Another one ticked off.

My local parkrun at Bromley has now been cancelled since before Christmas due to unprecedented precipitation or as I would like to call it, 'bloody rain'. So in addition to my pilgrimage to Bushy Park a few weeks back it has also meant a couple of weeks running at Orpington parkrun.

Saturday just gone I decided to venture to Lloyd Park.  This is about a 30 min drive from me and I have mentioned in my blog before that I am quite fortunate in that I have over a dozen parkruns within about a 45 min drive from me.

I arrived about 15 mins early with the Sun making a concerted effort to make an appearance and despite no precipitation of any sort during the actual run, that didn't make conditions any more pleasant as a bloody cold wind was blowing.

As the 85 runners present warmed up and waited for the start we were treated to an acapella duet by two Huskies.  They were quite good and would give a few of the X-factor contestants a run for their money.

The course was two laps, it was very muddy and it is quite a challenging course with a short sharp hill that has to be tackled twice.  Even at the top of the hill there is ankle deep standing water which I think goes to show just how saturated the ground is at the moment.

On the 2nd lap I had to fish out a running shoe which had decided to part way with it's owner.  I did have a wry smile as said owner was hopping on one foot, as if it really mattered as all our feet were soaked anyway.

I managed to trundle round in 30:03.  This was my 64th parkrun at my 13th venue. So that is another one ticked off.

The following photo (courtesy of Kevin Hann) shows A) what the conditions were like and B) what a fat git I have become (again!).  Current weight is 15st 13lb, so only a 1lb lighter (so that is another one ticked off) than a few weeks ago but still 8lb lighter than the beginning of the year.

Smuggling a medicine ball under my top.

Until next time
TJH

A Pilgramage and looking to get back on track.

A slightly belated Happy New Year!

Over the Christmas & New Year period, my running has been non existent.  This was due to a chest infection.  This meant that I missed two cross-country events and various parkrun events as well. I was hoping to run Bromley parkrun on Christmas Day for the 3rd consecutive year.  As fate would have it, the events was cancelled anyway due to flooding.  In fact Bromley parkrun is currently postponed until the end of January.

Pilgrimage
This Saturday just gone I finally felt well enough to attempt a run.  With no Bromley parkrun an alternative was needed.  Jo a member of PWR had mentioned on Facebook that it was the 500th parkrun at Bushy Park near Hampton Court.

If you are unaware, Bushy Park is where parkrun started in October 2004.

So, Bushy Park is was.   At 7.15am myself, Mich & Max left home, in the dark! picked up Jo and had a 70min drive over to Bushy Park.

The weather forecast was for blue skies after the month of biblical rain that we had endured and lo & behold as we got closer the clouds disappeared.

We arrived just around 8.30am and then followed the crowd and once people started gathering at the start line, a crowd it was; just shy of 1200 people!

Prior to the race there was the usual announcements from the Race Director and he mentioned that he knew people traveled from further afield to take part in the event.  I was nodding contently, thinking yes, I have driven for over an hour to get here.  He then followed the previous statement with "and one person has traveled up from Yeovil this morning" So that well and truly blew my journey out of the water.

The run was a delightful if (not surprisingly) a slightly muddy 1 lap tour around the Royal Park.  I jogged round in 28 minutes. I have run over 60 parkruns now at over a dozen venues and the only reason I can is because of the volunteers.  I honestly do not know how the volunteers there managed to process 1200 runners.  But considering the numbers, there is very little waiting time to get your barcode scanned. Very impressive.

So the pilgrimage to the birth place of parkrun has now been achieved!

Back on Track
I must admit, that once I was given the news last year that due to my knee injury I would have to give up long distance running, I kind of lost my enthusiasm for running.  I was only running the odd parkrun and was also eating and drinking far too much.

My enthusiasm was slightly re-kindled by taking part in a couple of cross-country runs.  PWR are members of the Kent Fitness League which is a series of cross-country runs around Kent.  After taking part in the first couple, I decided I wanted to complete everyone in the series.  My chest infection soon blew that plan up in smoke.

Anyway, my lack of running and over-indulgence meant that that on 1st Jan this year, I was back up to 16st 7lb, only 10lb lighter than when I started training for the London Marathon 2.5 years ago.  I had got myself down to 14st 3lb.

I am pretty pi**ed of with myself that I have let myself get so out of shape again.  So it is back to running no more then 10k (except maybe on the odd occasion), back on the bike, back in the gym and back down the BMI ratings. I will be providing updates of my weight loss in my blogs.  Today I am 16st.

Until the next time
TJH

An early Christmas Present to me

Well it has a been a few months since I have blogged.  I have been very busy at work and if I am brutally honest after learning that I needed to pack up my long distance running, I kind of lost my mo-jo for running.

During September & October I ran a few Parkruns and that was about it and with lack of regular exercise and enjoying a night out or two I have put on a fair bit of weight.  However in the last 3 or 4 weeks, I have started running cross country events with Petts Wood Runners and doing a few more Parkruns and have started to realise why I enjoyed taking up running again a few years back.

In some ways regaining my appetite for running has also been frustrating, because I have realised how out of shape I have become and in a few of the events, people that I would be competing with on time or finishing positions have been leaving me for dead.

However what has also been refreshing is just running naked.  Don't worry, I mean in the metaphorical sense.  I wouldn't subject people to seeing trundling round some woodlands in my birthday suit.  I have just been running without my Garmin (of which I had become a bit of a slave to).

In fact this weekend, I have taken part in 3 events.  The first was the Bromley Parkrun on Saturday, which had been nominated as the Movember Parkrun.  So I pushed my boy (who recently turned 4 and is now getting a bit big)  round in the running buggy, in quite muddy conditions.  Everybody got into the spirit wearing stick on moustaches

Today, I had two events.  The first was a cross country mob match between Petts Wood Runners, Orpington Runners and New Eltham Joggers.  The course was a testing 2 lap-4.2 mile course.  I did in fact wear my Garmin for the first time in 3 months.  To start it would only show elevation and nothing else, so I had to reset to factory defaults and then when I did finish, I forgot to stop it until 5 minutes or so after finishing.  So a bit pointless wearing it really!  For the record, the Orpies won the mob match, with PWR taking Silver!

After finishing I had to dash off quickly as I had my 3rd run of the weekend, the Bromley Santa Dash.  This was a family affair as you can see

The course was 2k which included a steep uphill bit and a finish in the High Street.  My boy ran over three quarters of it.  The pre-race warm up was a joy to see with 500+ Santa's performing and aerobic warmup and it was great to be running with my wife and boy along the finish getting cheers and applause from the crowds and witness the atmosphere gee my boy up for a burst of energy sprint finish :-)  I am proud to say we finished in 24minutes.  Not bad for a 4yo!

So my early Christmas present is the return of my mo-jo.  I know I need to take it easy due to my knee condition, but I will be keeping to 5k and 10k events and not have to put in the training miles that I was doing previously.  But when you can have fun and get photo's such as the one below, (which I know I am obviously biased, but I love) it certainly makes running, whatever the distance, very worthwhile!

Until the next time (which will not be another 2+ months)

TJH

Tourism

This weekend, I travelled up to North Yorkshire with Mich & Max and with a mate of mine 'The Rat' and his wife and their two boys.

None of my mates have normal names :-)

The main purpose of the weekend was to visit a couple of racecourses, Thirsk on Friday and Beverley on Saturday.  Having now visited these, this now takes me now having visited 30 of the 59 in the UK. You could say that I am taking part in a kind of racecourse tourism.

Thirsk was the Super Hero Family Day and Max managed to meet SpiderMan!

 

At Beverley, The Rat and I made a tidy profit, so two successful racecourse visits were had.

So whilst up North, I thought would take advantage of the situation and take part in some Parkrun Tourism as well.  We were staying in a static caravan in Skipsea which meant that the closest Parkrun was just over 10 miles away in Bridlington.

The name of the Parkrun was Sewerby! Now I must admit having the word Sewer in the name didn't sound too appealing.

This was my 54th Parkrun and my 11th different venue and I can quite easily state this is my favourite Parkrun that I have done.  I must admit that I was very lucky with the weather.

There were around 90 runners and I did have a wry smile (being a Southerner) listening to the locals chatting and I heard at least three 'Ay Ups'

The start is in front of Sewerby Hall, a rather grand start to say the least.

The run then takes you along a coastal path, then around a cricket green, through some ornamental gardens, along some wood chip tracks, through some woods.  A delightful run, and for me the epitome of what Parkrun is all about.  As I have stated, I was lucky with the weather and I am sure if there is a gale blowing in from the North sea, the mile or so along the coastal path could be brutal!

I managed to get round in 25.25 and came 37th just being beaten by a Husky.  No stats as once again, I left the Garmin at home.

We all had a great weekend, lots of activities and I even squeezed in an hours fishing on Sunday morning and managed to catch a 3lb Carp!

Next family weekend away........................not sure when or where, but wherever it is, I think I will be checking to see where the closest Parkrun is.

Until next time
TJH

Running Naked

Metaphorically of course.  I wouldn't subject anybody to seeing me running in the nuddy!

So it has been a month since I received the news that I have to pack up long distance running in earnest otherwise I would be requiring a large piece of titanium to be placed into knee.  So despite having to knock anything longer than 5k on the head, it does mean that I can still at least run Parkrun. If albeit not as frequently.

So having not done any running at all since the Adidas Thunder Run 2two weekends ago, I decided to run the Bromley Parkrun this Saturday.  There were two main reasons behind this. 


Reason 1 -Not a Headache
I had gone into work on Wednesday & Thursday and had to return home on both days due to migraines and didn't make it into work on Friday  Sometimes you hear people saying I had a migraine earlier (thinking that it is just a bad headache)  I can assure you a migraine is not just a headache.  I lose my periphery vision, I then get black spots in front of my eyes, followed by nasuea/throwing up and then the mother of all pressure headaches.  The only thing I can do is lay down in a dark room.  So in a nutshell I spent 90% of Wed/Thu/Fri sleeping or trying to sleep.  So I had to get out Saturday morning as I needed the fresh air.

Reason 2 -All the Gear, No Idea
I have been fortunate enough along with a number of other Petts Wood Runners (for the second year running) to be asked to help test and provide feedback on a selection of running apparel, nutrition and technology.  So I wanted to test a couple of items that had been assigned to me.  Can you guess what I had to test??

I look like a packet of Opal Fruits

What you may also notice from the pic above is, no Garmin! so in running terms, I was naked!  Having spent the best part of the last 2 preceding almost every run waving my wrist at the sky trying to pick up the satellites, I just wanted to run and not worry about pace or time and not having to wait for the recognisable Garmin beep that can be heard a thousand times at most events (running or cycling).

I got round in 24:14 (only learning of my time when I got my text from parkrun in the evening). 

No link to my Garmin stats.  So here is a link to duck billed platypus instead?

The gear that I tried was Ashmei compression socks - very comfortable and despite being compression socks, not a nightmare to put on. But the acid test for me with any pair of socks is how much they seem to shrink after washing (although being Merino wool, potentially less washes are required!)

My other item being tested were the Puma Mobium running shoes.  I admit these look strange as they have what looks like a pre-formed  high arch.  Reading the bumph the idea is that the shoe effectively flattens out and moulds to your foot on footstrike but then recoils back to shape once you lift your foot and therefore getting power transfer.  Well that's the idea?  From my perspective, they were comfortable with loads of cushioning especially in the forefoot (which is important for me, being a mid to forefoot striker), and very lightweight.  I had some minor discomfort on the instep of one of my feet, but I will be giving them another whirl to see how I get on with them.

So there you have it, a brief blog by my standards.

Until next time
TJH

Gutted!

If you have been following my blogs you will be aware that I have been having an issue with my right knee and you are might be aware that just over 5 years ago I had keyhole surgery on my knee on my meniscus (football injury).  I then took up cycling which then led me back into running.

My recent issues started in March this year when taking part in the Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon which is quite hilly.  It was the downhill elements that seemed to cause the issues and I ended up having to walk the last 3 miles or so.

Since then, I have pulled out of the Brighton Marathon but then trundled round the Kent RoadRunner Marathon.  Last night I took part in the JP Morgan Chase Corporate run and again was still having issues with my knee.  

Over the last 4 months, I have had a multitude of physio sessions, seen a Sports and Musculoskeletal Physician, been for MRI scans and this morning I had a consultation with an Orthopaedic Surgeon who specialises in knee disorders. 

He had a simple instruction for me; "Give Up Running"  Now I was already prepared for this and was ready to come back with, 'well do whatever surgery that is required to get me back running'. 

However, he then took me through my MRI scans showed me where the issues were with my meniscus and cartilage, highlighted the signs that arthritis was beginning (arthritis is heredity in my family)  He frankly explained the following;

• I could have a first operation which would be to 'tidy up' my cartilage and I could be back and running within 3 months
• If need be I could have a 2^nd operation where they could drill holes into my bone in which the seeping bone marrow would create a kind of polyfilla in my knee.  This would result in 6 weeks+ on crutches and probably another 6 months of rehabilitation before I could even start to consider running again

But irrespective of what operation I have if I was to continue with long distance running there is a significant probability that I would have to have a replacement knee operation by the time I am 45 (less than 7 years)

Now I wasn't prepared for that damning diagnosis!

I must admit I am a bit gutted.  As you might have gathered I do actually enjoy my running, but it would be foolish of me to continue in the long run (pun well and truly intended).  I did explain to the consultant that I had the Olympic Run and the Adidas Thunder Run coming up in the next three weeks.  He said, "well if you can get through those without too much discomfort, all well and good, but then that has to be it!"  I even asked what he considered as long distance running and could I still do half marathons?  His honest opinion was no more than 5k! At least maybe I can still run Parkrun, albeit not as frequently as I would like?

Looking at my Garmin stats (which I have worn for probably 99% of my runs) in the last two years I have run over 1300 miles.  So for a bloke that has always carried a few extra pounds in weight, that is quite a bit of wear and tear on the old joints.

The good news is that from a fitness perspective and from a knee perspective is that I can continue cycling (also swimming or rowing).  The bad news (particularly for Mich my wife) is that when we have weekends away, instead of me disappearing typically for 2-3 hours to run a half marathon, I will probably be gone for 7-9 hours cycling 100k events. On the flip side, hopefully Mich will keep up with her running and I can repay her by supporting her at events as she as done so many times for me.

I rang Mich when I came out of the hospital and told her the news.  Max my 3yo boy obviously heard some of the conversation, so Mich had explained to him the situation.  I then received a phone call at work in this afternoon from Mich's mobile, when I answered it, Max was on the phone and the conversation went roughly as follows

Me         "Hello"

Max       "Hello Daddy"

Me         "Hello Buddy"

Max       "Are you still sad"

Me         (now smiling) "No I am OK buddy"

Max       "Are we going running"

Me         "Not really mate, I can't"

Max       "Oh, isn't your leg getting better"

Me         "It will do mate, maybe we can go cycling"

Max       "Can I go cycling with you"

Me         "Yes mate"

Max then shouted to Mich "Daddy said we can go cycling together"

There is nothing more uplifting than a conversation like this from (in my own biased opinion) a very perceptive 3yo boy.

This now means that I won't get to achieve my hatrick of Barcelona Half Marathons. I have already entered next year's RoadRunner Marathon, so there is a place going if anybody wants it? And knowing my luck, I will now get accepted via the ballot for next year's London Marathon!

So the JoggingHippo Jog Blog is now on borrowed time.  I will still blog about the Olympic Run and the Adidas Thunder Run, but then I will need to get my creative thinking cap on and change the name of my blog to something cycling related? Ideas on a postcard.

At least I achieved my sub-4 Marathon!

Until next time

TJH

L

If parkrun existed during the Roman era, some people would be running around parks on a Saturday morning with a red t-shirt with the title of this blog on their back.  However, our numbering system seems to be a bit simpler so a nice 50 will do!

In case you haven't gathered I ran my 50th parkrun this weekend.

If you don't know what parkrun is, in a nutshell it is a FREE timed 5k run run completely by volunteers.  These happen in parks all over the country at 9am every Saturday morning (oh and for some parkruns on Christmas & New Year's Day as well)  The initiative has also taken off in Australia, America, Poland, Scandinavia.  There is even a parkrun at for the squaddies at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan!

You get issued with a bar code and once you complete the run, you get a placing token.  These are then both scanned and by the afternoon you receive an e-mail and/or a text telling you your time and position and the website is updated with the results.

All the info you could want to find, including how to register and obtain you bar code go to the website parkrun.

Now I am far from unique achieving 50 parkruns, there are literally hundreds of people that have done it.  There are also hundreds that are in the 100 club and a select few that have notched up 250 parkruns! For youngsters, the first milestone is 10 runs.

When you reach one of these milestones you are awarded with a technical t-shirt. 

It is very pleasing to have reached the 50 milestone. That means I have run 250k mainly on Saturday mornings, but with a couple of Christmas Days and & New Year's Day thrown in.

I ran my first parkrun at Bromley on 27th August 2011 finishing in 26:03 and I ran my 50th yesterday at Bromley in 22:59.  Although it was only my 41st parkrun at Bromley.  I have also managed to take in local parkruns at Orpington, Herne Hill, Ladywell, Bexley, Crystal Palace & Dulwich and also a couple further afield in Poole & Oxford. My current PB is 21:53.

I have not always run parkrun alone.  My wife Mich has now run 13 parkruns and Max has been pushed around in the running buggy over a dozen times and at half a dozen venues.

As I mentioned at the beginning, parkrun is all down to volunteers, without volunteers parkrun wouldn't exist. I have volunteered four times now. I have been a pacer, a timer, handed out the finishing tokens and scanned the tokens. It is very rewarding to help out, enabling others to run.

It was due to running at Bromley parkrun that I got chatting to some Petts Wood Runners and ultimately joined the club.  Bromley parkrun is also an extremely friendly event with tea coffee, water, cakes and biscuits provided either home baked by the runners or purchased from donations. (To be honest every single parkrun I have been to is friendly)

The last couple of paragraphs may seem that an advert for parkrun and maybe they are, but I have not been asked to do this, and I haven't come across anybody who has a bad word to say about parkrun and I am sure 99.9% of parkrunners would agree that it is a great, fun initiative.

And to top it all, Bromley parkrun is not all about running with social events sometimes organised which usually involved beer and curry (the staple diet of any budding athlete)

So next objective is the C club, well it would be if I was Roman ;-)

Until the next time
TJH

Club Running

It's been a three weeks since I last blogged. I have been a bit busy and just haven't got round to it.  I could type a mammoth blog covering all sorts of topics, but thought I would focus on club running.

For anybody who has read any of my blogs before, you will be fully aware that I am a member of Petts Wood Runners.  I have only been a member for a couple of years, but I can honestly say it has transformed my running.

Prior to training for the 2012 London Marathon, I had never even considered joining a running club.  More content with reading the running magazines or looking for information and advice on the Internet.  Through one of the free running magazines, I discovered Parkrun.  A lot of the regular volunteers at Bromley Parkrun are PWR's and that is how I found out about the club.

So I just want to highlight some of the benefits of being part of a running club. I can obviously only vouch for PWR, but I am pretty sure that all running clubs have the same ethos. 

We meet on a Tuesday night for the regular weekly run.  Numbers can vary from 40 to over 100 people turning up and there are 7 groups catering for all paces.  PWR also run a regular beginners group, where people who are completely new to running embark on an 8 week course culminating in a 5k Parkrun.

We have additional 'track sessions' on a Thursday night, using the Norman's Park Athletics Track going through various drills for different targets eg 5k or maybe 10k.  In addition, now we have the light evenings another Thursday session is run concentrating on a core workout!

On Sunday's we have informal runs especially during the training period for the Spring Marathons.

Add to this that as a club we can turn up en-mass to 10k events & Half Marathons, we also compete in other events such as the Assembly league (a series of 5k races), cross country events, the list goes on.

So as you can see, there is pretty much something for everyone.  Add to this the social side, friendships, sharing advice, comparing war wounds.  If you are a regular runner, I honestly cannot see a downside to not joining a club! 

We also host an annual 10k which is regularly voted one of the top 10k's in the country and a lot of that is down to the PWR members who give up a considerable amount of time to organise, officiate and marshall the event.

Best of all is having other people (in addition to your family) cheering you on at events, it's amazing how a bit of encouragement can help you squeeze out an extra 2% effort in a finish!

I am just going to highlight a couple of recent events I have been involved as part of PWR.


TRUSTWORTHY
A couple of weeks ago Petts Wood Runners organised a 'Mob Match' against three other clubs; Orpington Road Runners (our local rivals) along with New Eltham Runners & Bexley Runners. I think this is the 3rd Mob Match that I have been involved in and as always the camaraderie between all the runners was superb.  The basis of a mob match if you don't know, is your finishing position determines your points and the club with the least number of points is declared the winner (scoring adjusted according to the club with the least number of runners at the event)

A local Sports Shop, Cook & Matthews who provide PWR with our club kit, had organised for some suppliers to be present, including Mizuno.

Mizuno had about 100 pairs of their shoes in different models and sizes and we were invited to wear a new pair of trainer for the event, if we liked them, we had the opportunity to purchase them at 50% discount, if not, just give them back!  I think that proves just what a trustworthy bunch us runner are.

However, I can trump that.  As it was a pleasant evening, Mich and Max came to watch and 10 mins before the start of the event, a woman approached us and asked if Mich would look after her 5yo boy.  Mich was a bit taken aback and said, "er sorry who are you", she gave her name and then Mich said "are you Petts Wood", the woman replied, "no I am with Bexley".

Mich 'baby sat' whilst this woman ran and Max had a little friend to play with.  But it epitomises the camaraderie of runners.  Although to be honest, not sure if I would approach a complete stranger and ask them to look after Max?

But it was a really good event, with free food, a raffle and the icing on the cake was the clubhouse had T.E.A (Traditional English Ale) from the HogsBack Brewery on handpump.  Like a pig in $hit ;-)

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/308579367

Oh, Orpington won the Mob Match.  Booooooo

RELAY
Tonight as I type this, I have just got back from a Relay event hosted by Beckenham Runners.  Again a first for me.  In fact the last time I did a relay was probably 25 years ago at school?  But this isn't a 100 metre relay passing a baton.  This is a 2.6mile relay with teams of 3.  Once again a great event catering for all speeds.  PWR entered 8 teams.  I was running the 2nd leg for my team.  We were playing catch up from the start as when the horn sounded, Chris running the 1st leg was in the bushes having a pee, so ended up doing a 200+ metre sprint to play catch up from the outset!  Must have been the nerves!  I managed to run my leg in 19:25 which is an average 7:25 min/mile, so was quite pleased with that.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/313270617

Haven't yet got the formal results, but another good evening and the majority of the runners stayed to the end to cheer the last couple of people home!

So another event done that I wouldn't have done if I was not part of a running club and a good way of using an event as part of a training plan eg, a threshold run.

Blimey, this was meant to be a short blog based around one topic.

To conclude, if you do not belong to a running club, join one! Even Mich my wife is now a member :-)

Until Next Time
TJH

London Marathon - The other side of the barrier

I am sure it hasn't escaped anybody's attention that there were a few people having a run around London on Sunday, 36k+ to be precise.

I don't want to dwell too much on the tragic circumstances that occurred at Boston.  I was out with a group of people from work on Monday evening celebrating what would have been a 40th birthday of a friend and colleague who passed away suddenly last year.  I then saw the Newsflash.  Thoughts were immediately of a PWR who was running the marathon.  The beauty of technology and social media meant that word quickly spread that he was fine.  My thoughts are with those who have suffered as result of the mindless attack.

I ran Parkrun on Saturday morning in beautiful weather and a 30 second silence as a mark of respect was impeccably observed by the 350+ people there.

In some ways the London Marathon being only 6 days after the Boston was the perfect tonic for Marathon runners and society to unite and show that acts of terrorism cannot and will not break the human spirit!

In the build up to the Marathon, I must admit I have been envious of those who were running, but I have also enjoyed sharing other people's excitement and expectation and it was also nice to help a couple of mates with their training.

Sunday morning, I awoke to another glorious morning and to be honest, it was actually quite nice having a relaxed morning getting ready to go up to London but without the pre-race nerves.

Myself Mich and Max met up with a group of PWRs on a train just before 10am. By 10:45 we were situated at our vantage point just past the 12 mile marker.  Walking to our rendezvous point, you could already sense the feel good factor in the air as we witnessed a young lad sitting on a police motorbike having his picture taken with a police hat on and being shown how to turn the flashing lights on by the Police officer.

Our vantage point had everything you could want.  It was in the sunshine, we had a band a few hundred yards away playing good old classics you could sing along to, my favourite (as it is my karaoke song) being Sweet Caroline. There was a pub only 50 metres away (important for our hydration) and we were just past a water stop (important for the runners hydration) which meant we had the bonus of people slowing down slightly to collect water giving us a better chance to see them and start shouting and waving manically.

Our 12 mile spot (note PWR vest on the pole ready to be held aloft)

We were fortunate enough to see the Paralympians run past including Richard Whithead and also got a glimpse of Mo Farah flash past with the leading Elite group.  Flash being the operative word. 

Now excuse me while I digress, but I looked at Mo's stats on the London Marathon website and I saw that he was averaging over 20km/h.  So I am going to conduct a little experiment this week.  After a warm up, I am going to increase the speed on the treadmill to 20km/h and see how long I can maintain it for.  I will update you in my next blog.

Anyway, a couple who we were with (Brian & Susie), we actually knew before we found out that Brian was a PWR.  Brian is not a bad runner (sic) with a sub 3:20 Marathon PB.  Susie actually admitted that as the throngs of runner streamed past that she had never really seen this part of a Marathon as she had normally moved on to try and ensure she could get to the next point to try and see Brian again.  Mich on the other hand was used to seeing this many runners waiting for me to trundle past.

The atmosphere was superb and it was so inspiring to see people all shapes, sizes and ages running past.  We managed to see quite a few PWRs and I also managed to see a couple of people from work and also one of my mates who I had been running with at lunchtimes.  It was quite difficult trying to keep an eye out for people amongst the constantly moving kaleidoscope of colours, spotting them, shouting, screaming & waving and then trying to get a picture, as the picture of my mate Kirbs demonstrates.

Kirbs looking good

 

Max was evidently enjoying himself and liked pointing out all of the weird and wonderful characters. He seemed to particularly like the two Peppa Pigs, the countless Rhinos and the assortment of different Mr Men characters that he saw.  He was very vocal also, even if sometime he was only copying what either myself or Mich was shouting, but by the time he repeated our shout of encouragement, more often than not the person had already ran past.  But I have to award him 10/10 for enthusiasm, despite his timing being about as good as my photography timing ;-)

 

We wanted to wait at the 12 mile mark until one of the PWR Group 1 runners (Donna) had run past and there was an explosion of noise from our group when we saw her.  She was running and she was smiling which was encouraging.  Once Donna had run past, the PWR supporting group split. Myself Mich & Max, along with Brian, Susie and their 2 boys and Jo another PWR made our way over Tower Bridge to find a spot near the 23 mile mark.

 

As we were walking across Tower Bridge a runner came past carrying a surf board, I commented that he was mad and his response was "Never bet when you are drunk"

 

I was surprised to find the 23 mile mark to start with extremely busy, especially compared to 2 years ago.  I think that it was a combination of the nice weather and also a show of solidarity by the British public.

 

It is at this point where you really get to see what the Marathon for what I reckon 90% of runners is all about.  Pain, true grit and determination.  This is not to detract from the effort and no doubt pain that the elite athletes may suffer, but they are conditioned for it.  Max was insistent on trying to get high fives and did get a bit upset that his offered hand was quite often ignored.  How do you explain to a 3 year old that these folk have been on their feet for 4 hours plus, are shattered and either don't have the energy or just completely focused on getting to the end.

 

 

Max hoping for a High Five



I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to see everybody I wanted too, but with the number of runners, that was always going to be inevitable.  But I am sure I speak for our little group that we were all delighted to see Donna again and she was still smiling!

Inspirational Donna

Once we had seen Donna again we started to make our way home, by walking back to Tower Bridge. I then saw another side of the Marathon that probably not many people see.  The people that will have an 8hour plus finishing time, the sweep bus with dejected runners sitting onboard who have had to pull out of the race and the army of volunteers clearing up quite literally around those still soldiering on.  It brings a lump to your throat but despite some not necessarily being in great physical shape, you cannot question their stubbornness, desire and will to complete the 26.2 miles. These are the people that probably need the most encouragement yet a vast number of the crowds will have already gone. I think between us as we walked back, we made sure we shouted for and encouraged every single person!

Mich admitted that the atmosphere is intoxicating and it makes her want to run the Marathon, although first on the agenda is a 10k.  26.2 miles might be a couple of years away.

All in all a fantastic and uplifting day.  My blog probably doesn't do the day justice so if you have never spent the day at the London Marathon, put it on your 'To Do' list, in fact, put it on your 'Must Do' list.  You won't regret it.

Incidentally, Kirbs finished in 4:24 and Donna finished in 7:03.  I just want to say a massive well done to everybody I know who completed the Marathon, apologies that you have not all been mentioned in the blog, but I know that your family and friends will all be very proud.

So 29th April is when the ballot for the 2014 London Marathon opens I believe,  I have a reminder set in my calendar!

Until next time
TJH

P.S.  Donna is a fellow Blogger, and her blog can be found HERE

The Acid Test

This week was for me, a key week that I felt would gauge the chances of me running my planned marathon on the 1st June.

At the beginning of the week I did a couple of circuit training sessions to assist me on working on strengthening my glutes, lots of squats involved. The more I can strengthen my glutes and other leg muscles, the more I can even out the load from my running and ideally reduce the stress on my knee. Well that's the plan anyway!

On Thursday I went for a lunchtime run with a mate of mine (Geoff) who is running the London Marathon. We did just over 5 miles (in SNOW!!) We went at a steady pace of just under 8:50 min/mile.

Lunchtime Run

As we were chatting on our run, we got talking about the weather and he said that despite being fed up with the weather, hoped that come Marathon day the weather was still miserable as that is what he had done all of his training in. I can see his point and I am sure a lot of people will be in the same boat. Having completed all the training in quite frankly miserable weather, it could be a a bit of a shock to the system if it is hot on 21st April. As I will be up in London supporting the many people I know running the London Marathon, I don't mind it being a bit chilly, but I would prefer it not to be raining as I wouldn't want my beer to be diluted!

On Saturday, I once again ran Bromley Parkrun. As part of the Adidas sponsorhip deal (who provide the free technical t-shirts once you have completed either 50, 100 or 250 Parkruns) they were holding a competition for a chance to win a pair of the new 'Boost' running shoes for anybody who managed a Parkrun PB. Nothing like a little incentive :-)

So I decided I would try and beat my PB of 21:53. Alas I could have done with a bit of a boost as I came up short by 9 seconds only managing a 22:02. At least I didn't fall on my face metres from the finish line this time!

Parkrun Stats

Saturday afternoon, I was interested in running of a different kind, the running of the horses that I had backed in the Grand National. Max my 3yo boy picked his first Grand National horse and proudly knew the colours of his selection Ballabriggs (who I had also backed) and it was nice to go round my parents and all watch the race together as it was something I remember doing as a kid. But there was to be no glory for me or Max :-( and he kept asking after the race had finished where Ballabriggs was?

Sunday, I took part in the Paddock Wood Half Marathon. Probably not the most sensible idea going for a 5k PB the day before a half marathon, but I am sure my wife will tell, I am not the most sensible of people.

Sunday like Saturday was a glorious sunny day. Mich, Max & I drove down to Paddock Wood. Mich dropped me near the start and then made her way to a pub near the half way mark where some other friends and family of PWRs were gathering. I met up with a crowd of about a dozen PWRs and for the first 4 miles or so, we all ran together, it was like critical mass as the black and white PWR vests jogged along in unison. We began to spread out as we all had our own pace plans. For a lot, this would be their last longish run before the London Marathon. I ran with with a bloke called Christian (also running the London Marathon), who I had met once before through a mate on a night out and he recognised me as I was the bloke that was escorted out of a bar/club for falling asleep (but that is another story) Anyway Christian is also friends with some of the PWRs - small world.

Me on the left (in case you didn't realise), Christian in the grey.

We ran the first 10 miles together, before he pushed on near the end. I didn't want to push any harder than I was going as I was concerned about my knee. I had some minor aches and twinges in the last couple of miles and I think that a half marathon was probably the limit distance wise at the moment without pushing it too far. I completed the race in 1:44:04 just under an 8 min/mile. (Christian finished in 1:41:46)

Paddock Wood Half Stats

The race was very well organised, lots of friendly marshalls. I particularly liked the touch that at the first sponge station, there was a man in the stocks to encourage you to dispose of your sponge in a confined area. Upon a quick enquiry, he said he had only been hit in the face twice. I very much doubt he would have been there if the weather had not taken the positive upturn otherwise hypothermia would have been a distinct possibility. The course was very flat and was a very pleasant run through the Kent countryside and a very colourful medal to boot.

Sunday afternoon Mich, Max and I had a very nice afternoon catching up with some friends and even had the delight of standing in warm(ish) sunshine eating ice creams! who would have thought it

So, I passed the acid test (just) I am a bit achey and I am still conscious that there is some inherent weakness in my right knee, but I think that is more to do with the legacy of the keyhole surgery I had about 6 years ago and the fact that my right knee will never be 100%. So I will just build my mileage slowly over the coming weeks.

Until the next time
TJH

Back on Track - Almost

although not on the track (not just yet), but on the roads and on the treadmill, also on the gym floor and generally on the floor!  I have continued with some physio over the last couple of weeks and 'touch wood' I seem to be doing well at the moment.  I am now back running.  I have been out with PWR the last couple of Tuesday nights and I have also been doing some speed work on the treadmill at my gym.

Hakuna Tabata

I recently read an article on-line in the Guardian about Tabata Training which I found quite interesting

Guardian Article

So I thought I would give it a go one morning at the gym.  Two things I learnt a) it is bloody hard and b) don't try it on a empty stomach!  The Tabata technique is to run all out for 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds rest and repeat 8 times.  After a 10 min warm up, I set the the treadmill at 18kmh which is certainly 'all-out' for me.  I managed 6 repeats before I had to admit defeat, feeling a bit light-headed.  I am blaming the lack of fuel :-)

Stretch, Breathe & Collapse

To supplement my strengthening and stretching exercises that I have been prescribed by my physio I have started doing Yoga (again).  I dabbled with Yoga a bit whilst I was taking part in Project 26.2.  I am not sure how I forgot how difficult it was.  When it comes to flexibility I think an RSJ has more flex than me (By the way in case you are not sure, an RSJ is a re-enforced steel joist). I arrived outside the studio at the gym 5 mins before the session was due to start and there was me and about a dozen women.  I was saved from being the only thorn among the roses, when two other fellas turned up as well.

After 10 minutes I was struggling and had a sweat on and then the instructor announced that was the warm up!  My limit at the moment is the 'downward dog' and even then I can't do that properly and not for long. Some of the positions are nigh on impossible and I spent half the session chuckling to myself as I knew it was quite plainly impossible for me to strike the pose being demonstrated.

In fact, when it comes to me and the instructor has to spend half the session trying to correct my form I think YOGA stands for "You're Obviously Getting Annoyed"  I will persevere though as I really want to do all I can to prevent further injuries.

I don't think anybody saw?

On Saturday, I ran the Bromley Parkrun, which happens to be my first Parkrun for seven weeks. I didn't do too badly and got round in 23:24.

Bromley Parkrun

I was involved in a sprint finish with another chap, the finish is on a slight incline and in a nutshell, I lost my footing and face planted.  Luckily the only damage was a bruised ego and muddy knees and hands.  Oh, and the sub-title is a complete lie, at least 50 people saw me!

I have definitely over indulged on Easter treats this weekend, so need to get back on the straight and narrow as it is now only 9 weeks until my Marathon.

Until next time
TJH

Some bugs are contagious!

To start a brief update on my injury.

Having seen a physio on Tuesday it has been confirmed that I have IT Band syndrome.  This is a result of muscle imbalance.  Calves too tight, glutes too weak, text book problems (which is what I had read about last week).  Despite me thinking that a stretch quite a bit I am probably guilty along with the majority of runners of not stretching enough.  I suppose it is a bit like when I played football as a kid.  All you want to do is actually play, rather than train and do drills.  The same with running, I just like to run.  Well a valuable lesson learnt and fortunately not too much damage done.

The consequence is that I will be deferring my run this year in the Brighton Marathon.  If I was running for charity, I would still be taking part.  But fortunately I do not have that responsibility, so I can be a bit more cautious.  However, I have registered for the Kent Road Runner Marathon on 1st June.

So onto my main topic of this blog, Mich, my wife! also known as 'The Mrs', 'Er Indoors', 'The Trouble & Strife' these are obviously generic terms and not names that I would use personally, I know Mich reads these blogs ;-)

It was only last Autumn, that I managed to persuade Mich to join the Petts Wood Runners beginners group and from being a complete non runner, within 8 weeks she completed her first Parkrun.

Fast forward 6 months and now, I often miss the Tuesday night PWR run, so she can run, I am babysitting Max, although I believe when it is your own child, it is called 'parenting'  Last week Mich achieved a Parkrun PB. This week we were talking and I suggested that she started incorporating some interval elements.  So on Thursday, Mich ran for 30 minutes, with a 15 second threshold pace element every 5 minutes.

Saturday was when I had final confirmation that Mich has truly caught the running bug.  Early morning Mich was up and was eating a banana along with a glass of beetroot juice.  Then I came out of the bathroom to find her doing dynamic stretching!  Mich then asked my advice on a plan for incorporating some threshold elements in her Parkrun.  We agreed on a strategy of an increase in pace for 20 seconds at each mile with a faster finish.

The result was another PB of 32:38, knocking another 1m 19secs of the previous weeks PB.

The stats that I should have uploaded earlier

But to be honest, none of that was the proof that Mich has the running bug.  My evidence is as follows:

Mich will tell you, I am a bit untidy and she will also tell you it is a close run thing, who makes more mess, me or Max.
Upon returning from Parkrun, I happened to be tidying up a bit in the bedroom, picking up my clothes etc and Mich came out of the shower and said
"What are you doing?"
(Most blokes will know, when your wife asks you this you have to think about your answer very carefully)
"Er tidying up" I replied cautiously.
"Oh, well I thought you would be uploading the Garmin stats to see how I did"

So there you have it, Mich would rather me upload her run stats than tidy up! :-) She has officially caught the running bug!

Mich focussing on the finish, with Max encouraging!

A 10k run in May is next on her agenda, I have pencilled her in for the Barca Half in 2015 ;-) (I want to get my hat-trick in 2014)

Until next time
TJH (proud Hubby)

Running, should IT be BANneD?

Last week during the week I had lunchtime runs with two of my mates who are running their first marathon this year (Jamie & Geoff).

Saturday, I didn't run Parkrun, but went along to Norman Park for the Bromley Parkrun to support Mich and was delighted to see her put in a burst at the end to knock a minute of her PB.

Then we travelled to Sunbury as it was my mate Badger little boy's first Birthday.  This meant a cross training session for me as I crawled, climbed and threw myself round softplay for an hour.  After this I made sure I recovered by sitting down and watching Millwall secure a 2-1 victory on the box :-) 

Sunday was the Tunbridge Wells Half Marathon.  I went through my usual routine, but having left home, within 5 mins, I was turning round to go back and pick up my Garmin.  Mich will tell you that this is my usual routine, as I normally forget something!

As you are probably aware, it was a bit cold at the weekend.  I was fortunate enough, that another mate of mine (FatPants) lives less than a 5 minute walk from the Start Line.  So I was able to stay warm at his until 15 mins before the start.  At the start I bumped into a few PWR's and also managed to catch up with a couple of other people that I knew.

At the start was the Bloco Fogo Samba band that had everybody jigging away, this was reminiscent of the Barcelona Half Marathon the week before, along with the distance of 13.1 miles that was where the similarities ended!

I am pretty sure the race started 3 minutes early, probably because the Mayor of Tunbridge Wells was freezing his proverbial off and had a mug of tea and a bacon sandwich with his name on it.

The course is undulating and in fact in the first 3 or 4 miles there is quite a bit of down hill, this meant that I put in a couple of miles around the 7:30 m/mile pace.  I was going quite nicely. 

Everybody knew about the 'Big Hill' around the 7.5/8 mile mark.  Now when I started running with Petts Wood, our club coach Richard could vouch that if there was anything with more than a 1% incline, I would pipe up saying "Richard, I thought you said there wasn't any more hills"  Over the last year and a half I have now embraced said hills and in fact, I quite relished the almost mile long hill.  In fact I still managed to put in a sub 9m/mile despite the incline.

After the hill is when things started to go a bit Pete Tong.  I had a few twinges in my right knee and then on a couple of strides, I can only explain that it felt as if by knee was buckling.  I started to slow my pace as a preventative measure, but the situation began to deteriorate.  So much so, that I had to walk the last 3 miles.

My mile time after the hill was 8:14, so even if I had a 9m/mile pace for the last 3 miles, I would have still got a sub 1:50, but in the end I managed to hobble over the finish line in 2:02.

Tunbridge Wells Half Stats

In the last 3 miles I got really cold having to walk, to the point of shivering, this wasn't helped by meeting FatPants after the event (having a communication breakdown with our wives - FatPants fault) and then walking back to his house to find out he didn't have any keys.  Cue more violent shivering!

This next paragraph may sound a bit strange, but I want to explain honestly how I felt during the last 3 miles. 

I actually felt a bit awkward and embarrassed by spectators and fellow runners who were encouraging me and telling me to keep going.  It felt as if they were looking on me with pity, that I maybe hadn't trained enough or wasn't fit enough to be able to run 13.1 miles.  I almost wanted to say to everybody, "I know I can finish, I did the Barca Half last week, I am just injured"  But all I could do was smile and acknowledge the encouragement.

I hope that last paragraph doesn't sound nonchalant in anyway and I have the greatest admiration and respect for anybody that is running irrespective of how long they take to get round and whether they walk or not.  Because at the end of the day, they are out there doing it!

Geoff, of lunchtime running fame, finished in 1:58 which was a cracking time, in fact he passed me not long before the finish and was going to stop to see if I was alright and said to him "Sod me, keep going and get that sub two"

All in all 32 PWR's completed the half marathon.  Unfortunately, Eleanor a fellow PWR who I was chatting to before hand (bizarrely about the our training, injuries and the fact that we were both scheduled to run the Surrey Spitfire this coming weekend and the Brighton Marathon in April) also suffered a knee injury and was unable to finish.

It transpires that it seems (having both seen Physios) we have both have suffered Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS).  I personally think my downfall if you excuse the pun, was the downhill elements of the course.  It is quite jarring on the knees and I was maybe running a bit faster than I should have done.  Also having doing some research today, it seems that muscle imbalance and weak glutes (which I know I have) can magnify the issue.

So it seems that Brighton Marathon is very doubtful now :-(  In some ways I am happy, in the fact that this situation has occurred for a marathon that I would just be running for myself and therefore not letting anybody else or a charity down.  Plus, I can use this a valuable lesson regarding over exertion and also looking into additional strengthening and and stretching.  And at least I can defer my entry until next year!

Incidentally to help me numb the pain of my sore knee, a pre planned Sunday Lunch with friends had been organised and then the 15 of us went back to FatPant's parents house and the recuperation was assisted with delightful hospitality with a couple more ales and a dip in the hottub with the kids :-)

Until next time
TJH

P.S Can you see what I have done with the title ;-)

All headings end in ING

Running

Tuesday last week I did a 5 mile run with mile 3 at (for me anyway) a fair old lick.  I managed the mile in 7:03.  It also transpired that one whole lap of Victoria Park is almost exactly a mile, so I can repeat this session quite easily to try and improve my time.
Lunchtime run

Thursday, I decided to throw in some cross-training and cycled to and from work, just over 20 miles in total.

Home to Work    Work to Home

Friday, I decided to repeat my run from Tuesday to see if if I could get under 7 mins for the mile lap of Victoria Park.  Usually it takes a few minutes for my Garmin to pick up the satellites, but I was surprised for my watch to tell me that a connection had been made almost as soon as I walked out of the office.  I knew something wasn't quite right, when I arrived at Victoria Park which is usually just shy of 2 miles and my watch only showed 1.7miles?

I then started my fast mile and despite going at 'a fair old lick' again, my Garmin showed I was only doing an 11:30m/mile.  So I was either in the Matrix, or my Garmin was playing silly buggers.  As I had not been offered the choice of a blue or red pill that morning, I suspected the latter.  With the 1 mile lap complete and my watch only showing 0.6 miles covered, I don't know if I was quicker or not? 

As you will see from the link below, despite starting my run from Liverpool St, I apparently started my run from Leyton, ran over the Hackney marshes and crossed rivers and railway lines without the need of bridges! I managed a couple of 6 min miles, my fastest pace was under a 3 min mile and the temperature was 37 degrees!!  When I run, I don't see what you see, I just see ones and zeroes ;-)

The Matrix

 

Saturday morning, Mich (my wife) and I ran Bromley Parkrun.  I was accompanied by my coach (not Nick Anderson) but my son Max.  He is very demanding with his shouts of "Faster Daddy, Faster"  With the boggy conditions it was tough work pushing the running buggy but I managed to get round in 24:11 and Mich was only 9 seconds outside her PB!

Parkrun Stats

 

Buying

Wednesday night I popped into the new Sweatshop store in London to have a look a few pairs of running shoes to help me decide on my next purchase, I discovered that they have a running group that goes out 3 times a day, 5 days a week, so I think I will pop along one day in the near future and join them for a run.  I was considering buying the Adidas Boston, but I think they were a bit firm for me.  So I have now ordered a pair of Brooks Pureflow.  I will blog about them once I have received them and worn them a few times.

Disappointing

Twice this week I received the Thanks but No Thanks message.  First, I found out that I was unsuccessful in the ballot for the Cycle London100 and then I found out I was unsuccessful in the ballot for the Royal Parks Half Marathon.  Ho Hum!

Redesigning

Now I am sure the eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that I have revamped the design of my blog and added a few, what Google call 'Gadgets' You can now add a reaction to each blog (hint hint). And there is now even an option on the right hand side to translate the blog into a different language!  I now know that the 'The Jogging Hippo's Jog Blog' is 'Blog Jog El Jogging Hipopótamo' in Spanish and 'Die Jogging Hippo das Jog Blog' in German.  Very useful, I think you will agree. 

I have also now added my blogs from when I cycled LEJOG in Sept 2010, as unbeknown to me the domain name for that website has expired and now it is £165 to renew instead of the usual £5 per year.  Sneaky buggers!  Anyway something different for you to read if you are bored one evening/lunchtime.

Until the next time

TJH

P.S. (Apologies if you have not seen the film The Matrix, as the pill and the ones & zeroes references will mean nothing to you)