In 2000...we trained for the reduction of pain.
Started early this year....oh well...I am trying to do a marathon after all.
Nov 17 2001 - Trip to the states. A wonderful short run with my colleague Mark Barbee, who, though he is built like a racing snake, stoops to my pace, bless him. Then I eat a hotdog and don't eat again properly until Jan 17 2002 - nasty virus.
Jan - Feb 2002 - Starting with 2-3km runs around the neighbourhood. One 5 km. Then a longer stint in Sarasota. Two days, two runs, faster than I liked and the first one was longer than I planned at about 40 minutes, but no ill results. Then a week later, a short run from the house. Looks like it might be ok. Started Tai Chi - this is GOOOOD.
Mar 2002 London - 2 times 5 km, then it is time for the annual ritual. A longer run in the hills. Can I really do this? Am I really even able to train at all? It seems I have to do this long run early in the season to get me properly started.
Ahhhhh....a fix...I feel so much better now, but somehow, a longing, something, a sort of hunger...
Oh yeah, that's the running jones... The monkey is firmly in its rightful place...on my back...even now I hear him chatter..."you could just nip out for a little one, it's such nice weather, you need to ease off your legs from yesterday..." - Yesterday I welcomed the monkey back with open arms...read it here
Mar 17 - My favourite 9km loop in the woods. Ambitious perhaps, since it is so early in the season. It turned out to be OK, but I did get a few warning signs, like blisters. So I will throttle back a little and get a steady series of 5kms in the next week or two. Also time to settle down with the nutrition etc.
Mar 26 - 7,95km. Blisters were a pain to heal so nothing this week until today. . Nice.
Mar 28 - Two 5km yesterday and today. Going out in the morning before breakfast to get fat burning to happen. Great way to stimulate that "Wall" feeling. I was surprised to be able to feel my body looking for the carbs to burn. Legs feeling heavy, very low energy, then after about 10-15 minutes the engine slowly starts to come on-line like a diesel in very cold weather. Interesting. Also Tai Chi after the run and Chi Gung beforehand contributes greatly to wellbeing. Saw a hare in the field yesterday.
Mar 29 - 7,95km. Beautiful filling moon these last two days makes the morning much nicer. A hare in the garden this morning. Oh the mystery of the enduring hare. Blisters almost fully healed now. Sore spot under left armpit - did something bite me in the night? Tai Chi after the run does seem to settle the sytem down nicely.
Apr 3 - 8 miles(?)Cadair Idris, the Wide-Spun Moment. Always wonderful. A place of myths of dragons and poets and madmen. Brenin Llwyd breathes out his misty song. We got up early and jogged around the Llyn Cau, up the steep back face and round the ridge. I guess we must have had a bit of the poet juice as we composed mad odes to Walshes as we nipped back down in time for lunch. Super Day!
Poem - The Rock of Cader Idris
Welsh Fairy Stories
Walking on Cader
Cader Fell Race
Cadair Idris -Soul of a Lonely Place
Week of 7 April - Fasting. Spring clean.
Apr 12 - 7,95km. 51 mins. Still very slow but it was steady and very nice.
Apr 16 - 44,63km. 6:00:04. Sort of did a marathon. I didn't really mean to but it just snuck up on me. Yesterday I ate mountains of food, had a really good tai chi session. Fasting not too long ago, a series of really good long sleeps. It all seemed right. I knew I wanted to do a longish run today so I started with two loops of my favourite 8km run. At the end of the second loop, I was still feeling pretty fresh and the thought dawned that maybe if I could do a 3rd and still feel OK, I could pull out two more from sheer stubbornness. So I did. Plus an extra little short loop to be absolutely sure to get over the 42km. First two loops I did run 25 - walk 5, then run 5 - walk 1. Then another run 25 - walk 5. Then final loop was a bit of a mix, and at the end it hurt more to walk than to run (mainly lower back), and I anyway couldn't get my legs to work right walking but running they were ok, so I even ran the last bit. I got in the house and immediately lay with my legs straight up against the refrigerator for 15mins. A blessed relief for my back. Then a bath. Next day a bit sore in the knees and a bit of a stomach ache from too much food all of a sudden after the run, but otherwise fine. No performance anxiety, no stress...it wasn't that hard. No-one is more surprised than I...
Apr 25 - 7,65km. Just a gentle one to see how things are after the effort last week. Things are fine. Looking to go a bit longer on Sunday.
Apr 30 - 9,43km. Sunday brought other things so this was Tuesday's offering, the last one in April. Om Tare Tuttare Ture Soha! Not a bad month.
May 7 - 9,43km. It was...enough. Started O type diet this week. Wheat cravings galore.
May 16 - 5km. It was hilly and hot and short as I had to be back by 14:00. A bit faint-headed due to low blood pressure? (107/62 10mins after finishing)This one-run-per-week thing is not quite satisfactory but soon off to Scotland for re-invigoration. It wil likey be hot there too. Electrolytes and pentapure...
Later May 16 - 60mins. Over to the woods and down the hill, up to Etoile then the road, back via the modern peasant's house. That hurt for some reason. Painful hip muscles. Maybe the odd stretching I did for 40mins this morning. Whatever, it make today's mileage a bit more reasonable. Considering doing short runs with ankle weights to train for the high leg lifting we need to do through heather...
May 18 - 42km. Mountain bike. Kept an average of 18km/h. Beginners speed, but then I was not pushing. Limit was legs not lungs which was nice. Been a long time since I rode a bike for any distance. Hips still sore/aggravated.
May 20 - 26km. Mountain bike. 1.05hr. Felt quite good.
May 24 - 10km. Pentlands. Short but fast. Lots of terrain work at speed.
May 26 - 30km. 450m. Trossachs. 4h40min. Great day if somewhat poor weather. Last 45 minutes were uncomfortable...
May 28 - ?km 3,5hours. Ochil hills. Poor weather for the last half. Staggeringly lax on the navigation, but then we didn't really even try. Seems I am doing one big thing each month. Last month the marathon, this month the 30km, next month the LAMM...could be good...
June 14/15 - DNF'd the LAMM after 2 major navigational errors. Overran the cut-off time. Oh well, still had a great 8 hours day out.
Rest of June - Medically induced pause in activity.
July 21 - 6,8km
"Sometimes you have to suffer to make a new mark in an unploughed field".First run since the LAMM, forced 5 week break. This was painful in hip and knee and lung but it was good to remember that there is such a thing as running. Grooven the last quarter of an hour (though close to puken'. This was surprisingly untraumatic, I felt I could have just unloaded, but I just decided that I wanted to keep the water etc down for now. V.detached.) I could have induced grooven earlier but I didn't want to run away from the suffering. One evening of shishas 3 weeks ago made my lungs need the stretch and renewal of aveolar surfactant. Interestingly, the no wheat type O thing is dropping the fat off. 69kilos. Haven't been that weight since high school. 24,8% body fat, from 28%. I can feel the subcutaneous lard easing away, my skin is becoming thinner. Feels quite odd. "If there isn't at least one unusual thing going on each day, you ain't doin' it right". I'm back, slow and sore, but back.
LECH
Aug 3 - 5 hours. Ruflikopf circuit. 1400m to 2350m in 2 hours. 2150m to 1400m in 45 mins. Not bad. Muscles sore next 2 days.
Aug 6 - 1:40h. Ran up the right side of the Lech for just over an hour. Then ran back. Felt nice.
Aug 10 - 6 hours. Hoher Riffler- 3180m. (Map) 6 hour round trip for what is indicated as a 6 hours one way. Stormed from hut at 2408m to 3180m in 80mins. Nice and gentle on the descent. Saw a beautiful herd of Steinbocks and had the usual "Wahnsinnigen" reaction from some german mountain walkers, with whom we later ate a delightful Kaisersmarrn at the Edmund Graf Hutte. Seeing folks in Lycras and Walshes will do that to a person... 1300m - 3180m - 1300m.
Aug 14 - 1:20h - Nice forest run with orienteering in Neunkirchen.
Aug 15 - 1 hour approx. Another nice easy forest run in Neunkirchen
Sept 1-7 - Started upper body weights and ab exercises - Again.
Sep 8 - 11km. Coureur des Bois but going straight on instead of following train tracks. Less isolated. Ran with stick to start strengthening upper arms. Sore muscles a bit. Need to eat more protein. Felt the muscles reaching for it but it wasn’t there….
Sep 11 - 6,5km. With stick With a bit of pace. Followed by Tai Chi
Sep 15 - 12km Stiff walk. Weird radiating heat all the way from my hips/kidney area down the outsides of my legs to my ankles.
Sep 17 - 40mins. With stick. House to Abbey up road and back over muddy track. Pain remains, kept me awake parts of last night, eased on exercise. Returned after stopping and then eased again on drinking protein. Strange.
Sep 19 - 1hr 57min. Pain gone. This was the first in a series of tests. 2 hours, next week 3 hours, then 4 hours if all is well. Would like to settle on a 25mile week. Something like 2 5milers and a 15miler. And then once every so often do something closer to 4-5hours.
Sep 23 - 40mins. Really slow, with Tialda, followed by an hours walk.
Sep 26 - 3hr 6mins. I am treading, in the sacred manner.
Sep 28 - 6,7km With a bit of pace. Interesting that I had eaten a light snack not long since but this didn't give significant problems. Lungs felt like barrels, very easy breathing even up the steep hill. Route: Variation was to run past the turning for the etoile and run up the steep bike hill then run almost to the railway, there to turn sharp left and bushwack up the hill to the etoile. Then down to the Chapel and left up the hill etc.
Sep 30 - 1hr 13. I guess about 10km. Very hilly and almost all in the woods, lovely. Pushed on. Felt great. BTW - After more than a year of taping my feet to prevent my otherwise brilliant Gel Nandi's putting blisters on my delicate insteps, it occured to me to switch out the insoles and put in thin sorbothane insoles instead. No gait problems so we'll try without tape on the next short run. Picked up email addresses of other C Class Kimm runners in Belgium. 6 of them. Wow. Then I went to Tai Chi. Route: Coureurs des Bois start but then straight on across the field down the hill, left and left again to go back up the hill to the field then back the way I came.
3 Oct - 4hrs. Approx 27km. Foret des Soignes. Amazingly this was totally unheroic, unspectacular, didn't reqire any major mental toughness. I was a little tired at the end, but it was simply me, out on a long run in the forest.
5 Oct - 1hr 10. Same run as Sep 3. Approx 10.25km. Coureur des Bois Hilly Variation. Nice pace. At last I am getting my base 10k pace above 8km/hr consistently. (This is about 8.6-8.7 km/h = approx 5.4m/hr = approx 11min mile)BTW. No tape on the feet. No blister. No hot spot. I'm a little slow sometimes. Long live Sorbothane. Saw a toad on the field path between the two forests on the way back. Puddock. They say Hakit...Hakit. Skuld has something to do with this too...
7 Oct - 2hr 04. I guess about 16km but approx. Various detours (including a foray in the Bois de Heuchere) and brief delays due to forestry and agricultural operations, I guess its that time of year. Sometime about 4 weeks ago I did a wednesday afternoon session of short sharp hill reps which I forgot to record. Today I engaged more gluteus to power uphill. Been a bit hesitant since this does put stress on lower back but seems to have been OK.
15 Oct - 10k. Coureur des Bois Hilly Variation. Recovering from a cold that started last Tuesday. Novel experience to have breathing as a limit again. OK tho.
17 Oct - 10k. Coureur des Bois Hilly Variation. Testify. A bit better. Today 69kg and 22.4% bf. (From a measured high of 83kg and 32% some time ago now tho.) Been working on a lot of proteins and liquids and giving my stomach a break from too many solids. Declared my intention to run a 50k for Yule, and a 50mile next year, a 100k the year after, then a 100mile in 2005. 7 year plan...including two years of just learning how to run at all. And to think it all started with training for getting fit to go mountaineering with Dad in the Alps in 1992. It was sporadic for a bit and then got serious and steady getting fit for walking in the hills and leading up to KIMM 1999. Wow I've been running sporadically for 10 years and solidly for 4. Time flies.
26/27 Oct - KIMM.
After spending most of a week sitting either in the car or on a chair during Kalachakra, we finally arrive. Miraculously find a cancellation space in a nearby hotel. The next day we start very strongly and feel happy and fit. During during a long downhill section, J's knee begins to flare and by checkpoint 4 it is all over in terms of competing. He bravely carries on the the finish, but with the looming gales and limited chances for a pain-free run tomorrow we call it a day.
Nov 14 - 14k. Walk with a colleague. Mainly to see what damage was wrought by not doing much since the KIMM. Was ok.
Nov 16 - 7,7k. Coughing a bit and an overall superficial complaining, but seems mostly intact. Tough to get to 50k by Yule, but we'll see. I did the spring marathon with LOT less base. Route: Left at the T junction in the forest, down to Maison des Jeunes, Abbey via the road and then back through the village.
Nov 20 - 7,7k. Just fine. Still a tiny bit of wheeze deep down. Stretch those aveolar sacs...
Nov 25 - 10k. 1h15 approx. Coureur des Bois - hilly variation. "This is not enough..."
Nov 27 - 14,5k. No problem. Lungs better and better. Thinking on that 50k. Route: Courer des Bois variation on hilly variation. Turn right at the bottom of the hill, up the horse track left and down, then follow Coureur des Bois and back via road and Abbey and village.
Dec 3 - 20,8k Bike. Hilly. Forgot how hard biking is on the legs. Ah well, good for the quads.
Dec 5 - 14k. 1:56 Deep deep mud everywhere. Very slow. No problems beyond slightly achey inner knees from sliding around in the mud. Route: Coureur des Bois, Hilly variation. Including turning right at the bottom of the hill and up the horse track. Straight on near peasant's house to Etoile and back through Coureur des Bois path.
Dec 6 - 20,8k Bike. Cold.
Dec 9 - 25k 3hr20. Beautiful crisp day around 0C. A long run characterised by blunt physicality that left me feeling a bit empty. No doubt this was exactly what I needed. I can say it was an OK 25k with no tricks. Had enough left to move with some purpose from the edge of the forest to the house on the last lap. Need to adjust my feeding to take Hammer Gel every 40 mins or so. Hip/Butt muscles a bit tight in the cold. No lower back pain. Route: Coureur des Bois, right loop to farm and tower then back onto Coureurs, to Abbey, past mud track to farm at T junction, into Mellery, up to Rue Heuval back down Coureur des Bois Hilly variation return and then straight on to Etoile and back via road.
Dec 14 - 14.5km 1hr51. Nice straightforward run with a little pace here and there. (7.8km avg 12-13 min/mile) The 50k is going to be a bout worth betting on. Instep blister... Route: Coureur des Bois to the cobbled road, right loop then back down for standard hilly variation.
Dec 22 - 11.9km Shorter than I thought I would go due to memory capacity being filled up with stuff regarding the weekend. Route: Coureur des Bois to cobbled road, down right loop and then straight back via CdB.
Dec 26 - 15.6km 2hrs. Very very muddy. Seems that 2hrs is what satisfies these days. Route: CdB to cobbled road, right loop, then right loop up the hill left and back down to stream then return via CdB.
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