42 Hours

It's getting closer and I'm still feeling relaxed. Come what may I'm just going to enjoy it - can you enjoy 26.2 miles run at a pace that you know will hurt come the end? - I can!

Again I didn't bother with training and the groin does feel better but it ain't goin' to be perfect - but I just don't care...

Thought for the day: Never look down on anybody unless you're helping them up.

The calm before the storm

Well it's just over 63 hours until I have some fun on the run in Luton. I shall be packing my Hawaiian t-shirt, my sunnies and of course, factor 78 sun-block - I shan't be getting sun burnt.

I didn't make it down the gym tonight - long day at work and to be honest, race day is so near I might as well try and rest the groin strain as much as possible. Anything I do between now and then isn't going to make much difference.

So come race day I shall be taking it - to infinity, and beyond!!!!!

Thought for the day: There is no such thing as 'too late' in life.

I'm a lady

I slacked tonight. I was going to just round the track a few times but after three laps I was bored so joined in with the young ladies - and Dave T.

We ran two 3 minute reps (they did three), two 2 minute reps and one 1 minute rep. It was all very calm and easy until that final 1 minute rep. Round to 200m I was steady, controlled and then .... I lost it big time. I turned on the after burners like you would not believe and sprinted - and I mean sprinted the last 180m. I got to within 20m of the full lap in just 60s - yes, that's 20m of the full lap - and I even started to slow down as I approached the line because I thought I'd missed the whistle.

Extrapolating that to a full lap equates to a 63s lap. And considering the first 200m was really rather steady I reckon I've got a sub 60 in me. And to quote from someone - don't know who - I probably shouldn't of done that - but it was fun.

Anyway, I'm not doing any more training before Luton. Maybe an easy jog but nothing strenuous.

Thought for the day: Quitting while you're ahead is not the same as quitting - 'American Gangster'

Bridging it

Well we managed the PB. Not by as much as we'd hoped for but 10s is 10s and the nineteen and a half minute barrier is broken. 19:15 next time and then sub 19...

I felt good tonight. Really strong. I've decided, despite the groin strain, to go for it on Sunday. I'm going to start on 21 minute 5k's and see if I can stay the distance this time. If I do I will be sitting pretty on sub three. If I don't then what the heck, there's always the next race. But at the moment I feel invincible and recalling - again - my Nepalese guru's favourite - haven't heard much from him lately - better to have tried and failed than never tried at all.

Thought for the day: You don't lose anything from trying but you lose everything if you don't try.

Monday - furthest day of the week from the coming weekend - fact

Longest ever blog title - 'ave some.

Anyway, it was an easy day for me by all accounts. Just a simple gym workout tonight, nothing more. Lift a few weights, have a bit of a natter, half an hour on the bike - you know how it is. My arms are knackered though - I think I overdid the bicep curls - can't undo that now though and I don't think it will affect my legs.

I'm all set for pacing Suzanne at tomorrow's Bridge Inn 5k. With it being so close to the Luton Marathon it's the perfect way to prevent myself getting carried and racing quick - or trying to. I'm leading the 19:15-19:20 pace group - OK, so there is no group but hopefully the weather will be kind and she can hit target and chalk up another PB. Fingers crossed...

Thought for the day: The person who says it can't be done should not interrupt the person doing it.

The day of rest

I decided not to run today. I shall be on pacing duty at the Bridge Inn 5k on Tuesday ahead of Luton so I'm not really going to be doing too much in the coming days.

I've booked my hotel in the pleasant town of Dunstable - pleasant? Who am I kidding? Anyway, the acommodation is sorted so now it's just a matter of resting, getting there and then setting out fresh and rested next Sunday morning.

Thought for the day: You're either part of the solution or part of the problem.

Perfect ten

OK, not quite perfect. In fact quite a long way from it but today's ten miler was never the less a good run. I ran around about marathon target pace. I can't make up my mind whether I found it hard going or easy. Along the flat I was cruising but the hills seemed to take the wind out of my sails. Then afterwards I headed off down the gym for half an hour on the bike. Not sure what I will have time for tomorrow - I'll have to see what I can fit in...

Thought for the day: Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow'.

Almost the weekend

Well Mike's session was over at Filton on the track - I is not doin' back to back days of that, no sir. So I went down the gym - my new, lower cost, gym to hit the bike. The gym instructors didn't like that and told me to stop or they'd phone the police. So I hopped on board instead and put in 45 minutes of hard graft. I don't know what it is but the bike's down Redwood seem to offer a much greater workout to those at my old gym. Once again my legs were a bit wobbly at the finish - all good training though. Then a quick blast on the good old, dependable concept II rower - rowing machine to the stars - and all round thoroughly bloody good work out. Then I finished off with half hour on the weights - trying to acclimatise to all the new machinery and getting the settings sorted - my biceps are aching like you wouldn't believe - I reckon my arms are two inches longer now.

I'm well and truly into my taper ahead of Luton in ten days time. I'm aiming for a relatively easy ten miles on Saturday and then I shall take it as it comes through next week.

Thought for the day (this one's a cracker): You cannot milk a cow with your hands in your pockets!?

Yellow lightning

Wow! What a session that was and not only that it was another good turn out - almost a full house - but not quite. Jamie was still buzzing from his cross country exploits on Sunday - fair play - he is a 400m man, after all.

We ran three 800's followed by three 500's and finished off with three 300's. And even though I blow my own trumpet - stop it - it was a far far quicker session that I did tonight than I have ever done before.

My times were 2:32, 30, 31 for the 8's then 93, 92, 91 for the 5's and 52, 49, 51 for the 3's. Considering my 800m pb is only 2:24 that can't be bad. And the lads were stunned by my 49s 300m - as yellow lightning came tear-arsing down the final hundred metres destroying all in his wake - monumental baby. I cramped up through the line though - but it was worth it - I got to within spitting distance of Sean and Nick.

I managed to de-cramp in time for the final one, albeit a bit slower but I wouldn't have got close to the lads on the final one anyway. They absolutely legged it. Jamie, Harry and Danny were all around 46s with Nick and Sean even faster - awesome.

I don't think I've ever run training 800's inside 2:34 before so I am slightly buzzing at the moment. It was solid, hard effort tonight. I felt light headed at times. Struggled for breath at others but stuck in there, dug deep and came away with the prize - there wasn't really a prize, lads - just the prize of personal satisfaction. Bring it on...

Thought for the day: The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.

Busy day

Another non-training day - that's three in a row. I've been busy though and it's really just been a time issue - or the lack of it. I will be training tomorrow - I wouldn't dare miss my track session. Apologies to Sean for missing Monday, as I'd promised to give him a lift - I hope he got the message via the Chinese whispers that I left - sorry mate.

Thought for the day: Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.

Easy as BMC

Didn't have time for training today - busy schedule and all - but went up to the Downs to help with the BMC Cross Country race. I got a call from an anxious Rick to find out where the generator was - I was running slightly behind - stop it - but I got there with at least a minute to spare. Then it was straight over to construction work as Me, Jerry and Dave 'Come on, the lights fading' Taylor struggled to put up the tent in the pouring raining during a howling gale - I exaggerate - but not by much. Then it was time for the racing and I dutifully put on my marshals vest and went and took my position in a far corner of some foreign field. Three hours later I was relieved of duty, cold, wet and thoroughly, terribly p@&$ed off - no, not really, but I was cold - and I couldn't feel my toes anymore - thank the lord for my Gortex shoes or they would have been wet as well.

It was a top quality field in the men's race - those at the front knew they were in a race and that's for sure - but I'm not sure who won, though - from my far flung corner I coulda seea nuffin. Still, a few runners and parents thanked me - ah, I got a nice warm glow on the inside - shame it wasn't the outside! And good to see Jamie running in the U17 race. He might not have finished first but it's the taking part that counts - my arse is it - never the less, well done to him. Sean placed sixth and it looked like he enjoyed it.

I'm now beginning to warm up but my hands are still not operating at full typing speed - maybe in an hour or two - it's all the cold blood running through my veins.

Off to the downs tomorrow for some more high altitude training with the lads...

Thought for the day: Don't let one cloud obliterate the whole sky.

Electric shock therapy...

Yes, I need to book myself in for some after three separate unintentional sheep worrying episodes - well I was in Wales! Those sheep are annoying. I was running along quite merrily - no, that sounds a bit gay - I was running soundly when two sheep popped out of the undergrowth a few metres ahead and preceded to run along the path I was following. We ran together for a bit but they just kept going. Animals are so stupid, left or right and the worrying would have ceased but oh, no, not these sheep - straight on down the track. I stopped a few times and tried to walk slowly as possible but they just kept heading on. I ended up guiding them into the trees before they eventually they hit upon the idea of TURNING OFF THE BLOODY PATH - yeh, five minutes earlier would have been a good idea to come up with that one Einstein

Anyway, I had a great run today. The weather started off overcast but within half an hour it was bright sunshine - couldn't have asked for more. The run turned out to be 26.5k - that's about 16.5 miles in old money - and around 3,000ft of ascent. I know I said I wasn't planning any of the peaks but late on I decided to go off plan and up Tor-y-foel at the end of the run - you can't go to the mountains and not run up one - it'd be rude.

There was another couple of sheep worrying incidents with the worst one being me chasing these two sheep, that had obviously escaped from a field, down a track. I was concerned I was about to herd them onto the road and in the end I had to climb into a field to go around them before re-appearing down stream and chasing the pesky devils back a ways - the things you do. Hence the need for me to get some electric shock aversion therapy.

And one more thing, why oh why oh why do some people think it's a good idea to fly-tip? Not just that, these fly-tippers were hard-core - we're talking extreme fly-tipping. These scum - yes, scum - go onto the mountains just do dump a load waste. There was a section of the run, about a kilometre long where there was just tons of dumped rubbish - it really p#@$ed me off and got me in a bad mood. But once I was clear of that I calmed down again - oh, I was so angry - I could have burst a blood vessel. Some people - don't deserve to live. Rant over.

Thought for the day: Rest satisfied with doing well and leave others to talk of you as they will.

Today's route:

Tapering

With just over two weeks until the Luton Marathon it's time to start my taper. I've had my race number come through, it's 672, with a yellowish hue and a smidgen of blue. I'll be ready to run, right from the gun, but it's only for fun and my time won't stun - blimey, I was off on one then...

...back to reality. I'm heading over the Bridge again tomorrow, to the Brecon Beacons. I'm going to program up the GPS with a 15 mile route starting by the Talybont Reservoir and heading round in a loop. I'm plotting the route using my OS maps - so I hope the tracks on the map really do exist else it's going to go all cross country on me. I did the same thing up in the Cairngorms and the routes I chose obviously don't get much use except by the occasional mountain goat - I hope these ones are better. I've tried to pick a flatish course without taking in the peaks but even then it looks like being 3,000ft of ascent - I guess you don't get flat in the Brecons.

Thought for the day: My country is the world and my religion is to do good.

Another long day

It was another long day at work but successful never the less and managed to get down my new gym at the end of it all. I signed up tonight.

I didn't get out for a run but put in 45 minutes on the bike to try to get a feel for the settings. I tried a routine called cross country. F#&k me was it ever hard - way harder than the other gyms interval session I used to do - and that was a tough session - but this was something else. When I got off my legs were jelly and I had to use all my will power to hold my posture as I walked to changing room so as to not look like a right arse - not that I really care if people think I am or look like an arse. I'm not sure that the cross country setting is going to get selected as my after run session though but it's a damn fine work out - highly recommended.

It is, I'm afraid, a feet up night in front of the telly tonight - I could be falling asleep any time soon...

Thought for the day: You shouldn't worry about the fact that other people don't appreciate you. You should worry about not appreciating other people.