I do love to be beside the seaside....

I had a trip to the seaside today. My (temporary) unemployment has gifted me a menagerie of opportunities to do stuff that I never really have time to do, like go and spend the day with my Grandparents.

They live in a lovely town called Whitstable (the home of Janet Street-Porter) and I getting some sea air in the lungs is always a good feeling. After a lovely pub lunch and an afternoon of watching Ascot (did I mention how awesome unemployment is?) I set off on a run. I planned to do 5 miles, but this was cut short because the searing pain in my right calf hadn't disappeared after 3.5 miles. I'm thinking a rest from running is needed until after the weekend; some swimming and upper body training will give my calf a chance to rest and the running can begin once again next week.

Although my calf hurt quite a bit, I was pleased with my run; averaging 8:15 min/mi over varying terrain of road, busy highstreet and beach. Tomorrow will be a fun day with a bit of golf in the morning, an upper body gym session in the afternoon and speed dating in the evening. It may be a late blog, but it will definitely hopefully be worth reading.

Couldn't hit a barn door....

There are a few times in professional football when you watch and think "my nan could've scored that!" but when watching me play tonight you would've been forgiven for thinking "wow, you should really quit playing football".

Don't get me wrong, I don't think of myself as the new Ronny Rosenthal but I'm definitely not an awful player. However, tonight I couldn't hit a barn door with a Tactical Nuclear Penguin.

However, I did manage to run around a lot, I actually managed to score two goals (out of about ten attempts) and we won the game 5-4, so overall it wasn't that bad it was just embarassing.

Interval

in·ter·val/ˈintərvəl/Noun

1. An intervening time or space.

2. A pause; a break in activity.

My new watch has a setting on it to take you through an interval training workout, so I put that through it's paces today. Inspired by a conversation I had a few days ago, when I thought of an interval I somehow thought of getting an Albatross during my interval running. Unfortunatly, that didn't happen and instead of finding a large, feathered snack in my interval I had a rapid heart beat and large beads of sweat flowing from my head.

It was a good run though and I even hit 5:30 minute miles at one point. I managed it for 400 metres, so I won't be doing 5 minute miles any time soon, but I still enjoyed it.

It had to happen sometime...

There comes a time in every runners "career" that this will happen. I was hoping this wouldn't happen to me yet but today it happened. I went running in the rain.

After my bad time swimming yesterday, I felt like I needed to make up for it today with my running. I was looking forward to this because I could expel some demons and try out my new GPS watch.
While not being the easiest watch to configure (I even had to read the owner's manual!) it was a breeze to use once it was setup. My watch was ready for the run, my mind was ready but unfortuneatly the weather wasn't ready to let me enjoy it. I opened the front door to torrential rain, black clouds and generally unwelcoming streets. I almost delayed the run to see if the rain stopped, but I knew that if I did that, I would delay it until tomorrow so after a quick change into a long sleeve top, I set out on what was my virgin rain run.

With the rain beating down and my watch GPS-ing, it took longer than usual to settle into a rhytm. I can usually settle into a rythm after about 1.5 miles but today took 3 miles to really relax. 3 miles! I only planned to do 4 miles so it was a tough one, but one I was quite proud of. It was quite pacy too with a short sprint to finish the run.

One of the good things about my new watch (yes, I will be mentioning my watch plenty of times over the next week as I use all of the features and I make no apologies :) ) is that I will upload the results to the Garmin Connect website and allow me to embed those in some sort of blog or website, such as this one...

Great East Swim - 38:38

Firstly, apologies for not blogging last night, I didn't get in from the Great East Swim until 00:25! Anyway, onto the more interesting stuff...

I was hoping to blog about how good the swim was and how I loved it so much that I can't wait for the next one, but unfortunately it didn't go down like that. I was kind of nervous about it in the first place so that probably didn't help but I thought that would just go away once I got in the water. On the contrary, the combination of shock of cold water and being surrounded by people all trying to swim at the same time was a little too much for my anxiety and it all boiled over into my losing my breathing rhythm and generally forgetting how to swim.

Now, there are some situations where being scared and nervous are perfectly acceptable and could be forgiven. I don't see the Great East Swim as one of those situations, so I've made a list of reasons for and against the nervousness and I'm pretty sure there was no reason for it:

• Reasons to be scared:
• Visibility was poor
• There were lots of people all trying to swim at the same time
• A monster might rise from the deep and eat me (This really did cross my mind at one point)

• Reasons not to be scared:
• Visibility was poor, but I could still see enough to swim
• The other swimmers were trying to swim, not kill me
• The monsters were probably quite friendly

Apart from these irrational fears, the fact that I'm actually a very good swimmer should've been enough to get me through and then add to the fact that I used to be a lifeguard in my youth makes this a little more embarassing.

But given this whole thought process going through my head during the swim, I finished the course in less time than I was aiming for anyway and I've used the whole thing as a learning experience. I've got an Aquathlon coming up in two weeks and the Great London Swim in three weeks, so I'll look towards them as real opportunities to make amends for my horrible swim yesterday.

I'm soooooo hungover

I had some leaving drinks last night, which meant today was full of junk food and a general queasy feeling. I knew today would be a tough day to continue Juneathon so I managed to complete a quick mile run when I got home from work without throwing up and that's good enough for me. I really don't like running when I have a hangover, it just makes me feel really icky and sweating that much when I'm already dehydrated surely can't be good for you.

Now that I'm unemployeed for the next two weeks, this is where Juneathon can really kick in. With time to train properly, I can make quite an improvement in my fitness, all in time for Tough Guy in July. One thing that will help is the GPS watch that my old colleagues got me as a leaving present. I do love looking at various metrics so all the new metrics I can look at about my running will be like a little geeky dream. This geeky dream also comes with a big thanks to any old colleagues who read this blog.

I'm off to Ipswich for the Great East Swim tomorrow. This is going to be a unique challenge that I've never done before, so I'm really looking forward to that and hopefully I'll have a few pictures to show for it too.

Rise and shine... it's butt whooping time

After my achievements in the pool last night, I knew today was where my Juneathon might hit a brick wall. I'm out for my work leaving drinks tonight and out for lunch today, which means I'd have to get up in the morning and complete a run.

My alarm woke me up with a start at 6am so with a false sense of optimism in my step, I set out on my run in the hope that I'd be back in time for the train to work. The one thought that sprang to mind was CoolRunnings when they all bust into John Candy's room to wake him up for some early morning training. Early morning training would be so much better if I had John Candy to throw snowballs at on my morning run. One can only dream.
One a good note, I finshed my 1.6 mile run in a decent time and I'm showered, breakfasted and blogged in time for my train.

Sink or swim

Tonight was the key night in my efforts to train for the Great East Swim on Saturday. 60 lengths in the pool and now less. Would tonight show that my training is going well and I'm ready for the swim or would it fail big time and I'd end up drowning in the middle of Alton Water.

The good news is that 60 lengths came quicker than I expected and I even added two more lengths on the end in case I miss-counted (which is quite likely). I don't see myself as particularly stupid but counting the number of lengths I've completed in a pool seems to be a skill I wasn't born with.
Apart from the counting fail, the good news is that I won't be drowning on Saturday and now I can move onto thinking about what time I'll finish the swim in. I think about 45 minutes will be a good time to do, but for my first attempt, just finishing will be an achievement.

What's with the rhymes?

I've been reading some blogs
and they all seem to rhyme,
everyone seems to be more creative than me
all of the time.

I tell myself I'm a programmer
I'm not a poet.
But maybe I have an inner odist
and I just don't know it.

I had a tough day at work today
but I hit my deadline.
If I could just make it to football,
the evening would turn out just fine.

Football? I hear you ponder,
is that proper Juneathon activity?
Why not just go for a run,
get to mile two, or maybe three.

Football is harder than you might think,
5-a-side is my game.
Its short, fast and frentic paced,
running just isn't the same.

OK, I hear you concur,
it definitely counts for Juneathon.
Did you score, did you win?
I suppose its ok, if you had fun.

I didn't score, but we did win.
its been a while
since my face has seen this grin.

We also got some free drinks.
Free drinks? I hear you cry
Start of a new season, they said
why not stop by

As this poem comes to an end
I was wondering if I should get a new job.
I could do this for a living,
the evidence is in the blog.

But really programming is where my talent lies,
I couldn't do this all day.
I think I should finish this blog soon,
I'm not really any good at this rhyming stuff anyway.

But by doing this, I feel included,
part of the group.
And now my poem has gone full circle,
one dodgy, badly rhymed loop.

Nobody cares about technicalities, right?

Yesterday was the day that I technically failed the Juneathon but on the flip side it was the day that I showed motivation and determination to stay in and do well. How can you do both I hear you cry. Well, the bad part about yesterday was that I didn't find time to write this blog entry. I've missed the 24 hour deadline by an hour so that's where the technicality exists. Have I failed or should I just try harder in future? I think I'll just try harder in future.

As for my exercise yesterday, I was in the pool at 6:30am for a (planned) 40 length swim before work. Whether it was my hard 10K run the day before or the sudden change in weather (which can aggrevate my asthma) but I really struggled to complete my swim. This is probably one of those moments when your body is screaming at you to say "stop exercising, just rest for a day!" but I pushed through, finished 20 lenghts and left the pool with my tail between my legs.

I think I might take it as a lesson not to push too hard day after day during Juneathon, so treating yesterday as my rest day, Juneathon is back on today with football tonight. I'll try to blog on time from now on too

Bluewater 10K - 52:47

Today was the day of my first 10K and as I look back, I think it went pretty well. It was more of a fun run with a trainer to warm us up and people on stilts, but it didn't take anything away from the fact that we all had to run 10K.

I ran with my mate Iain, so we made a deal that we'd run together for the first kilometre and go our own ways once we were up the first hill. Once up the first hill, we parted ways and I kicked the pace up a notch to try and get home in my target time of 50 minutes. I made it to 5K in about 24 minutes, so I was well on target until I got to the second half of the course. Undulating is not a strong enough word to descibe how hilly this course was, so I've marked it out with the elevation included.

My time was knocked back a bit with the hills, but I'm really quite happy with my time. I want to do a flat 10K now, just to see if taking the hills out of the equation means I can hit my target time. The dream is hitting my target time with the hills, but thats a little way off at the moment.

Vroom vroom!

With my first 10K coming up very soon and the collection of my new wheels, today was never going to be about the Juneathon. To make sure my motivation didn't slip completely, making me fail Juneathon, I went swimming early this morning. It was an uneventful swim and I managed not to get in any arguments with elderly swimming (like what happened last time) so by 9am my Juneathon activities were over.

Today was all about me and my new car and it's quite frankly amazing. With Juneathon out of my mind for the day, I've been on a very pleasant road trip in my new 2.0 Golf TDI. With a few balls on the golf range, me and my mate James decided that was enough physical excersion for one day and retired to his pool for an ice cold beer and some much needed vitamin D.

So after my road trip and topped up levels of vitamin D, I feel ready for my 10K tomorrow. All there is left to do now is drink a bit of fluid tonight, watch the ever pleasant Katherine Jenkins on tv and get a good nights sleep.

It's all about the 10K

I didn't want to go for a run tonight. I'm doing the Bluewater 10K on Sunday and feel like I should be resting but I have to go running due to Juneathon. Relunctantly heading out into the early evening sunshine, I started to feel better as the sun warmed my legs.
Only 2 miles tonight but with a swim planned for tomorrow morning, I should be in good shape for my first 10K on Sunday.
As I think about the 10K, I'm starting to think about how fast I should run and what time I should be aiming for. Being my first race, I'm going to take it slowly and see how it goes but I think my target time is < 50 minutes.
More importantly though, I get to pick up my new car tomorrow :) I'll apologise in advance for my blog tomorrow because it may have nothing to do with Juneathon

Riddle me this....

Tonight was pub quiz night and like all keen drinkers pub quizzers, we spent the week revising the news and trying to find as many random facts as possible. Add this to the pressure of having to fit in a Juneathon run and it was a busy evening.
Sacrificing time at work to fit in all of these evening activities, I dutifully headed out on my pre-quiz run. Only 2.7 miles but I'm trying to rest a little bit before my first 10K on Sunday, so I'll let myself off.
As for the quiz, we put in a respectable score of 33/60. We also learned a thing or two; who knew Timothy Dalton was born in Wales???

I need a GPS watch

Being a geek computer programmer, I tend to need different gadgets for different walks of life. Instead of a book, I have a kindle. Instead of the bog standard iPhone, I have an Android phone. I have a touch screen radio in my new car. I could go one forever.

When it comes to running, the only gadgets I have are a £7.99 watch from Decathlon and a link to http://www.realbuzz.com/mapyourpassion/. This just will not suffice. I'm not happy with simply having the time I've been running strapped to my wrist. No longer am I happy with mapping out my run after I've jumped out the shower. I am fed up with guessing how fast I'm running when I go on my nightly runs. All of this can be solved with a GPS watch.

The only question is what watch to get. My inner geek is telling me that bells and whistles is the way to go, so this would be a good purchase:
Garmin Forerunner 610

But this has the disadvantage of being uber expensive. The model down from this is a little bit more affordable but still quite expensive:
Garmin Forerunner 410

Now these watches are by Garmin, who have a good reputation for GPS watches and these are the watches that people recommend to me. However, they lack the coolness factor of this:

Nike SportWatch

Not only is this about £100 cheaper than the competitors it also looks super cool. It also boasts an online community where you can log your runs and enter challenges but I'm not sure how good this will actually be.

I'll have to hold off on this for the moment, give myself a chance to think about what watch I want to get and if I can afford it, but I can say that before Juneathon is done, I'll be running with the power of GPS at the lower end of my arm.

As for the run tonight, I did 3.54 miles in 29 minutes tonight. This was supposed to be 4 miles but I forgot my route and went the wrong way, hence accidently shortening my run. This is exactly why I need a GPS watch!