December 2011

[Sweder]

Still resting up as the evil wracking cough that follows ManFlu abates. I'm hoping to get out with Ladyrunner on Wednesday for a (very) muddly plod around Stanmer Park. Fingers crossed.

Meanwhile I'd like to pass on season's greetings from the good people at Connemarathon HQ.

[marathondan]

Caption: "Traffic jam in Connemara".

[Sweder]

Happy Christmas Eve. Big thanks to La Grand Fromage for sweating bullets over the forum, booting out the guardian gremlins to allow us all back into the playground.

A run to report at last. Good old Ladyrunner shamed me into a lap around Stanmer Park this week, a muddy slog up hill and down dale that left my heart huge in my chest and my lungs wheezing like old moth-eaten bellows. At one point I grabbed my Garmin to note sub seven minute miling. OK we were heading down a slight incline but also across the surface of a treacherous soup of wet leaves and primeval ouse. Julie looked for all the world like she was out for a Sunday stroll. Poise balance, great heel-lift and posture, easy, relaxed conversation. I floundered alongside in stark contrast, Quasimodo in the hundred metre dash, all flecked spittle and gasping, rasping breath.

It wasn't pretty but it was effective, clearing my lungs and testing my legs. In At The Deep End they call this, What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger. Sure enough, five minutes after slumping against my car at the end of five limb-sapping miles I was in Julie's Funbus sipping hot chocolate and grinning likea loon. I love running. I love the way you can convince yourself you'll never get back out there only to disprove yourself time and again. EG has something to say over at the main blog about the feelings at the start and end of a run and he's right.

So, the long road to redemption via Almeria starts here. Tomorrow a festive turn at Parkrun followed by traditional Yuletide food compacting for 48 hours. Thereafter a gentle dietary adjustment and a bout of wagon-riding should result in the shifting of some seasonal lumber. I'd hoped to be in better shape by now but LIFE! as Mr Bytes, as played to perfection by the incomporable Freddie Jones, famously shouted to startle the crowd and draw in the curious, is full of surprises. It's how we rise to the challenge that sets us apart and it's a challenge I have before me if I'm to get anywhere near Jules on those Andalucian streets come the end of January.

That quote in full:
Life!... is full of surprises. Consider the fate of this creature's poor mother, struck down in the fourth month of her maternal condition by an elephant, a wild elephant. Struck down!... on an uncharted African isle. The result is plain to see... Ladies and gentlemen... The terrible... Elephant... Man

I really must lay off the brandy butter.
Happy Christmas one and all.

[El Gordo]

Caption: "Traffic jam in Connemara".

Sorry to hijack Sweder's thread, but worth mentioning the coincidence that today I wore my teeshirt with that slightly dishonest slogan "I hit the wall in Connemara" for the first time in.... well, shortly after the race in April 2010. Today's occasion was a reasonably comfortable 3.9 mile plod along the Worth Way in Crawley, a track well known to SP -- though I think he has decorated it more with good intentions and imagined effort than an actual physical presence. But anyway, I'll hand the baton back to Sweder...

[El Gordo]

Grand Fromage

Don't mention fromage. It's all grand to me, but it's on my blacklist now along with...

So, the long road to redemption via Almeria starts here. Tomorrow a festive turn at Parkrun followed by traditional Yuletide food compacting for 48 hours. Thereafter a gentle dietary adjustment and a bout of wagon-riding should result in the shifting of some seasonal lumber.

Yeah, booze. I've been wine-free for a week, and plan to keep it that way over Christmas. On Boxing Day I have an engagement in Reading with a very splendid pub in which the mention of abstinence would be a barring offence. But after that, I'm done with alcohol for a while. Glad to hear that I might find a friendly face on the same wretched wagon. A bit of mutual encouragement always helps.

Good to see the new year resolutions starting to be somewhat grumpily revealed. And good to see the verbal mud flying off your heels again on those hills.

[Seafront Plodder]

.......Today's occasion was a reasonably comfortable 3.9 mile plod along the Worth Way in Crawley, a track well known to SP -- though I think he has decorated it more with good intentions and imagined effort than an actual physical presence.........

Oy, I'd take offence to that remark. If err, it wasn't true.

[Sweder]

Sadly I no longer possess my Connemarathon finishers' shirt.
I guess I'll have to go back and do it again. Bugger.

[The Beast of Bevendean]

No finisher's shirt? What happened? Did you give it away?
I remember, aged about 14 or so, giving away my rugby shirt to a violinist named Rowena. There was a trend among young women at that time (about 1968-69) to wear rugby shirts, and she had remarked that she did not possess one. Thinking that, if I gave her mine, she would reward me with exciting physical intimacy (though I had only the vaguest idea what this might consist of in reality), I offered it to her. She smiled sweetly, thanked me and took it. She was wearing it when I next saw her, holding hands with her viola-playing boyfriend.

[El Gordo]

Talk of hitting the wall was strangely prescient.

This morning, a car appeared, uninvited, in the in-laws' garden. Doddery old chap emerged. "I put my foot on the accelerator, and the damn thing went backwards". Yes, of course.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

I remember, aged about 14 or so, giving away my rugby shirt to a violinist named Rowena. There was a trend among young women at that time (about 1968-69) to wear rugby shirts, and she had remarked that she did not possess one. Thinking that, if I gave her mine, she would reward me with exciting physical intimacy (though I had only the vaguest idea what this might consist of in reality), I offered it to her. She smiled sweetly, thanked me and took it. She was wearing it when I next saw her, holding hands with her viola-playing boyfriend.

That is so sad. Really, it is.

So that's why you took up running?

[The Beast of Bevendean]

That is so sad. Really, it is.

So that's why you took up running?

Not sure it was a direct influence. I was reminded of it more because we all believe, don't we, that athletic achievement will be rewarded by admiration, at best expressed physically, from those we desire? And we all know it's a false hope

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Not sure it was a direct influence. I was reminded of it more because we all believe, don't we, that athletic achievement will be rewarded by admiration, at best expressed physically, from those we desire? And we all know it's a false hope

So, in a sense, you should have a finisher's shirt? At least as far as the violinist is concerned.

I have some awareness of what you say ... I married a cellist. But she never wore my rugby shirts. Cellists are far too dignified for that sort of thing.

Sorry Sweder, you can have your thread back now.

[Sweder]

That car wall interface picture is hilarious (more so as no-one was badly injured).
Tom, that is a strangely sad and haunting tale. We need some violin music ...

Oh yes, and jolly nice to see you at ParkRun today. Thought the Swiss Roll might make an appearance as he was just up the Frog. That pleasure awaits us on another occasion. We had +470 runners today; not bad for a weekly 5k with no prize money. Hoping for a nice crisp pre-Mimosa Christmas plod in a few hours. Cheers everyone.

[Sweder]

It looks like this week will be much better from a running point of view. My unpleasant chest lurghie is on its last legs, though I still managed to excavate some slimy artifacts from the scarred ruins of my infected lungs this morning.

I followed up a leisurely Christmas Eve Parkrun (+24 minutes, a canter rather than a gallop) with the traditional Christmas Day waddle (around 3.5 miles) and a more committed +5 mile hill run today. I tuned in to Planet Rock, as much to stimulate pace as anything, and was delighted to find the Doors' LA Woman offers the perfect cadence for running up BlackCap. The timing was so perfect that we reached the summit just as Jim offered us his fabled Mr Mojo Risin' 'anagag', setting off on the downhill charge just as the song breaks into it's rapturous, heart-pounding finale. Perfect.

Track du jour: LA Woman, The Doors.

Next: a few more plods to shift a bit of Christmas fat, a New Years Day cliff-top reunion with the Jog Shop Joggers and straight into some proper marathon training. 2012 here we come.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Next: a few more plods to shift a bit of Christmas fat, a New Years Day cliff-top reunion with the Jog Shop Joggers and straight into some proper marathon training. 2012 here we come.

Woot! This sounds fabulously promising. Although it doesn't need saying, do keep us posted!

Loving this.

[Sweder]

I was warbling away on Twitter this morning about knocking out a shoddy 3.5 miles when up popped a lady football blogger I follow. She too is training for a Spring marathon and is strapped for time. She's following the FIRST Three Day A Week Marathon Schedule and she swears by it.

The usual caveats apply. It's certainly not for everyone and I suspect that deviation from the suggested routine will certainly yield different, perhaps disappointing results. Still, I'm up for a challenge. I may even throw in a fourth day at random - ParkRuns when I'm home, or the occasional leisurely lope with the dogs. I'll think it through. I don't like speed work (much prefer fartlek which amounts to the same thing but doesn't feel like it) but as I'm determined to include some flat road work this time the opportunity is there.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

The usual caveats apply. It's certainly not for everyone and I suspect that deviation from the suggested routine will certainly yield different, perhaps disappointing results.

Go easy mate. Speed kills knees, not distance.

[El Gordo]

Ah, it's a while since the Furman FIRST plan was talked about here. Well worth reading the book --

http://www.amazon.co.uk/RUNNERS-WORLD-LESS-FASTER-Revolutionary/dp/159486649X/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1325116311&sr=8-6

Bear in mind that while you do only three quality runs a week you're supposed to do a couple of cross-training sessions (which can include running, if I remember correctly), so it still needs a time commitment. There are variations with just 3 runs a week. Dan's your man there.

If you can stick with it, it will make you a better runner I'm sure, but you are supposed to take the 3 runs pretty seriously.

[Sweder]

but you are supposed to take the 3 runs pretty seriously.

And that's the kicker isn't it? I'm afraid I like my freestyle approach too much to adhere strictly to such a schedule. I gave this some thought on my long walk this morning. The improvements assume a certain level of base fitness. Running (or trying to run) at plus or minus your 10k pace is pointless if you have no hope of hitting your best 10k form. I guess I should run a 10k (preferably in race conditions) to see where I'm at, but i fucking hate 10k races so, nope, it's just not going to pan out.

It also occurs to me I should already be on week three of the program. Whilst I've certainly 'got out there' I've not run more than five miles, so any attempt would be a hybrid at best, a bastard love-child most likely. It feels good to be thinking in these terms though. It's been ages (years) since I've taken on a road marathon; it would be as well to respect the challenge to avoid disappointment in April. With that in mind I've officially shelved plans to shoot for a PB in Almeria. They were looking rather coffee stained and unkempt anyway, pre-Christmas lurghie infecting base fitness training. Unless I show remarkable progress in January (doesn't hold breath) I'll treat the half as a pacey training session and enjoy the craic.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

It's been ages (years) since I've taken on a road marathon; it would be as well to respect the challenge to avoid disappointment in April.

What's the goal? If it's just to run another mara, I've no doubt you'll do so with ease. If you're after a PB though you might need a plan. Why not see how you go at Almeria and fine tune things after that?

Are you (shudder) on the wagon yet?