Improving distance and time

Approach to CP3, originally uploaded by ultraBobban.

Refecting on the last week I feel that I am in need of a confidence boost and I now feel it. 62km for the week and I was looking at my stats. Rather than be a slave to the Garmin, which is frustrating when you start out from such a slow base, I have been doing a weekly 10km time trial. Although this is not 100% scientific as I am altering the main control variable; the course, I am making sure that I chart my return. Now my PBs for the shorter distances were all set in 2009:

5km 18.52
10km 41.20
half: 1.30.15

The comeback is paultry by comparison but no less impressive in its improvements. So this last 4 weeks the times are all for 10km

1.04.25 - 4 weeks ago
57.47 - 3 weeks ago
54.30 - 2 weeks ago
47.58 - end of last week

I would like to think that this would continue and in 3 weeks I'll be running 38s but this won't be the case. I can see this slowing down but I am setting some short term goals for 2011. Aim to beat 10km PB by the end of the year. Run 3 marathons by the end of the year.

new shoes on the way

I'm having a few days off running. Not feeling good so actually off work. I hate being off work as I love it. I will be in tomorrow as the healing and rest has taken place. Yesterday I slept for 19 hours only getting up to take painkillers and a cup of tea so awoke dehydrated this morning. Now I am up and about and steady on my feet I will be back at the chalkface tomorrow. I needed a cheer up, a boost so purchased some of the new minimalist Inov8 255. I have always lovingly cherished each pair on inov8s I have owned, particularly as I have never run less than a marathon in either of the pairs I have. I now am trying out the road shoes. It would be crazy to go straight to the 155g pair (????) but am looking to try out this minimalist revival that it seems Anton Krupicka has spearheaded over the last couple of years. I figured with my out of training body, a small drop from 347g to 255g would be a start. Hopefully they will arrive on Saturday so I can open them as I come out of the general anaesthetic from my operation on friday afternoon. Then the training will begin as soon as the swelling is down.

light at the end of.....

Peckham Rye Multistorey level 5, originally uploaded by ultraBobban.

I'm pretty pleased with the week in terms of running. I have 6 days until my operation to take out the titanium in the tibia and fibula. As much as I can peak before friday to hit a high enough level of fitness to enable a swift recovery. So it is why my first week over 50km this year was a 62km week ending in a 20.27km run this morning to run including Sydenham Hill, then running with the beginners course at DPR and then the Knight's Hill, Beulah Hill, Crystal Palace Hill reverse club run. All in all the last few kms were a bit tough. There is only one way to knock myself into shape and that is to train harder, run further and stay on my feet longer. That, I am sure will come. If I can hit this level again within the next 6 days then I'll be happy going into the op, and will just be crossing my fingers for a swift recovery from surgery

in awe

tired and happy. 88 miles later, originally uploaded by ultraBobban.

A little tribute to Mr Immune himself. The guy is a ledge.....a true ledgend. It won't be long before he will be knocking out sub 6.30s for a marathon. I feel slightly pedestrian in comparison, but I managed my first sub 9s sustained for over 5 miles. There is nothing but a bit of V)2 and the metalwork that is stopping me from dropping less. This was not a flat run and some of this included/..... wait for it.... about 200m of sub 8s.

Back in the day, a sub 7s was a chatty 10 miler down at the club and now I can only start to dream of it.....but I am still in awe of the man they call Immune. I guess I have a lot of catching up to do!

Cider with UltraBobban

Thatchers Katy cider, originally uploaded by ludwig van standard lamp.

I'm going to settle down for a cider. A well deserved cider. It has been a week of 13 hour days at the office, weekends of painting, decorating, sanding, wallpapering, flooring, carpet removal, furniture shifting, tree cutting and cleaning. For me, this is the busiest time of year at work and with moving to a new house; the project, things are never far from busy.

So how does running fit in with this? Well It has now been 4 weeks of running after the mental broken leg. After tentative 15 min miles at the start, things are looking good. I have developed a semblence of musculature in my calf, with a gastrocnemus coming on well. The soleus is slower in the making. I have not had chance to test the V02max yet, but have increased speed this week with a club run 8 miles at 9.40s, followed by a 10k at 9.20s. I went for a cheeky 5 miler this evening, a stock run including the 110m climb of Crystal Palace Hill. The downhill has been causing me consternation but a flat last mile at 8.30s is my fastest for a while. 48km for the week. I am really loving running now. Just 12 days until the BIG operation and perhaps within a month I will be running again.

I'm going to die here but it's worth a try

In the dinosaurs footsteps, originally uploaded by ultraBobban.

I'm getting married next July.

Already I am looking at where to honeymoon.....

Perhaps we go to Namibia for the honeymoon?

then I can run the Fish River Canyon 100k there!

or Mongolia.....and I can do the Gobi desert challenge (140 miles!)

or China....the taklamakan 100km

Brill!

Broken leg feeling

Don't tread in poo, originally uploaded by ludwig van standard lamp.

I'm off to hospital on April Fools' Day for my amputation.......erm hopefully not, but I am getting all of the titanium out. The physio sad that i mught get a greater range of movement. The fitter I am before then, the higher my base is for recovery.

I am looking at 48 hours off everything (I have got the operation on a friday so I don't miss any more work) and then 2-4 weeks of gentle recovery that allows the bones time to heal from the screw cavities. General anaesthetic here we come.

Aside from a swollen leg today, I feel good. 5.1 miles sunday, 4.5 monday and just under 11 miles for the club run on tuesday. Yes, it was my first venture over 10 miles in many months. Wow. I ran with James P and Tom P for a while, then joined Esther and Charlotte for a run through Dulwich to the bottom of CP and then home. Man I am sore but the buzz (?) wait relief of running 10 miles was good. Now I need to up my game and stop running like every step is going to break my leg. It won't!

Some might call it junk miles......

Handful, originally uploaded by ultraBobban.

But with the first month of running coming to an end after leaving the crutches behind there are a few notable points. I am sustaining a drop to sub-10 min miles for the last few days, partly becaue I am pushing myself a bit harder now. The pain is subsiding a little although I ran up Crystal Palace hill quicker...9.34s than I could run down the other side so there is some soft tissue damage that is occuring and preventing me from going full throttle......well when I say full throttle, I mean a sedentary pace. The last time I went full throttle down CP hill, it was a brakes off/brain off 4.30s and I thought I was going so fast I was going to die!

I am managing 4-5 miles with not much pain and I guess, as any marathoner would do, build it up from there. I am hoping to get past 20 miles this week and then start shaping up above this. My aim is in 2 weeks to get to a 10 mile run. Then if this is the case, I will attempt a half in the next month. All being well I am 3 months from a marathon.......if all goes well with the metalwork removal. Hospital tomorrow so all will be revealed

Life's a beach

Beach, originally uploaded by ludwig van standard lamp.

OK, well it's better than it was. The metalwork in my leg will be out in weeks. I did the club handicap tonight. I have run 14km in the last 2 days, this evening, I dropped my pace to sub-9s for the first time this year. I am slightly worried that I will snap some of the pins but it felt good. I got some special dispensation in the club handicap and was thus promoted up the order to start, finishing in 2nd place overall! My last half mile was at 8.19s........

Mundane measures will come in soon and I shall return again to crutches when I return to hospital, but the signs are encouraging and I am loving running now.