Category: fitness

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State of the union – sort of (my 2011).

Well, perhaps not quite a State of the Union Address, but here’s a random update on my life in general which perhaps sums up the last year (as we’re almost at the end of the year, it’s probably fitting I somehow, somewhere write something like this).

  • My children (Rowan and Anya) are both growing up rather too quickly. Anya’s about 18 months old, walking and almost talking (‘tree’, ‘cat’, ‘that’, ‘tasty’, ‘mum’, ‘daddy’ and so on) while Rowan (~4) is busy playing/asking questions/learning to write/bashing things with hammers and so on. As far as we can tell they’re unaffected by Katherine and I splitting up. I’m lucky to be able to see them regularly (4 times a week) and usually ‘good enough’ for hugs and cuddles after they fall over / chuck up or whatever depending on the star alignment or who ever told them off most recently…..
  • Pale Purple (work) wise – everything’s going well, we’re busy, have plenty of work lined up over the next few months and there are a number of interesting projects almost ready to start. Over the last year there has been a distinct increase in the amount of development we’re doing in mobile applications – specifically towards Android and business apps (e.g. for a delivery driver to use to see what jobs they have to do – rather than the traditional Microsoft Windows CE based thing). PHP is still the main focus of the company with other supplementary bits (training, security audits, systems administration and so on). We took on an industrial year student this year – so there are currently five of us full time.
  • I’ve moved house – so I no longer live in a one bedroom flat which was always cold [no central heating]. Now I’m in a 2 up, 2 down house like thing, so the children can have their own bedroom, or spread their toys over a wider area. Soon there will be a trip to Ikea and they’ll have a bunk bed and random other things no doubt.
  • I still run / cycle / exercise – although not as much as I might like to. Mr Patch, the Jack Russell, went to live with my aunt at the beginning of the year (I think?!) – where he’s apparently behaving well, and has become somewhat wider; likewise his absence here is partly to blame for my weight gain – but conversely not having him makes looking after the children / work / jetting off to Spain (I can’t think why…) so much easier.
This post was brought to you by two great bottles of beer from MyBreweryTap, who happen to be a customer of mine – and subscribed me to their 52 bottles a year package for free. “A++++ will drink their stuff again!” as people would say on eBay!
Enjoy 2012 readers. I don’t know what things will be like by the end of the year, but I’m pretty optimistic at the moment.
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Some good news

This morning I ran 3 miles.

This is good. I can now run again. Stupid Achilles tendon appears to be fixed again.

I’ve felt like a fat slob over the last 11-12 weeks, missed a marathon and rediscovered cycling.

Lesson learnt: Next time my Achilles tendon goes (as no doubt it will knowing my luck), carve it out with a scapel and wait for a new one to grow back. That’ll teach it.

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My First Marathon

But will it be my last?

To detail it here – hopefully instead of telling everyone the same thing – and to remind myself next year… here’s how it went.

We arrived in Stratford for the Shakespeare marathon at about 8:45am, changed, herded toddlers and children towards the start and did the toilet ritual. The start line had moved from last year, but it was obvious where to go. Then we spent about 15 minutes standing around waiting for the start klaxon.

Obviously the start was crowded; there were fat/slow/lazy people everywhere – as I did a lap around the town centre, I just found myself zig-zagging through them all and getting frustrated somewhat. It was nice to have Rowan, Kat, Jenny, Emily, Rachel, Helen, Vickie, Anderson and Bailey all looking on as I raced past. Suffice to say, I was full of beans at this point in the race 🙂

I knew I was running relatively quickly, at least for the first half marathon – I did 12 miles in about 1 hour 30, or thereabouts – and enjoyed myself certainly until sometime after this point, which makes me wonder if I should do half marathon’s in the future and not bother with full ones (now I’ve done it… ) but that’s an argument for another day.

Anyway, at about 16(?) miles, I went to the loo; while sitting down on the toilet (hey, at least I didn’t just hide behind a hedge) my legs were busy shaking. By about 18 miles I was making a conscious effort to slow down a little, and keep my heart beat at around 150-156. I suspect I generally failed at this. In my mind I knew I had little more than my daily morning run left to complete – but it certainly dragged on. My fingers and toes had been getting slightly numb since perhaps 18 miles. Maybe earlier.

The last 5-8 (?) miles of the marathon involve running down a straight disused railway track – the Greenway – this dragged on for a long time. Especially as we’d covered part of it on lap one. By about 20 miles, my stomach area was starting to cramp slightly; By 22-23 ish miles, I had slowed down quite a lot – but discovered myself overtaking walkers doing the half marathon. My vision started to blur slightly, and my legs felt pretty useless perhaps at about 24 miles – and time / distance seemed to drag on and on.

Eventually I returned to the recreation ground/park in the middle of Stratford for the finish. In retrospect I could have upped my pace at bit at this point – but it still seemed like there was some distance left to run, and I couldn’t remember the route that well from last year – so it wasn’t until the last corner that I sprinted what is probably the last 50 metres to the finish line. My legs were numb, I was just glad the ground was quite flat as I couldn’t really feel them. Thankfully I didn’t trip which would have been a pain.

Once over the finish line I just wanted to collapse and remove my t-shirt. My shoulders had ached for about the last hour. I staggered back to where the waiting family were and promptly collapsed on the floor. My legs then took turns in cramping in alternate muscles – Jenny didn’t approve of my method of punching myself in the appropriate cramping muscle and helped me stretch – which I think helped.

So, anyway, would I do it again? Yes. But I somehow need to get a better sense of pace. On my own, two to three weeks ago – with no one to chase – I did 24 miles in about 3 hours 30 mins and that was difficult enough; yet I did the entire marathon in 3 hours 35 mins on Sunday. I can see that I probably went too quick for the first half, but I’m not sure I have the discipline (?) to slow myself down in the first half enough to have an effect towards the end.

So, Nottingham’s marathon beckons sometime in September, I think.

If I’d done just the half marathon, I’d have been in good form at the end (not tired, able to run the last mile or so very quickly etc); yet I did the full marathon and found it pretty hard going. So, should I focus instead on just doing half marathons quickly? I don’t think I have the lanky runners physique which suits marathon runners…..

Update: apparently I was 184th out of nearly 900 runners. 🙂