This week is the start of my marathon training (again lol).
I completed the Lunar-Tic Marathon at the end of last month and gave myself 2 weeks rest before starting training for my next marathon
The first week I caught up with jobs around my house, Sorted out the bedroom and then the kitchen which was very rewarding.
Last week I did go out for some recovery / easy paced runs to keep my fitness levels up.
Monday 5th was a great run, No time limit, no set miles, no pacing, just went out for a lovely jog whist listening to great music through my earphones. I stopped several times to take photos which was great fun. I landed up running just over 4 miles then back to the carpark to do some strength training. 4.08 miles – 46 minutes 19 Seconds
Thursday 7th run was roughly the same as tuesdays run but with more off road running through the lovely woodland, again finishing up with some strength training in the car park afterwards. 4.34 Mi – 38 Mins & 59 Secs.
Sunday I ran for longer and a large part of it was through the woods, For once I did not get lost, I bought myself a compass and although I have not used one since I was a kid I think it worked out ok for me – I found the right exit anyway lol 5.07 Miles in 45 Minutes and 38 Seconds
So with 3 1/2 months until my next marathon the fun starts today (13th). Lets hope it’s 3 1/2 months injury free 🙂
After Months of
training I have finally ran the Lunar-Tic River Marathon.
We set off on Saturday
afternoon and headed for the campsite we booked, The goal was to get
to the campsite early, set up the tents and have something to eat
before the marathon.
The campsite was small but really good, It had loads of little extras that were not advertised which I really liked. The site manager was really friendly and chatty.
The campsite had nice showers, even at 2am after my marathon I was still able to get a hot shower which was greatly needed as I was covered in mud and sweat.
Just before 19:00 we
drove to the starting point to the marathon to register, This was
quick and easy, I got my race number so all I had to do is wait.
At 20:00 after giving us a brief talk about the run we set off.
This was by far the hardest run I have ran to date, it’s not to say I did not enjoy my night – I loved it and would probably do it again but it was very hard.
I am used to larger
volume runs, This had a 200 runner limit and looking at the website
it appears that it was very under booked (113 runners) what this
meant was that I spent a huge part of this run on my own, in the dark
trying desperately trying not to get lost.
I also should of worn
trail trainers as lots of the run had slippery mud, many times I
slipped but was lucky not to hurt myself apart from a bruise on the
side of my ankle.
There was tape hung
from trees to tell us which way to go but in the dark I missed most
of them, I just followed other runners when I could. Looking at the
map on Strava I can see where I came off line of route once without
even knowing it and by shear luck got back onto the route. Near the
end of the marathon (The last mile) I took a wrong turning again and
had to double back on myself to pick up the right route, I managed to
add a extra half mile to my run lol.
In hindsight I could of uploaded the route onto my phone (this was on their website) also the route follows the river (not that it was easy to see) so following this would have helped with guessing the route – Why did I not realise this when running? It’s not as though I had not studied the map many times at home 😦
The last 2 miles I teamed up with another runner – He was really nice and we had a great chat, This helped the time to fly for the last bit which was great.
Unfortunately for me my new friend stopped for a drink at the last drinks station just over a mile before the end so I continued by myself – as you can read above that did not go too well lol
This run took me just over 5 hours (I am still waiting on the official time) but Strava sells me that I completed the Marathon in about 3 seconds shy of the 5 hours so I am very pleased with that.
Relaxing at the end of my run with a nice mug of coffee I get my friend to take a photo of me holding my lovely medal
After the run we went back to the campsite for some well earned food and a beer.
I have not booked anything for next year yet but it would be really cool to get another half / full marathon booked for January or February time, I will have to wait and see 🙂
Since as far back as I
remember I have had hearing problems, I had a lot of ear infections
when I was a kid and even as a teenager I suffered with bad ears.
About 20 years ago I
had Tympanostomy tubes inserted
into each eardrum to help prevent the accumulation of fluid in the
middle ear, To my doctors surprise they are still in place and
working.
Growing
up with hearing loss is horrible, my friends and family can get
annoyed at me really quickly when I keep asking them to repeat
themselves yet very quickly afterwards they revert to the same quiet
tone that prevented me hearing them in the first place, you can see
the pattern. They are not doing it out of spite it’s just natural to
them I suppose.
I
have spent most of my life avoiding people I know speak quietly as
the embarrassment of keep asking them to repeat themselves can get
too much for me. I am guessing that’s why I enjoy my own company so
much 🙂
If people try to do any task and they fail, after the 2nd attempt they would try to complete that task a different way but when I ask someone to repeat themselves and after the 3rd or 4th attempt they still repeat themselves in the same tone and volume I find it very frustrating – I even point to my hearing aid when asking them to repeat themselves but it does not help. It’s at this point I usually give up and either nod my head in pretence or just finish the conversation by just telling them I cannot hear them.
I
was going to the gym the week before last. I like to wear my
headphones in the gym so I left my hearing aid at home (Stupid I
know). When I boarded a bus I recognised the driver and said hello to
him, he started to talk to me and I quickly stopped him, apologising
and explained that I don’t have my hearing aid in and would not be
able to hear him. The driver nodded cheerfully and said he
understood, he then proceeded to drive down the road chatting away to
me – I never heard a word, I just kept nodding in hopefully the
right times but could not get off the bus quick enough 😦
It always makes me laugh with my kids, when they are upset with me they talk quiet and mumble but when they want something they make perfect eye contact, speak lovely and slow and at a nice volume, now if only everyone was that considerate I would be a very happy man 🙂
This morning I ran 15
miles, well I say ran but it was more like a jog, I had not been out
for a run since last Sundays 18 mile run and did not want to injure
myself.
I usually love to
listen to music when on a long run but Audible were doing a offer on
their books, 100 books for £3.00 each, How could I say no to that??
I bought “Zombie Fallout” by Mark Tufo, I love a good zombie film
or book so I thought I would give this one a try. This turned out to
be a great choice, It has plenty of humour and the storyline seems
good, It was great fun on my early morning jog listening to my Zombie
book, it helped the time pass.
I did feel tired
though, Going running after working a night shift instead of when I
first wake up really does make a difference to my energy levels, at
mile 10 my legs were starting to feel a bit tired but fortunately did
not get too bad.
Feeling good now, No
training tomorrow so get to rest my feet 🙂
Friday I
won a medal, Not the nice metal bling type that I love to hang on my
wall, This medal displays the words “PLONKER OF THE WEEK” on it,
Yep on Friday mornings run I managed to get lost AGAIN!!
Fridays
workout was supposed to be a 40 minute interval run, I did not
pre-plan my journey as was not sure on the exact distance that I
would cover. The idea was that I would run 20 minutes out, turn
around and then follow the same route in reverse – What could
possibly go wrong???
The run
started off good, it did not take long before I found a lovely
footpath that ran through some woods, I followed that all the way
through and continued along the road on the other side. After a while
it was time for my return journey so I turned around to retrace my
steps. That was when my troubles really began.
I got back into the woods again and then I got totally lost. I landed up going through several fields before finally giving up and asked Google Maps for help. I managed to locate the nearest road and headed for that.
I must
have added about 3 miles extra to my run and lost around 40 Minutes
but I eventually made it back to my car.
I was covered in mud and had soaking feet but I was still smiling during my drive home 🙂
Thursdays was a 7 mile
recovery run. I plotted my route using the RunGo app, I have used
this in the past and it’s always worked reasonably well for me.
I did the run in the
morning after working a night shift, This is not something I do
often, I prefer to run after a sleep but needs must – I did find I
got tired quicker though.
It was beautiful route
due to a huge chunk of the run being off road, I was really enjoying
myself thinking how perfect the route was, that was until around mile
4!
I was back running on
the pavement again and when I looked up my jaw dropped – The mother
of all hills, I had totally forgot about this hill, it was huge, I
was knackered when I got to the top.
Between mile 5 and 6 I felt my energy levels drop but I knew I did not have far to go so I carried on but I was pleased when I finished 🙂
Distance
7.02 mi
Pace
10:08 /mi
Time
1h 11m
No stinging nettles on this route but loads of bushes spraying rain water on my legs, I will take that any day to getting stung 🙂
Tuesday I was supposed to run for 40 minute at a steady pace. This did not quite go to plan although I still managed to have a really good workout.
I started Tuesday evening off by donating blood, Last time I went was just after my last Marathon and I got rejected as my iron level was too low. I was really pleased this time everything was back to normal so I got to donate and for my troubles I got a lovely cup of coffee and some biscuits before walking home.
So I purposefully waited a bit before going for my run just to recover, I drove to Warlingham as I had seen these lovely routes that I wanted to run through. I have driven along these roads in my car and on my motorcycle (not at the same time) and they looked so nice compared to my usual pavement routes.
So I park up, put all my gear on, complete my warm-up routine and off I go.
The route was lovely at first, a narrow path through bushes with nothing but green either side, wonderful I thought. It did not take long for the narrow path to narrow even more and more until you are kicking through the bushes to continue – I got stung like mad on my poor legs by nettles.
I had to walk through several sections and even go onto the road a few times to go around the nettles although I got off the road quick as it was national speed limit and night time.
My aim was to run for 20 minutes, turn round and run the 20 minutes back but due to the walking and road running I ran further out to compensate, This turned out to be a total mistake as I landed up running for a hour to get back to near the car.
Even with the obstacles and possibly because of them I still had such a fun time, Yes I got stung several times (and my legs are still tingling) and yes I made no records with my running but it was so nice to run a different route and I did not feel too bad about stopping to take some photos along the way.
Will I run this route again? Oh yes, but with jogging trousers on to protect my poor legs 🙂
Thursdays run was a 40 minute tempo run which was hard but fun, I managed to cover over 5 miles so that was good.
Friday was a no train day so I took the opportunely to get a trip in to the recycling centre to get rid of some long overdue rubbish that was building up in my garden, My dad had the same idea so he half filled up his car with his stuff and we loaded my stuff in as well, Only one vehicle needed and great company and now a clean garden 🙂
Yep Sunday I got a lovely blister on my right foot. I was running a 10k training race, just after mile 5 I felt my sock crease up in my trainer, I was too close to finishing to stop so carried on and finished. All my good dri fit socks were in the wash so I was wearing normal sports socks so I only have myself to blame but I did manage get a PB for my effort at just over 45 minutes.
Distance 6.41 mi
Pace 7:19 /mi
Time 46m 56s
Best estimated 10k effort (45:18)
Only 7 weeks left until I run my marathon. One of the rules to the LUNAR-Tic-River-Marathon is that I have to carry a first aid kit with me at all times so I did experiment on Sundays run with clipping a kit to my belt. I forgot it was there when running so I don’t think it will be a problem, Not sure if I should get a smaller kit? No room in rucksack as I have a waterproof jacket in there.
A few weeks ago I booked two nights camping at a local campsite (I only stay for 1 night but I don’t have to checkout early in the morning this way). We have had such lovely weather recently and this campsite was only a 30 minute motorcycle ride away. I had booked it for tonight and tomorrow night, I have been looking forward to this ever since but the problem is that today it is pouring down with rain and tomorrow is not going to be much better. Unless the rain drastically clears up I will probably have to cancel, Will be no fun getting soaked trying to put my tent up 😦
What a great week I have had, Friday was a training free day so I managed get through quite a few tasks that had been gathering dust on my TO-DO list.
I had been looking forward to the weekend as I actually had both Saturday and Sunday night off, That was until work phoned and asked if I could work the Saturday night 😦 The extra money helps but when you get so close to the days off it was still a bit disappointing.
I had my weekend pretty much planned, Saturday I was finally going to get my car fixed – the catalytic converter was at the end of it’s useful life and I had bought the new parts a few weeks beforehand, Well that had to be moved to Sunday.
Sunday my wife and I had planned to go to a tent and camping equipment exhibition. We had never been to one of these before but it looked really interesting, Of course we had to cancel this to get the car done 😦
So Sunday morning I finished work, Shot home for a couple of hours sleep before heading off to my dads house to get my car done. I actually really enjoyed myself, Under my Dads expert supervision we both got the part replaced and my car works lovely now, Next on the list is to fix the electric windows but that can wait for another week (yes I have the parts already).
Only problem was with the lack of sleep and the hot weather by the time I got home I was so knackered that I did not have the energy to cook, I bought everyone pizza which I also ate with a chilled can of beer, Yep no long run Sunday for me!!
Tuesdays run was great, 30 Minute steady run. I got less than 5 minutes down the road when my running app started telling me I had completed my first mile??? I wish, a mile in 4 minute 44 – That would definably be a record – Try 8 minutes. This did make me laugh as I ran, I always wear my Garmin watch which is what I go by.
Miles: 3.83 – Duration: 30:03 – Average Pace: 7:51
Wednesday I had a 8 mile recovery run so I took Tigger with me, He actually ran all the way which surprised me as he usually gets outside the house and refuses to move, After the first 3 miles I took him to the park so I could let him off his lead, 3 laps round the park and he stayed by my side the whole time, Well done to Tigger 🙂
Well back to the title, I did burn the duck. My wife had bought a half piece of aromatic duck for herself and my last remaining meat eating daughter to share. I had made a large batch of Chilli-con-carne with rice for myself which was put in tubs and froze. The box said to cook the duck for 30 to 35 minutes, I timed it perfect with my dinner, the timer went off at 30 minutes so it left a couple of minutes to get the sauce and extras ready. When I opened the oven door I was gobsmacked – the duck was not just burned it was black! If it was any other meat I think it would of been binned but being duck and the fact my wife and daughter was starving they still wanted it! To my surprise only the skin was black, the meat underneath was cooked lovely, I tasted a bit and it was really nice. What’s the saying – don’t judge a book by its cover? Does the same apply to food? lol
Well I have to get back to work now so have a good night all 🙂
Wow, yesterday rain, today sun, I love the weather
here lol
My poor wife is working a night shift tonight, The
poor woman finished today’s shift at 14:00 then straight home for
dinner, small sleep then back to work for 20:00, I have to admire her
drive – Not sure I would want to do that now days.
I will be relieved to pick her up in the morning,
I have a feeling that she will be knackered.
It was so nice today 21º outside so my
rain-jacket goes back away and out comes my sunglasses, Beautiful.
I love running but I also LOVE my train-free days,
Friday is one of these, time to catch up on things at home and relax
before work 🙂
All in all it was a very good run, Not the fastest
(I blame the lovely warm weather) but plenty of effort 🙂
Today’s I included a 5 minute warm-up and 5 minute cool down.
