June June there is no spoon.

[Bierzo Baggie]

Looks like you got seriously in touch with your mountain spirit in the photo at the end.

Great stuff. Hope that there's more of this to come between now and November....careful with the injuries.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

.......I'm under no illusions here - a half marathon all uphill at a good pace is no easy thing for me to do. I'm going to need each one of those remaining five months with very little slacking off allowed - as much a challenge as the race itself.

I'm sure the great SP is taking his own training just as seriously...

Yes, his quietness suggests that he's either out there hitting the hills in serious, secret training mode ready to pounce on his unsuspecting colleagues in November, or .... well, I hardly think the alternative worthy of a mention.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

And yes Dan, BB, it was a bit of a wake-up call. I took the calf out for a "climb back on the horse" jog this morning - just 3km at a gentle recovery pace and it passed the test OK, but even so I'll be careful.

[marathondan]

And yes Dan, BB, it was a bit of a wake-up call.

I refrained from using the phrase "wake-up" call - it's not as if you've been dozing!

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

14 weeks ... 403 km ... 59 runs = 4.3 runs per week @ 6.8km per run

When I began this campaign just on 100 days ago I started out with the idea of running every day, even if only for 10 - 15 minutes. It was my way of attemtping to make it a definite lifestyle change - just an automatic part of the everyday routine. I knew that realistically it was unlikely I'd average 6 - 7 runs per week but I did think it'd get me up in the 4-5 runs per week range, which is where I thought I needed to be. Previously when I've planned 3 - 4 runs each week it has ended up more like 1 or 2. So in that sense it has worked. A little over 4 runs per week is a big improvement on the road to MLCM running consistency.

So I'm sort of there. The stats aren't especially great, and of course the stats don't lie. I feel as if I've put in a good effort and covered a great deal of ground, and I suppose I have done so, in a mid-life crisis kind of way. But 28km per week isn't yet where I want to be. I feel that to be confident of a good show on the mountain in November I should be averaging 35 - 40km each week with a good long run (20+ km) every fortnight and many more hills than I'm currently seeing. Instead I've managed just five decent long runs in the 14 weeks, and three of those were 17km. The hills have been there, but not with any sort of proper planning and therefore lack the quality I need to get me up Mt. Wellington.

But let's be honest - it is a fabulous starting base; I still have 5 months to go and so there's plenty of time to get the hill training in and it has to be said I am now at the point where I could go out any day you like and pretty comfortably run a half marathon (and how many times have I been able to say that in my life?)

I've also dropped my weight from 84 to 77 kgs and feel fabulous. So despite only running on 60% of the days available to me, it has been a very positive experience. And now I'm a little more than one third of the way to this year's main goal - 14 weeks down, 21 to go. It's a long campaign, but actually this has been a lot more than just about the race in November. I'm nearly 50 years old, and although I've been running for over seven years I've missed a lot of my goals along the way and don't want to quit the sport wondering if I could have ticked a few more of those boxes. To do that I need a good year under my belt and a bloody solid base to kick off from.

Maybe 60% isn't good enough, but it must be said I'm feeling unusually positive about it. We'll see.


P.S. The calf is fine.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Thank God for Billy Connolly. Although he doesn't like runners ("Boo joggers" he advises) he does make me realise why my previous post is so damned boring. And pretentious. Gad.

Still, you should always spend time in the company of people who'll tell you when you have spinach in your teeth (more BC advice), so if I'm to be pretentious and/or dull, here's a good place to do it.

Fine.

All I wanted to say was that while my training is going well, I'm also remembering to have a good - shall we say, less wholesome slice of fun with life too. As we should. Halos don't shine unless they're hovering above something or someone a little less sparkly.

Back to Billy - he acknowledges that sometimes we should run, but that we should "never run with scissors or other pointy objects. Campaign against blue Smarties and never eat anything served in a bucket. But above all, go to Glasgow at least once in your life and have a roll and square sliced sausage with a cup of tea."

I feel a fried breakfast coming on.

Yay, Billy.


Square sausage, black pudding, baked beans, fried bread and mushrooms.

[marathondan]

Looks offally good.

[marathondan]

Seriously, you have no reason to be anything but positive. We rarely hit the training consistency targets that we set, but as you say it's a fantastic base and you are in a position now to take the effort level up a notch or two. The daily run was an interesting experiment; maybe you think it was a success or maybe not. For me, if I have a serious training job to do, I swear by the three planned runs per week that must be ticked off for me to feel I'm making progress. But each to his own.

As you point out, you're only a third of the way through the programme. A great time to take stock and set the plan for the next couple of months. Keep at it mate!