We knew the course as it had been earlier in the year when we’d run mile reps around the inner perimeter on a couple of Sunday mornings.  Now it was three laps with no breaks to complete the necessary distance. There were one or two familiar faces in the crowd, including some Dulwich Runners (including Claire), and also turning up with minutes to spare was Rupert, who had cycled the 10 miles or so from Orpington.  The course was relatively flat, and as the course was on tarmac there is every potential in due course for the setting of good times. I having not run much would be pleased just to complete the distance.  A three-lap course meant that you couldn’t really see the full extent of the race in front of you, and because it was on a constant bend it made for a less interesting course than other events we’ve run. Also as you started the third lap it did make for quite a boring route. I wouldn’t want to run it every week. It was good to see other people enjoying the Park at that time of the day, from football, to military fitness, to personal training, to other joggers, cyclists, dog walkers and so on. I can see that if the event becomes more popular then there is the potential for conflict with other park users, particularly when the weather gets warmer. 

I finished the course in 22:17, which wasn’t bad.  Zoe got a respectable time also having done Body Pump on Thursday and still aching from that.  She also went on later in the morning to a Body Balance class, whilst I headed home to do some tidying up of the house.  I noted that there is another Parkrun at Herne Hill, which is just one more station up the line, which we may do sometime. 

I withdrew from the 2012 London Marathon today. Having not done enough training there is the possibility to enter the 2013 race if I re-enter in June this year.  This entirely depends on how things turn out elsewhere, which at the moment is up in the balance.

I am sad that on a day where the weather is pleasant and other people are enjoying their lives, that I spend my moments trying to understand why I am on a pathway that is seemingly sliding in one destination. I find it difficult to remember things and difficult to concentrate. I don’t know what it is that needs fixing or how to fix it although I think that it is in part how I relate to people and how I converse with and influence them in the world. What use are past achievements if having such a low self-esteem means you can’t handle life when things become a little pressured?

Work is very keen to have me back, not least because the work is there for me to help with and they keep on telling me that I’m just right for the role and was the best candidate by far. Everyone thinks that I can adapt to the role but reassures me that it will take time. I feel that the new role has put me well outside my comfort zone and now the door behind me (old role) is firmly shut.

In the time off I have reflected a lot on my skills and abilities. I feel exposed in terms of being able to have a dialogue and hold my own opinions with other people, which is compounded when I have little to add to any opening conversations with other people at work.  Also I feel that the pro-activeness which is sought is lacking. It feels like I’ve drifted and now need to take control and responsibility for my actions.

I am seeing a counsellor every week and we discuss possible episodes in my past which may be a contributing factor. What I need are the ‘fixes’ to enable me to cope. I am being referred to CBT counselling but this will take some time. On Thursday I will discuss with my GP the possibility of a return (which is inevitable really).

I started my new role on Monday. It’s “new” in the sense that its with a different team in a different business group, but “old” in the sense that its with the same organisation, in the same building, and my direct boss and our overall director are people that I used to work with.  That having been said, I haven’t “moved” roles for the last three years and so as the course of the first day progressed I started to experience a whole range of emotions and feelings that are consistent with what I have now read and heard are entirely normal, but nonetheless disconcerting.

I’ve experienced a bit of a “culture shock” with the new team, as most of the people I’ve not worked with before.  The subject matter of what I’m working on is new, although I do have a broad appreciation of the programme I’m working on.  My old job was about “steady state”, management of the finances of the whole organisation; my new job is partly about the securing the finances and governance around the delivery of creation of a ‘new’ organisation (by bringing together various bits and bobs from existing organisations and augmenting them with newly designed bits and bobs).  It also involves HR and policy matters.

This week I’ve attended lots  of meetings, and met lots of new people. I think its gone okay, from the point of view of starting to develop new relationships and to land a new network of people. The programme of work will last at least 18-24 months, and so I am to take confidence in the fact that part of the early weeks will be ‘getting up to speed’.  There are things that I know (e.g. about finance, and about how finance works in the organisation) and there are things that I definitely don’t know (e.g. about working in a change programme, working with “policy” people, and working on the passage of a Bill through Parliament).  It is for those latter reasons that I filled out the application form in November; sat the interview in December, and accepted the offer in the week before Christmas.

I feel like I’ve jumped from a high perch of being able to do my (old) job comfortably, with three years of positive track record, with being in a place where I am not totally sure of the expectations on me and what satisfactory performance looks like.  I am surrounded by people that very eloquently know lots of detail about what’s going on, and they seem to have nice portfolios of work to keep them busy. I don’t know the back-story of how the programme has been operating over the last weeks/months.  It is not as if I am the only new person on team however, as the programme is growing and whereas there are around 30 people now, this number will grow in the next few weeks.  Lots of people that I have spoken to have expressed that there is a similar period of disorientation before things “settle down” although they have also said that because it is a high priority programme, things are busy and there is a high expectation about the work that needs to be done.

I suspect however that the bulk of the reason that I worry is because of high standards that I set myself, and not wanting to be in the position of having made a bad job choice some five years ago which – coupled with being bullied by my hiring manager and it being an unpleasant corporate culture resulted in my having to take some time out for health reasons. I have been more cautious about job moves since that time, but it still comes as a bit of a surprise that I find my confidence affected so quickly after such a short period of time in a new role.

On Tuesday I stayed in the office till 7:30 at night trying to read up on lots of things. On Wednesday and Friday I was there till about 6pm. On Thursday I decided that I just needed to leave “on time”.  I was so exhausted when I got home that I couldn’t do any running. No running for 5 days in a row – that’s a record and unexpected rest period. Perhaps that partly played on my anxiety levels. I was very glad to go to Body Balance on Thursday – the relaxation and sense of achievement / calm from that was really good (and I did it again on Saturday).  Also today I ran 4 miles in the sub-zero temperatures to our local Parkrun and did volunteering for the event, rather than running it. It was a new experience, and rewarding.

I really need to focus on drawing the inner strength to see the positives in things, and not to fall into a deteriorating spiral.  People say “you’ve done all that running, how can you not be a success” or similar.  Well, to choose to run a race or not is easy – you can decide not to turn up at the start line. There are no repercussions of a ‘did not start’.  Work is about supporting yourself and your loved ones.  Yes, on one hand work is just work but you don’t want to mess it up as it is where you spend most of your days.  I think I’ve made a good start in the first week.  . I am trying to quash the thought that they might have hired the wrong person for the job – although there’s not much I can do about that now! In the mean time I might update my CV on Linkedin to reflect on my work achievements to date.

Welcome thoughts as to how people experience adapting to a new work environment and how to remain focused on the positives…

On Tuesday I missed my ideal train back home and so decided to miss my Body Balance class in preference for driving over to Bromley, so I could get it some 3-4 miles of road running before hitting my usual Body Jam class. Unbeknownst to me the gym and dance studio upgrade was completed so we were all able to sample the delights of the new dance studios (complete with disco lights). They hadn’t installed the wall to wall mirrors so we were spared the potential embarrassment of seeing just how rubbish we are when we all dance – that will come this week!

On Wednesday it was my last day in my (now old) role at work. My team were really nice and clubbed together to get me an iPod shuffle and some sports running headphones, which was totally unexpected, some wine (my favourite!) and some iTunes vouchers. Apparently the colour selection of the device (Pink) was Peri’s idea, for which she was very proud about. I don’t mind though, its a classic iPod colour and I will wear it with pride. As we’re temporarily between home computers I haven’t worked out a suitable running mega-mix to put on the Shuffle but welcome suggestions.  Although in the last 3 years I’d witnessed many moving on speeches, where the employee is traditionally encircled and embarrassed, nothing quite prepares you for your own one. Duly it happened right at the end of the day. I could tell this as everyone but me had a secret meeting in their diary. I countered this by putting a note in my diary telling people to stop snooping in my stuff!  My boss was very nice and even penned a limerick for me, reproduced below:

There once was a chap called Steve …
who liked a good financial wheeze.
He can run a fast mile,
is always ready with a smile,
and will sort out the N C A with ease.

In exchange for this niceness we all went out for drinks. Wives, girlfriends and pets were encouraged and it was an excellent turnout. Myself and another person leaving bought a few rounds of drinks and nibbles and it seemed like most people took their share before we could get our “portion” so as an extra treat I shared with Zoe a great new experience at the end of the evening – a visit to a kebab shop. Her antipathy towards the concept was softened by the fact that there were no other food outlets open that time of day. We both had quite healthy chicken doner kebabs, and ate in the ‘restaurant’. All in all quite good.

We woke on Thursday with mild hangovers and so our plan of packing and departing for our West country trip was delayed somewhat but we did make it 100 or so miles to just outside Gloucester in time to avoid the rain showers and do some nice countryside walkies in the afternoon. We then arrived at a B&B and spent the evening in a quiet Gloucester.

On Friday morning after visiting the Cathedral (where they were filming some Henry IV, or possibly Henry’s Cat, wasn’t quite sure of the details) and the Beatrix Potter house (as featured in the Tailor of Gloucester) we continued Westwards and arrived in Cardiff in the early afternoon. More walkies now – this time on a 10k route around Cardiff Bay.  We did some more geocaching along the way although the weather was less kind to us, and in addition to it being just above freezing, we were hailed on as we were on the barrage on the furthest most point from ‘land’. An interesting way to see the sights and sounds of the Bay area.  We then made our way through the twisty town streets to our hotel in Cardiff town centre.  On Saturday night we ate at a nice place “The Corner House” and had a relatively early night (well relatively early compared to the people that seemed to be out all night on the town).

Accordingly we were the only two people up at 7am for the opening of breakfast where we both had healthy fruit salad and omelettes for breakfast before departing 0815 to Bute Park, the location of Cardiff’s Parkrun. We were originally going to meet up with a Twitter friend (Sue) however she was poorly and had to cancel.  We nonetheless went along to see what another Parkrun would look like. We could see the potential benefits of Parkrun tourism – seeing what type of folk do it, how they organise themselves at start and finish, and mainly, the course, and the challenge of seeing how fast we could complete. I finished in 22:22, not bad but ~90th finish position. Zoe took over a minute off her P.B. so was mightily pleased. We then returned back to the hotel via Starbucks for a coffee and a treat, and enjoyed the warmth of the hotel room before changing and heading back out into town. We then walked around Cardiff Castle. Even though the run was only 5k, the combination of the wind-down of the week and being generally tired meant that we felt weary and so in the afternoon retired to Browns for afternoon tea, cakes, and well we maxed it out and had Champagne Afternoon tea. Very decadent!  On Saturday night we ate at Chiquitos, the Mexican place. We still ate relatively healthily though.  Slept well that night.

Sunday we didn’t get up early for once and slept through until 0830 – decadent for us!  We then had a more traditional big fried breakfast, before departing the hotel, then driving about an hour to Caerphilly.  There we visited this amazing castle, then after a light lunch drove about an hour to Bristol, to visit some friends, their baby, and their howling hound. After nearly having my arm bitten off (by the pooch, not the boy) and reading all the kid’s books in the house, we departed for the final 3 hour leg home. After which we decided that we deserved some pizza to celebrate being on the cusp of my new job… which will be the subject of a future post!!

Friday: Ran home from work – 15.8 miles in 2:30 (average pace 9:33/mm)

Route: http://www.runningfreeonline.com/act/737237/subView/Height

This was fun because I started my run with two work buddies, Daniel and Alex.  We set off slightly later than planned (which was obviously going to be to my detriment, living the furthest out).  We nonetheless made good progress, and for the first segment, from Westminster – Vauxhall – Stockwell – Brixton – Herne Hill – Dulwich – Sydenham Hill took 50 minutes to cover 5.5 miles. We stopped briefly at Dulwich Picture Library for re-fuelling (see pic).

Dan then disappeared up what must be the genuine “Hill” at Sydenham and Alex and I continued up round Crystal Palace, then the long descent towards Penge, Beckenham, past the Beckenham Spa leisure centre (where an essential toilet break was required at 7 miles).  Alex then deployed some local knowledge and we took a left turn at one roundabout – seemingly detouring from the direction of Orpington but on a route which enabled us to bypass a rather nasty ascending and descending section of the A222 on the way to Bromley. In doing this we passed Breeze Yoga Beckenham, which I am increasingly interested in attending one time.   It was just after 10 miles (90 minutes) when my journey with Alex came to an end, and his parting gift was another hill-avoiding route that got me onto the South side of Bromley through pleasant side streets.  This meant that my remaining five miles would be covered with relative ease and in the knowledge that aside from a failed experiment to cut out part of the residential streets of Petts Wood, I was home in a record-breaking sub 16 mile distance.  Combining this with some better pace this has the potential to become a more regular piece of my training.

On Saturday I woke early but instead of hitting a Parkrun I headed into London and found myself in Regents College, inside Regents Park, for a day of marathon talks and practical advice offered by the team at Full Potential, in combination with Adidas. This free event was highlighted to me by the proactive charity team at Tommy’s, and I was pleased to find in the preparatory material how popular this course was, and that there was a long waiting list of interested parties.  I took over 10 pages of notes throughout the day as there were talks on nutrition; injury prevention; race tactics; stretching; and various other topics. The other people attending were from a range of abilities – from novice marathon runners to those looking to crack the 3 hour mark.  A highlight of the day for me was that we were all instructed to come ready for a run, and so at 11am the 60 or so of us jogged out to the (slightly less than) 400m track just next to London Zoo, where we were given the opportunity to do a speed endurance, or threshold training session.  In an earlier talk, threshold training, along with hills, long runs, stretching/physio, rest, and proper nutrition were hailed as being key components of a successful training programme.  Personally I’d always avoided specific hill training and any mention in my training schedule of sets of 400m at threshold pace with sessions of recovery were just ignored.  Here though on that cinder track course was my revelation; these sessions are what makes the difference between just getting round on luck and junk mileage, and really focused fine-tuning of the athlete.  We did 4 sets of 5 minutes running at a rate of perceived effort of 8-8.5 out of ten. The many coaches that were on hand jogged between each runner to check that they were running at suitable rates of exertion, and offered tips about posture, breathing, arm placement, and so on.  Those five minutes equated to just under 3 laps of the course (and pacing wise were about 7:00/mm pace).  There was then a 90 second recovery – which was just about enough time to jog to the centre of the track before starting again.  Those 20 minutes all in all were a really hard but really rewarding session!  I jogged back speaking to a chap who was looking to break his 3:19 p.b. and he told me that his 3 x 15 minute threshold training sessions were a central part of his training.  I will be revisiting my schedule to see about these and make sure I make the most of them.

There was free gait analysis testing being done and I succumbed to the purchase of a new pair of shoes.  Adidas threw in a free miCoach Pacer (which is worth quite a bit of money on retail price) and I am looking forward to trying it out to establish heart rate and cadence.

As always it was nice to meet lots of sociable runners and I was pleased to have sat next to a friendly and lovely personal trainer lady who (it being a small world) happened to have trained someone I know back home.  At the end of the day we both headed on a train back towards Orpington and were chatting away when two women, who were sitting on the other two seats of our four, looked over to us, saw us in our running kit and said: “have you been running a triathlon today?”  We struck up a conversation of sorts and this kept us amused for the rest of the journey home. When I said that – “yes, I had run a marathon” one of the ladies looked at me as if I was the messiah.  This made me chuckle. I think it was something to do with the bubbly that they had drunk on their lovely spa day out in London. All in all they were nice and pleasant although I hope they don’t regret telling me their life story on their way home!

On Sunday it was up and out early (of course) to Dulwich Park for mile reps – this time 8 sets on the one-mile course. It was slightly warmer than two weeks ago but the wind-chill factor on some of the exposed sections meant that hats and gloves were welcome companions.  I managed a fairly consistent run set (see here against Jan 22) for the first 6 laps around 6:55, then lap 7 was an appalling 7:17, recovering on the handicap lap at 7:07.  Overall average for the 8 miles was around 7 minute miles.  Not bad, although had a bit of a twingy knee which I’d felt also on the Saturday and possibly caused on Friday (where I ran also with a backpack).

This week therefore panned out as follows:

Next week’s activities are scheduled as follows, but will require some adaptation as it is not going to be a normal week, as we’re off to the West country in the second half.

Although mildly traumatised once in the past Peri bravely fought her way through her fear (possibly a mild case of Anatidaephobia) and we ended up passing under the Bridge which divided Hyde Park from Kensington Gardens, thus exploring for the first time the “and a half” of the famous “three and a half parks” lunchtime run. Soon enough we ended up at the Westernmost point i.e. Lancaster Gate.

There is an ever-so-mild incline here which is where Peri triumphantly declared victory over the Park.

A local resident was mildly non-plussed.

We returned back to “home” realising that there is only so far you can stretch the definition of a “lunch hour”. Thank goodness for flexible time recording systems.

Overall distance run (factoring in bad GPS pick-up): 5.5 miles. Time: 52:36. Average Pace: 9:33/mm

As I write this I am at home and one of our friends is practising her massage skills on Zoe, and in a very short space of time I will be stripping down in our lounge to do the same. My legs do deserve a massage after some 79.5 miles ran this month so far!

In nutrition news I have decided that my love affair with Red Coke must come to an end or at least must be put on more of a leash, so I have committed to reduce my intake of the lovely stuff. I will report back how this goes!

On Saturday we rose at usual (weekday) time and left the house early (0750) in order to de-ice the car (it was -2.5 degrees according to car temperature) and drove 14 miles to Banstead Woods to take part in a Parkrun that was our first away from our ‘home’ location of Norman Park.  We’d arranged to meet two twitter friends, Alma (@plustenner) and Chris, in a remote car-park just before the normal start time of 0900.  The weather was very cold, very crisp, and the Woods were on an incline and were, well, woody. We’d met Alma before from the tube running days but didn’t know what her car looked like. We texted her and it turns out she was also sitting in her car trying to keep warm, so she came over and jumped in the back seat whilst we waited for Chris (@cmmercer) (who we’d never met before but had been in contact with over several months on Twitter).  This was his local Parkrun so he escorted us to the start point of the race.  There were fewer people in attendance at this event than our typical 250+ at Norman Park, but it was more difficult to ascertain immediately because we were all meeting on a convergence of pathways in woodland.  Essentially the same rules apply as for all Parkruns – complete the 5k route in as short a time as possible.  The start was on an incline which soon separated out the calibre of runners – I immediately was able to slip past the various people struggling with the ‘hill’ concept and those runners that had more wires on them than a CIA agent protecting the President.  I don’t understand at all why people choose to listen to music whilst they run. It is the very antipathy of what it is (to me) to be outside running – with nature, listening to everything around you, and listening to your own body.  Anyway, I slipped past them and followed the course around the first of two laps. This enabled me to determine where the ups and downs were. There was quite a long downhill stretch on the course which then returned to the start-area for the ascent of the hill a second time.  I was surprised to learn that on passing a timing marshal that I was in the top 30 positions. This was encouraging and I had noticed that there were fewer female runners at this point. (Typically there are only 5-10 female runners that finish before me in Bromley, not that this makes a difference in my overall assessment of a race!)  I just assumed that the competition was tough on this course (and also that it was an exceptionally cold day).  Turns out that I finished the course in 22:47 – which was position 29 out of around 140 entrants. Excitingly for me I came first in my age group, which was either a great race or indicative of there being few Males 35-9 in the Banstead area.  After we’d all finished we jumped in cars and sped about 1 mile away to ‘The Mint’ pub in Banstead proper, where for the princely sum of £1.95 we could get a cup with unlimited refills of freshly brewed coffee and were able to enjoy the warmth of the pub and the company of our fellow runners.

Course map: http://www.runningfreeonline.com/act/730056/subView/Height

Normally on a Saturday morning it would be off to Body Balance but as it took over 1 hour to get back (now that there was other traffic on the road) we were too late for that, so we had an early lunch, and Zoe spent the afternoon baking lots of splendid things in the kitchen. I on the other hand went to the nearby Hayes to join my running club for the second race activity of the day.

A “mob match” is where running clubs compete against each other in a single event, and the overall result is determined by adding the finishing positions of each club runner up and comparing them against the total of the other clubs. The club with the lowest score (i.e. with the most number of finishers ‘ahead’ of the other clubs, wins.  This was a three-way 10k mob match between Blackheath and Bromley Harriers Athletic Club (one of the oldest clubs in Britain) and Beckenham Running Club – both neighbouring clubs with linkages between us (mainly through our club members having competed in various events over the last 20-30 years).  The weather continued to be crisp and clear and after registering at their club house we jogged the one mile to the start area.  After some friendly club cheering rivalry, the course was broadly described to us, then we were off.

Course map: http://www.runningfreeonline.com/Profile/Activity/activityId/730418/subView/Height

Results: http://www.bandbhac.org.uk/10k%2014-01-12.html

There were about 100 runners on this event and to thin the pack out we ran firstly around a field, then over a style and onwards into the woods, which then followed a trail run with relatively limited opportunities to overtake the others.  This was of a much higher calibre than the morning. Of course very few people would have been foolhardy enough to do a race in the morning if they were also doing one in the afternoon. I on the other hand am competing for a 3:30 marathon and so there’s no harm in doing some 15k of speed-work on variable terrain. Also as I’ve said many times before, there’s very little excitement in describing in a deathly dull blog that you’ve run X miles in Y minutes. Its far more enjoyable to tell a story about how you did it, and who you did it with, and what you learned in the process. So – the contrast with this mornings individual time trial was that with a mob match you can improve your overall team result by working together.  That is to say, whereas my own individual finish position was important, it wasn’t as important as propelling more of my team members to be ahead of members of alternative teams.  This was evident for example when on the return leg, I had in my sights to BBHAC runners (one old man, one girl with swishing pony tail).  Between me and them was one girl from our running club (let’s call her Sarah).  She had overtaken me about 1km beforehand and I was struggling to mentally ‘reel her in’ – but eventually caught up with her. Whereas in a normal race I’d have plugged on through to overtake the next runners, we stuck together for a bit, recovering, and rebuilding position, before encouraging each other to work to reel in those next two runners.  We got right up behind them, travelling at same pace; getting them to be scared as to the might of runners that were behind them.  Then anticipating a suitable point where there was room, I pounced; overtook them both; and found soon enough that Sarah had done too.  Filled with the achievement of that micro-victory it was on to find the next runners to take on.  And sure enough, towards the final 500m of the race, I managed to pull out all the stops and overtake another competitor club runner; and with the will of those team members that had already finished, I was able to sprint past him even though I had a painful stitch and cross the finish line ahead of him.

It turns out that our club came 3rd in the overall competition, but it was a great afternoon.  We returned to the BBHAC clubhouse, changed and I ate a cream bun that must have been 12 inches in diameter. All good fun.

On Sunday – I ran 14 miles in sub 9 minute miles. It should have been 12 miles but I had an excellently planned route that I forgot to follow.  I was up against it as I should have left at 0800 but even I am allowed a lie in one day of the week, and so left the house at 0900 and returned at about 1130 – just in time to complete cleaning the house in time for the arrival of my parents and brother for a nice Sunday lunch, and and afternoon relaxing and playing games. In the evening we both collapsed in front of the telly to watch two back-to-back episodes of Sherlock.  There’s a whole different set of mental games to play when doing long runs, but as I anticipate that I’ll be doing quite a few of them in the next 15 weeks, I’ll save that for another day.  So ironically my long-run write up has turned out to be quite short.

Chris’ write-up: http://marathonmercer.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/physio-tweetup/

Alma’s write-up: http://plustenner.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/multi-task-planking/

The idea of mile reps is that every runner starts a mile loop every 11 minutes, and that the pace is consistent or at least faster on each revolution. We all did one warm up lap (9:22) to ensure that no-one would get lost.  At just before 10am we set off for our first proper lap. I set off at around 7:00/mm pace.  The the group (of around thirty runners) soon organised itself into its pace clusters. I was near the front in the top 3-4 runners.  On the first lap the 3-4 of us got to know each other a little – some faces I recognised from previous years and others were new. On this lap we established the baseline.   We finished the course in 7:01.  The next laps were as follows:

Lap 2 – 6:43
Lap 3 – 6:41
Lap 4 – 6:41
Lap 5 – 6:27

The final lap was a bit of fun because it was done on a handicap basis – i.e. those people completing their laps in 9 minutes went first; with the 8:30 pace going 30 seconds behind them, and so on.  Accordingly I was one of the last to depart but the challenge was to make your way around such that you’d beat the increasing clustering of other runners as we reached the 1 mile destination.  I had been running pretty even pegged with another runner, Georgie, for most of the laps but she must have had some extra energy reserves by the end as she finished about 5 seconds before my finish time of 6:25.

All in all a good morning’s running – 7 miles at a blistering average of 7:09/m pace.

Monday – I took my running kit to work and did a long lunchtime run following the edge of the three-and-a-half parks, taking in Kensington Gardens at the Western end.

Total distance: 7 miles, at 7:26/m pace. Felt good.

Tuesday – No running but did the ‘double’ gym classes of Body Balance and then Body Jam.

Wednesday – Did a lunchtime run work-buddy and personal shopper Peri, who has demonstrated good improvements in running speed and endurance and noticeable reductions in grumbling. We left Westminster and headed along the Thames to Battersea Park. The first time we did this run back in early November we didn’t even get to the Bridge but today it was no problem and we progressed over the Bridge, into the Park and did about 1/4 revolution of the interior before returning back. A 5 mile run in 52 minutes; a creditable 10:14/m pace (her longest and fastest run).  Possibly her improvements is related to some sparkling new shiny and pink sports clothing, but I reckon also my incredible “top tips” run training tuition. Yay me.

Thursday – A no run day but Jam/Balance buddy Rachel convinced me and her friend Lynsey (herein: ninja chicks) to try out Body Combat class at the gym in Beckenham. I’d never been to this leisure centre but its part of my gym membership so no extra cost. I got there a bit early direct from work so changed and did some warm-up rowing and time on the dread-mill.  There is a lot more equipment and more studios here and it’s more modern – a pity that it’s 8 miles from home.  The 45-minute class was possibly more aerobic than any other class I’ve done recently and involved lots of punching, lots of bouncing up and down from side to side and lots of kicks. Actually the instructor was quite engaged in the class and everyone is encouraged to “huff” loudly when they are throwing their fists around. I think I prefer the grace and elegance of Balance myself but its good to do some cross training. I may incorporate it into the weekly routine, perhaps alternative Jam Tuesdays with Combat Thursdays – as I do like my post-November Thursday routine of Pump/Jam at the Walnut. Decisions decisions!  There is also the option of doing Combat then running 8 miles home (starting at 8:20pm, could end up getting home quite late) or running the 8 miles from London to the gym (needing to arrive by 7:15-ish). Tricky!

Friday – Was going to do Friday Morning Running Club but on waking at 0600 decided that it was too cosy in bed to get out. Texted the other 50% of FMRC and it was agreed to postpone. Took my running kit to work but got so engrossed in the task of organising and pruning nearly 3000 (or 700mb) of e-mails and related analysis over the last 3 years (whoops!) was slightly more encouraging than changing to go out for a third lunchtime run of the week.

This weekend’s plans involve a new Parkrun; possibly squeezing Body Balance in during the mid-morning then the possibility of taking part in a club championship 10k somewhere across town.  Sunday should involve a long run and then entertaining family for Sunday lunch. I’ve just been reminded that its 100 days to the London Marathon so I need to not slack on my marathon training!

Assessment: not too bad. Appear to have ticked off some speed-work on Sunday rather than Tuesday, then did some Thursday mileage on the Monday (threshold pace training); relatively easy run on Wednesday (although should have been quicker if I’m to get to 3:30)  Lots of lovely cross-training.  And achieved Rest on Friday!  Sat requires only the Parkrun in theory.

On Sunday 1st January we met up with running club buddies in the afternoon and went out for a run, after which we returned to an open house for lots of warming tea and cakes.  The total run in the group I went in was some 14.5 miles which we did in about 2 hours. There were five of us in total, which was much smaller than this traditional New Year’s Day run, but we had a splendid time chatting away, even though I hadn’t seen many of them for many months.  Oh and also it was pouring down with rain for the entire afternoon!

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud

Muggy

Pilcher's Monument

The Hills are Alive!

On Monday, Zoe and I went into London and went to see Backbeat, the musical about the early days of the Beatles. We went up in the early afternoon to mooch around the shops and also enjoyed some cocktails and a sumptuous Italian meal beforehand.

On Tuesday, I went back to work, but it was okay because this month I am in the process of moving between jobs internally, I spent most of the week sorting out e-mails, files, and writing handover notes.  It has been a good three years in my current role and I’ve been reflecting back on all the stuff that’s been achieved in doing it. I’m also looking forward to my new role and what fresh challenges it will bring. I am pleased that I decided to interview for the role and since I have told various people that I’m moving, I’ve received lots of nice messages from peers and senior managers wishing me well and telling me that I’ll be missed in the current job.  In the evening I went to Body Balance, where we did for the first time Release 55, which contains lots of new challenging moves for us all. Over the next 3 months hopefully these will become less strenuous!  Then I had the option of travelling across town to attend Body Jam with my new-found dance buddies. I decided however with reluctant resolve that I was going to implement strictly my policy of doing Jam only on alternative Tuesdays.  Instead I sped across town to try to make the start of running club night – but alas the timing didn’t work out. I was tempted to zoom on to Jam, but instead returned home, donned some outside running gear and did about 5 miles in the cold and dark streets of Orpington.

On Wednesday, I ran after work with Peri, a buddy from work.  We ran  nearly 5 miles from Westminster to Hyde Park, circling half of the Serpentine lake and back via ‘the valley of the geese’. Apparently it was cruel of me to run through a hoard of sleeping ducks – particularly when Peri had once been attacked by a mallard.  We escaped unscathed.

On Thursday, after work it was Body Balance once more.  Zoe came along to this one.  I was starting to ache from the Tuesday session to be honest.

On Friday, an early start was required for running with home buddy Will, who represents one of the three members of a very exclusive ‘Friday Morning Running Club’.  We set off at 0630 and took to one of the main roads with attached cycle path, so that we could minimise the amount of stopping for our respective London/Edinburgh marathon training.  We covered about 5 miles at a good pace (9 minute miles).

Saturday morning was Parkrun – at our usual Norman Park. Came in the first 50, but over one minute over my personal best. Good weather, and good running friends from all round were there, including Louise, a blog friend from 2011 and a visitor to over 50 different Parkrun events, including one in Iceland.

Steve, Louise, Zoe

So all in all, a good week of doing sports and more importantly building good relationships. Bring on next week!

For example, I am using the Runner’s World 3:30 training schedule as the basis for my London Marathon training, but I will need to adapt it because:

• On Tuesdays I will either be continuing with my routine of Body Balance and Body Jam, or substituting it with an evening at the Road Runners (for typically one of the longer runs of the week’s schedule)
• On Wednesdays I will need to adapt it so that it fits in with my runs with work buddy Peri
• On Thursdays (and possibly Mondays) I need to consider how my new-found love of Body Pump is going to fit in
• On Saturdays I’ve recently become partial to a bit of Parkrun.

So my actual training schedule will probably look quite different.  I know from my first 5 or 6 marathons that you can’t substitute 1 hours’ running with 1 hours’ gym session or similar. Running is running – there’s no escaping it.  All other exercise can be complimentary but you need a solid running base, on which you can build.

Whilst I love athletics and spending time with like-minded people, I easily get sleepy when it comes to writing about what training I’ve done (and indeed reading about what other people have done).  This is because generally few people get beyond the “what did I do” aspect of their exercising.  The posts that I love are those ones where people supplement it with the perspective that says “this is how I felt as a result of this, or this is why I’m doing it (i.e. it’s part of a purpose other than just for myself)”. A great thing about the internet is that posts and tweets are entirely demand driven.  I know that if what I write about does not interest others then they will walk away.  That’s fine by me as I like to be with people that share the same values as me. Although we are coming to the tail end of the Year of the Rabbit, its influence is most certainly in the present.