Point to Pinnacle - it begins!

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

One of my sisters-in-law is a runner and we had a bit of a chat at a family dinner last night about things generally "runningy". She completed the New York marathon last November (her first) and runs 20km every Saturday, but reckons the Point to Pinnacle (P2P) is madness and refuses to be coaxed into joining us (ie Sweder, Seafront Plodder, myself and maybe El Gordo) next November for said dash up the mountain.

Never the less she was happy to discuss training methods and rather callously (I thought) pointed out all the nearby steep hills in our area. She also coerced me into agreeing to enter a local 10km fun run in April which she says has a couple of "brutish" hills that have to be negotiated twice, making it "mentally horrible" the second time around. After having had a few wines though I thought it sounded rather fun, so have put it on my calendar. We also both agreed that the Sydney Half Marathon on September 18 was a "must" and would fit comfortably in with training for the P2P.

So I now have three races on the cards for 2011, which is pretty good because I'm going to need 9 months training to successfully negotiate the P2P and to do that I'm going to need some other race goals along the way to maintain some momentum and not crash and burn at the first bad run or mild niggle (as usual).

But first things first: before I can begin serious training I've had to of course finalise my running music; and in the process I can now announce to the world that I have, after years of thorough research and field testing been able to determine the absolutely conclusive top ten running songs of all time*.

Here for your edification is the final list, plus the next five that it really hurt to leave out - and therefore I sort of didn't. It took some thrashing out, I can tell you - defining a final, final list like this is not something that can be easily done, being subject, as subjective things by their nature always are, to the vagaries of mood, enthusiasm, weather etc etc. But I'm pretty happy with this list. Sometimes I look at it and wonder why such and such a song is at such and such a position on the list or even why it is there at all, but as soon I get running to it, it makes sense again, so I have to say I'm pretty happy with it.

The only song that has not been in doubt since I started this quest is the one up there at number one: ELP's Fanfare For The Common Man has been my favourite running track for as long as I can remember. It's always been a favourite track anyhow, but ever since one of the TV networks here brilliantly reprised it as their theme for coverage of the 2000 Olympics I've always associated it with sporting endeavour and as far as running music goes, it has never failed me yet. Staggeringly good to run to, and perhaps odd for being the only instrumental on the list.

There are some obvious choices in there (e.g. Born To Run, albeit at lowly #10) and maybe a couple of surprises (I know, I know, WTF is Barry White doing in there??). Not surprising is that most of it is "old" music (with the possible exception of Jamiroquai) - mostly from the 70s I see... but it works for me.

Anyway, here you go:

1. Fanfare For The Common Man - Emerson Lake and Palmer
2. Where The Streets Have No Name - U2
3. Nutbush City Limits - Ike & Tina Turner
4. Walk On By - Stranglers
5. Living On A Prayer - Bon Jovi
6. My Sweet Lord - George Harrison
7. Eloise - Barry Ryan
8. What I Like About You - The Romantics
9. Love Her Madly - The Doors
10. Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen
---------------------------------
11. You're My First, My Last, My Everything - Barry White
12. Little L - Jamiroquai
13. Teardrops - Womack & Womack
14. Stone Me Into The Groove - Atomic Swing
15. I Only Want To Be With You - Dusty Springfield

Anyone else got a list they've been working on?


*subject to conditions, see in store for details.

[marathondan]

Great to see you hitting the road and on a plan, MLCM. I hope you find time to make this a great year of running. Personally I agree with your SIL: PtP sounds like madness. But each to his own!

Meanwhile, that's a mightily eclectic playlist you've got there. Goes to show that running music is as much about the feelgood factor as it is about pumping basslines. As you note, #11 seems an odd choice, but I can imagine that disco is a good beat for a steady run.

This topic may warrant a thread in "general running"?

[glaconman]

Thanks for the music list MLCM and the info on your plans for this year. It's great news that your throwing your hat in for such a big challenge.

Just take it easy with the hill running and don't forget the 10% rule with regard to distance, speed and gradient. I was pretty reckless when it came to hill training in 2009 and just ran up the steepest, longest hill I could find as many times as I could manage. Result: 11 months (and counting) of plantar fasciitis and very sore metartarsals.

Most people are alot smarter than me and I know you've had to deal with many difficult issues in the past. But do look after yourself and remember the gradual, adaptive nature of what you're trying to achieve. That said, you've got a long run-in to the PtP and I really hope it goes well. I'll be ready with my incense and candles.

Regarding the music, I've never listened to music when running. It doesn't seem to hold much appeal. But I am starting to creep out for the odd short, slow jog. So I'm going to give it a go. Here's my first list which I've made deliberately old-skool, with the odd exception, and is listed in the correct order for a tempo run with warm-down.

1. The Ink In The Well : David Sylvian
2. B movie : Gil Scott Heron
3. Fly Like An Eagle : Steve Miller Band
4. Cloudbusting : Kate Bush
5. No Quarter : Led Zeplin
6. Mausam : Nitin Sawhney
7. White Room : Cream
8. Room To Move : John Mayall
9. He's Mistra Know-It-All : Stevie Wonder
10. Re: Stacks : Bon Iver

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Great list G-man - much excellent material in there. I'm a little embarrassed that there's no Led Zep on mine, although Kashmir nearly did make it. Cloudbusting is also one of my fave running tracks. Of course these lists are always extremely personal and I guess mine reflects both my vintage and my eclecticism. Suffice to say, if I had to choose 15 great tracks to finish off a major race with, they would be them. It's all good fun and of course, very much subject to change.

Thanks too for the training advice - training is now well under way and I am treading carefully, but I have to say that with the right orthotics now finely tuned and properly "gotten used to", I am suffering from niggles and injuries far, far less than before. If I've done one thing right in my running to date, it's tracking down the right running-aware podiatrist and getting the orthotics just right. It really has made a massive difference and I no longer suffer from the shin splints, plantar fasciitis, or the ITB and achilles strains that dogged me in the past.

Life is still very bloody hectic here, but I am forcing the issue with regards to training now, and it's now coming together. Gently, gently for the moment, but I am running again, and boy, it feels bloody fantastic!

Am really looking forward to the coming months, especially now the (record breaking) hot summer weather is mostly behind us here (touch wood). A nice mix of long slowies, intervals and hill climbs coming up. First stop is a hilly 10km in April, so plenty of time to prepare for that one.

More news at ten.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Personally I agree with your SIL: PtP sounds like madness. But each to his own!

Yeah, I'm not sure what it is about hills... perhaps it's because you don't have to run as far to get the same benefit as running on the flat? To me there also seems to be a greater sense of satisfaction at having climbed up something rather than having just run some arbitrary distance. Plus you often get fab views. Actually, come to think of it, there's lots of things to be said in favour of hills.

[El Gordo]

Morning has broken.

So.

Are we getting the band back together?

Let me finish this reassuringly large glass of wine (a straightforward Cotes du Rhone), and think what the feck to do next.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Are we getting the band back together?

We've already traded in the Cadillac for a pair of running shoes, so yes!

Come on EC, put those Swiss mountains to good use!

[Sweder]

Are we getting the band back together?

Absolutely.

My own PtP prep has been as broken and dyspeptic as an early George VI public address. I can't seem to get going. I have the Steyning Stinger in two weeks yet I'm less than inspired and far, far away from form or fitness. C'est la vie I guess. That mountain is looking very very steep and a long ways away, but I've no doubt we'll make it. The vision of a Two Oceans-style team photo at the summit will drive me on, as it is now hauling me from under my delightfully warm duvet to haul my lardy arse through thick, cloying mud up to Blackcap.

Re: running music top 10
My list changes constantly, though Tom Petty's Running Down A Dream, whilst moving up and down like a sentient elevator, is ever-present. My taste in running/ exercise music has been prejudiced by recent spinning sessions. Bridge mixes it up nicely; we've had a Tarantino soundtrack special, non-stop pumping techno & good old rock n roll of late, all excellent tunes to drive one's limbs to greater effort.

Right, time to run.

[El Gordo]

I'll post up my music list soon. It changes, as it should. Bigger problem is that I've not used it for so long. No running for a year, though at least I've been doing some Sunday walking since we moved to Horgen in January. Yesterday, finally, we bought our 'vignettes' for our bikes, so we can cycle again. Everything here has to be registered and paid for.

No idea if I'll make it to Australia this year, but I may as well hang on to the coat tails of the participants. I'm popping up to the local gym today to sign up. They run spinning classes Monday to Thursday evenings.

Will report back...

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

I awoke today (mid afternoon as it happens, but that's a long, awkward and probably boring story) with the somewhat odd Golly! Gosh! revelation that I witnessed man walking on the moon before I saw my first automatic opening door*. I remember both events equally well, with perhaps the automatic door making the greater impression on Early Life Crisis Boy. Well, I mean there are certainly more automatic doors around these days than moon missions, which I think perhaps says something about the relative relevance of both. Or maybe it's just that I was too damn lazy to hold the door open for anyone as a troubled yoof, I'm not sure. Society is to blame, anyhow.

Now when you think about, the automatic door has made a huge impact on the way we function as a society - in fact it's a blessed boon to civilisation if you ask me - if not for the automatic door we'd to have evolve an extra pair of arms, which would be difficult and I suspect take too long if we're to get the shopping home before the 6 o'clock news. So a bloody useful invention, that door-opening magic thing. Moon missions on the other hand were so ridiculously expensive (they had to invent calculators rather than rely on slide rules for all the adding up they had to do), dangerous (one nearly killed Tom Hanks for crying out loud) and largely pointless (I mean, duh) as to render them obsolete inside a handful of years. And frankly, moon mission coverage on TV just got in the way of a good football match, so we're better off without it.

My running tends to oscillate between two similar extremes: either I plan everything out to the nth degree like a moon mission (but with Excel spreadsheets instead of the old Sharp EL-8 pocket calculator), or else it's just nice and simple - get out the door (automatic or otherwise) and go run somewhere, enjoy it and reap the benefits. Simple, yet exquisitely beneficial. Just like the automatic door.

Well maybe that's a bit of a corny analogy, but heck, that's what I woke with. Life's like that with me at the moment. As with a few others here on RC, my life has been very busy and chaotic of late, and it's been easy to let the running slip by, and that's a shame because once the running discipline takes a hold, it tends to help me work through all that other important stuff, like what sort of pocket calculator I should buy next, and should I really stick with Sharp anyway?

Anyhow, now that I have a race goal that is simply not negotiable, (ie the Point to Pinnacle in November), I have had to force the issue and get running again. And it's weird how everything else seems easier to deal with when I make the effort to run - and not just pocket calculators, engrossing as that problem is.

Perhaps more weird is that this still surprises me. I've been going through some old RC posts (something I heartily recommend), and the theme is a constant one - running helps in every way. Making the effort to throw on the running shoes and go run a few clicks even a couple of times a week makes such a difference. Like music, running seems to have an answer for every situation. Like a hug, it may not be the complete answer, but it absolutely, definitely helps (unless you're desperately trying to overcome an annoyingly habitual overuse of adverbs).

It's a few years since we had a runners' philosophy forum along these lines (see here for example) - maybe it's time to indeed get the band back together and nut a few things out; such as what is with El Cuckoo's interest in gunnera manicata, and is it something we should be worrying about?

On more practical considerations, I have been scouring the running calendars here and finding quite a few decent races in some nice parts of Australia that could well come in handy over the next few months as I pretend to prepare for the P2P. I might be able to squeeze in a few more races yet. Certainly this year will be better placed for races than any of the last few. The demands on regular interstate travel have largely lapsed for me this year, freeing me to up to instead slot in a few races here and there. So I really should make the effort. Would love to make the effort in fact! So here goes.

First up race is the local 10km jaunt on April 3. I might get through that one before tackling anything significantly longer. I need quite a few more easy miles in my legs before subjecting the old knees to longer race conditions. Gentle running is the order of the day for a while I think. That said, I do tend to get a bit carried away, especially when it's all going quite well. We'll see...



*At Coles New World Supermarket, Glenorchy, Tasmania circa 1970 for anyone vaguely (and worryingly) interested about it.

[El Gordo]

Time to put the gunnera manicata to bed.

No garden here. All we have are two balconies with some pots, but no automatic doors. Not gunnera habitat.

As for the rest of you message, I think I agree with most of it. Not easy to tell in places. Main thrust good. Bad news is that baguette and peanut butter has just been offered to me. Good news is that the fog is clearing at last, and it'll be light for 3 hours yet, so will get out for a run or a bike ride.

As for the gym, I'm weighing up the relative merits of the two in the town. The nice one, with the view over the lake, has no spinning classes. The other one has spin classes, but... but also, I just noticed, when I Google it, appears in a list of recommended gyms on a gay website. Hmm. May need to do a spot more research on that one....

[Sweder]

The other one has spin classes, but... but also, I just noticed, when I Google it, appears in a list of recommended gyms on a gay website. Hmm. May need to do a spot more research on that one....

I'd strap on my tightest lycra and throw caution to the wind. As the great Harvey Milk said (to a fellow politician's wife at their daughter's christening following her declared abhorrence of homosexuality) don't knock it 'till you've tried it.

If I read you right spin will play an important part on your road to recovery (or at least back to running). It's helped me no end this week. No pun intended.

[marathondan]

I'd strap on my tightest lycra and through caution to the wind.

Indeed; if you get any offers you've got to take that as a compliment. (sorry MLCM, this subject has "thread hijack" written all over it)

[marathondan]

But anyway, huzzah! for a 10K in just 6 weeks time. Great to have a short term focus.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Gay gyms? Good grief. I won't knock it, but neither do I have any desire to try it... I'm talking to you, Sweder.

Dan, I have a history of hijacking threads, so I'm not about to start complaining. It's just nice to see you all.

EC, I promise not to mention gunnera manicata again. But you did start it!

After a good week of running I've added another race to my list - the first of two Sydney half marathons, this one being on May 15, twelve weeks away and therefore very do-able. There's a cut-off too (must pass 11km mark in under 75 minutes) so some incentive to do some speed work, though nothing too onerous (touch wood).

Track du jour/semaine: Hercules, Midnight Oil.

[El Gordo]

I'm aiming for the Winterthur Half Marathon on May 29, so am right behind you (no tittering at the back, please).

Actually managed a few woodland kilometres at 7-ish this morning. More later.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

I'm aiming for the Winterthur Half Marathon on May 29, so am right behind you (no tittering at the back, please).

Actually managed a few woodland kilometres at 7-ish this morning. More later.

Excellent! This time, EC, I have a feeling we'll both make it.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

No, it's not what you think. Rather it's that old Starting Over Syndrome, where you rule a line through the spreadsheet and start the training program all over ... again. Some people need that kick start after successfully completing a running goal. I however have the opposite problem - my running tapers off after the failure to reach some goal, generally through injury or illness or occasionally some other regrettable circumstance. My last failure was painful enough to be etched into my psyche probably forever - I had collapsed exhausted for half an hour just inside my front door after aborting a "non-negotiable, absolute minimum 25km run" after just 16km. I awoke knowing the campaign was over, and since then I have doggedly avoided any serious race goal, not being able to face the prospect of another searing disaster.

However, a very close friend's quadruple bypass and my mother-in-law's heart valve replacement/bypass surgery (both within a week of each other very recently) together with more favourable circumstances in the MLCM tangled web of mystery and intrigue sometimes referred to as "life" have unearthed a surprisingly fierce determination to have yet another crack at a decent running ... well, let's call it a "season". I'll not yet scratch at that scabby itch called "marathon", because from this lowly starting point such a lofty goal seems just too intimidating. Instead I'll aim for a decent bunch of races throughout the rest of this calendar year, starting with the previously mentioned local 10km race in six weeks time, and the Sydney half marathon a further 6 weeks beyond that.

Training will consist primarily of 3 or 4 runs per week with the usual mix of easy runs, tempo runs and long slowies, with increasing intervals and hill sessions as we progress. The most arduous session will be a 2-hour long run 2 or 3 weeks before the half. That, I am certain, is most manageable. To further reduce unnecessary mental pressure, I'm not setting any race goal times or aiming for PBs. I'll just let the race times that happen, happen. My only real goal is to put in a "respectable" effort at the Point to Pinnacle in November (whatever that means).

On non-run days I will endeavour to either walk for a minimum 45 minutes or jog for 15, with swimming or cycling as other possibilities (no kayaking regrettably, as the tub has gone to a better home). These too, are definitely manageable as I generally do this anyway, and which has maintained at least a modicum level of fitness in recent weeks and months. So I think I'm on a good footing here. But then again, I've thought that many times before. Still, last year I did actually manage to cover the half mara distance a number of times, so it's certainly not a daunting prospect. However maintaining that level for the rest of the year is another matter.

But I mean to say: three sessions a week. How hard can that be?

Of course some of the ancilliary things that go with training, e.g. food and alcohol minimisation, and fitting family matters in with the training can be harder than the actual running, but I think my relatively modest goals will make that all quite tolerable. I've already tested the water a little with Mrs MLCM so I know where the boundaries are... and it's good to know such vital information before getting in too deep.

So, this really is it. We genuinely are getting the band back together... woot!

[El Gordo]

Great attitude and plan. I'm at a similar stage, and in a similar frame of mind. Not sure about you, but it's the final, trifling line on the checklist -- the one that seems to be written much smaller and feinter than the other items -- that gives me the most trouble. What does it say? Ah yes, I can read it now -- "Actually do the above". Sometimes there is very good justification, and sometimes there aint.

We both have extra motivation at the moment. Me in a new environment, you with the PtoP and esteemed Sussex guests to entertain.

Anyway, I'm with you on the May half marathon target.

My 12 week training starts 'officially' the week after next but I'll be spending the next 10 days trying to get fit enough to at least give the training a decent start. It means some kind of running every other day, and getting that gym form filled in. It also means finding my Garmin and iPod, both still hidden deep in some removal box somewhere. But they are the sort of silly excuses I need to sweep aside.

Spring is coming.

Let's run.

Good luck.

[Sweder]

Actually managed a few woodland kilometres at 7-ish this morning. More later.

That, my friend, is music to the lug-holes