Fed up with ordinaryExtra ordinary is where it's at

As part of this exercise is to lose some (okay more than just some) weight, I thought I’d post details of my weekly weigh ins here.

For reference purposes, before I started running I weighed 13st 12lb.

On Wednesday 16th September 2009 I weighed 13st 9lb, a difference of 3lbs which I’m very happy with.

I don’t really know what weight I’m aiming for, if anything, but standard height to weight charts show that someone 6’1″ (which is my height) should be between 10st 9lb and 13st 7lb. I’m not a naturally lanky person and so I think a good weight would be about 12st 7lb.

So that’s 3lb down, 16lb to go!

To be honest, I don’t know if this is vain or not, but I’m more bothered about shape and looks than actual weight. With that in mind I’d like to see a big reduction in my stomach fat, moobs and the extra chin I seem to have been developing lately.

The last week has been good though and I’ve definitely noticed an improvement. I’m not too sure whether this is due to actual weight loss or the fact that my muscles are tighter from exercise as that changes the shape of your stomach area in particular. A few people have said that I look thinner around the face too so that’s always good.

My word, don’t I sound like a girl…

I’ve been reading a lot over the last couple of days about techniques for running.

At first that seems odd, after all, running is simple isn’t it? You just, well, run. But the more I read about things such as barefoot running and how other cultures can run for for days I started to wonder… I’m going to need all the help I can get in this journey to run the coast to coast!

I started with barefoot running. The argument being that, rather than protect us, running shoes may be the cause of most running injuries. At first it’s easy to dismiss the claim but Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run, makes a good case, arguing that feet have evolved over millions of years to support our bodies and enable us to run and the only thing we need protection from is anything that would puncture the foot. We don’t need the extra cushioning and support. All that does is make your feet weak and makes you adopt an unnatural running position.

It’s an interesting position and I can really see where he’s coming from. I was shocked to find out that there has been no research, or at least very little, done on the effectiveness of running shoes. It does seem to be a triumph of marketing. We’ve been convinced we need them and so that’s what we need.

He also talks about various tribes where people do run crazy distances, over all sorts of terrain, with almost no incidence of running related injury. These guys wear either nothing or home-made sandals. All very convincing.

Unfortunately the only way of testing the theory is by running barefoot which I’m happy to do as long as no one is watching, otherwise I’ll look a real idiot!

Or perhaps there’s another way… I found something called Vibram FiveFingers. They’re basically those 5 toed socks that have been dipped in rubber! They look really cool and I’d love to try a pair but they’re around £100 a pair. Hmm… I’m not sure I’m willing to spend that much. Yet.

I’ve also come across other techniques such as Pose and Chi Running. These essentially say that we’ve adopted a poor running posture and correcting this can massively increase running efficiency. These sound convincing too, after all most of us are aware that our bad posture while sitting causes problems.

This would be another example where a modern device, with millions of pounds of research (the office chair) can still be bad for us whereas a simple device, such as a stool, actually causes us to sit properly. Could the same be true of shoes?

Tonight while I’m running I’m going to pay particular attention to my posture and see if a Chi Running posture helps. Watch this space…

I don’t quite know how i qualified for this mad challenge, maybe it was the extraordinary ability to say yes before really thinking what the implications might be.

Hayho off we go, with a skip and a hop and a skipity split (ooo, my ankle can i just sit down for a second lads)…

I’ve thought a lot about my really crap run last night and the good news is I’m over it! Mostly. I think.

Anyway, the point is I think I got carried away with my first few runs and got too excited. Running 5.5 miles on only my third run after almost 5 years of being sedentary made me think I could run 10 km (or 6.2 miles) on my fourth. 10 km is my first real distance milestone and to that in my first week would mean I was much fitter than I thought. I’m not. I realise that now.

I also now realise that will power is vital but it can only take you so far. Last night my body was just too tired and no amount of will power would have made it any better without causing injury.

So I’ve re-assessed my current aims and have decided to start at 3 miles for my normal runs and take it up to 4.5 miles for my long run. My aim for a 10km run will be late October which means increasing my long run at 10% per week.

I guess the title says it all really. Everything about today’s run was wrong. I forgot about lunch then was at a meeting until later than expected. That meant getting home at 4:15pm and filling my face with Weetabix, a banana and then a sandwich. I was meant to go for my run at 5pm so I knew I shouldn’t eat that close to going out but I was starving!

I set out expectant after my previous 5.5 mile run. Boy was I in for a shock!

A few hundred meters in I regretted eating so much so late. I had a terrible stitch. I tried to run it off but it got worse. I had to stop and catch my breath after just a mile.

No sooner had I started running again when my right thigh cramped. It felt really tight and was getting worse. I walked for a bit then tried again. No good, it felt like I was damaging it. So, out of breath and feeling low ( well, worse than that really ) I turned around and started walking home. I ran 2.2km.

So right now I’m walking along Rustings Road, I couldn’t walk through the park as seeing all the runners made me feel even more of a failure today.

I knew my good start would end at some point, but I’d hoped it would go on a little longer. I know there will be many more downers along this journey and that I’ll bounce back and move on. But that doesn’t make me feel any less shit now.

I wonder how Eddie Izzard got on today…

The other day I discovered a new app for my iPhone, iMapMyRun.

Basically it uses the GPS in the iPhone to, er, my my run. You press start then go. It plots your course using Google Maps and calculates distance run and your average speed.

There are a few issues though, it’s not a brilliantly stable app yet. It doesn’t save data every time you try and then when it does it saves it more than once.

But it does upload your runs to MapMyRun.com which is good. I’ll definitely be using it to log my training from now on.

My runs are only accessible to friends but if you want to have a look, let me know.

Well after my previous deliberations about whether or not to run, I did in the end go out.

I really couldn’t be bothered though. At the end of a day filled with moaning kids and mundane housework, what I really wanted was beer, curry and TV.

Encouraged by my wife, I got changed and went out. And I felt good. I pushed passed the 3 miles of my first run and went all the way to Forge Dam and back. And I didn’t walk any of it. In total I did 4.25 miles in 45 minutes which I was more than happy with. I felt I could easily have carried on further too!

I expected that when I awoke the next day though that I would suffer. To my surprise, it seemed by stretching, drinking loads of water and eating a pile of nuts and seeds I’d escaped the aches and pains I was expecting.

As evening approached my wife asked if I’d like to go out again. Two nights in a row? Why not, I thought, I’ll just stretch my legs and do a slow mile or so. So I got changed and set off.

I tried a faster pace through the first park and covered my first mile in about 8 minutes, but then I had to walk for 30 seconds. I realised I had no energy and every step became really hard. I pushed on though and ran, walked and crawled (okay, not crawled) to Forge Dam where I got to the previous day. By this point I felt okay again and decided to keep going.

I didn’t get much further though! After Quiet Lane, the path becomes rough and there’s a noticeable increase in the gradient. By this point I had a goal of doing 10km, as I’d always thought of a 10km run as something only really fit people do. Could I do 10km only 3 runs in after more than five years of sedentary life?

Er, no.

The path became too steep and too rough. I realised that while I could plod along for the distance, my legs had no power with which to lift me uphill. So with a bit of a sad heart I turned around and came home.

The run home was much easier. I picked up my pace and actually ran all the way without walking at all. At one point I thought I was tired and so walked but after only a few steps I felt that walking was actually more difficult than running and so I carried on running again.

By the time I got to Endcliffe Park I was still going well and my gloom at not running 10km had been replaced by the satisfaction of a good run. I’d also broken the 1 hour barrier in only my third run.

Then something I’d never experienced before happened. It was either tiredness induced madness or endorphins being released. I’m not which, but I liked it! My body started to tingle all over and I started to laugh out loud. I couldn’t help it. I felt like I could sprint a marathon and so I picked up the pace. For the last 400 meters or so I was flat out and laughing like a crazy man. What I sight I must have been!

Much too quickly the high went and I wished I hadn’t done the sprint finish. I started to cramp and ache. What had I done?

Not content with cramp, my body then hit me with another new experience. Runners nipple I believe it’s called. From the rubbing of my t-shirt my nipple had started to bleed. Just a bit, but it really wasn’t nice at all.

Today I feel good all things considered. My legs aren’t painful but have no power in them. Climbing stairs is very hard. I doubt I could run anywhere!

So far so good for me and I can’t help being proud of my runs so far. Although I didn’t make the 10km I’d hoped for I’ve gone from being tired running to the shops, less than a mile away, to running 5.53 miles (to be exact) and feeling okay. All in less than a week.

At this rate of progress I’ll be ready for my first marathon in a month…

Today I’m so lacking energy. I couldn’t get for a run yesterday as I was in London for business and so spent most of the day on the train. I was travelling first class but sitting on a train for 5 hours in a day is pretty poor whichever class you’re in!

So today I need to do a good 3 miles at least, hopefully 5, but the problem is I really can’t be bothered. It’s the weekend and spending the day with the kids is so tiring I just want to collapse on the sofa, order a take away curry and then sleep.

How do you keep going when you’re so tired? I keep trying to tell myself that I need to and that I’ll suffer in the long run if I don’t. But the run is so far away that it’s easy to convince myself that I can skip today’s run and make up for it another day… It’s times like this when you need a personal trainer to kick your arse into gear!

Let’s hope I can keep strong and actually get out after tea!

Some days ago, Smack and I had invited a few select friends to join us on our quest to run the coast to coast. We never thought it would be just us two running and a group of around four would be ideal.

So we invited four of our friends, those select few who join us in failing to win the pub quiz at our local, The Union.

We knew it was a big ask back hoped people would come with us. Until today we’d had no response. None. Zero. Zip (you get the idea). I was beginning to worry that our mates thought we were crazy and were disowning us, but today I’m extremely pleased to say that we’re now a three!

The mighty John-Paul had been added to our number. The two become three and the fellowship of the run grows!

I like to think that our journey will be like Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli chasing the Uruk-hai to free Merry and Pippin. The question is: who is Gimli trailing behind complaining “Why must we always be running?”

Today, two days after my first run, my legs still ache. They’re getting better but still not good. I didn’t run yesterday as I couldn’t manage it but today I have to.

It just struck me that from now until our run, about 30 weeks away, my legs will hurt. All the time. Every day.

To get close to being able to run the coast to coast I’ve got to increase my distance by 10% each week. Some every time I’m pushing myself. That means pain and discomfort. Constant pain and discomfort. For about 9 months. Perhaps it’s like being pregnant! No doubt I’ll vomit, be tired, be emotionally variable (more than I am normally) and I’ll have a big push at the end!