Category: Uncategorized

We made it through another xmas. The rest of the year is gravy now.

I’m on countdown to Blackpool marathon now. Because I have Sunday/ Monday as my weekend I do my long run on Monday then have Tuesday as my rest day. Which means I’ll be starting my 16 week training plan properly on Wednesday.

Today I went for a long run. I wanted to run to Carr Mill Dam then back to Widnes. A full circuit of the two ends of the canal. It’s about 31 miles. Because it was New Year’s day, a Monday when everyone was off, full of mince pie lardiness and fitness resolutions, it was heaving. I had to stop a few times, slow down a bunch of times and weave in and out of herds of ambling pedestrians waddling along. That didn’t improve the run, but I was suffering. It was slutchy underfoot, and I was wearing un-plated, ploddy, trainers, but that’s no excuse. I lost my mojo after the Carr Mill Dam loop and didn’t do the other loop. I ended doing a 20 mile run at 8.29m/m average pace. It shouldn’t have been so hard or painful. Worrying. I’ve been having calf cramps and pains in the back of my quads on the runs lately. I’m wondering if running is mainly a quad based activity. I’ve not been cycling for a year now, and my calves are playing up. I suppose I’m going to have to set up my turbo trainer again. Maybe start cycling to work. It’s only 2.2 miles each way, but it’s better than nothing. Maybe sell my motorbike.

I saw a random tweet saying it was the last day to enter the ballot for the Berlin marathon, so on a whim I thought I’d give it a go. It’s one I fancy and the Good For Age (GFA) qualifying time is ridiculously tough. Most other marathons have it in 5 year brackets, so I’d be in 55-59 year old bracket, which for London is 3.20, and for Boston it’s a leisurely 3.25 for us old dodders (so I already qualify with my 3.17 PB). Berlin GFA is 45-59 year old (!) 2.55! I was planning on waiting until I qualify for Berlin GFA, to earn a place, but that’s a long wait for a train that ain’t coming. So I entered the draw.

Nope. Sorry you were unsuccessful this time. It was a long shot. They have something like ten times more applications than they have places.

That got me thinking about marathons I’d like to do. I read a Runner’s World article on the fastest marathons in the world.

I said that after the 10K run, then the fitness test based on it, my watch had set a bunch of predictions for my times.

The heart rate is pre-chest strap, so wildly inaccurate. My Normal maximum heart rate is about 166. Maybe a beat or two more. I was worried the predictions were all a bit optimistic so I set to testing them. It’s a flat out effort so I did one last week, one this week. Last week I did a 5K, hoping to beat the 20 minute barrier. I got a 19.52 and was made up.

Today I went out to test myself on a half marathon. That has all kinds of problems. There’s the speed, obviously, but then there’s the mental toughness to hang in when it’s hurting and you’ve got miles to go at your best effort.

I was talking to a noob runner years ago and I had to explain that she shouldn’t be worried about the miles I was doing, “After a while it’s just another mile. But starting out, and getting faster, is always hard as nails.”

Last year, when I was training 5 and 6 days a week for 10 months, I managed to get quick enough to do a 5K (3.1 miles) in under 20 minutes. It’s a bit of a benchmark. Not for the young and fast people, but for old duffers like me, running 3.1 miles at 6.27 m/m is pretty damn tough. Then I blew my target fast marathon and my training went out of the window.

I’ve been back to fairly regular (about 50 miles a week) training for the last few months, but going fast is still the hard bit. I’ve not actually completed a 5K in ages. I’ve started a bunch of them, but on some of them my Garmin was totally inaccurate so I quit, others I’ve gone fast enough in the first mile but then dropped off the pace so much in the second mile that I was on for a lousy time so I quit.

After blogging the other day about how my bike just wasn’t doing it for me, I got into a situation. I was going to town, to get some new veggie meat substitute when some cars got behind me at the lights. They were being bolshy and trying to race each other. One of them beeped their horn. As soon as the lights changed I set off in earnest. I had the front end trying to come up as I shot off. I take back all I said. That bike is a hoot if you throw the throttle open. I think the problem is I’m only doing a few miles each way to work. By the time I’ve got the tyres warmed up enough to start throwing it around, I’m parking up. If I ever want to go for a blast or need to commute, my little Honda is more than enough.

The meat substitute I just mentioned is called Fable. It’s a mushroom based product. Someone on twitter recommended it. We are seeing a lot more “not for sale in EU” on the supermarket meats now, so god knows what crap they are flogging off. Another Brexit benefit, food not fit for human consumption in the EU. The point being, I’m looking to reduce/ stop my meat intake. I know it’s what I should do for the planet, the animals, and such, but meat is such an easy food source. Anywho, I thought I’d give it a go. The Fable website has recipes so I tried their spaghetti bolognese. I can’t say definitively, because of my fickle taste buds, but on this occasion it was the best spag bol I’ve ever tasted. I think it was mainly due to the homemade sauce. That took 2 hours to make. Wendy, who has fully functioning taste buds, thought the sauce was delicious but the ‘meat’ had a bit of a tang to it.

I will be working through their online recipes. Definitely the way to go for me. It’s £4.59 for a 250g box, but the spag bol could easily do 4 meals.