Dry July, OcSober, The Dries of March ... it's got to stop, this is temperance gone mad! Mad, I tell you!
I certainly have not been practising temperance, at least not in its alcohol-related meaning. In its true form of "restraint of action, deed or thought" it is true to say that in recent weeks I have exercised a temperance of running. In fact, it was an out-and-out winter lay-off. Well not totally, but a decent enough break to leave me feeling flat, fat and lethargic (although in truth I did enough to keep the weight down, but mentally....well!) Hardly invigorating stuff if I'm to be honest, but perhaps in an holistic sense I needed the break.
However that's all over now and Operation P2P is in full swing. This means shifting the focus of my running onto the hills, and so it has been this week. Today I set the treadmill at a 2% incline (well, you have to start somewhere), found a comfortable pace and settled in for a longish plod up an endless hill. And boy, apart from the last ten minutes when I struggled a little, it was a hoot. Soooo good to be working up an honest sweat again.
Brings on those hills, fellas, I'm up and at 'em.
14.7km, 99mins @ 2% incline.
YTD: 808km
Track du Jour: Hopeless 70s pop tragic that I am, I don't know why I never found this to be a great running track before, but today I certainly did. Oh yeah!
Great that you're in good enough shape to bounce straight back into the routine. I guess there are going to be some gruelling moments in the next few months' training.
I'm currently trying (not very hard) to get back into the routine... hopefully your efforts will inspire me.
Do we take it that the marathon is off for this year?
(19-07-2012, 06:38 AM)marathondan Wrote: Do we take it that the marathon is off for this year?
Not entirely - there's still an opportunity for a full-distance race in September, but to be frank work is such a mess at the moment that I'm not sure more than a couple of weeks ahead whether or not I'll have the weekend free to enter or not. That naturally makes training a little difficult.
I may well actually run a marathon in training sometime - even if just on the treadmill - to get it over and done with and get it off my mind. I've felt ready for it for a while now, so it would be good to have it in the bag.
(19-07-2012, 06:45 AM)Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote: I may well actually run a marathon in training sometime - even if just on the treadmill - to get it over and done with and get it off my mind. I've felt ready for it for a while now, so it would be good to have it in the bag.
OK, well let us know when you're planning to do it! We'll give it some buildup! There should be a medal and an official beer at least, for the Inaugural MLCM Marathon (entrants: 1). In return we will expect race photos and full splits data!
(19-07-2012, 06:45 AM)Mid Life Crisis Man Wrote: I may well actually run a marathon in training sometime - even if just on the treadmill - to get it over and done with and get it off my mind. I've felt ready for it for a while now, so it would be good to have it in the bag.
Good idea. I thought of entering a road-marathon this year just to see how far I could get before I started walking ....otherwise it's just too much commitment!
Anyway, glad to hear you're back running and even more so hungry for hills..... it does make it all a bit more interesting!
Hey Dan Man, let's get those training diaries moving again... any swimming yet?
And if your way should falter
Along this stony pass
It's just a moment
This time will pass.
U2 - Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of.
I had been looking forward to this morning's run, but dragged down by a boulder of sleeplessness, this was a real tough bugger. I spent the first half hour just wanting to stop, but I figured if I could just get through those first thirty minutes, things might pick up. And in truth, they did.
The plan was to run two and a half hours on the treadmill set at 2% incline. With the P2P now 16 weeks away, this seemed to me a good and appropriate way to start my programme and guage just where I'm at. And after the first half hour, I was pretty happy with the way it went ... until the last half hour, which was essentially a repeat of the first, but by then of course there was no way I was quitting. Funny, but this really is by and large a mental game, this endurance running.
Anyway I got through it - my toughest run this year, no doubt - and mighty pleased with the effort I am, as well.
Track du Jour: Well, running 22+ kilometres uphill, it has to be something. ... uplifting, eh?
Ye Gods, I've just twigged that you're back to Hobart again this year. I'm green with envy, though relieved to have postponed a return until 2013 (that is definitely ON, by the way). Not only that, but there's activity in the forum, something my *Automatic Forum Motion Detector has failed to pick up. For shame.
Good on you for getting back into it before your form dipped. Like Dan, I'm wishing I'd done the same, or at least kept a modicum of effort up over the past six weeks. It all feels a bit 'back to basics' at the moment.
You might enjoy the most recent edition of the BBC1 program 'Panorama'. Not sure if you can access the BBC iPlayer feed, but I'm sure you'll find a way, possibly at work. It took a hard look at 'unsubstantiated claims' in the sports world, featuring sports drinks/ hydration and a piece on barefoot running. Fascinating stuff.
One stat that came out was that (according to the researcher interviewed), no entrant to a marathon, Ultra or otherwise, has ever died of dehydration, whilst 12 people are known to have died in races due to over hydration. It's worth a look. Here's a link to the synopsis http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01l1yxk and a longer clip on Youtube http://youtu.be/k4e85ZnVjmU
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The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
(23-07-2012, 08:13 AM)marathondan Wrote: Are you hitting any real life hills as well?
Real life hills are too short, OM ... other than mountains of course, and there are precious few of those around my house. Even in the mountains it's hard to find a steady 22km incline.
(23-07-2012, 10:03 AM)Sweder Wrote: Ye Gods, I've just twigged that you're back to Hobart again this year. I'm green with envy, though relieved to have postponed a return until 2013 (that is definitely ON, by the way).
Excellent OM - I've been banking on it. Chris and I are hoping to set some kind of decent benchmark times this year. While neither of us are unhappy with last year's efforts we know we can do much better this time. Chris has put in two solid half marathons recently and is looking good for November.
(23-07-2012, 10:03 AM)Sweder Wrote: You might enjoy the most recent edition of the BBC1 program 'Panorama'. Not sure if you can access the BBC iPlayer feed, but I'm sure you'll find a way, possibly at work.
No they have that locked down tight - you have to hand over some hard-earned to access the Aussie edition of iPlayer, but as it happens that Panorama programme was sold and re-badged (as a lot of Panorama programmes are) to one of the local networks. I didn't see it, but remember the promos for it and thought it seemed interesting, so I might be able to track it down yet.
In any case, I had already planned on using my 100% natural chia/pinole energy balls instead of gels in my marathon attempt (when it finally happens), and I quite agree re hydration. I've run two half marathon races (admittedly in cool conditions) in which I took on no fluid at all and didn't suffer in any way. In fact it helps maintain your rhythm immensely when you're not stopping every few clicks for a drink (and battling the crowds for same). For similar reasons I now prefer to run with the Camelbak in even short (warm weather) races - the added weight is of no consequence compared with not having to force your way across treacherously wet and plastic-cup riddled pathways through the crowd for half a cup of water which then gets knocked from your hand before you can even drink it. Gah!
(23-07-2012, 08:13 AM)marathondan Wrote: Are you hitting any real life hills as well?
Real life hills are too short, OM ... other than mountains of course, and there are precious few of those around my house. Even in the mountains it's hard to find a steady 22km incline.
Besides, my treadmill is handy for the fridge.
Fair point re: hillage. The only way to prep for P2P here would be to run up Snowdon. I'll have to do that. 'Coz I'm not buying a soul-sucking treadmill.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Good point about the hills. Shows what an unusual race the P2P is!
Re water, I'm the opposite. I normally get through about 750 ml/hr on an easy training run, based on thirst alone. Less than that during a race (unless I'm... overdressed) but I wouldn't be without it.
Sweder Wrote:Fair point re: hillage. The only way to prep for P2P here would be to run up Snowdon. I'll have to do that. 'Coz I'm not buying a soul-sucking treadmill.
What you need is one of these Sweder. I believe you can buy them on Ebay.
It's 5:30a.m. and I'm sitting in my kitchen, eating my eggs & b and pointedly not running. It's not because of injury however. Rather, I'm going through a bad bout of poor sleeping (more on that later) and have to yield to commonsense. Rather than get up at 3:45 to get in a quick 10km before work, I'm taking the extra hour's sleep and have to content myself with just two runs per week instead of three or even four.
I can hear that outside the recycling truck is emptying our bin. The empty bottles from our our Bastille Day dinner party crash into the truck and I almost shed a tear. One of those bottles - a 1979 Ch. Reynella Claret had been in our posession since we bought it in 1984. We'd kept it only as a curio - somehow it had remained unopened and as the years went by we assumed it would be vinegar and left it as a momento of days now long gone, before the French wine industry chucked a wobbly and stopped us using the term "claret". Then I read a wine blog somewhere in which one of these very wines had been opened and pronounced "magnificent". So we opened it on Bastille Day, alongside a couple of decent Burgundies and a magnificent Vouvray, and indeed it was surprisingly superb. For a very cheap wine, now 30 years beyond its supposed drinking wndow, it held its own fantastically well against its fancier French cousins. Perhaps not techncially the better wine, the novelty and nostalgia still easily made it the wine of the night.
The recycling truck moves on, oblivious to the significant piece of MLCM history it has just so unceremoniously dumped into its internals and I'm overcome with a wave of nostalgia. Actually, it's all Seafront Plodder's fault (as it often is) but that story, involving Coopers Sparkling Ale and a globe-trotting Waitrose catalogue is a tale for another day. It's time now to catch the train and head to w*rk.
It's a funny thing when the world changes abruptly while you're not watching. I caught the train in clear, albeit cool weather. Of course at this time of morning at this time of year in the southern hemisphere the stars are still shining brightly and dawn is a ways off yet, but the weather seemed kind enough. I engrossed myself in my book, got off the train at the underground Wynyard station, headed up the ancient, creaking wooden escalator and emerged into ... another, apparently vanished world. A thick fog had set in, and as I began the 2.5km walk through Darling Harbour to w*rk, the world seemed very surreal indeed. All the skyscrapers had vanished and the other side of the Harbour had likewise disappeared, making it seem I was walking beside the ocean. And it was oddly quiet, with no aircraft (the airport having been closed and all air traffic diverted to other cities) and no bird life. For some reason, the usually ubiquitous seagulls who can be found fouling Darling Harbour 24/7 (it's true - seagulls don't seem to sleep in Sydney) were elsewhere. There were however dozens of joggers - far more than usual, most likely because of the City 2 Surf in two weekends time, which also happens to be my next race. Actually I felt mixed emotions at seeing them. On the one hand I was jealous - it was a beautiful, serene morning because of the fog and an idyllic location for a run - but on the other hand I felt smug in knowing I'd already done all I needed to do for the race and was more than ready for it.
Leaving the harbour and heading into Ultimo where I work, the fog was still thick and the tall buildings eerily invisible, including my own place of employ, the only part visible from this distance being the scrolling Times Square-style news ticker feed facing the rail corridor. Through an underpass of the same rail corridor there were fresh posters advertising visits by Mumford & Sons, Snow Patrol and Slipknot, a reminder again of how Sydney was big enough that major acts visit here all too frequently and barely raise a blip on our muscial consciousness. In my home town of Hobart, a visit by any those bands would be front page news and have the town abuzz. Here it seems to mean hardly anything and I'm struck by the dichotomy of it.
And so to w*rk. My employment, it must be said, has been unusually wretched in recent months, thanks to a micro-managing demonic agent of change brought in as our department's new manager just over six months ago. Not that we are opposed to change, but change for the sake of change, with no explanation, logic, rhyme or reason will always stir up resistance, and that has been the case of late, to such an extent that it has involved two unions and at least one lawyer to date. Currently we are in a kind of stalemate as management seek easier fish to fry, but the day of showdown is looming.
Normally I am very good at disassociating work from real life, and it is still true that I don't dwell on work matters. I have, for example, no trouble at all getting to sleep at night. However the really annoying thing is that work now impinges on my dreams to such an extent that I find myself waking up maybe a dozen times a night because I have been dreaming about work, which invariably forces me awake. Combined with my cholesterol-lowering medication which has the delightful side-effect of causing night sweats, I am currently somewhat more than usually sleep-deprived.
Now I am not the kind of person to dwell on negatives. There's always a silver lining to any cloud and so I find myself thinking thus: if work is going to cause me such anguish I can at least use it as a form of training in that if I can struggle through the mental torment of industrial disputes, it must surely help prepare me for those moments of anguish in endurance running. It certainly gives one a steely resolve to see the matter through and if not win, at least give the buggers a fight they'll remember.
Added to this is the fact that I work very long hours (12 hours 40 minutes is the standard shift), and on those days in my current state of fuggishness I do not run. While I only work three or four days per week, I have the further constraint of being under orders from my miracle-working physio to not run on consecutive days - a constraint that has definitely helped my recovery from hard runs and kept me free of significant injury thus far this year. The upshot now though is that I can run only twice per week, and therefore really have to make both runs count. Which of course means lots of miles and much hill climbing.
Anyway, back to my day. I do love my job, which is in the main radio control centre for the government broadcaster. It's a crazy nerve centre of a place, sometimes dull, often ticking over nicely, but more than just occasionally erupting into almighty chaos as some disaster or other engulfs us. I actually thrive in a crisis and so it's those times I enjoy most - and as broadcasting gets ever more complex, we have more and more such times, which is fine by me. There's nothing I like more than being confronted with a desperate situation and have to get things back in working order again asap. As I say, all good mental training for endurance running, too. Anyway this particular day had only modest disasters so it was not too taxing - I even managed to get out at lunch time for a brain-cleansing 4km walk through and around Darling Harbour again, which is always worth doing.
One of the things we do as a sideline is to look after VIPs (politicians, authors, actors, academics etc.) who come in for interviews with radio stations interstate and overseas. Sometimes these get messy and complicated with circuits not booked or missing, schedules and time zones confused, interviews that run over their allocated time, and circuits simply not working as they should. And today I got a hug from a gorgeous blonde Hollywood film actress after calmly negotiating her through a series of interviews that didn't all go according to plan but which were ultimately successfully completed. That always puts a positive spin on a bad day, although later I did have to quickly explain to Mrs MLCM why I smelled of expensive perfume and had a soppy grin on my face.
And so the day at work went pretty well, rather like a good long run - tough work but it feels great to get to the end intact and having had some positive moments along the way. After work it was straight down to Darling Harbour again to meet Mrs MLCM and a close friend who was leaving Sydney after several months work here. Several bottles of decent red later I finally hit the hay for a decent night's kip... or so I hoped.
Today.
So it's 2 a.m. and I've woken with a raging thirst and a throbbing head ... a wretched hangover that didn't even have the courtesy to let me wake at a reasonable hour. Suffice to say the rest of the night was spent fighting a losing battle to get some rest. It was not a good night and I felt and looked lousy, as if we'd been drinking cheap Bulgarian rocket fuel all night rather than the dignified, classy reds we paid through the nose for.
However. If there's one thing I've learnt too many times before, running with a hangover is not such a bad thing. Somewhat counter-intuitively, hung-over runs often turn out to be rip-snorters. My theory about this is that if you persist for the first 20 - 30 minutes you invariable sweat out whatever toxins are making you feel crook, and the rest is merely a matter of re-hydration. You then emerge on the other side of the hangover feeling utterly fantastic.
Such was today's run. Although it was 10:30 in the morning before I found the courage to hit the treadmill, I did feel determined enough to attempt my scheduled 90-minute hill climb, accompanied today in a moment of strangeness by Ace of Base's Greatest Hits. And I have to say, after 30 minutes of careful plodding and hydrating, I felt fabulous and completed a 15km uphill run in negative splits and in top form. Talk about a transformation!
And so now, even though I may be restricted to two runs per week, I am confident it's sufficient to run both a marathon and a good time in the P2P this year. I am hopeful of entering the Sydney Marathon in mid-September, and will get another couple of very long runs tucked away over the coming weeks in case it works out that way. If however work intervenes and I can't compete on the day, I'll run the distance anyhow as a training run sometime in September or October.
So despite the torment of work, missed training days and self-induced alcohol poisoning, this is a very positive time in the running life of MLC Man. I look forward to bringing you more tales of employment angst, rocket fuel and mountain running in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned, race fans!
Track du Jour: Ace of Base's Greatest Hits album turned out to perhaps be somewhat better for a spin class than a long slowie, but appropriately perhaps, this song about being hypnotised seemed just right for the treadmill...
Yes, yes, hangover runs work rather well in my experience. If it's been an ale-driven session all the moreso, with torrents of beery sweat giving all-too-real evidence of physical change. I've not done one of those for some time. Hmm.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
OK today's run was ruined by another sleepless night. I did manage to cover 22km flat kilometres, but mental and physical fatigue were just too much. A reasonable distance and miles in the bank, but not the 30+ I was looking for. Not even the Olympic road race managed to spur me on, despite the heroics of Vinokourov, and what about Stuart O'Grady's 6th place eh?! Great stuff, but not from this tired cookie.
Sorry to hear your nocturnal torment continues mate.
The road race is another sad tale. The BBC indulged in such hubristic nonsense all morning, you'd have thought all Cavendish had to do to win was stay on the bike. Someone actually said that on air. Oh well. On the plus side it's fabulous to wake up immersed in sports. I'm in heaven.
Did you get to see the OC?
I've rarely been prouder to be a Brit. It was like the most remarkable collection of wondrous transport. Stately Bentleys mingled with reliable people carriers and souped-up, whacky racers, well preserved Model Ts with sleek Lambourghinis, vintage classics with wild & crazy concept cars. The clapped out Beatle almost ruined it at the end, but let's not dwell on that.
The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph
Oh yes, it's great to have wall-to-wall sport again... I love the Olympics and am absolutely spitting that I'm not there, but love watching it all. I even watch the equestrian events, I just love the whole thing.
What a damn shame Paula's pulled out the marathon though!
Dry July? No! Why?
