1 January 2018 10,800 steps no running weight 79.8kgs
A hot, muggy start to 2019 carries on the energy-sapping heat of the last half of December. We saw in the new year by watching the fireworks on telly and then I toasted it with a nip of Laphroaig 10-year-old single malt. Then off to bed and a long lie-in. Unlike some years which have seen me hit the streets early on New Years' Day for a virtuous run, high-fiving revellers still returning from their celebrations, this time there was no running. This was due mainly to the heat, but also the tennis, which was all-consuming (both the Hopman Cup and the Brisbane International). The Hopman Cup in Perth even made the news when Roger Federer and Serena Williams, surely two of the greatest tennis players ever, played against each other for the first and perhaps only ever time in the mixed doubles*.
And did I feel guilty for missing the opportunity to kick off 2019 in proper, athletic style? No, not a bit of it, but that will change, and probably very soon.
*For the record, Federer and partner Belinda Bencic representing Switzerland defeated the U.S.A. team of Williams and Frances Tiafoe 4-2, 4-3 (5-3) ... and no, that's not a typo. At the Hopman Cup the mixed doubles is played in the abbreviated 'fast four' format.
2 January 2014 22,605 steps 30 mins running weight 79.9 kg
Feeling over-wrought with the combination of continuing heat, humidity and an excess of seasonal indulgence, I stepped on the treadmill this morning determined to get this year’s running well and truly under way. This was to be a slow and easy, and slow it was, certainly. But easy? No, it was worryingly tough going, but it’s a start. Given the conditions, I don’t know why I expected it to be anything other than hard going, but there you are: sometimes optimism gives rise to unwarranted and unrealistic expectations.
The songs that came up on my random play mp3-thing were interesting. As I cranked up the pace from warm up to an actual run, Ph.D’s I Won’t Let You Down added a touching and not irrelevant note to the occasion, although next up was The Pixies’ excellent Where Is My Mind? which admittedly seemed probably more appropriate just at that moment.
Thinking thoughts along those lines, I was reminded of something written by that remarkable philosopher Alan Watts that I only saw for the first time recently. Speaking about breaking out of mediocrity to extend one’s self in your chosen field of endeavour, he said that we should explore our limits, not so much those of endurance, but in seeing how far down our chosen path we can go ‘without getting lost’. This resonated with me, as we older runners too often get the idea of constant improvement through greater speed and endurance confused with what all this running is truly about. For me the idea is to incorporate running into my life in such a way as to enhance both, but primarily the living part of the equation. Too many times I get engrossed in the training program and fixated on race goals or setting PBs, and end up, as Watts puts it, ‘getting lost’ in the detail and business of running, when what it’s for is the enhancing of everyday life and for extending it as long as possible. The goal, therefore, should not be about say, running a 4-hour marathon, but exploring that unknown territory where your running is not only enjoyable, but which maximises your ability to enjoy everyday life whilst not running. One of the reasons I haven’t persisted with my oft-repeated desire to run another marathon is that the sacrifice you must make in terms of the sheer amount of training and the time that takes away from family, is too huge. Which isn’t to say it won’t one day happen, but it must be part of the solution, not a detour down one of the many paths that lead to us ‘getting lost’ on the road to holistic health and well-being. Something like that, anyhow. Melancholic people like me don’t make good philosophers, I think. Except maybe for Simone Weil, and she starved herself to death at the age of 34. I can assure you that suicide by starvation is something which is very unlikely to happen to me.
With the run done, I entered the results into my brand-spanking new spreadsheet. I’ve started a whole new one, as I do every few years, but this time with a new emphasis. Given the way I’m now thinking, things need be a whole lot simpler, so rather than set race goals, PB targets and painstakingly recording every kilometre run, I have set myself the modest goals for this phase of my fitness ‘program’ of covering 10,000 steps each day through whatever means possible and of getting myself back to half-marathon readiness with no thought as to how long covering that distance may take. My only other goal is to lose 5kgs or a little more to get back to where I was when I last felt properly fit and truly healthy. Apart from the exercise, that does require cutting down a little on things like booze, and … well, the booze mainly.
Sigh.
Oh, and about my left foot and that pesky plantar fasciosis which caused me so much grief last year: before and during today’s run there was no pain at all. Afterwards I could feel it, but really it was of no concern. I truly think this may be one of the last times I even mention it.
(03-01-2019, 06:03 AM)Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man Wrote:
2 January 2014 22,605 steps 30 mins running weight 79.9 kg
Feeling over-wrought with the combination of continuing heat, humidity and an excess of seasonal indulgence, I stepped on the treadmill this morning determined to get this year’s running well and truly under way. This was to be a slow and easy, and slow it was, certainly. But easy? No, it was worryingly tough going, but it’s a start. Given the conditions, I don’t know why I expected it to be anything other than hard going, but there you are: sometimes optimism gives rise to unwarranted and unrealistic expectations.
The songs that came up on my random play mp3-thing were interesting. As I cranked up the pace from warm up to an actual run, Ph.D’s I Won’t Let You Down added a touching and not irrelevant note to the occasion, although next up was The Pixies’ excellent Where Is My Mind? which admittedly seemed probably more appropriate just at that moment.
Thinking thoughts along those lines, I was reminded of something written by that remarkable philosopher Alan Watts that I only saw for the first time recently. Speaking about breaking out of mediocrity to extend one’s self in your chosen field of endeavour, he said that we should explore our limits, not so much those of endurance, but in seeing how far down our chosen path we can go ‘without getting lost’. This resonated with me, as we older runners too often get the idea of constant improvement through greater speed and endurance confused with what all this running is truly about. For me the idea is to incorporate running into my life in such a way as to enhance both, but primarily the living part of the equation. Too many times I get engrossed in the training program and fixated on race goals or setting PBs, and end up, as Watts puts it, ‘getting lost’ in the detail and business of running, when what it’s for is the enhancing of everyday life and for extending it as long as possible. The goal, therefore, should not be about say, running a 4-hour marathon, but exploring that unknown territory where your running is not only enjoyable, but which maximises your ability to enjoy everyday life whilst not running. One of the reasons I haven’t persisted with my oft-repeated desire to run another marathon is that the sacrifice you must make in terms of the sheer amount of training and the time that takes away from family, is too huge. Which isn’t to say it won’t one day happen, but it must be part of the solution, not a detour down one of the many paths that lead to us ‘getting lost’ on the road to holistic health and well-being. Something like that, anyhow. Melancholic people like me don’t make good philosophers, I think. Except maybe for Simone Weil, and she starved herself to death at the age of 34. I can assure you that suicide by starvation is something which is very unlikely to happen to me.
With the run done, I entered the results into my brand-spanking new spreadsheet. I’ve started a whole new one, as I do every few years, but this time with a new emphasis. Given the way I’m now thinking, things need be a whole lot simpler, so rather than set race goals, PB targets and painstakingly recording every kilometre run, I have set myself the modest goals for this phase of my fitness ‘program’ of covering 10,000 steps each day through whatever means possible and of getting myself back to half-marathon readiness with no thought as to how long covering that distance may take. My only other goal is to lose 5kgs or a little more to get back to where I was when I last felt properly fit and truly healthy. Apart from the exercise, that does require cutting down a little on things like booze, and … well, the booze mainly.
Sigh.
Oh, and about my left foot and that pesky plantar fasciosis which caused me so much grief last year: before and during today’s run there was no pain at all. Afterwards I could feel it, but really it was of no concern. I truly think this may be one of the last times I even mention it.
Boy! You do overthink all of this. I don't pretend to be a font of knowledge when it comes to running, as you well know... but I do know that it should be enjoyable... which in my world, means not worrying about PBs, races, training programmes, etc., but spending time in the hills, with good company (sometimes my own), having a craic, and keeping fit. If I can manage this, at my age, then I'm winning. So my advice is to dump the spreadsheet and just get out there into the wilds and run.
Having said that... I also need to lose 5kg (which I have started to do); and re-build my fitness levels (again). So I am out running as often as possible... including a lunchtime run today with my RG.
BTW, I went to see the Pixies a few weeks ago at the Roundhouse in London. One of my favourite bands.
I'm glad you're feeling better about that terrible plantar fasciosis, MLCMM! Hopefully, you'll be able to take part at the Point to Pinnacle again or any other challenges. Best of luck!
(03-01-2019, 10:16 PM)Antonio247 Wrote: I'm glad you're feeling better about that terrible plantar fasciosis, MLCMM! Hopefully, you'll be able to take part at the Point to Pinnacle again or any other challenges. Best of luck!
Saludos desde Almería.
It's very much on the cards, Antonio. Perhaps not this year, but I'd dearly love to do another P2P!
3 January 201916,694 steps no running weight 78.9kg
A slight reduction in temperature today was counteracted by the humidity rising to 100%, making for a very unpleasant day. Despite this I managed to cram sufficient walking in to get my steps tally for the day well over my minimum mark. These sorts of arbitrary targets may be of no consequence, or they be of immense importance, it’s damnably hard to tell. On the whole, I think they are useful in keeping me in some form of daily fitness habit. Where do I walk? Well, mostly to and from work, or, when I’m home, to and from the post office and the shops. Sometimes I walk around the block, and sometimes I zig zag around the local streets. Sometimes I walk in circles; sometimes I pace up and down. The other night on my way home on the bus I somehow managed to work in an extra 400 steps in half an hour without moving from my seat … which is also when I realised that the old step-counter in the Garmin Forerunner watch isn’t entirely accurate, especially on bouncy bus rides home late at night. On the other side of the equation, I have found I can creep quietly around the house without it recording a single step, though I have been sternly warned against creeping about anywhere. In my defence, I was merely testing out the Garmin’s step-counting capabilities.
Speaking of technology, I awoke this morning to the news that China has apparently installed the world’s first (so far as we know) ship-mounted rail gun, which is capable of firing projectiles at Mach 7 to targets 200km away. Using electric currents instead of gunpowder or cordite to fire the shell means far greater speed, distance and accuracy is possible. This comes fast on the heels of Russia’s recent announcement of a new hypersonic, Mach 20 missile called the Avanguard. This kind of speed means it is unstoppable by current technology, and profoundly changes the world of defence, although why we call it ‘defence’ when most of these weapons are designed for attack, I’m not sure.
Walking and running probably give me too much time to think about such things. Charlie Cat 5 (above) isn't the only person in recent time to accuse me of ‘over-thinking’ things related to running, but in truth I overthink pretty much everything I ever turn my mind to. The world is endlessly fascinating - even the negative stuff - and let’s face it, thinking things through is still better than watching daytime telly.
If the superpowers keep developing these weapons and putting control of them in the hands of the likes of Putin and Trump, then we best spend our time wisely. Or at last productively. Or enjoyably.
Or maybe just go out for a run. You’ll definitely feel better for it.
4 January 201915,292 steps 30 mins running weight 78.6kg
The weather remains stinking hot, but manfully I donned running gear and hit the treadmill for a further half hour of jogging this morning. It proved slightly easier than my last effort, but it’s still clear that I’m well short of proper running fitness. Doubtless a few more of these half hour sessions will get me quickly back on track, but there’s no doubting the difficulty of knocking these off in this weather. I did later see a couple of runners in the street when it was even hotter and they were struggling and looked very uncomfortable.
I squeezed my run in nice and early, not just because of the heat but also because today was also a ‘Walker Brothers’ walking day, Walker Brothers being the title some of my workmates and I call ourselves for our semi-regular long walks of 30km or so around the Sydney precinct. These are usually based about the harbour and finish with a boozy late lunch somewhere. With the weather being so hot today we skipped the walk and changed it to just the boozy lunch instead. Interestingly, it’s perhaps a sign of our growing wisdom (or just our increasing age) that we all began our luncheon endeavours with soft drink, a couple of us also ending the session that way, and I’m rather glad we did. Personally, being a little dehydrated from my earlier run and the heat of the day, a full-on assault of the beer would have been catastrophically stupid.
On the subject of stupidity, U.S. politics are getting interesting with the Democrats in the House of Representatives calling Trump’s bluff on the question of funding for the border wall with Mexico. Having refused to provide the US$5.6Bn Trump demands for the building of the wall, Trump will now have to make good on his declaration that he will keep the government closed for business for ‘as long as it takes’ until he gets the money!
We are most definitely living in interesting times.
5 January 2019 10,294 steps no running weight 79.5kg
Today has been the hottest day yet of this warm spell, the temperature rising to the mid-30s with the ubiquitous high levels of humidity and rendering communication between otherwise sensible, intelligent adults to little more than a sweaty grunt of indifference. The good news is that it all ended this afternoon at about 3 p.m. when a series of thunderstorms with a southerly cool change took charge and restored some sense of normality to both the climate and human communications. It has also meant some eight hours (and counting) of nearly continuous rain; not unwelcome, but making a dent in my efforts to maintain my minimum 10,000 steps program which had to be completed indoors, or else withstand a soaking. In hindsight, the soaking would probably have been rather pleasant.
Apart from the discomfort this weather has caused, it has also seen us tormented by an infestation of small, black, hairy caterpillars. Some weeks back we had a similar infestation of small black and orange tiger moths, which I don’t recall ever seeing in such large numbers before. We thought we had dealt with them reasonably effectively, but clearly they had laid large numbers of eggs in our wall cavities, for we’ve now seen thousands of them emerging from the air vents, especially on warm, humid nights. Rather than poison the blighters and risk the resulting smell of a squillion decaying critters inside the walls, we have painstakingly collected the blighters as they emerge and ‘dealt’ them a relatively humane death.
The warm weather has also seemingly brought out the lunatic fringe, with far right-wing protestors – well, OK let’s call them what they are; Nazis - marching at St. Kilda beach in Melbourne. These, as in the U.S. and Europe, are growing in media coverage, if not numbers, and like plague moths and caterpillars, really ought to be exterminated by the local pest controllers. Some people and organisations, including the police force, believe these Nazis have a right to peaceful protest, but I think their beliefs are so abhorrent I’d be happy to see them simply vanish from the Earth.
President Trump also falls into the category of things and people I’d like to see vanish from the Earth. He’s now threatening to call a state of emergency over his inability to get the funds he needs to build his colossal border wall. Interesting times, indeed.
Along with Nazis, Trump and caterpillars, another thing not yet vanishing is my surplus weight, which shot up again overnight, but on the back of yesterday’s lunchtime indulgence, is no great surprise. At least this is one thing I can actively do something about.
Watch this space.
I’m struggling to keep up MLCM, running, walking, a bit of politics and yes, more creepy crawlies…
Enjoyed your insight into the noisy world of those thunderstorm predicting cicadas a while back, and now the hairy caterpillars!
Death to the hairy caterpillars!!
Which was also a very good Pixies compilation (well, almost)
Oh yes, at last a band of my time. Absolutely loved the Black Francis-Kim Deal combo. Saw them live once at the old Aston Villa Leisure Centre about 1990ish. I didn’t know they were still going…
So just for you a song from the “Death to the hairy caterpillars” album called “Here comes your Mid Life Crisis Man” (well almost)
(05-01-2019, 03:50 PM)Bierzo Baggie Wrote: I’m struggling to keep up MLCM, running, walking, a bit of politics and yes, more creepy crawlies…
Enjoyed your insight into the noisy world of those thunderstorm predicting cicadas a while back, and now the hairy caterpillars!
Death to the hairy caterpillars!!
Which was also a very good Pixies compilation (well, almost)
Oh yes, at last a band of my time. Absolutely loved the Black Francis-Kim Deal combo. Saw them live once at the old Aston Villa Leisure Centre about 1990ish. I didn’t know they were still going…
Yes, well, this is Australia: creepy crawlies 'r' us.
So far as The Pixies are concerned, well, yes, I probably don't play them enough. I have half a dozen of their albums, but in truth they rarely get a look in, other than a couple of their hits which turn up on random play from time to time. I used to work with a fellow who declared The Pixies were the last band that were ever worth listening to. Well, I don't know about that, but they will certainly live long in the history of entertainment. And they will most definitely outlast these bloody caterpillars.
6 January 2019 15,854 steps 45 minutes running weight 79.3kg
Mercifully cooler weather today allowed a good 45 minute run to be had, and so slowly I return to the world of running. I was even rewarded with a flood of critters quite different to the tiger moth caterpillars that still invade our home, but which are slowly coming under control. No, far more welcome were the endorphins which made a surprise return as some kind of reward, I suppose, for getting back into at least some sort of running discipline. It has been a while since my last dalliance with these beasts, and it was as welcome as it was surprising.
Other than that, it was a pleasant, relaxing day of watching a little cricket and tennis on TV. Australia are staring down the barrel of defeat in the fourth and final test against India. Only rain can save Australia now, and even if this test is drawn, India will still have won their first series ever in Australia. And good for them; they well deserve it.
Meanwhile, at home the battle with caterpillars continues. But I believe we’re winning.
7 January 2019 17,317 steps no running weight 78.6kg
A cooler, drizzly day today, with constant mizzle washing out the final day of the cricket test at the S.C.G. India have therefore won the series 2-1, their first ever series win in Australia, and thoroughly deserved, too. The Australian test team is now a mere shadow of its former self, and what will be interesting to see is if the disgraced, banned players of Steve Smith, Dave Warner and Cameron Bancroft will return to the side once their bans expire. Bancroft is already eligible to play again, but it seems unlikely that he ever will. Smith and Warner are eligible to play for Australia again in March, and chances are they will be rushed back into the side in an effort to bolster a sadly waning team, although support seems to be stronger for Smith than for Warner who has been labelled (perhaps fairly, perhaps not) the evil mastermind behind the whole sorry episode .
Apart from Australia’s cricketing fortunes, also on the decline are the tiger moth caterpillars invading in our home. They are still emerging, but in far fewer numbers, though whether this is because of our diligence in getting rid of them, or simply because of the cooler weather, I can’t say. There’s also the possibility that the ones we have missed will pupate and emerge as moths to begin the whole sorry process again. I can’t tell you how much we’re looking forward to that happening.
A little surprisingly, one thing I am quite looking forward to is recommencing my early morning runs tomorrow. With a string of early shifts, it means once more that my 4 a.m. runs are on the cards. As I can realistically only squeeze in short outings on these early shifts I will try and run on four consecutive days; something I’ve been warned against doing. I think that being very short runs of 15 to 20 minutes, and with a reasonable warm up and cool down walk bracketing them, it should be fine.
A quarter-hour run may not seem much, but it’s better than nothing, and a string of four of them should set me up quite well for a longer run on the weekend.
(07-01-2019, 12:38 PM)Seafront Plodder Wrote: Ah yes cricket. A game played by men in jumpers, and so intoxicatingly dull that you can win just because it rains.
Jumpers? Not in this country, matey. But dull, yes.
8 January 201917,678 steps 17 minutes running weight 79.3kg
Hello darkness my old friend…
The dark of the night seems somehow darker at 4 a.m. when you get up at stupid o’clock to go for a run before work. As it turned out, the darkness was, in fact, darker than usual as a heavy mist had descended, thus eliminating any moon or starlight that might have brightened the scene a little.
Also dark, in a sense, was the air, quite warm at a touch over 20°C but with 100% humidity, the warmth of the morning making the very warm mist all the more eerie, and which felt like wearing a warm coat on a hot day. As soon as I began moving, the sweat started to pour off me and I thought this might set records for the hardest short run I’ve yet done. I was very glad then that this was just a short two laps of my double hill-climb loop I call ‘Burgoyne’ (named after Burgoyne Avenue through which I run midway between the two hill climbs) and which was over nearly as soon as it began, although it didn’t seem that way at the time. It’s astonishing how long a quarter of an hour takes when you are groggy of brain, struggling uphill in the dark on too little sleep, and without any real clue as to why you’re even out there in the first place.
It was tough going, which is a little embarrassing to admit given the brevity of the run, but it was done. It was a challenge of discipline as much as anything else at this stage of proceedings, but sufficiently tough given the hill climbs on the back of way too little running, so a pleasing enough result.
Strange as it may seem, it was a great to be out there again doing one of what is almost my trademark super-early runs again. It has been too long and I really did miss the buggers. Today also marks 36 years since Mrs MLCMM and I first met, so this morning’s effort made the celebratory bottle of prosecco later in the evening taste just that little bit better.
10 January 2019 18,319 steps 18 minutes running weight 79.1kg
Everything hurts...
Mercifully it was a little less humid this morning, so early run #3 is safely in the bag. But I was barely awake for most of it, but then as I turned the last corner toward home I was awoken and rewarded with a hint of a cooling breeze, which lifted my spirits out of all proportion to the length and difficulty of the run. It wasn’t a runners’ high so much as a feeling of immense satisfaction and inner well-being. And I couldn’t help but think that if I felt this fantastic after a mere quarter of an hour, what will it feel like when I get back to half marathon distances again? Some days the rewards massively outweigh the effort put in. I guess that’s why I love running.
January 2019 ... here we go again!
