February 2015

[marathondan]

Another nice pre-dawn sortie this morning, 6.5 miles tempo around the field after another light dusting of snow. The ground is nice and hard now, lightly rutted paths giving the ankle muscles a good workout. There were a few dogs out in the dark; with their flashing collars they're like low-flying jet fighters swooping ominously across the radar. Today, air traffic control reined them in before they could move in for an assault.

Finished off Appetite and then moved on to the Offspring's Americana. I might try and work through my uptempo albums in alphabetical order.

[marathondan]

Week 7 of 18

Another week in the bank with a good long run this morning. I had the luxury of a 7am start, and after a week of dry, cold weather the ground was firm enough for me to take in my long circuit. It was a lovely morning to be out, clear skies, crisp underfoot, dog walkers out in their droves and a fair few runners too. 12 and a bit miles, with enough in the tank for a fast final mile, then home for pancakes.

The long run is a step back this week, then we go up to 13 and 15 miles. Remarkably, I only have 5 more ground-breaking long runs to go. 

   

[marathondan]

Another sound 6+ miles tempo before dawn this morning. As always it was hard / surreal / insane work at that time of morning, but I did notice that after about 4 miles I began to settle into a rhythm. I always take that as a good sign that on some level I'm meant to be a long-distance runner.

The watch showed 4 seconds slower than the identical route at the identical time last week. But both times there was a good minute of stopping to fiddle with the mp3 player. And this week the going was softer, so I'm taking that as a slight improvement.

Americana gave way to And Justice For All. 

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

You are a long distance runner Dan. There's no doubt about that.

[marathondan]

Week 8 of 18

An uneventful week in the bag. A sound tempo session, a tough interval workout (both pre-dawn), and this morning a step-back of a mere 8 miles.

   

[marathondan]

Week 9 of 18

Half term break for me this week, so I've had the luxury of some slightly later runs - the start time has tended to begin with a 7 rather than a 5. And for this morning's 13 miler I treated myself to a full-on mid-morning start. But first there was the matter of breakfast.

No 2 daughter (6) has been doing her cook badge for Beavers, so as it was a Sunday morning, what better task to set her to than a full English breakfast. So I instructed her in the ways of bacon, egg and beans, while no 1 daughter added hash browns, mushrooms, sausages and black pudding, as well as copious tea, which she's become expert at this week. I decided this wasn't the ideal pre-run meal for me, so I sat and ate my bowl of cereal while watching the family tuck into their groaning platefuls.

The run started well, despite the later hour the ground was still firm from the frost, and I covered the first five miles in less than 45 minutes. But as the morning wore on, the surface cut up more and more, the frost was a distant memory, and I was sliding all over the shop. So the final third was a real effort - the poor conditions must have been worth an extra couple of miles. For the first time this campaign, I encountered the urge to stop and walk, but pushed on through and finished in 2:04. Stretches done, I peeled off my barely recognisable shoes and socks outside the door, then made for the kitchen. Two minutes in the microwave, and I inhaled my portion of the fry-up, making a considerable dent in the 2000 or so calorie deficit from the run. 

That was the first really challenging run so far. I get the feeling that the real training starts here. Not sure how much longer I can put up with the muddy slogs. Having said that, they're probably doing me good. And ironically, if I'd gone out at 6 this morning, the ground would still have been hard.

Interval session this week saw the run / recovery cut to 110s / 70s. I'm struggling to get up to a real max effort during these sessions. 

In fancy dress news, I'm probably going to take the fairly straightforward option and go for the gorilla. It's 5 years since Gus made his marathon debut. The step-back 14 miler in week 14 is pencilled in as a full "heavy gear" session - triple layers, ski mask and gloves, woolly hat, etc. Just to remind me of the sheer joy of it.

   

[marathondan]

The plan called for 7.5 miles tempo this morning, so the alarm was set for 5.15. As you know, I log all of my runs in a spreadsheet, and this also includes a record of which shoes I wear. As I was logging my last couple of runs, the spreadsheet showed me that I'd clocked up 507 miles in my current pair. A light flashed and the spreadsheet played a little tune (not really). But the 500 mile barrier had been reached, so it was time to retire them. They are veterans of the 2012 London marathon, and have lasted this long because I've gone two intervening years without a marathon. But it looks like Sunday's sludge-fest, when they came back coated in about half an inch of mud, will be their last outing.

With overnight rain forecast, and the temperature positively positive, I didn't fancy another skating session round the field trying to attain a decent pace. So with a brand new pair of cushioned shoes available, it seemed like a road session was in order. Hard, hard work. 7+ miles is a long way to keep pushing the pace, especially at 5.30 in the morning. But it's in the bank. Again, it feels like the serious stuff is only just beginning.

So the new shoes have their first mud spots on them. They will be the pair to carry me down the Mall on April 26th. But they still have over 200 miles to cover before we reach the start line.

The Occasional A-Z Of Uptempo Albums I Happen To Have On My Low Capacity Mp3 Player has now progressed as follows:

Appetite for Destruction
Americana
And Justice for All
Bat Out of Hell (strong ballad filtering required)
Conspiracy of One
Deepest Purple

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Good work Dan, keep it coming. I understand the comment re Meatloaf, too. That album never really worked for as a running collection, despite loving it to bits. The running tempo just isn't there.

[marathondan]

Good work Dan, keep it coming. I understand the comment re Meatloaf, too. That album never really worked for as a running collection, despite loving it to bits. The running tempo just isn't there.

There's one piece of running perfection in it - the last 30 seconds of All Revved Up. I guess that accounts for about 1% of the playing time though.