Tom Roper's Running Training

A drop of Nelson's blood

I took the first day of a dinghy sailing course on Saturday, which I hope will count toward Juneathon, though it's hard to quantify it. Like any freeborn Englishman, Nelson's blood flows in my veins, so my inability to sail had to be corrected. I spent a day on the water, trying to learn to tack, with some agreeable fellow students and a fine instructor.

Today I ran 5.82 miles, and swam for ten minutes in the sea.

Juneathon so far:
Press-ups: 371
Walks: 9.8 miles
Runs: 38.44 miles
Indoor swims: 500 yards
Sea swims: 10 minutes

On the twelfth day of Juneathon, my true love sent to me....

.....a painful large blister on the side and underside of my left foot. It started on Sunday at the half marathon. I applied a blister plaster and thought it would clear up. It was fine during yesterday's run but hurt a bit last night and the plaster came off. I put another one on this morning, and set off on my run. It took only ten yards to realise I was not going to be able to do this. Coincidentally, the top of my big toe on the same foot is very inflamed, but not painful.

I rarely suffers from blisters. I wonder if there is something wrong with my shoes.

So all I can report for today's Juneathon is a session of press-ups, 81 in total. I also expended some energy trying to find the cat who went AWOL in the undergrowth. Tomorrow will be better, for I have a completely new Juneathon activity planned, one that I believe no one else is doing. It does not involve much strain on the soles of my feet, fortunately.

Juneathon so far:
Press-ups: 371
Walks: 9.8 miles
Runs: 32.62 miles
Swims: 500 yards

Juneathon: the eleventh day

A real run at last: on a fine evening I ran on my return home, up over Seaford Head by the barn route. Glorious views, a stiff wind and I could see a storm coming in over the Channel. I was a little slow. A blister that appeared during the half-marathon troubled me, the blister plaster having come off.
Time: 33:27
Distance: 3:04
Pace: 11:01

Juneathon so far:
Press-ups: 290
Walks: 9.8 miles
Runs: 32.62 miles
Swims: 500 yards

Juneathon 10

More walking; dare I count it? I did a 40 minute walk from site to site at work, instead of taking the bus, amking around three miles. And at home, 71 press-ups.

Juneathon so far
Press-ups: 290
Walks: 9.8 miles
Runs: 29.58 miles
Swims: 500 yards

Juneathon 9

I walked. More later....

I walked in a psychogeographic, flâneur-ish way. Whether this make the activity more legitimate from a Juneathoning point of view is debatable.

I found myself in a part of London I love, the area around Gray's Inn Road and Clerkenwell, bounded by Bloomsbury to the west, Smithfield to the south. It is neither the City nor the West End but another, different London with its own intellectual and literary traditions. It is home to professions such as medicine, the law and journalism; its radical traditions are shown in the Marx Memorial Library, or the plaque to Lenin; there's the distinctive architecture of buildings such as Lubetkin's Finsbury Health Centre. Italians have made their mark here: there is an ornately baroque Italian church, and once there was a salumeria where I would buy olives, though it seems not to be there now, but there are still little cafés, which the multinational Starbucks have yet to take over, and restaurants. Holborn library on Theobalds Road is now unimpressive but was once one of the great three Camden reference libraries, with St. Pancras and Swiss Cottage. The British Library now stands where the St Pancras Library and the Shaw Theatre once were, but Swiss Cottage, with the statue of Freud outside, is still there. I would consult the Great Soviet Encyclopaedia there. As a child, I was taken by my mother to visit an old friend of hers, a Freud, living off Regent's Park nearby.

I have other memories too: the squat in Calthorpe Street where my brother lived in the early 80s, Grays Inn Road, scene of my hurried walks when the children were little to the Kings Cross Thameslink station, desperate to get home before the childminder's knocking-off time

This is a very longwinded way of saying I walked for about 45 minutes, thus around 3 miles.

Juneathon so far
Press-ups: 219
Walks: 6.8 miles
Runs: 29.58 miles
Swims: 500 yards

Juneathon 8

After yesterday's exertions, I contented myself with 63 press-ups.

Juneathon so far
Press-ups: 219
Walks: 3.8 miles
Runs: 29.58 miles
Swims: 500 yards

Juneathon; the seventh day, and a half marathon

On the seventh day it is customary to rest, but not Juneathoners, oh no. I ran the Seaford half marathon for the sixth time.

The weather was good running weather, sunshine, with a breeze to temper its effects. At the start I prepared myself by a bench on the promenade, and was able to give some sun cream to a fellow runner. Then I made my way to the start and I had the good fortune to meet @sweder. His photographs convey the spirit of the day.

The start and the route to Bishopstone is easy; then the climbing starts. At the first of many stiles we came to a halt and queued. I was a little annoyed by some runners who tried to jump the queue. Then on to Fiveways and down, only to go up again on the longest ascent of the route. Then we ran along the top of the ridge and down into Alfriston. Then there's a long stretch beside the Cuckmere, and the final section over Seaford Head and along the front.

This was my slowest ever half, a personal worst. The effects of ageing on my performance are worth a post in their own right.

Fashion notes: after some agonising, I rejected my Seaford Striders vest, as it still has my name on it from the London Marathon, and wore a plain blue vest. Perhaps I should have worn my Running Commentary vest. The wardrobe choices of my fellow runners never fail to amaze. One young man wore a woolly hat and a track suit, and doubtless more underneath.

Time: 2:21:22
Distance: 13.15
Pace: 10:44

Juneathon so far
Press-ups: 156
Walks: 3.8 miles
Runs: 29.58 miles
Swims: 500 yards

Update: the results are up. I was 320th with a time of 2:21:24. Photos by Sussex Sport Photography coming soon.

Juneathon 5 and 6

Day five of Juneathon was another run, along Seaford front. Today, on day six, I did 57 press-ups and had a swim, just 20 lengths of a 25 yard pool. Apart from the receptionist asking me if I was a pensioner, all went well. Tomorrow is the Seaford Half. I wish I could say I had trained for this by denying myself the pleasures of the flesh, but I type this with a nice glass of rosé. I have only once finished this race in under two hours.

Friday's run:
Time: 52:27
Distance: 4.97
Pace: 10:33

Juneathon so far
Press-ups: 156
Walks: 3.8 miles
Runs: 7.43 miles
Swims: 500 yards  

Fourth day of Juneathon

In the morning, fifty press-ups; in the evening a run, for the first time this month. It was a fine evening and I took a short route over Seaford Head. I had thought of running past the polling station and voting on the way, but I'd need my spectacles, which I don't wear while running, even to write 'none of the above' on the ballot paper. It was a short run, but I'm trying to save myself for the Seaford Half Marathon on Sunday. I'll run again today, and swim on Saturday.
Highway Kind is doing yoga as part of Juneathon. I'm jealous. I have only tried it a couple of times, but could tell that it would do me good.

Time: 26:04
Distance: 2.46
Pace: 10:36

Juneathon so far:

Press-ups: 99
Walks: 3.8 miles
Runs: 2.46 miles

Running books in the FT

In Saturday's Financial Times, Simon Kuper reviewed a series of books about running, that 'painful and unprofitable craze', as he describes it, including Haruki Murakami's What I talk about when I talk about running. I'm not sure how long content remains freely available on the site