Half marathon hell on Earth

Half marathon by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

So, I didn't enter the Brighton Half Marathon that happened today. As previously mentioned, I have run it twice, in appalling conditions both times, and wanted the option this time not to do it if it was nasty again. ANd it turned out to be the nicest day of the year so far. Typical. Like it or not, however, I absolutely had to do a minimum of 13 miles today to get back on track with the programme. I've missed the last 2 long runs and the last one I did was 10 miles, 3 weeks ago.

But I was very optimistic about today, after yesterday's session went really rather gorgeously. Today's run was a bonanza of shattered illusions, crushed hopes, pain and childish tears. I absolutely hated it. I ran West along the coast today, to avoid getting caught up in any of the madness that can accompany the official, organised events. The pavements out that way, I have to say, are in appalling condition. In some areas, they're missing altogether, which is when being six foot wide and wearing a pink Diabetes UK top comes in handy.

Anyway. I never at any stage reached the blissful state of floatiness that made yesterday's run such a pleasure and a success. It felt ploddy from the start and got worse from there. Mile 9...GOD how I hated mile 9. Once I passed 10 miles, my previous furthest distance, I got a bit of a lift for mile 11, but miles 12 and 13 were unmitigated vileness. Knee lift non-existent, knees and quads a mess, calves spasming and, yes, tears streaming. Also, big toes on both feet were agonisingly painful and numb AT THE SAME TIME from about 7 miles in. Sounds impossible, but I swear it's true. Almost 3 hours later, they still hurt and sensation is just returning. Does anyone know what I mean and can you tell me what's going on?

The only thing I am really proud of today is that I completed the fucking thing. 12 minutes slower than the last time I did this distance, and 20 minutes slower than my PB.

Tomorrow there's supposed to be an interval run. I can't really see this happening. It's another 5-run week, but one of the sessions is a '50 minute Fartlek of your choice' and, given my opinion of Fartleks and the interval session to start the week, my choice is likely to be sitting down drinking coffee.

I have learned 3 valuable lessons today, if we're going to try to find a positive.

1. Long runs on an empty stomach DO NOT WORK.

Simple solution here. I watched a programme earlier in the week about how milk aids muscle recovery more than these sports drinks thingies. So I will make sure at the very least on the morning of these Sunday slogs, to have a smoothie of milk, bananas and some Options hot chocolate powder.

2. On a gorgeous sunny day (another positive!!!) 500 mls of fluid is not enough to get you round.

Ditto on the simplicity. I will pour my sports drinks into one of my 750 ml bottles and take that.

3. I really hate long runs.

There could be a teensy tiny issue here. And, to be honest, I hate them a bit less now I've had a long soak in a Radox bath. But expect more Sunday whingery.

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GREAT 1 hour

1 hour by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

That went REALLY well. I know there's rain due later, so headed out earlyish this morning. There was a blustery wind blowing, changing direction all the time and making things a little unsteady - I'd just get used to leaning into the wind to make any progress at all and it would die, or swing around and I'd be leaning on nothing and almost go head over heels. However, the pace I managed to set today was really, really pleasing and didn't strain me at all. As on Thursday, all smooth and co-ordinated and, if obviously not effortless, really easy.

I almost broke 9 minute mile pace and it's the longest run I've managed to sustain anywhere near that kind of pace on. It bodes really well for tomorrow's half marathon, which I should complete now in something close to 2 hours. Given the patchiness of my recent training, this is hugely encouraging as I enter the last 2 months leading up to April's big event!

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Finally made it out!

40 minute jog by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

I've been suffering with a horrendous gum infection all week. I think the antibiotics have finally kicked in, as the painkillers are finally starting to work, but they're also playing merry hell with my digestion. The less said about that, though, the better.

So this week's going to be very backloaded and busy, rather than the easy 4-session week I've been looking forward to after a couple of heavyish 5-run ones. This morning's session actually went very well. My legs have obviously had plenty of time to recover from the last run and it was all nice and fluid if not blisteringly fast. I'm not seeing any noticeable weight loss right now, but I definitely feel trimmer and there's a lot more co-ordination between the various bits of my body that should be contributing to my progress - including, finally, my arms and torso. I'm getting a twist through my previously frozen-facing-forward waist that should help my waistline return from wherever the hell it's been for the last couple of years and my arms are driving me forward rather than flopping around uselessly.

The next session is a cross-training (i.e. not running) one that I'll complete tomorrow morning before work. In my own unique and deeply special way, I will be approximating Zumba. Then it's an easy hour on Saturday. And on Sunday I WILL WITHOUT ANY SHADOW OF A DOUBT BE ATTEMPTING 13 MILES. I'm not running the Brighton Half as I usually would as part of my build up to the big day. I've done it twice and, while the first time was just Februarily cold, last time was a full on blizzard with snow, hail and howling winds. Typically, the forecast for this Sunday is actually pretty good. In order not to get caught up in the event and shouted at by marshalls who fail to realise I'm not wearing a number, I shall head West for a change and inflict myself on the unsuspecting residents of Shoreham and, possibly, Lancing and Worthing. I'm not really sure how far along the coast I will get.

Good luck to all the fundraising charity-running heroes on Sunday!!!!

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The agony and the agony

Another 25 minute threshold session by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

Late post about yesterday's run. Less bitterly cold than other recent sessions, partly I guess because it was later in the day than the 6am ones I'm squeezing in before work. And blimey, what an improvement. Sub 9 minute miling. Sub, in fact, 8 minute 30 miling!!! A great boost and really made me hopeful for today's long run.

Which, I regret to say, is not now happening. I just can't face it. I was diagnosed in October with advanced periodontal disease and was referred by my dentist for a second opinion before he went ahead and removed what he said was a large number of teeth. The referral never resulted in anything and, after some chasing, the dentist has referred me again. So potentially another 3 months of waiting. And all week one of my back teeth has been giving me serious pain. Eating is actually an eye-watering experience. It's spreading down my neck and up to my ear. Couple this with a tremendously fun but somewhat drunken evening yesterday with my dearest friends and I'm in no fit state.

Will be attempting the weekday runs before work, starting tomorrow, but 12 miles is entirely beyond me and I'm wrapping up on the sofa for some trash telly.

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Interval run in sub zero. Fun!?!?!

Interval run by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

Another bitterly cold early morning. I finally caved in this morning and wore the full-length scare-o-tights. I know I've been whingeing about my hands and face, but that's only because my legs haven't really been able to get cold. They have been sort of moving. A bit. But I wasn't entirely clear this morning how far from the house I should venture in order to finish back close to it - these interval runs are quite complex in the planning and I would no way have been able to keep track of when I hit half time to turn round - so I was left with the prospect of a possibly fairly lengthy walk back from wherever I ended up.

Needn't have worried and, even though I didn't cover as much ground as I thought I might in the 40 minutes, looking at the detailed stats I'm actually pleasantly surprised. Overall, pace is a bit below where I'd like it to be, but my pace during the sprinty bits actually improved with each rep, as did the pace of the recovery phases. I do not remember this ever having happened before! I usually start slow and finish slower. So that's good.

I didn't enjoy it. Not at all. I hate traditional interval sessions and Fartlek sessions and only do them because I know they really, really do help. I cannot possibly fit in a run tomorrow morning, as I have an early meeting in London. Again. And I know that when I get back from London I'll be in no mood to do one. (It took me 3 and a half hours to get from Holborn to Portslade yesterday, just by the by. I mean, WHAT!?!?!?!?!) So, presupposing I can keep the reins on my alcoholic tendencies when my friends are down this weekend, the 2 on Saturday and Sunday will be it for this week. That's still 4 sessions in a week, which is pretty damned good, especially given the schizo weather.

Am feeling really rather good about things and am intending to quit smoking at some point on Sunday, too.

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35 minute jog - ROBBED AGAIN

35 minute jog by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

So after the anticlimax that was the weather at the weekend, back into another 5-run week this morning. About the only thing the snow did round here was take some of the sting out of the cold in the air, but even that has worn off now. It was utterly freezing. I wore the fright hat, so my ears weren't too bad, but my face and hands hurt like buggery. And so did the lungs, I'm really not good breathing sub-zero air, especially gasping for breath as I generally do. Almost finished Allen Carr's second book now, 'The Only Way To Stop Smoking Permanently', so hope to be back off the ciggies very soon.

Anyway, despite the freezing air the run itself did not feel bad at all. Only intensity level 2, basically a relaxed kind of pace, but I seem to be getting the hang of the right posture and the right technique even at low effort levels now and everything felt nicely connected and coordinated. So I was a little disappointed by the distance my pedometer reported. And, having uploaded all the data to the website, I find the dratted thing has robbed me of about a hundred meters. I started the run AND the timer right outside my house, but is that where it says I started? Is it hell. So it also suggests I was only moving for 33 minutes and some seconds, when I absolutely did not stop. Not once. Rude.

Another run tomorrow and one on Thursday, then a day off on Friday - another early morning meeting in London. I should be doing another on Saturday, and then a biggy - 12 miles (or 13 depending how I feel, which may not be great) - on Sunday. I have my loveliest friends from my uni days in Cambridge coming down for dinner and a light alcoholic spasm on Saturday night. More excuses! But I honestly don't think I can afford to miss 2 long runs in a row, so honestly intend to try to do this week's. Depending, it seems, again on the weather.

Global bloody warming my arse.

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Trainingus interruptus

Could not run Friday morning as, even getting up as usual at 6 a.m. I only had time to wash, iron and dress before having to run out the door to get a train to London for a client meeting.

Did not run yesterday as every weather forecaster was all doom, gloom and cataclysm and I did not want to get caught in what they were sure would be terminal arcticness.  What a load of fuss over nothing.

Having been assured we'd all be dead in our beds or at least trapped in our homes today, I pre-decided yesterday that I would not be running today, planning instead a day of sloth, liberally sprinkled with Nintendo.  And I'm sticking to it.

ANOTHER 5-run week next week, so will be starting tomorrow morning and getting back on track.  This will mean adding 2 miles on the long Sunday run again, but I've done that before.

Right now, Professor Layton, Mario Kart or Ridge Racer?  Decisions, decisions.

Half hour plod

Half hour plod by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

Holy cow, it's cold and getting colder. I was so tempted not to bother this morning. In fact, I changed my mind numerous times and ended up not getting out the door until about 6.40. A clear day and a light breeze are lovely running conditions normally, but not when the wind chill factor's about minus 10. When the wind did occasionally gust, it actually hurt.

Fortunately, this was one of the low-intensity half hour sessions scattered liberally through the programme to give you a break without allowing you to return to the vegetative state you used to spend your whole life in. So there was no strenuous breathing going on and no sweat freezing as soon as it reached the surface. But I was so relieved to get home at the end and shut out the weather.

I didn't cover a huge distance, but that really wasn't the point today. I am in London for a meeting tomorrow morning and may well make the executive decision before I go to bed, having seen the scary-mode weather forecast this evening, not to even try another run tomorrow. But then I'm worried about being able to get out on Saturday and Sunday, too. What the hey, I can't be bothered thinking about it just now. There's the prospect of ironing and other looking-like-a-professional type things to get past. Shave, perhaps? No, that would be just silly.

It's a 'que sera sera' week and I don't know what I'll do the next few days. 'Wait and see' is the best policy for now.

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25 minute thrash - bloody freezing!!!

25 minute thrash by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

I missed yesterday morning's planned interval session. It was to be a 30-minute job, but having got up in plenty of time, actually got into the full kit and stepped out the door, my entire face went numb in about a millisecond and I changed my mind almost as quickly. I had coffee and watched the recording of the mens' final at the Aussie open instead. Side note, either Virgin or Eurosport has a recording protocol that is the very definition of crap. 4 hours and 25 minutes of recording and I therefore missed, allowing for the old lesbian and the personality-free Canadian droning on for an hour before the match started, about 2 and a half hours of actual play, including the bloody ending! Why does this happen? How hard can it possibly be for either the channel or the box, whichever controls these things, to continue recording when a programme is extended?

Anyway, only a supreme desire to keep up the good work of the past two weeks got me out there pounding pavement today. And it was well worth it results-wise, even if it was, if anything, colder than yesterday and breathing was like inhaling knives. This is the first run where my ace has been under 9 minutes per mile! Compare and contrast with the 20-minute session at supposedly the same effort level a little while back. It was quite late by the time I started - I was working from home today, so was able to take my time this morning without the bus commute - and so a lot more people were probably shocked into insensibility by my passing, including many I generally get on the bus with. But no matter, I ran and ran pretty well all things considered.

Much to my horror, this should be another 5-run week, so I could potentially be running every day for the rest of it. No promises though, especially if the weather makes up its mind to go properly cold; the forecasters apparently can't decide just now what is going to happen there.

My weight appears to be yoyoing wildly just now. At some point surely there must be a downward trend? Will just keep monitoring for now.

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10 miles!!!!!

10 miles!!!!! by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

God what a glorious morning. And I'm not just saying that through the adrenaline buzz of the run, that has completely worn off during the weekly Tesco trip. Really crisply cold, with a haze early on that burned off quite quickly under a lovely bright sun. Brighton and Hove seafront looked completely stunning, all the water calm and still and reflecting prettily.

Sorry to have inserted my less pretty self into that picture for those others of you that were out and about! This has been quite a heavy week training-wise, and I've been very much counting on this paying off at some point, preferably today. And it did, thank god. Soooo much better than last weekend's 8 miles. On that run I was dead, or wishing I was, at half way. I never hit that stage today, and my pace was a significant improvement as well. It's obvious that D-Day - either the Brighton Half in Feb or the full Brighton marathon and for some people probably both - is beginning to loom large for those of us attempting these things. There were LOADS of runners out this morning, most of them moving significantly faster than me and some moving at a pace that was frankly just a bit showy offy. As ever, a lot of nodding, smiling and waving passed back and forth. Or at least I hope it did. I was definitely smiling inside but it might not have got as far as my face. So apologies to anyone who felt blanked, I honestly thought I was beaming at you!

Apologies also to anyone who was frightened by some of the noises I was making. I have reacquired the ability to drink on the move over the last couple of weeks, but this morning discovered I'm also an accomplished puker-while-moving. Not fun, not intentional, but unfortunately unavoidable. Not entirely sure why, as this has never happened to me before. It passed quickly and didn't seem to impact the rest of the run too badly, if at all.

Tomorrow is an off day in the plan, so the spectre of Zumba looms large on tomorrow morning's agenda. Eek.

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Still going strong

Easy half hour by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

An easy half hour session today, to take the sting and stiffness of this week's more intense runs away. An if I'm honest, there wasn't a lot of either - it really is true that the more you do, the easier it gets!

It's important for this to be the case, as tomorrow I am attempting 10 miles. My first double-figure distance for many years. But only if the weather holds. I ran the Brighton half marathon in 2010 in a blizzard, and I'm not repeating that experience no matter good my progress is at the moment.

A significant milestone passed with this morning's run - I have covered 3 full marathons in training! And AND along the way I've burned over 11 THOUSAND calories. Going to have pizza now.

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Icy and slippy - and crap drivers everywhere!

Interval Session by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

It didn't feel any colder this morning than the last couple, but the roofs were all sparkly and I nearly went monumental-arse over shouldn't-even-have-them-tits getting down the drive. Good start, then. After that, though, it actually went fairly well. Ploddy, slow-paced bits were less ploddy than they have been and the harder intervals didn't strain my legs or breathing as much as similar levels of effort have been doing. Overall, the pace on this session was significantly better than recent runs have made me think I was capable of. Better, in fact, than the session I supposedly did at threshold pace.  Added risk introduced by the inability of people driving at that time in the morning to anticipate the presence of people on foot.  I know it's perhaps unusual and my slightly disturbing body shape and attire may not help, but open your bloody eyes and engage your brains, for god's sake.  Getting up and down kerbs is not fun at the best of times, but bouncing up and down the same one multiple times because some half asleep, drooling fool in a bad suit who clearly can't be in that much of a hurry to get to work because he hates his job else why would he have to drink himself to sleep at night and look like that in the morning..sorry, where am I in this sentence? - oh, yes, right - isn't sure whether he's turning this corner or not or whether he's going to let me go first or make me wait, is a confounded nuisance.

I'm also starting to see an encouraging trend in the body measurements. The weight's not exactly falling off, but I am losing it, and body fat. Deeply rude software still classifies me as 'Overfat', though.

This week is pretty packed with running - 5 sessions required all together, so this is sparing me the humiliating experience of further Zumba. Tomorrow's a low intensity session, followed by the 10 miler on Sunday. I'm hoping another couple of pounds could take flight before Monday! Getting up at 6 each day has posed no problems at all, so Zumba will be reinserting itself into my life next week on the non-running days. Maybe I'll get back my core strength and be able to change direction in a couple of weeks! It's all good and getting better. Yay.

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Hills, hills, hills sweetie

Hills, hills, hills sweetie by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

I thought today's session (which I had originally planned to do yesterday) was an interval one. It wasn't, which came as something of a relief after my rather gallumphing performance on Tuesday's Fartlek. The relief soon faded when I realised it was actually a hill session. Hills and I do not get on. But there are some fairly sharp, if quite short, inclines on the Brighton marathon course. As well as some very slight but interminably long ones. So I know this kind of training is pretty essential. An off I trolled at stupid o'clock to tackle some of the ups and downs near my home.

I actually failed spectacularly on the first uphill section, walking part of it. The top end of Chalky Road is ridiculously steep and hard to deal with after only about two minutes of warm-up running - on a footpath that is itself one of the long, gradually upwards bits. It's actually quite similar in incline and length to the horrid bit of the Brighton marathon course in Ovingdean, which I think they may actually have dropped in this year's course change. But I can't be bothered researching, so won't actually find out until I do the thing in April.

After that, it all went quite well. Not blisteringly fast, natch, but I did manage the return leg all the way up Foredown Drive (the other major slope I tackled) without stopping. As ever, the hilliness contributed to higher than usual levels of bosom ache.

TOMORROW is the interval session, with something else on Saturday and the 10 miles on Sunday. A 5 run week! Eeek.

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Knackering day started with apparently rubbish run

No way! by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

Short but challenging run this morning, only 20 minutes but at 'threshold' levels. And I honestly pushed, pushed, pushed. Much harder than Sunday, I was out of breath very quickly and continued to run at that level throughout, concentrating on striding properly with high knee lift, etc. I wasn't exactly floating over the ground, but there was, I imagined, some power and dynamism. Like...a hippo? In water, obviously. But according to the GPS, and I can see nothing in the course map stored on Garmin for the session to contradict this, I did only 2.08 miles. 9:37 per mile. Which is, clearly, a bit on the chronic side and more like a hippo out of water. Very disappointed, even allowing for the minute or so I spent waiting for some daft old bint to work out what her steering wheel was for and actually turn the corner I was patiently waiting to run across.

An interval run should follow tomorrow morning. I'm obviously looking forward to it very much.

On a lighter note. Zumba. Colin was late home this evening, so I took the opportunity to watch and learn with the instructional DVD in the set I ordered and Amazon, damn them, delivered. In summary, if I don't die laughing I may get some benefit from it.

I'm not entirely uncoordinated, but I seem to have left all my core strength somewhere and have no control whatsoever over my direction of travel in a dancing scenario. They're going 'and now the other side' and I'm looking over my shoulder at the telly with my mouth wide open careering head first for the patio doors. It's embarrassing. It all sounds very fluffy, burning calories while doing what should be a lovely fun dance to some actually great music. But my arms don't talk to my legs, my chest does not stick out under any circumstances and I don't know what a booty is, or whether I ever had one. I looked like a member of Madness, or perhaps that bloke who gormed about the stage with the Happy Mondays. They even give the moves some exotic sounding names. I believe I only managed to absorb the 'Oh Really', the 'Avinga Larfa' and the 'Fuckiu say' before I gave in to the laughter. Which at least gave my lungs and diaphragm a damn good seeing to.

I will be trying to get up at 6 every morning either to run or to Zumba. Lovely colleagues, if I'm late for work I'm probably sedated in the Royal Sussex. Come find me, they kill people in there!

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Slow (very) and steady (not really)

8 miles!!! by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

Blimey and crikey. Today's run was more an attempt to get back on track with the adding-a-mile-a-week build-up training plan than one I actually expected to go well or deliver a particularly great experience. So in actual fact, it has served its purpose. It was still surprisingly hard on the legs (although, surprisingly, no trouble for the lungs at all). I think what it really proved to me was how much of this marathon running thing is mental rather than physical. Which really does beg the question, given my history, how the hell I have managed to complete not just 1 but 3 of these bitches in the past!!! About a mile into today's session, I was already questioning whether I'd finish it.

I have noticed during the longer sessions over the past couple of weeks that my body seems to go through a kind of 'reset' process a certain distance in. It's as if, once it's realised I'm not stopping, it pulls itself together and delivers me some previously unfound knee lift and great big bucketful of lung capacity. Last weekend, this happened about 3 miles into the 5 mile session. Today it kicked in around 2 miles. This may come as a surprise to anyone who saw me during today's training, as I'm fairly certain I wasn't striding out all that impressively. I set out a deliberately conservative pace to make sure I got round without stopping or walking today, and I think my technique changes at lower speeds rather than my stride length or turnover speed.

The first 4 miles passed without any great pain once I'd got over the doubt. It was quite busy down on the prom today, with lots of people out enjoying a crisp, clear day and lots of smiling and waving as I passed. Then, when I turned round to come home, there suddenly appeared this horrendous headwind, which I am 100,000,000% sure did not exist as a helpful backwind on the way out. Miles 5, 6 and half of mile 7 where spent head down, struggling to make any progress against (hyperbole alert) the most sever hurricane to have hit the South coast in many a long year. Honestly, it was really difficult and I'm sure is the main factor behind the stark contrast in pace between the outward and return legs of this run.

The main thing is that I've now done it. I might attempt 10 miles rather than 9 next weekend, to continue running at the harder end of the programme I'm following, but having added 3 to last week's long run today, I think I'll be able to avoid any more of these self-doubt episodes. I'm definitely 'getting back into' this whole running thing now. I'm entering the part of the programme where there a lot of weeks that require 5 sessions. One of these is next week, with a session in the plan for tomorrow. I'm really not sure about the wisdom of this, or any Monday sessions. I'll set the alarm and see what happens in the morning - I may swap the run (20 minute threshold thing) for my induction into Zumba or something if my legs are still feeling sorry for themselves.

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Recovery phase by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

Recovery phase by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

A low intensity, 30-minute session today to take the sting out of yesterday and prepare for tomorrow. Well, I say take the sting out, it actually piled pain on pain. But the pace was not hysterically bad - second half slower than first but, and this Garmin has saved properly the data to help me prove it, first half was downhill and second up!!!!!

I have to try to get back on track in terms of building up the long distances now, so I am going to make a concerted effort tomorrow to do an 8-miler. This may not go well.

Colin got up before me today, scuppering my plan to learn Zumba and use that as my warm-up. Will try again tomorrow.

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First Fartlek

Got up this morning early, again, and for the first time this week the weather and my body clock were in perfect harmony.  Yes, it was freezing, but there was little wind and it wasn't raining.

This is the first Fartlek session I've done in this training programme and it was every bit as horrible as I remember.  I made it through, though, without throwing up or damaging the pavement.  I did set a couple of dogs barking, but you get a different class of woman round here, so no worries.

The worst bit?  I connected to my Garmin site when I got back, and got a confirmation message that the session data had been uploaded - it was certainly deleted from my pedometer.  Then I had to wash up and leap in the shower.  And on accessing my online activity list this evening, I find the details of the run are not there!  The fatness data from my body monitor was uploaded fine, but the run information is missing and, as I say, deleted from my pedometer - irretrievable!!!  Massive annoyance.  I have manually added an activity for today (I remember the distance covered as 2.37 miles) but as you won't be able to guffaw at the slowness of the 'normal' running bits, or gasp in bewildered awe at the speed of the sprint intervals, I'm not bothering to link as I usually do.

The normal stats are below.

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Um. Ow. by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

Um. Ow. by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

This should have been 8 miles. But having run yesterday for the first time in, yes, months, my calves and quads this morning were screaming. Ambition and enthusiasm aside, 8 miles was not realistic, so I set out to do 5.

Beautiful weather again, although there was a definite bite in the wind. It wasn't quick and it definitely wasn't pretty, but my main aim today was to regain some confidence in my ability to run significant distances without stopping, puking or crying. On this basis, mission accomplished!!!

I only just scraped under 10:00 minute mile pace, but there's plenty of time to work on that. Calves and quads are now distinctly unhappy again, however. Much stretching and a long soak in a Radox bath coming up.

Next session is due to be tomorrow morning, but is one of the 'cross training' deals scattered throughout the programme. So I may cycle to work, depending on the weather.

Satisfactory outcome from the weekend is that I am running again. Smiling.

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REBIRTH by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

REBIRTH by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

I can't quite believe it was 2nd November that I last went out for a run. I was very conscious during November of the lack of training, counting the days and then the weeks that I 1. Simply could not be bothered and then 2. Was poorly. But where the time has gone since then, I really don't know!

With the marathon now almost exactly 3 months away, all the getting-ahead-of-the-game I did at the end of last year (clearly not at the VERY end) is out the window and I'm again playing catch-up, theoretically 3 weeks into training proper. The weather has provided me no excuses this week, but it has been my first week back at work and, although I've managed to get up in plenty of time to do a run several times this week, the pitch blackness and occasional iciness have persuaded me that coffee in front of the telly was a better option.

No more time for excuses!!! I need to get back on the horse. So I have been out today. Perfect running conditions prevailed - weather-wise, obviously, my physical condition could not be less perfect - and were it not for my extreme lack of fitness, today would have been an absolute pleasure. As it was, I managed to do the 20 minutes without having to stop and walk, although I was already beginning to slow down noticeably towards the end, not a good sign with the mileage I need to be building up to!!!

I really can't see any blockers preventing me getting back into this in the serious way that is now required if I'm going to be ready. Everything is falling into place at work and at home I can't remember being this contented for a long time. So it's onwards and upwards from here.

Usual 'progress' reports below as usual.

Updated Training Plan

Detailed Session Stats

Total Distance

Total Time

Cough splutter wheeze

It's been 3 weeks since I last ran.  I gave myself a couple of weeks off, guilt-free, as there was and is a lot going on lately and I am occasionally guilty of trying to take on more than is reasonable.  And this week I've been laid low by one of the many flu strains currently doing the rounds.  3 days off work and a lot of talking to people with my hand over my mouth.  At home, Colin's caught it too, so we've been blowing air kisses at each other from a distance all week in possibly the gayest display of gayness ever.  Even for me!

I am starting to feel almost human today and hope to be properly back to normal in fairly short order.  The alarm is set for 6a.m. tomorrow in optimistic anticipation.

Another early morning run - I like them!

Week 10 Session 1 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

SO there was a 20-minute hill session in the schedule for this week. On Monday, actually, but me and Mondays do not mix so that was never going to happen! I did get out of bed at 6.30 yesterday to do it, but once up I simply couldn't be bothered. I hate hill sessions. I didn't want to do it and nobody could make me. So there.

The session scheduled for today was a 30-minute 'Level 1' jobbie. These 'levels' are the invention of a fit person and theoretically equate to a certain effort level, based on a %age of your maximum heart rate. I've written on this topic before, so won't labour the point, but I feel I have only 2 levels. 'Asleep' and 'heart attack' sum it up quite nicely. So I don't bother with them. I'm not entirely sure whether I'd progress better if I did, but then I'd have to wear a heart rate monitor as well as all the frightening lycra and GPS pedometer I already have to get sorted out every time I go for a run. I can't be bothered and think it an unnecessary expense. (You'd be amazed how much such tiny scraps of lycra cost! And, frankly, how far they stretch.)

The point is, I got up this morning and did the session. As usual, I had pangs of guilt over the session I'd decided to skip, so I made sure I covered a couple of the more horrible hills in these parts - being the South Downs, there are many to choose from. My frighteningly accurate (usually) pedometer actually shows me starting from the other side of the road to where I actually did (it sometimes does this, no idea why), but I believe the overall distance recorded is pretty damned accurate and am happified muchly by the resulting calculation of my average pace.

This is all going very well so far.

Updated Training Plan

Session Stats

Total Distance

Total Time

6 miles - fuckin' A!

Week 9 Hard by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

A grotty old morning today, really misty/foggy. But I actually quite like weather like that for running, it's really rather refreshing. I have cut a load of corners this week and not done any of the shorter, technical-type runs that should hapen during the week. These are interval runs, hill runs, effing Fartleks (more about which here: http://www.theargus.co.uk/blogs/blogs/brighton_marathon/4662969.The_devil_is_real__And__p_s___he_s_Swedish_/) and things. They are all designed to build up both your speed and your endurance, so that the long run at the weekend - which increases by a mile each week - is manageable.

Not having done them, and only on Friday having run no-stop for 30 minutes for the first time in 18 months, today's run might have proved somewhat difficult. But, no! It was actually completely comfortable and I would go so far as to say that I actually enjoyed it. This is very good news indeed. It's the first run in this training plan that has been long enough for me to run along the beach in Hove and I had forgotten what a great place to run that is. Nice and flat, full of other runners to smile and wave at, or just nod if you're a bit knackered. The clocks having changed last night, it was also fairly early when I got there and lots of dog walkers were out with their little four legged friends. This is sometimes a problem, especially when they've let them extend their leads as far as they will go and you have to go all skippy jumpy to get past, but there was none of tht this morning. It was all deeply pleasant.

The middle 2 miles were the ones actually done on the seafront for the most part, and the sea breeze and torrential rain affected my pace a bit, but I managed to finish with a flourish - the last mile was the second fastest of the session, despite being largely uphill (slightly). Feeling very pleased with myself.

ON an unrelated note, can we please BAN HALLOWEEN? It's not a proper holiday and I returned home to notice that one of the rear tyres on my car (we pumped them all up yesterday) was completely, rim-to-the-floor flat. I suspect trick-or-treat foul play and even if it wasn't, I don't like having to spend the evening praying the doorbell doesn't ring like I did yesterday. Also, my porr cat was a nervous wreck all night with unnecessary firework stress. Humbugging over.

Updated Training Plan

Session Stats

Total Distance - very nearly 2 full marathons completed already!!!!!

Total Time

30 minutes non stop!

Week 8 Hard by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

It's been a while since I last ran - almost a week - but it's been a packed week with other priorities. I've had a job interview, got the promotion I was after, visited the dentist for the first time since University and left with all my teeth intact - for now, a second opinion is required before they extract anything. My mouth is till a ruin, buggered by smoking, but I have a reprieve for now. And tomorrow I will be enjoying my 40th birthday present - a blast round a track in a Lambo, which I'm really looking forward to after my original booking was changed by a Lee Colegate from Peterborough who has now been identified as a fraudster and told to bugger off.

So this was the first session where I've been required for any real length of time, only half an hour but that's a major step up from anything I've done for about 18 months, without a rest or walking break. And it wasn't too bad at all! I think the few days off allowed some recovery time for my poor old legs, which they really appreciated. Pace-wise slightly off where I'd like to be, but I have plenty of time to pick this up. I'm still deep within the green, 'optional' part of my training plan. I'm not doing any of the short build up sessions this week, but will attempt the long run on Sunday - 5 to 6 miles.

Has been a super week for me so far, with more fun to come!

Updated Training Plan

Session Stats

Total Distance

Total Time

Flattered but deceived by my tech

Week 8 Session 2 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

Was very excited by the results that flashed up on my pedometer at the end of this session.  They suggested a vast improvement pace-wise, which did not seem completely out of the question based on how the run felt.  Having uploaded the data to the web and looked at the map for this run, though, it's clear there was a little blip at the beginning of the session and the watch has credited me with about 150 metres that I did not do.  Never mind, makes up for that session earlier where it stole over a mile off me!

Anyway, have since done shopping, done gardening and made Christmas puddings.  From scratch!  Which are now cooking.

Tomorrow's run is to be my first attempt at running for half an hour with no breaks or walking recovery bits.  Seems perfectly doable to me!!!  Then more shopping and more gardening.  THEN preparation for an interview on Monday afternoon for a job I'm already actually doing, which for some reason has got me ultra, uber nervous.

I'm totally done for the day and about to kick back with some vodka and trash TV.  The sun is out, but it's damned parky out there so I feel no guilt in vegetating indoors.

Updated Training Plan

Session Stats

Total Distance

Total Time

It's bloody cold out

Week 8 Session 1 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

What I want to do for these weekday sessions is get up at 6, run, cool down and stretch, have a leisurely coffee and a shower and pootle in to work in a relaxed fashion.  Yeah, right.  I cannot get our of bed at 6.  Not when it's pitch black out.  I may need one of those alarm clocks that simulates a sunrise or something.  That might help.  But left to my own devices?  Never gonna happen.

I did manage to drag my sorry carcass out of bed at 6.30, though.  I did the same session that was last week's 'hard' run: 15 minutes' running, 1 minute's recovery, twice over.  I didn't manage to cover quite as much distance as last time, at least in part I imagine due to the air shredding my lungs with every inhalation.  This weather is going from one extreme to the other, in no time at all!  I will need new gloves and a fright hat to keep my ears warm before too long.

Nevertheless, I have proved to myself that I am in fact capable of getting a run in, in the morning.  Even if afterwards I had no time for a coffee, rushed through the shower thing and fretted about where the bus was.  With Starbucks Gingerbread Latte season fast approaching, however, I am actually quite willing to forego my cup of Tesco Gold Roast at home before I set off!

Now taking body measurement readings twice a day - once when I get up and once at 8.30 pm - as there are some really wild-looking fluctuations in the charts when I'm just taking them when I manage to remember.  I'm hoping some consistency will deliver some consistency.  AND some evidence of progress, of which there currently is none.

Numbers and stuff:

Updated Training Plan

Session Stats

Total Distance

Total Time

Another super day

Week 7 'Hard' by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

Glorious weather continues!!! And so does decent running performance. I'm tracking average pace over the whole of each session - as these sessions currently include some walking time, I anticipate being around 9 minutes per mile when I begin doing all-running ones. The first one of these is due next Sunday!

The aim of these first 8 weeks is to get you to a point where you are able to run continuously for 30 minutes. When I first started this seemed, as it always does, a ridiculous proposition. In the early sessions, I was looking at my watch constantly to check whether it was time for a walk yet - and the running bits were only 2 minutes each! But it's a very clever training programme that clearly works, because I am feeling very good. Each weekend's long/hard run, you see, becomes the first during-the-week run of the following week. As you gradually build up the running sections and reduce the walking bits, you end up fit as a fiddle and your confidence grows without your even noticing.

Anyway, it's going well and I'm actually enjoying it, so onwards and upwards I say.

On a beautiful day like today, I feel I should spend as much time as possible outside. Only, I have to make a Christmas pudding at some point and think that should be today so I have time to 'feed' it loads of booze before we eat it. A nice dilemma to have and I'm in no rush to choose which to do. I'm cutting myself some slack, which is something I have decided I need to do more.

Stats as follows:

Updated Training Plan

Session Stats

Total Distance

Total Time

There's lovely. Seriously

Week 7 Session 2 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

What an entirely gorgeous day!  Bright sunshine, clear blue skies and just enough of a nip in the air to prevent this morning's session becoming a sweat-soaked ming-fest.  This is a repeat of the session I did on Wednesday evening and it seems the advice about training in the morning being a better option could well be true.  I covered 0.2 miles more in the same time and my pace was over 30 seconds better per mile as a consequence.  This is much more like it!!!

I actually thoroughly enjoyed the run today.  Every time I go through this process (this will be my 4th marathon) I get days like this, where it's just a joy to be out there doing it.

The body monitor, by the way, has reached new levels of rudeness.  I am no longer being told I am obese.  Instead, I am now apparently 'overfat'.  That is not even a word!  I could therefore justifiably ignore it completely.  But at the moment I'm fuming in a low-grade way that I spent a lot of money on a gadget that actually invents words to insult me with.  To be honest though, mostly LMFAO.

It also seems to be quite erratic in its measurements.  I am using the supplied carpet feet, but may take this evening's readings on a hard floor and see what happens.  Various reviews on the internet have suggested this does deliver more consistent and accurate readings.

A day of winterising the garden ahead, but it should be no hard trial in this weather.  It really is quite fabulous. Geek links below for those who are following them:

Updated Training Plan

Session Stats

Total Distance

Total Time

Drizzly miserableness, but glad I did it

Week 7 Session 1 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

Feeling a bit 2-steps-forward-1-step-back about everything at the moment. Not least the running - pace is getting worse instead of better! The weather is definitely getting 'typical' for the time of year now after a rather exciting and unexpected week a couple of weeks back. During which, I have to admit, I barely even moved. We're definitely approaching that season where it's dark when I get up and dark again by the time I get home, which is always a bit of a test motivation-wise.

To try to boost this motivation thing, I spent a slightly stupid amount of money on a body health monitor thingy that talks to my Garmin pedometer and also sends data to a bit of software on the PC. This will be fun, I thought. I'll really be able to track the benefits I'm getting from all this ridiculous moving about. I took my first readings yesterday and they were duly uploaded to my Garmin Connect site. I'm sorry to say I find it all a bit rude for now. It takes measurements like body fat percentage which I can take or leave - although the 7.4% body fat of my early 20's is definitely a dim and distant thing and not likely to make a comeback - but also 'calculates' a 'metabolic age' and tells you whether you're in the healthy, overweight or obese range. I am absolutely not sharing this page!!! I will report improvements if, indeed, there are any.

2 more sessions needed this week, 1 the same as today's and a more challenging one. Both are likely to be at the weekend, as getting up for work is my current version of early-to-rise and I need to spend my evenings putting together an application for a promotion.

Meantime, here's the usual geekfest:

Updated Training Plan

Session Stats

Total Distance

Total Time

Back on track

Week 6 'Hard' by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

I had a fairly abstemious evening, for me for a Saturday, attending 'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead' at our local theatre. Directed by and unexpectedly starring my super-talented sister. I thoroughly enjoyed it and even managed, I think, to work out what the hell was going on by the end. My theatrical tastes are distinctly low-brow and so much of the dialogue had nothing to do with driving the story that I was deeply perplexed for a lot of it. Bugger only knows how they learned the longer speeches, of which there were many, with absolutely no plot-link to contextualise or otherwise assist. They did, though, and the performances were all great.

So a sober if a late night. I slept in this morning and having taken 20 minutes just to find a parking space when I left the shopping till later yesterday, I went shopping first and then did today's run. I do prefer to run first thing, if only because there are fewer people around to witness it. In particular running through the park on a Sunday exposes me to multiple football matches and their associated crowds, with massive potential embarrassment fo all concerned.

As I always do, I survived the run and the shame. And the stats are showing that I've nearly covered a marathon distance so far during training - 25.8 miles, in about 4 hours 20 in total. The general trend is also for my pace to improve. And I can have the volume on the music lower than I used to, as my breathing is distinctly less wheezy than before.

Half way through the play last night I felt I might have had what Allen Carr refers to as the 'revelation moment'. I have been feeling like a smoker not currently smoking - a mild but constant feeling akin to panic, and really craving cigarettes. I now ALMOST BUT NOT QUITE feel like a non-smoker, sure I will never smoke again. I really hope this lasts after I return to work tomorrow!

Updated Training Plan

Session Details

Total Distance

Total Time

More fighting with technology

Week 6 Easy by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

I've not been at all well this week and am still on horse-sized antibiotics, but was feeling restless and jumpy this morning, usually a sign that I'm over the worst of an illness, so I went out for a run. I am getting to grips with the capabilities of my Garmin device and the rather fun Garmin Connect website, including creating the workouts online and sending them to the GPS pedometer. I haven't quite got it right yet, though - as evidenced by my jogging for 9 minutes this morning waiting for the damned thing to tell me I'd completed the first rep only to find I'd managed somehow to insert a 'free run' first step to the programme which shouldn't have been there.

So in fact I did about 35 minutes this morning, but am only counting the 27 that were actually planned. I managed to get this sorted out on the move by editing the workout. I spend as much time on the tech as I do on the running! :-)

I'm not 100% fit and healthy, but I definitely could tell the difference from not smoking on this session. Hopefully, this will get better and better as time passes!

I needed to order another pair of trainers this week, having noticed a part of the sole had fallen off. When ordering, I realised that the trainers I am using this year are actually designed for women. Potentially embarrassing, but they are very comfortable and a better fit than the men's ones I used last time, so I don't really care. They're also a very pretty colour. So there.

I also got confirmation this week that Diabetes UK have confirmed places for the Brighton Marathon next year and I have booked one! So I have reworked the plan with an April 15 target date. I have also set up a JustGiving page - I need to raise £300 so please help if you can! Click on the widget at the top right of the blog to make your donation!

Updated Training Plan

Session Stats

Total Time

Total Distance

Lee Colgate is fundraising for Diabetes UK

Lee Colgate is fundraising for Diabetes UK

JustGiving page created. Confirmed place for 2012 Brighton Marathon via Diabetes UK, bless their hearts. Still too poorly to actually train at the moment (have been off work all week with swollen glands and soreness of face) so spending bed-time doing admin! This will come as no surprise to anyone who knows me. :-)

Am going to be promoting the JustGiving page endlessly today, so apologies to all my Facebook and twitter contacts in advance for SPAM.

Hangover beats The Cure

Week 5 Session 2 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

Updated Training Plan

Session Stats

Total Distance

Total Time

Fuelled by an excess of vodka I did the run before anything else this morning. Probably this means it wasn't as hot as it was when I went out yesterday. But offset this against the hangover and the extra 0.2 miles I achieved today, compared to yesterday, on exactly the same course possibly backs up the whole 'if you have to listen to music while you run, make sure it's the right music' thing.

To get properly back on track v the plan I would need to run again tomorrow and I'm sorry, but 3 days in a row is my limit for now so I will be fiddling with dates for a while yet. Also made an enquiry to Diabetes UK about their guaranteed places for the Brighton Marathon next year having not got into London. That will change the target date and mean I need to fully reschedule if it comes off, so I'm not going through that process today.

Need to get back out in the scorchio now and mow the lawn and do some weeding. Will reward myself with a cold glass of something yummy when I'm done.

Feeling hot, hot, hot

Week 5 Session 1 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to map and stats

Updated Training Plan

Session Stats

Total Distance

Total Time

Walk 1 minute, run 4 minutes times 6 - 30 minutes in total. The first session of this length and it nearly killed me. Absolutely scorchio out there, too.

Downloaded 'Mixed Up' by The Cure this morning. I used to have it and have no idea where it's gone. I used it as my training music today. I remember it being really quite dancey and, compared to the original versions, the tracks are definitely groovier. However, they are still fundamentally by The Cure and, in BPM terms, therefore categorisable as 'coma'. Not hugely compatible with impressive pace. But then, neither is being old, fat and lazy so I can't blame them entirely for my laughable performance! I have to do an identical session tomorrow and will revert to club classics and see if that makes a difference.

Distance, time and calories are all starting to build up quite satisfactorily already and I'm loving all the bells and whistles on the Garmin Connect site. In particular the 'player' that retraces your route and shows your speed and up/downhillness at every stage of the run. Not in real time, obviously, that would be ridiculous!

First technology fail

Week 4 final session by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to INACCURATE map, stats

Updated plan

Session Stats

Total Distance

Total Time

Did this session yesterday morning before work. There is a bit of Portslade Old Village, near the church and the village green, that seems to be satellite-averse. My old pedometer always used to ask me if I was indoors (answer, obviously, 'I wish' - this is not an option and I might be prepared to pay for a firmware upgrade that had a sense of humour built in - any developers out there want to partner up?) when I got there and so did this new one. I didn't notice at the time, so although this was an out-and-back run as opposed to a circuit, and I finished where I started, it recorded only about 0.3 miles on the way out and 0.9 on the way back. I have manually edited the overall total, but can't seem to edit the 'splits'. Heigh ho.

Jog 10 minutes, mince/recover 2 minutes, jog 10 minutes. The 10 minute thing did not feel particularly realistic when I set off, but it actually wasn't too bad at all. My pace wasn't particularly impressive, but at least I managed.

Got the bad news that I have not got a London Marathon place for next year. This has removed some of the sense of urgency I had. Despite the lack of frequency of my sessions recently, I did have a sense of urgency! I simply can't afford to pledge the minimum amounts charities are asking for, for their guaranteed places. When I did my first one, I was the only person at work doing it and had a monopoly on the fundraising thing. Now, though, everyone's at it and I ain't winning any popularity contests. So I am investigating Brighton instead to see if minimum requirements there are less frightening. Fingers crossed.

Will get out for Week 5 session 1 today and again tomorrow. Getting up early in the morning was actually not that difficult, so I hope to be back on schedule very soon v the plan.

Week 4 Session 2 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

Week 4 Session 2 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to course and stats

Updated training plan. Please feel free to download a copy and customise for yourself! This is taken from Sam Murphy's 'Marathon from start to finish', which I linked to in an earlier post. She has 6 full programmes based on how much time you can realistically devote to training and how hard you think you can push yourself. I think this is 'Ideal World', easier.  Stuff in green I am doing because I chose to.  Stuff in red is the actual programme to complete training for the London Marathon next year, i.e. 'must do'.

Charting in Google docs is utter rubbish.  Even when I did it properly, locally in Excel and uploaded, docs was unable to cope.  So I'll be uploading charts as follows after each run.

Session by Session - showing time spent, distance covered and pace (mins per mile).

Total Distance - I am intrigued to know how far I go in preparation for and on the big day, overall

Total Time - ditto how much of my life disappears while I'm doing it

Enough geekery.  I did the same session today as last time, but over a different course.  Although I always start outside my house and finish almost back here, meaning overall the elevation gain/loss is effectively 0, I seemed to spend more time running uphill this time.  This appears to be reflected in the distance I covered and the average pace.

Two things I really hate when running - hills and headwinds.  Both pretty much unavoidable when you live on the downs within spitting distance of the ocean.  Hills really make my bosoms, which I'm depressed to have to admit to having these days, hurt.  And headwinds are just unfair.  I barely move at the best of times, but into a headwind you need stop-motion cameras and 3 days to see any progress at all.  This also applies when I'm cycling.  Given that after my next marathon I want to try a triathlon, this is not all that encouraging!  I think it's the Hever Castle triathlon today and I really think I will be giving that a go next year.

Provided I can do another run tomorrow, I'm back on track for sticking to my plan!  I wasn't actually planning on running today, I was supposed to be enjoying my 40th birthday present - a blast round a track in a Lamborghini Murcielago.  But a case of identity theft saw the session rebooked for a different date, at a venue I have no hope of getting to, by someone apparently called Lee Colegate from Peterborough.  Sorted out now, but very annoying and stressful and not really how I wanted to spend my day off yesterday.  I booked this long weekend to really get the most out of the drive and have some proper fun and it's all gone wrong.

Hey ho, I can watch the Grand Prix instead and I still have Monday to waste in front of the Wii.

Week 4 Session 1 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

Week 4 Session 1 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details - link to course details, splits, etc.

So, yes, I missed an entire week out. But I looked at the planned session in the training plan for today. I hate Google docs for spreadsheets, by the way, but you can't preview it online which I imagine you might want to if you bother following the link unless I upload it in that format. Will see if I can work out how charting works properly - I'd like to track my pace over time as well as my distance, although I imagine I may need to add sheets and collate data apart from the main plan to get anything remotely useful.

Anyway, today's run - 1 minute walk, 4 minutes run, 5 times. 25 minutes total. How hard can it be, right? The answer in fact is very, very. I hit a hilly circuit I don't normally brave until much later when the plan actually requires me to do hill running, which might not have been the wisest idea. But I've just visited a periodontist who's advised me I need 7 teeth removed, possibly 4 more, which I will have to get done by an NHS dentist (I'm not currently registered with one) for whatever it is they charge these days and spend about £600 having deep cleans done, potentially having to have more teeth removed if this doesn't kill off the infection. All caused by smoking - FAMILY PLEASE TAKE NOTE, ESPECIALLY THE SMOKERS AMONG YOU, MAY BE WORTH GETTING YOURSELVES CHECKED OUT - which puts more pressure on the whole quitting thing and makes it harder. And I was charged £150 for the news. I have to say, actually, she was a lovely woman and I'd recommend her unhesitatingly.

Anyway, got home a little freaked out and also in a certain amount of pain from all the prodding. Prodding which elicited her saying high numbers (bad) and also using the word 'pus' more frequently than I consider either polite or necessary.

I need to do everything I can to stimulate my circulation to prevent further deterioration - the damage already done is irreversible - so off I went on the hard (for me) run, on the hard (for me) course. It nearly killed me. While my overall pace for the session was improved versus previous runs, this is mainly due to the fact that I spent more of the session 'running' than on those earlier ones. My actual running pace was slower. You can see this if you follow the link right at the start of the post, if you care enough. Probably not helped by a fairly smoke-filled weekend and couple of days in the office, which I'm finding a slightly unpleasant place to be right now. Possibly shouldn't say that in the public domain, but hey ho.

And either 4 minutes is longer than I remember (not ruling out early onset wossname here) or I cover more ground in 4 minutes than I remember (ditto, and also clearly not the case).

I have to do this run once more this week, before again increasing the proportion of running in the week's 'hard' run.

Fingers crossed things improve.

Must re-read the important bits of Allen Carr's Easy Way To Stop Smoking again this evening. It really did stick there, for a few weeks, but now it needs to be permanent. If I wasn't going to be spending so much on my damned gob in the next few months, I would look up a hypnotherapist, but for now, it's all down to me! So that should go well.

So, here's the plan!

http://bit.ly/marathon-training-plan

Buggered if I know whether the link will work, but anyone who cares please let me know if you cannot see the thing.  Good news is, there's plenty of breathing room before I actually have to be training in earnest.  I've bunged in the rest of the getting-to-30-minutes sessions starting next week and then there are about 10 weeks before the programme kicks off properly.  So I've reproduced the first 10 weeks of the programme.

Stuff in green is really kind of optional, stuff in red means it needs to be taken seriously and is part of the schedule leading up to 22 April - the date of the London marathon 2012.  I have taken the programme from Sam Murphy's excellent 'Marathon from start to finish'.  I notice in Amazon she's released an update in 2009 which now also covers half marathons as separate discipline.  AND she's done one on Triathlons, too, which is where I think I'm going next.  The old knees won't take many more miles and there are some nice local triathlons, by all accounts.

I can say with some confidence that I won't do a lot of what's in this plan.  But I will be conscientious about recording what I do and sharing in case anyone out there is in the same boat and needs to know they're not suffering alone.  I'll try to keep it upbeat and amusing - you can read old entries to see if you think I've been successful on that in the past!

Week 2 final session by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

Week 2 final session by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

In case it wasn't clear, by the way, these links at the top of the post (not the post title, just below that) take you through to maps showing exactly where I went on each run.  All very 'big brother' but geeky and fun at the same time.  When I start to whine about hills (and I will, trust me), you will be able to check whether they are in fact mountains or molehills.  And so on.

So I went out first thing this morning, expecting the weather to be getting progressively worse during the day and meaning I'd be less likely to bother, the longer I left it. Wrong! Was blowy as hell when I was out and now it's bright sunshine!

Whatever, this is the first time in many months that I've actually done 2 runs on consecutive days and I am feeling capable of cracking on with the full training programme. I'm choosing to assume I will get place in the London marathon next year via the ballot. There's no way I can commit to raising the kinds of minimum amount a lot of charities need to give you one of their guaranteed places and last time I took one and fell short it cost me a fortune.

If I don't I believe paying will guarantee me a place in Brighton's marathon, which is the week before. So there won't need to be too much fiddling with the training plan. I'm going to edit 2010's plan working back from next year's big day to see if I actually need to have started already on the main programme, or whether I can spend a bit more time on the preliminary build-up stuff, which is what I'm doing now. It's basically about getting to a level of fitness where I can confidently run for 30 minutes non-stop and I'm nowhere near there!

Week 2 Session 2 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

Week 2 Session 2 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

Horrendous weather they have threatened us with has yet to materialise, so I really had no excuse whatsoever not to drag myself round today. Pedometer appears not to have bothered recording the first 2 minutes' worth of walking, which is a bit of a bugger. I'm trying to see a progression here not just based on practice but also on a healthier lifestyle. I may have quit smoking to protect my teeth, but I am expecting to see other side benefits, dammit. A reduction in weeblishness being one of them.

If I can get out again tomorrow, I'll pretty much be back in shape to be doing a week's worth of sessions in a week, starting next week. You gotta have goals, right?

I also found my marathon training timetable from 2010, which I'm going to edit based on getting into the London marathon next year. Giving people visibility on what I should be doing wil allow them to shame me into doing it if they see me slacking. :-)

Week 2 Session 1 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

Week 2 Session 1 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

I know, I know. Week 2 is separated from week 1 by a matter of two whole months. Nevertheless, we're back in business and indeed this is the first of what I hope and intend will be many nicotine-free runs. But let's not get too carried away about that just yet.

Planning to go out again tomorrow.

I came across this, but it scares me

This promises to be quite an interesting little thingummy, but in all honesty I'm a bit scared to use it!  I haven't given up on the running, by the way.  But the weather's been foul and work has been hard.  I have a week off next week, so I will try to get into some sort of early morning routine while I have the afternoons to recover.  If you do have a play with this, let me know how it turns out.  I don't think it classifies you as a sad old lush or anything, but I want someone else to take the plunge before I do!

Life Insurance, car insurance & credit cards from Sainsbury's Finance

Vegetative Fossil Session 3 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

Told you I'd done it. Uninstall, reinstall, problem (for now) solved.

Vegetative Fossil Session 3 by leecolgate at Garmin Connect - Details

Total technology fail

Did session 3 this evening. Honest. Same as the last 2, but an additional rep for a total of 25 minutes. (15 walking, 10 running.) I covered 2.22 miles. But the GPS cleverness that has excited me failed utterly, also wiping the session from my device's memory. So, for now, if you're even remotely considering getting a Garmin Forerunner 310XT, excited as I was by the seemless interactivity and online history tracking and sharing, DO NOT BOTHER. I may change my mind if their customer service is any better than their product. If it turns out to be a Windows 7 thing I'll be really annoyed. Surely every piece of software should now support this.  Anyway. Bated breath. Garmin, pull your fingers out!

Seriously considering kicking the booze!

It has been, and you may get bored of my saying this before I get to a stage I feel I can stop, a week from hell at work this week.  I cycled to work on Tuesday, but have not yet felt up to cycling home again and, given the performance that is the putting on of running gear, not bothered either before or after work.

Got steaming drunk on very little (for me) alcohol last night and had a bit of a head when I woke up today. But the weather is on the stunning side of gorgeous and exercise is actually supposed to be a good way of getting rid of the morning after feeling.  So I stiffened the old sinews and headed out to do the second 'absolute beginners' session.  Note the change in language?  I have decided I have to stop putting myself down all the time.  There are plenty of other people to do that!  And I do indeed now feel MUCH better.

Took a different route this time, and managed to cover more distance.  Not sure if that's all down to the route or not.  Am choosing to take it as a signal of improving fitness, however unlikely that might be at this early stage.  New pedometer is proving to be a lot of fun, uploading maps and everything.  This session's map is here: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/96198947.  Still working out how to share these maps properly, so they may appear as posts individually for a while until I work it out.

Am looking forward a few months down the line to seeing how much distance I actually cover.  I've tried manually totting it all up in the past, but 21st century tech should do it all for me!  I plan to do a training programme based on the hopeful assumption of getting a place in the 2012 London Marathon.  I'm in no hurry though as I realistically don't need to start proper training until September and given the amount of time I spend staring at spreadsheets at work all week, creating one for any reason in my spare time is not top of the list!

Off to Cambridge this afternoon for fun and frolicks with one of my oldest and bestest friends from Uni days.  Time to freshen up.  Could take a while!

1st step taken

Woke up this morning and it was all a bit gorillas-in-the-mist.  Bit the bullet and went out for the first session from the running-for-corpses bit of the book anyway.  Actually, ooing and aahing at the new trainers and the new t-shirt and getting various bits and bobs shrouded in lycra without their going all internal (yes, I ALWAYS wear something else on the top, I'm considerate that way) took significantly longer than the run itself.  Plus, having done the warm up exercises I had to stop for a cigarette before I went anywhere.

Anyway, 3minutes walking, 2 minutes running, 4 times, for a total of 20 minutes actually didn't kill me.  Pruning, propping, staking, weeding and trimming this afternoon (having spent a couple of hours in my customary prone position (photo not of me, of my cat, but gives you the picture without the nausea of the real thing!) watching the Grand Prix - great race for the minor positions, but a bot of a Vettel-not-really-in-the-same-race-as-everyone-else yawnfest up the front) in the garden in the FINALLY HERE scorching sunshine has nearly finished me off, though.

In what might turn out to be an excess of enthusiasm, I have also bought cycling shorts in the expectation of cycling to work.  That's not a topic for this blog, though, so will only share if anything remotely interesting happens.  Which it might.  Some of the regular cyclists on my commute are worse than the worst roadrage chavs if you take your time.

If anyone else out there is starting a fitness programme from scratch and happens to come across this, feel free to comment and let me know where you're reporting your progress!  I'll follow and we can set up our own mutual appreciation/support circle.

Sunday dinner and a drink now.  We've decided organising furniture on the decking is beyond our caring capabilities for this weekend.

Byee.

Time to try again

So, reverted to vegetable status following the Brighton marathon in 2010.  I have put my name down again for London next year - got to do the London marathon in London Olympics year, right?  Having spent a fortune on new kit (always the best bit!) I am now waiting for the promised weekend sunshine to show up.  I'm NOT doing my first run in the rain, it will put me off doing another one and my willpower is, obviously, fairly minimal.

I will be starting from scratch again, using the rather marvellous 'Marathon from start to finish'.  This will include the core strength exercises, which I neglected in my training for Brighton.  This, by the way, was blogged on The Argus website here, and I think I managed to get most of those posts onto here.  Anyway, I will be starting with the build up programme which involves a bunch of run-walks getting me to being able to run for 30 minutes non-stop.  My new GPS pedometer (which is a multi-sport jobbie, I'm thinking of switching to triathlons in future to reduce the load on the old - 40 bloody years old - knees) has wireless auto connecty thing to the Garmin website where I'll be tracking my progress.  If I can share that with you for extra laughs, I will.

Only thing holding me back now is the weather.  COME ON SUNSHINE!