Friday, 8 May 2009
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Day 10 - Something to prove
Type - fartlek training
Distance - 4 miles
Distance - 4 miles
Time - 30 minutes 31 seconds
As you may have gathered I didn't enjoy yesterday's run. Slogging round a four mile course with a swishing weight of creamy pasta in your stomach is not much fun. Although I managed to get a decent enough time I was keen to go on another run this evening to try and obliterate the memory of an unpleasant session. Doing two consecutive runs is not necessarily the most sensible thing to do during training, but given the low overall distances I thought I would be able to get away with it. Just to mix it up a little I decided to run the same four mile course as yesterday (slightly amended back to the original course given Arsenal wouldn't be playing tonight - map), but to do a session of fartlek training. As previously mentioned fartlek training essentially involves steady running interspersed with bursts of much faster running for a set distance or time.
The idea behind this form of training emerged in the 1930s and was developed by the Swedish coach Gösta Holmér. The Swedes had been comprehensively thrashed by their Finnish rivals throughout the 1920s, and Holmér's plan was designed to redress the balance. Fartlek, meaning "speed play" in Swedish, is a form of conditioning which puts stress mainly on the aerobic energy system due to the continuous nature of the exercise. The difference between this type of training and continuous training is that the intensity or speed of the exercise varies, meaning that aerobic and anaerobic systems can be put under stress. So whether it is bursts of sprinting or changing the gradient of the run for a distance the body will benefit from this comprehensive training.
I started with a five minute warm up run, steady jogging up until the start of Petherton Road and then sprinting for about 500 metres. Back to steady jogging, until my breathing had returned to normal, and another burst of speed. This was repeated about five times until I was absolutely knackered. Fortunately I didn't have any problems with breathing, cramps or lactic acid build up, but my legs were aching. This must have been the result of back to back runs, and another lesson in the importance of proper recovery periods in training.
I had a long steady run along Highbury Grove, along Highbury Hill, climbing up the brow of the hill and, in the sense of changing gradients, continuing with the principles of fartlek training. Then a long sprint downhill towards Arsenal tube station, and then an unsteady, jelly-legged jog towards home. By the time I got to Blackstock Road I was on about 28 minutes, and less than half a mile from home. I wanted to get under half an hour, and managed to put in a final sprint. It was just too far, and I came in at 30 minutes 31 seconds. Still, this was 3 minutes 38 seconds quicker than yesterday's run, and 4 minutes 52 quicker than Saturday.
The emphasis for the next few sessions will have to be on extending the distance, but this sort of time puts an ambition to run the two 10k runs in 50 minutes within reach.
The idea behind this form of training emerged in the 1930s and was developed by the Swedish coach Gösta Holmér. The Swedes had been comprehensively thrashed by their Finnish rivals throughout the 1920s, and Holmér's plan was designed to redress the balance. Fartlek, meaning "speed play" in Swedish, is a form of conditioning which puts stress mainly on the aerobic energy system due to the continuous nature of the exercise. The difference between this type of training and continuous training is that the intensity or speed of the exercise varies, meaning that aerobic and anaerobic systems can be put under stress. So whether it is bursts of sprinting or changing the gradient of the run for a distance the body will benefit from this comprehensive training.
I started with a five minute warm up run, steady jogging up until the start of Petherton Road and then sprinting for about 500 metres. Back to steady jogging, until my breathing had returned to normal, and another burst of speed. This was repeated about five times until I was absolutely knackered. Fortunately I didn't have any problems with breathing, cramps or lactic acid build up, but my legs were aching. This must have been the result of back to back runs, and another lesson in the importance of proper recovery periods in training.
I had a long steady run along Highbury Grove, along Highbury Hill, climbing up the brow of the hill and, in the sense of changing gradients, continuing with the principles of fartlek training. Then a long sprint downhill towards Arsenal tube station, and then an unsteady, jelly-legged jog towards home. By the time I got to Blackstock Road I was on about 28 minutes, and less than half a mile from home. I wanted to get under half an hour, and managed to put in a final sprint. It was just too far, and I came in at 30 minutes 31 seconds. Still, this was 3 minutes 38 seconds quicker than yesterday's run, and 4 minutes 52 quicker than Saturday.
The emphasis for the next few sessions will have to be on extending the distance, but this sort of time puts an ambition to run the two 10k runs in 50 minutes within reach.
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Day 9 - through the pain barrier
Type - steady run
Distance - 4 miles
Distance - 4 miles
Time - 34 minutes 9 seconds
It isn't a good idea to exercise on a full stomach. It is down right stupid to attempt a training run on one. I knew this, but I also thought that I had given myself enough time to digest the decent sized portion of spaghetti carbonara I had eaten at a late lunch. I had taken the day off work today, the day after my birthday. Not because I had any crazy plans for bank holiday Monday, but because since my holiday I had gotten massively behind in all of the small household chores that need to be kept on top of. No more ironed shirts left, dust building up in corners of my bedroom, kitchen left in cake batter splattered disarray after the weekend's cake making exploits.
I ended up eating at about 4pm, after getting caught up in finishing off my chores. By 7pm everything felt pretty digested and normal, so I stretched off and got ready to run. Today's route would go down Green Lanes, coming off at Petherton Road to run through Canonbury, before looping back on to Highbury Grove at running past the Emirates and across Blackstock Road. (map) The first sign that things were not going too well was in the crowds of Arsenal fans. It was obviously a match night, which would make my run along Drayton Park Road interesting. Then, before turning off on to Petherton Road (about half a mile in to the run) I started having vicious pains in my chest. The undigested lump of pasta was swilling in my stomach, and sharp stabbing pains crippled my body. I tried to breathe deeper, longer and slower breaths, controlling my running and breathing to minimise the cramps.
I kept going, a bloody minded determination to finish a run that was, after all, only four miles long. Eventually the pain subsided to become a background annoyance, my legs freed up and the run gradually shifted from being hellish endurance to just unpleasant, breathless exercise. One single bright moment was finishing the four miles in under 35 minutes, an improvement on Saturday's time.
Another lesson learnt - be very careful with food, digestion and timing, otherwise running quickly becomes painfully unpleasant.
I ended up eating at about 4pm, after getting caught up in finishing off my chores. By 7pm everything felt pretty digested and normal, so I stretched off and got ready to run. Today's route would go down Green Lanes, coming off at Petherton Road to run through Canonbury, before looping back on to Highbury Grove at running past the Emirates and across Blackstock Road. (map) The first sign that things were not going too well was in the crowds of Arsenal fans. It was obviously a match night, which would make my run along Drayton Park Road interesting. Then, before turning off on to Petherton Road (about half a mile in to the run) I started having vicious pains in my chest. The undigested lump of pasta was swilling in my stomach, and sharp stabbing pains crippled my body. I tried to breathe deeper, longer and slower breaths, controlling my running and breathing to minimise the cramps.
I kept going, a bloody minded determination to finish a run that was, after all, only four miles long. Eventually the pain subsided to become a background annoyance, my legs freed up and the run gradually shifted from being hellish endurance to just unpleasant, breathless exercise. One single bright moment was finishing the four miles in under 35 minutes, an improvement on Saturday's time.
Another lesson learnt - be very careful with food, digestion and timing, otherwise running quickly becomes painfully unpleasant.
Day 8 - rest for the wicked
I had intended to run today, but in the end I spent too long at Alfie's first birthday party, ate too much cake and felt too lazy to run.
Given it was my birthday I felt that a day's rest was the smallest present I could give myself!
Given it was my birthday I felt that a day's rest was the smallest present I could give myself!
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Day 7 - resistance is not futile
Cross-training is an integral part of a comprehensive training programme, and today was the start of integrating this into my regime. I cycled into central London to the Central YMCA to use the elliptical trainer for half an hour. I have a London Fitness Network gym membership which gives me access to all the facilities of London's council and charity gym, pool and fitness facilities. Included in this network is the Central YMCA.
This is a big health complex and the heart of the UK YMCA movement. After Village People the YMCA gym sounds both daft and ridiculously camp. And it does have a big gay following, but it is a very serious gym. It is the best appointed facility I have used in London - a vast two level spread of CV and resistance machines, large studios and a central sports hall with everything from interval training, badminton and even juggling.
Today was a decent training session, nothing spectacular, but I am very aware of the risks of over-training and am consciously checking my desire to go further.
This is a big health complex and the heart of the UK YMCA movement. After Village People the YMCA gym sounds both daft and ridiculously camp. And it does have a big gay following, but it is a very serious gym. It is the best appointed facility I have used in London - a vast two level spread of CV and resistance machines, large studios and a central sports hall with everything from interval training, badminton and even juggling.
Today was a decent training session, nothing spectacular, but I am very aware of the risks of over-training and am consciously checking my desire to go further.
Saturday, 2 May 2009
Day 6 - A tale of two parks
Type - steady run
Distance - 4.15 miles
Distance - 4.15 miles
Time - 35 minutes 25 seconds
I started the day with a walk into Stoke Newington to buy some training socks. I have developed a small blister on the same place between the heart and solar plexus of my right foot, and thought that a proper pair of training socks would help, quickening sweat away from my feet.
I had a mounting sense of unease whilst warming up and stretching. I've had this a few times - it is almost a fear that I won't be able to go the distance without hyperventilating, collapsing or worse. I suppose this is just a novice runner's fear of the unknown, but it doesn't help with controlled and steady breathing - almost becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Once I got past the first few hundred metres things were fine, and I soon started enjoying it. I had devised a route that would take in a loop of Finsbury Park, come back down along Brownwood Road and then loop around Clissold Park (map).
The run around Finsbury Park was very pleasant, despite the incline on the eastern boundary of the park. It is a good loop for runners, a broad road and footpath running around the edge of the park, past the lake and tennis courts. Back out into the busy streets of Seven Sisters Road before darting into the traffic calmed streets that link the two parks together.
Clissold Park is a lovely park. I think it, along with neighbouring Abney Park Cemetery, is my favourite non-central open spaces in London. And now that the dread hand of winter has relinquished its chill grip the park has burst into life in an orgasm of chlorophyll. Vast London chestnuts, oaks and elms dominate, spreading vast green canopies over much of the park. But there is still expansive, rolling green lawns, two lakes (named the Beckmere and Runtzmere after Joseph Beck of The City of London and John Runtz of The Metropolitan Board of Works who saved Clissold House park and Newington Common from being developed in the 1880s) and the remains of Clissold House which now serves as a community centre and cafe.
But by this stage I didn't get to enjoy the views as much as I usually do, concentrating more on putting one foot in front of the other. The park boasts a running track, wood chips piled thickly to create a spongy path which is noticeably easier on the legs. It does make the surface uneven, and I am not sure on balance whether I prefer this comfort for the certainty of tarmac. I whipped round, thankful that I didn't develop the build up of lactic acid that has bedevilled past runs nor get horrendously out of breath. My legs were aching slightly, but his is the inevitable consequence of training. I had enough left in me to do one final sprint back home, to arrive in a great time of 35 minutes 25 seconds. I think I am going to have to work on my pacing, because whilst the speed is nice, I need to be able to sustain running over longer distances.
I had a mounting sense of unease whilst warming up and stretching. I've had this a few times - it is almost a fear that I won't be able to go the distance without hyperventilating, collapsing or worse. I suppose this is just a novice runner's fear of the unknown, but it doesn't help with controlled and steady breathing - almost becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. Once I got past the first few hundred metres things were fine, and I soon started enjoying it. I had devised a route that would take in a loop of Finsbury Park, come back down along Brownwood Road and then loop around Clissold Park (map).
The run around Finsbury Park was very pleasant, despite the incline on the eastern boundary of the park. It is a good loop for runners, a broad road and footpath running around the edge of the park, past the lake and tennis courts. Back out into the busy streets of Seven Sisters Road before darting into the traffic calmed streets that link the two parks together.
Clissold Park is a lovely park. I think it, along with neighbouring Abney Park Cemetery, is my favourite non-central open spaces in London. And now that the dread hand of winter has relinquished its chill grip the park has burst into life in an orgasm of chlorophyll. Vast London chestnuts, oaks and elms dominate, spreading vast green canopies over much of the park. But there is still expansive, rolling green lawns, two lakes (named the Beckmere and Runtzmere after Joseph Beck of The City of London and John Runtz of The Metropolitan Board of Works who saved Clissold House park and Newington Common from being developed in the 1880s) and the remains of Clissold House which now serves as a community centre and cafe.
But by this stage I didn't get to enjoy the views as much as I usually do, concentrating more on putting one foot in front of the other. The park boasts a running track, wood chips piled thickly to create a spongy path which is noticeably easier on the legs. It does make the surface uneven, and I am not sure on balance whether I prefer this comfort for the certainty of tarmac. I whipped round, thankful that I didn't develop the build up of lactic acid that has bedevilled past runs nor get horrendously out of breath. My legs were aching slightly, but his is the inevitable consequence of training. I had enough left in me to do one final sprint back home, to arrive in a great time of 35 minutes 25 seconds. I think I am going to have to work on my pacing, because whilst the speed is nice, I need to be able to sustain running over longer distances.
Day 5 - peak performance
Type - Gradient / hill run
Distance - 4 miles
Time - 41 minutes 41 seconds
Today I had lunch with Jarlath, marathon champion, fitness guru and a very handy friend to batter with training questions. We went to Wasabi and I had a steaming bucket of pork katsu curry and rice. I love katsu curry, and would normally have to stop myself from licking the last of the sauce from the box. But today was different, and it is not just pork katsu that is lying uneaten at the end of mealtimes. The first thing that went was a desire for snacks. I've always done a lot of exercise, and so it doesn't take much of a mental leap to understand that in order to keep and enhance my massive waist-line I eat a lot of rubbish. But perhaps now it is more correct to say I ate a lot of rubbish, because this week I've had no desire for the chocolate or sweet treat. Ultimately I would like to eliminate sugar from my diet, followed by caffeine. I've been drinking a lot of water. Real, pure and unadulterated water. Uncarbonated, uncoloured, decaffeinated and without artificial sweeteners or vegetable plant extracts. I've reduced Diet Coke intake to a single bottle in the morning. This is quite a reduction, as anyone who has seen my recent fizz-binges can attest.
So is running giving me a win-win weight loss double whammy? Is the loosening in my trousers a sign of things to come? Will I finally crack the weight gain that has bedevilled my late twenties?
I seriously hope so.
On to the training. This evening's run was based on a hill training programme on the treadmills at Clissold Leisure Centre. I had been running the same programme before embarking on proper training. I had managed 25 minutes on level 9, which means running between 10 km/h down to 7.5 km/h but with the gradient increasing every couple of minutes or so up to 7 degrees. This might not sound much, but it makes the running a proper slog. I decided to keep the programme on level 9, but to increase the length of the run to 35 minutes. This increased the intervals between gradient changes to 3 minutes, which gave 12 minutes of running at 6 degrees or above. It was tough going, with thick drips of sweat falling to the treadmill belt far below.
It felt good. It felt better than good. This was my most enjoyable training run so far, difficult but manageable, without the unnerving sense that I was pushing too far beyond my comfort zone and with less of the debilitating build up of lactic acid. It felt so good that I decided to go for a full four miles, and increased the programme length. After 40 minutes I did a sprint at 16 km/h for 1 minute 41 seconds to push me to 6.4 km. I walked home as the sun was sinking beneath the tree line, a red sky promising good weather for the next day, the clouds striped in glowing pink and peach hues and the spire of St. Mary's church burning gold. If summer is just round the corner, now is the best time to get properly fit!
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