As of tomorrow I'll be drawing a line under my rest week and immersing myself in training once more, ready for marathon number 2 in four weeks time. Just as well after all I've eaten over the last couple of days. We've not long got back from a weekend in Sowerby Bridge, Yorkshire, where we were visiting our dear friends Ron and Kate, who both happen to be excellent cooks. It's always a great treat to spend time with them at their home. My mouth is watering at the thought of Ron's roast lamb dinner, Kate's Malaysian fish curry and the pancetta and parsnip tagliatelle with homemade pasta. Not to mention the Devilish desserts. Best not dwell on those.
As well as eating, the evenings were spent downing a few bottles of fantastic wines, with one visit to a local pub to taste a few guest ales. I'm not one for heavy drinking, not these days, but our visits up North tend to re-awaken the drunken student of my youth. I'll make amends with an 8 mile run in the morning before seeing my first client at 9.40am.
We did get a little exercise with a walk over Rishworth Moor, past Green Withens Reservoir and along part of the Pennine Way to Blackstone Edge. Probably a mere 5 mile walk, but the bracing wind helped to blow away the cobwebs. It was a beautiful day, with the exception of the cold. Once we were walking it was fine. But when I took my hands out of my gloves to eat my cheese and onion sandwich, made using Kate's homemade caramelised onion bread, they turned blue in seconds.
This will hopefully be a quick update on what I've been up to in my rest week. Amazingly, I felt fine the day after the marathon. I could tell that I'd been for a long run, but I didn't experience any problems walking down stairs, which is normal after a marathon. If you see anyone walking like an android on April 18th you can almost guarantee that they ran London Marathon the previous day. Of course, I'd loved to have had a proper rest day, but it was work as normal meeting two personal training clients and teaching three kettlebell classes. I might have felt fine in the morning, but I was pretty knackered in the evening and glad of the opportunity to have a lie in Tuesday morning.
Thankfully, Tuesday was a quiet day. I couldn't resist the urge to have a kettlebell workout, so I ended up doing a big upper body lifting session, to give the legs a rest. I did two sets of 40 press-ups, and I was amazed that I was able to do this as a stand alone workout. I then do a total of 80 bent over kettlebell rows per arm, followed by 40 Military Presses per arm. I finished off by multi setting between tricep extensions and bicep curls until I was completely fatigued. It was quite a short workout, but left me feeling like a quivering wreck.
Tuesday evening I had to put a client through a reasonably hard interval training session, whilst I ran alongside him. This was my first post marathon run. It was at a pace that was a little on the brisk side to be considered a recovery run. I was aware of a slight ache in my glutes (the muscles in your butt) during the run, but, apart from that, all felt good. During the session we reviewed the client's progress, which is going very well. I can see he has made incredible progress over the last couple of months. More importantly, he is fully aware of the progress he is making. His average pace on his long runs is showing improvement almost week on week.
Wednesday was another full on day. As always it was rounded off with an outing with the Sweaty Betty running club. We had a huge turn out this week. Many girls who haven't been for a while showed up and we had a few new ladies join the club. With some many ladies out I had a hard job making myself heard. I'm sure you can imagine how difficult it can be to manage a big group of gossiping women. I guess I should be careful. I don't want to be accused of being sexist and going the way of certain Sky Sports presenters. Anyway, it was another interval training session for the ladies, and another test for my legs, which this time felt fine.
Today has been yet another busy day of work. I could have gone for a run this evening, and I was very tempted. In the end, though, I realised I had a fair amount of paperwork to sort out before going away for the weekend. I did find time for a 30 minute core workout.
Tomorrow we will be driving up to Yorkshire after a morning of work. We will be visiting friends in Sowerby Bridge and spending the time walking, eating and drinking. This is going to be a whole weekend away from training and a time to socialise and let my hair down. O.k. so I don't actually have any hair to let down, you don't need to point that out to me. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to a fun weekend away. I plan on doing very little the weekend after every marathon, so getting away is the perfect way to make sure I stick to this plan.
I have just got back home after a weekend in Gloucester and having successfully completed marathon number one for the year.
There's not much point going into a great deal of detail as to what happened on Thursday and Friday. Thursday was a very busy work day, although I was actually done for the day by 5.30pm, which was a rare treat. I wasn't quite sure what to do with myself in the evening. I thought about joining some friends for a run, but decided I'd be better off resting. I settled for putting my feet up and reading a book. I'm reading Map Of A Nation, a biography of the Ordnance Survey written by Rachel Hewitt, who happens to be one of my clients, and she deserves a bit of a plug. I much prefer to read non-fiction and I'm finding her book to be a very enjoyable read. Being an outdoorsy sort of bloke I really admire Ordnance Survey maps, which are surely the best maps in the world and a British institute that we should all be proud of. Although I own a large number of OS Landranger maps, I'd never really given much thought to the history of the Ordnance Survey. But when I first met Rachel, and she described her book to me, I knew that it would be a subject of great interest to me, and no doubt to a great many other admirers of the OS. It turns out we have those pesky Scots to thank. If it wasn't for the Jacobites eluding the English Redcoats in the vastness of the Scottish Highlands, the Military Survey of Scotland wouldn't have been commissioned which then led to the founding of the Ordnance Survey.
On Friday I had a busy morning followed by my usual lunchtime Pilates session with Holly. We spent quite a bit of time giving my legs a much needed stretch. Once I'd got some admin done in the afternoon I then had more time to put my feet up. Of course, a lot of the day was spent carbo loading, which must surely be the best part of preparing for a marathon. Providing you like pasta.
I was looking forward to getting to Gloucester on Saturday and having a look around the city. It's not somewhere I've ever been, and I'm not aware of any friends who have ever visited. So I had no preconceptions as to what I'd find. To me the name Gloucester conjures up images of a fairly historic city. Without offending anyone who might be from Gloucester, I found the place to be a little disappointing. It does have a very nice, small Medieval centre around it's fine Cathedral. Most of the buildings in the Cathedral Square where once associated with a monastery. Many are now privately owned. Unfortunately, less than a stones throw away is one of the most unimaginative 70s city centre developments that I have witnessed. Many of the shops seemed quite run down, and the area felt quite poor. It's possible that my impression was affected by the greyness of the sky and the general dreariness of the weather on Saturday.
Gloucester Cathedral
In looking for somewhere to get my pre-marathon pasta meal, we only found one likely candidate. A Prezzo Restaurant, which turned out to be fully booked. I suddenly had an image of us buying pasta salads from the nearby Tesco and eating in our hotel room. Fortunately, there was a very good hotel nearby with a very nice restaurant. We'd opted to stay at an Ibis Hotel on the grounds that you know exactly what you're going to get and it's not to pricey. It was more than adequate for my needs, but I didn't really want to eat there. So, after filling up on a much nicer meal than I had envisaged we'd have, we returned to our hotel for an earlyish night.
By most race day standards, Sunday morning was reasonably leisurely. We were only 4 miles from the start. We had to register any time after 9am for a 10.30am start. Registration took place in a school sports hall, which was already fairly packed by 9.15. On receiving my race number I was also handed one of the worst race mementos I've ever received. A blue fleece hat that is way to big for me. However, it was very useful at keeping my head warm at the start.
There was a good buzz going on in the sports hall. I looked around at the other entrants, who all looked like the fairly serious breed of runners. A category in which I have to acknowledge includes me to a tee. I spotted a group of runners kitted out with backpacks and desert gaiters. Clearly on a training run for the Marathon de Sables and wanting everyone else to know it. There were also plenty of 100 Marathon Club vests on show. I'd never seen so many at one event before. During the briefest of race briefings the announcer mentioned that one of the participants was running in his 200th marathon today. Who knows, maybe one day I'll reach such heights. On second thoughts, I think I'll settle for 12 in one year for know. I would also like to maintain my relationship!
Once the race was underway, I found myself running with a small group, which included Paul, a chap in his 50s who I'd met at my only foray into ultra marathons to date. He was running in his 95th marathon today, and aiming to get in to the 100 marathon club in the near future. The race proved to be a very sociable event. Many runners were quite happy to pair up and chat as they progressed around the course. There does seem to be an inverse correlation between size of event and friendliness of competitors. It also seemed that because this marathon was one of the first of the year it had attracted a high number of people with very similar goals to mine. We clearly had much to discuss. Sharing our plans and listing future events we aim to be at. As a result, there should be familiar faces at at least the next two events I do, which will both be very low key.
Canal crossing at mile 4
The course itself was not one that I was particularly looking forward to in advance. After doing a 4 mile figure of 8 around the residential streets surrounding the school that was the race HQ, we headed for greener pastures. Most of the race would be on a 7 mile loop through the villages of Elmore, Farleys End and Longney. This loop would be covered 3 times, before heading off on the final one mile stretch to the finish, back on the edge of the residential area. I normally don't like running events that involve multiple lap courses. Being able to strike up a conversation with any runner I happened to be next to certainly helped. However, I did find the second lap hard work. This probably wasn't helped by the fact that the steepest hill on the course was at the start of each loop. The course wasn't drastically hilly, but it was certainly undulating. There seemed to be a general feeling of climbing on the first part of the loop, and then gradually descending on the second half.
I think my head has finally reduced to a normal size since Saturday's Park Run win. Although, the fact that I've mentioned it in the opening sentence of this blog entry is an obvious indication that I'm still feeling rather proud of myself. Since Saturday I've been taken things a little easier, with the exception of a pretty hard kettlebell session on Tuesday.
On Sunday I met up with four of the Sweaty Betty running club ladies for an 8 mile run. The start of the run was a mile and a half from home to make my total distance 11 miles (not that I'm counting!). I've never been for a Sunday run with any of the girls from the Sweaty Betty club before, so it made a nice change. It also meant that I had to slow my pace down. I hope this doesn't offend any of the ladies who joined me. From my perspective it was very useful to be made to go at a slower pace than normal, given that I don't want to be running Gloucester Marathon in a quick time. I met two of my usual running friends on the run (Andy & Andrea), who thought I'd found the perfect way to sneak away from the missus and spend some time with four other women without raising any suspicions back home. Of course, it wasn't like that at all.
Monday should have been a rest day. It started off with me giving two personal training sessions back-to-back in the pouring rain. The reality is that I rarely get wet when delivering personal training sessions outdoors. The weather in this part of Britain isn't as bad as many people perceive. However, Monday morning was pretty grim, and I did end up very wet, despite wearing a pretty good water proof jacket and supposedly water proof trousers. Later on I taught three kettlebell group classes, which meant I had a light workout over a three hour period. So not exactly much opportunity to rest. At least the weather had improved dramatically to turn into a lovely afternoon.
Tuesday was a fairly quiet day in terms of work, so I had plenty of time for a hard kettlebell workout at home. Once again I followed the killer programme that I'd put together for one of my clients the previous week. Even I noticed that it was marginally easier second time, so I'm hoping my client will also agree when he has his second crack at it tomorrow. In the evening I had a run with a client. Normally I'd run Tuesday morning, but for the last two weeks I've settled for running with my Tuesday evening client as the only run I do on that day. It's all part of the taper. We ended up running 4.5 miles whilst doing a hard interval session.
The weather today has been great, with lovely clear, blue skies. Although the temperature could only be described as rather bracing. However, a great day for exercising outdoors. I had a very busy morning, followed by some time to relax with a book in the afternoon. I finished the day by coaching the Sweaty Betty running club. We were joined by four new comers this evening. We're currently gearing up for the Sweaty Betty Great British Run on February 9th. At least three of the newcomers have been enticed along for the build up to that event. The aim is to try and get as many ladies as possible along to the store to do a run. Each store will be in competition to see who can run the most mileage in the evening. I'll be guiding the ladies on three loops through the city. Each loop is approximately 2.5 miles long, all starting and finishing at the shop. So on the night everyone can decide whether they run 2.5, 5 or 7.5 miles. We then total up the total distance run by all the ladies who turn up. Whichever store covers the greatest mileage will be declared the winner and each lady who turns up and runs will receive a £50 voucher to spend at a Sweaty Betty shop. So any ladies reading this, if you're interested in taking part (in Cambridge!), make a note of the date and I hope to see you there.
I'll be trying to take the next few days very easy. The first marathon of the year is just four day away. Tomorrow will be my busiest day, and I will have to run with one client in the afternoon. That will be my last run before Sunday.
I'm looking forward to getting the first marathon under my belt. This Sunday feels like it will be the start of the year for me. I have no anxiety about the marathon itself. I just need to be disciplined and not run it fast. I'm aiming to get round in something like 3 hours 30 minutes. That might sound fast to some, but when your personal best is under 3 hours it should be a reasonably gentle run. Not that it won't be a challenge. Running marathons is always a challenge. 26.2 miles is still a very long way to run, no matter how many marathons you might have run.
I dare say the next time I update this blog will be on Sunday evening. When I hope to be able to report successfully completing my first of twelve marathons. So spare a thought for me sometime between 10.30am and 2pm on Sunday, which is when I'll be running Gloucester Marathon. Try to send me some positive energy.
Gloucester, here I come!
I know I should be focusing on staying injury free and that I shouldn't really be racing in short distance races. I know that pushing myself really hard so early on in the year could jeopardise my bigger plans for the year ahead. To run 5k at a tempo pace is one thing, but to race it is a whole different kettle of fish. I know all those things. However, this morning I found myself in an unexpected strong position in the Cambridge Park Run, a weekly 5k race in Milton Country Park, and in the heat of the moment and under the influence of adrenalin I found myself challenging some young whipper-snapper for the first spot. To my great astonishment I crossed the line in first place and in a time of 18' 18".
My intention had been to take the race fairly easy, just like the previous week, and use it as a tempo training run. But as the race set off I found myself with the first eight runners, running at a relatively comfortable pace. Then as the race progressed I just seemed to slowly make my way through the field until I was in third place. I was sure that I was just keeping a steady pace and that everyone else around me was slowing down. At about the 2km mark the second place runner was maybe 20m ahead of me and the first placed runner at that time was a further 20m off. I was aware that I was slowly gaining on the second runner. As I pulled up to him I thought to myself 'just stay on his heels, you don't need to overtake him, you're not here to race'. But as I caught up with him it seemed impossible for me to slow down my legs, and I just continued to sail on by. I was then aware of the fact that the gap between me and the first runner was narrowing. He seemed to anxiously look over his shoulders from time to time. With just less than 2km to go I also caught him. This time I was thinking to myself 'don't be stupid, Alan. Just stay with him to the finish'. But once again, I couldn't get my legs to slow down. So, against my better judgement, I found myself in first place. Initially I was thinking to myself 'what are you doing? Slow down. You're not here to have a race' I was fully expecting to be overtaken on the run to the finish.
By this stage I was on the second lap of the Country Park and over taking the back markers. As I passed slower runners I'd hear the occasionally shout of "Well done. Keep going". I then started to think 'maybe I can win this today'. I could feel the adrenalin creeping through me and a little demon then appeared on my shoulder and kept saying "come on, you can do this, today is your day, dig deep and you will win this." I knew that I was only in first position because the field itself wasn't as strong as the previous week. But I wasn't going to let that affect me. You can only race against the field that shows up on the day, and today was going to be my day. Turning the last bend I could see the second place runner about 30m behind me. I had about 150m to go and I wanted to make sure he had no chance of catching me, so I put on my best sprint to the finish, almost losing my breakfast in the process. Of course, this was just a small local race. I wasn't racing for prize money or a trophy. But it still felt good being handed my Park Run finishing token with the number 001 on it. I cherished that token and showed it to all my friends as they finished. I dare say this will be the only time in my life that I will ever win a race. The young runner I beat to second place is usually a 5k specialist with a PB of about 17 minutes. I'm sure he won't let me beat him again.
As for the rest of the week, it's been a pretty busy time work wise. I've been trying to remind myself that I'm into my taper for the first marathon of the year and to try not to do too much this week. I, therefore, rested on Monday after my 20 mile run last Sunday. On Tuesday I settled for a 4.5 mile run with a client. On Wednesday I ran a total of 10 miles, including about 4 miles as part of a short, sharp interval session coaching the Sweaty Betty running club. Then I ran with another client on Thursday.
Also on Wednesday I had a very intense kettlebell training session. I'd just put together a new training programme for a client. Afterwards, I looked at the programme and I thought that it looked pretty full on. I decided I'd better give it a go myself before unleashing it on my client and calling him a pussy for not being able to do it. I did a warm-up that included about 2 minutes of kettlebell swings, and doing about 10 Military Presses per arm. The programme included a fitness challenge, which is as follows:
50 press-ups,
50 bent over rows per arm with a 16kg kettlebell - swapping from one arm to the other as often as you like,
50 squat thrusts,
50 one arm swings per arm - again swapping from one arm to the other as often as you like,
50 squats, and
50 kettlebell snatches per arm.
The idea is to complete all six exercises in as short a time as possible, so you have minimum rest between exercises. I did the whole programme with a 16kg kettlebell and I was absolutely wasted by the end of it. I decided I'd scale it down a little for my client. So I made him just do 30 reps of everything, where I'd done 50. I'm going to build him up to 50 reps over the next 2 weeks. I also allowed him to do it with a 14kg kettlebell, even though he's probably stronger than me now. At the end of the programme he was lying on the floor saying "I hate you, I hate you." Good job I have thick skin. What he doesn't know was that I also decided to unleash the programme on one of my female clients. I dropped the weights to 12kg for the bent over row and 10kg for everything else. I have to say, she rose to the challenge amazingly well, and I think she's looking forward to stepping up to 40 reps next week and then 50 the following week.
I should also add that after completing the fitness challenge both clients still had about 30 minutes of workout time to go. So, if you're tempted to try it yourself, bear that in mind.
On Friday I had my regular one hour one-to-one pilates session with Holly Mackay. As usual the hour flew by, and I felt that I'd had a good stretch by the end. If she knew that I didn't stretch after the Park Run today, she'd probably give me a good telling off.
I feel sorry for all you non runners who just won't get this, but running is a drug that can leave you feeling euphoric. Best of all, it's free and is good for your health. The only negative is that it requires effort. To continue to be good at it and to get the benefits you have to be consistent with the amount of times you run each week, and this is hard work and requires commitment. When first starting out, running is incredibly hard work. I know this more than most because I've witnessed many clients go through those first stages of learning how to run. The first few weeks are a long hard slog and many question whether they'll be able to run well. Most start by only being able to run for a short time and then have to walk for a bit, then run a bit more and so on. But little by little they start to run a little more each week. Then one day they suddenly realise that they ran for half an hour continuously and it felt easy and good and a big smile spreads across their face. From here on running becomes fun and it gets easier and easier to extend the distance that you can run.
I'm telling you this because this morning I met with six friends and I ran a total of 20.5 miles and it was the highlight of my week. I've been feeling absolutely great all day as a result. Of course the weather helped. Yes, it was very cold at the start, but there wasn't a single cloud in the sky and hardly any wind. It was a beautiful day for a run.
My six running companions are all training for Barcelona Marathon on 6th March, which means they're not quite as mad as me. I was joined today by Jamsheed, our wise man from the East and one of the nicest people you could ever meet. I first met Jamsheed when I was training for my first marathon back in 2004. I couldn't get to a 20 mile training event because my car had just died. Jamsheed offered me a lift via a mutual friend and we've been friends ever since. There was also Jo and Shelley who are often in the lead group of females at local races. Then Chris and Suzy, the running love birds. Chris only started running because he fancied Suzy and thought it would increase his chances of getting a date. His gamble paid off. When he first started running with us he'd struggle along at the back of the pack and he'd be the person we'd need to wait for from time to time. Today he was happy to set the pace up front. And finally there was Andy, who as someone who works in press and public relations can often be relied upon for words of wisdom. His first words to me today were, "What's this mad challenge you've set yourself?"
We all met at Magog Down, just south of Cambridge with a plan to run 16 miles, which would take us down a bridleway, that was once a Roman Road, to the village of Linton and back. Because I wanted to run at least 20 miles, I got Ruth to drop me off so that I could then run the 4 miles at the end back to home.
We all stayed together at first, chatting in small groups of two or three people at a time that would constantly change with the miles. Every now and again one small group would take the lead, but we'd always regroup at various points, all of which have become established over the years. At all of these points I'd usually find myself with the lead group, but I'd then run back to the last person to keep them company to each meeting point. This would only mean running an extra 200 to 300m each time, nothing huge, but it meant that when we got to our half way point I had an extra half mile on everyone else. I know this because a few of us now have Garmins. Suzy was just getting over an illness, so was often the last person in the group.
Our destination was a water tower on top of a hill overlooking Linton village. I say hill, anywhere else in the world it would be called a small mound. But this being Cambridgeshire, it's a hill, and to most people in these parts, it's a bloody big hill. Andy and I where at the back of the group at the start of the climb of the "hill". Without saying a word we suddenly seemed to challenge each other to sprint up the "hill". The others were rather bemused by this turn of events half way through a long run. Anyway, we reached the top with me slightly in the lead. I then immediately turned around and ran back to Suzy to keep her company to the top. Once we were back by the water tower, the agreed destination of the run, we saw the others heading further along and down the ridge. Suzy had had enough at this stage and decided to head back, giving me instructions to let Chris and the others know that she intended to make her way back at a slow pace for us to catch her up.
I caught up with the others at a view point over looking the village below, which was measured to be exactly 8 miles from the start point. I told Chris that Suzy had started to make her way back to the cars, so he sprinted off to go and chase her once more. As we made our way along the Roman Road, which is very undulating for this part of the world, we frequently got glimpses of Suzy disappearing over the brow of a climb, with Chris in hot pursuit a short distance behind. Strangely, she now seemed to have found her speed and seemed to be teasing Chris by staying just a short distance ahead of him. It probably took him a good five miles to catch up with her. The rest of us all finally regrouped 2 miles after that so that we were all together again for the last mile back to the cars.
I then said goodbye to my friends for another week and set off on the last four miles back to my house. I always miss out on mid-week runs with the gang due to my odd working hours. Many of us will be back together for Cambridge Park Run next Saturday, and another long run on Sunday next week.
My legs felt surprisingly good on the last four miles to home. My only complaint was feeling absolutely famished - nothing new there. If my legs could feel this good at the end of all my long runs for the rest of the year I'd be a very happy man. Somehow, I suspect that that is highly unlikely. I'm sure the wheels will come off at some point and I'll develop a twinge or niggle or two. I just hope that they never become severe enough to stop me from achieving my goal. Time will tell.
On Thursday I was planning on meeting friends in the evening to do a social 7 mile run with a few 1 mile fast pieces. However, it turned out to be my busiest working day of the week and I didn't have any time to do any of my own training. Not so for Friday.
On Friday I just see three clients in the morning, so that my working day is over by 12 noon. I then head over to the Bodywise Studio in Cambridge where I have an hour of one-to-one training with Holly Mackay. You might remember that I spent New Year's Eve piecing together a couple of pilates reformers at Ruth's practice. Well it was time for me to have a workout on the new equipment. I've been going to Holly for about 3 months to try and improve my flexibility and to sort out a number of imbalances in my body. I always knew that my left hamstring is shorter than my right, and that neither are particularly flexible. However, I'm also learning that my right obliques are stronger than the left, I have more mobility in my left ankle, my left leg appears to be slightly stronger, the right side of my back seems to be more dominant, and the list goes on. I'm hoping that working with Holly will help resolve all these issues and that I'll be a better runner as a result. Of course, I could be keeping it in the family and seeing Ruth, rather than paying Holly, but past experience has shown that working with your partner is not as effective (I don't know how Paula Radcliffe does it!). If Ruth instructs me to do an exercise I will challenge her, wanting to know her reasoning. When I'm working with Holly I switch off and do exactly what she asks. I'm sure my clients have the same experience when working with me. I also find that working with Holly is a great way to end my working week. I spend all my time thinking about how I'm going to challenge my clients to help them achieve their goals that it's nice to be able to shut off and just do what I'm told for a change. So, for any of you that haven't tried the personal training experience, I'd recommend giving it a go some time.
After my hour with Holly I grabbed a quick sandwich and headed off to Advance Performance, the best running shop in Cambridge. I'm as guilty as anyone else for not replacing my running shoes as often as I should. I was well overdue a new pair. This was highlighted as soon as I watched the video footage of me running in my old shoes. They weren't providing any support at all. Anyway, I had decided that I was going to buy a new pair of road shoes and some trail shoes. So after trying about nine pairs of shoes on the treadmill, and then running outside the shop with my short listed five pairs of shoes, I finally settled on the two that seemed to suit me best (Adidas Supernova 3 and Brooks Cascadia 5 for the anoraks that really need to know).
Keen to try out my new shoes, I headed out in the afternoon for a steady 10k run past Cherry Hinton Hall and around Cambridge Airport. I wasn't aiming for a fast run, just to run at a pace that felt good. I wore my Garmin to record the run, but didn't look at it once. When I got back home I was really pleased to see that I'd averaged 6'45" per mile (close to my marathon pace). Again, for the anoraks my fastest mile was 6'16" and my slowest was 6'59".
This morning Ruth and I met up with a bunch of our running friends at the Cambridge Park Run. This was to be my third Park Run and Ruth's first. After heavy rain yesterday the ground was very wet, muddy and slippery. A good test for my new trail shoes. My plan was to treat the run as a tempo run and not go out at 5k race speed. However, I always find it really hard to run at a pace slower than I know I'm capable of for any given distance. In the end I found myself holding back a little, but still running faster than my plan. All the time I had a little voice in my head grumbling about the fact that there were people ahead of me that I knew I could beat. I just can not kill my competitive streak. I still managed to finish in a very respectable ninth place in a time of about 19'15" (or thereabouts). Everyone seemed to find the conditions very slippery, but my new shoes performed really well. I had no problems in the mud, but found the wet wooden footbridges to be a little treacherous.
Ruth is now preparing a late cooked breakfast for the two of us. I can smell bacon wafting up the stairs from the kitchen, so I will sign off and grab my food. I haven't quite finished with my training for the day. I plan on doing an hour of kettlebells later today.
I've left myself 5 days to catch up on. Following my last entry, Ruth and I had a very enjoyable New Year's Eve with friends. I have to report that even I was defeated by the amount of food available. It was looking like we'd still be eating one of the two deserts at midnight. Fortunately, we finished eating in time to switch on Jools Holland for the countdown to midnight. Strangely, the conversation completely dried up when Kylie appeared. On T.V. that is, not at our party. That would have been a massive surprise.
It's a definite sign of your age when you realise that you drank more champagne than beer at a party. I was way more restrained than my friends, but managed to get through two beers, one margarita and five or six glasses of champagne. It must also be a sign of my maturity that I'm willing to admit to it.
Anyway, the following day, on New Year's Day itself, I ran 8.75 miles from my home in central Cambridge out to Comberton to collect my car. This had me running on new territory, which is always nice. My run took me close to the city centre, which was eerily quiet. Especially after the madness of the post Christmas sales. It felt like a really nice time to be out running. I always get a lot of pleasure running down streets that are usually busy and having them to myself. The character of the place is completely different.
My intention had then been to run 20 miles on Sunday and have a massive chill out day on the Bank Holiday Monday. However, my head conspired against me by throwing a massive migraine at me just 30 minutes after getting out of bed. I rarely get migraines, maybe three a year, but when I do they tend to be completely debilitating. All I can do is crawl in to bed in a dark room and try to sleep. So that was that day wiped out. As were my plans for a relaxing day on Monday. Being ill in bed is not the same thing.
So on Monday I was up early to do a solo 20 mile run. I planned to do a circuit that I'd only done once before with a group of friends. When we did it as a group it was the first time that anyone else had done this particularly circuit, so there was a degree of consultation on the move. I was hoping I'd remembered all the turning points correctly. There was only one dodgy moment where I was running along a long, flat, straight, featureless Fenland road for over a mile and I was convinced that I'd missed the turn off on to a bridleway. I was contemplating turning round just as I spotted a bridleway sign off in the distance, which turned out to be the correct path. Just goes to show that when you're running with friends it does make the run seem shorter, because that particularly road definitely felt a lot longer when I was on my own. However, whilst I was running along that road my path was crossed by four deer. Looked like two stags chasing two doe. So that added some excitement to the run. Actually, I have to say that the run was very pleasant. The weather was fairly mild, especially considering the big freeze we'd experienced prior to Christmas, and I felt in great form. The last quarter of the run is on the River Cam tow path, which is great for running on. I was able to increase my pace for a couple of sub 6'45" miles at the end of the run, overtaking about 6 other runners in the process. Not that I felt smug or anything.
Tuesday saw me back to work as usual. I ran my weekly massage clinic during the day, catching up with a client who is looking forward to her first London marathon. In the evening I met with a personal training client who is also training for London. This should be his fourth London, and he is hoping for a p.b. under my guidance. No pressure on me to deliver.
Today I ran two kettlebell classes. I made use of one to have a good workout myself. Doing plenty of kettlebell swings and snatches to work the core and fire up the glutes and hamstrings. In the evening I was back to coaching the Sweaty Betty Running Club. Obviously, this is a massive chore. Meeting with a bunch of women each week, having to listen to them jabber about shoes and handbags, whilst I try to encourage them through an intense interval training session. I try to use the session as a way to get in an extra run myself. It doesn't always work, but today I was able to run to the shop from home, take the ladies out for their session, then take a little detour on my run home so that I clock up a run over 10 miles. It's actually a great pleasure coaching the ladies, and one of my weekly highlights. It's not a bad life being a personal trainer and fitness nut. I'm trying to convince some of the ladies to enter the Cambridge Boundary Half Marathon on February 27. Although it will be a very good goal for them, and I think you should support your local runs, it'd also be nice if they could be present when I complete my second marathon of the year. Don't tell them I said that.
