Groundhog Day

30 Days to Go

Wednesday is usually when I run home from work as the easiest way to fit in a run of a decent distance during the week. This means that I have the following conversation with someone in the office when I walk through in my running gear on the way out:

"Off for a run are you?"

"Yep, I'm running home."

"Really? How far is that then?"

"About ten miles."

"Well good luck with that then."

Since I only have a week and a half left before the taper begins, next week will probably be the last time I do it, so the two or so people who haven't had this thrilling conversation yet should probably form an orderly queue. 

The run itself was quite good - and done at a fair old whack. I even did a cheeky extra detour to Cannon Hill to make it up to 13 miles. It's probably not surprising, considering I could hardly claim to have been overworked today - very difficult to be motivated when you've spent the day say in a windowless office on your own. Seriously, this is the second day in a row. If it happens again tomorrow I'll just assume everyone else has been sacked in the latest round of cost-cutting, or the long mooted office move has actually happened when I was off on Monday.

Worryingly, I did spend a portion of time on Street View having a look at portions of the marathon course.

This is not the behaviour of a rational man...

Back in the Club

Week Fourteen - 32 Days to Go

Like 50 Cent almost said, tonight I was at the club for the first Monday run in about three months. I felt a bit like the new boy at school as there were lots of people who I'd never seen before in my life! Luckily, Mike Scotney was back from his holidays so I could have a bit of a catch-up and have someone to run with. I got back into the swing of things pretty quickly - mainly because the main topic of conversation was the amazing medal I received from the Windmill Half yesterday. I can see a coach trip to next year's race so that everyone else can get their hands on one...

The route itself was good old Cannon Hill Park - which I seem to run all the time with all this training. By now I'm half convinced that I could probably do it blindfolded. I was hoping for a nice easy run, but it worked out at about 7:15 pace. Mike blamed me, but I'm pretty sure he was in front for most of it! Either way, good to be back and running with a group.

Back to work tomorrow which promises to be as fun as running into a gale force headwind. Pretty sure that everyone else is off so no doubt a large pile of effluent is sat on my desk awaiting immediate action. I haven't even got leftover food from Ramadan fast breaking to look forward to! 

I would normally say what my running plans are for the rest of the week, however since I've been away all weekend and left the 'The Plan' at home, I'm not exactly sure. As I'm building to the end though, I'm not exactly expecting a pleasant surprise...

First Day Back

Week Four - 101 Days to Go

Just a quick entry tonight, I have been woefully neglecting reading for the solitary Uni exam in a few weeks, instead I've spend the night aimlessly browsing the internet and posting unnecessarily vague announcements on Facebook.

The rest over the weekend appeared to have done the trick, the nine miles this evening felt alright (apart from the first couple obviously) and I finished it off with some 100m strides along the old Cannon Hill gravel pitch - much to the amusement of a group of rude boys and a bemused father playing cricket with his kids. Humiliation is part and parcel of running, probably due to the ill advised lycra.

Checking good old Strava afterwards I noticed it was at a quicker pace than last week, even with the extra mile, so quite pleasing. The real test will come tomorrow with the big run back from work. 'The Plan' calls for 14 miles. I think it's doable, but with the mileage increasing steadily, and with the prospect of the longest run so far pencilled in for Sunday, I feel this week will either make or break me. 

Fingers crossed. See you on the other side. 

The Hump of the Week

Halfway through week three of 'The Plan' and two longish runs in the bag - although it was particularly poor planning on my part that tonight's 13 mile effort coincided with my having to work until 6 o'clock...

The day started with us being graced with a visit from the newest member of the Senior Leadership Team. Management Bingo full house was declared when she vowed to spend a significant amount of time with us (translation: "I will only be here to deliver bad news or when one or all of you drop in the shit" - which on current form will likely be quite soon). After that it was knuckling down to the usual spreadsheets and things.

The run home was surprisingly pleasant, with the gale force winds having subsided and just cloudy grey skies overhead. I do have a sneaking suspicion that the weather in Reykjavik this August will be quite similar.

I managed to keep a nice steady pace, although the last few miles through Cannon Hill were a bit of a slog - probably due to the late hour. At the moment I'm glad that the training is through the summer as excessive long runs in the dark would probably break me.

Tomorrow is a nice easy day helping out with the Beginners Group at club as well as fulfilling my democratic right to cast a meaningless vote in a safe seat at the General Election. At least it will give me the mandate to complain for the next five years.

Or eighteen months on current polling predictions....

Here we go again...

A rest day as prescribed on Monday, although I did head to the gym to try and stretch out the sore muscles after Sunday's exertions. In the evening, acting class started again for the final term. I spent ten minutes of it pretending to cook a meal in a variety of situations. As you do.

It's only the second week of training and already real life has started it's infernal meddling. The car was in for it's MOT which it unsurprisingly failed. My reaction however showed how the running has begun to obsess me - not "how much is it going to cost?" but "how am I going to manage my mid-week long effort without running home from work?". The first world problems of average club runners eh?

Today was eight miles with ten sets of 100m strides thrown in for good measure. The hardest part was finding somewhere of suitable length were I could accelerate unimpeded. Thankfully I had a brainwave of using the asphalt pitch at Cannon Hill. It worked like a charm - and with no-one around to offer a helpful critique...

Tomorrow I'll try to get some form of longish run in before I have my indoctrination into the role of Club Communications Officer. Soon all the passwords will be mine and I will control everything!

(I am aware this makes me sound like some sort of low rent Bond villain)

So Far So Good...

121 Days to Go

Two days of running under my belt now. Tuesday went better than expected - Kangaroo Court wasn't in session and my day at work was again enlivened by the presence of 'The Shadow' in the office. The man absolutely fascinates me - he appears to have coasted through the last 28 years of his working life , producing absolutely nothing tangible but has still managed to work in some of the most interesting areas of business. It should make me angry, but it takes sheer effort to get away with it and such audacity must really be applauded.

Hellish traffic on the way home increased my journey by about an hour so it was through the door, quick change and out for the first run - a threshold session. I must admit to a shiver of excitement as my Garmin ticked towards the three mile mark and the four scheduled miles at pace began. I chose Cannon Hill park again, reasoning that it would allow me space to get up to speed without having to constantly stop at junctions. Oh, the travails of city living!

The miles were consistent which was a good omen for Stratford. Even better was the fact that I was only harangued by one member of The Youth. He ran with me for about ten yards before giving up - likely due to the danger of tripping over his ridiculously outsize pants. I can only put the lack of interest down to either looking like someone they don't want to mess with, or being too quick for them. Either is fine in my book.

Wednesday and 'The Plan' calls for a weekly medium-long run. I thought the most sensible approach was to run home from work. In the end it worked quite well, the route isn't particularly exciting but seems to be a similar gradient to the marathon course which will hopefully benefit me in a few months. Plus, the thought of dripping my sweat over the more affluent areas of the Midlands appeals to my inner left-wing firebrand...

Again, it was a good consistent pace and the route means that I can add extra loops of Moseley and surrounding environs as the mileage demands increase. Overall then, an encouraging start.

Tomorrow we are having a rare visit at work from Management to give us the lowdown on the Brave New World we will shortly be embarking on. Like most of their proclamations, it doesn't fill me with much confidence. Then in the evening it's back down the club with a steady run in the schedule. I just hope that with the London Marathon on the horizon, someone will be there to run with me!

- As an aside, I saw this yesterday. I could get used to being above average at something!

Confidence Building

A surprisingly productive weekend on a number of fronts. It was of course the last one before marathon training begins properly (Monday 20th is D-Day) and hit a couple of milestones. 

I decided to head down to Parkrun for this first time in almost a year. Officially my last visit was three  years ago, however I did make an incognito appearance last July as part of a somewhat unconventional date (that didn't go anywhere either, this seems to be a recurring pattern). In the end it went well and my time of 19:33 was only six seconds off my 5k PB - although on my Garmin it was actually 19:28. I could probably have been a bit quicker as well if I hadn't a) rolled out of bed about 45 minutes before the start and b) not started too far back in the ridiculously big crowd of participants.

My main reason for going was psychological. More than most, as any race approaches,  I suffer from doubts about my ability to maintain a pace over the distance. So with the Stratford half next week, a quick 5k at about 25 seconds a mile faster than my target for then allows me to think that a decent time and consistent running is possible. Silencing those nagging doubts will be crucial as the miles stack up over the next few months.

Today I did my usual 10 miles circuit down the Rea Valley. It wasn't the quickest, but crucially I felt pretty fresh both during and afterwards. We'll see how I feel next week after the first week of proper training has taken it's toll.

On a non-running matter, I also made a big dent in my final University essay of the year. This was particularly pleasing, I've struggled and procrastinated over it for the past few weeks - but in my defence I think most people would struggle to sum up any aspect of the Arab-Israeli conflict in only 3000 words...

A Walk in the Park

Pretty simple idea today - a three mile-ish threshold run (the ish being how far it is around Cannon Hill Park twice and then back out again). It went quite well, as I felt truly terrible by the end but didn't appear to slow down during it. I'm still running quicker than the half marathon pace that I should be doing, yet more evidence that I need to sort out my pacing pretty sharpish.

The main problem was that the unnaturally pleasant weather meant that the park was pretty much packed by the time I got there, turning the run into an obstacle course at times. Starve obsessives can attribute the slight drop in place to the points when I had to weave around oblivious walkers.

In other news, I've noticed that my increase in performance can be directly correlated to stress at work. This means that tomorrow's run with the club will probably be at a world record pace...

Family Business

Not much running this weekend, Easter and the end of the University term meant that a visit from the parents was in order. I don't think my constant excuses about being too busy writing essays and reading increasingly ridiculous screeds about international relations really washed so they popped down for the duration.

Running comprised of a quick five miles on Friday morning along the canal with the added incentive of making it back before they arrived. I needn't have bothered, a combination of Bank Holiday traffic and Dad's admirable refusal to pay for the toll road meant they arrived long after lunch. 

As they left on Sunday evening, I decided that Bank Holiday Monday morning would see a reasonably long running effort. In the end, several milestones were reached - not only did I manage 10 miles feeling in reasonable shape (which I wouldn't have expected after last week) but also went out in just a T-shirt for the first time this year. Spring has definitely arrived.

So overall, little running but much pleasantness. As a northerner, I am obliged to hide my feelings but there is something to be said for just sitting around and having a catch-up - even a long Sunday walk to Cannon Hill was nice. One of my great failings is not making enough time for friends and family - particularly as I owe my parents more than I could, or the above mentioned general northern taciturn nature would allow me to admit. Hopefully this weekend went some way to remedying this. 

Speed Work....

Better today. 

One of the things about the training program that I'll be following for the marathon (more on which later) is the number of lactate threshold workouts (or for layman like me - running until you blow out of your arse).

As one of life's natural pessimists, the thought of these fills me with dread. Obviously this is completely irrational as I've done them before both as club training sessions or as quick runs when I have foolishly attempted to impress girls. 

So to assuage my concerns, tonight's session was a couple of miles warm up down to Cannon Hill followed by a loop around the park and back to Cecil Road as quick as possible (passing some slightly bemused club mates en route). 

To be honest it was probably too quick, even after several years the art of adequate pacing still eludes me but I felt good afterwards. I was even full of enough bravado to go back home up the Cartland Road hill.

All in all, a good session - although I expect partly fuelled by the frustration of the constant farce that is my current employment.