Week 6 - Finding a New Lease of Life
After a complete washout last week and most of the previous week, due to an injured back, I was hoping to start to get back on track.
Sunday 14 or Monday 15 May 2017 was not to be the start of my continued "Long Run back to Fitness" as the muscle in my back still felt tender. However, by 8 pm on Tuesday 16th I did feel well enough to do something. After a very hot shower and a few minutes stretching I walked the 600 yards along the pavement to the glen. I jogged the 135 steps down to the river and then set off on the 1 km lap thru' the woods. As always, I set off with no target on how far I would go or how much of it I would run. The jog downhill to the river had been fine and my back seemed to be OK. On the first lap I walked to the highest point of the path then jogged downhill. All seemed to be good. I eventually completed 3 laps which included 3 x 265 steps jogging downhill, 2 x 180 jogging on the flat and 1 x 240 as an extended version of the 180 jog. This had been good, but I was a bit tired to go and say hello to the waterfall. The walk home was tiring and I spent a bit longer than usual stretching and trying to cool down.
The real thing that struck me today, was that it had been two weeks since my last workout, and in that time the trees in the glen had gone from just showing signs of the first buds of May to now being fully clothed in young green leaves. It was like the trees were shouting in the evening sun and proud to show off their warm young green cloak. This regeneration of new life was probably the reason I found a new passion to be out again in the lowering sun and how I managed to complete three of my now religious laps.
After having done some exercise for the first time in two weeks, I was worried my legs would ache and be stiff the following day. However, to my surprise, I felt good so come 7.30 pm I was off again. This time I managed three laps of 1 km again, but I did have the strength at the end to walk to the waterfall and jog the 110 steps back.
Come Thursday 18 May 2017, and still feeling good, I left later than ever, 8.30 pm. Again an identical three laps with the walk to the waterfall and the jog back. I had been lucky for all the three days as, because I had been going later, the temperature had dropped, it was pleasant and dry, and the sun was low in the sky. It also meant that most people had taken their dogs walking earlier and the glen was peaceful with just a few walkers and fewer dog walkers.
I was pleased I had managed three nights in a row, I was pleased my back seemed OK and I realised the hard work I had put in over the weeks was starting to pay off. I also knew that loosing two weeks training wasn't really a huge loss, as from my years of running I know that as soon as you get your body metabolism working better it continues too and it continues to burn calories, even with a break. I'm now thinking, tomorrow is Friday and I intend to stay the next two nights with my sister and her family in Armagh City. Friday will be a day's break from running as the following morning I plan to take part in the Armagh Parkrun. This is a 5 km run around the grounds of the old Bishop's Palace. It takes place every Saturday morning at 9.30 am, and so far I have done it twice, but that was a several months ago. My best ever for 5 km was under 17 minutes, but that was a long time ago. My last two efforts were 45 minutes and 43 minutes. So I'm giving myself a target of around 40 minutes.
Saturday 20 May 2017, morning I was up bright and early. I had a quick shower, very quick because the water was cold. After a couple of cups of tea and some toast, my sister, her husband and I set off to the 5 km run. On our way out the door, my brother-in-law had realised he'd lock my nephew out, by mistake overnight. The poor lad, who's only 17, was asleep in his car. However, he seemed happy enough and said he didn't get cold.
My sister and brother-in-law had been doing CouchTo5K over the last 10 weeks in a build up to doing parkrun this weekend. Over 200 people had started, but as the weeks went on numbers had dwindled to about 50. Also, they both hadn't managed to do every session.
Armagh parkrun usually gets about 100 taking part, but sometimes this increases in the summer or when CouchTo5K reaches the end of its 10 week cycle. Apparently, it is also the 4th most difficult - so the organiser said at the start. However, I don't know if that's the 4th most difficult in Ireland, in the UK (or even the British Isles), or in the world. Anyway, all the CouchTo5K were there in their red T-shirts - I counted 34 of them.
After a few short announcements we were away. I walked the first few 100 yards with my sister and brother-in-law. It was uphill on road and into woods, then turned 180 degrees and back out onto road, then set off on a lap around part of the Palace Demesne, then it done it all again. So basically two laps of 2.5 km.
http://www.parkrun.org.uk/armagh/course/
Once into the woods it soon became flat, so I said my goodbyes and set off on a slow jog. By now there were only two people behind us. I only jogged about 200 yards before I was walking again, but I had overtaken a few people. These people soon overtook me again. It was warm and I didn't feel great, as I may have overdone it on the beers and the wine the previous night. However, after walking for about 200 yards I started to jog again. There were lots of uphills, lots of downhills, some was tarmac, some was gravel, and some was forest. The only place that seemed flat was the forest. My routine soon became, walk uphill, jog downhill, jog part of the forest and walk the other part of the forest. It also became overtaking people whilst I was jogging and being overtaken again whilst I was walking.
By the time I had finished I felt knackered, but at least my sister and brother-in-law had not overtaken me, and I was sure I had overtaken a few more than had re-overtaken me. Also, I wasn't wearing a watch, so I didn't have a clue how long I had taken. I registered my disc and bar-code and walked back to the finish. I asked some random runner if he knew how long the run had been going and he told me about 42 minutes. So, though I was none the wiser, my goal of around 40 minutes seemed almost achieved. My next thoughts were my sister and her husband, so I began to walk out along the course to encourage them as the approached the finish, that's if they already haven't given up. However, within a few seconds my sister appeared around the last corner with her husband hot in pursuit. When I say hot in pursuit, I really mean to say, both weren't walking.
On arriving back to my sister's I checked the Armagh parkrun website for our times, and to my amazement they had already been posted. I had managed to finish 116th out of a total of 135 in a time of 39 minutes and 42 seconds, so I was pleased to get under 40 minutes, and pleased to have overtaken more people than had re-overtaken me. My sister was 124th in a time of 43.15 and her husband 125th in 43.18, so we were all happy.
The most satisfying thing about the week is that after my break through injury I had managed to get things back on-track and had managed to get out four times in the last five days, thus I had found a new lease of life and I was back to at least where I was a couple of weeks ago.
Just an after thought, having completed my first race in ages, in a pace of of over 12 minute miles, my impressions of runners have completely changed. I first started running when I was 28 years old. At the time I weighed just under 11 stones and I felt overweight and very unfit. I remember the first time I was able to run 22 minutes without stopping and I was so proud. It took me about 8 weeks to get to that point and all my training had been on grass at a park next to where I lived at St Margaret's, next to Twickenham in London. The local pub was The Turks Head, a Fuller's Pub and served my favourite real ale London Pride. Three months later I done my first race, The Cabbage Patch 10 and soon after that my first half-marathon in Windsor Great Park. The half-marathon took 1 hour 42 minutes and I'll never forget that for the following two days I could not walk. A week later I started to run with a local club, The Stragglers, who on Tuesdays at 7.30 pm from The Turks Head. We'd all run a social mile (social meaning it was kept at a social pace so everyone could run together) as a warm up, then split into three or four groups on differing pace and distance. The social mile was ran at about 11 minute mile pace and used to have to hold myself back to run at such a slow pace. By now I had lost all my excess weight and was probably as fit as I had ever been before. Sometimes I would think to myself, can we not just run this social mile a little bit faster. Now, as I look back on that, having gone up to over 17 stones in weight, I think to myself that even after six weeks of training, I probably would find it difficult to stay up with that once painfully slow social mile. I also still wonder if I will ever get fit enough to even run a full mile without having to walk and if I am loosing any weight at all. Well, I do believe I have lost some, but am afraid to weigh myself until I am 100% sure I have.
Another thing special to me this weekend is an event which was having its 21st running. It's something that I have been involved with ever since it was first suggested. The Green Belt Relay is a 220 mile, 22 stage relay run around London's Green Belt. It starts early on Saturday morning from Hampton Court Palace with teams of 11 running both days over the weekend. The event finishes at tea-time on Sunday on the River Thames Tow-path just north of Kingston Upon Thames. This year saw 45 teams competing for the different prizes of overall, ladies', veterans, mixed, corporate and the toilet seat (awarded to the last team to complete all the stages).
Sunday 14 or Monday 15 May 2017 was not to be the start of my continued "Long Run back to Fitness" as the muscle in my back still felt tender. However, by 8 pm on Tuesday 16th I did feel well enough to do something. After a very hot shower and a few minutes stretching I walked the 600 yards along the pavement to the glen. I jogged the 135 steps down to the river and then set off on the 1 km lap thru' the woods. As always, I set off with no target on how far I would go or how much of it I would run. The jog downhill to the river had been fine and my back seemed to be OK. On the first lap I walked to the highest point of the path then jogged downhill. All seemed to be good. I eventually completed 3 laps which included 3 x 265 steps jogging downhill, 2 x 180 jogging on the flat and 1 x 240 as an extended version of the 180 jog. This had been good, but I was a bit tired to go and say hello to the waterfall. The walk home was tiring and I spent a bit longer than usual stretching and trying to cool down.
The real thing that struck me today, was that it had been two weeks since my last workout, and in that time the trees in the glen had gone from just showing signs of the first buds of May to now being fully clothed in young green leaves. It was like the trees were shouting in the evening sun and proud to show off their warm young green cloak. This regeneration of new life was probably the reason I found a new passion to be out again in the lowering sun and how I managed to complete three of my now religious laps.
Looking along the glen from the footbridge over the river, before the leaves appear.
And same view after the leave grow on the trees.
After having done some exercise for the first time in two weeks, I was worried my legs would ache and be stiff the following day. However, to my surprise, I felt good so come 7.30 pm I was off again. This time I managed three laps of 1 km again, but I did have the strength at the end to walk to the waterfall and jog the 110 steps back.
Come Thursday 18 May 2017, and still feeling good, I left later than ever, 8.30 pm. Again an identical three laps with the walk to the waterfall and the jog back. I had been lucky for all the three days as, because I had been going later, the temperature had dropped, it was pleasant and dry, and the sun was low in the sky. It also meant that most people had taken their dogs walking earlier and the glen was peaceful with just a few walkers and fewer dog walkers.
I was pleased I had managed three nights in a row, I was pleased my back seemed OK and I realised the hard work I had put in over the weeks was starting to pay off. I also knew that loosing two weeks training wasn't really a huge loss, as from my years of running I know that as soon as you get your body metabolism working better it continues too and it continues to burn calories, even with a break. I'm now thinking, tomorrow is Friday and I intend to stay the next two nights with my sister and her family in Armagh City. Friday will be a day's break from running as the following morning I plan to take part in the Armagh Parkrun. This is a 5 km run around the grounds of the old Bishop's Palace. It takes place every Saturday morning at 9.30 am, and so far I have done it twice, but that was a several months ago. My best ever for 5 km was under 17 minutes, but that was a long time ago. My last two efforts were 45 minutes and 43 minutes. So I'm giving myself a target of around 40 minutes.
Saturday 20 May 2017, morning I was up bright and early. I had a quick shower, very quick because the water was cold. After a couple of cups of tea and some toast, my sister, her husband and I set off to the 5 km run. On our way out the door, my brother-in-law had realised he'd lock my nephew out, by mistake overnight. The poor lad, who's only 17, was asleep in his car. However, he seemed happy enough and said he didn't get cold.
My sister and brother-in-law had been doing CouchTo5K over the last 10 weeks in a build up to doing parkrun this weekend. Over 200 people had started, but as the weeks went on numbers had dwindled to about 50. Also, they both hadn't managed to do every session.
Armagh parkrun usually gets about 100 taking part, but sometimes this increases in the summer or when CouchTo5K reaches the end of its 10 week cycle. Apparently, it is also the 4th most difficult - so the organiser said at the start. However, I don't know if that's the 4th most difficult in Ireland, in the UK (or even the British Isles), or in the world. Anyway, all the CouchTo5K were there in their red T-shirts - I counted 34 of them.
After a few short announcements we were away. I walked the first few 100 yards with my sister and brother-in-law. It was uphill on road and into woods, then turned 180 degrees and back out onto road, then set off on a lap around part of the Palace Demesne, then it done it all again. So basically two laps of 2.5 km.
http://www.parkrun.org.uk/armagh/course/
Once into the woods it soon became flat, so I said my goodbyes and set off on a slow jog. By now there were only two people behind us. I only jogged about 200 yards before I was walking again, but I had overtaken a few people. These people soon overtook me again. It was warm and I didn't feel great, as I may have overdone it on the beers and the wine the previous night. However, after walking for about 200 yards I started to jog again. There were lots of uphills, lots of downhills, some was tarmac, some was gravel, and some was forest. The only place that seemed flat was the forest. My routine soon became, walk uphill, jog downhill, jog part of the forest and walk the other part of the forest. It also became overtaking people whilst I was jogging and being overtaken again whilst I was walking.
I'm the fat bloke in green in the background, I was walking at this point.
By the time I had finished I felt knackered, but at least my sister and brother-in-law had not overtaken me, and I was sure I had overtaken a few more than had re-overtaken me. Also, I wasn't wearing a watch, so I didn't have a clue how long I had taken. I registered my disc and bar-code and walked back to the finish. I asked some random runner if he knew how long the run had been going and he told me about 42 minutes. So, though I was none the wiser, my goal of around 40 minutes seemed almost achieved. My next thoughts were my sister and her husband, so I began to walk out along the course to encourage them as the approached the finish, that's if they already haven't given up. However, within a few seconds my sister appeared around the last corner with her husband hot in pursuit. When I say hot in pursuit, I really mean to say, both weren't walking.
On arriving back to my sister's I checked the Armagh parkrun website for our times, and to my amazement they had already been posted. I had managed to finish 116th out of a total of 135 in a time of 39 minutes and 42 seconds, so I was pleased to get under 40 minutes, and pleased to have overtaken more people than had re-overtaken me. My sister was 124th in a time of 43.15 and her husband 125th in 43.18, so we were all happy.
The most satisfying thing about the week is that after my break through injury I had managed to get things back on-track and had managed to get out four times in the last five days, thus I had found a new lease of life and I was back to at least where I was a couple of weeks ago.
Just an after thought, having completed my first race in ages, in a pace of of over 12 minute miles, my impressions of runners have completely changed. I first started running when I was 28 years old. At the time I weighed just under 11 stones and I felt overweight and very unfit. I remember the first time I was able to run 22 minutes without stopping and I was so proud. It took me about 8 weeks to get to that point and all my training had been on grass at a park next to where I lived at St Margaret's, next to Twickenham in London. The local pub was The Turks Head, a Fuller's Pub and served my favourite real ale London Pride. Three months later I done my first race, The Cabbage Patch 10 and soon after that my first half-marathon in Windsor Great Park. The half-marathon took 1 hour 42 minutes and I'll never forget that for the following two days I could not walk. A week later I started to run with a local club, The Stragglers, who on Tuesdays at 7.30 pm from The Turks Head. We'd all run a social mile (social meaning it was kept at a social pace so everyone could run together) as a warm up, then split into three or four groups on differing pace and distance. The social mile was ran at about 11 minute mile pace and used to have to hold myself back to run at such a slow pace. By now I had lost all my excess weight and was probably as fit as I had ever been before. Sometimes I would think to myself, can we not just run this social mile a little bit faster. Now, as I look back on that, having gone up to over 17 stones in weight, I think to myself that even after six weeks of training, I probably would find it difficult to stay up with that once painfully slow social mile. I also still wonder if I will ever get fit enough to even run a full mile without having to walk and if I am loosing any weight at all. Well, I do believe I have lost some, but am afraid to weigh myself until I am 100% sure I have.
Another thing special to me this weekend is an event which was having its 21st running. It's something that I have been involved with ever since it was first suggested. The Green Belt Relay is a 220 mile, 22 stage relay run around London's Green Belt. It starts early on Saturday morning from Hampton Court Palace with teams of 11 running both days over the weekend. The event finishes at tea-time on Sunday on the River Thames Tow-path just north of Kingston Upon Thames. This year saw 45 teams competing for the different prizes of overall, ladies', veterans, mixed, corporate and the toilet seat (awarded to the last team to complete all the stages).
Start of the Green Belt Relay in 2005
The relay is a very friendly event and goes through some beautiful countryside around the outside of London. The first event was in 1995, when only 6 teams took part, but since then it has grown gradually each year.
The start of the first Green Belt Relay in 1995 - I'm in the middle with the red shorts.
The end of the first Green Belt Relay at Weston Green in Surrey. I'm left front, kneeling with my daughter on my lap.
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