Irreverence is Justified

The running this week has been a bit up and down. Last Friday, I went out and did 4.2 miles in 42 minutes. Then on Sunday I went out with my sister and we only did 3.2 miles, and it felt like we were hardly going above walking pace, but it turned out it only took us 36 minutes. I think it felt easier because we were running beside a canal and therefore it was very flat. On Tuesday I went out again to try to get to 4.9 miles, but had to stop after about 3 with some quite serious chest pains. It seemed like wind, but it wouldn’t shift unless I stopped running, so I had to walk the last mile and a half back. Thankfully, I managed to hit 4.9 miles yesterday, and did it in 49 minutes. According to my Garmin Forerunner 405, I was only 22 seconds behind 10 minutes per mile at the end of the run, which I’m pleased about.

I’m still on target for the 10km in terms of distance, that isn’t looking like it will be a problem. Here’s the distances I’ve run so far:

I need to try to increase my speed though, and apparently the best way to do that is with interval training. This sounds like some serious punishment, but in fairness, there’s a brilliant straight road near where I live where I can do this quite easily, using lamp-posts to measure out distances. It’s about a mile long and quite flat, so it’s perfect.

Aside from that, I collected my new bike yesterday. Been wanting to get a new one pretty much ever since I got my last one, which was when I was ill back in 2005. Psychologically, it’s always going to be connected with that time in my life, and I’d rather forget about that time, so a new bike was needed. Also, I don’t like mountain bikes, and I’ve gone back to a road bike. Decided to get a Specialized Secteur Triple, and it’s awesome. So light, and with flappy paddle gear shifters, which might take some getting used to. And the fact that the brakes are in a different place to the last road bike I had many years ago, that’ll also take some getting used to. Took it out for 2 minutes last night to make sure I could change gears, and this thing is fast. Going to head in to the bike shop tomorrow to pick up lights, and will ride in. Should be interesting to see what speeds I can get to on it.

For no apparent reason, I decided a few weeks ago to start running to get a bit fitter. After a couple of runs, after which I felt terrible both times, I figured I’d enter the local 10km race which is in May. I’ve now been out over a dozen times and I’m able to run a lot further than before; the first four times I was out I couldn’t run for more than 12 minutes, whereas in the past 2 weeks I’ve doubled the amount of time I can run; for example, on Tuesday I went for 36 minutes. I’m not going fast at all yet, I’m clocking around 10 minute miles, but I figure I’ll get to the 10km distance and then stick with the distance and try to run faster.

The really useful thing about this is that it seems to have improved my balance somewhat. I didn’t think that running would be too much of a problem, because most of my balance related issues tend to be when I’m trying to change direction, or moving around without actually going anywhere, whereas when I attempt to go in a straight line, once I’m off it’s not a problem. Therefore, the running didn’t have me concerned. But the increase in my fitness and/or stamina really does seem to have improved things. I’m even wondering whether there’s a vague possibility that I might be able to play football again. I figure that I could have that as an aim and if I don’t manage to do it, I’ve not lost anything since I’ve not played for about 5 years. But if I could manage it…

On other news, I’m now 5 years without any alcohol and in April will be 10 years without any cigarettes. Man alive, that’s too much clean living. I shall have to find a vice.

It’s been some time since I had my first run, and the delay in having my second was mainly due to having a knock-out cold which inflamed my MS symptoms. Bit of a bugger, but there you go. So I went out last night, in the pissing rain, to do another run the same as the first. Had to stop after 20 minutes, thought I was going to die. Didn’t have to stop in my first run so it seems it didn’t go as well.

That said, the time between the 2 runs means that the good effect the first run would have had on my fitness would have disappeared. Also, I’ve had a tough week. I’m good at making excuses. Still, I found last night’s run much easier for the first half which didn’t seem tough at all. I went downhill really quite quickly at that point and had to walk the last third.

Still, at least I got out. My legs don’t feel nearly so bad today as they did the day after my first run, which I suspect might be because the walk back warmed them down quite nicely. Hopefully it won’t be so long until I go on another run.

I’ve sort of decided to try to run a marathon. I went and bought a new pair of running shoes and the dude in the shop said, quite rightly, that my pair of Nike’s were “style over substance”. He’s right. Image is everything. But when it comes to protecting my knees while trudging round on concrete, I’ll go for a pair of shoes that might do the job.

I’ll keep the Nike’s for looking cool. That’s my angle.

Anyway, I went out for a run last night for the first time in 2 years. I’ve done nothing to keep fit for that time, to be honest. I ran 3.5 miles in 30 minutes, 8 seconds. I felt I was hardly going anywhere most of the time such was the state of my unfitness. Hopefully I’ll be able to get that time down significantly quite quickly.

My aim for the marathon? 3 hours 20 minutes, mainly because I can’t be bothered running for any longer. Seems like a good plan to me. Average 8mph and, considering last night’s trudge was 7mph, that sounds plausible. Here’s hoping.