Tuesday 11 August 2009

Proper Day 1 now. The actual exercise one.

D-day. The beginning (of the end?). The countdown to the 2009 goal has begun. Here we go with The Plan.

Oh Bloody typical!! HMC goes for a training run and the bloody sun's out which just makes it harder. Hey ho, can't blame the weather come race day so off I trundled to the park for some interval sessions.

It's week one. The Plan will bring me in gently so this should be a walk (or run) in the park. Was it? Christ no. This has continued from what has to be my second worst* ever run that happened on Saturday morning when I didn't even get to my turning point before stopping and run/walking back. Wow, that must have been a tough run you set yourself I here you cry. Was it? Was it fcuk! I didn't even make it to the 2 mile mark before I turned round! Rubbish. Anyway, back to today and the intervals.

The Plan reads that I have to run 1200m (at my target HM pace) so 6 minutes then, walk 400m to rest, then run 2 lots of 800m at a 10k pace (which is 3.48 for me on The Plan) with a 200m rest and then 4 x 200m sprints (with 200m rests in between) just as fast as I can without collapsing on the floor in a puddle of my own sweat and vomit. The results:

1200m. Target time: 6:00. Actual time: 5:42
800m. Target time: 3:48. Actual time: 3:42

800m. Target time: 3:48. Actual time: 3:39
200m. Target: as fast as possible. Actual Time: 36 secs
200m. Target: without vomiting. Actual Time: 35 secs
200m. Target: stay on my feet a little longer. Actual Time: 35 secs
200m. Target: stay alive. Actual Time: 35 secs

I'm not unhappy with that. Timing wise it was OK but I'm sure it shouldn't hurt that much!

I was in new trainers though. My trusted New Balance 1063 (UK 9, Width 2E in case anyone has some they want to send me some in exchange for a shameless plug) turned up which is nice. One thing I've noticed is not a massive difference between old and new though so I can this with confidence. If you're a 14 stone bald bloke with a heavy tread, an extremely high arch and around a 9min mile HM pace then these could be for you. They seem to last quite a while anyway.

'The new dirt and white colour scheme'

Something else I noticed today is the e-mail from the team at the Royal Parks Half. I'm guessing it's fake and a bit of spam though because surely no one in their right mind would think that 'violet and raspberry' are particularly good colours for a fat bloke to be seen in!! Although the clincher for me is the design on the back. They say 'an uplifting message for all those people behind you!'. I think 'will make you an instant hate figure for all those people behind you!' is slightly closer to the truth.

'The picture from the spam e-mail'

*My worst run was just before I started this blog while running home from work at a time my training was going very well indeed. On a 3 mile run, I wanted to stop after a mile. Did stop before a mile and a half and was on a bus before the 2 mile marker. Truly pathetic!!

5 comments:

  1. Well done on day 1! Your split times look very consistent, so you should be pleased with yourself.

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  2. Oh no, is that really the t-shirt we're getting?! I hate v-necks. And I won't be wearing anything saying I heart 2 run on the back of it. I wonder if they'll actually send me a girl's one this year instead of the man's tent they sent me last year.

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  3. Thanks. Consistent yes but it still hurt.

    As for the T-shirts, last years were awful too. The one I got had such a massive neck I reckon I could have stepped through it and put it on that way. However, at least it wasn't violet and raspberry!

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  4. That shirt is NOT good, not good at all! Please tell me it the girls shirt and the guys get something different?

    A 'stone story' - my mom was in UK with my dad on business and hooked up with a local gal and they just pal-ed around town. The woman said something about how many stones to you weigh? Not knowing the equivalent pounds, mom just said, I don't know, a few boulders or two and then just died of laughter...the other lady did too!

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  5. I looked in the brochure thing they sent and yes, they really are the t-shirts. And they actually paid designers who somehow managed to blag an MBE to design them. Last year's were ok and I still wear mine, even if it is the man's one.

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