Running – Page 4 – Speak Easy

Pushing myself into a corner

I’ve run at least 100 km every month this year. I want to keep this streak going.

After Sunday’s run, my total for October is ~82 km. I needed 18 km in four days. It seemed like four days of easy 5K runs would do it.

I skipped the run yesterday. I claimed sore muscles as the excuse. Then it appeared like three days of 6K runs would do it.

I’m skipping the run today too. Work load and gloomy skies are my excuse today. Now I need to run two consecutive 10Ks in next two days.

Unless I skip tomorrow’s run too, and end up having to run a half marathon on Thursday 😕

Running slower?

Screenshot 2019-10-26 at 15.53.44 — Today

Screenshot 2019-10-26 at 15.53.34 — A month ago.

A month ago I ran more than a minute faster than today, and was ranked the same¹.

Today was my first run in two weeks. I was in bad shape and hurting.
A month ago, I was in prime shape. That was my second fastest time this year, and third fastest time ever in Guildford.

I thought I was running slower. It seems everyone else is slowing down even more.

I love this rank… 111, a Nelson. ↩

Commiserations :(

Got the wrong email yesterday:

Not a very happy turn on otherwise a happy, productive day.

Ever the optimist, I had a look at the ‘good for speed’ qualification times.
My current marathon PB is 3:59.
Good for age for my age group at London Marathon is 3:02.
The olympics qualification criteria last time around was 2:14.

From my perspective, the probability of me posting a London marathon qualifying time is almost the same as me qualifying for Tokyo olympics marathon with Team GB :)

Continue reading Commiserations :(

Wuss, moi.

I planned the run in my head.

I got dressed in running gear.

I started the warm-up routine.

….

Then I felt too cold.

The head was full of excitement from a breakthrough in the morning’s work.

Chewie was still wrapped up in bed.

But mainly, I felt too cold.

…

So I chickened out of the run. I changed back into home clothes. And am now back at work.

Wuss, moi.

Last week, I…

… turned 40.

The calendar dog celebrated with confetti.
The dog looks like a 1 year old Chewie with Dudley’s hair colour. Chewie was a master confetti creator at that age :)

… finished reading a book that I started reading more than 10 years ago.

It was worth it. I shouldn’t have taken that break for 9 years, 11 months.

… did a shit load of work.

It was one of my most productive weeks. Long hours + deep focus = lots of good, happy output.

… started seeing the autumn colours everywhere.

I missed carrying a camera on my runs. But I did get a few shots in on Chewie’s evening walk yesterday.

… ran nearly every day

Missed a run on Thursday due to bad weather in the morning, and Athletics world championships in the evening.
Yep, I didn’t run because I was busy watching better runners run :)

… ran 50 km in the week

It was my first 50km week since the marathon in April

… set a new high for running mileage in a year

My total running mileage for 2019 reached 1,213 km. Previous highest was 1,202 km in 2015.

… sat for an IQ test.

I scored 133.
The score is 12 points lower than what I remember scoring in my early 20s.
Still, apparently it suggests I’m ‘gifted’. Not sure in which way.

It was a good week.

Five check mark day

Steps, floors, sleep, activity minutes, water intake

Steps (target: 10000)
Floors (10)
Active minutes (500)
Sleep (8 hours)
Hydration (2800ml)

I get four of them frequently, it’s the sleep one that’s rare. Yesterday I slept so early that my ‘go to sleep’ reminder alarm at 21:30 woke me up 🙂

The long, deep sleep probably helped with today’s run. It was way faster than usual and with great form, specially on the ascents and descents.

I think watching the 5000m final (Athletics world championships) yesterday helped with the form.

The run also brought the week’s running total to above 50Km—the first one since the marathon in April.

Feeling…

Good

Because…

Spoke to ma-pa yesterday.

Active user count for Todo.txt for Android touched a new high.

It’s freezing cold but sunny.

Weight didn’t increase despite yesterday’s gorging on chocolate and kaju katli. It dropped by 0.2kg.

I’m about to head out for a run.
(It was a wonderful 10K, half with boys who were half brown by the time we finished)

I saw KJT run the 100m hurdles. I think I’m in love with her :)

Continue reading Feeling…

Today

I’ve had an ur-productive day today.

I started work at 6:20 and stopped at 18:10. There were two breaks totalling 3 hours for loo, lunch and S4E6 of Peaky Blinders. Other than that it’s been full focus, highly productive deep work.

I didn’t open email, WordPress, or any other distractions.

I finished today what I’d planned to achieve in 2.5 days.

It’s been awesome!

Continue reading Today

Welcome Autumn

Today is Autumn equinox, the traditional start of Autumn up here. The weather makers seem to be well informed of the dates.

We had beautifully sunny weather all of last week. Then yesterday it rained on most of our run. Now there’s a forecast of rain for this whole week.

It’s getting chilly in the night. I’ll take out one of my duvets this week.

It’s getting darker in the mornings. I can keep the south-facing window in front of my desk open all morning—seeing the slowly shades turn from black to dark blue black, then through various shades black and blue, into bright blue. Or if it’s cloudy, into a dull light blueish grey.

The leaves had already started turning colour. It’ll still be a month or more before the autumnal colours really shine but the shades are already visible occasionally.

The garden has noticed as well. There aren’t as many apples on the tree as before. The petunias are almost gone. Berries are fully ripe, which means they’ll soon start turning black and dry. The begonias are still thriving but the geraniums have reduced flowering. And the grass in the backyard never fully loses the moistness from the morning dew.

One of the good bits about autumn—apart from the beautiful colours and dark mornings—is that it’s my favourite running weather again. I don’t need to care about the warm and hot days. It’s the season of running in cool fresh air, with an occasional shower and often lots of mud. The runs will be harder—summer’s hard ground provides better support than the muddy or boggy autumnal trails. But the runs will also be far more pleasant. Continue reading Welcome Autumn

Unfaithful

Chewie is my favourite running partner. Runs with him are, on an average, 274% better than runs without him. Just watching him run—along or ahead—gives me an extra 50W of power. Chantries is our favourite running ground. We both love running up and down those trails, specially the sections through the dense trees where few people walk.

I took Chewie for a few Parkruns years ago. His competitive spirit, and my inability to run like the wind meant I had a torrid time. He used to drag me around for the first couple of Km. Then we’d run together for the next Km. And I’d have to drag his sorry, tired ass around for the final 2K. He didn’t know how to pace himself when there were other dogs to catch and beat. I didn’t know how to run at his blitzing pace.

There was also the matter of his loud howling and crying with excitement as everyone lined up for the start.

I took pity on both of us and stopped taking him along. He enjoys lazy Saturday morning cuddling up with R in bed till 10 or 11. I get to run at my own pace.

A has been asking me if we should take Dudley for a Parkrun. Dudley is lot more people friendly than Chewie, and has a more tempered approach to life (and running). It may be easier to run with him.

I’ve been strangely non-committal. The reason is that Parkrun is my time to mingle with all the other dogs—Jasper, Danny, Lizzie, Archie, and all the other lovely 4-pawed lovies. It’s the one time of the week I’m openly unfaithful to Chewie and Dudley, and give undivided attention and love to my other friends.

Taking Dudley might shift my friends’ focus from me to him. Dudley (and Chewie even more so) may not be so amenable to them meeting me as usual—Jasper jumps up and hugs me on my shoulders, then rubs his sides on me, then sits down between my legs, my hand in his mouth, and begs for belly rubs.

My dogs may not take kindly to my unfaithful actions :)

Continue reading Unfaithful