Foggy start

After yesterday's lovely afternoon sunshine I thought I'd start early for a summer morning workout. Well it turns out yesterday was summer. Today I woke up to thick fog and a severe weather warning.

The problem with running, even run/walking, for as little as 20 minutes, is you spend the whole time thinking. Maybe I need a sports psychologist! Usually my mind wanders as far as thinking just what a big step up it is to a marathon ... so far I feel good, and 5% or so fitter than when I started. But I need to be 1000% fitter.

So far it's been 4 weeks at the current pace of 1.5 minutes walking and 1 minute running, with 8 repetitions. I'm just about comfortable with this but still clockwatch at the end of every minute - my body wants to walk, not run. It's hard to see how I can step this up but next week I think I have to. My training schedule is hidden away so I haven't dared look to see what I need to do ...

Hotting up

Just want to write this now as I may not get the chance again ... too hot to run today!



I know I can't bail out now as I won't get to train 3 times this week otherwise, but I've substituted it for a stint on the stepper instead (15 minutes/660 reps - of interest only to me but writing it down so I can beat it next time). Not ideal but at least I don't feel like I'm lazing out of a run too much. Earlyish night tonight so I can run in the morning. Hopefully.

Week 4

So here's the problem - the title correctly says week 4, but the reality is that every work day that passes another day slips by without running. So again if I'm to do 3 days this week it has to be Friday - Sunday.

But at least part one of that has been fulfilled. The treadmill has one readout that doubles both as "Age" and "Calories", and I'm not sure what's more depressing. In either case in moves inexorably from 1 to 61. If it's calories, that's a depressingly small amount burned off, although I'm sure I sweated an extra pound! (sorry, I'll not go into detail as if it's sweaty men you're interested in then you're on the wrong blog). If it's age, well that makes no sense but it did somehow reflect the age I started to feel, slowly moving through the 40s and 50s as I ran further.

I should add at this point that I haven't moved on to week 2 schedule yet - still inexorably working to get comfortable at 8 repetitions of 1.5 minutes walking and 1 minute walking. I've got time still on my side, haven't I?

End of week 3

OK so it's the first day of week 4 but I have to call it week 3 so as to notch up my three runs for the week ... still at least I have stuck to that now. The big question is whether to step it up - right now I'm too tired to decide but if nothing else I'm proud of what I'll eventually do. Just not of what I do at the moment ...

A couple of days ago the official fundraising pack arrived from Save the Rhino, and the first advice for unfit non-runners is to ignore the training schedules you see in the books and magazines as you might not even be at the bottom rung of that training schedule, but just to go out and move for 20 minutes, even if that "moving" is just walking, or only running a little bit. So that's just what I'm doing at the moment, and I'm delighted that someone else has acknowledged that. Save the Rhino have got people through the London Marathon for years now, so if they can start people off from that stage, they can do it for me too!

Extended week ...

Well after failing to get myself running each day this week, suddenly there were only two days left to get my three days' running in ...

As it's Bank Holiday weekend, I'm cheating and extending this week to include Monday, so that I can run Saturday, Sunday and Monday. A treadmill session (yesterday) followed by my first ever morning run today and hopefully we're on track.

This morning was actually nice to run in cold drizzle - let's hope it's like that in April. Honestly the worst part is 20 seconds into my first run, I just want to turn round and go home. But today I made it as far as the Buckingham Road roundabout and back (which will mean nothing to almost anyone reading). My walk/run combination has taken me further today than before, so let's claim a small (tiny) victory. Morning running I like though, could be a good idea tomorrow.

Week 3 ...

... and still no run. An hour and a half late at work, a 45 minute commute, making the tea, walking and feeding the dogs and then it's almost 9pm. Well I've resolved to run 3 times a week, so that means tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday three "runs" in a row. Watch this space ...

end of week 2

Heart not quite in it today - stint on the treadmill at least ticked the training box for today but it wasn't as far as I was supposed to run/walk. Still, at least Paula Radcliffe only came 26th this morning at the Olympics. So I only need to come top 25 in April to go one better ...

Uphill struggle

Another day and again it's late and dark so I've gone for the treadmill option with my combination of some running, lots of walking and a very small number of combined minutes.

The treadmill is inclined though, so it seems like more of a mission, and more of an accomplishment when finished. Or am I just imagining it and clinging to any optimism I can? At least the advantage is I can push myself and stop when I want to. Otherwise on the streets I need to decide when I'm half way to giving up, so I can turn round and go home again!

Week 2

I kind of thought when I got into this that it might be quite nice running on cool clear summer evenings. But frozen and drenched in mid-August is not what I was expecting, and that was just before I started, before walking the dogs!

Still, the treadmill has now seen its first use and apologies to anyone in suburban Bicester who may have heard loud whirring, puffing and panting noises from a garage down a certain cul-de-sac. At least they will have only lasted a few minutes ...

End of week 1

Well another "run" and that's week one over. Only twice this week which is not good enough but let's not panic yet. Problem is my "run" consists of sessions of 1.5 minutes walking and then a minute running, and the minute consists of 50 seconds of anxiously looking at my watch, then 5 seconds of slowing down even further, followed by sneaking in a walk a second or two early, so as to have the full minute and a half to recover from the inevitable stitch.

If nothing else I'll be well prepared - add up the two pairs of posh running shoes, the heart rate monitor/GPS which I haven't actually used yet and now the second hand treadmill proudly folded up in the garage and you're looking at a pretty high ratio of pounds spend to minutes actually ever run ...

Off and running

Well my facebook page says I think I might have made a great mistake ... I'm not sure that's really true as I'm more optimistic than that. But the truth is, that was difficult and it should really not have been such a challenge.

The phenomenal effort? - 6 minutes running in 6 1 minute stints and 9 minutes walking. I now know with confidence that I might have to work up to the 26 miles but can nail the 365 yards and only have to stop and walk twice.

I know a time will come when I enjoy this - I'll see the light and visualise the moment I trot over the finish line and Save the Rhino will be £1000+ richer. Probably that moment will be the moment I tell everyone about this blog! But I've got the training started again.

false start

So do I start today? In this rain - you must be joking!

Starting small ...

Well today should have been the first day - three days this week I need to run 1 minute, walk 1.5 minutes and repeat 8 times. I'll start tomorrow, or Wednesday. At least my Wii thinks I'm 32 now and not 65.

I will do this.

The beginning

OK so here are the facts ...



I've never run in my life. I don't know why, but in April after watching the London Marathon I decided to run in the 2009 event. People who know me will not be surprised to see I am running for an animal charity (well the running bit they will be very surprised about, but just not the animal charity bit), so I have resolved to raise £1000 for Save the Rhino International. All of which means I now have a guaranteed place to run.



I'm 5 foot 9 and 14 stone 10, quite overweight, and just can't seem to get started. But on the 3 occasions I've tried so far, I couldn't hit 2 minutes without stopping. And I haven't actually told anyone I'm doing this yet apart from close friends and family. Someone mentioned it was quite a "mid-life" thing to do, they probably got it absolutely right!



So I'm working on the assumption that the more people I now tell, the more likely I will be to actually start training and do the marathon in April 2009. Watch this space ...



Neil