Updates and nascent plans

Updating my list of events completed reminded me that there has been a haitus in my running that was not simply due to the upheavels of the last couple of years of pandemic effects but started before that. This year is something of a return to running events (much though perhaps I signed up to too many), and a attempted return to challenging myself to improve areas of my preparation for and participation in events. I have taken some old approaches to this and some new ones too, and happily for the moment things seem to be going in a good direction for me. Yes, I am managing niggles like the calf I had a small pull in warming up for a 20 mile race (a race that then didn't happen of course), and coping with what seems like everyone telling me "you have reached that age you know, shouldn't you run shorter events?". However, I plan to make the next 18 months a focused 18 months of better preparation to run and then see where I can get to.

To say I have plans for next year would be to mirror just about every runner looking to the horizon of better runs and races, but I am hoping to finally turn experience into wiser and more productive running (but not necessarily shorter running 😋).

Lliswerry 8 - 2023 race report

Sunday 15th January (quick review)

This was the one with the Pegasus Running Club pace bus that was great fun aka, the one where Plan A came together brilliantly. My plan was to run controlled, with purpose to build on training, and to finish feeling strong (and ready to go further). That my planned pace fitted the plans of 4 other Pegs was an absolutely great bonus. I ran with Ali, Claire, Sarah, and later Phil all of whom where fab company (top running conversations were had) and all of whom smashed it!!

The organisation was as brilliant as ever, and it was so good to see so many familiar Lliswerry Running Club faces around the event hub at Newport Stadium and out on the course. Everyone was of course excited to find out what colour the race shirt was going to be at the finish line and were not disappointed - though coming to the finish and seeing hoards of runners already finished wearing them does kinda spoil the surprise (though in a good way).

This run was all about the cool numbers though in the end my watch said my finish time was 1:23:21 as a pallindrom, when my race number was 696 also a pallindrom was icing on a geeks cake 😋

Weird - no posts?

 I could have sworn that I had posted on the blog this year, and that I had put a couple of things up at least. There is a mystery afoot, and I don't know what happened - so I am going to have to try and rectify things with some new posts in coming weeks.

2022 SSAFA series race#1 - Race review

Wednesday, 18 May 2022 - I can report that it rained and it rained some more, but we ran and ran some more. It saw the return of the SSAFA 5k series (after a hiatus since 2019)**, and because of that the rain could not extinguish everyone's joy at being back at a fantastic event. Happily it was warm with the rain and so it wasn't one of those miserable running days where you chill to the bone as soon as you stop moving. The turn out was pretty strong given the forecast and it was back to running mazy loops in and around Bute park, Cardiff.

The race is based out of the Blackweir tavern and the location makes for decent access and parking. The organisation and marshalling is so en pointe and utterly positive in their approach to the runners. Being based in a pub means that the facilities are good, and that there is food and drink for before (mostly drink), during (either for those not running), and after (food for those that didn't opt to eat before the run, and of course drink for those celebrating or commiserating post run). I would have stayed out for a drink in the Blackweir were I not wet through and cold and needing a hot shower.

This is mainly attended by local clubs and being Welsh Athletics accredited gets some speedy sorts out on the course. The route is straight forwards, well marked and marshalled on really good quality park paths in the most part and new walk / cycle way for a long stretch. It is always good to be running amongst familiar faces even if we are all that much older than the last time we ran this. There were a couple of super speedy Lliswerry Juniors that I know from junior parkrun that added to the sense of how time has moved on since the last time we trod this course.

My own run? Well most everything that could go wrong in the run did - my head went, my stomach went, my sense of direction went (I took a short wrong turn at one point - see the kink in my strava track!), my legs didn't turn up, and a lack of running of late put me in the hurt locker almost immediately from the off. To be fair to myself I had started cycle commuting to work again just this week and done a club hills session the night before, so I was hardly rested. That I ate before the run was though my biggest blunder in terms of prep on the day.

The support on the way around from the Pegs (Pegasus Running Club) was an absolute highlight, and I only wish that my smile had not also been a casualty of the run. Onwards and onwards, the summer and the series is yet young!

Picture borrowed from fellow Peg, Tim Webb (from the club's facebook group album)

This was also the first tentative week in looking towards Cardiff Half training... a very tentative step indeed.

**The SSAFA 5k Road Race Series in Cardiff consists of three 5k races (spaced roughly a month apart from each other) which raises money for the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association, Cardiff & The Vale Region. The marshals around the course are cadet volunteers - and they absolutely know how to cheer, motive and support runners!

Newport City Half Marathon 2022 - race review

Sunday, 6 March 2022 Newport, Wales - 21.20km 2:24:00 pace 6:47min/km

Go out with a plan, and boom! I was well pleased with what came out of the box, whilst I didn't hit my plan of pick a pace and run a pace (the hills didn't help that ambition much) I did meet my target time frame. Time frame not goal time note.

The race was fab, the marshalling super, and the Newport spectators awesome. I availed myself of a couple of jelly babies and then some very very nice mini-gems from lovely people at the side of the course, nom nom! The shock revelation was that I found a football style chant of "Pegs! Pegs! Pegs!" popping out of my mouth along the out and back, which was nice! 

It certainly isn't every race where you get to hear the strains of the bag pipes on your way around the course - that the piper was playing underneath the M4 flyover did not in any way make the experince teh more unusual! All the way aound the course the support was many and varied, from people on doorsteps in PJs cheering you on, to local run clubs giving it their all, lots of smiley marshalls, a piper, car drivers honking their horns, people playing music outside their houses, charity teams, to name just a few.

The Pegs were relatively few in number but big on performance, with some terrific runs. Colin kindly hung on to see me home which was hugely appreciated, though I was a bit rude in packing down a banana hungrily whilst we were chatting.

Some fabulously funny camaraderie at the finish line was very much appreciated - thank you fellow runners and thank you Lliswerry friends 😊

With a month to Brighton marathon I have much to do, but I think today proved a very good test of where I am and where I need to dial my pace down to. In case you were wondering Brighton is "operation complete" and not goal driven... if I get there in one piece it will be a case of go out and enjoy that one, much as today was.

Footnote [no pun intended!] - after the race I found my heels were quite tender and so I have gone and purchased a pair of new running (and a new brand to me of) shoes in an effort to aleviate any issue for covering the marathon issue. More on the choice in a future post perhaps.

The footnote's footnote - this was my 15th half marathon which in of itself is something that makes me smile 😁

Every single activity! - well perhaps not any more...

I am in a phase of not logging every activity that I do in Strava... there I said it! Well okay I will always log my runs and probably my cycling (such as it is), but I was in the habit of logging near enough every walk that I did - to the shops, walking the dog, family strolls. It was something that I often did a fair bit of that then grew into a ritual during the SARS-Cov-2 lockdowns, where we were for a time restricted to one exercise outside per day. During that time particularly the recording and almost celebrating of walks took on a new meaning, although I had long been in the habit of attaching 'silly' titles to my walks (usually walks whilst I had a running injury) so it wasn't too much of a stretch to start naming and logging lockdown activities.

"Why then stop? Bored?" No not really, I sort of belated started to question quite what I was logging and by extension what I was doing. Every walk being turned into electronic data and then squirted into the great worldwide server complex for near posterity (or as long as the files are kept there). In listening to people discussing the nature and environmental impact of cloud storage centres I kind of linked up the fact that the more data I logged the greater my 'carbon footprint'. Now hey, I am not going off grid just at the moment and if you follow me on twitter or instagram you might note that I can not be considered abstemious with my posting habits. I am though rethinking quite what I use that type of cloud storage for to an extent, and logging every time I walked to the chip shop as an everyday activity was faintly (well not so faintly) ridiculous.

Also of course* logging every activity has other implications too and most notably in my mind is security. There is / are people who if they want to can work out where you live and when you are most likely to be out, thus working out when might be a good time to burgle your home. I know I know it sounds far fetched (and I have f' all worth pinching) but apparently it happens. Granted this, for me at least, is one of those secondary parts of my thinking here because my main thoughts were around the above environmental footprint perspective - but it is not to be over looked and if you are someone with concerns about people who might get 'stalky' then look at your settings on whatever platform you use at a very minimum. I do use the privacy zone in Strava, but got twitchy over time about the fact that it might not take an internet genius to work out my regular dog walking patterns, for example.

* - terrible use of language "of course" implies you know what I mean and why, and lets face it there is a high degree of likelihood that you have no clue what I am about to write and I shouldn't assume that you do.

At the risk of entirely disappearing up my own internet connection ultimately I sort of have a notion of winding the clock back and using some social media less and using other tools like this a bit more (bringing together more strands in one place and not in massive image files (my instagram accounts, ahem, I am thinking of you!), but I haven't really thought all that through yet. In times of reflection, and lets face it the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic has brought a fair bit of reflective time, I just get to pondering whether I could be a bit more strategic with how I use this here internet thing.

Hope your 2022 got off to a good start - what are you logging?

Got any plans?

 It is not like this time of year is ever linked to new beginnings or that people seem to embrace the great new lists of things or anything, but I don't currently have a plan... and that's okay. Should I have a plan? Well probably - I am not fit at the moment so a plan might be good, I have a marathon in my diary so a plan would be good, I have a zwift membership so a plan would be good, and I have started a Leader in Run Fitness course so a plan really really would be good. Just at the moment though I give myself permission not to have one, to go with the flow, and have some down time. The only plan I actually have, in all honesty, is to get a plan some time quite soon and get back onto things.

Rise and fall, quiet and busy, full on and kicking back phases are a part of life that are sometime not appreciated. All go, go, go leads to running out of steam, all no, no, no leads to stagnation and boredom. So I am taking this short time out and then looking to get back on it. That I had an injury before Christmas has 'helped' produce the quiet phase, but as that seems to be healing its perhaps time to have a look at some new years plans... they don't all have to be made on New Year's eve ready for January 1st, they can be whenever you need them.

Hope your moving / activity is where you want and need it to be just now - Happy New Year! 

Running club?

Here is another post that mysteriously sat around in my drafts folder waiting for me to click 'publish', can't work out why its been there for nearly 3 years but anyway some thoughts from back in the day when I was new to the run club world... Written Sept 2018...

Over the last little while I have been exploring and then enjoying running club life, which was initially born out of my experience of swimming classes early in the year which had a club feel. Coming from a history where I was once an active rowing club member it could be seen as a little odd that it has took me as long as it did to seriously consider and then join a running club. For a number of reasons I have arrived here and so I have been dipping my toe in the waters and have actually come to some conclusions.

My story was a tale of two clubs. There are of course many more than two clubs I connected with, and I suppose living in a capital city you could perhaps expect that. Although tracking them down can be a bit of a journey in itself.

Narrowing the list down to two clubs for me was based on the following considerations:

• location
• days of the week they meet
• size of the club
• outlook / ambitions of the average club member
• UK Athletics (UKA) / Welsh Athletics (WA) affiliation - lets face it basically for event discounts, and insurance
• facilities
• kit
• feel - perhaps the most subjective and one that ultimately sealed the deal

The two I visited were the Maindy Harriers and the Pegasus Running Club, and the first thing that has to be said was that both were fabulously friendly, approachable, welcoming and understanding. It felt a little cheeky saying "can I come along, not join, and have a couple of runs with you to see how it is?", but it was absolutely the right thing to do. I would encourage anyone to do the same - maybe the club is too competitive, or not competitive enough; maybe they don't offer as many sessions as you'd like; maybe you don't 'click' with the coach / run leader - whatever sense you get will help you decide and moreover help you get more out of being a club member.

I had the pleasure of doing a couple of sessions with the Maindy Harriers before I tried out Pegasus, and by the time I arrived at my first Pegasus session I was absolutely sold on joining one or other because club running just felt right. As a long time 'lone wolf' runner it was definitely the right time to come in from the 'cold'.

In the end I went with my heart because the Pegasus club is based out of a rowing club that I used to row for (the one that forms a lot of my earlier blog posts), and so it felt like a place I wanted to be associated with again (albeit in a new form).

Both clubs can be found in the Welsh Athletics club listings, by searching with a search engine, on social media (a Facebook search will find them).

Race Report - Welsh Virtual Road Relay 12-14th Feb 2021

One from the vaults of 'stuff I wrote and then never clicked send, so finished or not here it is from back in February...

I ran a race! - Welsh Virtual Road Relay 5 miles 12-14th Feb 2021 - so why not do a race report like the 'old days'?...

My impressions from the day: I picked Saturday of the three days that were on offer. With Friday being a work day and Sunday being Valentine's day, there was really only one choice of day for me to be honest!

Course: 9/10 - a very simple, familiar, flat, quick, well designed course with only a handful of road crossing to negotiate - well the Strava explore route design tool (available in the paid version of the app only I think) certainly found me a familiar and straight forward route to run. I was a bit worried about how busy it would be as it covered some common run routes in the area, but it was okay on the day.

Marshalling: 5/10 - no marshals around the route for this event of course, however everyone I passed by was very good at social distancing and were generally very cheery and smiley to be outdoors.

Facilities: 10/10 - after years of supporting various running and sports events the household was well set to provide everything that the runners needed - clean toilets, great food outlet (a very homely kitchen looking affair, something that more events could think about laying on), excellent changing facilities, good runners village entertainment, and a super supportive atmosphere.

Organisation: 7/10 - given that the event is all organised online I can't really fault the overall organisation, I can though fault my own ability to remember a password from one log in to the next... I could try and blame a busy lockdown brain, but truth is I am always rubbish at that.

Fellow runners: 0/10 (10/10 online)- with no one allowed to run the same route at the same time this of course was always going to make the most difference to the event. No one to pace off of, no one to chat to, no one to arrange to meet in the finish zone, etc, etc. I can though say that the fellow runners in the online club environment were fabulous, and it was nice to be involved in an event again.

Crowd: 0/10 - really not the biggest of crowds... well lets face it there wasn't a crowd - of course, d'uh!

My performance: 8/10 - pleased with my pre-run plan and application during the run. I am trying to be comfortable with the outcome, as I know I could have gone faster. I ran within myself with control and with a sense of lets enjoy it and not have it hurt (during or after)

My time: 48:43 was pretty solid but in the back of my mind I thought I could have done more. Though truth be told this was a solid run and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Cardiff Parkrun - #65 (#60 at Blackweir) and my first one back after you know what

Back at Blackweir (Cardiff) parkrun for my first parkrun since January 2020, and it was an absolute blast. I had a great experience of being back out there in parkrun world, with the organization and marshalling utterly en pointe today. The biggest change I noticed was the shortened run brief at the start and truth be told I preferred it to the old ones. The atmosphere in the pack was good, the camaraderie certainly has not been diminished at all in the time since my last run.

Random phone pics of the event today

In terms of my finish time, I couldn't can given a monkeys what it was really. I ran as comfortably as I could, I looked to pace with caution and respect the backend of the distance. Certainly I feel I managed my run well, and that is at the moment what I want - I want to manage my expectations and just out and out enjoy my runs. The biggest give away that I had contained my over-enthusiasm was that I did not sprint finish (!), and come on what's the point right as it is only a run after all, its not a race.

For the record my watch recorded 31:50, parkrun officially clocked me at 32:43, and I was the 489th runner to cross the line out of 644 runners at Blackweir parkrun today.

I know I won't be doing parkrun every week and I am happy with that as I want to avoid getting on the "better, better, better" treadmill of parkrun time chasing, and stay with the "enjoy, enjoy, enjoy" rhythm and stay injury free.

Hope you have a good weekend of running or moving, A

Where I am - re-starting from a low baseline, and pulling out of events

 It it safe to say that I have been here before and no the way, but also that I know how long the journey is and how tough it will be to get to where I want to go. Two recent runs with the Pegasus Running club crew have shown me what I already knew in my heart about my current fitness level, and a recent trip to the GP surgery reminded me just how low I had let my fitness ebb. Recognising the problem is they say half the battle and I very definitely know that I have a battle ahead.

How bad is my fitness? Well lets just say that I am where I was before I started this blog, and am like then learning to run again. I have no dramatic injury, it is simply that I am simply unfit. I weigh too much for my physiology, and my body is labouring with exertion just now.

So, Brighton Marathon 2021 is a "no" from me unfortunately. This is a race that I really want to do but it will have to wait one more year, a year where I have a lot of work to do on myself (I am though happily signed up for next years race and will all being well have that option). For the time being I hope to ease back into running events with local series' and races.

The reason that I am pulling out of races and at a very low fitness ebb is multifactorial - so much so that it could really fall into the category of "well life got in the way" - between the pandemic, working from home, job insecurities, major family member ill health, other family issues, poor choices around food, and lack of recognition of my own health needs there is little wonder I am where I am.

As I said I know the road I want to travel and so lets go!

February and beyond... there is a marathon on the horizon and fundraising for Mind

Looking at the horizon through the month ahead and into the rest of the year I felt I had to put a bit more of a plan or at least some milestones to aim at into the calendar. So all being well I will do my first club run for Pegasus Running Club over the weekend of the 12th of February, and I have set up my deferred deferral for the Brighton marathon for the 12th of September - plus I've got a deferred  Wormshead 10k in October to keep me good and busy on the milestone side of things.

Fundraising for 2021...

So as the issues around the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic continue to impact us all in so many different ways, I have decided to try and do a little bit to help support Mind, the mental health charity.

I am donating Christmas 2020, my birthday and my running efforts as I build slowly towards the 2021 Brighton marathon (which I have had to defer twice, once because of injury and once because of the pandemic - hopefully it will go ahead this year!).

If you are able and comfortable with doing so I would love it if you would lend a bit of support to a charity that assists in supporting the mental wellbeing of so many among us. 

My fundraising for Mind, is if you have followed my blog in the past via the justgiving.com platform, which is easy to use and super reliable. The page for this 'challenge' or the build up to the marathon is Andrew Hollins is fundraising for Mind (justgiving.com) 

Happy busy new year - where did January go?

It has been one of those starts to the year where you blink and wonder where all of the days have gone. I have been busy with lots of different things, but the main commitment that I have been trying to keep is moving every day to cover at least 5km. This was something that I started in mid-December when work finished for the year and I had the headroom and time to instigate some new habits with the intention of trying to make them stick through the festive period.

So how is it going? Pretty well... I have just finished @REDJanuary2021 where I moved myself everyday over 5km, 29 walks and 2 runs. I wold have liked to have run more but I listened to my body and allowed myself not to rush into arbitrary run every other day schedules that would have probably not worked for me just now. Wow, that sounds contrary I know but my body just isn't in a state where I could have run to that kind of schedule or volume (even a starters couch-to-5k volume).

In the end January was about watching what I ate and getting into the habit of being more active again... 10lbs (4.5kg) down over the month is testament to that working pretty well. There is a long way to go but it is a start, the goal is a long way down the road and I have the time to try and do this really well.

All in January was not too shabby at all, here's to a 2021 that turns out to ultimately be better than 2020 was.

A bit of a flavour of my month from my Strava feed:

RED day 31 - It is always a good run when you run into people you hadn’t planned to, and after a brief chat with Rhys it was onwards to another brief distanced chat with Julia and Ali (Pegs assemble!). The snow got heavier throughout the run, which was a bit... well, lovely actually. Granted the second half of the run I was running with the snow at my back which was much more pleasant than the opposite! The run had a bit of everything which was fabulous, and I even managed to resist the urge to go faster - always a bonus on only you second run in months.

#redjanuary2021 is done and I covered at least 5km every day - 29 days of walking with two runs thrown in. January was about changing habits and laying the groundwork ready for the foundations to be laid for a future marathon. January is not the end of that process but part of the beginning that started in December, going to try and keep the progress going at its own pace and we’ll see how much building happens along the way. This is a marathon not a sprint afterall.

The one with the pushed pace #RED2021day18 - There were moments on this walk where I could have comfortably broken into a run, yes I was doing that funny kind of walking where it looks like the teacher just told you not to run in the corridor. I have the sense that a run isn't too far away now, but I know that this particular run was powered by stress release and a 5km run would not have ended well.

Another day another RED 5km walk.... done.

The one in foul weather dodging fallen (Christmas) trees #RED2021day11 - Not a pleasant walk with the wind, cold, rain and all the now unwanted tree house guests left out on the street to fend for themselves. Couldn't walk this morning so it was a late one, which with the weather deteriorating all day was a bit of a kicker but it was what it was. 5km again on a regular route with a grumpy greyhound for company.

Last day of 2020, 12 days of Christmas #day7, and RED January 2021

It is the last day of 2020... and it would be easy to say good riddance and jump onto the bandwagon of trying to bundle up occurrences of the last 12 months as if the flip of the calendar to 2021 will remove all the bad stuff. Sadly life is not that simplistic, and much of the changes 2020 brought will hang around in one form or another for many more months / years to come. There is way too much that I could write about the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic but I simply don't have the will to commit it all to a blog post, especially on a blog called 'on the move' which is ostensibly about following my efforts to get and stay fit. There has been acres of text written else where about the pandemic and other major world events I couldn't begin to do them justice.

What has 2020 been for me? Firstly a year of little blogging (well lets face it hardly any blogging at all), it has been a year of little running, and it has been a year of hard work at work responding to the changes of working from home. It was a change that I made well, perhaps too well, as I let it remove some of the base (hidden) activity from my day - the commute, the walking for lunch, going to shops on the way home, walking between meeting venues.... most all of that took place within a handful of metres of each other - commute = walk to front room, lunch = walk to the kitchen, shopping = all done once a week or online, moving between meetings = shutting one browser tab and opening another one.

2020 became the year of YouTube, as I found that I watched more than ever - Peter McKinnon, Matti Haapoja, Becki and Chris, Casey Neistat, Rich Roll, the minimalists, Matt D'Avella, Kevin Stratvert, The Body Coach, Yoga with Ness, to name just a few (I am not listing links, just stick these into the search engine if you are curious, though most are hardly niche, and have large followings).... don't worry though I have consumed lots of cinematography, vlogging, and camera skills videos I know my limits and won't be going all 'YouTube' any time soon.

So 2021... for me it has to be about me regaining and moving towards fitness again, a sustainable fitness, a fitness to live my own life relatively well... I have gotten shockingly far away from that this year and need to recover. There is the kind of fit for life stuff of glossy multimedia and then there is just the plain being fit to live your life... and I am solidly aiming for and in need of the latter. I need to be able to move without pain and aches, lift without worry, walk without being winded, run a short distance without difficulty. Yes, this year I got there, to the place of such poor levels of activity that my base / basic fitness all but completely dissipated. 2021 thus has to be about genuinely getting moving. So that is where my walking 5km or more a day started some days back, as that first small step, and today's instalment was as follows (borrowed from my Strava feed)...

The one with all the kilometres - 12 days of Christmas #day7 ("seven swans a swimming" - well no not today, too icy!)

On the seventh day of Christmas my true sent to me... a bunch of stuff we needed from the shop. It was in no no no way a way to sneak a long walk this morning while everyone thought I was simply doing vital shopping.

It was lovely out, if tricky under foot with cheeky black ice in places. Loads of people out again, and sadly too many groups thinking they can out wit the biological fundamentals of viral transmission which was... well anyway let's not get sweary or rant about their selfishness (there's twitter for that, apparently).

Ended up being a magnificent 7km because when I looked at the distance it really did beg to be rounded up again... honest!

... and to keep things moving tomorrow we start RED January... "This January, the RED community will be challenging themselves to get active every day. Whether running, swimming, cycling or choosing a favourite fitness activity, REDers will be going the extra mile to support themselves and others. Their fitness and fundraising efforts combined with your generosity will help Sport in Mind reach and empower people to experience the life-changing benefits of physical activity."

Whatever you are doing have a happy and safe New Year's Eve 🤗

Days 5 and 6 of my Twelve Days of Christmas walking

The one with the sunshine and a sunny peg catchup - 12 days of Christmas #day5

Twas the gap between Christmas and New year and all were out a walking, a running, a cycling, a squelching merrily in stick mud. In other news I walked into another peg, Phil, and had a fab chat about all things lockdown, running, walking, Christmas and partners off chasing reindeer (or finding Comet anyway) 😁

It was great to run into a fellow Peg, Phil, for a quick (socially distanced) chat about the range of running motivation in lockdown and the peaks and troughs and coming and going of motivation through this difficult period. Notably he had found some new ways of training with the club and a handicap run series that had been set up. I realised that I had worked so much that I didn't really engage much with things like Facebook, the internet, and training on online with the running club... they just seem like a stretch too far too far for me with everything going on. I thought that it would be a poor substitute for real club nights, but clearly it had worked well for those that went for it.

Beautiful day for a stroll along a suggested route that I actually took a wrong turn on, nice was.... muddy! On day 5 of the 12 days there definitely weren't any gold rings to be found, five old things maybe... but another walk ticked off and another small step in the right direction

The one that just had to be rounded up to 6km - 12 days of Christmas #day6

Did the route that I was supposed to do yesterday, although to keep things really spicy I did it in the reverse direction... I know right? Proper daring stuff! It was busy out on the paths and tracks again this morning with good conditions for running (I mused as I walked!). Second day in a row I spotted two elite athletes zip by, always inspirational to notice their ease and grace of movement... I run just like them when I run - honest!

Spotted another (former) peg as I walked but recognised them too late to say "hello", and then realised that I would get home in that annoying distance of 5.6km and had to round it up to 6km by carrying on for a bit (as you do). Well it was the 6th day of the 12 days after all and 6km seemed fitting, and no 7km will not happen tomorrow before you ask.

Halfway through the 12days of christmas now and enjoying myself quite a bit.... which is nice!!

The out and back walk imagining I was running - 12 days of Christmas #day4

The one where I kept wondering how far I would have got to if I was running! There was a tiny cameo from fellow Pegasus runner, Julia, and I found myself wishing I was running so that I could have doubled back for a chat... although to be fair that would have been just as short lived as she is very quick 😊

This is now ten days of covering 5k plus on foot everyday, and while as an ambition it felt 'small' with it hardly being a training plan per se, it seems to have worked. Trying to 'do' 5k a day for a period has given me just enough push to get out and active with little risk of me feeling that it was not possible. Until now I haven't declared what I have been up to because I have noted the personal trend that if I explain an elaborate plan in a blog, instagram post, or tweet then it often fails - there is a name for the phenomena (which I forget).

Lovely day out and nice to get out and enjoy the morning... daydreaming of running. On the run front, I have a way to go yet, and will be c25k'ing when I get to that point. Like the start of a good marathon run I'm starting slow, and reminding myself if it feels slow it probably isn't slow enough for a strong finish!

In other news the Wormshead 10k that is the only event I have entered in 2021 (I forget where I am with my Brighton marathon deferred deferral), has been postponed from February to October. Given that I am miles from fit just now, I can only say that I am happy with the extra time to prepare, but I do feel for the organisers having to plan an event in these difficult times of SARS-Cov-2 uncertainty and disruption. Having said what I said about grand plans falling over I will though say that the Wormshead event is my 'a' goal for the year because it is just a plain fun, tough and well organised event.

Strolling, just strolling...

There are places to start and then there are places to start. After the realisation of just quite how bad my fitness is at the moment I have decided that it is just a case of getting moving again, and by moving for the moment I mean walking. For each of the last four days I have covered 5km (3.1miles) or more on foot, mostly with the dog for company, and with no targets in mind other than just getting some walks done. They say if it isn't recorded on Strava it never happened, so here they are on Strava (sort of)...

So the 19th of December I hope will be a turn around point from the routine that I had established for the last many weeks of sitting on a chair in our front room for the vast majority of the day and working without barely a stretch for hours and hours. I didn't consciously decide not to move, it just sort of snuck up on me, as getting on with work has been a brilliant way to try and ignore the madness in the world just now. There is so much wrong with just sitting, and I am fully aware of the potential consequences of so much inactivity, but it just felt better to get on with stuff as fast and as much as possible. I am feeling the consequences of my poor choices and hence I am trying to bring this thing back around to the simple tenet of this whole blog - me being "on the move". Movement is good for all forms of health and I just need to keep it simple and get moving.

Happily for me I think all I need do is re-connect with the Pegasus Running Club crew in a couple of weeks time and they will spur me along. They are fab and have already been asking after how I am getting on... running clubs much like any social grouping around an activity are just the best thing for community and shared wisdom.

From here, more walking, then perhaps its back to a blend of couch to 5k and / or the running form, elasticity and strength training of RunRx and /or club runs... to be honest I purposefully haven't chosen what comes after the walking as I really am determined to take this one step at a time (cliché not intended) to make this a proper change... so for now we walk! Which is nice!

When a walk around the block winds you

 There is nothing quite as sobering a recognising just how unfit you are, and when walking around the neighbourhood with your dog leaves you feeling more than a little winded then that is that bit more sobering all together. I have not run in a long time, the longest time since I started running, and like many during the recent SARS-Cov-2 issues have been much more sedentary than usual - working from home (the ability to work is a blessing), not commuting, not walking to get lunch, not being able to meet up with clubs easily, wanting / needing to shield relatives, and sitting for huge parts of the day I shouldn't perhaps be all that surprised. I haven't (to my knowledge) had 'the virus' but seemingly have been doing myself a considerable amount of harm.

Today I walked and I Strava'ed it (for the first time in weeks recording an activity) and was drawn to the feeling of having worked much harder than the distance covered would normally have told me I had. I recorded my walk for one reason - a running club member (the chair person as it happens) mentioned in the week that they had missed the quirkily titled Strava outings. Some switch in my head went off, and I realised that I had been telling myself there was no need to log activities cause the tool was not all that... when really I had not been logging activities because I would see how little I have actually been doing.

Where to go from here? I guess the only way is up, but it feels like it is going to be a long way and hard work. When I was last in this condition it was around the turn of the millennium and I hadn't started running yet... 20 years on and it feels like its going to be decidedly more difficult to find fitness again. 

Long walks and new tilt at the couch to 5k training app

Lockdown walking everyday

During the COVID-19 lockdown here in Wales we have been doing a one hour family walk as our one permissible exercise a day (before that was eased slightly to allow more exercise if needed). We have been very consistent with it and it has certainly paid off for the dog as we have covered more and more distance and more and more 'exciting' new routes. I only wish that the lockdown has done for my physique what it has done for the dag, she was badly ill just before the UK (belatedly) triggered the lockdown and so we've had the job of getting her back to fitness... she has done that and then some (she looks the doggie equivalent of ripped just now!).

All of this and the running below is being tracked by my Strava account, which for me has had something of a usage revival of late. Presumably Strava are one of those companies that have seen a positive impact upon business from the current pandemic situation.

Friday C25K week one run 1 - 3.39km 29:59

The one where he thought stuff this let's go!  I have been itching to over the few weeks but my foot (still rubbish) and the one exercise a day lockdown stopped me.

So I opted to restart the BBC backed C25K (this time with the DJ Jo Whiley narrating / coaching / coaxing), and so it seemed that I just had to go out and run. Having hooked up the wireless headphones and phone eventually and there was no other excuse really.  It was a gorgeous day for a run, and was only interrupted by me turning back to pick up a dropped card from inside my phone case, d'oh!  This time I'm making no comeback promises or goals, but run one get done!

Sunday - C25K week one run 2 -  3.71km

The one with the corrupted file (that I have had to delete) - this one was an interesting run where my GPS watch tried to tell the world that I had developed super powers and flown to southern Russia and back! The Strava track that I tried to upload and edit absolutely blew the calculations within my account to bits with records, times, and runs all going awry. So all I was left with was deleting it and entering a distance and time.

The actual run was quite different from the first and was more of a mental effort to complete, the new narration was helpful but I was aware that I was wrestling the instructions a bit. I think my body was also letting me know that this return to running though easy to imagine would be trickier to achieve. Still the GPS shenanigans afterwards made me laugh (in the end!).

Sunday - C25K week one run 3 - 34:51, 4.06 km

Had to delay the third instalment of my new couch-to-5k journey because of a foot injury caused by turning my ankle over during a family walk (!).  Basically I gave all of my ligaments in my ankle a nice wrench while on a gravel path, which was nice.

The eldest offspring (who has not gotten enough exercise, like most of us, during recent lockdown weeks - Joe Wicks has had his time in our house I'm afraid) said she was happy to come too and so we set out with me relaying the instructions from my headphones to her as we went.  She was very pleased with the 5 minute warm up and even more pleased to discover that my pace was considerably slower than she'd thought and that she could cruise along through the 60sec intervals.

We had good banter around the way and had to navigate a couple of unplanned turns thanks to the sunny weather bringing lots of people out onto the paths of the estate.  We were taking it in turns almost to spot a possible close pass and move us this way or that to make sure we were out of peoples way.  Think there were quite a few smiles from people recognising that a poor ole Dad was being shown how its done by a pre-teen.

By the end I think I may have found myself a c25k buddy, that I will believe that once we've done a few more (she is a pre-teen after all!?! hehe).  My foot seemed pretty well behaved although for some reason the pace was a bit quicker than I had originally planned.

RED January 2020 - day 2

RED January 2020 day 2 - starting afresh - second consecutive year of RED January

It was a long time ago now that I started running and that was walking and running around a local park until I felt that I could run constantly for longer and longer periods... and that is where I am today, learning to run again. I know how to run continuously as my mind and body retain the memory and can mimic how I used to run happily for some time, but because I am unfit and untrained it would not take many runs before I become broken in some way. So I am telling myself I am a beginner and starting at the beginning - where any good run should start. I am over the phase of being frustrated that I can't go out and run a 10k with relative comfort two or three times a week, and I have made peace with the fact that I weigh too much for my body to cope with running how I would like to.

@REDJanuaryUK 2020 is a fundraiser for MIND, the Mental Health Charity please do support them if you can. The link below take you to my fundraising page...

So this #REDJanuary is all about the process of (re)learning and enjoying the idea of being a new runner. I will walk a lot, I will simply stop if I need to, I will though keep going gradually and patiently. Too many Januarys have shown me that charging at the target like a crazed cartoon bull will only lead to me missing the red cape completely and flying into the anvil hidden behind. My goal is to do what I did years ago and just go out and learn and build incrementally. I have races bought and paid for, but I will simply go and have fun - and carefully forget that I have ever been a runner before.

Happy January peeps, take those resolutions slow and steady, and by next January you will be relieved at not having to make the same resolution again.  This text was first posted on my Strava feed "Andrew Hollins" (by me; with the details of my run session - of course), and then on my Instagram feed "andy_hollins" (with a picture - of course).