December 2012

[marathondan]

Running daily is pretty good for someone without a mojo. Keep it up mate.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Yeah I doubt you ever actually lose your mojo, Sweder. It's just you don't stand still long enough for it to catch up to you. Stand still for a minute, it'll find you.

[Sweder]

Just survived a swift, filthy run in the foulest conditions. Wind, rain, swirling mist, slick mud, rapidly encroaching nightfall ... I loved it. I guess my mojo is still lurking, bobbing up to the surface now and then.

The twelve week weight-watch is over today. There have been a few bumps in the road, not least a couple of overseas trips when I didn't run so much, fell off the wagon once or twice and failed to complete my fat-burning sessions. That said I've held a steady 88 kilos this week, an overall loss of 6.2 kilos, and my wobbly belly is much reduced. After Christmas, when I plan to have a beer or two and my fair share of high-octane grub, I'll hit the fat-burning trail once more, aiming for that magical 85 kilos. It'll be tough to get there before Almeria but I aim to give it my best shot.

Happy Christmas to all. Santa won't be bringing me any running stuff this year (I like to buy my own) but I'm certainly in the market for new boots. My surviving WH3s are in tatters, no longer fit for purpose. Mizuno have an interesting new range out so I'd best get tapping away.

Cheers!

[Antonio247]

Just survived a swift, filthy run in the foulest conditions. Wind, rain, swirling mist, slick mud, rapidly encroaching nightfall ... I loved it. I guess my mojo is still lurking, bobbing up to the surface now and then.

The twelve week weight-watch is over today. There have been a few bumps in the road, not least a couple of overseas trips when I didn't run so much, fell of the wagon once or twice and failed to hit my fat-burn sessions. That said I've held a steady 88 kilos this week, an overall loss of 6.2 kilos, and my wobbly belly is much reduced. After Christmas, when I plan to have a beer or two and my fair share of high-octane grub, I'll hit the fat-burning trail again, aiming for that magical 85 kilos. It'll be tough to get there before Almeria but I aim to give it my best shot.

Happy Christmas to you all. Santa won't be bringing me any running stuff this year (I like to buy my own) but I'm in the market for new boots. Mizuno have an interesting new range out so I'd best get tapping away.

Cheers!

Congratulations on reaching your running, weight and drinking objetives, S. It's a pity you can't be doing the Baños de Sierra Alhamilla run tomorrow, but we could go on Monday the day after the half marathon. By the way, although the website doesn't mention the date, the organisers have confirmed me again that it will be on Sunday 27th January.

¡Feliz Navidad a todos! Happy Christmas to all of you!

[glaconman]

Santa won't be bringing me any running stuff this year (I like to buy my own) but I'm certainly in the market for new boots.
Cheers!

I beg you to try some Salomons. I bought some speedcross 3 yesterday and took them for a spin in Borrowdale up near Honister Pass. What a blast. Incredible footwear. Not cheap mind.

[Sweder]

I'd slated a quick-as-you-like thrash to Blackcap today. Within minutes my plan lay in tatters, or should that be splatters. Mud, wind and relentless rain conspired to cool my eager jets. What's more the wind came out of the west, driving straight into my face on the tough uphill sections. Speed was not an option.

Plan B turned out to be a slow slog out to Ditchling, a ten mile round trip with the added bonus of a tailwind for the trip home. Muddy pools lay like bear traps along the slippery downland trail. I spent as much energy dodging those as I did fighting the headwind and lifting my mud-coated Mizunos.

   

10.01 miles in 1 hour 39 minutes.
Track du jour: Lazy, Deep Purple.
RIP Jon Lord.

[Sweder]

I beg you to try some Salomons. I bought some speedcross 3 yesterday and took them for a spin in Borrowdale up near Honister Pass. What a blast. Incredible footwear. Not cheap mind.

Thanks mate, I'll check them out, though I'll have to find an outlet down here to get properly measured up as I've never worn the brand. New boots! Exciting stuff. PS: had a quick look on the Salomon website. Their trail/ mountain shoes look a little more padded than I'm used to. Mizuno offer a decent spread including a variation on the Wave Harrier theme.

[glaconman]

Agreed. I went half a size up on the Salomons. And the heel does seem large. But they're a soft and light feel. Great for downhills.

[Sweder]

After a short sharp shock this lunchtime - a 3 mile bludgeon into a vicious headwind that included 8 x 30-second flat-out sprints - I downloaded my Garmin data from yesterday. Here's the pace chart

   

I'm pleased with the increased tempo at the end of the run. Running hard on tired legs is one way of increasing capacity and muscle volume. More pleasing still was the lack of fatigue on today's outing. My monthly total just hit 143 kilometres. With several more outings scheduled before New Year's Day I'm on for my first 100 mile month in 2012.

[Sweder]

I've just frittered and wasted some hours in an offhand way. Or, to be more precise, wrestled with a running spreadsheet (in Numbers). The analogy of bobbing for apples springs to mind. I've just come up for air, bug-eyed and sweat-soaked. This is an alien world, full of data and coding, inducing paroxysm of panic in the uninitiated.

For reasons best known to myself I have been running two sets of SportTracks, the free Garmin reader. One on my ever-traveling laptop, the other on a home-based PC. Being a Luddite of the first order I managed, at various times during the year, to clear the Garmin without downloading data to both devices, resulting in conflicting totals. Hence the dabbling with spreadsheets. Here's a 2012 summary broken down by time (minutes) and distance (kilometres) per month.

   

I'll soon visit Le Grande Fromage in his Alpine lair where I will beg shamelessly for help. Ideally I need a good online, cloud-based programme that I can access via iPad to upload and read Garmin data from more or less anywhere.

December has been my most consistent running month of 2012, possibly ever. Over a hundred miles banked (and still a few days left) with a long run of only ten miles. I haven't yet ramped up the distances as planned. Although likely to impact on my performance in Almeria this has allowed me to lay a solid base for Brighton training. That, of course, starts now.

[glaconman]

Good effort Sweder. Nice to see the whole year in such a succinct display of effort.

I've got plenty of technical skills but I rarely remember to put my garmin on. So you're one step ahead of me

All the best for 2013. Above all else let's stay in the game. It's looking good.

[Sweder]

Another sodden muddfest of a run in tough conditions.
Every picture tells a story. Here's today's

   

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Nice work Sweder, but don't forget to get some road miles in or you'll really suffer at Brighton!

[Sweder]

A few more local outings last week, a visit to Hove Parkrun yesterday followed by a poignant return to Old Snakey. Parkrun went well. I notched my quickest time for three years and second best of all time, 22:36 for the 5k circuit. After the run I joined Cam and Simon for a coffee where we talked about a possible Sunday run.

This morning we made good our plan, taking on a brutal westerly wind and viscous mud in the East Brighton Hills. I took my new Mizuno Ascend 7 trail shoes out for a spin. They felt snug and springy as only boots fresh out of the box can. Marian, another Brighton runner planning to join the Almerian Armada next month, joined us. For me this was a first return to these hills since Spring. The sun popped out to greet us, bouncing light off the dancing waves below the cliffs.

Inland the trails turned treacherous, sodden after a week of solid rain. Brackish pools lay in wait, the mud around them set to send us sliding in at every step. After Telscome Tye the headwind kept our pace modest until we reached the lea of the Serpent's shoulder. Here the ground was all but impassable, slick, spin-inducing mud as far as the watery, wind-stung eye could see. Despite the slime sucking at my feet I felt strong on the climb, arms pumping as I launched myself up the twisting slope. Near the top we paused to pay homage to Chris, Cam's purple hairband still wrapped around the gorse bush where her brother's ashes lay.

   

I hammered home through East Brighton Park at around 7'30"/ mile pace, taking the long route on the gallops around the top of the park. This was akin to running in wet sand, testing my tiring legs. Millie and Marian were a way behind so I ran to the seafront and back. I bade farewell to the girls and ran a last mile on the hard top along Madeira Drive. Just shy of 14 miles in 2 hours 15, right where I want to be for the start of my Brighton Marathon campaign.

[The Beast of Bevendean]

I prostrate myself before such puissance. I managed a mere five miles on much easier surfaces.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

... Just shy of 14 miles in 2 hours 15, right where I want to be for the start of my Brighton Marathon campaign.

So you're serious about sub 3:45, aren't you? Looking the goods there, Sweder. Keep it up.

[Sweder]

So you're serious about sub 3:45, aren't you?

Injuries and events may yet conspire against me but being fat and under prepared are no longer acceptable.
Back on the wagon on Tuesday, back to the fat burning tomorrow.

I had an interesting chat with Cam about 'junk miles', those runs we do from time to time (I've completed a number lately) where we go through the motions, get out the door, cover and log the mileage. There's no big effort made, it's just data for the spreadsheet. Cam has been adding in speed and strength elements to all her mid-week sessions: 4 x 800 metres at 7 minute/ mile pace with 90 second recoveries, 200 metre sprint reps, Fartlek, that kind of thing. I may swap the junk runs for rest days, adding similar sessions on selective midweek runs and sticking to long, easy miles on the weekends. It's been fun running every day this month but the time has come to focus on improvement.

[Sweder]

2012, this sporting Annus Mirabilis, is almost done.
London 2012, Tour de France, Ryder Cup, Manchester City's late, late title grab (choke), Chelski's hijack in Munich, Murray's US Open, England's dramatic test wins in India ... The highlight for me was crying my eyes out in the Olympic Stadium as I cheered Mo Farrah home to Olympic Gold in the 10k on 'Super Saturday'. I'd dreamed for years of being there just for that race. The elation, the remarkable wall of sound, the improbable perfection of that golden hour, will live within me for the rest of my days.

I wrapped things up today with a 3.5 mile run that included a quartet of lung-busting sprints, each two minutes long. The wind whipped light rain into my face as I pushed tired legs through the mud. In spite of that, perhaps because of it, I relished the feeling of my body running out of oxygen, the loss of shape, of form, as fatigue took hold. The recoveries in between were little more than rag-doll jogs.

December finished up at just over 207 kilometres, a mediocre training week for Mo, pure running gold for me. My year total is 1154.8 kilometres, or 721.75 miles, a nip over 60 miles per month on average. None of that means much to me. What I care about is how I feel at this point looking forward. And I'm feeling good.

If you're in the running doldrums, just not feeling the love, fear not. If the will is within you, you will find a way back. The one thing I've learned this year is you can't hurry form, you have to work up to it along that long, hard road. To those of us still out there plugging away, may the road/ trail/ rock/ grass/ mud rise to meet you.

Here's to a rude and glorious 2013.