Falling behind

Had a bit of a cold over the last week, coupled with a bit of traveling, so I haven't been out for a proper run for a few days. Popped out for a couple of very quick miles yesterday to and from the shops, putting in 2 X 5:30 miles which was fun. Potentially will head out tonight before football tomorrow, but not certain yet.

It is however 16 weeks til the big race, according to the emails I've received from the organisers so time to step up my fundraising. I've got a justgiving page http://www.justgiving.com/charlie-croft so get yourselves over there to donate! Already doing well and I've not even asked most of the people I know: if everyone can give a few pounds I'll get to that target of £1500 easily. All the information is on the site about the charity, Crohn's and Colitis UK, and how they help sufferers, and why I've chosen it.

Monday running

Trying to catch up with where I was, I did a longish run on Monday, after some tiring football matches on the weekend. Went out with JohnO, hunk of man that he is, which was great as, again, I was struggling for motivation to get out the door. Headed out towards the sea and back with him, stealing swigs from his water bottle and then I popped back down south towards the science buildings and back to add a bit further on top of my run. It was a good run, and I felt particularly good for the last 2 miles, that is until I bashed my elbow against a metal pole as soon as I got back to the busy streets of town which kind of put a downer on the whole thing. Today my right tricep is a bit sore for some reason and I have to head home so I'm not sure whether I'll fit in a run today or not. Shorter distance than the last two weeks, but on the plus side no blisters, no blister plasters, feel-good factor and the exercise illuminati say that it's only when recovering and resting that you make your big steps, so I'll count this as a recovery. The Edinburgh Marathon team emailed everyone today saying that there are only 16 weeks to go. 4 months. In 12 weeks I hope to be running practically marathon distances so that's not far away at all...

8.8 miles
01:17:10
Conditions: Good
Mood: Ouch

And another

Just a short one again, but I guess it makes up somewhat for missed days.

1.53 miles

Two's company?

Aiming to do two runs today. One down already, out with Matt E going on a short, quick dash.

2.66 miles
00:19:57

Conditions: Good to soft
Mood: One down...

Just popped out...

And now popped back in. Had the day off yesterday to play football, outfield partially so it counts as some sort of fitness, and unfortunately my boots rubbed very badly on both my achilles tendons, so they were incredibly sore when walking in shoes. Not pretty to look at either, lost a few layers of skin. However, when the suitably macho John "The O" said he was going out for a run this evening, I could not let him down and wrapped my feet up, put on my comfiest shoes (apart from my Eeyore slippers) and headed out into the night. We went under 3 miles but at a decent pace, which was good since I didn't want to be on my feet more than necessary (having been told by another runner that their similar problem took months to get sorted!). It was also nice to go out with Johno again, having not run together since before Christmas.

In other news, the Big Bird is suffering from some kind of continental illness, which explains his lack of appearances.

No time since I forgot my watch
2.78 miles
Conditions: Dark
Mood: Happy

Still going

Fear not sports fans, I have not fallen by the wayside, just another failed fitness fanatic on the roadside. I have in fact been out running two of the last three days (inclusive) and played football on the other day. On Tuesday I went out for a run after the Monday long run, accompanied by the football team's midfield string puller, a kind of Cesc Fabregas with a comedy clown wig on, Mister Josh. I am incredibly grateful to him for wanting to go about 5 miles, since I would have been inclined to put out a cowardly 2.7 and leave it at that. We went around Arthur's Seat at a fair rate of knots and had some in-depth discussions about sport and youth of today, training tactics, running cadences and many, many more topics. The flies following us were very interested. Personally I was pleased to have followed up a distance with a decent number of miles the next day, and was also impressed with Josh's running, especially on the down-hills.

4.79 miles
00:40:05
Conditions: Cordial
Mood: Intellectual

Keep moving forward

Today was an inspirational day. I went out running around Arthur's Seat, which is quite hilly, for the first time since coming back. Joining my was the one and only McGurtos, Latin-American's footballer extraordinare, and training to help raise funds to help kids who don't know how to play football. We trotted round at a decent pace, and I got to practice downhills a bit. After about 4 miles McGurtos headed home and I looked out to the rest of the run. It was fine up until about mile 7 when I started to feel like I'd been running for 7 miles. I passed Cartwright who was coming back in as I was still heading out, and it was nice to see him out and about. Last night he'd said that he had a swollen knee so probably wouldn't run far; 8 miles put paid to that idea.

Cartwright's fit, a great runner and physically strong, but that's not what's so impressive. His real strength is all in his mind. I'd hazard a guess he's one of the most mentally strong people I know. Look at it this way: he didn't need to go out today, and definitely didn't need to go on a long run which would be hurting him most of the way. This might say more about my mindset than his, but I suffer on a long run and that's when I've got all my body parts functioning fine - there's no way I'd go out with a bad knee. OK it could be risky, but that's why he's one of life's winners - he has the strength to force himself on. He's also an all round lovely guy and decent bloke with it, so I'm sure he won't mind if I promote his justgiving page (but only after I've plugged mine of course!)

As I hit mile 9 I really started to struggle. I don't know what it was but clearly this was going to be a tough run. I don't think it was so much physical as mental; that little voice kept on saying that I could just stop here, or maybe stop at X rather than Y, only a little bit before the end. It's tough at times dealing with that, especially out at the back end of a run on your own. Luckily, as I was climbing up a hill a wee Scottish kid and his sister were passing, and he gave me a thumbs up and said "Don't worry, you'll make it!" On I went and, what do you know he was right, I did make it, although only because at one point Rocky appeared beside me and gave me a motivational speech. What a guy.

11.29 miles
01:35:06
Conditions: Perfect
Mood: Rising up, straight to the top...

Intervals

Not much to say. It was wet, it was late, Crystal Palace had just lost resoundingly and I went out to do some interval training. Not great fun, but hopefully it'll be useful. I was out for about 20 minutes and was pretty tired afterwards.

All the elements

Popped out again today, and since I felt I couldn't just do a really short one as the aim is to be running for quite a distance, I headed out in the drizzle and darkness to glory and glamour. It's a quirk of my mind that, about half a mile from the end, so the penultimate straight almost, running into the wind, I felt like I should just not bother. But a quick thought that as soon as I get round the bend I'll be speeding along with the wind, and focusing on that one foot then that other foot (it's sometimes tricky) gets you to that bend.

Then the wind isn't bloody blowing the direction it should be. Ah well, you lose some, you lose others. I had a bar of pure protein energy (aka a sausage roll) which made everything better.

3.97 miles
0:29:15
Conditions: drizzle, cool, dry, drizzle. Spice of life etc.
Mood: Happy

The Tortoise and the Hare

Went out this evening with some of the football team and tagged along with the running club's slow group. It was pretty slow, and though the arcane circles of running Illuminati suggest that it's "time on your feet not miles travelled" that counts most when looking to run reasonable distances, I'd prefer to cover the same distance a bit quicker, or go a bit further in the same time. Anyhow, it was nice being out with some friends again. Big Bird came, of course, and kept us going with some freestyle beatboxing which was pretty cool at times; not sure how much the rest of the group appreciated it but since we were hiding at the back it was nice to have something to entertain us.

We added a little bit on the end too and stretched out a bit there, but overall I didn't time the run (mainly because I forgot to start my watch...).

5.9 miles
Many minutes
Conditions: pretty near perfect
Mood: slothful

Out and about

Managed to get out again yesterday and mostly my feet were fine. I felt the blisters a little bit about half-way round but they're mostly healed. Hopefully today they'll be even less noticeable. It was only a short run but so long as I keep it going that shouldn't be a problem.

2.78 miles
0:20:40
Conditions: a wee bit wet
Mood: content

Demi-pause

Huge blister on the inside of the arch of my right foot so decided not to go out today since a major problem would be serious at the moment. I got hold of some super plasters (apparently) and hopefully it'll clear up in a day or so and then I'll make up the miles. So far the totals are looking reasonable considering my aims, which I'll stick up today as I've got nothing better to say.

OK so 18 weeks is the length of training time I've got. The plan is, working from a starting point where I run about 20 miles total in a week, broken down into 1 long run of about 10 miles, one day off and 5 days of shorter runs, which can be various lengths so long as I get the total mileage. For the first few weeks I'll just increase the total mileage to about 30 miles per week, extending the long run mostly.

By week 8 my long run needs to be about 20 miles and a total of about 40 miles per week.

Keep increasing the length of the shorter runs so by week 15 they are all at least 5 miles in length. That week I want to extend the long run to 25 miles so I'll be running about 50 miles per week and I'll keep that up until the race day.

That, at least, is the theory. In practice there are blisters, broken necks, being snowed under and drowning in a pool of despair while trying to find my way to the sea.

Slip slip sliding away

Today I went out with a few amigos who are fantastic. Some of them are going to run a half marathon to raise money for my charity, Crohn's and Colitis, and are getting in the zone for that. Some just want to run a bit which is great too.

I asked Big Bird if he wanted to come on a run and, surprisingly, he didn't fancy it. I suppose that's understandable since he had just this afternoon got back from his attempt to run the entire length of le grand massif. As I've said before, a bit of a hero.

The run was good; once the short part of it had finished and we'd had a chat at 2.7(ish) I headed on and followed the path to the sea. I felt a bit guilty since I'd sent a friend who is also training for the marathon this way and it was like an ice rink, but as I headed out towards the sea I passed him returning, and putting down a pretty impressive time too, so thankfully no-one suffered. My run was enjoyable, except for the time when, going uphill, I felt like Alice through the looking glass where you have to run fast just to stay in one place. Going backwards took on a new meaning in the ice! I finally made it back and met Tom again (the marathon superstar) part way home. If there hadn't been any ice it would have been an excellent run; as it was, I just about made it back in half an hour longer than I've done it in the past (excuse ahoy!).

11.72 miles
01:43:19
Conditions: ice rink!
Mood: happy as Larry!

Home turf

Back up north, back in the snow, however it wasn't too bad at all; after the long train journey I went out for a short run and it was lovely. I wore my old shoes and my ankle niggle seemed less - I guess it's partly to do with running solidly in one pair of new(er) shoes rather than rotating them. Not too much ice, a few runners about and nice to be back. I had a break yesterday mainly because of things going on, but am still aiming to put in 10 miles tomorrow afternoon. Watch this space...

2.78 miles
0:22:19
Conditions: Snoooow
Mood: Happy

A sense of balance

It's funny how some days can be awful and some can be fantastic. It rained most of the day again and I was in two minds about going out tonight, especially considering last night's difficulties. It was cold, wet and miserable. However I got out the door and set off and felt absolutely wonderful all the way through. I have no idea what made the difference, but obviously there was a yin for the yang and for something so good to follow on so quickly was lovely. It made me glad to be making the effort. What's more, the slight niggle I've been feeling in my right ankle, sort of an annoying awareness that I'm running on it, might just be down to a subconscious change in how I run, so fingers crossed I can get rid of that as well. All in all an extremely positive night, despite not going as far as the past few days. Definitely good for morale!

00:26:16
3.3 miles
Conditions: extremely moist
Mood: Euphoric!

Rain rain go away

Oh boy was today tough. It was raining hard most of the day so, after seeing that the forecast offered some hope for the early evening, I held out and sure enough a less wet spell appeared. Heading out into the night felt great, especially as I was sticking to running every day. The first half of the run was uneventful, and I felt really good going up and down hills. In fact until the 3 mile point I was considering going further, but decided against it as I didn't want to miss my tea! Unfortunately just then I hit a horrible patch - I felt rubbish, like I was struggling with the run and contemplating stopping - I couldn't even race downhill like I usually do! I don't know why, perhaps it was just jumping straight into it without having got back to where I was, perhaps I had too much going round in my head (scout meeting, job applications, how good tea was gonna taste... you know, important things) when usually I kind of zone out, but whatever it was, it made half of the last mile really tough. But we got there in the end! The last, long, uphill stretch felt really good, so it was a nice feeling to have beaten that run.

00:32:45
4.17 miles
Conditions: pretty wet
Mood: Relieved

Short and not at all sweet

Did 20 minutes of intervals today. It started to rain. Contemplated drowning.

Starting again

Just starting "the programme" for the marathon which is in 19 and a bit weeks (21st May I think) so put down some more miles today. I should be running 6 days a week and that's the plan for this week, starting today (woops!) Ideally I will run Tuesday-Saturday, take a break on Sunday and then do a long run on Monday. So I guess run Monday-Saturday, but I like to picture myself ending the sequence with a long run rather than starting it... mind games... just like when you're out running I suppose - at various points you feel great, not great, fine, knackered and then amazing. Strangely enough moods seem to revolve around hills for me! Today started out feeling good, moved onto feeling OK, then not great and finally not too bad at all to finish it up, so we can mark it down as a good one. Good to be finally getting into it for real and looking foward to the next 18 weeks or so, which is exactly the number the wise ones say you need to prepare for the big day.

5.42 miles
00:43:12
Weather: wet
Mood: happy

New Year

My first run of the new year, and first solo run for a little while, was lovely. The snow has melted back home so I was able to travel on roads, grass and pavements without taking my life in my hands. It was still light at about 1600 when I left and when I reached the common it turned out that the ground was mostly solid, with some avoidable mud. Took an easy turn around the park and headed home into the rather disappointing sunset. It was a lovely run, not too cold and not too hard. I realise my speed has really suffered from the extended break earlier so I will have to put in that hard work sooner rather than later!

5.16 miles
00:45:31
Mood: Happy

Runs, runs, runs

The family went down to the south coast for a few days and it was nice to see some new places; dad and I ran along the sea front in town, around a point and over towards a marina, then back via an abandoned railway line. It was cold but nice, and though not quite 10 miles (despite dad's best efforts to get us lost and dead by taking us down the most break-your-leg worthy cliff trail I have ever seen) it was a decent length of run to finish the year on before restarting training proper. January is when I start the regimented run schedule. I was definitely off the pace by the end of it, but that just showed it was necessary. Felt reasonably comfortable so long as I kept to my own speeds; dad has managed to keep running all through December due to working in a city which seems too hot for snow and ice and was certainly the fitter over the distance. Some work required!

About 8.55-9 miles
About 01:17:00
Mood: determined.