Tom Roper's Running Training

To the Balls Pond Road and giant frogs on the thirteenth day of Janathon

How odd that on the day I plan a long post on the cultural significance of the Boris Bike and change my route to avoid the canal, I should buy the London Review of Books, impatient because my subscription copy has not yet come, and find this, The Raging Peloton, by London's leading psychogeographer Iain Sinclair in which he says more or less everything there is to say about bicycles and about the canal towpath where I run at lunchtimes.

And, though it has no particular relevance to anything, I loved the review of a life of Dennis Wheatley, which quotes from one of his novels thus, 'The  last that Roger saw of them through the mist they were being drawn inexorably through knee-high water towards the again open mouth of the giant frog'.

The run to the Balls Pond Road was nostalgic. It took me past Essex Road, where the Polytechnic of North London had its School of Librarianship that I attended in 1983, past pubs and restaurants that were part of my life in the early to mid 1980s, to Camden Passage, once an area where one could imagine the border between antique-dealing and receiving stolen goods was frequently crossed, now neat and tidy, and to Angel, where the tube station was dingy and narrow. In those days one could smoke on tube trains, and being a victim of the habit, I would stand in exactly the right spot for the second or the penultimate carriage, which were the smoking carriages.

After last night's effort, I could not claim to be fast, but it was good to be out.

I also did some minor Boris-biking.

Time: 40:13
Distance: 4:07
Pace: 9:43

Eight miles, some cycling and an AGM...and Mozart

It's now the twelfth day of Janathon, and also the last day of Radio 3's Genius of Mozart season. I cycled a little in London, and ran tonight with the Seaford Striders, a great 6.5 miler with Tony and Andy at a fair pace, plus the usual two-thirds of a mile warm-up and cool-down. I also attended the Striders AGM, chaired with aplomb by Rob, and addressed with feeling by our captain Martin Bulger, who told us the club has never had more new members than in the past year.

Time: 1:13:41
Distance: 8.06
Pace: 9:45

Or, in the style of the doyenne of Janathon, JogBlog:
Runs: 1
Bike rides: 2
AGMs attended: 1

The common cormorant, or shag: Janathon day 11

Christopher Isherwood's poem was my favourite when I was ten, and still makes me smile:

The common cormorant (or shag)

Lays eggs inside a paper bag,

You follow the idea, no doubt?

It's to keep the lightning out.

 

But what these unobservant birds

Have never thought of, is that herds

Of wandering bears might come with buns

And steal the bags to hold the crumbs.

A third of the way in to Janathon and there was a cormorant on the canal today, as I did four fast half mile runs with recoveries and warm up and cool down. I was surprised to see a coastal bird so far inland but he seemed perfectly happy. I think he was a cormorant, not a shag. It's hard to tell the difference, and an old bird-watcher's joke is that the only way to do so is to count the tail-feathers.

As for the running, I wasn't particularly fast, paces below:

1st half mile: 09:34 (pace)
2nd half mile: 09:22
3rd half mile: 09:12
4th half mile: 09:28

See the full horror on Garmin Connect

I also claim about 5.5 miles of cycling.

5.09 miles by bicycle, day ten of Janathon

I marked rest day by cycling: I rode my own bike to the station and back, and took a Boris Bike from London Bridge to work and back. Real cyclists would wet their lycra shorts at this, but I covered 5.09 miles. Hurrah! My legs felt tired again, but, as I fall back into the rhythms and feelings of marathon training, I remind myself that this is a permanent feature of the marathoners condition

The plan for rest days was to swim, and I've been thwarted by the closure of both Ironmonger Row and Golden Lane baths near work, leaving the City with no public swimming provision whatsoever. I am indebted, though, to Katharine of Katharine gets wet, who suggested I go home by way of Victoria and the Queen Mother baths. This is a fine plan, and one I shall implement forthwith. There are certain complications as far as this week goes, but on Saturday I shall have exciting news to report on the swimming front.

Nine miles to mark the end of the third week of marathon training and day nine of Janathon

I ran nine miles in the new shoes, on a route derived from a run Claire of the BSMS runners and I took late last year, a tour of the environs of Seaford. I went to Chyngton, then up to High and Over, Bishopstone and back along the sea-front. The route describes an arc through the countryside around Seaford. It was hard work; I know that in weeks to come I will look at nine miles as a short trip. but my legs often felt heavy and tired and in the last stages along Seaford front, my feet hurt. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful clear sunny day, cold in the wind, but when out of it I became quite warm and considered removing my running jacket.

See the run here on Garmin Connect

Time: 1:42:24
Distance: 9.01
Pace: 11:11

This was a tough week.

Total mileage: 30.41
Thirteen weeks till the Brighton Marathon

Eight day: redemption

I ran, in late afternoon, on a well-loved route over Seaford Head. It was a tonic after yesterday's day of failures. The morning had been grey and windy and, though the sea was still rough, by 3.30 in the afternoon when I ran, the light was beautiful. At Hope Gap I could look back down the Cuckmere and beyond, over to the Weald, all perfectly clear.

There was a short bicycle ride to Seaford Library too.

Time: 46:39
Distance: 4:13
Pace: 11:18

 

 

And he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made

I fell by the wayside. I always think that Janathon or Juneathon require something extra, that exercise that one takes as part of normal daily life should not count. I failed miserably on Friday. I walked to the station in the morning but I always do that. I did not take a Boris Bike to work as it was pouring, and I draw the line at arriving at work clad in fluorescent waterproof things. The bus I took did go on a diversion, so I got off and walked a little more. In the evening it was raining again, so no Boris Biking took place.

As I have mentioned, the swimming pool near work, Ironmonger Row baths, is closed for refurbishment. I discovered that there is a commercial gym nearby, part of a chain, with a 25m pool. On my way to work I paid a visit, the receptionist took my details, saying someone would contact me to tell me how much it would cost. After a great deal of coyness (why are their prices not more transparent) I finally pinned them down to saying that they wanted a joining fee of £15 and £85 a month. Calculating that if I swam on my two rest days a week, Mondays and Fridays, the unit cost per swim would be £11.25, I rejected their offer. I had no interest in the rest of the gym. I used a gym for four years when I worked near Westminster. It was expensive and did me no good at all; indeed the sight of assorted MPs, journalists and parliamentary hangers-on with few or no clothes on may have harmed me irreparably.

So for day 7 I can claim:

• not much walking
• strenuous negotiation with gym people

Pioneers, O pioneers: Janathon day 6

I think this feat has never been attempted before, that is to say a Janathoner both runs and cycles on a BorisBike in the same day. I can say that with some confidence, this being the first ever Janathon, so everything we do is fresh, virginal, pioneering.

At lunchtime I ran along the canal in sleet. I left my cosy gloves in my locker, and when I left the hospital and saw frozen white stuff falling from the sky, I should have spent a minute or two to go back and get them. Instead, distracted by the Garmin's failure to find a signal for ages, I kept going. Judicious use of the lap button allowed me to work out that in fact I had done the five miles the programme prescribed. I went all the way to Victoria Park; somehow east London distances seem less east to west than they do north to south. It was diabolically cold, and impossible to keep one's feet dry.

Then, on a trip to my tailor to collect some trousers, I went Boris-biking, and since I had the Garmin with me, recorded the Barbican to Jermyn Street trip.

I have been commissioned by our patroness JogBlog, I believe on the strength of my haiku, to write a Janathon sestina. This is a verse form so complex that far better poets than me have been found dribbling and incontinent at the end of a night spent  trying to write one. Nevertheless, noblesse oblige. You shall have one before the end of the month, or I shall die in the attempt.

Time: 49:21 (plus a bit)
Distance: 5:00
Pace: 9:49

The details of the bike ride are on Garmin Connect

Six miles before breakfast

It was Alice who would think of six impossible things before breakfast. I can only offer six miles, hammered out on Seaford front in the teeth of a bone-chilling wind and to the sound of a rough sea on the shingle.
I like running before dawn (she's rather slow and can't keep up...ho ho). Since working in London again, I rarely have the chance. I usually get up at 5:20 and I draw the line at rising an hour before that to fit a run in. Today a dental appointment meant I had the chance. It was tough, but set me up for the day.
Time: 1:06:31
Distance: 6.12
Pace: 10:52

Gender engineering on the fourth day of Janathon

Like many runners, I decided to treat myself to some new shoes for Christmas. I'm at the start of marathon training, and I last bought a new pair nearly three years ago. For a long time I've been wearing Brooks Addictions. I overpronate and they worked well for a while. Lately, and it may be because of running in old shoes, I have found them less comfortable. So I found myself walking out of the Jog Shop in Brighton with a pair of Mizunos, to wit Wave Alchemy 10s. I liked the feel of them in the shop, and ran in them for the first time today.

My eye was caught by the legend on the sole promising 'gender engineering'. Before panic ensues, let me assure readers that I am still entire, as one says of horses. It seems to be all about the pelvis. The wider hips of women runners mean they tend to need a different shoe to their heavier, narrower-hipped male comrades. A quick and not very thorough look at PubMed for some evidence to back this up found these papers:

Krauss I, Valiant G, Horstmann T, Grau S.
Comparison of female foot morphology and last design in athletic footwear--are men's lasts appropriate for women?
Res Sports Med. 2010 Apr;18(2):140-56.

Wunderlich RE, Cavanagh PR.
Gender differences in adult foot shape: implications for shoe design.
Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2001 Apr;33(4):605-11.

So, thoroughly gender engineered, I set forth on a run to try out the shoes, of a mile warm-up, three fast miles, with quarter-mile recoveries, and a mile cool-down. My route, over Hawks Brow, and along Seaford front, took in paved roads and paths, grass and shingle. The shoes felt good, though I'm not sure they'd be comfortable for a long run just yet.

Time: 1:00:14
Distance: 5.75
Pace: 10:23

First fast mile: 9:27
Second fast mile: 10:28
Third fast mile: 9:53