know all the details. especially the PBs. they rattle around inside my head all the time. i think all you do when you get a new PB is think about how you are going to better that. now i've got a sub-3 marathon time, i'm cautious of thinking i will ever better it - not getting any younger! - but i do find myself straying into the thoughts of how i could shave more time off it with better training, better diet, better weight control, etc, etc.

my mother was a sprinter when she was younger - the 60yd dash, as it was then. i've no doubt she was really good. i don't think she won any big races, but i know she'd have committed to it and done her best. she helped my sprint training when i was trying to get better playing schoolboy rugby. i invited my parents to come down to Brighton for the marathon. they were keen to come and share the day - help out with the kids.. it was nice having that reassuring warmth around me on the day before - when i was going out of my mind with self-doubt and worry. we were off to the start early in the morning, so we didn't see anybody til the halfway point, where we agreed they'd be to shout us on. i almost missed them, they were further past the marker than i expected. when i saw them all calling, it seemed distant but close all at once. i felt great - better after a half than ever before (in fact, i was probably going a little too slow, but there's that could-have gone-faster attitude again..) - and seeing my parents, Polly and the kids all there for me made my heart swell some. i have to say i get terribly emotional in races. i think i realized that in the early races. when i finished in Paris last year, i cried when i saw Polly waiting for me in the repatriation area. when i finished in Brighton, it was quicker to get out and to them all. they had seen me come up the final straight, and knew where i was - having finished well up the field, there were fewer finishers around right then. i cried again when i saw them. my heart leapt up my throat. both my kids gave me huge hugs, and Polly held me as i recovered. then i got to give my mum a hug - and it felt so good to have her there. my dad too - he had spent hours with me in our long fields kicking a rugby ball back and forth.

having your family there when you excel yourself - do something that you've worked so hard at and are living the culmination of - is surely the best reward you can give yourself. i mean the medals are pretty gaudy and i've got enough t-shirts. seeing the people you love the most reflect back to you that happiness you know is there inside - because they know what it's taken.. well, that's a special thing.

sloth and the running bug..

no running since Wednesday. does that sound like fun? no, not at all.

but i think i'm ready to get back to it. tomorrow. the knee's been tender through til now, and i've not been sure about testing it. still not completely sure, but i think it's time to find out. won't get a chance to run in the day tomorrow (on a course all day), so may pop out early or may go out when i get back.. probably only a few miles - say the short four miler from here. looking forward to it, and i hope it turns out right.

the weekend's been full. we had old university friends of mine over for lunch today - did slow-cooked belly of pork with quite a lot of sides. was great. turned out just how we planned. everyone enjoyed it, and we had a good time. hadn't seen them for ages, even though they live just across London. yesterday, we started off shopping but took off to a fantastic Woodland Trust wood called the Hucking Estate. we bought a picnic and at it at the top of a rolling field full of ewes and lambs. the kids loved it. we spotted all sorts of wildlife.. just as we finished lunch, just down the fenceline a family of rabbits popped out of the fence. the woods further along on the walk were wonderful. full of bluebells and all sorts of trees. a real find.

as i've not been able to run, it's made me think a bit about what it's like to not run. and how it must have been for me before i started to run. the first race i can remember doing was a 10k in Brighton back in something like 2002 (ran 39mins, but almost died in the process). after that, i don't think i ran again for a few years. can't explain why. i think i still ran here and there, but nothing serious. It wasn't until a birthday party round at my now running mate's house back in 2007, i think. he was telling me how he'd been running with another new dad, and that they were going to do a race. from that i entered the Greenwich Meridian 10k, and ran - without training much - 46mins. i even walked up the slope the second time. after that i thought i should take it more seriously, and we decided to enter the Myra Garrett 10k in May and the Swanage half-marathon in July. I ran 52mins in the 10k, after running most of it with Piero, then running off for the last 2k on my own. i think it was then that i realized i could do better and so - i can see this from my diary then - i planned out the 8-9 weeks before the Swanage race. we were going there for the weekend and camping outside the town. i can see from my diary that i got up to 9miles three weeks before. i remember that run, and thinking how hard and long it was. what did i know! what else did i know..

my uncle was dying of cancer, and it was having a big effect on me. he was my favourite when i was young, and someone who i modelled myself on. he was a physics PhD and funny and fun. he came to visit often and came on holiday with us too. and he ran - when i was say 12 or 13 we took a run with my other uncle. it was a hot summer's day and my other uncle couldn't keep up. he got lost, about a mile from our farm, and my aunt had to go find him in a car when we got back without him. the story's been retold in our family a number of times. so i feel i learnt running from my uncle Geoff. maybe it was just that i associated my running now with these childhood experiences of running with him.

he died ten days before the Swanage run. his funeral was just three days before. i was asked to say a piece at the funeral, but broke down and couldn't finish it.

we took off on that weekend hoping that a little time away would help. it did. the campsite was lovely. we were there with my running mate and his family, and it all went very well. we were both very nervous about the race, but i think i had some of the numbness in me from the events that week to calm me. the race is tough at the outset.. there's a two or three mile hill out of town at the start of the race, and not much of it is flat throughout. the race descends back into town at the end for a finish right next to the beach. i took it fairly easy at the start, but felt ok so pushed on up through the crowd. we'd split up at the start, knowing we'd run different times. i expected to come in around 1:45 if possible. not knowing at all how it'd go. it was a hot day, and the race didn't close off the roads, so there was traffic to be aware of too. i did ok through the first eight miles. that took us to the road that led off to our campsite. [my mate had it tougher and he seriously considered giving up there and just turning off..!] from there, the miles started to cut into my legs, and by ten i was really weary. the thought of Geoff came into my mind at that time.. it hit me really hard and tears bubbled up.. the downhill started in earnest, and i was able to pick up speed and fell better, not feel him with me, but feel the warmth of his memory. i finished in 1:35, no super-time, but i was shocked and very happy. i stood in the sea, cooling my legs off and thought that this thing was definitely right for me.

since then, i've thought of Geoff in most races. sometimes the thought comes to me, sometimes i invoke it. it always helps. i've knocked over ten minutes off that time now, and i'm sure i can go further.

frustration - no running (again) and poor planning..

so it's a lovely Friday lunchtime outside. it's not as clear and sunny as it was earlier, but it's still warmer than the last few days, dry and not too breezy. perfect for a run round the park. so what am i doing sitting here writing this in my lunch-break instead of doing that. well, the knee's still not right. i RICEd it again last night, but it's still not back to normal, and i know from experience that to not trust your body (in other words, don't listen to your runner's head: 'run! run! it'll be fine, honest..') is just wrong. i've missed some hard fartlek yesterday - although my running mate here did only go round the park, and ran his knee further into trouble, unfortunately - and a simple 5miler with intervals today. that was the plan in my head at the start of the week. damn football..

and the poor planning? that's because i knew i'd be this frustrated by now, so on the way home yesterday i thought that when i got back i'd go straight up and do a quick weights session - i have some simple dumbbells, some press-up handles and a pull-up bar.. there's a easy 20min session that i've tried to keep up with at least once a week (i did it on Monday night). i could have fitted that in, relieved the tension and worn myself out a bit. but instead, i was kinda kidnapped by the .. kids and then dinner was ready. before i knew it, it was 8:30 and the moment was gone. i should have really got my act together and done it then, but Thursday night is always the biggest energy lull of my week. whatever the excuse, i didn't train - at all - then stayed up late watching politicians debate election fallout til too late, then woke up this morning sleep-deprived and exercise-frustrated.

we don't have plans for the weekend, but i doubt there will be time for me to fit in alternative exercise like swimming, but will see.. there's nothing like saying 'i'm going for a run' on a weekend morning, when no one else is that bothered - it's not going to ruin their plans, they were going to take it easy anyway.. you can't really do that with other sports, whether they be team games or something like swimming or the gym (god forbid), where you need to be somewhere. i love running for that.

link of the day so far goes to the self help section of the Wharton active isolated stretching site, as recommended on the life of lemon blog. there are image streching guides, but also links out to a youtube site, which seems to be quite extensive. worth a look..