Monday 22 October 2007

Shamefaced - no race this weekend, but two runs

The Fat Runner is embarrassed that he didn't run the Wimbledon Common Time Trial as he had promised.

Despite him receiving a lot of encouragement from some of the people who read his blog, unfortunately he got back too late from Greece on Friday night for him to get up the next morning and head down to Wimbledon for the race - this would have been his first running race ever (given that he was injured for the London tree-athlon).

So - do you think he has a valid excuse? Wednesday night - 5 hours sleep. Thursday night - 4 hours sleep. Friday flight back - landed at 2145, luggage on carousel at 2245, and home at 2330. So perhaps not a surprise he didn't wake up until 0815 on Saturday morning. I'll let you come to your own conclusions.

But the good news is that TFR did two runs - a shorter one of about 5k, and a longer one of about 8k. His pace was good for the 8k (actually 4.8 miles in 47 minutes, so 6.1 miles per hour). He also ran this without his heart rate monitor, so was a little worried about going out too fast and not being able to finish strong at the end.

The interesting thing is that he seems much better able to pace himself now, after getting used to running with a HRM. About 2 miles in, he felt as if he'd started the run a little hard. Of course, it was impossible to test his heart rate, so he just started running slower until the feeling had passed. Hopefully now that he can gauge pace better, this will lead to better overall results.

So, the learning we can take away from this is that as soon as it starts to feel really uncomfortable, slow down, and even walk if necessary. It won't be long until you can start running again and complete the session!

Sunday 7 October 2007

First Run after injury

I know that The Fat Runner said only a few days ago that he wasn't going to run this weekend, but the temptation was simply too great...

So TFR went out with his wife around his normal Kensington Park run, and took it easy (very easy!) and everything seems to have gone ok!

The wound on his leg didn't open up and there was no obvious tightness or soreness.

So hopefully the injury phase is over, and he will no longer be tagging his posts with 'injury'.

Of course, this will also mean that he has no excuse not to run, so expect lots more updates on his running progress....

So - seeing how he missed out on the London tree-athlon 5k, he needs a new challenge, so he'll be appearing at the Wimbledon Common time trial on Saturday 20th October.

The time trial seems to be a really nice, small, local event - it's 5k, run by enthusiasts, and doesn't cost anything to enter, and because of that is run on paths which are not closed to the public. But it's run every weekend, so TFR is looking forward to doing a few of them before the end of the year.

The only difficulty he sees so far is that it will be after quite a difficult travel schedule. This Wednesday, he's in Amsterdam, then back to London, then on Friday he goes to Germany, back Sunday night. On Monday morning he flies to Philadelphia, and flies back to London overnight on Wednesday night, landing Thursday morning and then transfering at Heathrow onto a flight to Athens, flying back on Friday night... Hopefully he'll find some time to keep running, and the hotels will have some healthy options!

By the way, he was slow today - 34 minutes for a run he normally does in 30...

Friday 5 October 2007

96kg!!

So since TFR started this blog, he has lost 2kg, mainly over the last few weeks.

How? Unfortunately, the way most diet books suggest NOT to do it - by restricting meals. In particular, he has been working rather hard and late, quite often meaning that lunch is a snatched sandwich and dinner doesn't always happen. He's yet to see whether the 'starvation mode' is a reality or a myth - there seems to be conflicting advice depending where you look...

But for now, good news.

Also, the injury has finally scabbed over and is no longer leaking. Unbelievably it's taken almost 4 weeks to get to this stage. Even now, though, the scab looks a little frail, so TFR won't be out running this weekend. Next weekend though is going to be the start of something though! And as he is lighter, he's hoping to be able to run even quicker!

But this time, he won't be running around Hyde Park when they close the gates at night...