of running and stuff

well after another week of poor training due to work & weather constraints i decided to relax & have a bit of ‘fun’ tonight. on the tritalk forum we have a little dry triathlon competition which we can all do in the gym & compete for times on. it’s 2km on the rowing machine, 20km on an exercise bike and 5km on the treadmill.

i have to admit rowing is one of my least favourite activities, it seems to exercise almost every muscle i own & tire me out very quickly. i set out quite quickly and find it fairly easy, until the end of the first 500m where i realise i still have 3 times the distance to go i slow a little with the occasional effort to go a bit quicker!

i find the exercise bike that looks closest to my size already to save adjusting it and hop on, putting it into race setting which means the resistance level & pedalling speed actually relate more realistically to distance travelled. the distance seems to go depressingly slowly, taking the odd drink every few minutes since i’m sweating loads.

glad to be finally off the bike i switch to the treadmill on 1% incline.. starting at 10kph i ramp the speed up every minute until i’m doing 13kph. if there’s one downside to all the long distance training i’ve been doing, it’s a complete inability to run fast and i’m soon down to 12kph just to keep my breathing and heart rate down. i try to speed up but settle for watching the metres go by to 5km.

whilst i’m running, ironically considering my inability to get out running in the evening,i see a load of people come in in outdoor running type gear. the gym has started a social running group on thursday evenings, maybe i should take the hint and go along next week!

row 2km: 7:56
transition 1: 1:33
cycle 20km: 31:37
transition 2: 1:09
run 5km: 24:46
total: 1:07:02

came home… stuffed self with food

[todays run: 5km = 3.1miles 0:24]
[this weeks run total: 6.6miles]

[todays wine: bourgogne, cotes d'auxerre, les ouvrees (havent a clue which of those is the grape!), dry and green ]

well i’m writing this in notepad as my beloved net connection has stopped talking to me, and i dont have the backup dial-in settings to hand, i’ll have to check things out from work tomorrow (or today as it will by the time i can put this up).

miraculously after a bit of faffing about when i got back from work i mustered enough motivation to go for a gentle recovery run. the temperature is due to plummet this week and it’s already particularly chilly. when i say plummet i mean to levels some parts of the world would consider fairly mild, i’ve seen -42c and run down to -10c. although i’m always impressed how 0c here feels the same as -15c in sweden, something to do with the moisture maybe.

anyway todays run was a low pressure affair just stretching my legs after a day off yesterday and saturdays long run.

taking it easy means short strides but at a reasonably fast rate (if that makes any sense). i mainly concentrated on running efficiently with my feet barely lifting off the ground, no need to waste energy doing anything more than necessary! and what i like to think of as stealth running, noisy footsteps mean wasted energy too and if i concentrate i can reduce the noise below the ambient traffic, and sneak up on unsuspecting pedestrians
i put a bit of an effort in on both hills on this route, in the hope of gaining a little strength from it.

association & dis-association are interesting endurance sport terms, i guess they come from psychology originally, i must look into it.
dis-associating my mind from my body’s exertions works well enough most of the time, and lately it’s been distracted by thinking about this blog amongst other things, today confusingly enough i was dis-associated by musing about association.. more on that later if i ever make any sense of it!

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this morning the connection is back up & running at home, althoguh it did mean an nice early night for me!
the promised ‘hazardous driving conditions’ didn’t materialise this morning, which is no fun at all either!

[yesterdays run: 3.5miles 0:31 8:51mins/mile]
[this weeks run total: 3.5miles]

yesterdays long run took me out the west side of the city onto the coventry way, with the intention of following it round the bottom of the city to the south before heading back in from the east.

it was ambitious from the outset, leaving at just after midday meant light was likely to be the limiting factor. The weather was quite chilly but clear wintery skies and bright sunlight.

i always feel like an alien sight as i cut across town past people doing their everyday urban activities: waiting for the bus, shopping, washing the car. i rather like it.

yours truly about to set off

it takes the first hour to reach the red corrugated bit of tarmac that marks the edge of coventry. it hasn’t really been all that easy so far and i haven’t found a particularly comnfortable rhythm yet, it can;t be overtraining.. can it? i’ve done sod all the past week!
spirits raised by being out of town and into the country i finally feel warmed up and although the pack i’m carrying makes it hard not to drop my head i concentrate as far ahead as i can see. i have a fairly photographic memory but even i’m surprised the level of detail i can visualise almost the entire run with, the first bit was only a couple of weeks ago but the latter stages i can;t have covered since last autumn sometime.

by the time i reach the disused railway line i’m starving and treat myself to half an energy bar. the straight flat path allows me to settle into a rhythm again, pausing only to let some horses pass and when i’m spooked by the sound of a train approaching at speed (on the invisible & adjacent main line). as the path goes on toward kenilworth the number of walkers and families increases, ‘rather you than me’ comments one chap walking with his wife and young daughter, several possible responses go through my head but i’m rather distracted by the hobby-horse he’s carrying so i carry on.. skipping as lightly as i can across the unavoidable muddy puddles.
passing now through the wonderfully named ‘crackley woods’ i think ahead to the remaining route, i now have a good idea what it requires of me and am reasonably confident i can give that much, daylight remains likely to be the limiting factor.

i carry on to the village of stoneleigh and follow the path of our walk the other weekend, i find i’m struggling again, the uneven surface, hills and stiles breaking my rhythm, and the weight of the pack is making a difference i hadn’t bargained on.

another road section lets me regain some form of rhythm, when i come to turn off-road again i pause to sit down and consider my progress. the sun is just dipping below the horizon, it’s still a clear sky and i estimate i have about an hours worth of light before i need to be on my way back on a paved road route. given the effect of being offroad has had so far i opt to follow the road to bubbenhall instead of the planned path. everywhere is in shade now and i’m colling off fast as i sit there, i put my jacket on and hit the road.

this road section goes quickly, my pre-programmed GPS is objecting strongly that i’m not obeying it’s instructions.. but it seems happy enough when i rejoin the route again. coming out of bubbenhall with the lights of the airport to my left i get into a fairly trancey state i’ve not experienced since the 24hr event i did… i can write nothing about the next mile since my mind was entirely absorbed in the process of running and keeping going.

i’m shocked out of this state a little later by what i assume are some gunshots to my right, hopefully not aimed at me. they seem to have given up on stiles on this section leaving me to clamber over the fences, which my legs object to! the last section of this path is in the trees with a fence to one side and is surprisingly dark. when i reach the road what night vision i did have is stolen by the headlights of the cars.

given the failing light and knowing whats ahead i decide to take this road back toward the city. carrying on would involve running through the peugeot plant to ryton and either off road where i got lost before or along the road in the dark.

i find i can just about block the headlights of the oncoming cars with the peak of my cap.. the pavement gives way to unfinished roadworks and compacted gravel, a little later this gives way to uncompacted gravel followed by a half-hearted fence and ‘footpath closed’ sign. bit late now i think.

this is the edge of the city again. the return home from here was a struggle with some slow running and walking, involving various bargaining & negogiation between head & legs!

after 4hours 26minutes i make it home and take a gentle shower, a can of coke and some cake and a long nap!
i drink like a camel all evening and take an early night.

[yesterdays run: 23miles 4:26]
[this weeks run total: 27miles]
[this weeks swim total: 2525m]

[this weeks target run: 23.75]

-you’ve been running for an hour and are only just starting to feel warmed up!
-you don’t realise you’re wearing the home sides colours on match day
-keeping your legs going has more to do with your mind and spirit than your body
-you know your heart rate to within 5bpm without actually measuring it

todays run was tough in many ways, but my battery is on the way out and i can’t bring myself to go through it again just yet hopefully i can bring you all up to date tomorrow morning as now all i need is sleep!

ed

oh dear.. having a really poor motivation week.. busy at work and only managed 3miles or so this week at lunch time, and didn’t particularly enjoy that.

need to do some serious mileage this weekend before easing back ready for the race in 3weeks time.

thanks for the comments…. i don’t really like swimming, it’s getting better, and considering i wouldnt have made 50metres 18months ago, i’m pleased with it. however being in a position of stress (i.e. hard exertion) is something i’m used to and can cope with in running & cycling, but not very happy with it in swimming.. luckily in my triathlon races my main aim is to survive the swim with minimal stress before blasting out the bike & run.

ok so that was more than i intended to write.

ed out.

having not enjoyed last nights swim session at all…

i went to the pool last night while my better half was doing aqua-aerobics and pootled up and down.

putting minimal pressure on myself i settled into a nice rhythm.. as follows:

400m 8:04

800m 8:39 total: 16:43

1200m 8:48 total: 25:32

1600m 8:33 total: 34:06

2000m 8:36 total: 42:43

2400m 9:01 total: 51:44

+50m to get to the other end to get to the loo

+75m cool down

=2525m !

which has to be the furthest i’ve ever swum… so very happy with that.

[this weeks swim total: 2525m]

and finally part 3…. should be brief, sunday night is the club swim session…

quite busy with 6 in our lane.

of the 600m warm up i managed 500

of the 4*100 medley i managed 300 and just about managed not to drown trying to do fly

then the nasty hard 4*75 (=300) with best time of 70seconds again

then 200 100 100…. ish couldnt keep my heart rate down after the hard 75s

and a few for cool down

so call that 1600m

[this weeks run total: 31.4]

[this weeks swim total: 1600m]

[this weeks target run: 42.5 according to the plan.. we'll see]

part two is a little walk worthy of mentioning.

after a quick bagel we set out for stoneleigh.

stoneleigh is a nice little village not far from coventry, but we’ve always joked we could never live ther eas there’s no pub!!! i heard somewhere this was due to it being a quaker settlement originally, but the book we got the walk from says it had a pub until the 19th century, which was closed by the local lord after some boys whistled at his daughter .. heehee

although slightly excessive in this terrain i programmed the route onto my gps for practice and once it had picked up the signal at the top of the first hill it was pretty much spot on all the way round.

despite the hilliness of this short route we seemed to be forever crossing streams/rivers and i wondered if it could possibly be the same one… a later look at the map probably explains why stoneleigh is there at all, it’s the confluence (joiny bit) of the river avon & the river sowe.

this walk took in a small part of the coventry way which is a long distance path circling coventry and covering about 40miles.. there’s a walking and running event covering this full distance and half distance in september i intend to do…. see their site here

if i get really obsessive i could start putting up gps traces and route profiles.. but things havent got that bad yet!

oh and i’m counting this one in my running mileage cos it makes me feel better!

[todays 'run': 3miles]

[this weeks run total: 31.4]

well i’ve got some catching up to do, with three things worthy of note yesterday and at least one today, i’d best do this in instalments.

sunday moring was a local race with a start time of 11am meaning a respectable brekkie time of 8:30 and enough time to survey the weather.. down to -3c overnight but bright and sunny when i got up.

‘not the roman IX’ is a 12km race.. which used to be a 9mile race.. hence the name! i caught a lift with andy to tiddington, near stratford-on-avon (birthplace of shakespeare etc etc yadda yadda yadda), and registered before pinning my race number to my top and deciding how much kit to wear, braving shorts but not short sleeves!

unusually the car park was several hundred metres from the registration & finish line and the start a further kilometre away which at least provided a warm up.

being quite a popular race the starting area was split into predicted times, i loitered around the 55minute marker and andy wandered up further since he’s faster. i was wearing my distinctively spotty tri-club top and was pleased to see a few others from the club here too.

the race started on time and was well marshalled throughout, although the second water station (which i wasn’t even expecting) appeared some way before the signs for it which was slightly perplexing.

a good part of the first half was uphill with a range of long gentle and short sharp climbs, i tried to keep a short fast pace up the hills and stretch out a bit over the top. the second half had some knee wrenching downhills and nice fast flat bits before passing the back end of the starting area followed by a right turn. 800m to go marker spurred me on, 400m to go well thats just the same again then, 200m to go.. still?!! a sharp slippy left and over the finish. i had a nice flying final kilometre and passed plenty.

managed not to be sick as we were all funnelled through the finish, which was nice, before collecting one of the most original and useful race momentoes i’ve had, a nice slate coaster.

tea and cake afterwards scored very highly too, all in all a good morning jaunt

slightly random splits as follows:

start line 0:24

2km 9:10

3km 4:22 (didn’t mean to record this one)

4km 4:36

6km 8:31

8km 7:27 (must have been a downhill bit)

10km 8:06

12km 8:06

= 51:04 watch time (51:06 official time)

position: 146/755

full results and report here

oh and in other slightly amusing news… i’m a nationally ranked athlete… 19th male.. and 5th senior (<40)… full list here

well there’s your first installment.. time for a cup of tea i think.

[todays run: 7.5miles? 0:51:06 6:49min/mile av 4:26min/km av]

[this weeks run total: 28.4]

well i’d like to be able to make this a lovely elegant ..errr.. exposition of todays run (none yesterday due to work & motivation issues!)…. but seeing as i’m now half a bottle of aussie chardonnay worse off.. you’ll have to take what you get

after a much appreciated lie in, and a bacon sarnie it was time for one of my regular routes, clockwise this time.

slightly confusing weather with it being cold and icy in the morning but bright sunshine so i set off in my tracksters and fleece feeling rather warm in the sunshine but knowing the shade would be alot cooler.

also having this morning received the map software to go with my nice new GPS (christmas present) i took it with me to track my progress and see quite how it all worked.

so it was left right left straight straight and right before i left the tarmac and found a bridleway past the new hospital still under construction, and onto the slippery permissive right of way into coombe abbey country park. Popular with families and couples, today was no exception in the bright wintery sunshine. I always feel a certain level of something like smugness as i cruise past these people feeding the ducks who’ve paid their car-park fee to enjoy this tiny fraction of the scenery that i’m just passing through.

by the time i got to the end of the drive i was roasting and had to lose the fleece, needless to say i then spent the next 20minutes running in the shade feeling a bit chilly!

back home in time for a light lunch before heading into town for my new streamlined hairdo!

so todays interesting and informative links are about coombe abbey:

coombe abbey hotel

a bit of history

bbc site with some piccies

goodnight.. really ought to think about how fast to run at tomorrows race.. but more on that tomorrow!

[todays run: 10miles? GPS disagrees 1:18 7:48min/mile av]

[this weeks run total: 20.9]

[todays wine: westend estate chardonnay 2002, drinkable enough]