Chilly one, and a bit of a plod

It wasn't a leap out of bed morning this morning. Rather, it was a drag oneself out, and psyche oneself up one! Bloomin' chilly out, crystal clear sky, and ice on the cars. Not to mention the pavement! The ice crystals sparkled prettily like scattered diamonds in the moonlight. Sounds poetic, but made for careful foot placement and the odd readjustment. Heard on the radio that we're coming up to "the first cold spell of the Winter". Bugger!

It was a bit of a plod too, compared to the last couple. Friday mornings are rapidly becoming my least favourite running mornings. Probably because I like to have a couple of beers after karate on a Thursday night, mind you!

Still, compared to the last couple of weeks it was still reasonably quick, it's just compared to this week where it wasn't so much so. Pleasing.



Music: playlist on random, so muchos Rob Zombie, Murderdoll and Hellyeah

Monday revisited

But three seconds quicker. Hah, not that I'm competing against myself yet, just felt good, and turned out a wee bit quicker. Probably down to me sprinting (well, jogging quicker) up Hervey Woods on the way home. Felt good this morning!

Need to change it up though, I'm runnning the same route too often. Difficult, due to street lighting and the dark, but needs doing. I'll have a play on Friday, maybe. The weekend will be a longer run, so that's okay, I'll come up with a route for that. Hopefully it won't be as windy as last week!



Music: playlist of mp3, including Rammstein, Rob Zombie, Hellyeah and System of a Down

Faster and better

Thought it might be a tough one this morning, having had legs of lead after yesterday's horrible, horrible effort. Yoga yesterday lunchtime revitalised them somewhat, and I slept like a tired log last night, so it wasn't as bad as I perhaps thought it would be.

Went off harder than I have of late, and although it felt tough part way in I tried to keep it going. Pretty good go, looking at the mile pacings on the graph. Still a load of work to do, and just over two months to go. Somwhere around eight or nine weeks! Crikey!

Keep building, keep running!



Audio: Infinite Monkey Cage - physics v chemistry

Technology sucks; blowing a gale

Went from bad to worse this morning.

Stuck some new podcasts on my phone to listen to; it crashed and wouldn't find them. I rebooted it, made it work, and headed out. It crashed about a mile into the run, losing all my run data, and resetting the podcast (hence the plot of the run from maymyrun, not the import from sports-tracker).

On top of that, it was blowing a gale. Like a proper gale, and running up the bypass into a head-on gale sapped virtually every last atom of energy from me. The rest of the "run" was slow and tortuous, and I truncated my originally planned route to get home quicker. Wimped out? Yes.

Still, five miles isn't bad, I guess.



Podcast: Iain Abernety - a plethora of martial musings

Raining

Nearly didn't go out this morning. Nearly! Came out of the bathroom to the sound of fat raindrops on the skylight and that was nearly enough to persuade me to slip back under the quilt and enjoy the warmth for a little longer.

However... come March 25th am I going to bottle it because it's raining? Nope. I'm going to man up and front up, and that's exactly what I did this morning. Stop being such a pussy.

So, laced up and went out. Wasn't actually raining that hard; more of a mental barrier than anything (although that's not to say it couldn't have suddenly got a lot heavier!), but it was pretty chilly with it.

Usual route, not quick, and didn't really enjoy it. Had its moments, but generally felt like a slog. I'll be glad to see the back of this week from a running perspective, and start anew next week.



Music: Rammstein. A good choice - Rammlied came on just as I was feeling a bit crap, and drove me home. Great track!

Chilly, and a Tuesday?

I think this might be the first time I've been running on a Tuesday morning. I'll have to check back, but I'm reasonably sure. Tuesday is normally a lie-in day following a Monday run; I didn't go out yesterday because of a niggling pain in my left knee after Sunday's epic effort.

Anyway, up and at 'em this morning, and around "the loop". All felt good, if a tad chilly. As always, the shower and coffee post-run were the best bits!



Audio goodness from the Infinite Monket cage podcast again!

Long

Boom! Long one. I think it's the longest one I've ever done; a ten kilometre yomp around Coalville. Meant to go out yesterday, but was lazy and didn't . So made up for it this morning, jogging around in the freezing cold for an hour. Well, just under an hour, which was nice.

Lots of hills, lots of ice, and some wondering about whether or not I was going the right way! I planned the route on mapmyrun.com which is an ace tool, and the elevation profile looked relatively flat. The trouble with tools like that is that a couple of clicks is another couple of miles, and it's easy to click it from the comfort of one's desk - less easy when you've got the trainers on.

Still, feeling good! Enjoyed the shower, and scrambled eggs on toast, when I got back.

Music: random. Loads of good stuff, and some less suited to running!

Shorter!

Bit of a struggle this morning. Had a few post-karate drinks last night, and dragging myself out of bed this morning too both willpower and mastery over the snoze button, which I think I hit twice without even realising it.

Anyway, out did I go, and cold it was. Bit of a poor effort in terms of distance, and not much better in terms of pace, but it was a run nonetheless. Just under a couple of miles, and a quarter of an hour.

Still, intending to go out tomorrow and put in a good distance, so that'll make up for this morning, hopefully.

Still, went out and ran.



On the mp3... guess what? Infinite Monkey Cage again. First time I've not managed to listen to an episode all the way through though!

Longer

A good one this morning, getting on towards that five mile marker. Bit damp and drizzly out, and not the warmest either, but given that this time last year we were under a foot of snow then I guess I can't complain too much!

New route today, along the bypass, then down into Coalville past Jacqui's house, past Snibston Discovery Park, and then through the town centre, up past Hermitage Hotel(where we got married) and the Vic pub, then back along the bypass and home the way I came. Half toyed with heading back via Silver Street and through Whitwick village - not sure how much more distance that would have added (a quick mapmyrun tells me it would just push it over the five miles point), but decided to head back as time was getting short. I'll have to start getting up earlier for longer runs. Well, that or run quicker!

All good, pleasing morning. Cracking omelette for breakfast too, courtesy of my wonderful wife.



More "Infinite Monkey Cage" podcast fun - I'm running out of those now. Have to find something else, I like the distraction.

Damn the darkness

Route options are pretty limited at the moment. It's dark, and I don't dare venture off the well lit highways to find more interesting routes, for a couple of reasons:

• The uneven terrain of bridleways and footpaths makes it more likely that I'd roll an ankle (or worse) and knock myself out of valuable training time;
  

• Unlike many runners who wear hi-vis jackets and so on, my running kit is predominantly black. There are many times when looking and moving like a ninja is desirable, however, not when there is possibly oncoming traffic!

So it was around the tried and tested South Whitwick loop again this morning, a relatively enjoyable jog just under three miles. No problems, no dramas. All good in the 'hood.

As a side note, went to a yoga class yesterday - thoroughly enjoyed it. Didn't know what to expect, but it was quite uplifting, and challenging at the same time. My balance needs work!

Podcats: Infinite Monkey Cage

Fourth one this week, and I enjoyed it

Saturday morning running, eh? Headed off at about half nine, in the greyness. Something of a contrast from the crystal clear morning running of the week; daylight, but barely, and no sky to speak of. Wanted to run over three miles, and ended up putting in a comfortable 3.6 miles. I could have gone further too, but it was drizzling, and I'd taken a wrong turn once, so I called it off and headed home. Happy though - felt easy running.



Day off from running tomorrow - going to a yoga class at lunchtime. Looking forward to that, although not entirely sure what to expect!

Music / podcast: Infinite Monkey Cage (again).

Bit of a slow plod, but felt better

Was umming and ahhing this morning about how far to go, if at all, as I'm planning on running again tomorrow. Plan A was to go for an easy mile and a half, just to keep the engine ticking over, as it were, before extending myself somewhat more tomorrow. However, I forced myself to start slowly today, and actually found that for the first time in this sequence of runs I was enjoying it.

So I loped round the south loop gently. Slow time, over ten minute miling, I think, but easy running and enjoyable. Starry skies again, no cloud or rain; perhaps we've turned a weather corner? We shall see. Pretty chilly still though.

Right, that's the first week of running under my belt; feels like I'm back. Got some building work to do, some progression, and some longer runs to nail, but twelve weeks sounds like long enough, fells like long enough!

Let's hope it proves to be so.



Music: once again, podcast. Once again, Infinite Monkey Cage. The one about philosophy and science today!

Still not fun yet

There was an argument in my head this morning. A little devil was trying to convince me that the warm, cosy bed was the best place for me to be for the next hour, while a little angel was telling me that the wind had dropped, it wasn't raining, and if I didn't get up and go running I'd regret it.

The angel won.

So while I didn't exactly leap out of bed, I was up with the lark (in stark contrast to yesterday when my alarm malfunctioned) and pounding the pavement under crystal clear star-lit skies. Still not really feeling 100%, and the running is taking it out of me quite a bit at the moment. The shower when I got back was glorious though, and I'm enjoying my coffee a lot too!

So, getting on for three miles. That's the plan for this week, so another similar one on Friday. Then on Saturday morning the intention is to post a three and a half miler, or so, and build from there. Saturdays are going to be the long runs, and I'm currently planning (in a sort of rough, back of the fag packet kind of way*) to hit eight miles on Sat 25th Feb, although I might be there before then. We shall see. Then up to ten miles, then ten plus, then an easy week, and then the thirteen on March 25th.

Bring it on!

Oh, and another podcast morning. More Infinite Monkey Cage. Enjoying it, it's more distracting than music, although it can make me laugh out loud occasionally, which is both distracting to my running, and makes me look like a mad fool. Ah well!



* given the lack of smoking in recreational places such as pubs, will the saying "back of a fag packet" fall out of use? What will replace it? "Doodles on a smartphone"?

Well bugger me that was tough

First run back after more or less a month off, due to being a bit poorly, and Christmas. It was always going to be a "no-fun" run, but I didn't expect it to be this tough! Over two and a half miles though, in a brief window of sunshine in this most rainy of Winters!

March is looming, and thirteen miles seems a long, long way at this point! Onwards...

Broke with tradition and listened to a podcast as I ran, rather than tunes. Interesting, but not as motivational. I might get used to it though.



Music: none. Podcast: The Infinite Monkey Cage: what has the North ever done for us?