Author: FosterRuns

Over the last 14 months of absence from this particular writing chair, I have been only participating in ‘occasional running’.

More specifically this has been the circa-quarterly runs with Daren… 4.6 miles at the beginning of Apr18, 6.5 miles at the end of Apr18, 6.5 miles in Sep18 and most recently, 6.5 miles in Jan19.

This last circuit, a few weeks ago, was the first time that I had not managed to run up the Tank Tracks to the top of Home Hill. This was momentous for all the wrong reasons, though we had often discussed that this day would come (though maybe in our sixties or seventies). When it did, Daren kindly walked up the hill with me… though I’m pretty sure that he could have run it, given that he completed an ultra marathon a week later.

It might seem odd that, in my mid-fifties, I should think that I am still able to run up & down the Downs (more than 1,000 ft in height gain) on the spur of the moment and with no training! No wonder that over the last couple of years I have gone from having stiff legs on the second day after a run, to hilariously walking around like I’m on stilts for three or four days from the first morning after.

Irrespective, we agreed that by Apr19 we should have worked on our fitness levels (the royal we = me particularly) so that we can resume running up this hill.

Clearly, April was a long way off and I had yet to start even thinking about ’training’ when two things happened this last week.

First, Daren asked if I wanted to run again , with 2.5 days notice. Second, Mini-me Mark completed his 174th marathon by running on a treadmill for a few hours.

It took me half a day to think clearly about training ahead of our impending run. But then I designed a simple high intensity training (HIT, ignoring the simple for obvious reasons) programme, each one consisting of a warm-up and three cycles of exertion & recovery… with each segment lasting ten breaths through my nose.

OMG!  This circa-5 minutes of exercise left me gasping for air!

I managed to persuade myself to inflict this horrible medicine on myself a further three times in the two days before our run and the initial gasping receded to merely being exhausted.  I’m not sure that it did a lot for me, except maybe to tighten my calves to at least give me a mild foretaste of how I feel as I sit here now on the day after the run.

Meanwhile, Mark’s treadmill marathon reminded me that in 2010 I completed a 20-mile training run on our treadmill. I went back to the post in this blog and realised that my writing was actually worth reading (I should highlight that I have a conflict of interest in making this statement 🙂 ) which made me think that I should start trying to contribute to the blog again. Especially given that the original aim involved a cyclical motivation: run to write, write to run.

Yesterday dawned frosty with a sultry sun behind a thick mist, all of which made for beautiful scenery when viewed from above.

We enjoyed our normal ‘deep in conversation’ run down to Pyecombe, up to the top of Wolstenbury, down to Clayton and along (gently up really) to the bottom of the Tank Tracks. Here we walked the hill again, a full three minutes faster than three weeks ago (yippee), but with a greater degree of felt-pain at the top (ugh). Then we ran back to Jack & Jill, down the hill.

It was a truly joyous run on a beautiful day and it reminded me that, though unfit based on previous levels of fitness, I’m still in pretty good shape for a middle-aged bloke.

This said,  I am now motivated to work on my fitness level and in April I hope to be able to write yet another post, this time attesting to the fact that we are once again ‘running the hill’.

In the meantime, happy running 🙂

My hearty breakfast this morning consisted of porridge with banana & yoghurt and a glass of orange juice followed (after a short break) by two eggs on toast with fried tomatoes, a large piece of coffee & walnut cake and two cups of tea… now three. Yummy!

The short break involved a particularly enjoyable run on the Downs with Daren.

It’s fair to say that the very first words usually spoken, when we meet in the car park next to Jack & Jill windmills after a typical few months’ absence, usually involves a question: ‘Shall we go for coffee instead?, asked from the warmth of one or other car. Today, as my car window whirred quietly down and the chilly wind blowing in made me wonder if coffee really might be the better idea, Daren smugly lifted a Small Batch cup to his lips :-))

The chilly wind encouraged us not to hang around & discuss whether or not we were going to run. This was a good thing as we quickly realised that we were on better form than either of us expected. After a short uphill section we coasted easily down to Pyecombe, already deep in conversation. After Pyecombe the gradient is against us all the way to the top of Wolstonbury Hill, but the conversation carried us all the way up, almost without effort.

It was a flat grey day and not so very cold for December provided that we were out of the wind. We thus paused only very briefly at the top before coasting comfortably down the other side and into the middle of a deep valley. The route then goes directly up the other side and is steep enough that steps have thoughtfully been cut… and effort is definitely required to climb them!

We then continued to do really well all the way along through Clayton until we reached the Tank Tracks, which cover 420 vertical feet from bottom to top, in half a horizontal mile. This is always our nemesis, but it’s fair to say that I really struggled with the climb today and that, but for Daren, I would have stopped to walk. In fact, even as we neared the very top, I was feeling the pressure building to walk, like the children in the marshmallow experiment who succumbed to temptation moments before they would otherwise have earned themselves a second marshmallow. Even our engaging conversation petered out!

I’ve never before needed to sit down at the top, but today I could hardly stand. Only the biting wind drew me back to my feet to finish the 6.4 mile run in a respectable 73 minutes. This is actually much closer to the times we were running a couple of years ago and a full 11 minutes faster than the last time we ran the circuit! :-))

As with my run with Nick three weeks ago, I now need to recover ahead of a two-hour yoga session this evening… time to do some work before lunch and a mid-afternoon nap, methinks!

Early on Thursday morning we experienced tremors which gently shook our neighbourhood from its slumber, the source being a deep V8 throb which heralded the arrival of my friend Nick coming quietly down the road. We’d been wrapped up against the November cold for days, but Nick casually stepped out of his car in shorts and a t-shirt as if it were a summer’s day.

I had sought a coffee with Nick with a view to bringing some of my MBA students to hear about his approach to market entry and the challenges that he has experienced, but the reply I received was ‘no run, no coffee’ so I had to dust off my running legs and go hunting for my shoes. So far this year I had run only six times, the last time with Daren at the beginning of September, so I climbed aboard the machine last week for a couple of ten-minute miles to remind myself where to put my feet, and what kind of pain I might experience afterwards.

Despite Nick’s assurances I took no chances on the temperature, donning longs, a jacket, hat & gloves… though I came to realise that his analysis was correct. Part of the reason for this was the ferocious pace that he set from the start and I was gasping for breath before we got to the start of the mud.

Nick’s pseudonym is the Bok and if you’ve ever seen a springbok running, then you’ll know that it bounces effortlessly along. This is exactly how Nick runs. When I used to run 20 or 30 miles a week I was able to tag along despite his pace being uncomfortable. Having run less than 50 miles this year I stood no chance and he eventually backed off what he thought was already idling along rather than run the circuit alone.

Whilst my lungs were desperately searching for sufficient oxygen to move my muscles, he reminded me that I used to play a rotten trick on him. His heart rate monitor would give an audible beep to alert him to the fact that his heart was reaching its upper working limit. Despite already running at an uncomfortable pace, I would take this as a signal to push ahead a little faster. Being hyper-competitive, Nick would dig deep and go with the charge rather than let me get away.

I actually find it remarkable that I was ever fit enough to be able to keep up with him, let alone press ahead in those moments! Although it was a fun trick, I remember a personal trainer doing something similar to me in order to help me push my aerobic limits, so did I actually think that it would be good for Nick… although I completely understand why he wants to return the, er, favour! As it was I needed to pause to recover on several occasions, with Nick waiting graciously each time for his geriatric companion to catch his breath.

Though damp (Nick called it soggy, though he might have been referring to my pace), the morning was warm enough for shorts & a t-shirt and we had a super-lovely run around a very muddy circuit.

There is a slight dispute at Strava as to how far our run was and how long it took us… Nick’s Strava claimed 5.4 miles in 53 minutes, an average of 6.11mph, whilst my Strava claimed 5.8 miles in 54 minutes, an average of 6.44mph. I’m wondering if Strava factors in the frequency of runs and creates a more encouraging result for those people who had to work harder, or have not run for a while.

After showers & breakfast Nick’s V8 briefly shook the whole town as he blipped the throttle for me on exit… music to my ears!

Postscript. As I sit here writing, three days after the fact, my legs are only just vaguely starting to work as they should, rather than like unbending stilts. However the pain has been positive and I even managed to get some potential dates for a talk to my MBA students.  So thanks to the run, the deep conversation and the ear-candy, I still have a big smile on my face 🙂