I find myself in Sussex, for probably the last run of 2001. It’s another bad experience. My diet in the last 2 days has been dreadful. Left alone in the house for a day or two, I slip into naughty schoolboy mode, hoovering up crisps and chocolate and polishing off a bottle and a half of wine on Friday evening. Yesterday I went to the match and feasted on a hot dog and later on, celebratory fish and chips. So it was no surprise that 5 or 6 minutes into today’s run, I started to feel that ache creeping up my ribcage again, where it stayed for the next 5 miles of miserable stop-start. I am now quite certain that … …
Author: andy
The chest pains return, which would seem to blow my alcohol theory. However, they reappear after a two-day Christmas binge, so it remains likely that there’s some connection between the aching ribs and over-indulgence. Today was mild. I went running in the twilight: perfect running conditions. I felt strong and capable and confident, until 8 or 9 minutes in, when the pain began its familiar, slow spiral upwards from beneath my lowest rib. It teases for about thirty seconds, then it just sort of bursts through the top of my chest like an exploding rocket, and I have to stop. A great shame, as this evening I felt strangely powerful and somehow, sort of, ‘erect’. In my running style, that … …
No run today. After yesterday’s splendid Christmas luncheon and mince pie tragedy, I find that I’m 3lbs heavier this morning. No point in being depresssed about such trivialities. I deserved a day off yesterday, and I reassure myself that weight so easily added, will be just as easily shed again. [Distant sounds of barely-suppressed mirth.]… …
4 miles before breakfast on Christmas morning. What’s the world coming to? I’m knackered. Looking forward to a rest day tomorrow. Weighed myself, as normal, when I got up. I’m now 211lbs, precisely 25lbs less than when I started, on September 23rd. This is a very welcome seasonal gift to myself. Happy Christmas!… …
This week calls for a reshuffle of runs. The plan I’m following calls for a rest day today, then 3 miles, 4 and 3 for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Wednesday is going to be busy so I run today and tomorrow, then rest Wednesday, then run as scheduled on Thursday. It means running 4 miles on Christmas Day – that is certainly a first. Today’s run was good. A straightforward 3 miles. Up to the top of North Lane and back – exactly 3 miles. For the first time I thought about speed today. Too early to think about it too much. Endurance and stamina must be more important at this stage of the game, but I was curious about … …
Today I ran 7.06 miles without stopping. 91 minutes of continuous running. Blimey. They are two near-unbelievable facts. I need to say this: that if someone like me can do this on his 28th run, just 62 days after starting running, then anyone can. When I began the pre-marathon schedule, I couldn’t run for 3 minutes without bashing my head on the Grim Reaper’s sickle. The very thought of running an entire mile was exhausting. Today’s run was the second ‘long run’ in the 18-week marathon training programme. What seasoned practitioners call, slightly mischievously I’m sure, an “LSD run”, which (I think) stands for long, slow distance. Last Sunday’s task was 6 miles, though it was a run ruined by … …
Supposed to be a rest day, but after missing 2 days following the calf problem, I needed to try it out today, and get back on track. Ran 3 miles. The calf ached, but not seriously enough to stop.… …
Only a week into my programme, and already I find myself in a trough. After last week’s fate-tempting sense of triumph, it was perhaps inevitable that on Sunday’s long run I’d get the chest pains again; that on Monday I’d unexpectedly go down with crisps-and-chocolate-fever, and that just a mile into this morning’s run, I’d suddenly get a sharp stab of pain in my left calf, and have to limp back home. I’ve not been very good about warming up and warming down, and doing stretching exercises in the evening in front of the TV, and glugging water all day, and all those other things that everyone says you should do, and which seem very easy, but that in fact … …
My first ‘long run’ day of the marathon programme calls for 6 miles. (Everything is relative. For a novice runner, 6 miles is a long run.) It’s not a good experience. I have a recurring problem with chest pains, and have to keep stopping to walk. “Chest pains?! My God! You’re mad!” is the usual sort of reaction I get when I mention this to people. But I don’t think it’s quite as dangerous as it sounds. It’s an ache that appears around the left hand side of my ribcage. It feels like a stitch, but in the wrong place. I’m beginning to think it might be related to alcohol. Certainly the last 3 times this has happened has followed … …
I’m following Hal Higdon’s marathon training guide which specifies that Friday and Monday are always rest days. So no run today, and I behave naughtily, deciding to celebrate my day-pass with a brief trip to the local pub, followed by a glass or two of Chablis when I return home. Well OK, a bottle of Chablis. Let’s face it, it won’t keep more than a day or so, and I had to drink it all to remove the temptation of drinking more of it tomorrow. Quite sensible really. Let’s deal with the wine first and weigh up these peripheral issues later. Much later. I’m not a great fan of Chablis, though such a pronouncement tends to turn into a self-reinforcing … …