Target 3:59

Well. It seems that accidentally setting Tumblr to ‘post to draft’ instead of ‘publish now’… is pretty dumb. A whole month of updates posted to the cloud and nobody to read them.

Now that I’ve read them back (all 6 of them), I realise that they were not the most interesting pieces of literature so I may as well summarise in one update.

So… the running club is going great. Lots of interesting people, of all abilities. Some entered into London, just as I am, some looking to go faster, some on a par with me so they’re a good yardstick. I ran with them 2 Sundays and Wednesdays on the spin. Wednesdays are Hill/Speed sessions, Sundays are the long runs. Wednesdays are great, I’m pretty quick on the short stuff. The Sundays are a bit more challenging, I’m still getting used to spending so much time on my feet.

I’ve upped the mileage, it’s still low, but my legs dont seem to be able to take 4 days a week so I make do with 3 runs and some cycling.

Overall, I’m feeling pretty damn good about the whole thing if I’m honest.

Last night was my first night with a running club. I don’t really know why I’ve never joined one before as it was awesome. Surrounded by like minded, positive people, all working towards different goals, but instantly supportive the moment you declare what yours is. It’s a wonderful thing.

Last night was based on Hills and speed work. I’ve never really incorporated anything like that into long distance training before, Hell, I’ve never really trained for anything before, but it was cool. I half expected to spend an hour running round some roads in single file, instead we run short and medium distance sprints up a decent gradient hill. I foolishly tried to place myself at the front of everything and I’m feeling it this morning, but I figure that it’s good to have other people setting the pace, rather than flying solo and not really pushing yourself.

It’s the first long run with everyone on Sunday, people are talking about a 15 mile route, I’ll be happy with half that distance.

Aprés la Race

So I haven’t written so much of late as I got ill, didn’t run for a few days, and got busy with other things all at once.

But I write now… I broke my barren spell with a short and quick 4.2 Mile race on Sunday. I thought that I’d prepared so well, I’d had banana and porridge for breakfast, warmed up, stayed warm until the start… then just as the Klaxon sounded for the start, I realised that I hadn’t had any fluids since the night before. Idiot.

Regardless of that, I placed myself near the front of the pack at the start line, then set off at a pace that didn’t feel too bad. At first I got a little worried as after a mile I was still in the chase pack (A breakaway of 4 Super Human Freaks [SHF’s] dissappeared immediately) and feeling pretty comfortable.

I’d aimed at about 35 minutes, or 8min 30second miles. I was pretty sure that I was running way too fast and when the halfway marker rolled around I realised I really was. Only FourteenSomething minutes had elapsed and I then had it in my head to go under 30 minutes. Just as I had that thought, I realised that the course was mainly uphill on the way back and people started to pass me on a ridiculously long (1m+) uphill section.

I had two options, drop off into the chasing pack and try to find a slower pace there, or just suck it up and see if my legs would respond. Sheer bloody mindedness made me choose the latter, and I clung onto the heels of someone in finer fettle then me until the finishing was in sight. I tried to kick off a sprint finish but I had absolutely nothing left.

I finished in 29:48, somehow finishing 18th in a field of a few hundred, and two days later, I’m ready to run again. I’ve joined the running club that arranged the race, to try and get some kind of structure in place for the next 11 weeks. First training session with them is tomorrow night. Fun.

Picture Below (Apologies for my shocking photoshop MSPaint skills)

Me = Me
SHF’s = Super Human Freaks (Finished in 22-23 minutes. So quick)

I’m ill. Sick, rough, minging. Not running, waiting to recover, but at least I’m losing weight as I’m not eating. Every cloud…

Today’s run taught me that niggles should be ignored, and that it’s generally harder to get off your butt and throw your kit on than it is to actually do the hard yards…

Though it’s also taught me that a towel is pretty much essential running gear… drying yourself with a tee shirt, post run… not exactly the way it’s meant to be done.

I’m due to run in an hour. My legs feel leaden, I put way too much honey in my porridge and feel a little sick because of it, so I oogled the google for some inspiring words.

I found them…