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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)

Variety is the spice of life.....

and it is good when running!

RECOVERY
After the Canterbury 10 on Sunday, I was suffering with DOMS on Monday which to me shows I didn't do enough stretching afterwards. So Monday lunchtime I went out with Jamie (My mate from work who is training for his 1st Marathon). He had done a 9 miler on Sunday, so was also suffering a bit. We must have looked like a couple of 80 year olds as we hobbled the 1st half a mile as we loosened up. We did an easy recovery run, 3 miles at just under 11min mile pace

INTERVALS
On Wednesday I did 5.5 miles with some intervals thrown in. I found it tough going but it was a good session to get the heart pumping

THRESHOLD
Friday was one of those days! And I don't mean that in a negative way. I plotted a new run on Mapmyrun that would mean I could loop back rather than have to go down Regent's canal and then back again. The sun was shining, the wind was behind me and after easing into the first mile I picked up the pace and basically managed to maintain it? 6.5 miles with an average moving pace of 7:40m/mile. I was very happy with that. As I said, one of those days!
Threshold Stats


FLYING LESSON & A SANDWICH
Not quite what you think. Petts Wood Runners are part of KLAN which is the Kent & London Athletics Network. As a result of this a 'flying coach' visit had been arranged where a professional coach would provide a training session and a Q&A session afterwards geared towards Spring Marathon training.

I was looking forward to this as the coach was no other than Nick Anderson who had coached me last year for Project 26.2. After going to Norman Park to watch Mich run Bromley Parkrun, I made my way to Beckenham Runners HQ. There were 13 of us in total from PWR & BRC. After a 5 min jog warm up, Nick put us through our paces with a 'sandwich session' which was 3 x 2 min 5k pace intervals sandwiched between 2 x10 min threshold sessions. A good workout and a good hours chat afterwards with Nick providing his expert knowledge, all accompanied with tea and choccy biscuits.

Everybody said they found the session useful and all came away more positive about their Marathon training. The only downside, was I forgot to get my Garmin off Mich before I left so was having to keep asking others the time when trying to judge the runs.

MUDDY (K)NIGHTS
Saturday night, Petts Wood Runners resident 'fruitcake' er I mean Ultra Runner Jerry had offered to take anybody daft enough on a night run through the woods. 9 of us met up at 19:50 in a variety of Opal Fruit coloured jackets and an equally diverse range of head torches.

Bright at Night

Once Jerry had given us our briefing on safety, etiquette and general rules he led his Knights into the woods.  I was in stitches as there were constant squeals from some of the girls as they were trying to avoid the mud (a futile effort).  We covered 6.4 miles and the run was tough, muddy (very) but thourougly enjoyable and as Jerry said it is more of a sensory exeperience. 

The clouds had cleared which meant it was a very chilly evening, but this also meant once in the heart of the woods with no light pollution penetrating, we stopped to look up to see a diamond encrusted sky.  This type of run was a first for me, but definately something I want to repeat, as I said, thouroughly enjoyable and 'variety is the spice of life' 

Once again, in ensuring I had torch, keys, gloves etc,  I forgot my Garmin, leaving it on charge in the kitchen.  Twice in a day, what a numpty!

Until next time
TJH

Niggles & Cross Training

It has been a couple of weeks since my last blog and to be honest I haven't been doing much running.  In some ways the recent snow has been a bit of a blessing as conditions were not ideal for running, but I have had a niggle with my left glute/hamstring so had taken an enforced 9 day rest until today when I took part in the Canterbury 10.

CANTERBURY 10

We (Me, Mich & Max) drove to Canterbury in monsoon like conditions, but as we got closer to the venue, things were looking up and in fact the sound of the claxon blew the last of the clouds away and the 750+ runners were treated to blue skies (although a bit windy)

I got round in 1hour 23 mins, although my mile splits were a bit erratic I am glad to report that I got round with no repercussions and to be honest felt pretty good which shows a rest can be just as good as run.

Canterbury 10 Stats

I had been tweeting with Mark, one of the current Project 26.2 runners, but we didn't manage to meet up.  He was too fast for me finishing 10 minutes ahead of me.  PWR had a good showing with 20+ members taking part.

My traditional post run session is to now Google the closest public swimming pool to wherever I am running.  I can then get changed into my swimming gear, have a shower and then an hour messing around in the pool with Max.  Max even noticed in the changing rooms today that somebody else had a similar idea as he said "Daddy that man has dirty legs like you"

OTHER RUNS

The only other two runs that I have managed on the last two weeks was a run with Petts Wood two Tuesday's ago and a Friday lunchtime session with Jamie, the chap from work who I am helping with his London Marathon training.

CROSS TRAINING

I did have a different workout on the Saturday that we had all the snow.  I had made the decision not to run, but Mich said she would.  So whilst Mich (in pink) was running Parkrun with  fellow PWRs Rachelle (in yellow) & Jo (in black)...

Max and I were building a Parkrun Snowman (with a sports bottle lid for a nose)!

So now I really have to step up my training if I am going to get to the start line of the Brighton Marathon in April!

Until next time
TJH

It's good to share

As I mentioned in my last blog, I knew I had tweaked my left calf muscle during the first mile of the Knacker Cracker on New Year's Day.  When I woke the next day I had the dreaded DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) and I suffered these for the next 2 or 3 days, in fact worse than I experienced after the London Marathon last year.  Just goes to show how tough the Knacker Cracker 10k is!

But in addition to the DOMS, my calf just didn't feel right so I took the sensible option of complete rest for a week even though this meant me missing the first run of the year with my club Petts Wood Runners and missing a Thursday night track session (also with PWR).

So it was Wednesday this week when the sharing began.

Firstly at lunchtime, I went for a gentle 3.5 mile run at lunchtime.  This run had a duel purpose.  One to test the calf and two to partner and provide guidance to a mate from work who this year is running the London Marathon.  His first marathon!  The run was a success from both perspectives.

Wednesday evening saw me travelling to The Guardian newspaper offices in Kings Cross as I had the privilege of being asked by the Multiple Sclerosis Trust to present (as a former London Marathon runner for the charity) at their London Marathon reception evening for all the runners that will be raising money for the MS Trust this year.

I think the presentation went down well, people laughed in the right places and I saw people taking notes.  Although they might have just been writing a message to the person next to them asking 'who is this clown'  Either way, it was nice to pass on information and guidance based on my experiences.

Who would have thought 18 months ago that a 17st+ beer swilling bloke by the name of 'The Hippo' would be passing on Marathon running advice a year and half later?

Today, I introduced Jamie (my mate from work) to a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) session.  So we ran along Regent's Canal to Victoria Park and then did some speed work before a slow jog back.

Again, no issues with the calf muscle, so full training resumes next week.

Where possible I like to have a picture or two in my blogs.  As you would have saw from my last blog, I was wearing orange attire in my last race.  In fact I even got a mention in one of the Runner's World runner reviews!  Anyway I will leave you with a few action shots.  Enjoy! or maybe feel sick ;-)

Until next time
TJH

Pre race Fancy Dress parade

Slogging it up the first hill

What goes up, must come down

Final charge to the finish!

Christmas (& New Year) Crackers

To start, Happy New Year to you.

I have a confession.  Since achieving my sub4 marathon in November, I have taken the foot of the gas somewhat and have only been running once or twice a week and over the last 2 or 3 weeks food and booze consumption has definitely exceeded my calorific requirements. 

But hey, every now and then you earn a break.  I am dreading getting back on the scales, but serious training now restarts with the Brighton Marathon in April as my next big target.

So what have I been up to.  Well on Christmas Day, I along with 96 others turned up at Norman Park for Parkrun.  The conditions were frankly ridiculous, but in all honesty great fun.  Wind, rain, mud lots of it, some parts submerged ankle deep in water and just to rub salt into the wound, the sun even made a fleeting glimpse between the clouds.  Not conditions for a PB, but nevertheless a morning run to pre-empt the afternoon's gluttony.  Alas I have no photos as I don't have underwater casing for my camera.  I managed to splash round in 25:11

Christmas Day Bromley Parkrun Stats

On Saturday, Mich was keen to run Parkrun.  She is not a fan of the mud and as I wanted to run as well, that meant Max would be coming along in the buggy.  I knew that conditions at Norman Park would not be conducive for trying to push the little man round. 

We are very fortunate where we live with probably a dozen or so Parkruns within a 10 mile radius.  So we drove to Herne Hill and took part in the the Brockwell Park event.  A small but friendly event in a lovely park (so lovely that we returned on the Sunday Morning, as Max had spied the extensive kiddies playground). 

The highlight, was seeing Mich finish, she will be the first to admit that she is not the fastest, but I was surprised at her finishing speed.  It transpires that there was a 1st time lady who had inadvertently taken a shortcut and Mich was determined not to be last to somebody who had not ran the full distance.  I am pleased to say that Mich achieved her goal.  It is amazing what a bit of motivation can do.

Brockwell Parkrun Stats

A few months ago when it seemed a good idea, I signed up for the Knacker Cracker on New Years Day.  I had a great New Years Eve Party at a friends house which included me spending an hour on the decks dropping some TUUUNES! 'DJ CV IN DA HOUSE' sorry got a bit carried away there.  But due to the run, this meant that I limited myself to just 2 beers all night.  So for the second year running I have awoken on New Year's Day without a hangover, unlike my wife :-)

I got to bed just gone 1:30am and set my alarm for 8am.  Alas Max's internal body clock alarm goes off at 06:30am.  Who needs sleep!

I left home at 9am, arriving at Box Hill just gone 10am.  For those of not familiar with Box Hill, this is an infamous hill in Surrey predominantly used by cyclists and was included in the Olympic Cycling Road Race.

The weather was absolutely perfect, sunny, fresh and no wind.

I donned my gear and then made my way to the start to collect my number along with another couple of hundred of (fool)hardy souls. 

This is the point where I reveal that the Knacker Cracker encourages fancy dress and I would say that 95% made the effort, so here it is, the disturbing photo that you have been warned about.....

Didn't have time to wax, and as you can see, not a natural blonde!

There was some tremendous outfits all round including the Village People, lots of Disney characters, Nuns, Hot Dogs, Xmas Puddings and many many more.

Before the start of the event, there was a fancy dress parade and then everybody sang the National Anthem before we started.  The jogging start quickly turned into a walk as we climbed the first hill.  I was getting quite a few wolf whistles and one cheeky chap even squeezed my boob.  I felt violated I can tell you.  Another lady who was running down a hill whilst I was running up said 'Nice boobs' I wanted to repay the compliment, but managed to bite my tongue.

The course is bloody tough, as you go down one hill, the 'faster' runners are already on their way back up, but are either walking or have pained expressions on their faces which basically worried you even more.  Camaraderie amongst the runners is brilliant and the marshalls are also excellent.  There are also a lot of the general public out for a New Year Day walk.  I mostly got lots of laughs and smiles, but did also get a couple of disgusted looks! 'Face Bothered'!

In the first mile, I managed to strain my left calf, but there was no way I was going to bail out of this, so just did some gentle stretching and didn't go to mad.  I managed to finish the 10k in 1:14:23

Knacker Cracker Stats

At the finish I was presented with a Medal, Cap, Technical T-shirt (with a list of all the runners names on the back), a bottle of water, soup & cheese and pickle rolls.  I even won a mystery prize in the raffle which was a Leith Hill Half Marathon Paper Weight. So I am going to have to do that race at some point now!

I must admit that I was disappointed not to win the fancy dress prize, but the judge was a young girl and a) she has probably never seen BayWatch, b) was quite frankly probably disturbed at my outfit and c) chose the chap as the Mad Hatter.  His outfit was good to be fair!

Well, day one of the New Year and this could quite well be my favourite event of 2013.  Great organisation and excellent fun!

Info, more photos and a video of the event can be found here KNACKER CRACKER

Now all I have to do is rest the calf for a while and start some serious training.

Incidentally, now you have seen my ridiculous outfit, I can reveal the following.

1) Whilst getting ready at home, Max said "Dad, why have you got boobs" I couldn't really explain.  I am just concerned that he may go to pre-school now, saying that he has 2 mummy's!?

2) I had to stop off at the services for a pee on the way to the event.  I had tracksuit bottoms and a hoodie on and no wig, but had to walk with my arms crossed to try and disguise my cleavage.  Luckily it wasn't that busy, but I still got a few strange looks :-)

Until next time

TJH a.k.a Pammy

Reflections

As seems to be traditional at this time of year and on the back of SPOTY I thought I would do a review of my year. I must admit, I was a bit disappointed not to make the shortlist. Oh well, there is always next year. I think Bradley Wiggins was a deserved winner. Great sporting achievements and he has actually got a personality unlike some former winners.

So to my own review of 2012

This year of running all stemmed from me watching my mates Fat Pants & CJ running the London Marathon in 2011 and deciding there and then I wanted to run the London Marathon in 2012. Then I was lucky enough to be selected for the Men's Running magazine Project 26.2 which helped officially turn me into a 'Runner'.

Time for a Stat Attack. Official events that I have taken part in this year are;

Marathon x 2
20 Miler x 1
16 Miler x 2
Half Marathon x 8
10 Miler x 3
10k x 3
Parkrun (5k) x 28

I wear my Garmin for 99% of my runs and according to my GarminConnect account I have logged the following miles this year

The other thing that is recorded is PB's over certain distances and I have to say I am loving the following picture :-)

My next Marathon, I will make sure I take the racing line, to try and save myself a bit of distance!

For 2013 I want to be chipping some time of the Marathon & 5k. Not sure I will be getting close to the 10k & Half Marathon? I will have to wait and see.

So as well as the events, miles and PB's. I now don't just run, but I do interval sessions, hill sessions, threshold runs, I have started running a Cross Country event or two and I now actually stretch regularly!  Having joined Petts Wood Runners, I have been part of a race committee and help organise an event which made me appreciate the effort that is put in by running clubs when hosting an event.

 

I also raised over 5k for the Multiple Sclerosis Trust.

This year has not just been about me though. Mich my wife and been an absolute star either looking after Max (our boy) whilst I have been out on my long Sunday runs or coming to events and waiting for me (with Max obviously) at the finish.

What for me is a bonus is that Mich (begrudgingly at first) has taken up running. She has completed half a dozen Parkruns and is now a member of PWR also. Mich already knows that I am earmarking a 10k for her to do next year. Max also completed his first official race and he was beaming from ear to ear (as was I) when he had a number on his t-shirt (just like Daddy) and then he got his own medal as well.

 

I am very proud of both of them!

 

Max & Mich have also turned into Parkrun tourists.  Mich has now ran 5 different Parkruns and Max has now completed Parkruns at 6 different venues in the running buggy.

 

Me & Max at Dulwich Parkrun last Saturday

 

Running now seems to be a big part of all of our lives which can only be a good thing!

 

As was highlighted in the SPOTY, it has been a fantastic year for British Sport and Mich, Max & I were privileged to see 3 Golds being won by the Paralympic team at the Olympic Stadium as well as seeing the Young Sport Personality of the year Josef Craig earlier in the day win his heat in a world record time (before winning Gold and breaking his new world record again)  Even now, Max still talks about the 'Caralympics'

 

Here is to a cracking 2013.

 

Merry Christmas

 

TJH

Mad Dogs & Englishmen

Oh and English Women as well.

Running seems to be at a premium at the moment, but there has been some increased focus on hydration.

Tuesday night I didn't go out running with PWR as the wife is back running so she went instead.  I was planning on a Wednesday lunchtime run.  Took all my gear into work and went to get changed and then realised I didn't have any innersoles in my trainers!  I wear Sorbothane insoles and had forgot that I had switched them the previous week.  Wednesday night was my work Xmas bash.  Thursday was officially one of the longest days of my life!

After a six week absence I was back at Bromley Parkrun to record my 40th Parkrun, now only 10 away from the first t-shirt!  Managed a 23:35.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/250594357

Sunday morning was the Ditton Turkey Run, hosted by Maidstone Harriers.  With a relatively late start of 11am and only a 45 min drive from home, most people would assume, oh a bit of a lie in.  Not in my household as I have an alarm clock that at the moment a) I can't turn off and b) I can't change the alarm from going off at 6am!

So my pre-run prep included porridge, a game of monster bingo and doing some puzzles on the floor with my alarm clock Max.

At 9am, I let the wife know that I was off and she had to get up (she had been practising hydrating Saturday Night)

I picked up a Matt a fellow PWR and arrived in Ditton at 10am.  We collected our numbers and met up with a group of fellow PWRs.  There were 25 PWRs there in total.  One was missing due to over hydration on the Saturday night!

This was one of the PWRs Grand Prix events, an internal club competition where you are racing against runners of similar ability to yourselves.  This makes for healthy competition and means as well as having our racing snakes competing, it also means that runners from our Tuesday night Group One also can and do take part.

Now this is the reason for the title.  It was cold, not as bad as it had been, but cold enough due to the cold wind.  Some people thought they would keep warm by wearing 'Onesey' Reindeer outfits and along with them, there were Elves, Santas, a Christmas Tree, a Christmas Cracker, a full size Turkey, a sexy Nurse to name but a few and the icing on the cake was a man in a Mankini, yes you read that right, a man in a Mankini!

To prove that there were mad Englishwomen as well and mad Englishmen, one lady wore a sexy Christmas outfit complete with hold up stockings and then finished the race in high heels (I am pretty sure I saw her during the race though wearing trail shoes)

I went crazy and wore a Santa hat!

The course was challenging and very muddy in places, although I am told it was worse last year!  I did see a couple of people take full blown stumbles, not nice in the conditions.  The marshalls from Maidstone Harriers were great, I particularly liked the comment from one at about the 1m mark shouting "Well done you are doing well, you are nearly there, actually that last bit is a lie, never mind keep going"

I finished the 6.4 mile course in 117th place with a chip time of 53:37. 



This race event has to be one of the best value events that you can enter!  For an entry fee of £14 you get the following;

• A well organised and fun event
• A well marshalled nice course in Kent (muddy, narrow in places probably not a PB race)
• Chip timing
• A nice medal
• A long sleeved t-shirt
• A mini Christmas Pudding
• Mince pies and hot drinks afterwards
• Free entry into a raffle

I would highly recommend this event and will be back next year.

Until next time
TJH