June... my goodness how the time has flewn

[Charliecat5]

*Sticks his head into RC*

HELLO… IS THERE ANYONE HERE

*silence*

[marathondan]

I'm afraid it looks like you've killed the forum, Charlie

I've completed precisely two runs since the marathon. As always I seem to have backlog of stuff to do post-marathon. Not sure how long I can milk that excuse, but I'm trying my best. The two runs did trigger a brief flicker of inspiration... but it's gone again.

So anyway we're relying on you to fly the flag, looks like this forum is your own personal blog for the time being so keep us up to date with preparations for that autumn event you'll be entering...

[marathondan]

PS - just noticed your pun-tastic thread title - nice work. That should be up there in the top 10 list of punning RC thread titles. If there was such a thing. If only there was a list-obsessed nerd around here who is always looking for better things to do than work...

[Charliecat5]

I need a Plan like Dan I say
I need a Plan to run
The Jog Shop 20 won’t run itself
I need a plan that’s fun. 
 
Trouble is… the unpredictable nature of work makes planning very difficult… so my plan is more a series of rules (or at least an ambition).

So here it is... my plan:  Each week I will:

·         run a long one… focusing on distance not speed
·         run a short fast one… focusing on speed
·         do something in-between (this could include squash or a bike ride).

That’s 3 lots of exercise each week.  With the intention, that by the end of July, I am running up to 15 miles. I need to persuade BGG to join me on these longer jaunts as I need his relentless puffing and grunting to keep me going.

This morning was the first run since that awful experience with Sweder a couple of weeks ago (for the record (and for a change), it wasn’t Sweder that was the awful bit)… since then I have suffered a horrible cold and an unbelievable work load.  I headed out this morning with little expectation other than to run about 5 miles and to take in a hill or two.  It was a deliberately slow plod up to the top of Kingston Ridge and then back via road to Lewes.  All in all, 5.5 miles at a pace of 10.18.  

It was nice to be out there again, but I cannot pretend that it was particularly easy.  Usually it takes me a couple of miles to find my comfort zone… this morning I couldn’t find it at all.  However, one of the challenges living in Lewes is that it is very difficult to find an easy first 2 miles.  

   

[marathondan]

I salute you and your plan. I don't envy you the unpredictable workload, because if there's one thing I like it's a routine. But what you have there looks great. In my personal, humble, uneducated opinion, the shorter run should be about half the length of the long one. So the key there is to start small and build gently (total mileage shouldn't increase by more than 10% per week). And don't forget to include a step-back every 3 or 4 weeks - where you cut back the long run to the distance of a couple of weeks prior. But with your workload, it sounds like that might happen naturally.

So... well done for getting back out there. You're getting back into the swing of things. Good luck.

[Charliecat5]

Good grief. 

I’m playing squash tomorrow night and then away for a couple of days, so although I ran yesterday, I needed to do a short fast one this evening to stay sweet with my new-fangled plan.

For short ones I favour Sweder’s circuit as I know it well, its spot on 3 miles, and I can monitor my performance; it also has a bit of everything:  narrow nettle filled paths, wide farm tracks, an uphill section, beautiful Down land views and some road work… which I detest, but it’s a good test of my mental vigour.

The result:  I was 40 seconds – FORTY SECONDS – off my best min/mi pace for this run.  I knew I had lost ground on the uphill bit, but I thought I was running pretty well along the top, but obviously the pace failed to materialise.

However, that’s the bad news… the good news is that I was out there and it was a glorious evening.

Two down so far this week – can I fit in another one on Friday (before we go to the pub)?   The pub after a run makes the beer taste sweeter… it’s a scientific fact.  

[Charliecat5]

I'm only posting this to shame the rest of you into action (apart from Glaconman, who seems to keep himself very occupied in the running department).  

Keen to keep to plan, I went out this lunchtime for a series of hill sprints.  There's a nice steep hill just out the back of where I live.  The steepest bit is just over 100 metres long and provides an excellent, traffic free spot, ready made for completely buggering myself up.

5 sprints up and I was on my knees.  Great stuff.

[marathondan]

Great work Charlie. Going long at the weekend, too? Sounds like you have yourself a routine there.

I have clients visiting at work for the next few months. So lunchtime running is out for me. Which is a great shame, because it's a great way to break up the day, and makes use of otherwise dead time.

[glaconman]

Good going Charlie. And thanks for the 'big-up', as I beleive the kids are saying. Or probably were saying several years ago.

My posts can come across as boastful; but I'm just caught-up in abit of a whirlwind of effort and races. I'm sure it will pass.

I tend to think of running (like much in life) as abit like Snakes and Ladders.

I suppose hill reps are the nearest thing to an actual ladder. I don't think there are any short-cuts. But hill reps can be very beneficial. Keep up the good work.
When you've upped the reps and upped the speed try lowering the recovery. Or add a flat 'run-off' section at the top to extend the effort. There's lots of ways to tweak this most excellent training.

[marathondan]

My posts can come across as boastful; but I'm just caught-up in abit of a whirlwind of effort and races. I'm sure it will pass.

Not at all, GM. We're all here recounting our personal achievements in a public forum, so it's never going to be an environment of modesty. Regular readers know the downs as well as ups that you've been through, so your successes are a motivator to us all - although some of us respond better than others   Don't step off the gas too soon if you're enjoying the ride.

[Charliecat5]

My posts can come across as boastful; but I'm just caught-up in abit of a whirlwind of effort and races. I'm sure it will pass.

Not at all, GM. We're all here recounting our personal achievements in a public forum, so it's never going to be an environment of modesty. Regular readers know the downs as well as ups that you've been through, so your successes are a motivator to us all - although some of us respond better than others   Don't step off the gas too soon if you're enjoying the ride.

It's absolutely not boasting GM.  I love reading all the posts on here, both the successes and the pain.  There is an honesty to this forum which is really compelling.  You have no idea how much you guys keep me motivated.  Keep posting I say.

[Charliecat5]

On another note, where the bloody 'ell is MLCMM? 

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

I'm here! Or rather, I'm back (just). Have now at long last returned to Oz after seven weeks over t' other side of t' planet. Have had limited time and limited access to t' interwebby thing to post reports, and in any case, there have been no runs to write about since our plod up Black Cap. However we did of course meet Antonio in Almeria and of those adventures I will definitely write, only not quite yet.

Already into my third day since returning and I've only just finished unpacking my suitcase.

I need a holiday.

[glaconman]

Thanks for the comments Dan/Charlie. It's good to know.

Welcome back MLCMM. Seven weeks is a long stretch away from home. I know what you mean about the holiday. A staycation is probably what you need.

[Sweder]

My Dear Mr Charlie Cat,
I'm afraid I'm remarkably fat
I must tell you, I fear
That I've drunk too much beer
And that, mate, is pretty much that

Still, I'll be back from Der Nederlands at the weekend and waddling about in no time.
Glaconman boastful? What tosh. We're each an experiment of one, not one performance comparable with another. I have mates who knock out Parkruns in under 19 minutes every week and others posting PBs in the high twenties. It's all relative, but only in a meaningful way when comparing one's self to oneself.

It's when Runkeeper tells me 'congratulations! That's your 8th fastest 4.7 k run' (when I've only done 8) that I get really depressed about my running times. These 'not quite training, just keeping my hand (feet) in' outings are jolly important. Got to keep the wheels spinning, what?
Pip pip.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Glaconman boastful? What tosh. We're each an experiment of one, not one performance comparable with another. I have mates who knock out Parkruns in under 19 minutes every week and others posting PBs in the high twenties. It's all relative, but only in a meaningful way when comparing one's self to oneself.

It's when Runkeeper tells me 'congratulations! That's your 8th fastest 4.7 k run' (when I've only done 8) that I get really depressed about my running times. These 'not quite training, just keeping my hand (feet) in' outings are jolly important.

Entirely correct, Mr. Sweder. Well said, sir.

[Charliecat5]

You can’t be too careful out there.  Before embarking on this lunchtime’s Hill Sprints (they deserve the capitalisation), I carried out a risk assessment.  Other than a high transverse over a steep sided valley (a bridge over the A27), I calculated the risk to be relatively low.  Not a tram in sight! 

Of course, the risk of dying increased rapidly once I arrived at the foot of the HILL OF DOOM.

Five more Hill Sprints in the bag and four bouts of exercise achieved this week.   

Sunday will see a long slow run… I am still debating where to go… it will involve hills.

[Charliecat5]

On a positive note, this morning I managed to overtake a couple of mountain bikers on the flint track that winds its way out of the valley of death.  

Otherwise, it was a slow plod onto the Kingston Ridge, down Castle Hill, through the Valley of Death and home again.  7.6 miles at a 10:38 pace.   There is still some way to go. 

Unusually, I am working at home all of next week… so plenty of opportunity to soak up the miles.

[Charliecat5]

As Freddie Mercury once said:

“This is ourselves
Under Pressure”

 He also said in the same song:
“It’s the terror of knowing,
 What this world is about”

I’m beginning to wake up to enormity of the task ahead.   I know it's early days… the question is, can I keep it up?

I read an interesting article a while ago which talked about muscle memory and the fact that it doesn’t take long for muscles to get use to a certain rhythm and because of this we very quickly achieve a position of consistency.  Being aware of this phenomenon (Mah Nà Mah Nà)  I recognise the need to break out and start pushing the status quo (Dan: note that inadvertently a theme is developing here). 

Hence the hill reps, and now, from this lunchtime, the dastardly sprints.  What am I putting my body through?

Yesterday, after an hours squash with the Boy, who it might be said at the age of 12 is giving his old man a real run around the court, I went out for a short fast one… which was short (3 miles), but not that fast (8:50 min/mi).  Then today, to mix up the hill sprints a little, I set off along the railway track for a couple of sprints, up Horse Hill at a pace which was quick but sustainable, and then a clutch of four hill sprints in the usual spot. 

PLEASE SOMEONE TELL ME THAT THIS IS ALL WORTH WHILE*…

Plans have changed this week and tomorrow I am heading to Carlisle for a couple of days… so Leave a Light On***

(*which as it happens is a song by Tom Cat Norton**).

(** I had to look that up on Google). 

(*** Sorry).

[Charliecat5]

Oh Crap!