Lesson No 1: Scrap any plans for cross channel swimming attempts.
Swimming in the sea is tough. It started well, the wetsuit protected me from the staggering chill but the moment I put my face in the water I ingested enough salt to raise my blood pressure to alarming levels. I quickly raised my head and adopted the side to side waggle that gets me nowhere very fast.
(I do appear in this photo - search for the black dot)
Lesson No 2: I do not require any additional buoyancy in my backside.
What with the head wiggle and the 3mm rubber padding I felt like I was trying to swim in the yoga bow position. I couldn’t seem to keep my legs in the water and am seriously considering cutting the buttocks out of my wetsuit and turning it in to a fancy set of chaps.
Lesson No 3: Waves are for surfer dudes.
I bobbed up and down fairly happily until I started seeing the incoming waves breaking on their way towards me.
Then the panic started.
I went out twice over the weekend, trying out different areas of the beach in search of calm deep water but only managed a cumulative distance of 1.5km.
I need to get myself in the pool next week and start training, I also need to get over my reluctance to put my head in open water but I’m not sure how to practice that without sticking my face in puddles.
My running seems to be oscillating wildly between run one, love one, hate one. Today was time for another “love one”, thankfully.
I wish you could tell how you’re going to feel before you set off, when I get a duff run I feel like throwing in the towel and quitting, these are runs to avoid. Today I felt the starting of a cold so nearly didn’t bother going out but it turned out to be the sort of run that keeps me buzzing about the sport for ages. I’ve set myself up for a good weekend now I’m sure.
I drew up my half-marathon plan a few weeks ago and opted for a simple Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday plan. I hit problems the moment I transferred this to my pre-existing diary full of appointments (be-fitting my social butterfly status). Training plans clashed with life this weekend as I’m heading off to the coast to try out my wetsuit. This is a vital arrangement as I haven’t been in the pool since December and need to see if the 1 mile open water carnage otherwise known as the Great North Swim is a viable option.
So, running plans were randomly jiggled and resulted in me having to go out and pull off a 7-miler.
7 miles is an awkward distance for me. My commute is a perfect 6-miler and not much would persuade me to run half a mile beyond my final destination and back again. My other running routes tend to involve ever increasing loops of the Thames but the river fording points are limited and so throw up huge psychological tests or bridges that I seem too weak to resist.
I opted to run as far as I could away from my flat and then loop back round through Richmond Park. I loaded SteppenWolf onto the iPod and fortunately it kept me occupied for about 4 miles before I realised I hadn’t a flipping clue what was going on. By that time I’d reached the point of no return and had no choice but to push on forward.
I find it a little concerning that I have to actively mess with my own head in order to achieve simple training plans but I won’t lose sleep over it. At least I’ve found another good route with limited options for bailing out.
August 14, 2008 at 10:01 pm · Filed under Rambling
Kelly Sotherton makes her bid for Olympic gold at the Heptathlon starting this Saturday. If positive thinking is anything to go by she is going to bring home the gold for team GB.
Nike interviewed Kelly about a month before the big event, nothing too unusual about that except this time she was connected to a lie detector to have her ultimate self-belief tested. Here’s the Nike promoted video, explaining the test:
Pretty convincing I think, the full test can be seen here, it’s worth watching just to see how to answer the question “do you ever hope one of your opponents chokes?”
This grotty summer weather is doing wonders for my running. It just needs to threaten drizzle and I’m grabbing my trainers, or at least I’m thinking about grabbing my trainers as I’m the world’s worst procrastinator when comes to running.
I’d scheduled a run for first thing Saturday morning but although I kept putting the garmin into training mode and heading towards the door, I didn’t actually manage to get out until 3pm on Sunday. That is some dithering! At least the delay meant it was chucking down for the best part of my Sunday pootle.
It was grey again today so I seized the opportunity to schedule another running commute and my long run for the week. The unseasonable weather meant traffic chaos this morning and I was kicking myself for leaving the bike at home when I arrived at the tube station to find it closed due to flooding. I wasn’t much happier when 6 o’clock came round and I had to start running.
Turned into a jolly pleasant run though, a bit of salsa popped up on my iPod towards the end and I managed my own personal interpretation of dancing. Things are looking up for my running if I can manage a bit of merengue after 6 miles.
For any Garmin 405 owners, there is a new firmware update. It should improve the pace reading and stop the annoying freezing of the bezel, amongst other things.
Well this half-marathon (or two) isn’t going to run itself, so I exploited the refreshing drizzle today to enjoy a mid-week river run.
The drizzle was obviously fairly heavy as the river came out to join me.
With no fording points available, I got to enjoy the rest of the run with squelching socks and shoes - kept me cool though.
It’s just shy of 9 weeks to the GNR and 10 weeks to the second half marathon of my season. My aim is to maintain enough leg function after the GNR to at least make it to the start of the Royal Parks Half but preferably the finish. This challenge isn’t about time, its about dignity and standing on your own two feet without weeping too much.
As I’m not feeling like much of a runner at the moment, I’ve doctored the Non-Runners Marathon Trainer to form a mini half-marathon plan:
Week
Mon
Wed
Fri
Sun
1
3
4
3
5
2
3
4
3
6
3
3
4
3
7
4
3
5
3
8
5
3
5
3
10
6
4
5
4
11
7
4
6
4
12
8
4
6
4
10
9
4
4
4
13.1
10
4
4
4
13.1
I cleared Kew Bridge and found myself surrounded by ducks and swans swimming on my path, they were practically bobbing around the beer gardens. This particular beast attacked my soggy foot after posing for a photo.
August 3, 2008 at 11:56 pm · Filed under Cycling, Running
Running and therefore blogging seems to have turned into quite a struggle recently. I get to the 2k point and feel as though I can’t go any further. My body feels like lumpen clay but I think my battle is as much mental as physical. Running can be a tough nut to crack sometimes.
With only 9 weeks to go before the Great North Run, I can’t afford to be struggling with 2k runs, I need to take a grip of this thing. I set out this morning on a 6k route, started whining at 2k but pushed on to the final turn off point where I managed to persuade myself to take the extended option which brought me home after 8k. A small battle won, and one that must be built on over the next few weeks.
There’s plenty of inspiration around at the moment, Speedracer has just completed her first Ironman distance tri at Vineman after months of badass training, and Rosie Swale-Pope features in this months Runners World after completing her run around the world (well she hasn’t quite completed it yet but is back on British soil after running for almost 5 years). These are people who know how to tame the quitting demons!
While I may not be running very much I’m certainly getting in plenty of cycle practice on the Brompton - I’ve got to get some speed training under my belt as I now have competition at the Brompton World Champs, Emma’s Dave has thrown down the gauntlet and must be beaten.
I’m still struggling with that saddle though. It’s beautiful and all but it’s a weapon of torture. I have it from good authority that it will weather in time, moulding itself to my own personal contours, thereby morphing into the most comfortable saddle in the world. In the meantime it is leaving me with day long pins and needles - most disconcerting.
I had an appointment with the ortho surgeon last week about my dodgy back issue and I was grilled about possible neurological complications. One of the questions put to me was “Have you experienced numbness or pins and needles in the saddle area?” Well, what could I say?
I obviously answered incorrectly as I ended up flat on my back having my bits and pieces tickled with a feather! When a guy came into the cubicle with a gloved hand and a protruding finger, I leapt off the couch and backed out pointing at my Brooks saddle and begging for mercy. I avoided the internal interrogation but still have to go and have an MRI - it would be much cheaper to invest in a gel saddle cover.
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention to arrive safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming: Wow!! What a ride!
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