Training For Dayz

I've been getting back into the swing with running and training but I *think* that we may be there, FINALLY.

Since the last update there have been 6 training sessions which is around 3 a week and should be my average up until the late Bank Holiday in May for the London 10,000.

From the top:

My first run was a 1.7 mile tester, back from the car garage where Venkman was in having a service and MOT.
Average of 10:07/mile and didn't feel awful and was glad to do it all in one go. No issues, win.

A bit lax, but 10 days later I forced myself out for what would be the first of 3 runs on consecutive days. An easy 5k at 10:11/mile, couple of places where I decided to walk but nice to get a 5k into my legs and to remember that it's not as scary as I'd built up in my head after injury.
Total distance: 3.1 miles.

Next up, and the day after, I went for some more hill repeats - not a scary thing anymore! However, the hills weren't as challenging as they could have been so I'll have to rethink my route next time. Including the warmup and cool down jogs.
Total distance: 3.5 miles.

For the third day, threshold intervals were the order of the day; 15 minute warmup followed by running at threshold pace for 3 minutes, with 1:30 rest after each interval.
Total distance: 3.2 miles.

Then I missed my workouts later in the week due to going away for the bank holiday weekend, ran out of time - who knew there'd be so much to pack with a 5 month old?!
So I decided to make up for it on Monday with my long Sunday run, which according to my plan, was to be a 45 minute easy run.
My Garmin decided to pause itself for the first 3 minutes, but as it was a route that I've done before & know it's around 4.5 miles, I shrugged off the technical issue and got my head in the game.
Surprisingly it almost felt easy, an average pace of 9:55/mile isn't what I'd usually call an 'easy' pace. Maybe this is muscle memory kicking in?
Total distance: 4.5 miles.

Finally we're onto yesterday, more threshold intervals - 15 minute warmup followed by a 2x 6 minute intervals with 3 minutes rest after each. Legs felt a little tired after the long run but at the same time, it wasn't as hard as I'd expected. Pretty much hit the target of around 9:30/mile for the intervals and 10:30/mile for the recovery.
Total distance: 3.4 miles.

Couple of cross training/rest days until we kick back off on Friday with more intervals! Sub 1 hour 10k, I'm coming for you!

Sealife, Livelife

4 weeks goes far too quickly - I'd apologise for the massive gap between posts buuut, it'll probably happen again. Soz mate.

So I'd fill you in on everything that has happened, but to be honest, it's just been life. Busy with plodding along so what I can do is fill you in on the Easter bank holiday weekend.

We decided to go to Great Yarmouth to stay in a caravan, our first time away from home overnight so we were unsure how F would cope sleeping in a different environment.
Well, she didn't to be honest and you can't blame her. Poor soul is only just 5 months old and so everything is still new to her so it must have been scary to be in a different bed, with a different mattress with lots of different noises.

However, that was only one (tiring) part of the weekend; we arrived on Friday, unpacked and headed straight to Yarmouth seafront to go to the Sealife Centre!
Not only did we have a BOGOF voucher from Kellogg's, but figured that what better sensory experience that with all the fish and lights in water!

Upon stepping through the main doors, she was already alert as the sounds and was even more mesmerised as we ventured through the small, yet adequately sized Great Yarmouth branch of Sealife.

Chilling with Sting(ray) - photo by JB

We snaked our way through jellyfish, stingrays. Nemo & Dory, PENGUINS and each attraction brought with it various movements and sounds of excitement.

Tunnel Vision - photo by JB

Eventually we made it to the main attraction; the TUNNEL! And oh how she loved it, fish and sharks swimming above and around us and the biggest turtle I've ever seen!

After a quick nappy change, we headed back round on our 2nd loop (they stamp your hand so you can visit again same day, which is nice!), F slowly became less interested and gradually fell asleep. I guess you really can have too much excitement for one day!

Saturday we took her to the swimming pool for the first time and for a walk along the beach in Gorleston. A place I went as a kid and who used to do the best whippy ice cream, covered in chocolate!

A walk down the prom and F obviously enjoyed it as she was chattering away to herself the whole way, while I was catching Pokemon 😏

After deciding to cut our losses and head home Sunday afternoon, we had another swim, packed the car and hit the road.

I supposed this was a good insight into what to expect in May, when we're away for a whole week!

Hilly McHillyface

Unless you're a sadist and not a runner, I'd say that the very notion of a hill on your running route sends a shiver down your spine.

What may seem like a small mound to most people, is an incline steeper than a very steep thing and more formidable than Donald Trump's imaginary Mexican wall.
And when you're a runner in your stride and you start the laborious task of making your way to the top, the hill starts growing, the end that looked oh so near gets further and further away by the step!

How do we conquer this?! Say the voices in my head. There's only one thing for it...HILL REPEATS

I'd always avoided hills, or at least made sure they had a minimal incline, until last year when I started at Panshanger Parkrun. It's a trail course with a fair few varied hill types making it one of the reasons I'm sure I cut my 5k to under 30 minutes for the first time.

But that's not hill repeats! I hear myself cry. Bear with me, I'm purely highlighting how I've come to realise that hills make you/me/us a stronger runner!

Okay, so, hill repeats - sprint up a hill for x amount of time/distance, x amount of times with a recovery period at the end of each sprint.
For example, my set today was as follows:

• 10 minute warm up jog (very easy)
• 8x (80-90% effort) sprint up 5-6% incline for 40 metres
• 1 minute recovery after each sprint (walking back down the hill)
• Slow jog back to the start for cool down with a bit of stretching

Once a week should be fine, mix up the number of sprints you do, the distance and for the recovery, I'd up it to 2-3 minutes - I'm not sure 1 minute was enough today!

Personally, I'm going to up the distance to 60 metres next week with 2 minutes recovery, and try to be more consistent with the speed and effort on each rep.

Look at me sounding like an expert, lols. Give it a try and I'd be interested if you have any other tips? I use Kinetic Revolution for my resources and I think that you should also!

Nobody Said It Was Easy

Gosh, these posts are getting longer and longer apart, aren't they? I promise I'll try to be better at talking to myself.

So since my last post, there's been a steady progression back into the fitness lark. I've been going to Yoga every Wednesday, which for an anxious person, is a great achievement in itself but it also means getting up a 5:30am to get the gym. I'm not a morning person, but I've actually enjoyed getting up for Yoga. Well, enjoy is expanding on the truth, but I do actually enjoy it when I'm there!

Last week I also took part in a 30 minute 'express circuit' class and that was an experience. So much of an experience that I realised 2 things:

1. I'm really not fit enough for mid-high intensity activities
2. I no longer know how to use a skipping rope

And then the day after, DOMS. Oh the DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness)

It seemed as though my body had forgotten how to walk, how to function even, from the waist down. It was like Bambi on ice but with more pain. But in a weird way, it's that good kind of pain. The kind of pain that reminds you that although you think you did everything wrong, you obviously still worked out some muscles!

Parkrun has been revisited, albeit just the once so far, and today (Wednesday 15th) a 5k in the lovely sunshine around St Albans. It felt good to go out, and I'm slowly but surely feeling the joy of running again.
It was a shaky start today, legs felt heavy and I thought I was feeling a twinge in my knees but decided it was psychological. And it was, reassuring myself as I went round; 'it's your second run in 8 months. Walk a little if you need to, these are steep hills. Make up for it on the final stretch.'
Yes, I have a fragile mind as mentioned before but it's the beginning and we go again and again until we succeed. There will be hard days, there always are, and I am my own worst enemy but we'll get there...we ARE getting there.

My friend's post on Tumblr reminded me that we are all different; different levels of fitness, shapes and sizes and to just be comfortable in what YOU are doing. So do that, be more confident in yourself, even just a little bit.

In the immortal words of Zooey Deschanel:

"You gotta be kind to yourself. Badadadum, badadadum"

Sunny Side Up

Is there anything better than lazing on a sunny, mild Saturday in March, with a brew and breakfast?

Gudetama is my spirit character

Well yes my friends, yes there actually is, in my opinion that is. Not many things mind, but there is one little treat that I managed to finally drag myself back out for; Parkrun.
The popular, volunteer led, event that takes place at 9am every Saturday (pending acts of God), is the perfect start to the weekend. and all those feelings came back today.
Everyone is welcome and it doesn't matter what you think your ability is, or even what it actually is, you should definitely go and check out your local one!

Having not run for 8 months and not being in the best frame of mind, when one had woken from one's slumber, I almost changed my mind. However my wife convinced me to go as she wanted to go for a walk with F, And anyway, I had some new kicks to try out, we'll get to that in a bit.

It was my first time taking part at the Stevenage Parkrun, usually attending the Panshanger Park Parkrun and it was a perfect day for it. The sun decided to make an appearance and it was pretty mild all round, perfect running weather.
The course here is mostly paved, with only one section through the mud (compared to Panshanger, which is a complete trail route) and involves 2 laps of the lakes. There are some deceptively steep hills which makes it challenging, especially the final hill... genuinely thought I was going to vom 😷
Thank Odin's beard that I didn't!
The volunteers were as usual really friendly, cheering everyone on and the whole thing worked seamlessly. Even with the 2 laps it will definitely contend with a visit to Panshanger.

So shoes, Zapatos, Schuhe. What better way to try and convince yourself to get back into running than BUYING ALL THE KIT. Okay, so not all the kit, but a lovely new pair of running shoes, trail shoes to be precise. I figured that for wet days, Panshanger can get very muddy and I want confidence in my shoes that I won't face plant into a boggy puddle! So I went and bought myself some Skechers GOtrail and they did the job perfectly.
Bias aside, (because there isn't any, I honestly wouldn't wear them if I didn't like them!) they made me feel confident and surefooted through the small amount of mud at Stevenage.

Skechers GOtrail

They were as comfortable as the other shoes in the GOrun range, probably one of the comfiest, and a great choice for even if there's just a small patch of mud to run through. Looking forward to seeing how they handle the terrain at Panshanger Park!

Finally, a time of 33 minutes was not for me to be downhearted with, I'm mainly happy that I got round with no mishaps after 8 months of no running.
As I started writing this, I was lazing, with a brew and a hot cross bun, and a big smile on my face that I'd jumped over my first hurdle.

Breaking The Blues

I've been quiet recently, mainly due to nothing to report, but also because I've been slowly (very slowly) trying to get myself back to exercise. And busy with life, very busy. Who thought a child would occupy so much of your time?! (Disclaimer, I did know, just joking)
The reason that it's slow progress is mainly from a psychological aspect rather than any early injuries, thankfully!

Speaking of which, I always find it amazing how much of an impact the mental side of exercise can have on performance. Psychosomatic ailments can be such a hindrance to training and enjoyment of the fun of running. A large percentage of ability in running, in my opinion, is psychological and we've all had days where we don't feel up to it or find it really difficult to give it our all.

And it is this topic that I find really affects me. Not being very confident, it doesn't take much to knock me down, and having put up with back problems for 2 years (which really ground down my morale) and then suffering a recurring knee injury, I have completely forgotten any love I had for running. I've forgotten the thrill of getting up for Parkrun on a Saturday morning and the excitement of a booked race (Vitality London 10,000 in May).

A lack of confidence leads a person to a lack of motivation, the inability to find or make time. It's then all too easy to back out of any loose plans made, to convince yourself 'I'll go tomorrow' - which as most of us know, tomorrow never comes.

I have had a taster at the gym; partaking in a swim (god that was difficult), yoga (need to book again, 6:30am though...) and a Goal Setting appointment. The latter I feel (I hope) will give me a solid foundation to help me with running, whilst helping to protect my back and in turn, again hopefully, reduce or even stop my knee injuries.

Now, if I could just get over the hurdle of getting up earlier to go to the gym before work that would be lovely...if you've got any suggestions on how to do this, bearing in mind I have a small child and love my sleep, I'd welcome them with open arms!

Stevenage Beer Festival 04/02/2017

Being fairly new to the 'appreciating good beer'¹ scene, I'd not been to a beer festival until Camra decided to host one in Stevenage last year.
Also being naive because of this, my friend and I went in all guns blazing and somehow I lasted a good 8-9 hours.

This year I went in with a a tiny bit more of a plan, not so much of which beers to try (because there were A LOT and most I'd never heard of), but how I was going to manage getting through as many as possible...Thirds. Yup, this is probably fairly obvious to the initiated but pours of thirds and halves.
Yes, yes, I was an idiot last year but let's move on.

So the festival itself is located in the Gordon Craig Theatre in one of the tennis court halls. It felt bigger than last year, so much so that I thought it was held in a different hall, but alas, it was in the same room.
There are three bars, the 'Ale' cask bar with 70-80 beers, the KeyKeg bar (see info on what this is here, courtesy of Jolly Good Beer) and finally, the international bar which stocks both draught and bottles.

Here are the beers that I managed to savour:

• Hophead - Dark Star Brewing
• Black Hole Porter - Oakham Ales
• Sorachi Ace Grisette - Cloudwater
• Sünner Brauerei - Sünner Kölsch
• Amoor - Moor Beer Company
• How DIPA Is Your Love - Bexar County Brewery
• Hoppiness - Moor Beer Company
• Breakfast Stout - Founders Brewing Company

So while I'm not going to go into detail, my favourites were Cloudwater (literally smelt like rubber gloves, but tasted lovely),  and Bexar County DIPA which was dangerously drinkable at 8.3%.
However, saving best for last, both now and at the festival, Founders Breakfast Stout was fantastic! Again it was 8.3% and you could easily drink a few of these and regret it in the morning!
Disappointed to miss out on Cloudwater v11, and their Pale and Red beer, but their Grisette was surprisingly tasty even though it didn't smell it!

This festival is only a couple years old but it has already improved on its first year and has made me eager to visit on a yearly basis.
You can't fault any of the volunteers, they are all super helpful and help shape the overall atmosphere of the festival. I'd consider volunteering next year for an evening if I find myself with free time!

All in all, it's a wonderful festival. If you find yourself near Stevenage at the beginning of February in 2018, make sure you give it a go!



¹Whether it is 'craft' beer, real ale or whatever you prefer, I'm open to trying any beer but we all have our own tastes.