Up and running

As of Tuesday 5th August, my first (hopefully of many) running fundraising venture is live. Having entered my first half marathon (October 11, Birmingham), I've set up a donation page on Justgiving , as well as a Facebook group. There are hundreds of worthy causes in need of funds right now; I've chosen one and hope you will support my efforts to raise money for the Swat Region of Pakistan. I'll no doubt say more on this in future posts, but for now please check out the links. Oh, and PLEASE donate!

Taking the plunge

I promised myself that if I stayed fit and maintained my momentum come August, I'd sign up for a half marathon. Now that I've hit the 10 mile mark, this certainly seems a realistic short term goal. Today I signed up to the EDF Energy Birmingham Half Marathon. This will be held on the same day (October 11) and same track as the World Half Marathon Championships. It attracted around 9000 runners last year. Add in its close proximity to home and surely it's the perfect event for my debut. I'll be using the race to raise funds for charity. Hopefully this will all be set up by the end of this week. More details coming soon.

Weekly Review (a tale of two cities)

Last week began like any other, a relaxed Monday following the intense 10k I'd run the previous day. I did venture into the St Anne's weights room, which was like stepping back into the middle ages. A depressing 45 minute workout in grotesque conditions and an experience I won't be repeating in a hurry.

I did some hill training on Tuesday evening. I'm fortunate in that the streets behind my flat are generally quite uphill, with flat sections to ease the load. I always thought running back down would be easy enough, but it can be difficult to control one's pace when gravity is on your side. It's tempting to go at full pelt, but given how narrow the path is I'd probably end up on the road. My weekly swimming session produced no great surprise on Wednesday, although I increased my pace and managed to overtake someone. He was around 80 years old, but they all count.

As planned, I ditched the dreaming spires of Oxford for the humble dwellings of Coventry. Home. Where the heart is. And much better food. It was a relaxed few days and a wonderful opportunity to take in a change of scenery. On Thursday I embarked on a 6 mile run at fairly steady pace. I took the route up to my former school and back, with some digressions. Literally a jog down memory lane. I always thought I lived very far from school, but nowadays 2 miles doesn't seem so far. In the same vein, walking is a frustratingly slow process.

I took advantage of our cycling machine and did around 10k on Friday. This takes a monumental effort and reinforces how weak my legs are, despite months of training. I shall address this by incorporating more cycling sessions into my schedule. Strictly indoors though, I am a hazard on the roads.

I met my oldest friend for dinner on Saturday, Virendra (thankfully shortened to V). A former basketball prodigy, he is no stranger to the rigours of physical training. Indeed, V completed the Coventry half marathon in 2007 in a decent time of 1hr 48mins. What made this even more impressive was that he'd only done 6 weeks of training, none of which incorporated intervals, fartleks or any other sophisticated routines. I guess he was already quite fit and didn't require much more effort to reach the 13 mile mark. In stark contrast, I've had to ditch the last 24 years and start from scratch.

My aim for the half marathon is primarily to finish without having to walk any of it. After this, a time of below 2 hours seems realistic. Still, I remain as competitive as ever and would like to attack V's time, just to make myself feel that little bit better. One thing at a time though, and for now I had to focus on running 10 miles on Sunday. I took a similar route to Thursday, but then headed up towards the other side of Coventry. The route was mostly undulating, with the odd steep incline. I look forward to my longer runs and in particular, for the moment where everything seems under control. I always find the first few miles tough, but there usually comes a point where I feel I can go on all day. Of course, this feeling only lasts a few more miles, but gets me through the pre-determined distance. On Sunday, that moment came at around mile 5 and I just knew I'd ease to the 10 mile mark. Now it was just a matter of how fast. My speed throughout was fairly constant. The one other time I completed 10 miles, a fortnight previous, I stuttered in the last 2 miles, bringing the time well past the 90 minute mark. This time, I speeded up slightly in the latter miles and came home in 1hr 26mins. This suggests I am well on course for the 2 hour mark. With just over 2 months to go, it's very much in my own hands. But my greatest challenge lies ahead. More on this soon.

I returned to Oxford this morning, with my left leg giving me some trouble. I think I'll ease off and do some cross training tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be ready to take to the road again on Wednesday.

I have finally entered myself for a half marathon - see the next post.

Tennis players: the happy medium

Running 3-4 times a week has made me restless during the days in between. I now feel that a day without substantial exercise is a setback. A little extreme maybe, but it has made me consider other forms of training that may be of benefit. As a research student I certainly have enough time to divulge in these daily exploits. My friend Aki told me a few months back that I "need to bulk up; you are just stick at the moment." Aki doesn't mince his words. He's a well built figure himself and has encouraged me to take up weight training at the gym. The problem is, I hate the gym. I find it unbelievably tedious. It is nothing but sheer agony and the end product is to stare in the mirror, looking for signs of growth in the biceps. A fertile breeding ground for testosterone fuelled Arnie wannabes. In contrast, running takes you wherever you want it to; every run is different, depending on weather, speed etc. The gym is far too repetitive and excruciating to bring me any joy. You work and build and then after a few months, you decide you wanna build some more. A vicious circle with no end goal. No thanks. However, despite all that I could do with some extra strength, so I've dabbled a bit in recent weeks.

My current flatmate, Zilani, is perhaps the greatest human specimen since Muhammad Ali. A brain surgeon with a Maths degree from Trinity, Cambridge, his brawn matches his brain. He's recently shown me the ropes around the gym and has helped improve my performance. Soon enough, I'll finally topple him in an arm wrestle (even if I do have to use both arms).

I think there needs to be a balance between athleticism and strength. Boxers and Rugby players are tanks, world class runners are "sticks". I've really gotten into Tennis the last few years and am in awe of some of the talent on display at the moment. However what really gets me about (male) Tennis players is that they seem to possess the perfect mix. They have incredible stamina, speed and strength, and yet look perfectly normal. This is a happy medium; one I feel is worth striving for. My GP made the exact same observation when I met him last week. He also advised me to use the fact that I'm under weight as a strength. No good trying to run 13 miles if you've got excess body weight to carry. For the first time ever, being under weight is an advantage. Still, a little extra muscle can't do any harm.

Weekly Review

I figured I'd give a summary of the week, every Sunday evening after my main run. It has been a low key week, training wise. I wanted to ease up after going 10 miles last Sunday. A gentle treadmill session on Tuesday was followed by my weekly swim session on Wednesday. I never had a particularly athletic childhood, due largely to the nature of my upbringing ("focus on your studies!") and illness. However I was exposed to swimming at an early age and owe any skill I have to my father who taught me the basics. I had a brief stint in the pool in summer after my GCSEs but hadn't been at all since then, until a few weeks ago. I've never been a strong swimmer and in particular I am incredibly slow. But I do seem to have stamina, swimming 20 lengths at a time at the moment, without even having to push myself too much. My memories of swimming are peppered with images of prolonged water fights. That isn't really my goal any more. Not because I've grown out of it; indeed a recent punting session with friends culminated in a free for all battle (what happened on the river stays on the river). Rather, swimming is an aid to boost my stamina. It is my main form of cross training and needs a certain level of intensity to be of any benefit. That doesn't take away all of the fun; I'd forgotten how much I enjoy just being in the water.

My multipurpose watch (lap timer, pedometer, heart monitor) arrived on Friday morning. Another big investment but one which is already making training easier. I was worried the pedometer wouldn't be very accurate, but it has 5 different sensitivity settings. Time to put it to the test. On Friday was another fartlek session. The word 'fartlek' (or falter+k in Countdown terms) is taken from Swedish, meaning speed play. Loosely speaking, it involves a casual run with sudden, temporary sharp increases in speed (usually 50-100 metres at a time). It really is quite tough and is the one aspect of training I don't look forward to. Just as I'm getting back to comfortable breathing, my pleasure is short lived as it's time to speed up again. The whole point is to improve one's anaerobic (lovely 9) threshold (and again) by increasing one's tolerance (I am on fire!) to uncomfortable breathing. Whilst being the toughest part of training, it is no doubt one of the most rewarding in that it is clearly making a difference in the long term. As for the pedometer, it agreed with Google Maps to within 50 metres, over a distance of just under 5 miles. Good enough! I had a few issues with the heart rate monitor; at one point it told me my heart had stopped. Luckily, both my heart and the pedometer are performing fine now.

Last week I ran 10k in around 55 minutes. So proud I was that I flaunted this fact on Facebook. However that was a 'tempo run', meaning my pace was consistent and controlled. I was not at full throttle and decided this week to push myself further. Well, today's run was certainly not a tempo run. My 10k run is split into 4 legs; the first is around 1.6 miles (note my seamless transition from metric to imperial) and mostly uphill. The second leg is then the same, but downhill (obviously). The next 1.4 miles starts off downhill and flattens out. By the time I return to the starting point (my house), I have around 400 metres to go, which is pretty much the length around the surrounding block. I'll put my split times up on a separate page at some point. What was clear was that I pushed myself a little too much on the first leg, meaning much of the run was uncomfortable. I had my eye on the 50 minute mark and was well on course throughout, although I needed a big effort in the final leg. Luckily my iRiver (poor man's iPod) was pumping out the Karate Kid soundtrack, which I finally got hold of. Bill Conti is amazing (who hasn't been inspired by the Rocky music?) and gave me a much needed boost. I came through in a time of 49:15, prompting my first "COME ON!!!", much to the amusement of an elderly bystander.

An incredible time for my standards. Running was always other people but now I seem to be half decent. I'll not get carried away though, because this run exhausted all of my resources. I don't expect to improve on this too much in the coming weeks, but surely 45 minutes is a reasonable long term target now.

Looking at my schedule, I'm around half way towards a half marathon (the schedule is by no means absolute but is a useful guide). From now on, I'll be embarking on much longer runs on the weekend, eventually building up to the 13-14 mile mark. This was always about endurance and I don't want to lose sight of that. I'm thrilled to have injected speed into the mix, but the primary aim is to go the distance. I have set myself a goal of below 2 hours for the half marathon, but I'll be happy enough just to finish in one piece.

I plan to go home this week so will take to the streets of Coventry. I sort of feel like Muhammad Ali in Zaire, embracing his roots. Except that's probably the worst comparison ever. He's nowhere near my level. Seriously though, I look forward to the change of scenery.

Wants and Needs

I'm watching The Jonathon Ross Show. Not because I'm a fan of him or the show, but because he has some awesome guests tonight. As I type this, he's going toe to toe with Tarantino. The panel of Dragons' Den is next but my main reason for watching will come on last; Denzel Washington. If ever I'm gonna use this word it's for him; that man is a STUD (King Kong ain't got shit on him). I recently watched The Hurricane for the first time, where he played real life boxer Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, who was framed for murder by a racist cop and sent to prison for over twenty years. It may not be entirely factually accurate, but the film sure is powerful. Maybe I'll do a review later. Anyway, it's sort of relevant here because I have taken much inspiration from the attitude of Rubin/Denzel in prison. He says he survived by "not wanting and not needing."

I realised when I took up running that I'd have to makse some major sacrifices. My diet just wasn't going to cut it anyomore. Pepperoni pizzas, chips and chocolate had to be replaced by pasta, bread, rice and the like. Bye bye Kebab Kid, hello Tesco fruit and veg. I've managed this by changing my attitude to food, Rubin-style. Food is no longer a luxury; it is my ally. Food is my fuel and nothing else. I've been accused of becoming obsessive but in truth it's an easy sacrifice to make. The rewards are evident; I can honestly see the difference a high carb diet makes to running.

I've also given up high intensity sports like Football and Tennis. When one runs 3-4 times per week, they need rest in between. These other sports put way too much strain on my legs. In truth, I was barely competent at them in the first place anyway (the odd moment of Footballing brilliance notwithstanding) and would no doubt do myself an injury in the most stupid circumstances. That would be unforgivable.

Perhaps my biggest challenge is to apply this philosophy to sleep. For years I've been dreaming for 9-10 hours a night. This needs to be sorted out but whilst the intention is easily made, it's a tough sell at 8am when the alarm goes off. My aim is to get this down to 7-8 hours. I'm hopeful, but cautious.

Denzel is on, so I'm off.

State of play

I'm currently training to run in my first long distance race in October. I have my eye on the EDF Birmingham Half Marathon on October 11. Given that I've never done anything like this before, I've been very cautious with my approach. I've invested in some proper running shoes, a proper training guide and today I finally ordered a heart rate monitor/watch/pedometer. Running is not cheap!

At the moment I'm training 3-4 times per week, saving my longer runs on the roads for the weekend. Almost all of my running has been done on roads, but I am now mixing things up with treadmill sessions in the gym and a weekly swimming workout. Perhaps most notably, I've also radically changed my diet (kinda had to if I had any aspirations to run well). Within 3 months I've gone from not being able to run for more than 10 minutes without stopping to completing my first 10 mile run.

I think I'm well on course to complete a 13.1 mile run in 3 months time and have thus far not had any major injury concerns, although my left leg seems to struggle more than my right. However speed has never been my strength and I realise I have a very long way to go yet. Next session will be a gentle fartlek (a casual run with regular but temporary sharp increases in speed) on Friday. These tend to be quite intense and are not my favourite part of training, but if I am to improve my speed they are necessary. So I've read.