All Change.

I did my long awaited test half marathon on Sunday. I larded up and rested for two days beforehand to give myself the best possible shot at it.

It was windier than I would have liked, and by an ironic bit of bad timing, Garmin (my gps sports watch) are having issues. The first time I’ve noticed any problem in 11 years of running and it’s on an important test run. Typical. The problem seems to be the live pace indicator. One second it’s telling you you are running too slow, then next too fast. Not ideal when you are trying to pace at your limit for 13 miles.

Anyway, I’ve checked everything in every way I can think of, and although the live pace is all over the place, the distance is exactly accurate, and even when glitching my watch can tell the time, so the overall time for my half should be right. My last half was 1.29:19 (and that was a huge PB) I ran this one in 1.26:44!

I was happy with that. It vindicates Camille’s plan. I’ve only been on the plan 7 weeks and I’ve absolutely smashed my PB. Then I wanted to know where that puts me in the grand scheme of things. Is that good? I googled “what is a fast time for a half marathon?” and this was my first result:

That’s age on the left, then the columns are Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and World Record. According to that I’m 8 minutes into Elite territory! Which to me means the chart is wrong or the bar is set low at my age.

I was clicking through some other data on my watch and I came across this:

Again, I was suspicious, and had no point of reference, so I googled it.

According to that, I’m in the excellent range for an 18-25 year old man!

Hang on a minute, am I getting good?

I had a thought and looked where my newfound pace would place me, on the basis of last year’s Warrington half marathon. The Warrington half has the cantilever bridge and a some long, dragging hills, so it’s not a given, but if I could hold my current PB, that would put me in the top 20, and a podium for my age group! It’s all pie in the sky at the moment, but I put on Twitter “Got to be said though, I much prefer working towards results, rather than half-arseing a finish.”

That thought kept playing on my mind. The Warrington half is in 10 weeks, so I can train for the hills a bit. But if I was to continue training, next year I could be top 10 overall! I really, really, like that thought. Old, useless, duffer me, actually in the mix! I’ve decided to postpone the 100 mile run for next year. That is just too long. It would take me years to get in contention for that. It would just be aiming for a “finish”, but at half and marathon distance I can aim for a good result. If, over 14 months, I can drop 50 seconds a mile, over hills (that’s two big asks) I could actually win. It’s a massive goal, but so were all the others before I got stuck in. So, no lack of ambition, as usual. Lets see if my body will cash the cheques my gob is writing. It’s all exciting stuff for me though.

After the idiot run debacle I decided I need something with a wide fit and lots of toe room. These have just arrived.

They aren’t “super-trainers”, they are just supposed to be comfortable, everyday, plodders. I’ve not run in them yet, (today was speed intervals) but they feel nice and roomy.

Another big change is Bozo has been given the push.

Not before the, in no way biased, media had a last desperate attempt to sway tories

Huzzah! Twitter has been buzzing for days.

I dug out the appropriate attire

And then he finally announced he has resigned. But not for another 3 months. Grrrrrr.

The garden is coming on nicely so I took some snaps.

It’s all a bit jungle-y and not organised, but there are nice bits all over.

These are going to look great when they grow in. Two named hostas (the mixed bunch I got was a con) and two named ferns.

Wendy has just finished with another bad bout of plague weakness. Horrible thing. I had just broke the 10 stone barrier, I was feeling smug, job done, when it smashed me as I was riding to the shops. All weak, sweating and panting. I troughed my bodyweight in biscuits to try to make it go away. And now I’m back on the diet. At least mine was just a one off.

I’ve got a test of resolve next week. Work have been starting me at about 09.30-ish. To fit in an 8 mile run (get up, shaved, coffee, stretch, go for run, stretch, shower, food, go to work) takes me 3 hours 5 minutes. It’s a bit earlier getting up than I’d like, but I can do my run while I’m still fresh. Next week I have two 07.25 starts and an 08.00. Meh. I’m not getting up for those. Which means I have to do an 11 hour shift, ride home, then force myself out for a run. It’s good discipline training, I suppose.

I just wanted to record my new plans (and share some schadenfreude) so a bit of random Twitter and I’m done.

The American situation reached hideous levels.