A Christmas Run and not much else

So my training hasn't quite been going according to plan then. Mind you, when has it ever? But i'm still feeling confident about the whole London Marathon thing. I've had quite a few coughs and colds recently and used them as a bit of an excuse not to run to be honest, although i'm paranoid that if I do train while ill that i'll just have the cold for longer.

I still managed to go out for a run though, in aid of the Farleigh Hospice and dressed as Santa. It was quite a surreal morning really. All around there were people dressed up as Father Christmas and wherever you looked you could see still more arriving from all corners of Central Park in Chelmsford.

Having not run in a couple of weeks I was slightly nervous but the fact that it was freezing just made me more determined to finish in a quick time. Having arrived early I also managed to get to the front of the running line and as soon as the race started I kept up with the front runners for all of about twenty seconds. After that I just couldn't keep up with the 10mph pace that they had all set off at. Seeing that the course was only 2.3 miles I did manage to keep going all the way through the course, ended with a time of 23 minutes and then headed straight out to meet Siân and Rosy in order to watch Arthur Christmas.

All in all a good day, tomorrow morning I should really weigh myself and then get back into some sort of training regime again.

The Start of a Long Run

Here we are, mid November, i've completed the London to Paris bike ride, i've completed my first triathlon and now I have a Marathon to train for. The other two events were easy in comparison to this new event I have infront of me. 26.2 miles is a long way and having completed the distance twice in the past I know how hard it is going to be. The difference now though is that I am over 10 years older than when I last completed the distance so now it is going to be even harder. Foolishly, because I was lazy, I didn't really train when I completed them before and then I was able to finish in just over 5 hours. Now I have a target, my aim is to complete the course in about 4 hours, 4 and a half hours max. But how am I going to do it? I know i'm meant to do it by lots of training, but i'm not quite sure how i'm going to get the motivation to do it. Here's hoping.

No Blog = No Jog!

Well, after that last blog, detailing just what I was going to do the following week, I actually did a big fat zero. And the reason........ just plain lazy I guess. That, or I had just been doing too much previously and needed a nice lie in each day.

So here I am, 10pm on a Sunday night sitting in the lounge typing away having just completed an hour run on the treadmill in the garage. I am feeling better for it but why does my left knee always hurt towards the hour mark? I remember this happening back in the day when I was training for a marathon, so it's not a new thing, just a big pain thing. Just wish I knew some way to make it stop. 

Talking of the days gone by and marathon training, i'm definately feeling that results of these last 12 years. If  I had only kept up the training after those marathons then this would have been much easier. If I had kept up the training after those marathons then i'm pretty sure I would have a lot more marathons under my belt and this would be far easier. But then again, if I had kept up the training after those marathons then maybe my knee would be completely worn out and i'd be using a cane. I still find it hard to believe I ran those marathons and the last one with no training. My, how things have changed.

Anyway, only 30 days to go now till the 13 miler and at the moment the most I have run recently is 6 miles on a treadmill! If I can do that again on Tuesday and Thursday then I really hope that next Sunday I can do 90 minutes. At least that'll be the next step on my little quest.

A Little Older, A Little Wiser - Maybe!

Having just climbed off the exercise bike I mention before, for the third time this week, I am feeling strangely positive and am still not too sure why. Maybe it's because I managed to go on for longer today, maybe it's because I also went for a run outside in the week and completed 2.5miles fairly easily or maybe it's because I also had Friday off work and went to an ICT exhibition in London, met up with some friends, had a few beers, a pizza and a delicious foot long Italian BMT! Whatever the reason, I am thankful because, at just just 46 days away, the Silverstone Half Marathon is coming up and then I have the London to Paris Bike ride at the end of July.

I only managed two early morning sessions on the exercise bike this week, Monday and Wednesday, simply because on all the other days I couldn't face getting up! I almost didn't do it today but had to get up anyway to go to the toilet and somehow my mindset changed. I need to find a way to change this mindset and that goes back to last weeks thoughts, of having proper rest days, and mixing up the running/cycling.

So, new regime for next week.....

Monday        - 0530 Cycling   - 30 mins

Tuesday       - 1900 Running  - 30 mins

Wednesday - 1900 Running  - 30 mins

Thursday      - Rest

Friday           - 0530 Cycling   - 30 mins

Saturday       - 0530 Cycling

Sunday         - 1900 Running  - 30 mins

My thinking is that I really need to start pounding those roads and get used to running again yet I also need to break up the running with some cycling and I need to be able to spend some time with the family without falling alseep. I'll just start off small with 30 minutes each and then increase them from there, hope it goes well.

On a slightly different note, this last week it looks like i've lost 3 pounds. For some time i've been keeping a record via the Wii Fit, but this concentration on exercise never usually lasts that long, normally only about 3 weeks, max. Interestingly the pattern is always the same, I start exercising at the beginning of the school year in September so the weight drops. I'll then stop, so the weight goes back up, and start again around January time so the weight drops to roughly the level in September. I'll then stop exercising again until the following September where the cycle begins all over again. This year though it has to be different, mainly because of this Half Marathon and Paris bike ride thing, but also because this has got to be the year of the Dragon and not of the belly.

Fingers crossed for this week now. 

First week, first hurdle.

Here we are, one week later and just a little the wiser.

A great week at school, I managed to start off my training, albeit very slowly, and i've also started clearing the garage so I can get serious. Before that gets sorted though, i'm stuck on either going out for a run or going on the Wii Active. I opted for the latter and managed four, thirty minute sessions on consecutive days before eventually getting too tired/bored to carry it out the next morning. Because of this, it meant that Thursday evening involved a slight 'pig out' session that resulted in me feeling quite sick on going to bed.

So what have I learnt? I've learnt that i've got to spread out the training with rest days and get up at reasonable times, on occasion, in order to ensure I don't lose interest. I've also learnt that when I feel like a slight 'pig out' session, I need to have something to hand that will take my mind of it and at the moment I believe a short thirty minute exercise session will do the trick. I had thought that an exercise bike would do the trick, a nice silent one that would enable me to watch TV as well as stay in the comfort of my own home. This would also get me in training for my London:Paris bike ride, at the end of July. But on speaking with Jona, the deputy head at my school, I now understand that this artificial biking experience may get me fitter, but it will not get me used to actually riding my bike as it is both a different riding position and feel. Instead, I need a 'Turbo Trainer', an ingenious devise that the rear wheel of the bike sits on and then essentially does the same job.

There are now some tasks that I must complete in order to stay on track. A friend, Rich, has donated an exercise bike to my cause, which is unfortunately too noisy to use whilst watching tv. 
1) I need to use this in the mornings mixed in with Wii Active to keep my activities fresh and different,


2) I need to clear out the rest of the garage to make room for this and to set up some resistance training bands,


3) I need to include proper rest days into my schedule, and


4) I need to get a proper bike and a Turbo Trainer system.


I believe this next week will get better, at least I hope it will. It's now 8:45am on Sunday and I can hear Rosy, my daughter, begin to stir. Time to be a Doting Daddy.
 

Year of the Dragon/Belly - Life is just Life

So here we go, another year, another new start and another desire to be better than I am. 

Kurt Hahn said that we are all better than we know, and if we can only be brought to realise this then we will never settle for anything less. What can I say about that.....I know that I can get addicted to things easily, I know I want to compete again and I know that I am better than I am at the moment.

So this is the thing, I was lying on the sofa with Rosy, my daughter, watching Wall-E when I realised ...... in the whole scheme of things, I have a great life. I'm married to a woman I love very much, we both have good jobs, I enjoy my job very much, we have a fantastic daughter, supportive family and we live in a nice area. Yes we have had troubles and yes there have been, and probably will be more times where we will feel that we are stuck in a dark tunnel with no way to get out. But i'm determined to be better than I am.

This journey to realisation, that I am currently on, actually started some time ago and, for the moment at least, is focused on fitness. Yes I know it is very cliche, being the beginning of a New Year and all that, but what else was I going to do on this day of partial realisation...... leave it a couple of months? Anyway, as I mentioned before, it actually started some time ago. Mark, a colleague from work, and I signed up to the Silverstone Half Marathon at the same time of signing up to the London Marathon. We did this because we both wanted to be better than we are and knew that with a deadline it would help us to do this. Neither of us got through the ballot to the London Marathon but Mark has been training and is well ahead of me. This is now going to end.

Being born in October of 1976 I am officially a Dragon. People born in the Year of the Dragon are healthy, energetic, excitable, short-tempered, and stubborn. They are also honest, sensitive, brave, and they inspire confidence and trust. So it's time to live up to the hype and let this be the year of the Dragon and not the year of my belly.


I'm going to write up a training schedule, keep to it, grow some will power and stop eating crap.

I'm going to stop dividing life into good/bad, right/wrong and sick/healthy. After all, LIFE IS JUST LIFE, with seasons and cycles, like change in the weather. It's time to be better!