Year Gone - Come Year

Year Gone
Target of one half marathon was exceeded 100% - as I did two.

My running mileage in the year was 927.5. Did not set a target.
Next year target 1000 - 20 miles per week.

Correction:- my 2011 mileage was only 851.5. The higher figure was mileage since I got my Garmin in November 2010.

One-mile self-timed monthly time- trial - improved by 5 sec over 5 months.
Next year’s target improve by 12 sec over 12 months? Probably does not work like that.

Weight loss past year only 1lb.
Target 2012 - half a stone.

Yule Log
Last year we had a white Christmas and the snow and ice curtailed my running so that I had a gap in my December running of 18 days.

This year we have had wind and rain, I have had to work, and the gap of 8 days in running feels a long time.
Only done one training run this week.

December Routine
My runs have got into a bit of a rut in that I do 7 miles within 70 minutes or 6 ½ within an hour.
Weather and mood changes have provided the variety.

Difficulties Overcome
Douglas Adams seems to have hit the nail when he highlighted the effect of difficulties to be overcome resulting on an improvement in performance - the effect of increasing deafness on Beethoven’s output.

Not in the same league but pertinent - the effect of weather on my runs.
Being able to choose the time of day for my runs means that I can find a slot in the weather that suits me - the dry and sunny patch between the early morning and late afternoon showers.
But - my run in the wind and rain was faster and felt better than the same run on a dry sunny day.

Sharing Running
On 185th Run got to first "way point" quicker than usual so pressed on slightly to get to half way in good time.
On return leg got chatting with another runner and leant about local gym and wear in shoes.
First occasion that I have run and chatted at the same time! HR remained below 170 at max 168.
Parted company at 3rd way point and set out with renewed vigour uphill to home.

Result - enjoyable run in good company and completed within 1 hour target time.
What could be better than that?

Resolution No 5
Do some 5k races in 2012.

When One Door Closes - Another Opens

"Everything on this blog is true.  I should know - I made it up" Westonbloke

A Simple Pleasure

“The best things in life are free
You can give them to the birds and bees
Gimme Money!
    That’s what I want
Gimme Money
    That’s what I want
That’s what I want.
    That’s what I want”
Bradford-Gordy

Get Your Kicks For Free
After a year and a bit I am beginning to get the hang of this Enjoyment of Running thing.
In moderation, of course.

I have discovered the simple unsophisticated pleasure of just running out in the open air.  This arises from the following stimuli:-

1. Physical
2. Sensual
3. Aural
4. Visual
5. Mental

So here is the Bath Point 5 Guide to Free Running Pleasure.

Physical
Actually being able to run - well fast jog - over several miles is amazing. This is something I have not done since schooldays - when I was not very good and very slow.  How is it that I can do it now?  There is a smug satisfaction for this old git to discover that I can stretch my physical abilities and reverse the tide of age-related infirmity - even if it is only for a while.

Apparently our distant ancestors used to feed themselves by hunting game by running over long distances until the animal tired and was unable to continue. It is said that by doing this we evolved as bipedal runners and so it is in our nature to run.  In parts of the Kalahari a few people still use this method of hunting.

Sensual
The pleasure of running is said to come from endorphins released during extreme exertion. As I don’t do extremes I suspect I shall never experience this - when running.  The benefits of Fresh Air and Exercise may have become a cliché - but that is because there is an eternal truth in it.  Different surfaces - hard paths, gravel, mud, grass - all provide varying sensual inputs to be managed - and enjoyed.

There is a satisfaction to be obtained from cheating the weather by getting out for my runs when the sun shines and the rain holds off.  But when I do get caught in the rain the sensual stimulation drives me on to achieve something better in the way of time or distance. Running hard into a strong headwind in heavy rain requires determination.  I don’t go looking for bad weather - but if it comes to me I must deal with it.

Once-upon-a-time in Arizona I borrowed a bike and went riding with the local cycling club. It rained. None of them had ridden in the rain before. They loved it. Bought me breakfast. Stack of pancakes and maple syrup.  The next week I went to California.

It rained.

Aural
What?  The birds for a start. Running silently on my Asics the birds don’t hear me coming so carry on twittering as I pass.  Up at the top of the hill, where I run cross the grassland, the skylarks sing.  The cows all moo, the bull does too, down on Jollity Farm. The farmer on his quad-bike. The shooters in the woods.

I am sure twice I heard a turkey gobble.

Across the valley the cars and trucks are a distant looming boom. The trains hoot and growl - except sometimes when one comes along that is all whistle and puff-puff. Whoo-Whoo!  Planes aplenty - all shapes and sizes. And heights. Sometimes a biplane. The police and hospital helicopters.  The Chinooks or a Puma carrying the Big Cheese from MoD.

Why do Chinooks travel in pairs?

Visual
Trees, fields, brooks, houses, bridges - lots of bridges. A wet path reflecting the distant rainbow . Butterflies in season, grey squirrels all year. Soaring buzzards - and the rooks harassing them at nesting time. In their turn bothered by magpies, who are mobbed by the starlings. Once I saw a sparrow hawk dash into a hedge and grab a small bird. Deer in the field next to the path - remarkably close. The changing pattern of the skies.

Evening Cloud

Cow pats, horse manure, dog poo, dead leaves, fallen branches, shadows from a low sun.. In the spring - new growth and flowers. Bluebells in the woods.

Tins, plastic bottles, and bags (some containing dog poo), a broken toy, discarded tyre, graffiti.

Mental
Physical exercise gets the blood flowing more rapidly - including to the brain. So ideas often come to those who run. Also - I find the puzzles in the paper easier to do after a run. But - letting the mind wander on other things while running is not a way to improve on PBs. For this mental focus is required.

In order to complete the Bath Half Marathon I had to plan my programme of training and adapt it to my progress.  During the course of the race I had to think about whether I was ahead or behind my planned schedule. Another aspect was the mental strength provided by knowing what I could do, physically, and keeping myself on the task in hand.

Cost
Running free is not entirely cost free:-

• Shoes
• Shorts
• Top - short-sleeved
• Socks
• Tights - warm for winter running
• Top - long sleeved and shower proof

A little over £225. Less than £5 per week. Less than a couple of beers.

Cheaper than a trip on Route 66. But you don’t get to see the meteor crater.

"A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."
    - Definition of a cynic - Oscar Wilde

Days of Woden

Weather - or Not
Luck rather than good planning has provided me with sunny days on which to run and cloudy wet days on which to rest. The classic pattern of our classic English weather - changing from day to day - has coincided with my alternate run / rest training schedule.

Run - or Jog
But I don’t really have a plan - just a habit. And it seems from my Garmin readouts that I do not run but just get up to a “fast jog”.

Am I bothered?

Weirdo - or Clot
One day I thought I had got a stalker. I was accosted by a female on a bike who said I had “growled” at her.

Unlikely - the last time I growled at a girl was in 1971.

Then she claimed I had stared at her. Hadn’t the faintest idea what she was on about. Kept running and tried to ignore her.

Then it clicked - a week earlier she had tried to mow me down. Rode head-on straight at me.
My “growl” was a yell (audible warning of approach). My “staring” was because of rabbit-caught-in-headlights syndrome - I could not believe she could look straight at me and still steer head-on.

When I told her this she said I was “weird”.

Seems to me that woman out on a bike harassing jogging pensioners is the weird one.

Wandering Only - Cloud Thinking
My weekly mileage has got up to more than 20 as I have done several 7 miles within 70 minutes runs - stretching my usual 6.5 mile out-and-back by a short distance. Practising for the 1000 miles in 2012 challenge on Runners Forum.

But - concentration and pace has dropped. One day I got into a “set” - just followed my usual run and then after awhile wondered where exactly I was and how far.

Another day I pressed the wrong button on the Garmin and lost the record of half the run. This does not do any good for improving my times - although it does help my thinking time. Lots of ideas come whilst out running (or jogging - whatever).

A4 No 60007 Sir Nigel Gresley

Steaming Along
Got whistled at by a steam train. Not directly - it was the other side of the valley. Blue A4 Pacific pulling chocolate-and-cream Mk1 carriages. Bit like locomotive exchange trials in late 1940s - only not quite.

It was the Wednesday steam special.

Heard the whistle again this week but it was behind a hill so don’t know if it was the same loco.

Global Warming
Blackberries in the hedge. In December!

December blackberries for the blackbirds

When two Englishmen meet, their first talk is of the weather - Samuel Johnson