Lies, damned lies!

Lies, damned lies! by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

So, I missed Sunday's planned session.  Slippery slope beckons, I know, but it was too bloody cold and I don't want to get sick.  It would 1. make sticking to the plan even more difficult and 2. jeopardise my weekly visits to sister and nephew, which are the only thing I really look forward to in my jobless hell.  I've tried to keep my chin up and bounce back, but I'm running out of chin (although I currently have several, looking forward to shedding a few with this new 'active lifestyle') and my bounce is almost gone.  I hate this.

Anyway, I also suffered equipment failure on today's run.  My GPS lost satellite reception 3 minutes 47 seconds in and didn't pick it up again after I reset (by accident, do not attempt equipment manipulation on the move!!!).  So I ran for longer than planned and covered more ground, at a better pace than the rather gallumphing one calculated, on this run.  In my current mood, this molehill is assuming K2 proportions.

I need a nice hot shower (it's not all that toasty out there today, either), a healthy lunch and a flop before jumping back on the job hunt.

If you are enjoying these blog posts, please consider sponsoring me in support of Diabetes UK at JustGiving. Many thanks.

1st 20-minuter

1st 20-minuter by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

It's damned cold out there today!  All thoughts of early Spring are long gone.  But at least I'm staying on track with the training, completing all runs as scheduled.  And, I'm happy to report, my pace continues to remain satisfactory.  I averaged 9:32 a mile today, which is another improvement over the last one!

Looking at the programme, it looks I like I continue with these shortish, low-intensity runs for the rest of this month and into March, only really starting training in earnest at the beginning of April.  That suits me just fine, I should be well settled into the routine of running regularly by then and, please god, will hopefully have a job by then as well.

Onwards and upwards.

If you are enjoying these blog posts, please consider sponsoring me in support of Diabetes UK at JustGiving. Many thanks.

15 minutes more

15 minutes more by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

A bit later than planned, I did the second 15-minute session this afternoon.  Damned cold, in that it-hurts-to-take-deep-breaths kind of way, but lovely sunshine.  Are we getting an early Spring?

I'm pleased to report I'm not getting the two-days-later aches and pains and general messages from the body telling me not to be such a prat.  Stretching before and after each session like a good boy and generally trying to do what the people who know about these things say you should.

I managed to do an extra .04 of a mile compared to the last session.  That looks like a rolling-about-on-the-floor laughably small improvement, but on the road I can tell you I finished substantially closer to home than before.  When you're looking at half marathon or marathon differences, these kinds of improvements in pace really do add up.  Indeed , this equates to 9:45-minute miling, compared to 10 minutes a mile on Saturday, saving about 4 minutes over a complete half marathon.  And I expect my pace to improve significantly over time.

Spending more quality time my sister and my new nephew tomorrow, with the next session due on Friday.  In the meantime, I will be mostly spending my time on the completely soul-destroying pursuit of finding a new job.

Starter for 10. Or, rather, 15.

A new beginning by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

So, I have had a training plan calculated for me with the Great Run website.  I'm having various usability issues with it at the moment, in terms of using it on an ongoing basis to record my progress, but I'm continuing to use my Garmin anyway, so the links at the start of these posts will get you to info if you're interested.

The Great Run plan was easy enough to set up, so it is a schedule I will follow to get me to the big day.  You simply answer various impertinent, yet pertinent, questions - my responses can be summarised as 'old', 'fat' and 'do not let me shame myself or my family'.  You'd think that, given that I've occasionally got dressed and left the house for over 40 years, I might deal with embarrassment by now.  But there are degrees in these things, you know?  What I really want to avoid is being overtaken by one of those guys carrying a life-size model of a taxi, or a rhino.  Or Floella Benjamin - not a model, you understand, the actual lady herself -as happened in my first London marathon.  I don't mind those Water Aid boys carrying toilets, though.  They always seem to be deeply dreamy and just trying to keep them in view can knock minutes off my finish time.  Anyway.

I'm not in full training yet, that doesn't start for a few weeks.  I 'volunteered' during the sign up process for some getting-started sessions in the build up, though.  These seem to be 15 to 25 minute sessions for the most part, 3 or 4 times a week.  And I did the first one today.  It was billed as a '15 minutes easy running' session.  If you accept 'slow and laboured' as a valid definition of 'easy', as I have come to accept that I must, I can declare it was a 100% success!  10 minute/mile pace on average, which is officially jogging and a lot better than officially walking or officially wasting-your-time-get-back-on-the-sofa.

Next scheduled session is Tuesday, when my aim will be to get further in the 15 minutes allowed than I did this time.  Easy does it.

Nearly ready to start all over again

I have failed utterly to keep the running going as part of my normal routine.  No huge surprise there.  But I applied on a whim (unemployment-related boredom can be very dangerous) for this year's Great North Run and got a place.  I'm not breaking my self-imposed 'never again', as that applies only to marathons.  And if I can stay off the cigarettes permanently, I may break that one as well.  I have managed to convert myself and my whole family to e-cigarettes, helped at least in part by the arrival of little Aidan Kyle Stanley.

So expect more self-torture and, if I can reactivate my stagnating brain, humourous anecdotes on training in the near future.  And a renewed round of begging on a new JustGiving page, which I'll set up shortly and refresh the little widget over to the right.  The good things about the GNR are that it is a half marathon and also that, although it is in September, with a risk of bad weather on the day, I will be training through the Spring and Summer.  No icy sessions or gale force winds on the prom, which is what I've had in the past when training through Winter for the London and Brighton marathons.

I'll also be geeking my way through training with more maps, charts and stats on my progress, more for my own consumption than anyone else's, I imagine.

So ciao, bis bald and a bientot (apologies any foreign visitors, I don't know the codes for accented characters, so I'll just get as close as I can with my English keyboard if I feel the need to continue with pretentious foreign ejaculations!).