Rob-sty or Rustert?

As I was plodding through the mud today with Rusty panting by my side, it struck me that we would make a great combination in terms of my long-range ability mixed with his speed. He's still struggling with long distances since his 3 year slobbing lay-off in the USA where he didn't really get any long, ranging running due to the strict 'on-leash' laws in Maryland. He's comfortable doing 7-8 miles, but don't want to push him too much too quickly. Rusty is probably thinking 'enough of these short slow outings, let's run for 20 miles!'.

No matter how far we do run, I know he'll out-sprint me. I've tried ramping up the speed slowly or throwing a stick in the oposite direction, but he's wiley and still manages to beat me back to the car ;)

Happy Xmas!

Two really good runs this week, both on Cleeve Common. Firstly I went up on Monday with Rusty and ran a 6.5 mile route. Fairly quiet up there given the time of year, most people probably hustling around town. Different story today, was like Trafalgar Square up there this afternoon. I was glad to get off the Common where most of the 'ramblers' were and had a cracking 8.6 mile run. Quite muddy in places, definitely Walsh territory! Talking of which, I've just finished reading 'Feet in the Clouds' and thought I'd give this no holds barred downhill bonkers running that most Fell runners describe. Ok so I'm no Fell runner, and have only tried to run downhill fast on a few occasions but I must say, it feels as though either a) one of my legs is simply going to fly off or b) my groin is going to snap with the force of a aircraft carrier catapult. I'd describe my downhill style as 'helicopter with tail rotor removed' if you can imagine what that looks like ;)

Top Xmas present from Mother this year, 13 months subscription to Runners World and Helen (wife) came up trumps too with some Gore running trousers & SealSkinz gloves. Excellent!

R.

New XC route

Here's a new route that I'm hoping will become a good XC track. I've run it once before but took a few run turns and ended up running over 9 miles. Could be quite muddy in places!

Fast week

A good week this week. Low mileage but three runs since Sunday and three PBs! Firstly the run on Cleeve Hill was the quickest I've done it so far, which isn't really saying much as so far the weather has been grim or I've been using it as a recovery run. Last week I stepped it up a bit and took nearly 5 minutes off. Then on Monday I went out at lunchtime for a 6 mile loop around Staverton Airport and reduced my time from 39:50 to 38:34. Wednesday saw a race around the same loop and my time came down to 37:54. So a useful week although I must get out today to stack up the miles a bit more.

Not sure how much running I'll do between now and 7th Jan when I go back to work; baby Netherton's arrival will have a significant say in that.

R.

Brrrr

I often criticise the weather but give it it's due, today was cracking. I went up to Cleeve Hill to do my normal 5.5 mile circuit and although it was chilly, the weather was perfect. The ground was frozen, so no mud, sky was blue, the air crisp, clean and cold. Rusty still decided it was necessary to jump in to the sheep dip but he is a dog, a rather nutty one at that. As I was loading him back in to the car at the end of the run, some walkers arrived back at their car and one of the women shrieked in disbelief at me stood there in shorts 'oh my god' she said, 'aren't you freezing?' It was quite funny seeing them with parkers on, hoods up, gloves, scarfs the whole monty. Yes it was cold, but not once the blood starts pumping.

Weather looks set for the week ahead, good I say.

R.

Funny old week

By Monday evening this week, I had logged exactly zero miles. I was quite worried actually. The reason being that my 38 week pregnant wife needed a bit of TLC over the weekend plus we had relatives visiting so it was quite hard to get out. Actually it was quite nice to have a restful weekend! Anyway it's now Thursday and I've now done 25 miles, which is 5 off my weekly target but half of them have been good quality miles, the other half recovery.

Tuesday night with the Harriers was a fairly brisk 7 miler in 45 mins followed by a 39 min 6 miler on Tuesday so today I did 12 steady miles in total. Great conditions this week though, nice crisp and cold.

Interesting and quite funny letter in this month's Runners World about urban running. The chap in questions was very diligent about wearing reflective items and understood the importance of being seen when running in dark town centres. However he came a bit of a cropper when he jinked through a line of stationary traffic at some lights only to find himself dumped on the ground nursing his hip & shoulder. What he didn't see in the darkness was a tow rope connecting two cars. But hey, you can't look for everything (including moving kerbs hey Ray?).

Later.

Wild & Windy

I logged 32 miles since Sunday, quite satisfied with that. That consisted of a 6 miler around Cleeve Hill on Sunday in driving rain and wind. Not many others around, just a few hardy walkers (not a golfer to be seen!). On Tuesday I ran with the Harriers, about 8.5 miles at a steady 7 m/m pace, which was much needed after a tough run the week before. Thursday & Friday I ran to work which provided another 18 miles. So a good week in some foul weather.

Work Run

Ran to and from work today passing the 30 mile mark for this week, which is usually a missed target! Not the greatest of runs, still feeling the tiredness in my legs from Tuesday night. There is something nice about hitting the deserted streets at 05:50 in the morning, I'll let you know what that is when I figure it out ;) Most of my colleagues think it is very strange that a) I run b) I run to work c) I run to work that early in the morning. They just don't understand!

Can't quite seem to get my clothing right at the moment, generally wearing too much and overheating. I'd rather the weather be freezing cold, at least you can then layer up and stay at a constant temperature. This morning the wind was quite chilly but the air temperature was mild so it felt cold at first, but after a mile or so it was quite warm. English weather!

Talking of weather, not a great forecast for the weekend - it'll be a wet & muddy run whatever whereever I go!

Later!

R.

Tuesday Night with the Harriers

Long run last night - 12.3 miles. A bit longer than expected but good leg training as my recent runs haven't been of any great distance. Fitness wise, I felt fine last night but my legs stiffened after about 10 miles so the final 2.3 were a bit of a struggle. Still, I stayed with the others for longer than my first outing! A visiting runner called David joined us (Hi David) and he announced that he's a 39 min 10Ker - ahem, I think he may be a little bit faster than that!

So Battledown Hill is a bugger, going up anyway! By the time we went over the top my legs were in shuffle mode and stayed that way down the other side. My bike ride in to work today was a little slower than normal - a nice headwind to boot!

Here's the route we followed last night:

Keeping it in the family

This weekend we had my wife's sister & her husband staying with us and knowing they are ardent 'out and about'ers' I took them for a spot of XC. Unfortunately (for them), they only had their normal road shoes so it was a bit slippery in places but otherwise they had a great time. The four of us (Rusty came too) went for an hour or so, much needed after a glass or two of wine on Saturday night. So today (Monday) was a rest day and I'm planning to go out for a blast with Dave & the local running club tomorrow. Talking of which, Dave sent me a great link for creating your own running routes. Have a look at:

http://www.runningmap.com/

Local Loop

Good run last night around my local 4.3 mile loop. A nice route for a tempo run and I improved my PB on this route by 20 seconds which surprised me as I started with a 6.58 & 7.01 / mile and then sped up to a 6.25 & 6.21. Actually I think this is the way to approach runs around 10k, start steady (bit quicker than 7.0/mile) and then try and go each mile a bit quicker than the last. Very difficult to do in race conditions as you have to conciously rein yourself in and let the others sprint off in to the distance, safe in the knowledge that you will catch and pass most of them later in the race. That's the theory anyway!

Talking of tempo runs, interesting article in this month's runners world:

http://www.runnersworld.co.uk/news/article.asp?UAN=3176&v=3

Cross Country

Me and trusty Rusty the border collie went for a 5.5 mile XC run today. Unlike Sunday, no driving snow and sleet today. Great run today, just getting dark and we were up on the hill looking down over the valleys and towns of Gloucestershire. I thought Rusty was a bit tired today as he was struggling to keep up but it was just a ploy. He was soon sprinting after rabbits and chasing around everywhere.

Worst Run / Best Run

My worst ever run? Easy. It was earlier this year and we were on holiday near Toronto, Canada. I had been recovering from a sciatic nerve injury and was just starting to get some miles back in to my legs. I needed to keep my training/recovery momentum up so I went out for what I thought would be a gentle 6 miler. Well, to start with I was running along trails based on a small map that I collected. The first trail was flooded and although I managed to get about 50 metres in, the trail turned a bend and I could see the flood water continuing so I turned back. So within the first 1/4 mile, my feet were already waterlogged. Plus the weather - really hot (90s) and very humid (80+ humidity). The next 2-3 miles were ok, steady pace on roads & pavements but then I darted back in to some wooded trails and things went horribly askew. There were a maze of trails, again mostly flooded, and I seemed to sample all of them at some point. Mozzies were everywhere and I was running through knee deep standing water. By now the humidity was really telling and I knew I had a couple more miles. Eventually I burst out of the trees on to a golf course. I must have looked like the Yeti as I laboured around the edge of the course back to the hotel. My Garmin Forerunner told me the entire route was a pathetic 6 miles (surely GPS must be wrong sometimes!) and it took nearly an hour!! The expression on my wife's face told me how bad I must have looked!

Helen (my wife) also features in my best ever run. While we were living in the US I was running regularly at the weekends and had a really good route set-up for a particular December morning. When we woke that Sunday, Helen did a pregnancy test as we had been trying for a baby for over 2 years and regularly tested when we thought there was the faintest of chances. Miraculously, that morning the stick read positive! We were pregnant. So after an excited breakfast I donned my running kit, Helen got on her bike and we went out together for a 10 miler. We talked all the way around about being pregnant and how unbelievable it was after all that time. As I ran the miles ticked by and before we knew it, we were back home. Probably not a fast 10 miler, but it could have been the quickest!

Running Pedigree

or lack of! A bit of background on my running history. I'm 39 and have been 'running' to a certain degree since my teens although for the majority of this time it was a means to and end, a way to keep fit for the other sports I enjoyed playing such as footy and rugby. It also helped maintain overall fitness and weight control etc. Then, in the summer of 2005 I had a little boy, Joshua. The arrival of a little baby really restricted the opportunities for running so I started going out at lunchtimes at work with two chaps Dave & Nick. To start with, I couldn't maintain their pace around a 4.3 mile trail looping around a golf course. Gradually, over the next few weeks I managed to haul Nick in, but Dave was still that person ahead of me, always with an extra gear. Dave & I ran a half marathon, my time was 1.27 his was 1.25 again, just too far ahead.

A smallish 5k gave me a surprise, I came 15th with a 18.44 time, I beat Dave & Nick. However, I still maintain it a bit of a fluke!

So I've only been seriously running and racing for 2 years, my PBs are:

5k 18:44
10k 39:15
Half Marathon 1:27:05

All the above times recorded in the last two years. I ran a half again this year in 1:28:15, so my PB remained.

My first entry.

Well this is going to be the start of my running diary, charting my various training runs, social runs, painful runs & races. Today, I ran at lunchtime with my trusted running partner Dave. We were running a new time-trial route so we took it reasonably easy and only managed a 6.59/mile pace over 6 miles. Still, it was a fairly interesting route comprising B roads, crossing the M5 a couple of times, some footpaths and more B roads. Weather wasn't great, but better than the near blizzard conditions of yesterday. Time for some stretching now and start preparing for the painful Club run scheduled for tomorrow. See ya.