Runaround! Now!

A friend has started a new blog about his experiences with running, training, racing, and all the things he gets up to in the world of fitness. I have been enjoying a read, and if you find this you might like to go look too...  http://www.runaround.london

I have to say that I love the title to the blog - Runaround! - a simple statemnet which sums up so nicely what a lot of us spend our spare time doing :-)

One post titled "Running Form" really has made me think, in it Karl outlines his adventures with a Kinetic Revolution run clinic. His experience was extremely positive and has even seemingly produced a half-marathon PB at the Bournemouth Marathon Festival recently. The journey through changes in running form and technique is one that I hope to emulate this winter, as a result I am checking when there is a clinic session running nearby so I too can avail myself of some useful insights.

Kinetic Revolution - 30-day challenge

So now the half marathon is out of the way I am really getting on with shaking up my running before the winter so that I can get a really good training block under my belt. If you have read this blog (and to be fair why would you have) you will note the number and frequency of injuries and niggles ruining this run or that, so I have taken up the Kinetic Revolution 30-day challenge as an injury preventing, form adapting, run improving strategy.

Who? - basically in my wanderings around the interweb I came across the Kinetic Revolution site (headed up by James Dunne, a sports rehab therapist) and their run training video offerings.

What? - I'm only on day 2 so I don't know exactly what it will all be about, but it is clearly designed to strengthen runners around common areas of weakness / injury. It claims to be 10-15minutes a day following a guided set of drills, exercises and stretches. Given my inability to single leg balance for 20 seconds last night, I'm taking it that I need this more than I thought.

Where? - wherever I can fit in the sessions, probably at home on the yoga mat I pinched from my wife.

When? - probably each evening, though to be fair 10-15minutes shouldn't be too hard to fit in earlier in the day.

Why? - having dabbled and never really followed up on the videos and well written short articles I thought it would be sensible to see where more structure to my run training would take me. After all I have never really (ever) done enough stretching, core or mobility work around training sessions.

I will try to report back with how I get on.

Very brief musing of the freedom of mass running

Yesterday was the Cardiff Half marathon and during my pre-race dog walk I found myself facebooking the below post. It was not so much inspired by it being race day moreover the international news that had been breaking over recent weeks and a deep appreciation of the quality of my own little bit of the world. All things have their own contexts.

"Beautiful morning in Cardiff, and I find myself recognising the privilege I have in being able to run freely around a free city as part of an open tolerant society. Not everyone on this tiny planet has had or will have these very particular freedoms. Which makes me humble though hopeful that some day anyone anywhere can just pop out of their home and run around their hometown on any given day."

London says "no" again

So today London Marathon ballot drew another blank for me, I have a "no" magazine waiting for me at home apparently. Still at least now I can get on with formulating my Winter / Spring running plan, I can never work out quite why they take months to draw the lots in the ballot leaving us all in limbo so long.

Right! Halves or Full marathon next spring that is the big decision...

By the way I hope you got in :-)

Swansea Bay 10k 2014 - my race review

Swansea Bay 10k 2014 

Swansea coast road - September 21st 2014 - website

My impressions from the day:Course: 9/10 - simple, flat, quick, well set out, great start area.
Marshalling: 8/10 - I didn't see many, which isn't to say there weren't any it just says they were doing an absolutely great job :-)
Facilities: 8/10 - after years (43 in fact) of organising and running the race the facilities are really good.
Organisation: 10/10 - Couldn't fault the overall organisation, like I said above they have good event pedigree.
Fellow runners: 8/10 - great atmosphere, people listened to the time binning in the start area,
Crowd: 8/10 - not the biggest crowds all round the route but they were very vocal and encouraging.
My performance: 8/10 (& 0/10) - pleased with my time and application. The second score was due to my apparent error of judgement in the last 200m (more of that below)
My time: 54:48

The start line - borrowed from the Swansea 10k facebook page

"Dude, can't you see me?? I am like right in the middle!" - borrowed from the Swansea 10k facebook page

My Race:

It started with a quick 2km - and so goes many a race failure... happily this one didn't end in a complete pacing mess. The start area was great, I managed the usual pre-race nerves induced loo break without much fuss (I was amazed the queues weren't too bad when I got to the toilet blocks), and got to the right start zone with no problems.

So I was ambitious, I figured go out at a target pace and then see if I can hold it. That was simply not going to happen, and so as the sunshine beat down on a huge field of runners my targets were beaten down too. The first two kilometres are nice and wide so there were no bunching issues meaning that I could try my plan without fear of blocking anyone off if the wheels fell off. Into the 3rd kilometre the bite began and it was obvious I had to reign in my pace and finishing target time, by the end of the 4th going into the Mumbles I knew the second half of the race would require a pretty big effort.

The turn around and drinks station come at or around the halfway mark, and so does the disappearance of the shade. The race starts at 1pm, so if there is sun then it is pretty fierce (for the UK at least). Going into the return leg along the prom the heat and the feeling of having put in too much effort in the first third of the race got into my head and started a bit of negative dialogue. Happily my pace didn't fall off horribly and I began ticking off the kilometres to the finish.

Telling yourself you can hit the final 2k and actually hitting the final 2k hard are two different things, the effort I was hoping to rediscover in the closing stages didn't appear and I simply held the pacing where it was. I managed to speed up a little, and going into the last 500m I thought I was on for a reasonable time after all. In the last 200m there is a rise and the path narrows slightly and as I gathered pace towards the line I suffered my lowest ever racing moment. I looked at the course, saw no space and opted to move onto the grass verge. This was fine, what wasn't fine was that the verge was of a sharper gradient than I realised and as I rejoined the tarmac I tangled with another runner.

Avoiding the near face plant to the gasps of the crowds, and seeing that I hadn't floored the other runner I carried on utterly red faced. I crossed the line in a good time, but felt completely hollow - had I ruined someones day? Waiting a short while in the finish funnel I saw them limping through with a friend, my heart sank even further through the ground beneath me even though the limp didn't look especially horrible. I apologised with a simple "sorry", there seemed nothing else that I could really say and from the look on their face nothing else that they would really want to hear. I can only hope that in the end their day wasn't as bad as I felt, I did not enjoy the aftermath of the race at all even though it was fabulously arranged. My wife and I went for a Joe's Ice Cream afterwards (kind of a Swansea race ritual), but even that didn't take away the feeling of a spoiled race.

I think the look on my face at the finish line said it all really - not my greatest day!

In the days after the race I began to unpack my thoughts around the race and the event in my finishing dash. Friends comforted me with sentiments along the lines of "these things happen sometimes", which I know is true but it only helped a little. I learned a valuable lesson in my 11th 10k race, and it is not something that will happen again in any race I enter. It was striking how one brief moment changed an entire day, especially when I was happy with every other aspect.

On a more up beat note, I suspect I will be signing up again next year as the event and its organisation is just awesome.

The mojo is back

It can only be that my running mojo is back...
- I am looking forward to my next run
- I am planning a training block for the spring season
- I am imagining running better
- I am pondering the best strategies to keep the 'ball rolling'
- I am not feeling negative about all things exercise
- I am not eating rubbish, or finding myself seeking rubbish food in shops
- I am positive about progress
- I am half a stone (7lbs / 3kg) lighter
- I am setting PBs and looking for more
... most of all I am not spending time wondering where my mojo has gone!

Cardiff 10k 2014 - my race review

September 7th 2014 - race website

The basics:

Course: 7/10 - while still around Cardiff city centre it was a 'hilly' course compared to the usual Cardiff 10k route. Not their fault - the NATO summit induced the change.

Marshalling: 9/10 - friendly, warm, helpful but no marked time zones in the start area.

Facilities: 6/10 - deduction for having to have the port-a-loo blocks lining both sides of the start area.

Organisation: 9/10 - Cardiff 10k do run a good simple no fuss event, for a change at an event the PA was even pretty good. Point deducted for the disposable timing chips.

Fellow runners: 9/10 - almost a full score as the Welsh running community is super smiley and friendly, I am knocking the one point off for poor pack communication (the odd "watch out", "keep right" and so forth is needed when a runner has tripped, or a bollard is in the way,

Crowd: 8/10 - support in the start / finish was awesome, but it was a bit patchy in the middle of the race.

My performance: 5/10 - literally, it was my 10th 10k and this turned out my 5th fastest time. Given injury hit year I was very happy, so this score is a little tongue in cheek ;-)

My time: 56:09

Taken by Chris Cornell and posted on the Cardiff 10k facebook pages
- sadly there are no photos of me running as attending alone this year

My Race

Setting out with no goals was the mission statement I had given myself which was complete nonsense of course. I had a Garmin, I know what I've run before, therefore I had some time slots somewhere in mind. The main idea was to go out steady and see if I could find some progression through the run. Happily the post-run feedback showed I achieved something of this aim, shown below.

I enjoyed the atmosphere greatly and the roads weren't too crowded at any point to hinder my progress. Where there were patches of supporters it was nice, noisy and very enthusiastic. The first 2k was for me about controlling my own enthusiasm and holding pace during the gradual incline of the first part of the race. Going into the second 2k I began to feel the effort of the incline and found I was very keen on seeing the half way mark. Part of knowing the course well meant that I was projecting too far ahead at times and getting too far out of the moment.

The middle 2k around halfway was solid and at this point that course knowledge meant I knew that the climbing was in the main behind us (I say climbing, but this was not exactly a hilly course in the true sense). Before halfway was the one water station that I saw, though a lack of signing meant I more or less didn't see it was coming. My plan was to not take a drink so it didn't phase me, had I wanted some it would have meant a bit of a fight to get across the course. Shortly after the warm sunshine made me wondered if I had been wise missing the drink but ultimately my plan was just fine.

Through the fourth 2k block I found I was mentally working really hard, and that while the feedback from my legs was fine my engine room was complaining of a lack of base fitness. I concentrated on holding onto form, trying to stay smooth (these things are relative of course), and felt that I was succeeding in holding pace. Into the final 2k I enjoyed a good finish line fever boost and sustained an effort for the final 1.5k, which is net downhill and also had space to open the legs a bit. Managing a 'sprint' finish in the final funnel was gratifying, if not a little annoying to people I passed, I was pushing to nip under 56 minutes but fell a little short (!).

All round I was very pleased with my race. After the issues of injury early in the year and a lack of motivation over the summer I was pleased that this race made me feel I was turning a corner. Next year is the races 30th anniversary and I hope to be there chasing a PB while enjoying the brilliant atmosphere.

Post-race lull

So I am in the post race lull after the 10k race on Sunday (I am still writing my review). The race didn't have the most massive impact on my body as I was nicely mobile the next day, but given that my next race was two weeks away I didn't dive into anything too active. So in the end I cycled to and from work a couple of times to spin my legs, and then went running last night. Last nights run was an eye opener, I am clearly more tired than I figured so from here I only plan to run anything like hard at the parkrun on Saturday, and then keep things easy pre-race (happily my Garmin ran out of battery so I have no idea how fast or slow last night was). I am using the races as intense training blocks to take me from one to the next.

I have not approached a half-marathon without a full plan and no injury, often plans have been broken by injury before now. I intend to run the half in a months time using every bit of my running experience to guide me round... no targets, no goals, just running. In all of this my motivation does at least appear to be returning, I really have had the urge to train since the 10k, which I have been ironically trying to contain so that I don't do too much too soon. As a reminder of this my plantar fascia decided to say "hullo!" this morning so I do need to curb my enthusiasm to avoid another of those set back injuries (!).

Happy running :-)

The Cardiff 10k cometh

The weekend is nearly here and so is the first race since the marathon that was more of a long walk home. I am not putting anything on the race in terms of pressure for times and so forth, but I am really really hoping it will fuel my recent running rejuvenation. On the start line I will be relieved that the aches in my chest this week turned out to be slight muscle strains rather than a feared early sign of respiratory infection.

The Cardiff 10k will be my fifth, and it will take in a new route that includes areas that I ran around often during the genesis of my running 'career'. Seeing areas that I ran / walked around trying to work out how to do things like 10k races will be very interesting, and I hope it will mean the course won't have any hidden surprises.

The 10k route, like the parkrun route, has been moved to accommodate NATO and I hope all those World leaders appreciate our troubles. Happily there haven't been any local disturbances associated with the summit so the doom sayers who hinted the race might be affected further were wrong. Incidentally, they say the meeting has helped to put Wales on the World map - kind of thought we were already there (?), it is a bit rubbish of those cartographers and Google maps people to have missed a whole section of the UK mainland ;-)

My plan for my race is... "run", no more and no less. My goal is to enjoy it, enjoy the simplicities that come with racing in my home town, and simply run the thing.

Hope you have a good run, race, or whatever this weekend. 

Midfoot for 9km - revelations for the plodder

Monday night I ran, which in of itself is a very good thing, and I ended up running the whole 9.3km with new form. The changes away from heel striking makes logical sense to me and to be fair it has done for quite some time now. Foremost in changing is the how, and so I have just started doing it as best I can over sensible distances / times whilst reminding myself to run the 'old' way whenever is prudent. In practice this has come down to which shoes I wear on any given session.

Don't get me wrong I am not wearing zero drops one day and super-stacked motion controllers the next, no I am wearing a less stacked shoe on days when I try to run fore- to mid-foot (almost entirely mid-foot in reality). Rotating two pairs is by conventional wisdom prudent so the shoes 'recover' their shape - though a lot of people might note this may have more benefit for manufacturers than runners. My experiment is a simple one at this point but does seem to be making some differences.

Difference one is that I don't feel the crash of my heel / leg into the ground, and for a plodding jogger / runner that is a revelation. Two, I have the sense of doing something new which has reinvigorated my motivation to go running. Thirdly, I hurt in all new places, which might seem odd but for me shows I am using more of my legs.

Really what I am noticing the most is the switch from fast walking, i.e. jogging over to running. When I run I essentially speed up my walking gait to a point where my speed over the ground counts as 'running', I am still heel landing and rocking over my feet in the same style as my walk. Looking back at marathons where I have had to take walk breaks (ahem, two out of my three thus far) my run gait simply decelerates into a fast walk and then walk with very little change in foot positioning. From the little running I've done on my mid-foot it feels more like a running action, positive, with momentum, lift (my shoes scuff usually the ground a lot), and the feeling the brakes are off.

Basically I want to move like my three year old, walk = heel / flat foot, run = toes / mid-foot... and blimey can he shift gears between walking and running! I want to re-find my childhood gears and move between walk and run in a similar fashion, so that I can discover what speed over the ground I really have and fully 'run' a 10k, half-marathon, or even the full marathon??

Progress?

So I have another new 5K parkrun PB, whoop whoop!

I don't take it as a huge sign of fitness progress though, I am taking it as a sign of tactical awareness. I went out at a speed I felt I could hold for the 5K, and tried to work a tiny bit harder as I went on. So there was not only a hefty negative split, but in fact a Royal flush** with each kilometre being faster than the previous one. The new course helped, not that it was any flatter or any less bendy, it was simply wider over the first 1-1.5K so it was easier to find my rhythm and hold on to it. Which means I have to say thanks to the summit being arranged in the city for the change of route.

There is so much wrong with my running in this picture (borrowed from the Cardiff Parkrun flickr feed - credits to _NiallS). Apart from the fact I was chasing red t-shirts and two decided to overtake me at this point (knew I should have chased purple shirts, there were less of them! Better odds!), I look leadened legged, flat footed, overweight... need I go on?

From there I set about recovering and will get a couple of runs in this week ahead of the Cardiff 10K this coming Sunday. For the race I will again try and deploy the same plan - find a comfortable pace, hold it, and then see if I can squeeze a small progression of pace (with a negative split overall). To be honest I will be chuffed with any time under the hour at this point, and look for it to be another stepping stone to more (and better) running.

** - listen to a number of recent episodes of MarathonTalk and you'll hear all about Royal flush runs - happily they have absolutely nothing to do with Royal toilets or anything else of that nature.

Change all around

This weekend I get my running shoes on again after our holiday and a week back in work, happily I am looking forward to getting out there again. This week has seen me finally change my eating habits, gone is the snacking, gone are the random lunchtime menus (I am packing my bag each morning with a lunch), gone is the huge breakfast, gone is the quick lunch. All of this is of course sensible, by the way my breakfast is not microscopic just not so large, and so I am feeling the benefits already. I have been using the myfitnesspal app for a few weeks again now, and I am using it to generally follow my habits this time using it to make sure I don't have massive high and low days.

Other change sees me tackling a new parkrun course, but at the same location (?). Thanks to the NATO summit coming to Newport (and Cardiff) this year the local parkrun has had to move its route to a neighbouring bit of parkland. Its all to do with rather imposing (and expensive) fences, and turning a whole city upside down so that two lunches can be held. Be amazing if there were ever a lunch that caused so much upheaval - I am sure someone with a better knowledge of History would come up with some clever examples of ones that have. Anyhoo, I digress, this weekend should be a solid run with no PB attempt as I have the 10k race next week (also disrupted and on a changed route) and really need to build into the three races I have steadily.

In other change, I start a new contract in a few days time that means little on the face of it but quite a bit in terms of progression of the project (in fact it means that I stay with the project for a while longer). Changing across contracts is something I have had to do a few times, but every time I seem to forget that feeling that comes with the process, renewal, excitement, nerves, paperwork (!). Very happily I get to keep the same desk so my new lunch routines should be easier to keep rolling.

And the last change is I haven't referred to the term 'mojo' out loud (or in my head) for a few days which I also hope is a sign that things are back on track... I'll let you know on Monday.

Up - Down - Up - Down... repeat

So just what on earth does that post title mean?

Well it refers to my recent exercise habits, one week upbeat (good habits), one week down (bad habits), I think you get the gist. To be fair I was in France last week for a fabulous family holiday... ah, but if you've ever read one those magazine articles titled "How to keep your exercise going on holiday" then I did just about the opposite - mmm, and the French food is sooooo good.

I am left wondering whether the next month (40 days actually) will be 'kill or cure' as regards my running woes, as in that time I have three races signed up and paid for. It will be the best possible outcome if I manage to find some sort of routine during that period and head into the Winter in a good running mojo 'place'... now where's my phone I need to try and book a run with my training buddy...

Hope your running is going strong and you are heading into the autumn season with good races ahead :-)

Friday Fun - "It Doesn't Matter" - Wyclef Jean, The Rock, Melky & Sedek

Today I just thought I'd share the song that is guaranteed to make me smile... the title says it all... enjoy :-D

Wyclef Jean, The Rock, Melky & Sedek - "It Doesn't Matter"

Not exactly rocket science - Wittering on Wednesday

Eureka, I think I have hit upon a complete new and novel approach to getting this fitness thing done - eat better X move better = feel better - a simple and powerful equation to sit with the collection of other important equations from across the ages...

Image"Hand Drawing Scientist Portrait" by MR LIGHTMAN courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

...aaaah wait no!!! I have of course 'rediscovered' the mantra that near enough all health and fitness professionals will quote in one form or another. Did this revelation come from listening to these good good people? Well no, it came from me being constantly broken, feeling crap, generally getting no where, and then having one of those light bulb moments after finding myself in my fitness slump - I was not moving as much as I used to in as many ways as I used to, plus I was not eating not so well on top of that - in the end wasn't difficult maths at all... after all I am not a Rocket Scientist :-)

Image "Rocket And Earth" by jscreationzs courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Last weeks surprises

Last week all in all was a good running week, including three sessions (the experimental short run, the medium length (8.3km) running buddy run, and the 5km parkrun on Saturday). I could have done more runs, but I am trying to avoid going crazy and diving into big distance increases. Taking into account my recent mojo issues none of them were awful although none set my World alight.

The highlight in the end was simple - the parkrun on Saturday turned out to be a PB. Why say it like that? Well because when I crossed the line it didn’t feel like a PB, in so far as it didn’t feel smooth, relaxed, or moreover quick! I went out from the ‘gun’ with the intention to get a PB and so stood further up the starting funnel. Over the first km I felt I hadn’t moved far enough up the funnel because I couldn’t get a rhythm going and was swerving off the path here and there to get around groups of runners. Kilometer number two was where I started wrestling with whether I should be forefoot landing or heel striking as I discovered I have already developed two distinct styles (how in a short time I did not know, I am old I am not meant to learn new tricks) and could feel real differences between them. I opted to heel strike, as I knew I was asking for calf trouble if I got carried away ‘forefooting’ or ‘midfooting’ (I am not 100% sure where the new strike is).

So I wobbled through the middle km musing ‘those’ changes and trying to run relaxed with whatever my feet were, or weren’t, doing. At this point I was musing chasing red shirts or blue shirts for the second half of my negative split effort. The fourth km got very difficult, I was sure I wasn’t on a PB by this point and wasn’t seeing the other runners coming back to me as fast as previously (“because you should further up the funnel dummy” – I realised later). I was puffing and blowing at this point wondering why it was so sunny after cooling rain had been threatening and falling for most of the rest of the morning. It was hot!

The final km of the parkrun in through the trees began to feel a little better, mostly because fatigued had wiped earlier musing from my overactive monkey brain. I was chasing blue tops by this point, which was great as there were quite a few of them. I held my final burst for the last 100m rather than 200m - unlike every week, and finished absolutely shattered – like every week. I headed off home confident that a PB had eluded me telling myself that the GPS told me the same as it had the previous time... happily I was wrong I had bagged a PB by fully 30sec! (big enough for me and my fragile mojo to celebrate).

Otherwise there is slow progress as my weight has probably stabilised but is showing no signs of dropping. I have though been getting a bit more sleep and if I can do that more consistently I think I really will see a difference. A bit like seeing the model car you just bought on absolutely every street corner, I have been seeing and hearing references to quality sleep and training all week – as if to bash me over the head with just how bad at resting I had gotten during my summer slump.

All the ruminating and stride analysis did lead to one same lightbulb moment, which is this – I march! When I walk I over stride and smack me feet into the ground as if I was on the parade square. I have been tempted to blame being an army brat (child of a forces family), or the fact that I am tall and maybe carried on showing off my huge stride as a kid into later life. But whatever the reason I have been tried to consciously walk ‘light’, not exactly forefoot walking (not sure that does or should exist) just walking without the almighty thumps I normally do. I think it was this that has engrained the running stride changes in my muscle memory and that complained as I started banging my legs against the ground in kilometre two of the parkrun.

Whatever last week was or was not I am happy that I am trying changes, and that some unexpected outcomes, if not the expected outcomes, are reminding me that it is all worthwhile.

Breaking out of a running rut

30 days to go until my first autumn test – that’s right I have a 10k race in a months time even with my mojo still lost in the woods somewhere! Better than that from there I have a 'race' every other weekend until the end of September... it will be either boom or bust with my running mojo by the end of that period.

I am pinning a few hopes on the theory that immersing myself in things will help shake the junk out of my system and bring about a good autumn / winter of running and training in general. At the moment I am doing just about everything that any reasonable running magazine article might suggest to break out a rut...

1. Running for fun not goals.
2. Eating better.
3. Trying new things in running training.
4. Running with a friend.
5. Joined a club (I am stretching the definition to include the parkrun experience).
6. Building / changing routine (specifically by trying to get into a better sleep pattern).
7. Incorporating targets, such as races to shape and direct training.

Did I leave anything out that would also help?

Mojo? Mojo? Anyone seen my mojo?

And so I went for my comeback run yesterday inspired by my recent reading and musings, and in fact it turned out to be a complete mixed bag of a run...

Pros

1. I did it.
2. Managed to complete the run with what felt like a new non-heel striking action.
3. I used the pair of less cushioned shoes I've had for ages.
4. It was raining.
5. I ran with a quicker cadence the whole way powered by a Metronome app.
6. I forgot my GPS watch (I didn't want to know my pace during the run).

Cons

1. It was very very humid.
2. I realised just how completely and utterly unfit I am at the moment .
3. My calves started to complain with 500m to home.
4. I had to put up with the Metronome app the whole way (my brain started to ache, tick-2-3!)
5. I forgot my GPS watch (I wanted to know my pacing after I'd finished).

All in I suppose I was pleased, but felt very far away even from tentative plans I was making back in May for better running ("Variety I hope will be spice of running"). I am back around the loop of 'lack of fitness' to 'some form of fitness' again, and I am not at all happy about it. Finding my running mojo will, I hope, sort this out though its obvious you can't shake a slump in a day (d'uh!).

I dared stepping on the weighing apparatus for the first time in a long time and it really slammed home how crap things had gotten in the slump. I am at the high part of an oscillation I have been in for the last three years of wandering up to nearly 15st and then down to 14st and back again. Thus, I am back using the MyFitnessPal app again albeit it with the heavy heart of someone who recognises as a yo yo diet pattern when he sees one. Perhaps this time, eh? Again I am hoping that moving / running will fix things here, as long as I can be smart enough to avoid injury.

Tonight I ran 8.5km of a standard loop with my running buddy, wherein we chatted the whole way and I found I was working much harder than my compatriot. This is all good though because when we get our act together the pair of us make a good motivational pair. I ran the whole way 'normally', in that I didn't accentuate any change of style (i.e. I landed most of the time heel first). To begin with I am aiming for one session a week of forefoot, hoping to bed it in slow and increase things gently. Almost certain I will run all my autumn events with no particular style in mind and see what feels comfort at different points in the races.

The biggest realisation that I have had is that I am going to navigating a difficult balancing act of fitness vs. form, it will indeed to tricky to do much quality running while I am so unfit and yet I don't want to run those 'get fit' runs in with a poor running form that might bring on old injuries... chicken -> egg, egg -> chicken??

Getting my mojo back

The last few weeks post-slump haven't really been too much different from the slump itself in that I haven't done anywhere near as much as I want to and I have eaten poorly. With that said I have signed up for 'new' challenges (two 10k races as well as the half marathon), I have been reading for inspiration, and I have been formulating (at least in my head) an 18 month plan to really tackle my running issues. Yup, as a runner I just said "I have running issues", a little strange perhaps but true - more something you might hear a non-runner say. I know a lot of runners want to change this and that, go faster and so forth, but I am trying to rebuild the love that I realise I lost a little whilst walking the second half of my last marathon carrying injury niggles and poor preparation around 26.2miles.

So from here I am running for fun again, aiming to enjoy race events, and taking any kind of pressure I can away from any run. I am going to get to the local Parkrun when I can and enjoy the event, I am going to work on my running systematically without a big stick with "go faster!" written in large letters on it. Somewhere I forgot to enjoy the fact that I used to be unable to do this running stuff without major issues, and forgot to just enjoy the fact that my body moving through space is so much more fulfilling than my body resenting movement and craving lazy time.

Part of my reconnection with running and hopefully my running mojo has been through reading and by reading I don't mean those 'how to' manuals I mean reading the life affirming types of running books. I just finished "Born to Run", having had so many people look at me a bit weird for not having picked it up... it was / is a great book and I think will aid my revival.

The copy I borrowed from a friend and read in a hurry - a book review post may well follow

Until I lace my shoes up next (as soon as I can, within the next 24 hours) I will really find out if my running soul searching has shifted the slump and delivered a hefty dollop of mojo.

I hope your running mojo is alive, kicking, and bringing fun to your runs.

Slumped

The last three weeks through a combination of things I have found myself in a fitness slump, and good grief do I feel rubbish for it. A few pounds on, naff food eaten, too much sleep missed, not enough exercise - has all added up. I am trying to turn things around and get out of it by looking to new goals and challenges, but I haven't found one yet that really has grabbed my imagination. I hadn't realised how much goals have taken over the lead in my on the move activities.

Happily my wife has more than made up for my malaise and has completed her first triathlon. She is busy consolidating on that achievement, and I am more than a little envious right now of her drive. I will be watching how she takes on the next challenge and trying to take a leaf out of her book