THE GOOD BUCK

It’s been an odd month. After the marathon I had 3 weeks of recovery training, then I started the Camille Herron training plan. I’ve been on that for 2 weeks. It’s the last day of May tomorrow, so it’s been a quiet month. I’m not sure about the new plan. It’s 6 days a week training, about 8 mile every day, with a specialist day (intervals or hills or whatever) midweek, the rest all easy runs (some with strides) and a long run at the end of the week. My problem with the plan (apart from having to get up to do an 8 mile run before and 11+ hour shift) is it just doesn’t feel like I’m pushing myself. With the Advanced Marathoning one you bloody well know you done a bit. It’s a 16 week plan so I don’t officially start it for another 5 weeks. I’m cycling through the first 7 weeks then I’ll do a test half marathon. If I’m making significant gains I’ll start from week 1 again. If not, switch back to AM, it’s brutal, but I know it works for me. Also I’ve got runner’s knee (I think). Just a general soreness under my kneecaps, mainly the right one. I’m going to see the physio next Monday. He said it sounds like an inflamed tendon. That sounds treatable. As someone on Twitter pointed out, whatever he advises, I’m best doing it immediately if I’m to have the best shot of recovery and still smashing my goal. I don’t like this limbo. I know all the pros do 80/20, and amazing times, but I just want to know I’m not losing all my fitness and speed. I’ve got an 8 mile progressive speed run (warm up for 20 minutes, 2 min at 8.45, 2 at 7.45, 2 at 6.45, 20 minutes cool down) on Thursday. I’m off work (so far). I might do 20 minutes, flat out 5K, 20 minutes. A 5K is not overly taxing on my body. I don’t know if it’s a fair test after 3 weeks light duties and 2 weeks easy training, but if I was faster I’d take it as a good sign, so early in the plan. I’ll see what Twitter thinks. Then do it anyway.

I’ve been getting a bit frantic lately. As usual. I’m in a bit of holding pattern at the moment. I’m still on the recovery phase of my training, work are still only giving me 2 shifts a week, and I don’t need to buy anything so I’ve nothing to obsess over/ fixate upon. I’ve got all this free time while I’m not doing much training, next week I start a 60 mile, 6 days a week training plan and work will be kicking in very shortly. They put up a sign in the office about new procedures that are going to be implemented as the new machinery comes online, and the agency have sent a text asking for anyone with holiday plans from July to let them know now. So they are clearly expecting to be snowed under with work. I was looking at it, it’s only been 5 weeks of 2 shifts a week. It seems like forever. I was talking to one lad about it and he said he’s had a couple of weeks with no work at all. When it all kicks in and I’m trying to fit runs in around shifts this will seem like a great time. I was bored and looking at other work today. To my surprise there are other jobs out there now. There wasn’t anything comparable to my current job a few weeks ago. There was one by which I was really tempted. Monday to Friday, 09.00- 11.00 starts, trunking to Bridgewater (Somerset) and back. But it runs from Skelmersdale. So, buy a motorbike (yay!) commute 40 minutes in, 12 hour shift, 40 minutes home… Oh. Damn. No training, no life, just a good start time and a nice trunking run. I did that for Booker when I was on the Didcot run. Tons of money but I was getting literally depressed, it’s just not worth it. I’ve bookmarked the site that’s advertising the good jobs, just in case, but I’ll wait it out at my job. As the manager said, they didn’t spend all those millions of pounds for the machinery not to have it running flat out. When it goes online, and they start importing more and more work, I reckon I’ll be fighting with the agency to get my days off again. As I say, last week of (shortened) recovery, next week I get to test out Camille’s plan. … It’s been a week since the above and I’m training again and I’m out of the manic phase. I was driving Wendy crazy with it. And myself, obviously. Strange how these things are all-consuming, but the second it’s over you forget all about it. I’d forgotten until I came to update my blog and read it. Like the plague weakness bouts. While I’m OK I make training plans and don’t give it a thought. Within 24 hours of it smacking me again I’m thinking “this is my life now, it’s never going away. Just one bout after another. […]

Not being able to see the ‘phone I’m just guessing here, but here’s a few things to try. Get to the part about the Wifi. Turn it off and on again as described, wait for a second and your Wifi should appear at the top of the screen, make sure you are clicking on yours, not “Grogu is a Sith”. Yours should be written on the back of your router. Before I changed the name of our to Grogu is a Sith it was BTHub6-F9WH Then when it asks you, enter the wireless password (ours is kJLeiYGeuht, note the J, L, Y and G are all uppercase) Enter it. Press back button or the square one to return to the home screen. After a minute you should see you are connected to wifi. The left hand icon at the top right is your wifi strength, the bars, two over, is your ‘phone network strength (for when you are away from wifi). If you have wifi icon you are connected. To test it, swipe your home screen to the left of the right until you come to a search bar. If you’ve not got one, pull up from the bottom of the screen and look through your apps. Click on the big G (might have to swipe left or right, might not be on the first page) Tap on that, then in the search bar, type any old rubbish, if it shows results, you have wifi. Then go into your Gmail. That will ask for you email address, enter it, then the password for Gmail. That should be it. Try ringing your landline. Don’t fret about it. Ask one of your church chums to help you out. It’s a lot easier to do when you can see what’s happening. Ask them to put Duolingo spanish, app on and Whatsapp. Then you can get on Wendy’s prayer group. Once it’s set up it’s pretty basic. It’s getting it set up. Again, don’t worry about it. Here, to cheer you up. I asked Twitter if anyone had done the 100 mile run I have my eye on next year, and if so, what was it like. It’s 4 different 25 mile loops or legs. Lots of encouraging and positive reviews from the men and women who’d done it, then this:

I’ve given up on motorbikes. There. I’ve said it. I had the urge to change to a cheaper bike. I was thinking a Honda VFR750, I’ve had a few of them. They are relatively cheap, brilliant handling, very comfortable and have an absolutely bullet-proof engine. I listed my bike for sale and was driving myself mad, frantically weighing the options for my next “forever bike”. I had a bit of a shock when I stumbled across an article saying the new standard petrol, E10, being 10% ethanol (sugar based bio-fuel) gums up the jets on carburetors, rots the rubber seals, and soaks up water vapour so will rust your tank from the inside. Super. Modern, fuel-injected, vehicles are fine with it. Not so, ’90s carb-ed, VFR750s. Apparently some petrol stations are continuing to supply super unleaded, which is just 5% ethanol. Bit of an eye-opener though. Anyway, I was going frantic, weighing different options. Then it struck me, whichever bike I get I just don’t need it, and won’t use it. And if it’s got carbs even 5% ethanol will be damaging it if it’s not used. Just like that it was over. A dealer has rung me up and agreed to pay the full price I paid for my Daytona, I’ve listed my fancy leather jacket on eBay, and cancelled my knee-down training course and got a refund. I’m keeping my old, workhorse, leather jacket, (trousers, lid, gloves, etc). If I have to get a job where I need to commute I’ll be getting a bike again, but for now, at the very least, it’s over. And, I’m selling my boat. Yes, I know, Wendy was right all along. *sigh* It’s just one more club to which I can’t face going. As with every martial arts club, triathlon club, running club, Russian class… I’m screwing up my courage to return to the club, assemble the boat, take some pictures, and get rid of it on eBay. Clean sweep. Rid of everything that’s costing me money and I’m not using. Then I can relax without the threat of the boat club weighing on me and without an expensive bike, looking pretty and being pointless, sat on the front. I have my carbon fibre push bike and fancy resistance trainer collecting dust in the shed, but I’ve already paid for them, and I’ll doubtless swing around to triathlon again. If I sell them at a loss I’ll only have to buy them again next time. Which brings me around to training again. I’m supposed to be on a 5 weeks, light duties, recovery phase. I’ve still not got much work (supposed to be kicking in this month) so I’m bored witless. I’m doing weeks 1, 3 and 5 of the recovery. That’s more than enough. The plan I bought from the world record holder, Camille Herron, is 16 weeks long, so that gives me 7 weeks between recovery and starting it. To make sure I’m not putting all my eggs in […]

I’ve been putting off updating my blog because today was the test, the proof of the pudding, Blackpool marathon. I went with my latest trainers. Nike were having a sale of the original, benchmark, super trainers so I thought I’d give them a go. They don’t spin my legs up but they are very springy and the reviewers said they leave you feeling fresh at the 20 mile mark so you can start to push on. I only got them last week, when I was already in taper, so I was taking a gamble on them as I hadn’t tried them over any distance. Weird looking things, but feather light and very springy. Since ASICS have messed their sizing up I’ve gone from one pair of trainers at a time for all these years to this: Anyway, it was all or nothing today. I was after a 3 hours 15, but I’ve been nervously watching the weather forecast all week and it’s been “windy with very windy gusts”. It was along the seafront at Blackpool, it’s nothing but gusts. The final verdict this morning. The race was supposed to start at 09.00. That’s tough running weather. 13 to 17 mph winds, gusts of 21 to 27 mph. Tough. This is what 27mph gust looked like yesterday. I was not looking forward to it. I set off quite fast but got tachycardia within the first mile. I wasn’t expecting that. I wanted to run through it, but I just couldn’t. I had to stop for 2 minutes to get it settled. First mile. What a bummer. I got back to it and worked my way through the pack. The wind was killer for about 6 miles in one direction, and you had to do it twice. Tough, tough. I gritted my teeth and pushed on. I finished in 3.16:59. That’s with the two minutes lost to tachycardia, and against awful winds. I’m well pleased with that. It was only a small field of runners (355 for the marathon) but I finished ahead of the first woman runner (that’s never happened before), 41st overall, and third in my age group. An age group podium! Me! That was a good day’s work. And very encouraging for my goal of a sub 3. In other running news, someone on Twitter just did the Manchester to Liverpool ultra. A 50 mile race between the two. And posted pictures of himself on Latchford locks. I’m far too easily lead. A few hours later I’d signed up to next year’s race. So I’d better smash this sub 3 pretty quick to get on to distance training. My new training plan has arrived from Camille (the woman who’s setting all the records). I wanted to try her plan because mine has no easy days. Modern thinking is all about 80/20, 80% really easy, 20% flat out. My plan has no easy. It clearly works, but I’m worried it’s smashing my body too hard. Overtraining just leads to burn […]