Nike+ 10K Human Race, with extra envy.

Today was the nike + global 10K race which I had been banking on being able to achieve.

I set out in the rain, with lucozade and strapped up in the heel department with a few inserts in my shoes to get me moving again, but 5K was all I could achieve. I was starting to get a blister on the other foot this time, so enough was enough.

I enjoyed it, though deeply frustrating, and as Tim Macready said tonight, it's another 5K in the legs.

The podiatrist is lined up for Thursday, and I really need him to weave some magic on my feet because without it the Great North Run is going to be somewhat problematic.

I never would have believed that I would be here, watching people running in the rain on a Sunday afternoon in August, and be deeply envious.

Choc Milkshake has never tasted so good.....

....and nor has a cold bath felt so refreshing (did the hot/cold shower thing after...).

So - 10 mile run accomplished and feel better for it (oddly) - ran 1h12mins which am happy with for training run and first attempt at 10 miles for years...

Negatives...(a) couldn't feel my right foot from 4 to 7 miles....odd feeling - bit like pins and needles! Never had that before! Put it down to way I was running, different from morning runs. (b) didn't warm up - silly! (c) didn't have any water during run - careless! But (b) and (c) were due to circumstance and won't be repeated during the Great North!!

So - 1h 30 is now target (realistic) which I'll be more than happy with.

No niggles (apart from foot issue!) so shall rest up tomorrow then go for light run Sunday, and back to morning/evening routine next week. Maybe in two weeks I'll repeat the 10miler....

Cheers to all.

Starting to worry.....

So, received the number (Zone B??? What was I thinking??) and the ChampionChip (never had those in my day!) - and starting to sweat without even running.....just remembered how tough it is running longer distances as opposed to 'skipping' along the Avenue and up to the Fort.... Gulp...

So, have decided this week to push myself on runs to/from office until Thursday afternoon, catch bus in Thurs evening/Fri morning then do long run on Friday evening...10 miles seems like a good marker....

that will:

(a) Give me wake up call (though what distance work I can get into legs is questionable)
(b) fill me with confidence (very doubtful)
(c) make me re-assess what time I should be going for - the years of no distance work/cycling have taken their toll!

That said, have got the 'bug' again - am enjoying the morning/evening runs; enjoying racing (and annoying) the cyclists (need more head winds!) and pushing myself through aching calves/thighs and 'niggles'.

Oh, and in keeping with the start of football season, am starting to play mind games with myself.....using 'recovery tips' to aid performance/consistent training:

(a) Chocolate milkshake.....taken straight after exercise it aids recovery, more effective than sport drinks (eg lucazade) - don't ask me why, I have a report on it by Australia sport if anyone really interested

(b) two mins cold shower, two mins hot....and on and on....allegedly works (better than ice bath) - again don't ask me why - just something I've been told!

Not sure if either work...thinking (a) will last longer in my training than (b)!!

Back on the bench

Damn you look good Rab!  Far better than my training plan which now lies in tatters.  I am sidelined again.

This blister thing was starting to get a bit annoying and wasn't showing any sign of improvement so after closer examination of the orthotic insoles and an inspection by my neighbour who knows about this sort of thing, she reckons that the orthotic needs a bit more tweeking.  

Earliest tweeking appointment with the orthotic tweeker is next Thursday, so until then, and potentially until new insoles are made up,  It's no running for me.  I would soldier on but I have been warned that blisters can lead to achilles problems, so I will take the advice and give it up for now.

I am going to see the evil gym man in the morning to create a training plan for the Great North Run that doesn't involve running. 

Under two hours is still the plan on race day, and now I'm getting angry!

Keep smiling

And it was a XL size!!!!!! Have a good laugh....

Rab.....XXXXXXX

Not bad for a fat bloke

Bon Soir fellow runners,

After my last blog of a weezing horse i thought i would report back with an update, my dear wife and myself went to a bbq on Saturday apres midi, whilst the wife travelled in her brothers car i decided i would run the 5 miles to their house, so we both left at the same time, brother in law set his timer and sped of up road as quick as you can in a 1981 Ford Capri (very Quick plese) and i set of on foot. Anyway i ran to my surprise, this was the first run with background music and it took the weezing horse away much to my surprise.

I completed the 5 miles in 53 mins and since then have done a 4 miler yesterday to keep pains at bay and a couple of cycle rides......However i can relate to the injuries as alas i will not be injury free for this gathering either. Never mind i will turn up run to a fashion (probably Gay) and cross the finish line as promised. Boy would i love to be on the receiving end of Ian's abuse if he was there to see my running!!

Rab. xx

P.S. I will try to put a picture of me in latest running attire if i can work out how.

General Frustration and Corporal Punishment

Salut Bloggeurs and Bloggeuses

It has been a while, I know, but the two key ingredients of happy blogging have been absent - these being

1) Time and access to a working computer
2) Inspiration

All has not been well in the Geneva sub-division of Team Atko - Christina has damaged ligaments in her left foot which means no running for at least two more weeks. Not good timing. Her very helpful doc has issued her with all sorts of painkillers and special creams and something called an "Air-Cast". This makes it sound very lightweight and non-cumbersome, but in reality it is two big lumps of plastic velcroed together in a cumbersome fashion. Christina has spent the last two years trying to get her left leg sorted out in one way or another so this is a real ding to the motivation. But, to her credit, she still aims to be on the start line and her top goal, which is still achievable, is to run all the way round. The training will be intense, but physio starts soon and an alternative training plan using the bike & swimming should keep Christina's fitness levels up until she can run again.

For my part, I was back in Jersey last week and between visiting my very ill Grandmother in a residential home, supervising plumbers/carpenters/letting agents, and trying to find a tenant for our flat, I managed a couple of runs. I ran from Georgetown to La Rocque and back only for my right calf to try and seperate itself from the rest of my leg.

To try and ease this, I went for a shorter run round the athletics track at FB Fields - allowing me to calibrate our new Polar watch doohickey footpod gubbin (as its known in the trade). A slim lady in well coordinated running gear wandered over and invited me to join in one of their training sessions at FB. I was going to politely decline, and when I saw her t-shirt had "Team GB Commonwealth Games Athletics Squad" printed on it, I knew that it was more prudent to run round in circles on my own.

I've just run 7km with Sam and the damn calf muscle is still awry. I have attacked it with one of those spiky ball things that looks like it should be attached to a stick with a bit of chain and then be wielded by some aggro Knight. That seems to help, strangely. Apart from the calf muscle, the running itself was ok, no cardio problems, the rest of me hasn't fallen apart, so I just need a replacement right calf muscle to be fitted, and I'm good to go.

Pest control

I went out three days a go for a run and it went well, I was running quick, I could breath and their was no pain - apart from "Pest" which now has another blister in a slightly deeper layer of skin to keep it company.  If these two blisters stop me running I will loose control!

I went on to t'internet to work out what to do, and the following morning went to boots and bought all sorts of cushioning, plaster, tape sort of stuff, vaseline etc.

Annoyed, I went to the gym.  It is quiet on a Friday night so I got on the bike and decided to ride the length of the great north run course bare foot.

40 minutes later I felt much better.

Pest 1 and Pest 2 seem to have settled down today so I might go for a wee bimble tonight.

No race chip in the post yet, I guess they are working there way through the 52,000 entrants and Wickham and Macready are further forward than me!

Olympic hangover

My training has now hit pretty much rock bottom (talk about peaking three months early!) but I provide my current training programme for your perusal:

Left, right, left, right, ow, left, right, left, right, wheeze, left, right, left, cough, ow. (Repeat until knackered i.e 10 minutes).

All positive goodwill and feeling I basked in during the heady days of easy 11km runs etc has gathered up all of its belongings, stashed them in a neat wheely suitcase and toddled off to gate 8 in search of its winter flight to Timbuktu leaving my knackered frame to kick its heels at security whilst I just undo my shoes so that some dog can have a sniff and tell me unsuprisingly that I am not a terrorist operating in the Jersey Al Quaeda sleeper cell.

Sod the drinks I am booking a taxi round the course and have done with it.

It's not looking good!

Hello Large one here.... Whilst you lot sound like athelete's i sound like a horse with a really bad cough. I just can't seem to get enough of that stuff they call oxygen into my lungs when i need and therfore can't manage to run more than 5 minutes in bursts, so based on that it looks like i will have the most expensive round of the day.

Rab XXX

What the hell!

Got the number, chip and starting zone (as did a lot of other people) today and now can't wait. Training back and just knocked a minute off Tuesday's time - as I told Wickham the other day, form is temporary, class is permanent. Although he did point out that the last time I was in form I was about 14 years old!

When it's hard on the road, show the road what yer made of!

"What I deserve, I earn" - discuss

Louis Smith won a medal at the Olympics at the weekend on the pommel horse.  It is the first time in over 70 years that a Brit has won a medal in anything involving a horse and a pommel at the same time.  He is designed specifically for the event with long oversized arms and 'ickle legs and someone said that he was grown in a jar somewhere south of Coventry.

Across his shoulders he has tattooed "What I deserve, I earn".

Now I rather fancied doing this half marathon in under two hours.  Training went well, then I had a number of set backs - knees, hips, shoulder thing, followed by a hacking cough and finally a blister, which essentially won't heal (b-doom, tish) before the race and it will accompany me on every step of every training run and every step of the race itself, causing discomfort.  I might give it a name, like "Pest" or something. I think that I deserve to be able to run the whole thing, but I need a bit of luck to keep sickness and injury at bay to enable me to continue the work to do this.

This morning I was driving to work in the dark and the rain - proper Geordie rain that gets you wet, cancels the cricket, stops summer in it's tracks and sends it scurrying off to somewhere in Europe. At 0554, I saw a bloke out running, wearing a Great North Run 2008 t-shirt!  I wanted to shout "courage!" like they do in Geneva, but I wasn't sure if he would understand.  I thought about "Gan on meeaaate" but I thought he might think I was taking the piss, so I said nothing and drove past.  He was out there doing it and it was miserable.

Then my thoughts turned to poor old Paula who soldiered on in bits to finish the marathon. She poured herself into training for Beijing and she picked up an injury and got bitten by a spider in France (which sounds like an excuse for not handing in your homework if you ask me) and she sadly, despite an enormous effort to win the marathon - well, she failed.

Or did she?  When I'm feeling cream crackered at the 11 mile mark somewhere south of the river,  I might just think of poor Paula hobbling and wobbling her head and find something from somewhere to nail the last few miles, just as she did.  That would keep me going.  

Louis and his tattoo seems a bit nicey-nicey to me, but Paula?  She was out there doing it, in pain, not going to win, not going to get what she wanted, not going to get what she worked for and deserved.

So as has been said before, no matter what, finish the damn race.

A little Motivation

Understanding that there was great impetus (or beer to give it it's simple name) to sign up for this, motivation should never really be a problem.

However, what with injuries, layziness and end of school year (teachers excuse to get lashed about three/four times a week for a month) things have been poor.

Add to that the arrival of my son, currently living at Burnley General, it's all a bit pear shaped. However, all thoughts of being able to run with (near to ish) the Greek having vanished with the injury, I am now determined to run with Dan. With that in mind I finally got back out on the road today and it wasn't too horrendous. Went back to the short route to get going again and on the uphill realised I had been just looking for excuses to not run.

A little motivation, the fact that I will run in memory of my friend and for my family.

P.S. - Wiggy, I'm gonna get you!

Thirteen miles of stupidity.

Now I know I’ve had the odd stupid idea or two in my time but this one's special even by my standards. Training for me has been fairly mundane, trudging round lakes in Milton Keynes, a 10k circuit I’ve worked out at home, and a triathlon of run/drink/sleep deprivation during Alderney week. However with only about six weeks to go before the big day I decided today was the day to see if I could come anywhere close to my aim time of 1 hour 40 minutes over the full 13 miles. Now I must say at this point the time I went for is not based on any previous p.b. Or a statement of current fitness level, its more to do with my dislike of running and just wanting to get it over with as soon as possible, that and just wanting to get to the bar before the rounds get too expensive. I failed; miserably, and now have to work out how to lose 15 minutes an hour. It’s not that I can’t run it’s just I just don’t go very fast when I do, the only point I picked up my pace was running to the St Peters border but I guess that was just instinct kicking in, when I crossed back into St Ouen I slowed down again. Normally, with the Internet at my disposal, making an hour or two disappear isn’t a problem, but I don’t think cyberspace can help with this one. All I can do is hope the little piece of motivational advice from Tim puts a spring in my step, “looks like I’ll be running with you then Wiggy”. People avoid the two hour mark at all costs. I know I can do better, you know it makes sense! Little Tim might mean some one else now but it’s not worth the risk.

Dan.

P.S. Is anyone doing the 10k on the 21st of September?

We're Steaming!!!!!! (and not in the way we want to be)

Our training seems to be progressing well at the moment, although the weather in Geneva never seems to be on our side. It has been either far too hot or raining cats and dogs! Simon and I went for a run today by the lake and I think we would have been drier if we had jumped in!!!

We drove to the base of the Saleve mountains last week for one of our early morning runs (5.30am - aaaaaaarrrrrgh). A change of scenery does slightly ease the intense boredom I experience when running. The run was in better conditions then usual because it was a lovely day and the heat hadn't kicked in yet. When we finished the run, we were steaming! Really - there was steam!!! I was also delighted when another early morning runner shouted "Courage" at us.

I have recently purchased a super duper Polar watch which, amongst other things, tells you how far you have run, your heartrate, works out training plans, makes the dinner...etc. Unfortunately, the watch is still in the box at the moment because I have to figure out how to make it do all the super duper things it is supposed to do - all the gear and no idea springs to mind.

I'm attempting my first 10 km this weekend and will let you know how it goes.

New Blogger, Old runner

So - thought I'd better get blogging and training since there are two months to go and I haven't done enough of either. Impressed by the commitment and distances that people have been covering - all bodes well for the run. As for me, Touch season over which means I can concentrate on running again (as opposed to cycling and Touch) - pre Touch training I was up to 30 miles a week, which sounds impressive but really just necessity in getting me to/from work every day - so basically 10 x 3 mile 'sprints' - still puts miles in the legs and it'll be interesting now to see if I'm anyway near the PBs I'd set back in May....

Apart from that to look forward to, I've no major injuries to report (unusual for these blogs!) having overcome groin tear mid season, dodgy (blackened) toes and thigh strain.....I have just realised however that the last Half marathon I did was a fair few years ago when I was approx 2 stone lighter....worying times!! Good luck to all for the training....Nick