A few years ago I dusted off my squash racket and got back into the game - having not played it since school. A colleague and I would hit the court almost routinely on a Tuesday morning before work for a (mostly) friendly knockabout. We did this for some while and I think we got a little better and every so often I’d also head down with a school mate who would proceed to whip my arse as he was a in a whole different league to myself but he was also fairly happy to coach me in my ways. However, during my marathon training I put a stop to playing squash, as sports go it’s fairly intense on the ankles and also the body so thought it was probably best to put this alongside the other “high risk activities” and stop doing it!

Anyway Ad and I did get a sneaky game in early on in my training but today was a time for a rematch, he beat me last time (3 games to 2 I think) but we were both at a very similar level so thought it should be quite fun to play again, plus I have been promising it for months now!

Rocking up to London Bridge Fitness First at 830 I was already hot and bothered, the central line stopped at Stratford so had to change route and ultimately arrived late even though I had given myself a good 15/20 min extra time. Quick change and we were on the court…

I guess it should be fairly obvious that an enclosed room was going to be hot given the temperature outside but I don’t think either of us were totally prepared for the heat in there which was obvious from the start! I was already warmed up following a brisk walk from the station so let Ad hit about whilst I sorted out some fluid for during the game. Got back to the court and did a bit of racket / hand-eye calibration, I was shockingly bad and I am sure Ad must have been thinking that this morning was going to be a walkover (I was thinking the exact opposite)!

I won the racket-spin and elected to serve, lost the first game but I think it was a close one (I can’t believe I genuinely can’t remember - worrying!). However, after game one I managed to win 3 games in a row (again with very close scoring). At 3-1(best of 5) Adam suggested to play another game, not really sure why - I’m pretty sure he was as shattered and as hot as I was! He won this bringing the score to 3:2 to me and a reverse of last time. That brings the match score to 1:1 meaning a rematch is definitely on the cards!

Oddly whilst playing yesterday I felt a lot quicker around the court, managing to get to drop shots I don’t think I would have got to before. I can only put this down to my improved fitness. Also today was the first time I have ever really realised how little support squash shoes give. There were shots where I didn’t feel particularly comfortable when running to get the ball. I don’t really want to spend more money on a sport i barely do but I may have to look to see if they sell indoor shoes with feet that pronate in mind…?

Another cool thing about squash is as it’s high intensity my heart rate went through the roof reaching peaks of 184 (see graph below). To give some useful comparison when I go spinning even on the fastest sprints and biggest hills getting my heart rate above 170 is an almost impossible challenge, and during my runs I normally sit around a constant 175. I can’t really remember the last time I broke the 180 mark but apparently I was training in ‘zone 5′. Not really too sure what that means but all I do know was that the morning was tough and knackering so that must be good right??

“It’s too hot”…I’m sure almost every runner out there have usesd this line at least once in their lifetime, alongside “it was rainy/windy/icy etc”. It seems like a bloody good excuse and once you get this excuse into your brain whilst out it’s a challenge to get it out - this weekend I failed!

Having faffed a little and had a relatively long lie in (for me) I didn’t manage to get out the door until about 11am. At this point the demons were already telling me not to bother but fortunately I had the willpower to ignore those ones. Having barely made it to the bottom of the road I knew instantly today was going to be hot (well hot for England anyway) and stuffy and at this point I was trying to work out how I could cut my run short thinking things like “maybe I’ll just do 5km - it doesn’t really matter how far I go anyway, I’m not really working towards anything”.

The route I chose was the much flatter Longfield track along 1 road and then turning back on myself. I ran it once during my marathon training and remember thinking it was a little dull and not quite as flat as you would expect it to be. However, it was this or the hill route of last week an for some reason that route really wasn’t appealing to me that morning.

I got to 4km a couple of km’s short of where I turned on my last attempt and decided that that would be a good turning point. I could add a km at the other end easily taking the run up to a currently respectable 9km and what’s one km between friends anyway! Turning back on myself I reran exactly the same path (Ive never been a fan of tracking back on yourself I’d much rather a loop…) that said it has a little scenery including a few fields with horses, there was also a mirror on the route which provided a rather amusing annecdote but I don’t think I can do the story (or my stupidity) any justice on this blog…



There were a few runners out that morning (hopefully all thinking it was too hot!) including one chap from the ‘Dartford Road Runners’ who overtook me when I least expected it, made me think I should contact the running club in Woodford. I have always been a bit apprehensive as I don’t feel good enough to be a runner in a club but maybe they have a few slower people like yours truely that I maybe able to go out on runs with every so often?

Back at Lauras it was immediately obvious I was hot, it took me absolutely ages to cool down, not even the shower seemed to help. Have a 10km in a few weeks time, 930am start but no doubt the sun will be out, Bluewater was also v hot, blue skies no clouds and I made it round there, hopefully if I can get a bit of liquid in me and down my back to cool I should be able to charge round…

So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I’d run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I’d just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I’d just run across the great state of Alabama. And that’s what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I’d gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going. When I got tired, I slept. When I got hungry, I ate. When I had to go… you know… I went…

Forrest Gump.

nb the pic of me (above) is on Santa Monica Pier - where Forrest meets the West Coast (left).

I know on the whole this blog has focused on my running. To be honest I suspect even that is a fairly dull read, hence a while ago I decided not to blog every gym session I took. However, on my tube journey home tonight I decided to write a little post about my spinning classes.

I joined FF almost a year ago to the day, I was getting fitter and by this point had completed my first 10km and felt joining a gym an appropriate next step. I was by no means a gym virgin having been a member on and off since 6th form but had in the past thrown money down the drain on 1 visit a month memberships and with London adult prices this is not a good thing to be doing! Anyway, when I started running I didn’t do it to bulk up muscles it was more about increasing my general fitness etc so not long after I started having got bored of the machines I decided to head into a ’spinning class’ and ever since then I have been hooked - going once or twice a week for an intense cardio workout.

What is spinning? Well put simply it’s an instructor led class with music and a bike with a gear that can be adjusted to increase resistance. There is a music playlist and then the instructor guides you through varying ‘terrains’ all by telling you to increase/decrease resistance. To give a simple example if the terrain was mountain climb the instructor would yell you to increase the bikes reaistance thus making it harder to pedal whilst in the meantime there is a song playing which has a beat on it that yuh are supposed to keep your legs in time with. It’s entirely upto you how you change your gears so if you are really struggling and the instructor says to turn you don’t have to but at the end of the day it’s supposed to be a 40min intense workout (and for me this is ALWAYS the case!). Hopefully that all makes a bit of sense?

Why do I do spinning? Well I’m no scientist I’m not going to start preaching about what you should and shouldn’t do whilst running mainly cause whatever I have picked up accross the year has come through mags etc read whilst half asleep on a rush hour morning commute. However, when I took my marathon training schedule to my trainer a few months ago he seemed perfectly fine for me to carry on spinning (whilst informing me to ditch pump as soon as possible). I guess logically cycling should complement running, it’s low impact and has a controlled mechanism whilst working the thighs, quads and glutes and some of the classes have elements which work on the core - all of these elements should feature high on where a runner should train. Regardless of the scientific benefits I really enjoy it - its a 45min session that is not easy, every week there is a puddle of sweat around my bike (apparently the same is the case with my dad) and the sense of a thoroughly worthwhile workout. Other than the nike+ training runs I do nothing else I do in the gym compares to these classes in respect to effort.

Basically if you are a member of a gym that offers spinning classes, go try it out - I suspect if there is a competitive element in you, you will enjoy it. I know I certainly do!

Over the last week I have been very lazy. Repeatedly putting off doing exercise (gym/run) with no real excuse in fact baring a fairly intense spin session on Monday I have done nothing else even though I think I have taken gym kit into work every day! I decided that I wasn’t going to miss out on a long(ish) run as well so as I was at Laura’s I opted for the hill run upto her nans.

I have done this route once before, last time I only did the uphill stage and got a lift back, this time I was going to do both stages, after all the down should be the easier part! After a 3.5k incline (first 1.5k high gradient) I reached the summit At this point I decided that I would run this as a 10k so added a loop at the top (and at the bottom). » Continue reading “Hill running”

Contrary to what could be implied in the title I did not have a lavish shopping spree in some of the fancy shops in Bluewater this weekend instead on a glorious Sunday morning at stupid o’clock I donned my running gear woke up my taxi ride (sorry Laura) and headed the few miles from hers to the big shopping center.

From reading the reviews online perhaps we got lucky in knowing side routes into Bluewater, setting off at 730 and only sitting in a small queue of traffic it appears some were not so lucky stuck waiting on the A2 in a queue that could compete with Christmas Eve shopping traffic. By 8am we were parked and I was off heading for my usual pre run routine, namely queuing for the portaloos…sigh

Necessities out of the way and obligatory pre-run photo done, I set off for the start. Bumping into Sports Clinic Chris (would give a link but they have no website) on route was good to have a chat with someone I knew, he was quiet at the time but I suspect this wouldn’t last long and just after an hour after he should have clients trickling in. Start time was now approaching so I headed for the “pens”.

Being smaller in number to a few of the other runs the only restrictions in the starting pens was that women were one side of the road and men the other - not sure why other than it may make a nice photo opportunity. Both groups were started at the same time, and by 830 we were off, running down the road that you enter the shopping center on merging about 800m in at a roundabout.

I didn’t enter this course expecting to see sites, BW is built in a quarry and hence the biggest landmarks on the route could possibly be either the QE2 bridge or Asda :-). Sadly we didn’t get to run over the QE2 - something I would really like to do one day….Lakeside to Bluewater Run maybe heh. I was blissfully unaware of the hilly nature of this course. Looking at the reviews after most describe the course as undulating - “To give a wavelike appearance or form to”. This to me seems a fairly accurate description of the course, baring the hill at 5km which lasted best part of a 1.5km - that was fun but was over quite quickly with a descent to reclaim some of the time. » Continue reading “Bluewater 10k”

Once again Bob Crow and his cronies decided that it was time for London to once again be held over a barrel and live without the London Underground for best part of 3 successive days.

Whilst in my hay day when training for the marathon I may have taken this opportunity for a run home but aware that the distance hadn’t been covered for a few months and also the knowledge that if I ran home on one of the strike days I would still have to get back again, I decided this wasn’t an option. Instead I decided that Victoria station was a manageable distance from work at 4/5 Miles depending on the route so I would run there and head back to Laura’s which required an over ground train so all was fine.

It’s funny how my running has subsided over recent months, it was clearly obvious after the morning run (run no 2) that long gone were the days where I could put in multiple runs in a short span and still do fine. I’m not going to lie by run number 4 in 36hs I really struggled. A 6k ish run suddenly was really hard. I think that it may have been a case of lack of energy amongst other things but regardless it was a tough run. » Continue reading “Tube Strikes :”

She knows who she is, I won’t say any more other than good luck and I’m proud - hopefully she will enjoy it a little bit

Almost a year after heading to Florida Laura and I were back on a plane heading to the west coast of America this time, in particular California. Much the same as last year my running shoes were packed and I was going to ensure I did at least one run whilst I was out there, this I did, albeit on the day we left!

Los Angeles offers some what appear to be lovely running routes the path that runs alongside Venice beach upto Santa Monica looks amazing but if I’m totally honest the club sandwiches with huge portions of food and the general attitude I seem to adopt when heading to the States makes me struggle for motivation to want to run! Anyway as my trainers had traveled thousands of miles I was going to wear them…

On the final morning I set up my kit and left for a short jog around Pasadena, this was no race, far from it. Having put on what felt like a stone in the last 7 days, it was more about getting moving and stopping my legs going to sleep. A short 5k was decided heading round in familiar territory near to the hotel. The Garmin took a while to work out where we were - I assume there is some form of intelligence that says ‘I was here last time so see if I’m nearby to that point still’. All I can imagine is walking out of the hotel and the watch going “ahhhhhh where the hell am I!!”, or something like that. » Continue reading “Running in the USA”

Since ‘the Big One’ my runs have been few and far between. I have done one 10k and a tough hill run but that’s about it. This is fine, this is the time for recovery and in perfectly aware of that. However, that hasn’t stopped me getting itchy feet entering a couple of ballots NYC Marathon (unsuccessful) and the 2010 London one as well as signing up for a 10k with a few mates. It is with this 10k in mind I clean off my shoes and start retraining.

The Niketown run is nothing new for me ( to any of you who subscribed to my marathon blog apologies for the repetition) however I think it’s probably a good time to advertise the concept again - not that it is under subscribed! If you head over to the nikeplus site make sure you are on the UK site (union jack on the bottom right), then click community, niketown runners, sign up (free) select your preference 3/4/7 miles then turn up at NikeTown Oxford Circus at 6:15 Monday(for girls) / Tuesday night ready to run! I will also make in the next few posts a conceited effort to write a review of my Nike+. If you want to go for a free run on a weeknight it’s a good wheez in my humble opinion.

This week I opted for a seven miler and had the previously rare benefit of having a running buddy. Soo, who is also doing the 10k in July decided he would join me for my first lap. I really enjoy running with others as it tends to push me a bit more, I’m a bloke hence I’m naturally competitive. Anyway we set off and the pace creeps up, I’m breathing fairly heavily after 3k I was aware this wasn’t going go be a gentle one. My problem is when someone drops back a bit I slow myself a bit to let them catchup but then tend to find myself speeding up when they do cause I feel like I’ve dropped too much, viscious circle. After the first lap Soo dropped off and headed back to the shop, by this point I was aware that it was going to be a fast one realising we had put in some 4:35min kms. I knew I wouldn’t be able to maintain the same pace on my own on the second lap but endeveaoured to stay at a faster than 5:00 km pace which it turns out from looking at my garmin data I managed.

Over the next few blogs I really want to pull out some info from both my watch and my nikeplus to embedd on the right and in posts. There is some really cool stuff including heart rate / pace info which I don’t feel the way garmin presents it does it much justice. I think I have found some graphing software that looks good and a way of extracting the info so hopefully it should all fall into place a lot better!