Disaster struck this week as I attempted to shave my head using some clippers - 8 months without a visit to the barbers appears to encourage birds to nest. Unfortunately my idiots guide to electricity was unavailable and so I burnt out the motor on the clippers halfway through. Finding a maggot in your food and equipment failure mid hair cut - both better not started than half finished. I would like to thank all the people who waited until my hair was cut before they told me that they liked it the way it was before. Thanks for nothing.
I managed to get in 33 miles of running this week and the knee problem seems to have cleared up. Don't get me wrong they still hurt like buggery, but only in the usual way. Assuming no further accidents it looks like all systems are go for the British Veterans National Track Championships next weekend.
Since my last post I've fallen off the waggon repeatedly and, as is typical, had a really good time each and every time. Can something that is so good be so bad, I wonder. When it comes to serious training it's definitely true so I will be reverting to my monk-like behaviour from now on. Apart from the night out on the 10th of July perhaps....
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Friday, 19 June 2009
The Insanity Of The Sensible
No point getting old without getting wise I suppose, so I haven't run since last saturday. After a couple of days rest the knee actually got worse - a strange form of sod's law if you ask me. Since then it has gradually improved to the point where I'll start running again on sunday assuming I haven't succumbed to the inevitable beforehand and drowned myself in ale.
Many would argue that an enforced mid-season break is a good thing - they of course being idiot soldiers of the silver lining brigade with their leg in plaster. Personally, I have found it incredibly frustrating - to the point where I almost applied the universal rule of "fuck it" and laced them up anyway. The Veteran National Championships are on the 4th and 5th of July so this break has come at just about the worst time possible. Still, maybe an enforced mid-season break is a good thing.......
In the meantime I have given some thought to some alternative forms of income as it seems that my tenants believe paying rent is a contractual option and the sponsorship / prize money will take a while before it is rolling in (a while meaning never, of course). So, I have decided to do some tennis coaching - a few hours a week being sufficient without actually feeling like a job. As an extra supplement I have also started some "private equine investing" which keeps a bit of cash flow rolling in, just like the old days.
I'll confess there was a brief moment this week where I considered an adult occupation once again, just after I'd got out of the passenger seat of this thing:
Friday, 12 June 2009
Wagon Sores - 6 Months On
Wednesday was a day of note for a couple of reasons. Firstly I ran my first track 1500m and secondly it signified 6 months since my last alcoholic drink.
While the latter seems little to celebrate the achievement has to be measured against the fact it's the first time I have gone that long since my first proper drink at 15 - which involved half a bottle of Teachers whisky and a tour-of-the-town pukefest. My reason for stopping was purely to facilitate training and because I was getting a bit fed up of 4 day hangovers. What started off as easy, just got easier until the nice weather arrived. Just lately however, there has been a bit of the green-eyed monster as I walk past beer gardens. Unfortunately I come from the Magnus Magnusson school of drinking - I've started so I'll finish -and I'd end up being wheeled out of there.
Good job I have the running to concentrate on. I ended up having 4 days off running because of my knee injury, at the end of which I had developed a nervous tick and a bad case of tourettes. It was a case of run or go insane so I did an easy 4 miler on tuesday and raced the 1500m on wednesday night. Initially I had planned to run the 400m also but felt that would be pushing my luck.
The race itself posed an interesting challenge. I have done no VO2 max or faster training yet my natural 'talents' lie towards the faster end of things. I decided to play safe and ignore the other runners and try and run an even paced 4:25 to open up the season. Unfortunately, in my ignorance this meant the humiliation of trailing at least 10 metres behind the other 12 runners for 2 laps. The good news is that I ran the last 800m in about 2:11 and worked myself up to a semi-respectable 7th place in 4:14.10. Pretty happy with that, particularly as in hindsight I could have afforded to go a fair bit quicker in the first half of the race. Now it's out of the way I can aim for more aggressive splits in the future.
Now it's a case of waiting to see what the knee decides to do next as it's behaving very strangely!
While the latter seems little to celebrate the achievement has to be measured against the fact it's the first time I have gone that long since my first proper drink at 15 - which involved half a bottle of Teachers whisky and a tour-of-the-town pukefest. My reason for stopping was purely to facilitate training and because I was getting a bit fed up of 4 day hangovers. What started off as easy, just got easier until the nice weather arrived. Just lately however, there has been a bit of the green-eyed monster as I walk past beer gardens. Unfortunately I come from the Magnus Magnusson school of drinking - I've started so I'll finish -and I'd end up being wheeled out of there.
Good job I have the running to concentrate on. I ended up having 4 days off running because of my knee injury, at the end of which I had developed a nervous tick and a bad case of tourettes. It was a case of run or go insane so I did an easy 4 miler on tuesday and raced the 1500m on wednesday night. Initially I had planned to run the 400m also but felt that would be pushing my luck.
The race itself posed an interesting challenge. I have done no VO2 max or faster training yet my natural 'talents' lie towards the faster end of things. I decided to play safe and ignore the other runners and try and run an even paced 4:25 to open up the season. Unfortunately, in my ignorance this meant the humiliation of trailing at least 10 metres behind the other 12 runners for 2 laps. The good news is that I ran the last 800m in about 2:11 and worked myself up to a semi-respectable 7th place in 4:14.10. Pretty happy with that, particularly as in hindsight I could have afforded to go a fair bit quicker in the first half of the race. Now it's out of the way I can aim for more aggressive splits in the future.
Now it's a case of waiting to see what the knee decides to do next as it's behaving very strangely!
Friday, 5 June 2009
2009 Split Into Pieces
In 2009 I arrived late at the party with regards to running - fortunately not wasted and covered in sick like I would have a few years ago. So this year, although I am following a plan that periodises my season, it is one that's necessarily abbreviated starting in February and ending in September.
The concept is the same as a full season in that it's split into blocks, each building on the previous and each introducing a new training emphasis while maintaining the previous. The theory behind this being that it will lead to an utterly heroic peak come the end, while reaching said peak in a safe and progressive way. Let's ignore the fact that I appear to have fucked my knee up yesterday and temporarily ignore the slings and arrows of real life which get in the way of cunningly planned theory.
The season is divided as follows:
Phase Length Emphasis
Prep: 4 weeks. Conditioning body to volume
Base 1: 4 weeks. Building mileage, maximise long run, slow tempo work.
Base 2: 4 weeks. Maintain mileage, slow / medium tempo work.
Base 3: 4 weeks. More medium tempo work, greater emphasis on basic speed.
Threshold: 5 weeks. Fast tempo work and increasing basic speed, some repetitions.
VO2 Max: 5 weeks. Intervals and repetition work.
Peak: 4 weeks. Heaviily reduced mileage and races.
Post: A Few Days. Getting wasted and eating McDonalds.
It is advisable to modify your training paces every 4 weeks or so as the body will frequently take that long to adapt, and also to take advantage of increase fitness. To do so I run a race at least every 4 weeks and derive new training paces from those performances (based on a 5k time or a 5k equivalent time).
Needless to say none of this matters when you are sitting with your heavily iced knee, overdosing on anti-inflammatories with your leg elevated on a beanbag. What do I know....
The concept is the same as a full season in that it's split into blocks, each building on the previous and each introducing a new training emphasis while maintaining the previous. The theory behind this being that it will lead to an utterly heroic peak come the end, while reaching said peak in a safe and progressive way. Let's ignore the fact that I appear to have fucked my knee up yesterday and temporarily ignore the slings and arrows of real life which get in the way of cunningly planned theory.
The season is divided as follows:
Phase Length Emphasis
Prep: 4 weeks. Conditioning body to volume
Base 1: 4 weeks. Building mileage, maximise long run, slow tempo work.
Base 2: 4 weeks. Maintain mileage, slow / medium tempo work.
Base 3: 4 weeks. More medium tempo work, greater emphasis on basic speed.
Threshold: 5 weeks. Fast tempo work and increasing basic speed, some repetitions.
VO2 Max: 5 weeks. Intervals and repetition work.
Peak: 4 weeks. Heaviily reduced mileage and races.
Post: A Few Days. Getting wasted and eating McDonalds.
It is advisable to modify your training paces every 4 weeks or so as the body will frequently take that long to adapt, and also to take advantage of increase fitness. To do so I run a race at least every 4 weeks and derive new training paces from those performances (based on a 5k time or a 5k equivalent time).
Needless to say none of this matters when you are sitting with your heavily iced knee, overdosing on anti-inflammatories with your leg elevated on a beanbag. What do I know....
Friday, 29 May 2009
Crash and Buuuuurn
As a pre-teen I supported Liverpool football team, even to the extent that I forgave Kenny Dalglish for his appalling attitude when signing my overpriced lampshade in the local co-op. Nowadays I have seen the light, refusing to take an interest in the tediously spoilt and intellectually retarded "professional" footballers.
However, one thing has always stuck in mind - partly because of its irony given their childish histrionics. In the tunnel leading out to the pitch was a quote from the Kipling poem 'If' which reads: "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same". I had cause to think of that as today’s 5k race was a bit of a disaster in contrast to last month’s triumph at the same venue.
Incidentally I can only assume Kipling liked his beers because the only instance I can think of where you can treat triumph and disaster the same is to respond to them by getting plastered in the pub. As I no longer drink I’ll go ahead and treat them differently and moan like a bitch rather than the usual gloat.
Conditions were hardly ideal as it was breezy and felt very hot, but nothing extreme and as I wasn’t factoring them in too strongly beforehand it would be unfair to blame them in hindsight. What is true is that I never really felt comfortable and even at the 1km marker had the feeling that it was going to be a very long day. Everything seemed a little harder than it should including clearing my nostrils - but with the resulting output not quite clearing my shirt.
The race splits tell the story far better than graphic language could: 3:15, 3:19, 3:23, 3:32 and 3:39 to finish in 17:10. I must admit on the final incline I felt as though I was laying a railroad over the River Kwai.
It’s a shame for my performance to soil my debut in my Riverside Runners (local club) vest, although in some ways the run matched the shirt. I don’t know who designed the damn thing but it looks like a dress – or the perfect shape to fit over a beer belly. I look ridiculous in most clothes but this one fits around the chest and then turns into a maternity shirt around the middle. Fortunately the wind wasn’t too strong today as I had enough sail around my middle for a Mary Poppins impression.
However, one thing has always stuck in mind - partly because of its irony given their childish histrionics. In the tunnel leading out to the pitch was a quote from the Kipling poem 'If' which reads: "If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same". I had cause to think of that as today’s 5k race was a bit of a disaster in contrast to last month’s triumph at the same venue.
Incidentally I can only assume Kipling liked his beers because the only instance I can think of where you can treat triumph and disaster the same is to respond to them by getting plastered in the pub. As I no longer drink I’ll go ahead and treat them differently and moan like a bitch rather than the usual gloat.
Conditions were hardly ideal as it was breezy and felt very hot, but nothing extreme and as I wasn’t factoring them in too strongly beforehand it would be unfair to blame them in hindsight. What is true is that I never really felt comfortable and even at the 1km marker had the feeling that it was going to be a very long day. Everything seemed a little harder than it should including clearing my nostrils - but with the resulting output not quite clearing my shirt.
The race splits tell the story far better than graphic language could: 3:15, 3:19, 3:23, 3:32 and 3:39 to finish in 17:10. I must admit on the final incline I felt as though I was laying a railroad over the River Kwai.
It’s a shame for my performance to soil my debut in my Riverside Runners (local club) vest, although in some ways the run matched the shirt. I don’t know who designed the damn thing but it looks like a dress – or the perfect shape to fit over a beer belly. I look ridiculous in most clothes but this one fits around the chest and then turns into a maternity shirt around the middle. Fortunately the wind wasn’t too strong today as I had enough sail around my middle for a Mary Poppins impression.
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
A Man’s Reach Should Exceed His Grasp
This may well be tempting fate in advance of the Serpentine 5k on Friday but it’s time to put my season targets up for public consumption. After all, no one appreciates someone gloating over their vanquished targets at the end of the year when their existence cannot be verified. For the British readers in particular it’s also better to know how far short someone fell so the levels of piss-taking and general scorn can be adjusted appropriately.
Although I am training primarily for the 5k this year I will be competing over a number of shorter distances also, partly because it’s good training and partly because my philosophy is, as some ex girlfriends would attest, the quicker and sooner finished the better. The season will end in September.
So, without further ado and with accompanying drum roll:
400m: 51.0
800m: 2:00
1500: 4:06
3k: 9:00
5k: 15:50
10k: 34:30
Those of you paying attention will notice that, in relative terms, the target times get worse the further I go, despite the fact my training is orientated towards the longer distances. The main reason for this is, whether I like it or not, physiology plays a pretty major part in race times. I am predominantly a “fast twitch” runner, which essentially means that my muscle fibres are more suited towards speed than endurance. I suspect my ancestors had a postal round in high density housing rather than having to cover a large expansive estate!
The net effect being that my expectations must be higher (and goals more challenging) the shorter the distance. Having said that, I am old man now and it will be interesting to see whether I retain any speed. If not, I will be in the ridiculous situation of being a fast-twitch runner with no speed. All hail the Eunuch porn star.
Although I am training primarily for the 5k this year I will be competing over a number of shorter distances also, partly because it’s good training and partly because my philosophy is, as some ex girlfriends would attest, the quicker and sooner finished the better. The season will end in September.
So, without further ado and with accompanying drum roll:
400m: 51.0
800m: 2:00
1500: 4:06
3k: 9:00
5k: 15:50
10k: 34:30
Those of you paying attention will notice that, in relative terms, the target times get worse the further I go, despite the fact my training is orientated towards the longer distances. The main reason for this is, whether I like it or not, physiology plays a pretty major part in race times. I am predominantly a “fast twitch” runner, which essentially means that my muscle fibres are more suited towards speed than endurance. I suspect my ancestors had a postal round in high density housing rather than having to cover a large expansive estate!
The net effect being that my expectations must be higher (and goals more challenging) the shorter the distance. Having said that, I am old man now and it will be interesting to see whether I retain any speed. If not, I will be in the ridiculous situation of being a fast-twitch runner with no speed. All hail the Eunuch porn star.
Thursday, 21 May 2009
Squeeze The Lactate
When you're employed and squeezing in workouts before breakfast or after you've commuted home you're less likely to notice their varying quality, or at least you are more inclined to blame the boss for your shitty workout. I don't have that excuse and although I continue to blame the wind there is more to it than that.
I've noticed that every few weeks I have a week of sub par training. Nothing too terrible but a week where the effort seems too great and the reward too little (see also: housework, work, dealing with government agencies and life in general). The good thing is that this is usually followed by a period of increased fitness. Last week was the former, running 62 miles but ending with a jaw-droppingly poor long run at pensioner pace. This week I'm experiencing the latter with a 5 mile tempo at 6:00 pace (hilly, windy) on tuesday and an encouraging 10k pace session today. This, no doubt, is the train, recover, compensate cycle that often goes unnoticed.
The 10k pace session is a new (to me) form of lactate threshold (this has nothing to do with pregnant women!) training recommended by the coach Antonio Cabral. Fast twitch runners (of which I am most certainly one) often struggle with long continuous tempo runs. His recommendation is to split it into 10k pace 400m repeats followed by 100m recoveries jogged in 45 seconds - to be run continuously. Must admit it worked pretty well today as I comfortably managed 5 miles of 10k pace running hitting all the paces for repeats and recovery.
Unfortunately my chronic stitch has decided to make an unwelcome reappearance. Any quality run further than 3 miles seems to bring it on and it can be totally crippling. I've tried everything to shift it including strange aural and visual solutions - all of which seem pointless as well as embarrassing. So, for the time being I will continue to ignore it and hope it will disappear - it seems to work with beggars, politicians and double glazing salesman.
I've noticed that every few weeks I have a week of sub par training. Nothing too terrible but a week where the effort seems too great and the reward too little (see also: housework, work, dealing with government agencies and life in general). The good thing is that this is usually followed by a period of increased fitness. Last week was the former, running 62 miles but ending with a jaw-droppingly poor long run at pensioner pace. This week I'm experiencing the latter with a 5 mile tempo at 6:00 pace (hilly, windy) on tuesday and an encouraging 10k pace session today. This, no doubt, is the train, recover, compensate cycle that often goes unnoticed.
The 10k pace session is a new (to me) form of lactate threshold (this has nothing to do with pregnant women!) training recommended by the coach Antonio Cabral. Fast twitch runners (of which I am most certainly one) often struggle with long continuous tempo runs. His recommendation is to split it into 10k pace 400m repeats followed by 100m recoveries jogged in 45 seconds - to be run continuously. Must admit it worked pretty well today as I comfortably managed 5 miles of 10k pace running hitting all the paces for repeats and recovery.
Unfortunately my chronic stitch has decided to make an unwelcome reappearance. Any quality run further than 3 miles seems to bring it on and it can be totally crippling. I've tried everything to shift it including strange aural and visual solutions - all of which seem pointless as well as embarrassing. So, for the time being I will continue to ignore it and hope it will disappear - it seems to work with beggars, politicians and double glazing salesman.
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