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..