It is now the weekend and we are going to London for the Boat Show. I knew this and yet I didn;t go for a run last night thinking I would manage it this morning. WRONG! Too many things to do today. If I’m being honest with myself I knew I should have gone out for a run last night before tucking into a bottle of red wine.
I’m pretty annoyed at myself. I’m not going to get a chance to run until Monday night now. Aaargh…
Wow! I am in heaven. I went for a run tonight and it was bloody amazing.
- I ran for 48 minutes at sub 6k/min pace.
- I totalled just over 8K.
- I took in a long big hill after 5K and I could have crapped out half way up and taken the easy route but I didn’t.
- I only intended to do 5K.
- I could have kept on going for another 30 minutes. The only reason I didn’t was because I didn’t want to overdo it and injure myself. My chest felt great, my legs felt light. I honestly felt like I could have gone on forever (Forrest Gump style!)
My conclusions about tonight are:
- The run up Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh as part of the BUPA Great Winter Run has opened my body up to a whole new world. Running up hills makes all the difference.
- Even though it was zero degrees, I ran in shorts, a thin running top and thin running jacket. I was cold for the first 5 minutes and fine after that. If I had my fleecy running trousers on I would have felt totally different.
The only downer about tonight was that my last fews runs on my Nike+ have been incorrectly recorded (honest!). So I’ve had to delete everything and start again. Never mind, tonight was a good baseline. I am going to put the link for my Nike+ profile on this website so I can track my progress.
Back in the saddle again…. Cheers, Mark
I spent a couple of hours at Ratho climbing centre in Edinburgh last night with my best friend (Jonny). It was a good workout - pretty tough on the arms when you have crap rock climbing technique like me. I don’t think I’ll take up rock climbing long term as it would take up too much time to do it justice. However, running can fit into anyone’s life, no matter how busy they are.
This was the first real exercise I’ve done since the Edinburgh run on Saturday. My excuse for Monday was that I was feeling a bit under the weather (sore head and dodgy stomach). I probably could have run but I honestly felt I was coming down with something more serious (as it happens my son was feeling the same and he threw up at school so it must have been the same thing).
Anyway, I can feel the temptation to fall off the wagon at this point and it is important that I go for a good run this evening to get some more Ks in the bag. I’ll let you know how I get on.
Cheers, Mark
Just picked up my time for the Edinburgh Great Winter Run. It turns out that I was doing myself down. My timer says I did it in 30 minutes and 2 seconds. I’m happy with that considering how hard I found it on the way up the hill. My original goal was under 30 minutes so I didn’t quite make it but I’m not a million miles away.
I came in 981st position. Out of 2300.
Cheers, Mark
Bloody hell - it was cold. Minus 4 degrees when I left Stirling to go to the Edinburgh Great Winter Run. Here’s the bad and the good:
Bad:
- I found it hard to get warmed up properly as it was still minus 2 just before the race
- I also find it harder running in the morning (it was 11.30 so technically still the morning)
- Running up a big hill is hard - I have mostly been running on fairly flat roads and this run was a long run up Arthur’s Seat (a steady 2.5K all the way up).
- Frosty air was hurting my lungs towards the top of the hill.
- The start of the race had lots of people bunching together so I found it difficult to find a rythym for the first 2K.
- Not sure on my time (I think it was 31 minutes by my iPod). I will need to check out the champion chip timer online.
Good:
- Another one in the bag.
- I managed to push myself round, even though it was hurting.
- My son Jamie collects any medals so he was delighted.
- This has set a benchmark for future races.
In general I don’t feel great about yesterday as I felt like I was just ‘trying to get round’. That isn’t a race, it is just a mission. I think I need to change focus and start actually thinking of these things as races rather than milestones. I need to do everything I can to prepare myself in the weeks before a race in order to get the fastest time, not just ‘make it round’.
It is also easy to drop away after achieving a goal like this (for eaxmple, I ate loads of chocolate in the afternoon as a treat. I should have stuck to one chunk!). The important thing to take away from this is to keep up the momentum. I’ll let you know how I get on.
Cheers, Mark
I decided against the run this morning (despite being up at 6am and with time to do it if I wanted). I just felt it was the wrong time to experiment with running early - if I’m sore tomorrow I’ll be really pissed off.
So I walked all the kids to school and nursery this morning and did a good brisk walk for 20 minutes on the way back. I’ll also take the dog on a long walk tonight to keep in shape ready for tomorrow.
Thomas (my business coach and fellow runner) is going tomorrow too. He is out at a Burns Supper tonight so I think the whisky and haggis may come back on him tomorrow 
I think we will both just run our own race. He’ll have a better excuse for a poor performance than me though…
Cheers, Mark
The wheel has fallen off my running regime already. Just finished work and still need to sort stuff out for tomorrow so a run is not going to happen tonight.
I’m now trying to decide whether to run first thing tomorrow (I’ve never been good at running early in the day) or do I skip the run and do an extra run on Sunday (after Saturday’s 5K in Edinburgh)? If I run tomorrow I may have tired legs for Saturday and I really want to do a good job then. I’ll sleep on it and see how I get on.
Generally I am feeling much better since I started this running and blogging. Clear brain and clear focus…
My theory has always been that I would like to be able to eat and drink whatever I like (within reason) and still be able to keep in shape. “If I exercise enough my body will be able to cope with it.” My theory then developed into “if I keep working hard at exercise I won’t want to eat much crap as it will undo all the good work”. At the moment I am feeling this - I do feel less likely to pig out and do seem to be having smaller portions. Let’s hope this continues.
The next logical step is that I will want to improve my diet specifically to improve my body as part of my full work out. I’m not at that stage yet but I am starting to watch what I eat.
The important thing is not to treat myself too much by saying “I did a 6K run so I can now eat a couple of Mars bars!”. I used to fall into this trap but I’m really conscious of it now and try to stop myself. However, I am a firm believer that a little bit of what you fancy is OK otherwise you might as well live life as a monk…
I did my second run tonight - just aimed to repeat what I did on Sunday (5K without walking and at as fast a pace as I could manage without killing myself).
I had every excuse under the sun ready and waiting. “Tonight will be more difficult than Sunday because…”
- I am running two hours after a full meal of left over stovies (Scottish hotpot)
- It is pissing it down (horizontal Scottish style rain)
- It is later in the day so my body cycle is all wrong (ran at 8.30pm)
For the first 3 minutes I felt OK, running at a fast pace, but then the negativity crept in and I rotated through the above excuses. I made it to 10 minutes before I started feeling much better and I got my second wind. Breathing and rythym were great. My achilles felt tight on both ankles but I ran through it and it seemed fine at the end.
I ran an extra block too, making it 5.5K in total (in 33 minutes). Happy with that.
At this stage it is more about getting some Ks in the bag - just build up the mileage and it should all start coming together. Here’s hoping!
Cheers, Mark
The day after a run, my legs usually feel heavy or tight. Sometimes it is sore, other times you hardly even notice it. I believe that this is down to 3 things:
- not stretching enough before and after the run (this should take at least 5 minutes for each)
- food to aid recovery (ensure you refuel properly afterwards)
- practice (the more you skip an occasional run, the harder it is to keep your body in tune with exercise)
I felt a bit heavy after Sunday’s run but not too bad. It is actually a nice reminder that you have been exercising (even if it is harder to walk up the stairs, you can still feel warm and fuzzy inside).
My most difficult bit is my calves -I have one which is much tighter than the other (probably due to injuring it as a teenager without realising it and then scar tissue tightens it up). I have some great exercises to make the most out of it though and I’ll blog about these later.
Today (2 days after the first run) I feel no ill effects and am eager to go out tonight. It is very important not to overdo running at this stage and ensure I allow my body to recover - an injury will scupper all the plans. I think that 3 runs per week will be perfect for me and my goals so let’s see what happens.
Cheers, Mark