Man Flu

It's official, I'm still suffering with man flu. It could be a cold but it's not, it's definitely man flu.

Anyway, I knew I had to run today but accepted that a 20k was probably a bad idea. I went out with the intention of doing at least 5k and rattled of 10k in reasonable time so it's not too bad. At least I've got the cold, sorry man flu this week and not next.

I heard Ron Hill on the radio the other day (he was 70) and he's ran every day since December 1964. His advice was if you don't feel like running go out with the intention of runing as slowly as you can, after about 5 mins you'll be fine. I like that idea, today sort of proved the concept.

So, it's game on for next week now. I'm a bit gutted that I didn't do a long run but accept that it's for the best for next week. I'll do a 10 and a 5 this week rather than two 5s as I taper. It's all getting a bit exciting now. It's going on the news page on Granby's website tomorrow, they're putting a link on the Just Giving so it's worth it.

Oh dear

Woke up this morning with a sore throat. I'm a bloke so obviously it's the flu if not pneumonia.

Was planning a 10k tonight but we'll see, I don't want to jeopardise the long run for Sat so I may just feel sorry for myself tonight.

As a complete aside, poor Liz was stuck on the train for ages last night here.

Hot cakes

Well the phrase 'Going like hot cakes' has now been superseded by 'Going like Liz's cakes'. Liz's cakes were a huge hit in work, when I left there were one of each left! Must be charity cakes are calorie free. I was half expecting a lynch mob if I didn't bring any more with me today. Well done Liz.

Did a 10k last night, my legs were still tight after Sunday so I thought I'd take it easy. I did. Until 3K from home when there was another runner about 50m in front of me, he was running quicker than me on the flat but he really slowed up on gradients. I treated him like a pacemaker and did 5min ks for the last 3. It proves what you can do when you try. I shouldn't have done though but easy runs can be boring.

The raffle's underway. Just mail me if you want some tickets. Mary in work's kindly handling it for me but I'll buy tickets off her on behalf of anyone who wants them who doesn't work at Granby. You can either put the money through JustGiving or I'll hunt you down with an IOU. IT's up to you.

Confidence boost

Sorry, I haven't written for a few days.  Been a bit busy:

Anyway, I ran on Friday night after the terrible Tuesday and it went swimmingly, fantastic pace, all was well.  Thank Lordy for that!  I was seriously worried that a holiday had ruined me.  The weather was better too so that's got to help, still not sure what was going on, let's hope it doesn't happen again.

So, I was all happy then ready for a long run on Sunday.  Rattled off 18k averaging 5:19 a K which is great.  My target for the GNR is 1:55 that translates to 5:30 a k.  Feeling the effects today though, tight calves that I haven't suffered with for a while, just shows that Blackburn's a lot hillier than Lake Garda.

Liz has managed to get us a hotel in Gateshead rather than Morpeth too so that's much better.  She looks after me.  

The finishing time raffle starts tomorrow.  20p a ticket.  1st prize (closest) is a £15 Vue cinema voucher, 2nd and 3rd are boxes of chocs.  I'll post tomorrow on how to get a ticket, I'm doing it through work mainly.

Also, Liz is currently toiling away making cakes and cookies for the cake sale, unfortunately you have to work at Granby to be able to get one (or drive up if you're desperate for a cake) www.granbymarketing.com Stephen will like the free link.

Back to the training.  Final full week really, doing two 10ks then a 20 on Sunday then I taper the week after for the race so just a couple of 5s really.  It's all hotting up.

As a complete aside but they are my favourite band by far, The Killers new single's available for listening.  

TheKillers

Enjoy and check back tomorrow for raffle news.

Welcome home

Blackburn gave me a nice warm welcome tonight, the first run after returning home - it was cold, grey and raining.

Miserable.

From the off it just didn't feel good, then after about 7k I got a killer stitch. I had to stop for a couple of mins, no big deal you may think but as far as I'm concerned if you stop you're a quitter so it hurt a lot.

Carried on after that and it was fine but it was a poor time, it just felt odd. I guess there're are a few possible factors, the most likely being back at work after a week off but we'll see how it goes on Thursday.

Not very positive but there you go.

I'm readying the finishing time raffle tickets though. I'll let you know how to get them shortly.

Lessons learned

I've learned a few lessons when doing my last run this morning:

1 - If planning to run in the morning, don't stuff your face the night before, it doesn't help your motivation

2 - Overtaking people feels good even when they're older, fatter and German

3 - Melted ice cream takes on the consitstency of Evostick overnight

Having said that the run was OK, a quick 10 k'er. It wasn't much fun though, I felt like I was giving someone a piggy back all the way around due to the large amount of undigested food in my belly.

It is a great place to run though, beats Blackburn's suburban streets hands down. I'll miss it.

First run on foreign soil

Got up to be faced with a glorious morning, having spent the las two days driving through various amounts of rain I couldn't believe my luck.

So, full of the joys of mid September I strolled out of the hotel to do a long run. There's a path that runs right along the edge of the lake, it's a great place to run. Foreign runners do seem to be slower though, I lost count of the number of people I overtook, normally it's me being chased down. Gettng close to Torbole there were wind surfers, I never realised how quickly they move. They sort of race towards shore then do a hand brake turn, it looks great fun.

Anyway, I started off slowly for some reason, after a couple of k I realised and upped the pace. It was all pleasant enough until the sun came over the mountains then it became a bit harder. Did 16 k in 1:25 over a flat course though so that's a good indicator for the race.

It's roasting now though so I think early morning's definitely the order of the day.

Chrome

Did the last post on Chrome, I'm a shameless early adopter.

Worth a look though.  Here

Well atleast I don't need a shower

Got in late again but didn't feel too tired so I thought I'd go for a run to save getting up a stupid O'clock tomorrow.  We'd had a storm earlier in the day but it was nice and dry if a little overcast but it all seemed fine.

So, about ten mins in.....

....the heavens opened.  I quite like running in the rain but this was a tad heavy.  Like I say, I don't think I need a shower now.  Well, maybe I do.

I'm sure I read somewhere that tears are slightly salty.  All I can say is sweat must be far saltier 'cause it doesn't half sting when mixed with rain and running into your eyes.

Having said that, the run was quite good (think I wanted to get home and out of the rain).

Just watching a thing about super strong people.  One guy's just punched through about eight concrete blocks, he doesn't even look that strong.  Good man.

Upping the distance

Well, did a 12.5K yesterday, the first time I've done over 10K in two months. It was really easy, I'm so pleased. I've been questioning myself, my fitness, my endurance whilst my mileage has been kept down and now I know that it's all still good. I'm a happy man.

Ran good times too, 5:18 a k and it was more than comfortable, I could easily have kept going, if I keep that up for the GNR I'll break my target of 1:55 so all in all I feel pretty good about it.

Looking forward to some continental runs next week, just got to roll out of bed early in case it's hot. The scenery should be stunning. I'll try to take some snaps and post them to make everyone jealous :-)