Thursday 26 February 2009

Nasal breathing

I actually managed to get myself out for a run this evening, despite leaving work late and talking myself into going for a Nando's. With a little help from someone ("go to Nando's, but don't have three sides"), the plan was get out for a run first and then go for my reward.

So I got home, quickly changed and hit the road. Aim was to do my "big" lap around the block, which comes in at 6.8km. I'd read on a forum recently about Nasal Breathing (see the post by Endurance.co.uk) so figured I'd give it a go.

I stuck at it for 2km until I got half way up the first of the hills on the route and gave it a go once or twice after that. I found it ok until that point, but the hill really made me struggle with getting enough air in. My HR was about at it's normal level (~ 160bpm) but my pace was a bit slower...not really too sure what to read into that.

Anyhow, kinda abandoned it at that point and made it around to the 5km mark at which time I needed a break (the slacking over the last two months seems to be showing). Got back home and decided to give the Nando's a miss, which is probably a good thing.

Wednesday 25 February 2009

Super Wednesday

It seems to be the case recently that I slack off for a week, then do a massive session one day and slack off again. Well, today was a day for a massive session. It started at lunchtime with a 33km cycle (averaged 25kmph - Barrington hill really killed the average) and finished with a run home from work.

This was something I'd meant to do yesterday, but our Christmas party got in the way :) Honest. I knew I'd struggle to get a run in as Liverpool were playing in the Champions League, so the jog home actually seemed like the best idea to squeeze it in. It's around 7.5km, mainly downhill, but after the cycle at lunch I was definitely feeling a bit tired...I had to stop briefly twice.

Happy enough with the run, as I done it in 48 minutes (6m 33s average) and the only thing I've to compare it with is that it took me 1hr 15m to walk it at some point last year (I think I also ran in one morning, but can't find the details).

Another upside of this is that I've no car (or bike) in the morning, so I'll either have to catch the bus or run back :)

Tuesday 24 February 2009

Another down day

Had my works Christmas party today (don't ask) which was quite good. Involved a lunch and dinner, followed by a game of football and some more snacks at half time and full time. Good day over-all.

I knew that I'd struggle to get out today, but actually made some plans to run home after the game. Little did I realise all the eating that was in store over the course of the day. Ended up driving home but agreed with one of the lads to go for a bike ride at lunch tomorrow.

Liverpool are playing Real Madrid tomorrow night in the Champions League, but I'm currently aiming to get out for a run after that. Guess it probably depends where I end up watch the game.

Monday 23 February 2009

Wokingham Half is back on

We are delighted to confirm that we have rescheduled the race for Sunday 24 May. We will be writing to all the competitors confirming the new date. Please keep your information brochure and race number, as new ones will not be sent out, the entry list will remain the same. This is the first date where all the organisations, which we need are available. Any later date would impact on the organisation of next years race.


Bring it on...I've just over a month now until the Reading half, which I'll now be using as a benchmark for Wokingham. That's kinda good, as the Wokingham race is generally regarded as an easier race, so should be able to set a better time there. Need to get back training though...been slacking way too long now.

Weekend report

I was in Belfast over the weekend for my first bit of GAA action in 2009. We came fourth place (out of four teams) but despite a slow start, I think we could take something from it.

I was stiff as a board after the first game though, with my right ankle proving the most troublesome...probably shouldn't have played the second game, but it loosened out after my first sprint for a ball. Rest of the evening was spent slowly rising from the seat and feeling every aching muscle in my body :)

Took yesterday and today off to recover, so might try and get out tomorrow for a run. I'll see how the ankle is in the morning.

Thursday 19 February 2009

Hmmm

After getting back into things on Tuesday, I followed up with a football training session last night which was good. Totally different type of exercise, which was great for some variation.

Today has been an absolute disaster though...I've eaten a stack of chocolate, didn't finish work till late and then went for a chinese. Was nice but I'm feeling guilty now!

I'm off to Belfast tomorrow for the weekend, to play in a football tournament. It'll be interesting to see how I fair at that. I'm definitely getting back into the running then next week...definitely.

Tuesday 17 February 2009

Waddle, waddle II

It's been a week since my last update, so I guess that means one of two things...I've either been away or I've done nothing. It's the second, though the first also has the same outcome. Been a bit demotivated lately, which is seemed to go in a vicious circle...I'd get annoyed about doing nothing, stuff my face, get more annoyed, do nothing the following day...etc.

I'd planned to do a duathlon at the weekend, but found out Saturday night it'd filled up and they weren't accepting entries on the day. Despite delusions of a run or cycle Sunday, the usual cycle repeated itself!

So today I finally got out and done something...I promised one of the lads at work yesterday we'd go for a cycle at lunch and it was just the thing to break the cycle - excuse the pun. Went a bit further than I was expecting, a total of 35km in total. I struggled a little in the middle but overall felt fine.

Then this evening I finally got out for a run...just a small lap (5.6km) at a very easy pace, but I'd delighted I did. Actually have some football training tomorrow night, which I'm looking forward to (this doesn't start up properly for another few weeks), so will try and get down to the pool at lunch.

Tuesday 10 February 2009

Waddle, waddle

Funny that the day I was supposed to be doing a half marathon, was the day I really couldn't be less motivated to do some running. Perhaps it was due to the half marathon being cancelled, perhaps it was due to the snow \ ice outside (though admittedly that was more or less gone at that stage).

End result was a weekend of stuffing my gob. Trouble is that it continued into today (well actually tonight). Only saving grace was that I got down to the pool at lunch time.

Must do better tomorrow...

Saturday 7 February 2009

Human body is a mystery

After eating a heap of junk yesterday, I was expecting a bad weigh-in this morning. Very pleasantly surprised to come in at 107.25kg, significantly down on yesterday (108.1kg).

Chart below is my physicsdiet.com chart for the last 30 days. The spike near the start I'm putting down to some stress eating and lack of training after new years.

I'm hoping to run out that red zone in the next few days and have a (almost) green chart (you see the tiny red from yesterdays weigh-in?).

Race Cancelled


RACES CANCELLED due to the inclement weather, which is forecast to deteriorate over the next few days. The decision has been made with the safety of the runners, marshals, police and all other support services in mind. With the temperature possibly dropping to minus 6 Saturday night and runner’s coming from all over the country and some from abroad, we feel we had to make this decision early on.

We are looking into the possibility of rescheduling the event (including the fun run) and request that for the time being, you keep hold of your number. The committee will be making a decision on this during the next 14 days or so, following consultation with the relevant authorities and service providers. Please check out our friends race below.


As I kind of expected, the Half Marathon on Sunday's been called off. There's a little bit of hope they'll re-schedule it, but I'm not going to be holding my breath. This basically means I've got seven weeks to prepare for the Reading Half Marathon.

It looks like this weekend is a write-off training wise due to the weather (and me stuffing my face), so hopefully I'll be back at it on Monday. I'm a little disappointed about this (I was hoping to set a PB and a benchmark for the next half marathon) but that's life.

Wednesday 4 February 2009

So much for an easy run tonight

After yesterdays tough run, the plan for today and tomorrow was to take it easy on the runs I did, tapering down to the half marathon at the weekend. I can honestly say that was the plan. But plans don't always work out and tonight's run was a good example of that.

While I certainly wasn't pushing as hard as I was last night, it wasn't really a lot slower. At the 4km mark, I was 30s slower than yesterday which I guess is significant over that distance. I still wanted to stop there, but had it in my mind to do one more km...then five became six. I did need to slow down at this point, but was determined to keep going. After that, it was a case of getting home, ideally without stopping.

However, due to some bad timing on my behalf, I had to stop twice at road junctions, though I won't lie...the brief break was gratefully welcomed. After the second stop, the next aim was to complete 10km in under an hour...I'd already built up the guts of a 2 minute cushion, but I was struggling at that point. I was tempted to take the direct route home, which would have seen me finish in less than 10km, but decided to seize the opportunity.

The last km was pretty hellish. Thought it'd never end...still got there and I'm absolutely delighted with the result...10km in 57m 56s, easily a new PB.


Quick update

I've got my first half marathon in a few years at the end of the week. Looking forward to it, but also kinda dreading it at the same time. I've trained more for this than my previous two half's (that's an understatement - I did at most three sessions for either of the previous two...no more than twenty minutes using a run\walk strategy). As such, it's an important milestone, but obviously with all the extra training the stakes almost seem higher. Anyways, more on this later in the week.

It's been snowing here in the East (and South East) of England since Sunday evening. I'd got out twice over the weekend for two relatively easy sessions (although my running partner would probably beg to differ - she done really well and set a pb for the amount of minutes ran in an hour). That was good because it kept me loose, and to be honest, I probably wouldn't have run otherwise.

Yesterday was a snow-out, which was also the promise for today, but thankfully that didn't materialise. I made it home from work early enough and hit the pavements for my last speed session before the half. I had to watch it in spots, but I'm really happy with the run, doing the small lap around my block (5.5km) in 30m 50s...a new PB.

I also made it down to the pool today...I've "graduated" to the middle lane and have started doing sets of 50m at a time, but I'm still absolutely shocking. Oh well.