New Training

"A formation of high flying geese
Lit up by the morning's low sun.
To see lovely sights such as these
Is truly reward for my run."

Apparently I train like a typical beginner - extending my distance but not my speed. Need new directions.

New Directions - Choose!

 
New Route
To extend my time and distance without doing repetitive laps of the same circuit I have tried a new route which goes down towards the River Avon and back uphill home.
 
It starts and finishes as my usual circuit - to retain the familiar Karma - but extends out and back to a loop at the other end. It has the potential to be lengthened.
 
Distance >6Km. About 4miles. But I am having difficulty measuring the distance accurately.
 
Four runs at over 40 minutes, one shorter run for 35. The 10+ minute mile average is a pedestrian speed. Whereas “slow“ for a long distance runner is an 8min. mile.
 
Does this matter since my aim is to finish?
 
New Routine
Reading a book from the library - “Everyone’s Guide to Distance Running" by Norrie Williamson - it appears my routine is not good. Apparently one should vary the pace and distance on different training runs.
 
So I have tried doing some bits faster than others. Floating down hill - pushing up. With slower recovery periods jogging along between them. Supposed to add strength and pace to endurance.
 
Mind you Norrie regards distance running as 50Km upwards. E=mc2.
 
This has made the runs more interesting and more difficult - which is probably a good thing. Did find myself with tired legs and lungs at maximum distance from home. Motivator!

New Risks 
MOH suggested I take my phone with me and call home for a lift if exhausted or have an accident. This is a bit like a WWI aviator with a parachute - added weight and a supposed disincentive to fight on. Good advice though - and will be followed.
 
Yesterday morning running style was all over the place - awkward almost stumbling or tripping once or twice. Tired? Over training? Something to watch out for in the event itself. It would be a bad trip to fall in a crowd and take others down too.
 
New Target
My entry has been accepted for the Swindon 10Km. Three weeks to prepare.
Sub 70 min?
 
New Time
Back to GMT. But local time - as on the new sundial at Widcombe - is plus a few minutes.

"I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree." - Kilmer

"Timber" - The Muppet Show 

Westonbirt Arboretum

Time To Rise

A birdie with a yellow bill
Hopped upon the window sill
Cocked his shining head and said
“Ain’t you shamed you sleepy head?”
Robert Louis Stevenson

One morning last week I lay in bed watching a blackbird eat blackberries. He hopped about a bit on the ground and then flew up to the top of the hedge grabbed a blackberry in his yellow bill and flew down to the ground again. He did this repeatedly until he had enough. I marvelled at his skill, energy, and persistence.

Routine
What was difficult has become routine:-

• Up before Dawn (roseate fingers etc - thanks for the reminder Homer)
• Run (well jog really) for 34-35 minutes / 4.8Km
• Shower
• Prepare breakfast

And all before my usual getting-up time.

This has been my routine - with interspersed rest days - for the past week. To many of you it may not seem to be a long running time or distance - but only a fortnight ago I was having difficulty at the end of 20mins / 2.4Km.

Next target - 40+ minutes or 5.5Km.

Upping The Anti
Yesterday I posted an entry for the Swindon 10Km race on 21st November.

Today I jogged for 5 laps - approx 6Kms - 44.4 minutes.

“A week is a long time in politics.” - Harold Wilson

A Footbridge

 

BC 250

Nothing to do with the First Punic Wars. This year the Bath Chronicle is celebrating 250 years and I thought I should not ignore it.

What has this got to do with this blog or with running?

It was the Chronicle that first sparked the idea in my head of entering for the Bath Half Marathon. The paper gave the opportunity to local people to put in an early entry to the Bath Half using a two-piece code that was provided in 2 weekly editions.

And I did - as described under Auction Fever in my earlier post Reasons Why.

The celebratory 250 anniversary edition - issued last week - describes the early Chronicles as being:-

"A mixture of the bizarre and the banal, of the ludicrous and the tragic."

Not that different from today - especially the Readers‘ Letters.

Some reports down the years read remarkably alike. The report of the bombing of The Corridor in 1974 and that of the exploding gas cylinders at the SouthGate were similar - at least in the described experience of the journalists concentrating on their routine reports only to be interrupted by the sound of explosions.

Another theme down the years is reports of visiting celebrities - and those later to become famous.

These include:-

• Princess Victoria in 1830 before she was Queen
• Winston S Churchill - an obscure parliamentary candidate whose first ever political speech was at Claverton Manor (The American Museum) in 1897
• The Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie in 1936 - afterwards lived in Bath during his exile years
• Princess Diana - visited Bath in 1985
• Michael Palin in 2010.

The poster read - "Michael Palin in Bath - Pictures”.

"The newspapers! Sir, they are the most villainous -licentious - abominable - infernal - Not that I ever read them - no - I make it a rule never to look into a newspaper." Richard Brinsley Sheriden

That Was The Week That Was

Today I completed my first training run of more than 30 minutes.

Monday evening, after an exhausting rest day and a sleepless night, I had to backtrack and do only 2 laps. My first evening run. More people about than in the morning - plus a lost duck looking for her pond or a river.

To make up for the missed distance I decided to do 4 laps this morning. At the end of three I was beginning to think of excuses to stop. Knee ache? But went round again and clocked up just over 30 minutes.

Ruler on map suggests almost 5Km - less than a quarter of the Bath Half Marathon distance. Not bad progress for 8 weeks. Lost 8lbs in weight also. Now I need to repeat that for the remainder of the week.

My feeling is that I am on course. But I know it is going to get harder as the days get shorter and colder and my training runs get longer. My local routes are beginning to be a limitation and I need to get to places where I can run longer distances uninterrupted by features.

Am considering changing my routine to a mid-day run - avoiding running in the dark alongside rush-hour traffic. A pre-lunch run is popular with office workers. By doing this I can also postpone buying warmer running kit until I have saved some cash.

No Lidl near here!

Time to consider entering a 10Km race, as suggested by Nurse and other runners. To add pressure and provide a real measure of progress.

Public Bath

Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that! - Lewis Carroll

Blogging on Jogging

Blogging is the modern vanity publishing - without the expense and with the potential for a wider audience.

My interest in blogging was aroused when I found that others were doing it. So I wanted to have a go myself. My blog would be more informative, erudite and amusing than others.

Or maybe not.

Learning new things from books is still the way I prefer. And it must be for many others too - as shown by the vast numbers of computer-related how-to-do-it books. All instantly obsolete - in Somerset there is a warehouse full of them.

In the Library I found a new edition of Blogging For Dummies I knew I had to give blogging a try.

This almost coincided with my decision to enter the Bath Half Marathon. Doing one new thing encouraging the other. It did not take long to recognise the synergy between the two.

You don’t see it? Agreed, it is neither Auden and Britten nor Merlin and Mustang. But the blog needs narrative and my running requires motivation.

Thus:

• Metaphorical boat-burning in pubic - no turning back
• Support and advice - from friends and followers
• Record of progress - and regression
• Momentum and self discipline - the project has to continue to provide regular blog material
• Helping a charity - by seeking sponsorship.

Each feeds on the other and combined provide more than the sum of the two parts.

That is synergy.

Synergy in Action

Coming Soon:- Options for sponsorship. Help me decide which of three charities to choose.

The Medical Exam II

The main reasons for my follow up medical with the nurse was to take the fasting cholesterol test and to measure any weight loss.

The good news was a loss of a couple of pounds - as intended.
The bad news - a few days later - was a high cholesterol score - so an appointment with the doc.

I am not very keen on medication. Unexpected side-effects appear to run in the family. The likelihood of aching muscles - how would I know if it is the running or the pills - does not fill me with enthusiasm. Also if my liver might get trashed - well I would rather do it the traditional way.

For a couple of months we are going to see what diet and exercise can do. So as well as losing the biscuits and cakes I now have to cut out the Cheddar, Wenslydale, Stilton, Cheshire and Red Leicester.

As the old slang for accepting bad luck has it - "Hard Cheese". 


Thought 4 the Day

If I had not made the decision to enter the Bath Half Marathon - and arranged for a check-up - would my high cholesterol levels have been spotted?

No lesson seems to be so deeply inculcated by the experience of life as that you never should trust experts.
If you believe the doctors, nothing is wholesome: if you believe the theologians, nothing is innocent: if you believe the soldiers, nothing is safe.
They all require to have their strong wine diluted by a very large admixture of insipid common sence.
Lord Salisbury - letter to Lord Lytton 15 June 1877.

Autumn Leaf Collection

Wrest Daze

This weekend was Rest Days.
One scheduled (SRD) and one due to very wet weather, so unscheduled (URD).

Post-modern "rest" is a relative term.


Garden Tasks

1. Move large potted plants from front terrace to back of house
2. Clear leaves from paths
3. Remove leaves from air vents in cars
4. Vacuum Mow front lawn
5. Dig over old potato bed.

Household Tasks

1. Walk to local shops to get paper and milk
2. Lay boards in loft and restack stored items
3. Final edit for e-newsletter - convert to pdf - mail out
4. Carry 2 x outboard motors down drive and load into a car
5. Install and set up new dishwasher.

Failed Tasks

• Seek Allen Keys to fix shower knob - unable to find
• Trim front hedge - battery flat
• Mow Vacuum carpets - ran out of time.

Ultimate Question

Mr Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many aircraft took part in Exercise Excaliber in April?
Mr Freeman: Forty-Two.
Hansard - 16 June 1986

Polruan. At the top of the hill!