How? It shouldn't be possible...

A question I asked myself as I pushed for the last km at lunch time...

A question a mate (and far better athlete than me) said when I let her know how the first serious training run went...

A question I ruminated on as I dashed around this afternoon hating forms, despising ticketing machines and pondering the meaning of fate...

Basically, I set a new 5 mile PB, 50min and 17s.  Not greatly fast by running standards, but 50s faster than my last 5mile PB. 

Why "how?"?

I've not run a great deal for the last couple of months...

I've not run at all since my night run over Rivington, I've had a lurking cold that wiped me out...

This week I've felt better so as is my wont, and given my next visit to Rivington (a small matter of a trail marathon) is only 8 weeks away, I've been hammering the gym in the morning - hilly 3 milers in 15 min, followed straight away by 370ft on the stepper in 8min... Both Monday and Tuesday... Oh, I also climbed moderately hard on Monday night...

So tired, untrained, legs that felt heavy...

By the books I should have run a reasonable but not exceptional time - my target was sub-60min with a stretch target of 55min.  Did that then...

So what's the outcome of my ruminations...

Hills... I may not have run a lot but I have got out into the hills a couple of times in the last couple of months.  Although walking I'm increasingly walking "running style"... Light on my feet and light on my back.

Confidence... This time last year I didn't know I could run a sub-2:30 half, run an off road Half or even that I'd be able to finish an Ultramarathon.

Confidence... This time last year I didn't tend to run continually, I was still putting walk breaks into my runs of longer than 5km... Was it latent concern about the heart? Possibly... In fact, almost definitely.

Not deep thoughts, but probably good ones... So what next? For 5 miles - sub-50min... There were 3 canal bridges on the route, all damp and slippy... slippy enough that I walked them... 18s to cut off then;-)

TTFN

Paul

 

First race of the year....

Race (noun) run where I run with a number on my front...

Night - after sunset

Hill - feature of the landscape that creates an upward protuberance

Off-road - not on smooth or flat running surface - broken cobbles, rough paths, tree routes AKA ankle eater

Cold snap - a period of time when the temperature drops.  AKA a bit parky!

Combine all of them for my first event run of the year; some runs I do for training, races I tend to do for a variety of reasons (speed, views, enjoyment, challenge) and then there are the events - night time, off road running up a hill in a cold snap is an event run...

And I enjoyed it.  My predictions were - no longer than 90 min, and I'd probably be in the last 5... I was correct on both.

I learnt a few things - two torches; one on the head and one in the hand, does help get a 3D view of the world.  The headtorch on its own is good, but a very flat view of the world.

I need to get fitter, I knew that taking a light couple of months is always going to have an effect.  However, I did feel fine for most of it, and ran well when I was confident of the surface and wasn't going up a rather large hill.

My gear works - to the point where I forgot about it most of the time.  If that sounds odd, off road running uses very different running shoes than road - it's not just the amount of grip, its the amount of flex and twist in the shoe... and whether it's designed to keep water out, or to get it out very fast...

First run done, and I'm happy...

So, job done - weekly total 35km

TTFN

P

Challenge 25...

Ok, it's 2013...

It's an important year for The Children's Heart Federation as we're going to be 25 years old.

A quarter of a century...

So how should this be marked? 

The CHF website will have the details of the big set piece events - the dragonboat racing, the biking across Jordan and so on... But I'll be doing my normal of plodding the miles out.

My first target is going to be one I should be able to do - basically duplicate this year - 25 miles a week, on average for 52 weeks. 2092km in a year, 1300 miles...

So, with a mile and a bit between friends, a marathon a week...

The stretch target, the if I get it all correct target, is 2500km in 2013 - see that magic number 25... Ok there's a change of units, but I'm some loose grip on my faculties!  2500km is 1553 miles, or a shade under 30 miles a week.

What will make the difference between the two targets, well keeping it going throughout the year, my 2 months "off" following the Ultra kept my mileage down.

Can I keep it going for an entire year, with only sensible rest and recovery periods... I honestly don't know.

And that's perhaps the best way to be, as with so much in the dickey ticker world I live in, the answer is we don't know.  The oldest of us are living so far beyond expectation that it's the only answer, my generation (probably 3rd generation GUCH) are such a mixed bag that its the only answer and the generations coming behind us... well with the improvements in surgery, care and everything else...

Not knowing isn't nice, so we learn from the science, from others experience, try and assess against older ones or just different ones - which is why we get involved with groups like the CHF. 

Which is why I'm off into the unknown - 2500km.

This year, so far - 30km - 15km run, 15km walked.

So anyone fancy joining me on a journey into the unknown - your Challenge 25 can be something completely different

TTFN

Paul