The second race is now only two days away.
As you will have seen from my previous post (what, you haven't read it? scroll down now!) I did so much better in the first race than I expected that I decided I had to up the challenge - six 10K races are no longer enough! I'm still going to do six events, but they'll be longer and more varied in type. The "60km to Lourdes" title is no longer strictly correct, but I don't know yet how far I'm actually going to travel, so I'll keep the name for now.
My initial plan was to do a ten miler, but I am afraid I missed the registration deadline. The best alternative I could find to keep within the 'one-race-a-month' plan was the Dunsfold Park Duathlon, which takes place this Sunday at 12:30. The format is a four and a half km run, followed by a 15km cycle, then another 4.5km run. Not too scary, but still a step up in competitive level, and I haven't ever taken part in a cycling race, so this could end badly...
Also, my preparation for this one has not been so good. Obviously I had less time to prepare for this race, coming relatively soon after the first one. But the major issue is I'm still recovering from Iain's stag last weekend:
I know what you're envisaging - a night of drunken adventures, dressing the stag up as a schoolgirl and trolling the least salubrious establishments available. Well, you're almost right. In fact it was a five day odyssey consisting of rock climbing, drinking, abseiling, drinking, jumping into rivers, drinking, mountain biking, drinking, hill walking, drinking, sailing, drinking, outdoor cookery, drinking, go-karts, drinking, fried breakfasts, drinking and finally a night in Blackpool, drinking some more. In that time Iain was a monkey, cave-man, sailor, bunny, schoolboy, mermaid and turtle. Well done to Huw, Lex and Bill for organising it all. I'm not sure how we survived, but we did. The Lake District may never be the same again.
Since then I've had to take a day off work sick for only the second time in five years, and my normally indomitable training companion is, if anything, even worse. He had a throat infection that nearly knocked him out of the first race and it seems to have returned, so I may be competing on my own.
How this will affect my performance I don't know, but I'm aiming to finish in 90 minutes. Again, wish me luck!
PS: The sponsorship website is still available at : https://www.bmycharity.com/V2/60kmtoLourdes
Friday, 17 April 2009
Race report
Hi everyone,
I realise I've rather neglected this blog, sorry about that. There's a good reason for it though - I started a new job, bizarrely back at Lehman Brothers, but now working for the Administrators. I won't go into details as it's all boring accountant stuff.
So here I am, two days from my second race and I haven't even reported on the first race! Obviously, I finished, but importantly did way better than I expected. My original goal when I started training was simply to finish - I'd never run that far in my life, so just getting over the line was an acheivement.
As the big day approached, thanks largely to being pushed by my training partner Iain Clark (more on him later) I realised that I could hope to do considerably better than just finishing. Iain encouraged me to do 10K training runs much earlier in my training schedule than I'd planned, and by the time the race rolled round I realised the challenge was to crack one hour. That meant running at a average pace under 10 minutes per mile, something that I really struggled to do. In my best training run I managed the 10K in one hour and 2 minutes, and felt like death.
On the day the excitement of the event carried me through and I finished in 55 minutes 55 seconds, prodly running in my royal blue Catholic Association polo shirt! For that stunning success I have to thank Iain again, my pace-setter, even though he unsportingly sped off in the last 500 m to finish 11 seconds ahead of me. I also have to thank JoJo for ferrying me to and from the race, bullying me to train, and generally being supportive and wonderful.
After the race I was exhausted, but still capable of moving about and talking, which was a bonus. I also got a shiny medal (see my facebook profile picture) and a bag of sports drinks. The atmosphere was great, the organisation of the race only marred by some delays in getting the timing chips read and results uploaded to the website. The whole thing was organised by 2:09 Events, and was really enjoyable. Race report and official results are here: http://www.209events.com/event.php?event=90
I left the Brooklands venue incredibly pleased with myself and the result, but also knowing that I had to stay ambitious. I now knew that six 10Ks wasn't enough of a challenge. But where to go from here? That's the subject of my next post.
In the meantime, please go and donate lots of money on my website:
https://www.bmycharity.com/V2/60kmtoLourdes
I'm over £350 including offline donations, but I'd really like to get over the £500 mark!
I realise I've rather neglected this blog, sorry about that. There's a good reason for it though - I started a new job, bizarrely back at Lehman Brothers, but now working for the Administrators. I won't go into details as it's all boring accountant stuff.
So here I am, two days from my second race and I haven't even reported on the first race! Obviously, I finished, but importantly did way better than I expected. My original goal when I started training was simply to finish - I'd never run that far in my life, so just getting over the line was an acheivement.
As the big day approached, thanks largely to being pushed by my training partner Iain Clark (more on him later) I realised that I could hope to do considerably better than just finishing. Iain encouraged me to do 10K training runs much earlier in my training schedule than I'd planned, and by the time the race rolled round I realised the challenge was to crack one hour. That meant running at a average pace under 10 minutes per mile, something that I really struggled to do. In my best training run I managed the 10K in one hour and 2 minutes, and felt like death.
On the day the excitement of the event carried me through and I finished in 55 minutes 55 seconds, prodly running in my royal blue Catholic Association polo shirt! For that stunning success I have to thank Iain again, my pace-setter, even though he unsportingly sped off in the last 500 m to finish 11 seconds ahead of me. I also have to thank JoJo for ferrying me to and from the race, bullying me to train, and generally being supportive and wonderful.
After the race I was exhausted, but still capable of moving about and talking, which was a bonus. I also got a shiny medal (see my facebook profile picture) and a bag of sports drinks. The atmosphere was great, the organisation of the race only marred by some delays in getting the timing chips read and results uploaded to the website. The whole thing was organised by 2:09 Events, and was really enjoyable. Race report and official results are here: http://www.209events.com/event.php?event=90
I left the Brooklands venue incredibly pleased with myself and the result, but also knowing that I had to stay ambitious. I now knew that six 10Ks wasn't enough of a challenge. But where to go from here? That's the subject of my next post.
In the meantime, please go and donate lots of money on my website:
https://www.bmycharity.com/V2/60kmtoLourdes
I'm over £350 including offline donations, but I'd really like to get over the £500 mark!
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
Uncomfortably Numb
Oh wow. This is going to hurt.
I just came off the treadmill after running four miles, for the second time in two days. I ached all over this morning, so it was a real effort to climb onto that machine today.
I felt OK when I started, but once I hit my old friendly 30 minute mark I started to feel it again. Suddenly I was very aware of my breathing, the acid in my legs, balancing even starts becoming conscious. It's official, I still hate running.
Right now I'm just feeling a bit numb. There's no pain, but I feel like it's waiting for me, and I'm going to stiffen up completely over the next 12 hours. Oh well, no one said it would be easy.
I know there's quite a few runners in my network, so if you've got any recovery tips I'd really like to hear them!
I just came off the treadmill after running four miles, for the second time in two days. I ached all over this morning, so it was a real effort to climb onto that machine today.
I felt OK when I started, but once I hit my old friendly 30 minute mark I started to feel it again. Suddenly I was very aware of my breathing, the acid in my legs, balancing even starts becoming conscious. It's official, I still hate running.
Right now I'm just feeling a bit numb. There's no pain, but I feel like it's waiting for me, and I'm going to stiffen up completely over the next 12 hours. Oh well, no one said it would be easy.
I know there's quite a few runners in my network, so if you've got any recovery tips I'd really like to hear them!
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Tuesday, 10 February 2009
Training update
Sorry it's taken me so long to get around to posting another entry on this blog, but I've been busy training and job-hunting.
The way I'm organising my training is so on Sunday evenings I think about how much I did the previous week, how fast and far etc, and try and figure out if I feel horrible, in which case I'll do the same thing for another week, or if I feel OK, in which case I'll up either the distance or the speed. This should get me up to the 6 mile level in time for my first race, but it's probably still going to be slow!
It's been going pretty well so far. This is the fourth week of training and I'm doing three miles at 4.2 mph. That takes about 43 minutes, which coincidentally is just the right amount of time to watch "The Biggest Loser" on Sky2 if you fast forward through the adverts. I know it's junk TV, and normally I don't watch any reality TV shows, but I don't care!
I've also lost a couple of pounds, so although my diet still isn't where i want it, I'm moving in the right direction.
Another good bit of news is my friend from University Iain Clark is joining me on the first race at Brooklands. Iain's always been fitter than me, so I doubt we'll be doing the same pace throughout, but at least he'll be there at the start and the finish!
I'll finish by urging you once again to go and make a pledge at my fundraising site, it really is for a very good cause.
The way I'm organising my training is so on Sunday evenings I think about how much I did the previous week, how fast and far etc, and try and figure out if I feel horrible, in which case I'll do the same thing for another week, or if I feel OK, in which case I'll up either the distance or the speed. This should get me up to the 6 mile level in time for my first race, but it's probably still going to be slow!
It's been going pretty well so far. This is the fourth week of training and I'm doing three miles at 4.2 mph. That takes about 43 minutes, which coincidentally is just the right amount of time to watch "The Biggest Loser" on Sky2 if you fast forward through the adverts. I know it's junk TV, and normally I don't watch any reality TV shows, but I don't care!
I've also lost a couple of pounds, so although my diet still isn't where i want it, I'm moving in the right direction.
Another good bit of news is my friend from University Iain Clark is joining me on the first race at Brooklands. Iain's always been fitter than me, so I doubt we'll be doing the same pace throughout, but at least he'll be there at the start and the finish!
I'll finish by urging you once again to go and make a pledge at my fundraising site, it really is for a very good cause.
Saturday, 31 January 2009
The donation website is ready
Hi everyone,
As I mentioned in my last post, there's now a website set up through which you can make your pledges - click here to go to it.
It's a really good cause, so please visit this site and donate a few quid.
Thanks!
John
As I mentioned in my last post, there's now a website set up through which you can make your pledges - click here to go to it.
It's a really good cause, so please visit this site and donate a few quid.
Thanks!
John
Monday, 26 January 2009
Training begins and a reality check
Hello everyone, and thanks for the messages on Blogger and Facebook. This journal is going to be on both sites at the same time - isn't Web two-point-oh great?
After spending the weekend sitting in a chair in a hotel function room looking at powerpoint slides I decided I had to run today, no excuses. What made me feel more determined is I weighed myself and I'm in even worse shape than I thought. Apparently three months without serious exercise plus Christmas has taken it's toll, and I'm topping out over 112kg. That's 17 stone 9 in old money.
At the moment my training is just running on the treadmill in my living room while watching TV. It's a nice way to get into it - it's really discouraging to be pounding the pavements when you feel like you're going at tortoise pace and you know you look like you're about to have a coronary. Also you have to guess how far you've gone and how much further there is to go, you have to stop to cross roads and you have to deal with different slopes and surfaces, as well as pedestrians, cyclists, dogs...
Basically, on a treadmill you can just plod away and rack up the miles, getting used to running constantly for as long as you need to, and you've got the TV to distract you. Obviously I'll have to start road-running before the first race, but for now I'm just working on getting my basic level of fitness up where it needs to be.
At the moment my limit is pretty much 30 minutes, in which time I cover about 2 miles. That's probably worth about 340 calories, so not bad, but I tend to hit the wall pretty soon after the 30 minute mark, so I really need to improve if I'm going to survive a full 10K- at my current pace that will take more than an hour and a half.
However, while I know I've got to get better, I'm consoling myself with the memory of not being able to run for ten minutes at a time, only a few years ago. And I was a bit lighter then! I started off running for ten minutes and wanting to die, but I did it three or four times a week, and pretty soon it wasn't that bad. So I upped it to fifteen minutes eventually, and kept going progressively like that. It sounds simple, but it took months to get to the point where I could run for a whole half hour!
So that's the general plan with the training - up the distance gradually, and try increase the speed too.
Of course, if I have less weight to carry around, the running will be easier and faster, so I'm going to have to start looking seriously at my diet soon. Everyone who knows me knows I love to eat, especially the bad stuff. I'm not averse to a bit of salad or veg, but given the choice I'll usually go for meat and pasta, or a sandwich. This is going to be hard, so if you've got any tips that have worked for you, please leave a message below, I'll really be interested in hearing what you have to say.
After spending the weekend sitting in a chair in a hotel function room looking at powerpoint slides I decided I had to run today, no excuses. What made me feel more determined is I weighed myself and I'm in even worse shape than I thought. Apparently three months without serious exercise plus Christmas has taken it's toll, and I'm topping out over 112kg. That's 17 stone 9 in old money.
At the moment my training is just running on the treadmill in my living room while watching TV. It's a nice way to get into it - it's really discouraging to be pounding the pavements when you feel like you're going at tortoise pace and you know you look like you're about to have a coronary. Also you have to guess how far you've gone and how much further there is to go, you have to stop to cross roads and you have to deal with different slopes and surfaces, as well as pedestrians, cyclists, dogs...
Basically, on a treadmill you can just plod away and rack up the miles, getting used to running constantly for as long as you need to, and you've got the TV to distract you. Obviously I'll have to start road-running before the first race, but for now I'm just working on getting my basic level of fitness up where it needs to be.
At the moment my limit is pretty much 30 minutes, in which time I cover about 2 miles. That's probably worth about 340 calories, so not bad, but I tend to hit the wall pretty soon after the 30 minute mark, so I really need to improve if I'm going to survive a full 10K- at my current pace that will take more than an hour and a half.
However, while I know I've got to get better, I'm consoling myself with the memory of not being able to run for ten minutes at a time, only a few years ago. And I was a bit lighter then! I started off running for ten minutes and wanting to die, but I did it three or four times a week, and pretty soon it wasn't that bad. So I upped it to fifteen minutes eventually, and kept going progressively like that. It sounds simple, but it took months to get to the point where I could run for a whole half hour!
So that's the general plan with the training - up the distance gradually, and try increase the speed too.
Of course, if I have less weight to carry around, the running will be easier and faster, so I'm going to have to start looking seriously at my diet soon. Everyone who knows me knows I love to eat, especially the bad stuff. I'm not averse to a bit of salad or veg, but given the choice I'll usually go for meat and pasta, or a sandwich. This is going to be hard, so if you've got any tips that have worked for you, please leave a message below, I'll really be interested in hearing what you have to say.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Friday, 23 January 2009
Introduction
Hello everyone, and welcome to the first post in my "60km to Lourdes" blog.
I'm fund-raising for the Catholic Association, who do some great work in taking sick, disabled and elderly, as well as able-bodied people together on pilgrimage to Lourdes in France every year.
Many of you will know I've been involved with this organisation for over 12 years, and through them I've had some of my most enjoyable and life-changing experiences, and met some of my closest friends - plus of course my beautiful girlfriend Jo-Jo!
The work they do is also incredibly valuable, as you'll see if you visit the website. They've been running for over 100 years, and I want to do my bit to give something back.
I was thinking about what I could do to raise some funds over the last few weeks. In the past I've been involved with organising several sponsored walks, which started with just me, my Dad, and Matt Betts, but quickly grew to be a significant group event. What would be a new challenge? Well, one up from walking is running, right?
So I thought I'd do a sponsored 10K. I've been meaning to get fit and do a 10K run for a while.
Then, I don't know why, but I suddenly decided I'd do SIX 10Ks, one a month from March to August, in the run up to the CA's 2009 pilgrimage to Lourdes - hence the title of this blog. Unfortunately, I've told a few people about this now, so I can't back down!
Here's the thing though: I don't like running. I HATE running. At seventeen stone, I am not built to run. Guess I'd better start training...
Part of this blog will be to detail my progress between now and the final race in August. I hope you'll tune in from time to time to follow my progress. I'll be posting lots of photos, and all my results as I go. If you want to sponsor me I'll be setting up a donation website, details to follow in a later post.
My first race will be the Brooklands 10KM on 29th March. Wish me luck!
I'm fund-raising for the Catholic Association, who do some great work in taking sick, disabled and elderly, as well as able-bodied people together on pilgrimage to Lourdes in France every year.
Many of you will know I've been involved with this organisation for over 12 years, and through them I've had some of my most enjoyable and life-changing experiences, and met some of my closest friends - plus of course my beautiful girlfriend Jo-Jo!
The work they do is also incredibly valuable, as you'll see if you visit the website. They've been running for over 100 years, and I want to do my bit to give something back.
I was thinking about what I could do to raise some funds over the last few weeks. In the past I've been involved with organising several sponsored walks, which started with just me, my Dad, and Matt Betts, but quickly grew to be a significant group event. What would be a new challenge? Well, one up from walking is running, right?
So I thought I'd do a sponsored 10K. I've been meaning to get fit and do a 10K run for a while.
Then, I don't know why, but I suddenly decided I'd do SIX 10Ks, one a month from March to August, in the run up to the CA's 2009 pilgrimage to Lourdes - hence the title of this blog. Unfortunately, I've told a few people about this now, so I can't back down!
Here's the thing though: I don't like running. I HATE running. At seventeen stone, I am not built to run. Guess I'd better start training...
Part of this blog will be to detail my progress between now and the final race in August. I hope you'll tune in from time to time to follow my progress. I'll be posting lots of photos, and all my results as I go. If you want to sponsor me I'll be setting up a donation website, details to follow in a later post.
My first race will be the Brooklands 10KM on 29th March. Wish me luck!
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