Tom Roper's Running Training

Juneathon day 7: in which I run to the gym

Today I ran to the gym, and back. That in itself only accounts for a small part, for at this gym I was inducted into the mysteries of the machinery by a young woman I suppose I shall have to call the Gym Mistress. She was charming, kind and tolerant.

The reasons for attending this gym are twofold; in the first instance, to find me some way of fulfilling my juneathon quote on non-running days; in the second, it may help me with swimming and sailing, where my upper body strength is not what it should be. And if the Gym Mistress can find me something to make my ankles more floppy, as they need to be for a more correct front-crawl, then I shall be in very heaven.

Juneathon day 6: a swim and sundry other activities

I cycled to the gym to sign up for a six week trial period. I thought it would give me another string to my Juneathon bow. But one can only join when the membership manager is there, so I had to cycle home again. That would be enough Juneathon activity for a day for mere mortals, but I also swam 450 metres indoors, went back to the gym and have joined and signed up for an induction tomorrow morning. Impressive wouldn't you say?

I have also fixed the thing in RunningFree that caused my automatic Twitter and Facebook updates to be tagged with #janathon. All in all, a productive day.

In which I fail to run the Seaford half marathon

For the first time in eight years, I couldn't run today's Seaford half marathon. The best I could manage was a trip to the start to take photographs and three miles in the late afternoon. The rain is welcome, but a lot more is needed before the downs are green again.

On the third day

I rose and ran over Seaford Head for five miles; or not exactly, as I waited until the cool of the evening, yet it was still hot and a fierce wind blew from every direction. I found it hard.

 

Plash: day two of Juneathon

'Plash", I was supposed to have said as an infant on seeing the sea. It was my version of Xenophon's soldiers' cry of θαλλαττα, θαλλαττα. It became a ritual utterance on family holidays when we saw the sea for the first time through the windscreen of my father's Austin A60.

This is a roundabout way of saying that for the second day of Juneathon I swam in the sea. The temperature, according to the Channel Coastal Observatory buoy in Seaford bay, was 14.7C. I last swam in the sea at the end of October last year.

It seems banal to say that at first it felt cold, then warm; the sea always does. I swam for around ten minutes. It is impossible to record distance in the sea; I used to count strokes, but I found I forget. On the beach a woman sat upright, utterly still, looking at the horizon, for all the time it took me to undress, swim, dry myself and dress again.

Juneathon 2011

Today being the Kalends of June, I set off for the first of thirty days of pain, overseen by that stern task-mistress, JogBlog. My legs were still jelly-like from a day's rescue boat skippering on Monday on a choppy sea, but I started with an interval session, six 400m fast runs interspersed with 200m recoveries and a mile warm-up and cool-down. If I run two-thirds of the way up Seaford Head and down in the warm-up, I reach the promenade just at the start of the first 400m.

It was hot at lunchtime, but my legs held up well.

On the last day of Juneathon...

...I managed an early morning run, a truncated version of the Seaford Head route, though the climb on the short version is more intense. It was cloudy.
So I can boast of the following:

1st June, Rome: 3.13
3rd June, Rome: 3.59
6th June, Seaford Half Marathon: 13.09
12th June, Seaford Head: 2.98
13th June, Seaford front and Tidemills: 5.61
19th June: Seaford Head: 2.98
20th June: High and Over: 6.76
22nd June: Exeter: 2.77
23rd June: Exeter: 3.82
27th June: Seaford front: 4.77
30th June: Seaford Head: 2.44

Juneathon total: 54.92 miles, 11 days out of a possible, nay, required, 30. So I do not expect to win any of the covetable objects Jogblog is going to distribute to the winners.

Please also take into consideration three sea swims of a total of around 30 minutes

Look not thou upon the wine when it is red

I ignored this wise advice from Proverbs 23:31 last night at the Newhaven and Seaford Sailing Club midsummer party and had to leave the car there and walk home, so this morning I ran from home to Splash Point, all the length of the front to Newhaven east pier, and back to the club to collect my car. Though hot, I have run in hotter conditions.

Also this week I managed two conference runs while in Exeter and had the pleasure of the company of a fellow delegates on each morning. I wish I had been able to lead them better; my intention was to run along the banks of the river, but finding the river from the university is not as easy as it might seem.

I also swam in the sea yesterday, for a good fifteen minutes. It is considerably warmer. I shall go in again this afternoon.

1st June, Rome: 3.13
3rd June, Rome: 3.59
6th June, Seaford Half Marathon: 13.09
12th June, Seaford Head: 2.98
13th June, Seaford front and Tidemills: 5.61
19th June: Seaford Head: 2.98
20th June: High and Over: 6.76
22nd June: Exeter: 2.77
23rd June: Exeter: 3.82
27th June: Seaford front: 4.77

Juneathon total: 52.48 miles, 10 days out of a possible 27.

And three sea swims of a total of around 30 minutes

More weekend only Juneathoning

I ran yesterday and today and, while Monday to Friday showed a total lack of exertion of any sort, next week I'm at a conference and have already used the conference hashtag #exeter10 to gather a critical mass of runners, three of us, who have committed ourselves to bring our kit.

Yesterday was the usual Seaford Head route. Today I went inland, to High and Over and round, to return by the Blatchington golf club. I met cats hunting, nervous dogs cowering and lost ramblers asking me the way. I'm going for a sea swim in a moment which I shall add when I get back.

Days I ran: 7 out of a possible 20

1st June, Rome: 3.13
3rd June, Rome: 3.59
6th June, Seaford Half Marathon: 13.09
12th June, Seaford Head: 2.98
13th June, Seaford front and Tidemills: 5.61
19th June: Seaford Head: 2.98
20th June: High and Over: 6.76

Total: 41.12 miles

And one sea swim of around 6 or 7 minutes duration.

Juneathon by proxy

Since my Juneathon is more or less non-existent, perhaps I can bask in reflected glory from someone else. Ella Mitchell, treasurer of CoFHE LASEC is taking part in Sunday's London to Brighton bike ride with the Hampstead Ladies GBF Team.So what, you say. So are thousands of others. True, but not many will have started the ride in Edinburgh. She's raising money for the British Heart Foundation. Sponsor her at http://original.justgiving.com/gbf