The Plan. Exercise Day 2 (and a little milestone)

Another day, another interval session but one with a difference. This time, The Plan called for 2 miles at 8m/m pace, 800m walk and then another 2 miles at 8 m/m pace. This was followed by 4 x 100m sprints giving everything I had left. This turned out to be not a lot. After what can only be described as a truly awful week at work, I had a lot of anger to get rid of. Just a year ago, you would probably have found me in a pub drinking copious amounts of alcohol, drowning my sorrows and trying to forget that the day had happened. Now I'm running instead?!?! AND I haven't even hit my 30's yet! Mind you, I can't deal with hangovers any more either which may have something to do with it!

So, onto the results!

2 miles. Target time: 16:00. Actual time: 15:26. (7:43 m/m)
Hell yeah. That's what I'm talking about!!
2 miles. Target time: 16:00. Actual time: 16:04. (8:02 m/m)
Cock it. So close. Got too complacent after the first effort me thinks!
100m sprint. Target: all out sprint. Actual time: 14 secs
Happy boy. It can only get worse.. and it did!
100m sprint. Target: all out sprint. Actual time: 15 secs
Thought as much
100m sprint. Target: all out sprint. Actual time: 15 secs
More consistent than the 2 mile efforts though
100m sprint. Target: all out sprint. Actual time: 15 secs
Home time and oh crap, I know what's coming now!

Yep, it was time to see if there were any benefits to an ice bath. After speaking to the brother-in-law the other week and reading the thoughts of I run because I love food, it was time to try it. I only did limited stretching to see the effects and I must say, the hip/hamstring/back ache pain isn't as bad today so I think this is the way forward with a bit of light stretching especially for the Saturday then Sunday runs. Hopefully it will aid recovery.

One thing I must say though is that the standard tired muscle aches I'm getting at the moment are very similar to when I first started running. It seems they have to learn to run all over again now I'm trying to pick up the pace. I'm wondering if the way forward for any new starter is to run at a faster rate at first instead of just trying to get a longer distance. That way at least you're training your muscles to run faster from an early point?!?! Scientific proof?? Hell no, just my random mumblings as ever.

Enjoy your weekend, I have a 4m pace run on Saturday and an 8 mile relaxed run on Sunday. Oh yes, I'll need to fit packing a two bed flat into boxes somewhere along the line too.

Just realised this is my 50th post!!! Never thought it'd get this far so cheers for reading!

Ironman UK report. And no, it's not mine!!!

This is my mate's Race report for his awesome result in the Ironman UK. Check it out here.

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!!

Royal Parks Half. 9 Week plan. Day 1

Rest!!

Sometimes, things just work out better than you can imagine!

I've tried to make this post more interesting than it is

Hullo there. Sorry it's been a while. There is a valid reason though. I would have bored you all to death and then been charged with manslaughter. This would have been a little harsh considering a)you wouldn't have known about your imminent death before you started to read and b)being charged just for babbling the inane thoughts that come into my head on a weekly-ish basis would just be plain wrong!

See nothing much has happened on the exercise front recently. I mean I've been doing the whole running thing and stuff with a couple of interval sessions that hurt my hip for 2 days afterwards and a couple of 4-6 milers at a slower pace just to stretch my legs out but apart from that, nothing. No revelations, no interesting sights, no funny incidents. Just general running stuff and lets be honest, we all see that every time we go out.

My hip/back/hamstring is still causing me problems but seeing as I've tried stretching, resting, icing, and running slightly differently and absolutely none of it works, I've now decided that ibuprofen and caffeine are the way forward with maybe a little freezing gel once I've finished. HOWEVER... there's another issue. Do I put the gel on the bit the feels like it hurts or the bit that may be causing the bit that hurts to hurt and if it's the second one, which one do I pick before I end up plastering the stuff all over the left hand side of my body and going numb on one side?!?!?!

I've have found myself reading a triathlon magazine the other day though. I wouldn't say inspired but certainly interest has come from a few friends of mine. A couple of them doing really well in the Sprint triathlon in London and another very disturbed man who completed the UK Ironman on Sunday in 11h 30mins and finished joint 165th!! That's 140.6 miles in total!!! That's a 2.4mile swim, 112miles on the bike and then a full marathon! I'm never going to be that insane but the Sprint or Olympic distance next year??? it's definitely a possibility!

There are other reasons for the non blog too. Firstly the moving house is still ongoing and looks like it will be fine but honestly, is there anything more painful in life than dealing with an estate agent who appears to have got his organisation skills from a Christmas cracker? Also, the people who I was planning on buying my beautifully crafted bike from decided that, after I'd ordered my cycle-to-work scheme voucher would be the best time to change it to out of stock and very helpfully answer 'I'm not sure but probably not' when asked if it was coming back into stock. Insert mad panic trying to find the bike in stock somewhere else. Hopefully, it looks like I've found somewhere. A small independent shop rather than the big corporate green and yellow bike place that employs the drones like the first time so that's good.

Anyway, fingers crossed that come 3 weeks, myself and LG shall be in the new place, with the bike, chilling out and deciding what evening to risk our mental state and well being by heading to Ikea. Ikea... Oh crap.... I'm off to cry in a corner. Actually, maybe a run would help ease the anger build up of a trip there!!