Filed under: St Albans half marathon, half marathon training, running | Tags: half marathon training, running, St Albans half marathon
“I’d like to thank my sponsor, Imodium, for getting me to this point today,” said my uncle at my cousin’s wedding on Saturday as he opened his father-of-the-bride speech. I found out exactly how he felt when I crossed the line at the St Albans Half Marathon on Sunday morning.
It was always going to be a bit tough to run 13.1 miles the morning after a family wedding; the booze started flowing at 1pm at our house and promised to continue until the small hours. Being Captain Sensible for once, I stopped drinking after the meal, and probably saved myself the bother of applying for a second mortgage in the process. At over four quid a pint, and six for a gin and tonic, the drinks were extortionately priced. We were in Hatfield, for goodness sake. This didn’t stop my brother getting anihilated, though this was in part due to some surreptitious importing of alcohol into the hotel. All credit to Gemma, for matching him drink for drink, and not dropping her beer on the dancefloor/losing her keys several times.
I drank an awful lot of water between 7pm and 2am – and I’m sure the bearded group of psychologists at a convention in the neighbouring function room thought I had a urinary infection, as I had to walk past them on the way to the loos every time. I must have walked the equivalent of a half marathon back and forth to the facilities, which partly explains why my feet were absolutely killing me by the end of the night. I was also wearing stupidly high heels.
So I woke up on Sunday morning after just over five hours’ sleep – nicely rehydrated but with sore toes. I also had to make a dash for the bathroom – several times – shortly after waking up. Obviously something in the buffet had not agreed with me. Fortunately, M&D had quite a large stock of Imodium, and I popped one of those before walking down to Verulamium Park to start the race.
I’ve never done a half marathon in the summer. It’s rather lovely walking to the venue in your running kit, and not having to carry seven fleeces, a pair of tracksuit bottoms, hat, scarf and gloves around with you for when you finish. However, it turns out that running on the hottest day of the year so far was not so nice despite the lovely rural course which took us all around the east and south of St Albans, where I grew up.
We kept up a steady ten-minute mile pace for about eight miles – then it really started heating up in the lanes around Bedmond. It was also very very hilly – much more so than the Great North Run and Reading. Thankfully, the organisers had laid on loads of water stations which were well staffed. The marshalls were fabulously supportive – the St Albans Striders are heavily involved in organising the event and many of the marshalls are also runners, which makes a big difference. There was very little in the way of public support away from the town, so the marshalls did a fab job of spurring us all on.
Nonetheless, we seriously slowed down from the nine-mile mark. My running partner was having a bit of a shocker and I thought he might actually hit me when I tried to “motivate” him with some uplifting thoughts about what a lovely day it was, and what a lovely view of the Abbey we had, and how lovely the marshalls were. Luckily, he was too knackered to throw a punch.
We crossed the line in 2:17. Absolutely rubbish time, but a really nice run on the whole. So, I’d like to thank Imodium, my sponsor, for that…
Filed under: Commando Challenge, London-Brighton bike ride, St Albans half marathon, half marathon training, running | Tags: Commando Challenge, half marathon training, London-Brighton bike ride, St Albans half marathon
I’m feeling more confident about the London-Brighton bike ride in ten days’ time, having been out again last weekend for a reasonable 15-ish mile ride. OK, it’s nowhere near the distance but at least I don’t feel like I’m going to hit the deck again every time I turn the handlebars. I felt noticeably more relaxed and considerably happier about tackling the roads down to the coast.
I’ve done another six-mile run this week. I would have preferred to do a nine or ten-miler before the St Albans Half Marathon this weekend, but just haven’t been able to find the time. If I run it in two hours and ten minutes, I’ll be happy with that.
I was hoping to go for another half marathon in the autumn to try to break the elusive two-hour mark, but failed to get places in either the Great North Run or Run To The Beat. Instead, I’ve convinced a crowd from work to join me in Devon for the Commando Challenge. This isn’t just about running with no pants on. No, it involves seven miles of cross country running with various team-based challenges around a Royal Marines training course.
The website gves competitors the following handy hints, as if providing advice on the best way of doing one’s laundry:
“Remember to tie your laces tightly or you ARE going to lose your footwear.”
“It really is worth a visit to your local Army Surplus as old combats will not only protect you from cuts & scratches, but also protect your knees in the tunnels.”
“Remember – this is a military fitness test and you should train like the Marines do. During your training runs, drop and do press-ups, squats and crunches. This will prepare you for the frequent mid-race changes from running to crawling and back again.”
Gosh.
Filed under: St Albans half marathon, half marathon training, running, spinning | Tags: finch coasters woodland 5, half marathon training, running, spinning, St Albans half marathon
One of my colleagues from work put me onto the Finch Coasters Woodland 5 Series the other day, which takes place over three Wednesday evenings in May, June and July. I’m always slightly nervous about events with small fields, for fear of coming last, but I need to rack up a few miles so I agreed to the challenge.
Typically I was late leaving the office, and didn’t really know where I was going. After several phone calls to E, I eventually found the carpark (why didn’t the organisers say it was practically on top of the hospital?), had to sprint across the carpark to pick up my number, then jog to the start – didn’t even have time to grab a watch, Sportband or iPod. And I needed the loo. Not a great start.
All of the other people looked very fit. And, as the horn sounded, they all shot off at quite a pace. Including my colleague. So much for finding a regular weekday running partner. I plodded along at the back, thinking I could have been pouring myself a nice glass of wine at home by now. Then I looked around me and thought, come to think of it, this is really nice. The Crowthorne Woods are beautiful and the terrain was made up of nice, soft pine needles. The weather was just about perfect: warm but damp.
We jogged down a long straight stretch that went gently downhill and up again, then veered off into the woodland. It got a bit sticky there, with dense mud and big puddles. After trying to dodge the wettest bits (and nearly breaking my ankle in the process) I gave up and just splashed through them. Over another track, round a big log and down a ditch into some more forest, we then came up to a whopping big hill, laced with tree roots. Not so long ago, I probably would have walked some of it- but I have made a recent discovery: hills are easier if you run them with your glutes instead of your quads. It’s taken me years of running – and quite a lot of spinning – to find that out. I overtook several stragglers on the hill and continued down into the next patch of woodland.
I must have lost my bearings then, but found myself on the long, straight stretch again. I could still see E a few runners ahead of me, which was encouraging. Into the sticky stuff again, I had to stop briefly to tie my laces, but carried on. As I rounded the corner into the wood, a blonde marshall told me there wasn’t much farther to go. Oooh, I thought – I really am getting fitter…well done me, I don’t feel like I’ve run anything like five miles…
I hadn’t. She was lying. As I found when I got to the bottom of the big shitting hill. Oh well, head down and up I went, overtaking a couple more runners. Round the loop we went again. A girl in front seemed a bit peeved about the distance. Her Garmin said we’d already done 4.8 miles and another marshall (who seemed to know what she was on about) said we had another mile to go. It took us through the muddy bit again – at which point I started to think I was going to need go to the jetwash to get all the mud off my legs. Each one of my feet felt as heavy as my head and there was no indication that my trainers and socks had ever been white.
I passed the blonde marshall and remarked that it felt like Groundhog Day. She laughed like a drain for some reason…maybe everyone else had been a bit abusive about her words of “encouragement” on the last loop. One more sweeping turn, and I reached the home straight, crossing the line a minute or two after E. I reckon the distance was more like six miles than five, and estimate that I ran it in a shade under an hour. Not bad considering I don’t really like exercising in the evening. I wasn’t quite the last to cross the line, so I’ll be back again for the other runs in the series. Next time I will remember to take another pair of shoes so I don’t have to drive home in bare feet; I wouldn’t recommend it.
So, having done that and a really lovely 8.5 mile run in Derbyshire featuring some squeaky baby goats, many sheep and a pheasant at the weekend with RedRocket, I reckon I can manage the St Albans Half Marathon in ten days’ time. That’s assuming I don’t get trollied at my cousin’s wedding the day before…
Filed under: St Albans half marathon, half marathon training, nike+ sportband | Tags: half marathon training, nike+ sportband, running
Thought I’d try calibrating the Nike+ Sportband. I went out on my bike round the block, and measured a distance of 1.57 miles. Back home, I dumped my bike, switched on the Sportband and jogged round the same circuit. The Sportband measured 1.78 miles in 14:07 mins. So it was a bit out, but not off the scale. One and a half miles in 14 minutes is about my normal jogging pace, I would say.
Having calibrated the Sportband on my PC, I set off to do the river run that I did on Monday. I didn’t feel too good last time – it was a bit of a slog from start to finish – but today I felt loads better, and discovered a surprising new “top running tune” on my Shuffle: Eminem’s Lose Yourself to which I bounced along quite happily. I’d taken the precaution of wearing sunnies, which I was glad about when several flies made a beeline for my eyeballs. I finished the run in 42:44 mins – knocking three minutes off Monday’s time. Hoorah.
My newly calibrated Sportband didn’t seem so happy, clocking my run at 2.84 miles. Now, I might be a bit of a plodder, but I could have bloody walked that distance in 42 minutes. So now I’m not so pleased with my new Nike purchase. Does anyone know the best way of calibrating these things with any degree of accuracy?
Filed under: London-Brighton bike ride, Pulse8, St Albans half marathon, X-bike, cycling, gym, half marathon training, nike+ sportband, running, spinning | Tags: cycling, half marathon training, London-Brighton bike ride, nike+s sportband, running, spinning
It’s been a week since my last blog. Contrary to probable assumptions, I have done some exercise; just been too busy at work to write about it.
After my spinning class last Saturday, I headed out with some friends to the Reading Beer Festival. Only we didn’t quite make it, due to excessive queues, so ended up in a very pleasant beer garden drinking shandies in the sunshine instead. I ended up at E&D’s, who introduced me to Wii Fit. For the uninitiated (moi included) it’s a modern and rather more sophisticated take on the 80s aerobics video, to encourage people do a workout in their own home. You have to do various exercises on the Balance Board, which also measures your weight, BMI and…weirdly…your age. Aside from the fact that my BMI was right at the top end of normal, veering dangerously towards overweight, it established my age at 45. I was less than impressed, given that I am really only just about nudging 31. I was even less amused when it classified me as “unbalanced” – not just once – but three times after slalom skiing, ski jumping and hulahooping. Now, I had had a few of the aforementioned shandies and a couple of Long Island Iced Teas, but that is seriously unstable. Maybe that’s why I keep falling over/off things.
By Sunday – with six weeks to go until the London-Brighton – I could put off a bike ride no longer. For the first time since my little tumble, I strapped on my helmet, gingerly put my feet into the toe clips and ambled off down the cul-de-sac where I live. It was hardly rush hour; in fact, there were no cars whatsoever. Which was nice. This hurdle overcome, I took a deep breath and left the cul-de-sac to cycle off around the village, complete with speed humps, corners and an A-road full of cars. I didn’t fall off. Ha! Up yours, Wii Fit.
Tested the Nike+ Sportband on Monday. In the absence of Nike trainers with a hole in the sole, I used the cling-film-and-sellotape trick. Note to self: must get one of those little pouches, otherwise I’m absolutely bound to lose it. Anyway…the device measured my little jog along the river to Dinton Pastures and back at 4.90 miles, in 45:47 mins, during which time I burned 506 calories. I think that’s overstating it a bit to be honest, so I need to calibrate it. I assume these things are set to some kind of average stride length and – as I have little legs – it’s going to think I’ve gone further than I actually have. Anyway, I like it: it’ll give me some kind of idea of the mileage I’m doing during training without forking out for a Garmin, the calorie counter is a nice touch, and I could set myself a few targets online – though after the Wii Fit experience, I’m not sure I enjoy being berated by a computer.
Didn’t make it back to the gym until Friday morning, when I did another spinning class on the X-bikes. I’m getting to grips with the rock-and-roll handlebars, and can pump along in time with the best of them when I’m standing up. Co-ordinating my arms while sitting down is harder. Maybe that’s why I was never any good at the piano at school either.
Filed under: St Albans half marathon, X-bike, gym, half marathon training, nike+ sportband, running, spinning, x-dream | Tags: half marathon training, nike+ sportband, St Albans half marathon, X-bike, x-dream
It’s 18:10 and I’m drinking my first cup of tea of the day. Anyone that knows me will find this rather surprising, but it’s been a busy one.
Got up at 6am to go to the gym, and ran 5km in just over 30mins on the treadmill’s “sport training” mode, which included some nasty inclines (I hate hills, but know I ought to do more of before the St Albans half marathon). I also had a go on one of the X-dream bikes, manufactured by the same firm as the X-bikes (which are going in today for the spinning class tomorrow). The X-dream looks like a sportier version of a normal exercise bike, with trail bike handlebars which tilt from side-to-side and gears operated by buttons on the handlebars. Mounted on the front is a Dell screen, which shows “you” on a computer-simulated trail. You ride around the trail, overtaking (or being overtaken) by other riders. Your lap is timed along with your speed, cadence, calorie count, and a multitude of other stats and graphs. My only complaint is that my character was obviously male with fat legs. I shall investigate whether you can create and save your own little character, like you can on the Wiii.
After that, I headed into work for an hour or so (spilling my first cup of tea all over my brand new laptop, docking station and papers – whoops). No time for another cuppa before heading into the big smoke for a journo briefing at Yauatcha. Very lovely Japanese food, and nice atmosphere, though a little noisy for business. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before, but chopsticks turned out to be ideal for eating seabass with: my tooth is still not up to metal cutlery, and you can’t really eat with a plastic baby spoon/your fingers in polite company.
Based on Warrior Women’s recommendation, I managed to sneak into Nike Town on my way home to buy a Nike+ Sportband. This is going to revolutionise my running apparently. Hmmm…better get out this weekend while the weather’s nice then.
Right, time for another cuppa…
Filed under: London-Brighton bike ride, St Albans half marathon, X-bike, half marathon training, running, spinning | Tags: half marathon training, London-Brighton bike ride, running, spinning, St Albans half marathon, X-bike
Enough is enough: it’s time I got myself in shape for the St Albans Half Marathon on 8 June and London-Brighton bike ride on 15 June.
I managed a spinning class on Friday when I was at the very lovely Henlow Grange with my Mum, and again on Monday at the gym. Then got back onto the treadmill this morning, doing a comfortable 5.2k in 30 mins. I won’t be breaking any records at the St Albans race, but I am desperate to finish it after having to pull out of the Hastings half due to illness.
I’ll try for the gym again in the morning, though normal spinning is off while the instructors are trained on new X-bikes. No, I’d never heard of them either. According to the manufacturer’s website, the X-bike allows the rider to:
“…functionally engage the upper body and core musculature while the legs do the pedaling. The exercise offers enhanced total-body fitness benefits while bringing the natural movements of outdoor cycling indoors.”
Crikey. I’ll be back to the gym for the Saturday morning class to give them a test run. Watch this space…
Filed under: gym, half marathon training, hastings half marathon, running | Tags: half marathon training, hastings half marathon
With only two weeks to go until the Hastings Half, and the prospect of a boozy hen weekend in Brighton next weekend, it was with some trepidation that I embarked on my longest training run on Sunday with my running partner.
There’s a reasonable footpath out of Twyford, along the river and into Dinton Pastures, a pleasant little country park, where are plenty of trails to run around. Unfortunately the maps within the park bear little resemblance to the actual footpaths, making it difficult to work out how far you’ve run. However, we ran at a steady pace for an hour and 39 minutes, so I would estimate that was a good 10 miles. I was surprised to feel pretty good throughout the run, despite my lack of any running at all over the last two weeks in Australia. Further proof that walking is better exercise that I gave it credit for.
The Reading Half took place at the weekend. I was reliably informed by a couple of girls at the gym this morning that it actually started on time: a feat never before achieved, to the best of my knowledge. Jolly well done to all that took part, especially the girls who ran it in about 1:46. I’d just be happy to crack two hours, but I don’t think Hastings is going to be the place to do it, even if I do get to the gym most mornings this week.
After a fairly good start in Sydney, my half-marathon training ground to a bit of a halt. There was just so much to see and do, that I didn’t quite get around to putting on my running shoes again during the course of my stay.
That said, I did do a lot of walking. There are some smashing coastal paths all over Sydney and the surrounding area, and I racked up a few miles. I did a lovely stroll around Watson’s Bay and South Head during the first week – finishing up with fish and chips from Doyles on the Beach (it has to be done).
I did a wonderful 10k walk with Clare on a blisteringly hot day from the Spit Bridge to Manly, followed by a rather delicious trout salad lunch with homemade chips and a couple of beers. Another day I walked from Bondi Beach down to Clovelly, via various other pretty little bays (much nicer than Bondi).
I also did the Bridge Climb (1,337 steps to the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge, where the ferries in the Harbour appear to turn into little toys). Even managed to get out to the Blue Mountains for a day and did a bit of low-level bush walking. It rained a lot that day and I was rather glad that I didn’t find out until afterwards that the leeches come out in the rain (I was wearing Merrell sandals)…
Walking also seems to be pretty popular in Oz, and it’s very common to see people in gym kit pounding the streets/beaches with their iPods on. It’s certainly the perfect climate for it.
Back home in the UK now, and just about coping with the jetlag. I hopped on the scales yesterday morning out of interest, and discovered that I actually LOST five pounds during the course of my holiday. Unless I am really seriously dehydrated after the flight, that suggests that walking is a pretty good way of burning calories. After all, I consumed a serious amount of ice-cream and other naughty things while I was away. Waddle on folks.
Filed under: half marathon training, hastings half marathon, running | Tags: artarmon, half marathon training, hastings half marathon, running
I’m in Australia visiting my oldest friend, her husband and gorgeous 17-month old son. He’s into learning new words, and I’ve taught him how to say “bamboo”. Random but amusing.
Clare and Bryn live in a suburb of Sydney – Artarmon - on the north shore. It’s a really nice, leafy area just fifteen minutes from the City on the train which runs reliably every few minutes and is clean. First Great Western could learn a lot.
I managed to get out for a short run on my first morning here which was more of a run-walk-run-consult map-run affair that allowed me to get my bearings. The cycle and walking paths are absolutely excellent, and teaming with people commuting to work on foot or on two wheels. I was out for about forty minutes and, after a 53-hour day, that was quite enough in the heat and humidity.
This morning, armed with a new iPod Shuffle bought at Heathrow during a tortuous delay, I extended my route out east and down through Flat Rock Gully – a pretty, wooded (and cool) creek. From there, I ducked under a striking suspension bridge and into Tunks Park whose marina opens onto Long Bay, part of Sydney’s Middle Harbour. It was a stunning run, and I enjoyed every minute of it. Even the incredibly steep climb back up from Flat Rock Gully back towards Artarmon. Good training for the Hastings Half.
Running seems pretty big in Australia. Lots of people run with their dogs; others on their own or with other people. I was over at Manly yesterday and there were hoards of beautiful people bouncing along the promenade in the heat of the day. I thought only mad dogs and Englishmen (and women) were silly enough to risk heatstroke in the midday sun. Apparently not.
