Tom Roper's Running Training tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-93353 2012-02-05T22:00:17+00:00 χαιρέτε νικὠμεν. A blog started to record training for the 2005 London Marathon, and continued thereafter TypePad Running in the snow tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b79d69e20168e6c28f4c970c 2012-02-05T22:00:17+00:00 2012-02-05T22:00:17+00:00 Now Janathon is over, I am absolved from the responsibility to blog about my running every day, and to omit no detail, no matter how trifling. So I conflate four runs into one post. Wednesday: five miles, early in the... Tom Roper

Now Janathon is over, I am absolved from the responsibility to blog about my running every day, and to omit no detail, no matter how trifling. So I conflate four runs into one post.
Wednesday: five miles, early in the morning. It has turned cold
Thursday: another five miles, cold again, but these were run in daylight, so I profited by this by running off road, over to the Cuckmere and back over Seaford Head.
Friday: rest day
Saturday: swimming coaching in the morning, and the coach worked us hard–there was a new student in the group, so he set us some drills and left us to it, and three miles at twilight in the evening.

Then the snow came, and I was supposed to run twelve miles. I managed nine and a third and, though this may sound like self-justification, I believe that nine and a third over snow, some of it deep, is as good as twelve miles on easier surfaces. And the beauty of it! When I was a school-boy, if we rushed to a window to look at a snow-fall during a class, the teacher would beat us back to our desks, and the study of the gerundive, with coarse oaths, exclaiming, 'haven't you boys ever seen snow before?" Of course we had, but we had never seen this snow, on this day, and, fifty years later, those of us still alive rejoice that we saw that snow. The open fields were tracts of white, and the paths which I, six feet tall, can run down easily, were difficult to negotiate, the hedges being bent under the weight of snow. Yesterday's swimming, and the exertion of running through deep snow, drained my strength and I called it a day. Nevertheless, this week I have run further than any week since training started.

Total this week: 29.46
Four weeks to the Eastbourne half marathon
Ten weeks to the Brighton marathon

 The end of Janathon tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b79d69e20167616ffb5e970b 2012-01-31T21:55:39+00:00 2012-01-31T21:55:39+00:00 I finished in style; I had been worried I would not manage a 100 mile total in Janathon, and the planned run for this morning would still have left me short. Fortunately, I was able to organise the morning so... Tom Roper

I finished in style; I had been worried I would not manage a 100 mile total in Janathon, and the planned run for this morning would still have left me short. Fortunately, I was able to organise the morning so that, as well as the four 800m fast session, I could add extra miles at the end.

From time to time sleet fell, and when I turned into the wind I realised how cold it was. Tomorrow's run will be colder.

At the end of Janathon, like every other participant, I give three cheers for JogBlog, the stern yet benign goddess who presides over our efforts.

 Janathon: day 30: nearly there tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b79d69e20168e660929d970c 2012-01-30T21:53:19+00:00 2012-01-30T21:53:19+00:00 An early morning swim today, only 300m, but that's what the endurance programme said, and the programme must be obeyed. And it was quite taxing. Tomorrow, the last day and the last run. I would like to hit a hundred... Tom Roper

An early  morning swim today, only 300m, but that's what the endurance programme said, and the programme must be obeyed. And it was quite taxing. Tomorrow, the last day and the last run. I would like to hit a hundred miles for the month and the prescribed activity, some fast 400m runs, doesn't quite do that. Maybe I'll add a little more distance at the end...

 Janathon: days twenty-seven to twenty nine: in which I fail to tell a hawk from a handsaw tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b79d69e20168e6579611970c 2012-01-30T09:25:17+00:00 2012-01-30T09:28:15+00:00 Day twenty-seven: rest. I did nothing unless I'm allowed to count a lot of driving Day twenty-eight: swimming coaching, hard work, front and back crawl and pushing off from the wall and dolphin-kicking underwater. In the afternoon, a three mile... Tom Roper

Day twenty-seven: rest. I did nothing unless I'm allowed to count a lot of driving
Day twenty-eight: swimming coaching, hard work, front and back crawl and pushing off from the wall and dolphin-kicking underwater. In the afternoon, a three mile run; in the evening the Seaford Striders awards ceremony. The guest of honour was Julia Armstrong; she was far better than some speakers at such occasions. The point I remember most is that she told us, based on her long running career, that one can always come back from periods of injury and set-back, and run again.
Day twenty-nine: the long run, ten miles, to Bo Peep and back. The farmers are keeping their sheep off the high ground, perhaps fearing snow in the coming week. Woodpeckers drummed in the trees on the outskirts of Seaford. Once on the path to Bo Peep, I saw a bird of prey, too big for a kestrel. Even with my glasses I would be hard put to tell if it was a merlin or hen-harrier. And that was the end of the fifth week of marathon training.

Total this week: 26.28
Five weeks to the Eastbourne half marathon
Eleven weeks to the Brighton marathon

 

 The twenty-sixth day of Janathon tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b79d69e20163002cb51d970d 2012-01-26T21:12:06+00:00 2012-01-26T21:12:06+00:00 If yesterday's run was damp, today's was soaking. It began to rain as I shut the front door behind me just after 6 in the morning, and built quickly to a downpour. By the end of the first half-mile I... Tom Roper

If yesterday's run was damp, today's was soaking. It began to rain as I shut the front door behind me just after 6 in the morning, and built quickly to a downpour. By the end of the first half-mile I was soaked, cold in the wind, and I never really warmed up. My legs were heavy and tired. I went to the seafront for the last two miles, but met no other runners or dog-walkers.

 A damp four miles tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b79d69e20168e6143114970c 2012-01-25T21:05:41+00:00 2012-01-25T21:05:41+00:00 I rose, reluctantly, at 6 and went out for four miles. It rained, a weak drizzle. At the end I felt no endorphic joy; I felt nothing at all. I long for extreme weather, cold or heat, anything but this... Tom Roper

I rose, reluctantly, at 6 and went out for four miles. It rained, a weak drizzle. At the end I felt no endorphic joy; I felt nothing at all. I long for extreme weather, cold or heat, anything but this muggy wetness.

 The twenty-fourth day of Janathon: fartlek tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b79d69e201630008589e970d 2012-01-24T07:40:00+00:00 2012-01-24T18:38:32+00:00 Today I ran a three mile fartlek, with a mile warm-up and cool-down. I find fartleks hard to judge. Do I push myself too hard, or do I take it too easy? For the latter, I sometimes find, when running... Tom Roper

Today I ran a three mile fartlek, with a mile warm-up and cool-down. I find fartleks hard to judge. Do I push myself too hard, or do I take it too easy? For the latter, I sometimes find, when running a recovery section, that I have drifted off into a reverie, for example I might imagine myself in the basement swimming pool of the Royal Automobile Club on Pall Mall; the pool is empty apart from the actress who plays Isabelle so well in Birdsong. As I reach the end of a length I turn and see that her swimming costume has fallen off. Not wishing the poor girl to feel embarrassed, I strip off my Vilebrequin trunks, exclaiming, 'gosh, isn't modern workmanship shoddy? No one can sew a seam these days.' She turns to me, holds out her hand, and whispers huskily, 'Tom, chéri, there is no one to see us'.  Gently, I....and then I realise I am on my own, running on Seaford seafront before dawn, and I really ought to speed up.

 

 

 Janathon: in which I fall by the wayside tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b79d69e2016760edd302970b 2012-01-22T21:07:08+00:00 2012-01-22T21:07:08+00:00 The back continues to plague me. Consequently a four mile run today was the only exercise I have managed since Wednesday. I don't feel too guilty; better to overcome an injury early on in marathon training than succumb to one... Tom Roper

The back continues to plague me. Consequently a four mile run today was the only exercise I have managed since Wednesday. I don't feel too guilty; better to overcome an injury early on in marathon training than succumb to one later on. In any case, the schedule required a 10K race today: ridiculous. Where am I supposed to find one of those on the third Sunday after Epiphany?

So I made it out for four miles over Seaford Head. I think I may have disqualified myself from Janathon, but tant pis. This marked the end of the fourth week of marathon training, the first quarter of the programme, and I am not unhappy. I have fallen back into the habit of early morning runs, and have built up some miles. I hope, when I run again on Tuesday, to be back to fitness.

Total this week: 13.81
Six weeks to the Eastbourne half marathon
Twelve weeks to the Brighton marathon

The eighteenth and nineteenth days tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b79d69e2016760d014cd970b 2012-01-19T21:54:31+00:00 2012-01-19T21:54:31+00:00 Yesterday, a five mile run early in the morning. Today, nothing. I have been nursing a bad back since Monday, and it seems to be getting worse. What causes it? Too much driving, did I rick my back swimming back-stroke,... Tom Roper

Yesterday, a five mile run early in the morning. Today, nothing. I have been nursing a bad back since Monday, and it seems to be getting worse. What causes it? Too much driving, did I rick my back swimming back-stroke, was it when I carried a heavy load the other day?

I have had back trouble before. Twenty years ago I went to see an osteopath, a very beautiful young French woman. I had to undress, lie on a couch and be manipulated. Alas, she left, and was replaced by a sweaty Australian man. Nevertheless, I think it did me some good.

 The seventeenth day of Janathon, in which I discover some disturbing news for male marathon runners tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83451b79d69e20168e5b4b481970c 2012-01-17T21:58:19+00:00 2012-01-17T22:06:11+00:00 I always read Richard Lehmann's JournalWatch, hosted by the Centre for Evidence-based Medicine. It is always valuable, for the horticultural notes as well as for his witty analysis of the articles in the main medical journals. In the latest one... Tom Roper

I always read Richard Lehmann's JournalWatch, hosted by the Centre for Evidence-based Medicine. It is always valuable, for the horticultural notes as well as for his witty analysis of the articles in the main medical journals. In the latest one he reports on a paper in the New England Journal of Medicine on the perils of marathon running. I love, though do not agree with,  his conclusion, which I hope he will allow me to quote, ' If only the Persians had won: we might have a world free of marathons, Olympic games and unhelpful Greek medical terms like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (or such really exotic examples as paragonimiasis)'.

It seems if you're a young man, cardiac arrest will be caused by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy while if you're my age it will be the atherosclerotic coronary disease that does for you. Women don't seem to be prone to handing in the dinner pail mid-race. I have, I'm afraid to say,  run in marathons when participants have died.

Kim JH, Malhotra R, Chiampas G, d'Hemecourt P, Troyanos C, Cianca J, Smith RN,Wang TJ, Roberts WO, Thompson PD, Baggish AL; Race Associated Cardiac Arrest Event Registry (RACER) Study Group.
Cardiac arrest during long-distance runningraces.
N Engl J Med. 2012 Jan 12;366(2):130-40.

Online at http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1106468

With that off my chest, let me tell you about this morning's run. Up at 6, I went out for four fast 800m runs, with mile warm-up and cool-down, and quarter-mile recoveries. At first my legs would;t work, but I think I  managed the fast sections tolerably well, even the first one, which was on an unlit rutted lane.