Running a marathon

London marathon weekend. Twitter is bustling with talk of people going nuts through tapering. On their way to collect their numbers from the expo. Arranging where to meet for a pre race pasta party.

It’s all brought memories back from last year.

This year I decided not to enter the London marathon thinking I’d enter another one. Start of 2013 came about and I decided I wouldn’t officially run a marathon but would instead focus on the half marathon sub 2 hour time.

I offerer to help my friend though train for his London marathon place (which he’s now pulled out of because of injury). But I didn’t want to let the training go to waste, so I decided this weekend I’d run a marathon myself, around where I live.

It’s an idea I’ve toyed with for awhile.

There won’t be a crowd to cheer me on. No medal at the end. Just being able to do it, and for those in Boston tomorrow I’ll complete the 26.2 miles!

Lastly good luck to all those running the 2013 London marathon on Sunday. Run strong, run brave, run smart. But have fun and enjoy the day!

Quick blog post before bed

Well I said I’d try and get one post a week done.

Run at the weekend went well, managed 21 miles on the Saturday in about 3 hours and 9 mins if I recall correctly. Now into tapering mode for my unofficial marathon on Saturday 20th April. Since then I’ve had a couple of shorter runs in new trainers (nike dart 9) just to keep the legs ticking over.

Today I went the doctors to get a new prescription for the medication that I’m currently on as I’m now going to wean myself off it. Seems like it’s going to take about 4 weeks from what I can gather. Hopefully the headaches won’t return.

Twitter is in marathon/taper meltdown at the moment, people freaking out at the slightest twinge, cough and sneeze they get. The London marathon is nearly upon us and Brighton marathon is even closer, this is what you’ve trained for people. Just remember to enjoy the race.

Feel free to check out my report from last year’s London marathon.

Good luck everyone.

Password remembered time to blog!

February 20th was the last time I blogged.. Why the long time since the last blog? Well I don’t know to be honest. I’ve not been busy with anything in particular. I’ve not been working extra hours. There hasn’t been any issues at home that have distracted me away from blogging. I don’t really know what It is.

So really, a quick summary of what’s gone on.

I’m still meditating, been doing that daily think I’m onto day 65 now of consecutive days of that, and I feel it’s still making a difference, I’m still not wearing robes round the house, but if we have a really hot summer maybe they’ll be really comfortable and ‘airy’?

Running.. Yeah still running, anyone that follows me on Twitter or Strava will see the mileage I’m posting/logging, the quest for 1000 miles is going strong and tomorrow (6th of April) I’ll be going out for my 4th 20 mile run of the year. The 20th April will see me run my own marathon distance just for the fun of it, well I say just for the fun of it I got carried away when agreeing to the Strava challenges and signed up for the Marathon Challenge on their site.

Headaches, Still occasionally get the odd little niggles, but nothing on the scale of what I was suffering with and nothing that causes me (at the moment) to take any time off work. So I’m hoping soon to come off the medication that I’m on, the Topirimate. I’ll have to wean myself off them which will probably take another month.

Finally, weight… December 2012 saw me start this adventure, stop caffeine and stop chocolate for 30 days the Neurologist said. I did, I decided to continue that. Easter has been and gone and still no Chocolate or Caffeine. I was 15 stone 4 I’m now 12 stone 6lbs….

Thanks for taking the time to read, I promise I’ll blog again soon, at least once a week.

Get some Headspace

Well I mentioned it the other day, I’ve started Meditating.

Meditating has been something I’ve attempted a few times now, and failed. I’ve either struggled with the concept of ‘awareness’ and being ‘mindful’ and found myself drifting off with my thoughts. Or even falling asleep whilst sitting there!

I was introduced to the Headspace App and since then haven’t looked back. It brings about a simple ‘fresh’ approach to meditating. Giving the user a free 10 day 10 minute guided meditation called “Take 10″. It’s really as simple as sitting in the chair listening to the voice and following the instructions.

Of course at first as explained within the app, it’s not going to be easy and you will find your thoughts wandering but that’s OK, the app will help you bring your thoughts back to your breathing and your body. But the experience comes through doing the 10 days.  I remember getting half way through and feeling frustrated because I didn’t feel the session was as ‘rewarding’ as the other sessions and took to twitter to tweet Andy Puddicombe (the founder of Headspace) his response was as follows

“The best type of meditation is where we’re not attached to any idea, result or outcome and are simply willing to be with what is”

Simple! It makes sense!

But it’s not just about “not thinking” and blocking out thoughts. It’s about letting the thoughts come and go so that we feel we’re not over come by them. Once I’d accepted this idea again it seemed easier. This is where I think I’d struggled in the past. I assumed that once I started meditating my mind would be tranquil, with no troubling thoughts. But that’s not the case. With this I’m allowed to approach the thoughts (which don’t seem as many now) in a calm and relaxed manner than I had in the past.

They do explain the ideas behind take 10 and meditating with some really nice and simple animated videos which are available to view on the site linked below and on the app also linked below.

I’ve just completed my second lot of take 10 – so that’s 20 days consecutive of actually taking 10 minutes out of the day, sitting down with no technology (aside from the podcast) and just breathing and being aware of my body. Can I notice a difference? Yes I can. There have been situations the last couple of weeks I feel which I would have reacted differently prior to this app. My wife has also noted a difference in my personality too. Am I wearing robes and sandles and chanting on a daily basis???? don’t be silly!

The Headspace App is available for Android and iPhone and includes the “Take 10″ meditation free. Once you’ve completed the Take 10 you can continue onto the other programs, such as “Take 15″ etc for a small fee. Or just re-use Take 10 again.

http://www.getsomeheadspace.com/ The Get_Headspace people are on Twitter also.

This by the way is just me sharing my experience, it’s not a paid review of any sort. As this was recommended to me, I’ve recommended to my wife and a couple of other people in the hope that they’ll gain the same from it as I have.

Quick catch up.

It’s been awhile since I blogged, so let’s play catch up.

No more cheese since I had the pizza, still saving myself for the pizza on my twins birthday which is on the 12th Feb.

Still running (barely) although I avoided a chest infection I did have a cold which seemed worse than the cold I had at the beginning of the year. I ran a few 5 milers during the week which I felt I struggled with and a 10 miler yesterday (Saturday) in 92 minutes. That run was the best run of the week and definite signs that the cold is all but gone… finally!

Few days off from work now, which is just as well as the last couple of days in work I did start to notice I was getting headaches again in the afternoon. Similar symptoms just not as severe in terms of pain. Nothing has changed with regards to medication or nutrition, the only thing I could put it down to was possible side effects to the cheese on the pizza which I had last Wednesday? I guess with me having some more pizza this Tuesday I’ll tell what happens in the few days after that. But again this just re-affirms the believe that I made the right decision on severely moderating my cheese intake.

Weight wise, I’m now down to 13 stone 2 lbs.

Other than the above there isn’t anything new to report. Well I have started meditating… but I’ll save that for another blog to follow.

January done, 30 days no Cheese done

We’re through January people. We’re over the post-Christmas slump. We’ve seen off the Resolution gym goers and street runners. Normal service has been resumed.

My 30 day self-imposed cheese ban ended yesterday (well yesterday was 30.5 days) and to celebrate I had a pizza, a Pappa Johns Buffalo Chicken pizza.. It was tasty. But I won’t be rushing back and gorging on cheese, no I’ll stick to moderation. I didn’t really miss it that much, sure I missed the odd helping when it come to my pasta and a slice of pizza now and then. But other than that, as I’ve learnt with chocolate and caffeine it’s not that big a deal. It’s my twins birthday on the 12th of this month and for their birthday tea they’ve asked that we order in from Dominos (bless them, they could only be my sons) so again I’ll leave off the cheese until then.

With January done, and thanks to some incentive from the Strava website I managed to log 162.8 miles for the month, that’s the most I’ve run in a month previous highest was last April at 150 when I ran the London Marathon. So the quest for 1000 miles has started off well.

Towards the end of this week though I’ve started to come down with what feels like a chest infection so the last day or so I’ve been drinking lemsip in the hope I can defeat it before it gets bad. Feeling better today than what I did yesterday so the signs are good.

Weight wise, lost another 4 lbs this week so now I’m down to 13 stone 5.

1st December weight 15 stone 4 lbs.

1st February weight 13 stone 5 lbs.

More snow and ice and slush (not the refreshing drink)

Last Sunday I set myself the weekly goal of 40 miles. The plan was to do most of these miles running from home, split across 4 days 10 miles each. Easy!

Well that was till I woke up Monday morning and we had more ‘stealth snow’ (thanks @TheGodOfSarcasm) over night so immediately my plans needed adjusting. I took my running gear to work with me with the hope that it would go off during the day and I’d still be OK to run home, but it didn’t. I got a lift home from work and was able to run that days 10 miles after work.

Wednesday I actually had the car for work (a rare occurence) so I decided to split the 10 miles into two 5 mile runs. Awake at 06:30 and out for 5 miles, then back, showered and off to work. Home from work and back out for another 5 miles.

Friday I was getting a lift to work so again I decided to split the 10 miles into two. Set the alarm a little earlier though with the hope of doing a little more than 5 miles. 06:00 I was up and out. -2 the temperature I was in shorts… it was a little cold. I did 7.3 miles. Showered and off to work again. But what happened in work… More snow! Then hail, lots of it which then turned into ice on the pavement. So definitely no more running that evening.

So that left me with 13 miles to run for the 40 target I’d set. I was hoping to go out today (Saturday) and do it, but again we had more snow in the night-time. Come the morning though it had turned mostly to slush. So off I went with the same plan as I had last Saturday, get to the prom and hope for some clear bits of path. Immediately I could tell it was going to be different. More puddles, feet soaked 2 miles in I pushed on. Thankfully a car had driven along the front so I was able to run in its tyre tracks which had cleared the snow (convenient). About Mile 7 saw me briefly up past my ankles in ice-cold water thanks to a massive puddle, but I had no choice but to push on.

Another hour later the run was done, 13.3 miles done…

40.9 miles for the week done!

PHEW!