Month: February 2002

Another spell of hard labour on the exercise bike. It’s probably doing me good – torturing some different leg muscles and giving these blisters a chance to escape. However… despite producing the required bucket and a half of sweat, it doesn’t make me feel quite as holy as when I return from a run, almost glowing in the dark and vibrating with satisfaction.… READ MORE.... …

This is a bad spell, simple as that. I still have some lovely toe blisters so tonight it was ’16 miles’ on an exercise bike instead of the scheduled 4 miles on the road. The two distances are said to be equivalent, which is some comfort. Certainly I was sweating and buzzing like I’d run 4 miles. I’m going to have to dig in here and keep the faith.… READ MORE.... …

You win some, you lose some. Today’s run was a disappointment. I did at least do 16 miles though at least 3 of them were walked. I’m still not quite sure what went wrong. The day didn’t start well. The weather was awful again. Cold and cheerless. It rained all morning. I hung around, listless, hoping it would stop. It persisted.… READ MORE.... …

A non-running day, but a couple of things to report. First, a great email from the previously-mentioned Dave Clayton, whose suffering as a fellow QPR fan is compounded by an addiction to marathons. I’m sure he won’t mind if I reproduce a slightly edited version of his message: ——————————————————————————————– …My training is not so good at the moment. I’m finding it a bit of a struggle actually.… READ MORE.... …

4 miles, feeling pretty weary after last night’s 8. This bloody rain is tiresome. It’s a while since I wore my contact lenses but I’m planning to blow the dust off them and use them for running. Glasses, running and rain are decidedly ill-suited companions. After a while tonight I just gave up wiping the spray off them, and the last couple of miles were spent wondering if that approaching thing was a harmless dip or a pothole, a post or a child, a hedge or a parked car.… READ MORE.... …

Caramba, these midweek runs are getting longer. 8 miles tonight, though I was luckier with the weather than last night. When runtime came around the rain was over and the wind had dropped. Cold though – just 2 degrees above freezing. Despite this, I ran without a tracksuit top for the first time in the evening. For the first shivering mile I thought I’d misjudged it, but after that I warmed up and was glad of the decision.… READ MORE.... …

It’s on evenings like this I realise I’m a total fool true marathoner. Despite the temperate and positively Spring-like last few days, this evening winter returned, just to keep us on our blistered toes. By the time I was ready to go, the wind was howling round the eaves of the house and the rain was beating on the windows. We were under siege.… READ MORE.... …

Today I learnt 4 things: Kazuo Ishiguro is a top geezer Power gels work In the space of 16 weeks, it is possible to move from a point where you are unable to run for 2 minutes without vomit dangling from your teeth, to a point where you can run for 3 solid hours and 15 miles I will finish the London Marathon Today should have been a disaster as I was looking forward to running.… READ MORE.... …

Wandering round Notting Hill this evening, waiting for M, I find a copy of Hal Higdon’s Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide. Hurrah!… READ MORE.... …

Phew. That was close. The week’s schedule was rescued after all. I can now confess that after my quite unplanned waltz down the Tesco wine aisle, I wondered whether this was the beginning of the end. But it wasn’t. All is back on track – even though I could have done with the scheduled rest day today in advance of Sunday’s 15 mile eye-popper.… READ MORE.... …