Month: July 2002

I had to work for it tonight, as I knew I would. It was only 4 miles or so, but I hadn’t run for 4 days, and had missed my long run at the weekend. There wasn’t a lot of air around, and what there was was dense and hot and heavy. Like me. I felt bloated and unfit and awkward, and the sweat!… READ MORE.... …

A disastrous few days. I had a great, short, run on Thursday, then nothing for 3 days. We had visitors yesterday so I decided to put off my 12 miler till today. But it’s been so hot and muggy today that the thought of running is unbearable. Watching Paula Radcliffe’s magnificent victory in the 5000 metres was today’s training. It’s the first time I’ve missed a long run in the training for Chicago or London.… READ MORE.... …

It was late – after 9pm – when I finally got out to do my 6 miles this evening. As is often the case with runs that I’m particularly looking forward to, it was a disappointment. No problem with my health or performance, but the flies! My God, the flies! Running along the canal this evening was a nightmare. I could feel the dense clouds of the blighters every few yards.… READ MORE.... …

Awake at 5am and decided on an unsceduled 3.67 miles, which I did at just under 10 minutes a mile. A great run, on a perfect morning for getting out. Bugger South West Trains!… READ MORE.... …

An hour in the gym (including 30 minutes of intensive cardiovascular) and 3 hours gardening yesterday. Sandwich for lunch, salad for evening meal. Result? A weight gain of 2 pounds. Explanations gratefully received. And it’d better be good… The gym has been neglected recently. The plan was, and still is-ish, that Thursdays and Sundays should be gym days. The Thursday session to follow my run, rounding off the week’s activity before the rest day and the weekend long run; and the Sunday session would be the hour of cross-training required by the programme to drag me back to life after the previous day’s exertions.… READ MORE.... …

It was good to get out finally, late this evening, to do 7.34 miles in a reasonable time. I got round the two circuits of my usual 3.67 mile run in 01:13:51, or an average of 10:03 a mile. This isn’t the fastest I’ve run but I suspect it’s among the fastest times over this kind of distance, and that’s the crucial point.… READ MORE.... …

A nice run this evening. 5.55 miles at 10:30 a mile. Which was a disappointing and surprising pace, as I seemed to be bowling along like billy-o for much of the jaunt, and had convinced myself that I was on in line for a something much nearer to 10 minutes a mile. It was my usual long round-the-block run, half of the one I did so unhappily on Saturday afternoon.… READ MORE.... …

The diet was supposed to begin yesterday, but it didn’t. I enjoyed an Annapurna of a cooked breakfast at a Manchester hotel, followed by a large sandwich — sorry, “buttie” — and a pint of lemonade at lunchtime, then, in the evening, a large BurgerKing ‘meal’ on the motorway with a bag of lemon bon-bons for the rest of the journey home… Not a great performance.… READ MORE.... …

A hard 11.2 miles this afternoon. I spent much of last winter trudging along frozen lanes in the dark, fantasising miserably about the promise of long hazy summer days. Like Jeffrey Archer wistfully dreaming of ice buckets loaded with Bollinger, I remembered only half the picture. Or perhaps I wasn’t thinking as a runner then. The airlessness, the raw heat, the sweat stinging your eyes, the squinting glare, the salt-encrusted lips and cheeks, the mouthfuls of flies, the deep fatigue, the heaviness of the bones, the extra effort.… READ MORE.... …

It’s not been a good week for running. Monday was a rest day, intended to be a cushion between the exertions of the weekend past and the ratcheted-up exertions of the week ahead. But those future efforts didn’t happen. On Tuesday I was suddenly taken drunk, and had to be excused my athletic duties. Wednesday I felt rough and weary; unable to face anything very much, least of all running.… READ MORE.... …