December 2016

[Sweder]

Last month of a busy and, for celebrities of a certain age, brutal year and I'm hopeful it'll be a good one.
Crisp, dark mornings, laced with ice, await. The leaves have fallen, ripped from bared branches by a series of storms. Mud has swallowed grass, browns and greys stain autumn's golden gown.
This is a fine time to be running. 

Late November saw a mini-mileage surge. I managed a run every three days from the 18th onwards, as consistent as I've been all year. Yesterday I hit my second-fastest* Bevendean ParkRun of 2016, this morning the first in our second year of Twitten sessions. Last week I clocked a 9+ kilometre sojourn, a leisurely visit to BlackCap via the Chalk Pits. It's by some way my longest run in ages. I've got a bit bogged down in same-old same-old outings. I'm not really running with CC5's Herd these days, as I still feel a little under-cooked for such exalted company.
*least slow (and, for the first time, V55-59)

My aim for December is to increase time on my feet, hopefully getting a two-hour, non-stop easy run in before year's end.
That would be quite a thing. 

Diet-wise I'm still low-carbing it, well into week four of the experiment. I'm less enamoured with these results, if I'm honest. 
I wasn't expecting a six-pack but I can glean no discernible change other than mild irritation at a lack of beer. Little to no bread, barely a grain of sugar, no pasta, no rice, no pastry. Hardly a beer worthy of the name, though some nice red wine has eased that particular pain. I'm barely touching cow's milk, coconut and almond standing in. Whole cheeses remain on my menu.

Plenty of good vegetables, un-processed meat, fish, nuts, fruit. All very Paleo, all fairly uneventful.
I'll most likely knock this on the head as seasonal pressures kick in later this month.
Just tonight I scarfed a full roast, replete with Yorkshires, roast tatties and tasty neeps.

On, on ...

[The Beast of Bevendean]

Welcome to a new age group. It's always a moment of hope and renewal, imagining leaving the old crocks at the top end of the age group standing as you power past them. The reality can be different. As I cudglled my brains preparing the results of my club's ten mile race yesterday, I looked up the performances of the four VM70 runners in the race. Astonishingly, two of the four finished this tough course in under 1:30, and a third was just outside that time. There's hope for us all.

[Charliecat5]

I'm not really running with CC5's Herd these days, as I still feel a little under-cooked for such exalted company.

This weekend's planned run with Radar came to a crashing halt in equal measure to the speed that I was hit with my first cold of the winter.  Spent most of the weekend feeling very sorry for myself, reading reports of others running and Ladies Football in beautiful weather conditions.   Boo!
This coming weekend I am planning a 15 miles foray over the hills - it won't be quick but it has been a target of mine before the year closes.  Radar is coming with me... although she doesn't know it yet.  Any other takers are welcome.

[OutAlongTheRiver]

When will it be this weekend ....

[Charliecat5]

When will it be this weekend ....

That's a tricky question - M is away Saturday night which means Sunday morning will be tricky.  Potential for Saturday (but I know Radar struggles on Saturdays) or Sunday from mid-morning.   Open to ideas.   Including the idea that goes along the lines of "why don't we go to the pub instead?"

[Sweder]

At the risk of hijacking my own thread, Sunday late morning/ midday is out for me. I have a date with a bunch of fine, sporting ladies in none other a palace of yesteryear football than Luton Town. Besides, fifteen miles is bonkers, unless it's ten-minute-plus mileing, in which case it's simply daft.

[Charliecat5]

At the risk of hijacking my own thread

The accusation!  I cannot remember a time ever, ever, when any of my threads weren't hijacked by you lot! 

On a serious note, I think it more likely that I will be running Sunday than Saturday, may be an afternoon run.  OATR are you in?

[Sweder]

Well into December and I've finally entered the Medio Maraton de Almeria XX - Dorsal 621
That makes it all rather real; a half marathon in little over seven weeks. That's five weeks of training, a week off for Christmas and a week of 'tapering'. 'Tapering' seems a luxury I can live without, as the word suggests I'll have reached the sort of distance and effort one has to in order to row back from. Unlikely at this point.

I have invested in a bike, though. A 'hard tail' off-road beast that will help me to get out a little more regularly to work on general fitness without pounding the joints. As my surgeon suggested post-surgery, the meniscus has not grown back to anything like full compliment. As I run more, so the knee stiffens and complains. I won't stop, so cycling, albeit hilly, off-road mud-plugging, seems a good compromise.

There is also the rowing machine, gathering a fine layer of leaves out back. I really ought to get to grips with that. It would seem that my catalogue of excuses for being unfit is shrinking. Best get on with it, then.

PS. AA Gill, some-time controversial restaurant critic and impassioned writer on a great variety of subjects, passed away this week. He announced that he had 'the full English' of cancers, pretty much in every part of his body. Gill was 62. I enjoyed his writing, as, like HST and Christopher Hitchens, he so often wrote without fear. This landed him in hot water on more than one occasion, most recently with the Twitterati over a perceived attack on the then Queen of Twitter, Clare Balding. As he pointed out himself in interview, it was his unfortunate, uncharacteristically clumsy phrasing that caused offence. He was actually quite a CB fan.

Here's a link to one of my favourite AA Gill pieces. I've posted this before, and, in keeping with Mr Gill's M.O., make no apology for doing so again now. It's a cracking read. Vanity Fair - L'amis Louis

[Sweder]

A tough series of outings as Man Flu takes a firm grip.
That, or these continuous sniffles are signs of my deep sadness at not having seen Rogue One yet.

Recently completed:
Thursday 4.5 kms (hilly, chilly, dark; easy)
Saturday 5 kms Bevendean ParkRun (hilly, muddy; sluggish, leaden-legged). Well off my best pace.
Sunday 4.45 kms Twitten Run (hill sprints; hard) - one of just two Twitten runners on the day. Not the faster one, either. Tough.

Rest day Monday, hoping to extend my morning run on Tuesday.
Something around 8 or 9 kms (easy) would be good. No biking as yet; saving that for later.

Planned:
Tuesday 8-9 kms (hilly, slow)
Thursday 5 kms (quick)
Saturday 5 kms (ParkRun)
Sunday 4.45 kms (Twittens)

Rowing & biking on hold until the lurghie is banished.
On, on.

[Sweder]

Planned:
Tuesday 8-9 kms (hilly, slow)
Thursday 5 kms (quick)
Saturday 5 kms (ParkRun)
Sunday 4.45 kms (Twittens)

Let's see how that went, shall we?
Tuesday's steady wobble to BlackCap racked up the planning 8.5 kms
Thursday's 5k was dumped due to a combination of foul weather and lack of arsed-ness
This morning's horribly hung-over ParkRun was battered out in 28.50. I didn't throw up so that's a win
Tomorrow I plan to join OATR and anyone else mad enough at 9am for a rare Christmas Day Twitten Run

B+. Not bad, could do better.
I've lined up a Tuesday morning 5-7 kms plod, set to join Julie and the Canine Runners for an assault on Mount Caeburn on Thursday.
ParkRun on New Years Eve and New Years Day Twittens would constitute a fair result for Christmas week.

Happy Christmas one and all. Stay safe, eat, drink and be merry.

[Antonio247]

Well done, S! Happy Christmas all of you! ¡Feliz Navidad a todos!


Saludos desde Almería

[Sweder]

Christmas Day Twittens may just have become A Thing. 
Really enjoyed the cameraderie, the shared sense of lunacy. Less enjoyable was the lack of tasty coffee at the finish. Given the rest of them were, by comparison, whippets, I did well to hang on for one of the fastest sessions of 2016. 

   

[marathondan]

Nice work Sweder!

I nipped out for a dusk effort on Christmas day, while the rest of the family were reclining on sofas watching other people baking cakes on TV. They were largely unmoved when I returned.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Well done guys! Sounds like a mobile Christmas was had. Merry Christmas everyone!