Dawn Patrol

This week I joined the Twenty Minute-ers. Sort of.

My 5 runs in the past 7 days have all included at least 20 minutes running. But not necessarily continuously. Sometimes interrupted by a car in a narrow lane or, if using my early morning circuit, by the clanging-gated bridge.

Effectively this means that I am at the end of the 5 week Beginners Guide on the Runners' Forum.

Out very early this morning at 6-42 to avoid the rush-hour. Three gentle circuits within 23.03 minutes. Clang! clang! clang! It would have been faster but I stooped to conker.

On the map about 3.55 Km. Not far or fast but I was ready to stop at the finish. Average less than 8 minutes per lap - speed more than 5mph. So above my target pace for the Bath Half Marathon.

Compared with my first run just 6 weeks ago I have tripled my distance and time. And I am not as out of breath either during or at the end of  the run.

All I have to do now is extend my running distance 6 times.

Reality Check
Today's run represents getting from Laura Place to Vicky Park on the half-marathon route. Without stopping at The Ram at Widcombe for a pint.

Useless Factoids

• Dogs seen - 7
• Dog-walkers - 7: carrying laden dog-pooh bag - 1
• Cats on prowl - 1
• Birds twittering - innumerable
• Conkers collected - 2

Temp 42degF. RH 99%  Wind speed 0mph.
Rosy dawn's fingers were cold and damp this morning. Gloves?

In the shower the knob fell off. Loose grub screw.
Allen key?

Dawn Patrol at the FAA Museum

Health and Safety

“Warning - Running can damage your health.”

Nowhere will you see such a statement. Public policy is that everyone should get more exercise. Yet every day someone somewhere incurs an injury through running.

In the days when I oversaw and investigated sickness returns at work the most common cause of sickness absences among the younger employees was a hangover - but the most common cause for longer absences was a sporting injury.

So why the apparently high incidence of injury for running - which is considered a safe and desirable activity?



High Impact - Low Risk
Death or serious injury whilst running can arise from:-

• Heart Attack
• Stroke
• Road Traffic Accident

These are all relatively rare events. In the 29 years of the Bath Half Marathon I believe there has only been one death from a heart attack.

Running or other exercise leading to improved fitness can reduce the risk of the first two, reduce the effect and can mean quicker recovery.

For the third the risk can be reduced by avoiding running on roads in the dark.

But most people die in bed. So don’t sleep in!

Low Impact - High Risk
Runners seem to be at risk of lots of pains and injuries through running.

Some of these are due to the impact on the feet, legs and knees when running:-

• Foot pain - inflammation of the sole and heel or in the arch or ankle
•  Achilles Tendonitis
•  Shin Splints - sorry but I don’t know what it means but runners report getting them
•  Runners Knee - apparently this is a pain in the shin not knee
•  Painful knees

 Some are due to sudden unusual exercise:-

•  Pulled muscles
•  Stomach pains
•  Chest pains
•  Breathing difficulties
•  Dizziness

 Some are minor:-

•  Blisters
•  Joggers Nipple

Others more serious:-

•  Groin strain
•  Numb legs

 What causes them? How to avoid?

  

Cracknell Syndrome

Runners are very competitive. And driven. They have to be better - faster - sooner.

Once I watched an Olympic athlete compete in something outside his discipline - Place The Bottle. He just had to place the bottle farther than anyone else could reach. If anyone beat him he repeated the exercise again to remain ahead. He could not - would not - be second. Even in a silly game.

I believe that it is this impatient obsessive competitiveness that causes injury to many runners. Pushing for ever more speed and endurance often against an unrealistic timescale - wanting it now. They do too much too quickly. Instead of easing off when in pain they press on - “no gain without pain” - and injure themselves. Then allow insufficient time to heal and damage the half-healed injury worse than before.

  

Over The Hill

None of the above means that I am not at risk of pain or injury. As a not-fit non-athlete my starting level for a potential injury or health problem is much lower. Indeed I need to take more care not to over-do it - but have to balance this against the improvements in speed and endurance that I must achieve.

So I cannot afford to be complacent or think it won’t happen to me.

  

Mmm - knee aches a bit today.

Elven Safety

 “Do not touch the water!” - Lady Galadriel

  

Drink beer.

Or cider, my dear,

If you’m from around ‘ere! - Anon

 Unlikely Light Ales

Less Is More

D minus 168

Now here is a curious thing.

In the past week or so I have only been out every other day - instead of 2 or 3 days on the trot followed by a rest day. Yet this morning’s run was the most comfortable, the fastest and longest to date. Was it easier due to the extra rest, or because I was not fussing in my head about the run but thinking about something else?

Recently I have been trying to vary my route as I realised that I had been getting into a rut and comfort zone. One of these routes involves a significant amount of steady if slight uphill work and is only short before it forces a U-turn and repeat. Not the most inspiring but does provide a choice.

Away from home for a weekend I was able to try a footpath and cycle path route along a by-pass.  Not very nice but I could not get lost. Generally level, boring and noisy. But with less visible litter than one might expect - only about 2 cans per Km.

Back to my usual route today I just cruised around. Only walked at the gate and across the footbridge - all the rest was running. 7min 20sec + 9min + 4min to achieve the target 20min. The pace to my 1.25Km waypoint was also the fastest yet.

Distance covered - using the ruler on the map and ignoring the bridge - approx 3Km. A little over 5mph. Modest maybe - but both speed and distance increased, no aches and pains or strained breathing.

It has taken me a month to get to this point All I now have to do is gradually extend my distance over the coming five months. Things can only get better!

While running I was thinking about the previous night’s TV - “The Special Relationship” with Michael Sheen in his TB role and Dennis Quaid as Bill. Wondering which bits were quotation, attribution, or invention. Was portraying TB in his bath-tub meant to be an ironic Churchill-Roosevelt reference?

Surprisingly it was a more sympathetic portrait of the main players than I had been let to expect from the pre-programme spiel.

The fictional drama was more believable than the final piece of newsreel footage that featured the real TB and George W during their “Colgate” moment.

Now here is a curious thing.

Goals and Targets

For those tasks we regard as difficult it is always useful to have a clear idea of what needs to be done. Then seek to achieve whatever we have set ourselves.

Hence the image of aiming. For goals - hit or miss. Or targets - which provide a scale of achievement according to distance from the centre.

“I believe this nation should commit itself to the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and bringing him safely to earth.” - JFK.

This is often cited as an example of a SMART objective - one that combines the essential elements:-

• Stated
• Measurable
• Agreed
• Realistic
• Time bound

In the work situation Agreed and Realistic are often overlooked, Measured and Time bound fudged, and Stated misread or misunderstood.

Simple targets are best. Some might describe this as a clear target - but that is a technical term for one that has been missed!

My Targets
The Bath Half Marathon race rules require entrants to be able to complete the event within 4 hours. So crudely this gives me a “hard target” (that is one that must be achieved) of 4 hours.

How realistic is this? Well on the basis that I completed the Dew Pond Run - all uphill - and with no preparation or training - in under 2 hours then it should be possible for me to complete double the distance, more or less on the level, within double that time and after 5 months preparation and training. But 19 years on?

The roads will be progressively reopened 3 hours 15 minutes after the start of the race. It seems to me a good idea to try to finish before then so as not to breathe exhaust fumes. So this gives me a target of 3 hours 12 minutes. The lost 3 minutes is to allow for slow-starting at the back of the field. 4.2 (or 7 metric). An achievable speed for me?

Then there is the concept of a “stretch target” - intended to be difficult and maybe out of reach. On that basis rounding down to 3 hours makes sense for my target time.

Planning for Endurance
At present on my Beginners Programme I am running no more than 16 minutes in 4 minute blocks. By the end of the month I should be on 20 minutes running without a break.

Within 5 months this must be built up to being able to run for the full 3 hours. A suggested programme of increasing stamina is to add 5 minutes each week. After 5 months this would mean runs of 2 hours duration. Still short of the full 3 hours target.

As always time is insufficient and the plan takes too long.

Among the advice is that one should vary the runs - some longer and some shorter but faster. And include some rest days in between.

Milestones
One way of measuring progress is by waypoints on the route. It has been recommended to me - by a runner - that I should enter for a shorter run - say 10Km - before the Half Marathon.

A trial run

In theory this would:-

• Give me experience of running in a crowd
• Measure my progress
• Be a closer target easier to hit

The confidence gained in achieving the intermediate goal would help towards the end one. Or?

Far for Bath

Gadgets and Gizmos

Runners love their gadgets and gizmos.

The dictionary definitions are inadequate - gadget is described as a tool and gizmo a technical tool.

As an example of a gadget I offer the Swiss Army Knife - which includes a number of clever gizmos among the blades. A technically advanced gadget is the touch-screen phone for which many gizmos - or applications (Apps) - can be obtained.

Gadgets rarely live up to the hype.

The five kinds of gadget - with examples - are:-

1. Those that work and are useful - the Waiters’ Friend
2. Work badly - the WC hippo and water-saving flush systems - neither of which can cope with big jobs on a single flush so end up wasting both water and time
3. Pointless gadgets - altimeters for bicycles
4. Failures - the magnetic window wiper or the portable vice - both of which fall off
5. Worse that useless - the paper log maker. Even if you had sufficient time and old newspapers to make enough fuel you could not stand the smell or sight of burning compressed paper.

Incidentally No 2 is evidence of the Great British Plumbing Conspiracy.

Runners’ Gadgets
Runners need gadgets to measure performance. Gadgets provide data on:

1. Time elapsed
2. Distance covered
3. Height climbed
4. Energy consumed
5. Health - heart rate, breathing

The first two are primary data required by all runners. The other data is more in the “nice to have” category or for serious athletes.

Stopwatch
The only essential gadget. The old clockwork sweep hand stopwatches are no longer available. Cheaper and more accurate are the modern digital ones. Unfortunately these come with masses of needless gizmos that have to be set up - date, time, alarm - and extra buttons to press.

Pedometer
Usually sold under some fancy brand name these attach to your running shoe and count your steps. A modern spin on old technology. Need to be set-up for average stride length. Not accurate - can vary by 10%. A ruler on the map can do better.

GPS
Runners use GPS to tell them where and how far they have been - not how to get there.

Two main variants - one takes into account gradients and the other assumes a flat world. There is said to be a measurable difference in the resulting calculation of distance covered.

Not just boys toys - there are ladies, gents and unisex styles.

GPS can be equipped with a host of gizmos to provide all the above five data sets for any part or the whole of a run, plus calculate speeds; and record all this data in a way that can be downloaded onto a computer, analysed and published.

As you would expect - it does not come cheap.

Phones and iPods
On Run Entertainment (ORE) is so popular with runners that running tops come equipped with a pocket for the iPod and cut-outs in the collar through which to loop the headphone cords.

The Bath Half Marathon rules ban iPods and similar devices.

Some phones accept Apps that provide GPS.

Popular Apps for iPods are those that provide a running programme - such as C25K - short for couch potato to 5Km runner. This App talks the runner through a training programme of walking/running building up to the 5Km time and distance. The training programme is complex and the App is needed to follow it.

A symbiotic relationship - and astute marketing.

Heart Rate Monitors
Provides valuable information, I have read, for those seeking to maximise their sporting performance and can be used by everyone who wishes to measure their improvement in fitness. Can also record the results.

May not be any more accurate than counting pulse rate against a stopwatch but monitors during exercise as well as before and after.

ID tags
Can include any info you want - from basic NOK contact details to lists of your blood group, medication, allergies, and organ donation authorisation.

As far as I know these have not yet been combined with GPS to provide a Mayday alert system. Might be handy for fell runners.

Gadget or Gizmo? French brake tool.

Weak Week

D-day minus 179.

Not making progress. Will repeat this week’s programme. My feelings about each of my runs this week - if measured on a scale of Bad 1 to 4 Good - would be 2-1-3-1.

Got up later on the second day so decided to try a new route avoiding the pushchairs and 4x4s on the pavement. Felt like it was mostly uphill and with no familiar timing points I was forever looking at the stopwatch. Had to stop and turn at end of lane. Breathing difficult. Not a happy bunny.

Next day reverted to old route and was happier with my performance. Hope I am not developing a comfort ritual.

Out early today but not comfortable. Bloated feeling and aches and pains niggled at me Probably a mistake to do 4 days in a row but rain forecast for tomorrow and had an OK day yesterday.

• Clouds - 1 overcast
• Silver Linings - 0
• Squirrels (grey) - 2
• Snails - 3
• Trike - child’s - 1 broken, dumped

Now using new Nike running top from Running Bath. Much less clingy-sweaty than old T shirt.As a morale booster though it takes as well as gives. Dressed like a proper runner but not performing like one.

Very bright yellow, but…… Wakey-wakey Mr commuter!

Georgian Bath.

On Planning

"No one starts a war - or rather, no one in his senses ought to do so - without first being clear in his mind what he intends to achieve by that war and how he intends to conduct it."- Karl von Clausewitz.

But we all know someone who did just that.


My journey towards the Bath Half Marathon began with just a sketch plan in my head. It has grown since but even so remains faithful to the KISS principle - Keep It Simple, Stupid.

A plan needs to be flexible - to cater for those Known Unknowns - and have a contingency - for those Unknown Unknowns. It is also sensible to examine the “Do Nothing” option - the costs and risks involved - rather than just drift into it by inertia.

It is handy to break the plan down into sections, such as:-

• Physical - training plan
• Mental - motivators
• Risks Assessment - injuries
• Charity - sponsorship
• Publicity - blog.

These link together - an injury will require changes to the physical training plan and renewed motivation.

So the plan will need to be re-examined in the light of experience using the classic feed-back loop:-

Plan - Action -Assessment - Revise plan.

But there is a danger of imitating Rimmer in Red Dwarf by spending more time preparing the plan than following it. Microsoft provide a useful tool for this - you can spend hours mucking about with MS Project® - if you like that sort of thing.

The opposite is where the plan becomes shelf-ware - completed, put aside and forgotten.

Once in preparation for visiting an organisation I looked up the plan they had on their website. It was informative, if a bit dated, and my questions were based upon it. This left them baffled as nobody else at the meeting knew they had a plan. In due course their project went over time and over budget.

No surprise to me.

  

Early Bath

Just by way of a change here is a photo before the spiel. This morning's sky.
It has been "enhanced".

Chilly today - out soon after dawn‘s rosy fingers had crept through my window.

New walk-run regime harder than expected - just when get breathing right have to start walking again. Was not really warmed up until nearly half-way thru session. Co-ordination difficulties - keeping eyes on watch and on path ahead - switching stop-watch on and off. Where’s my key?

Walk-run stages different from last time. Did I get timing right before or am I wrong today? May try more boring route without “modal interchanges” (gates and bridges).

Received a “how are you getting on” query on the Runners Forum after I got home. Moral support as well as advice and guidance. V. Nice!

Today's Statistics

• Temp - 10 deg
• Humidity - 83%
• Wind - 0 mph
• Ley Line strength - 0.4218 zildas
• Schwarzschild radius - about 2 miles

One of the above I made up.

• Dog Walkers - 2
• Buses - in service 0
• Buses - not in service 1
• Cars >10
• Aircraft 2

Got back in time for an early bath.