It's getting better

[Charliecat5]

The only sounds were our synchronised feet pounding the turf, and the rasping of our breath.  

In different ways, both Rob (OATR) and I have had difficult weeks, so we knew an evening run to Blackcap wasn’t going to be the usual joyous affair, but more an opportunity to switch off for an hour.   The silence between us for the first mile or two was stark.  Running side to side, lost in our own thoughts but appreciating the company.   It wasn’t until we broke through the last gate before the Blackcap peak that we started to chat.  Chatting about the trivial things, the usual aches and pains of running. 

We ran a steady pace to the top where I threw myself to the ground for a moments recovery before we turned tail to run back over Mount Harry and then the long decline into town.

The run felt slow and stilted, the high pollen count causing the need for several stops to catch my breath.  As is usual these days, Rob ran steadily throughout, working his pace like a metronome.   On our return, my stats told a slightly different story.  Even with the frequent stops, it was quick – quicker than expected. 

As I trotted down the hill home, having said goodbye to Rob, I felt as though we both needed that.  A sense of shared solitude out on our beloved hills.

[OutAlongTheRiver]

Just read this on Sunday. Much appreciated, both run & blog.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Nice one, lads.

[twittenkitten]

A sense of shared solitude out on our beloved hills.

Wonderful and a lovely blog about it too :-)

[Charliecat5]

This week has been three days in Bremen, a very quaint city in northwestern Germany.  I say quaint.  The centre of town is very lovely, but the rest of the town is a hive of aeronautical and big industry.  Including the Kellogg's factory (which is why I was here), and InBev where they make Becks Beer (I had a tour around this factory a couple of years ago).

Anyway, travel constraints (i.e. lack of flights from the UK) has meant three days of travel for one day of meetings.  The result... plenty of time for running.  So I've hit the paths and streets twice.  

The first was a three miler around a most amazing park just out front of the hotel.  Lots of paths, junctions, woodland, lakes, and opportunities to get *ahem* lost.  when I say three miles... it was a little bit more by the time I found my way home again (don't tell Radar).

The second was this morning.  Following a reasonably heavy night on Weizenbier, I forced myself out of bed before it got too hot and set off towards and along the river.  With a hangover and heavy legs, I cannot pretend it was my finest hour, but it was nice to be out running when most of the residents commuted to work. I spent an enjoyable five minutes at the halfway point watching the young and beautiful go past on their bikes before turning tail and running it back in. Four miles was enough this morning and I arrived back just as the evil demands of work reared their heads and the phone started ringing.  

Following such a fine effort, and having missed breakfast, I treated myself (and my client) to a big fat burger for lunch, before taking the train to Hannover so I can catch a plane to take me home again.  Such is the life of the travelling consultant.  

[marathondan]

Hangover, Hannover.

It's a while since we've had one of these run-ologues. It is oft said that the runner gets a unique perspective when visiting a city. Sets you up for the day, too. Until that heavy lunch, anyway.

[Charliecat5]

I’m watching with great interest the progress of Marathondan and MLCMM as they head through their structured training programme.  Staged runs, intervals, talk of tapering, and improvements.

Down on the south coast, we do things differently.  We don’t plan, we don’t have structure, we just see if anyone is around and head to the hills.   We then wonder why we ache so much, and spend time so much time reflecting on why this running lark just doesn’t seem to get any easier.  Although to be fair, OATR is running very well at the moment.

Last week is a case in point.  It went like this. 

Sunday: 7.5 mile run over Blackcap and back through the woods.  It was fairly steady as Radar was a little off form.

Monday: One hour ‘yoga for runners’ session with OATR.  This is a full-on workout which stretches parts of the body that hitherto had no idea they could be stretched so far.  To recover we chucked in an impromptu Twitten session to work out the niggles.

Tuesday: was a very soggy 8 miles with the Herd, up-hill and down at a fair old lick.  One of our party completely wiped out on a slippy narrow section which wasn’t pleasant.  She still beat me down the hill though.

I then had a break until yesterday (Sunday), when Rob and I hit the Twittens at 9am, and then set out for a beautiful 8 miles from Firle in the evening.   Joined this time by Radar.   It was bloody tough, but the view from the tops were just glorious.

Today, I sit here aching like a bugger, wondering about the lack of structure to my running.   On a positive note, at least we’re running.  Our larger than life friend, Sweder, hasn’t been seen for weeks.

[marathondan]

I don't have the willpower to do unstructured. I need to commit to something beforehand, or I'm unlikely to follow it through. Sounds like a tidy week from you - well done. Will the yoga be a regular thing?

[Charliecat5]

Heart rate running then.

Starting on a positive note, it is quite apparent that I do have a heart.  At times (lots of times) it beats very fast.  Even when I’m not moving very fast.

With all the strange talk on here of heart rate running and the peculiarities of the Maffetone Method, I decided to do some exploration of my own and try running to my heart rate – in other words running to effort rather than pace.

The bugger with this latest fad of mine, is that I was on the cusp of leaving behind running technology all together, and now I have even more stuff strapped to my being.  A watch and a heart rate strap.

A little bit of reading around the subject made it clear that I needed to know both my resting and flat-out, I’m gonna die, heart rate.  I already knew my resting rate, which sits around 45bpm (I know), and the Twittens seemed to be a perfect way in which to find out my maximum heart rate.  Or so I thought.

I stupidly assumed that being a reasonably fit person that this heart rate running malarkey would be quite a comfortable experience.  All I had to do was to work out a good heartrate zone and then run into the metaphorical sunset.  The reality was somewhat different. I cannot believe how quickly my heartrate rises.  Having planned to run around 140bpm mile after mile over the hills, I was somewhat surprised to find my rate heading north of 100bpm before I’d even got to the top of the steps opposite Chez Cats.

But this is nothing when compared to the Twittens which were a really odd experience.   OALR, Radar and I planned a pre-twitten warm-up run – a slightly modified Sweder’s circuit. Weirdly, the highest heart rate achieved over the whole run, including the Twittens, was on the long downhill leg from the Downs to the bottom of town.  OALR set a pretty robust pace, but still.  How could I be hitting such a heartrate when I had gravity firmly on my side?

Last week, with my heartrate settings dialled into the Garmin I headed out the door for a five-mile early morning run.  It started well… a nice warm up under 140bpm.  But as soon as I reached any incline I was up around 160bpm.  To keep below this involved a brisk walk… and I don’t do brisk walking when I’m meant to be running.   My average over the distance was 158.

This week, we’re in Cornwall enjoying the Cornish air (torrential rain).  On Tuesday morning, I set off for a little exploration of the local paths.  Down the road, across the footpath to the coastal path into Tintagel, before heading back to our sleepy holiday house.  It was hilly, very hilly.  But once again I really struggled to keep my heartrate down.  In fact, the last sprint up the hill to the house blew my previous maximum heartrate out the water.  I discovered a new PB (or PHA (personal heart attack)).   

So, as I sit here looking out across the Atlantic Ocean, reflecting on this experience, I am buggered if I know what it’s telling me.   Other than I’m not as fit as I thought I was.  Oh well, I need to pop out now anyway to re-stock the beer fridge.

[El Gordo]

I’m watching with great interest the progress of Marathondan and MLCMM as they head through their structured training programme.  Staged runs, intervals, talk of tapering, and improvements.

I like the spirit of the CC5 approach but, like Dan, I much prefer(red) the structured method. Though much depends on your destination. If you just run for the hell of it (and why not?) then sure, it makes little difference. If you're heading for a marathon, you really need to check the training boxes or, like me post-Berlin, you can end up with a bad injury. Can't recall if you've run a marathon or longer, but (and it's a cliché, but true) it's as much a mental as physical challenge. The measured, structured approach definitely helps with the mental preparation. 

All that said, no one here in my experience has ever sailed through the 18-20 weeks of marathon prep without at least one big crisis and a few smaller ones. But that's where structure becomes important -- it helps you to gauge how to deal with training gaps; to rationalise and absorb these bumps. A looser preparation creates more uncertainty.

Ooops, that was a bit earnest, what? 

Better answer: whatever works for you!

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Erm, yes, best not follow my example, CC5 ... everything kind of tanked big time and very quickly. My mistake was doing too much different training (i.e. a switch to off-road running) too soon and too fast. Everything has to be softly, softly once you get to that "certain" age.

Rough rule of thumb: as your capacity for strong liquor reduces with age, so should you ease back on the strenuous exercise. Long, languid sessions, such as you might have with a pleasant, but not overly alcoholic IPA, are the go.

[marathondan]

Hey MLCMM, you may have hit upon a new way of describing runs. This evening I will be downing as many shots as I can in an hour.

[Charliecat5]

Like London buses.  There is nothing posted on this forum for weeks, and now there's enough posts to fill Piccadilly Circus.

[Sweder]

Like London buses.  There is nothing posted on this forum for weeks, and now there's enough posts to fill Piccadilly Circus.

T'was ever thus. It's one of RC's enduring qualities; comfortable silences.

[marathondan]

Ironically, for a running forum, running and writing both seem to go in cycles.

[Sweder]

Ironically, for a running forum, running and writing both seem to go in cycles.

I see what you did there.
I LIKE it

[marathondan]

You may have spoke too soon. You'll soon tyre of these puns. They might just brake you.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Can we just saddle this argument one way or the other?

[Charliecat5]

Can we just saddle this argument one way or the other?

That's wheelie terrible MLCMM.   And as for MD, well he's a bloody cycle-path.

[twittenkitten]

Can we just saddle this argument one way or the other?

That's wheelie terrible MLCMM.   And as for MD, well he's a bloody cycle-path.

Glad to see you're all still on fine writing form then ... and there was me enjoying the comfortable lack of terrible puns ... eeeerrr I mean, worrying you'd all become too serious.