Author: Matt Gibson

When I got home from work, the humidity-switched extractor fan in the bathroom was still running from this morning. It normally switches off after five minutes.

It’s that kind of day: hot and humid. But I was ready for a run anyway.

Today was the first day of week three, where the walk/run pattern kicks up another notch on the Couch to 5K program. Today would be two short runs and two long runs, with the longer runs being three minutes.

It doesn’t sound like a lot, three minutes, but it was certainly stretching my limits. Even on the first three-minute run, I was willing myself on at the end and panting a fair bit.

I took things easier for the third run, an intermediate, shorter one. I was helped by a slower runner overtaking me during the walking recovery — when the time came to start running again, I kept her in sight and tried not to catch up. (Luckily I was far enough behind that it probably didn’t feel to her like she had a strange, panting stalker 🙂 )

And that seemed to leave me with enough puff for the final three minutes, even though thirty seconds of it were on the uphill pedestrian ramp up to the flyover I have to run over to get back to civilisation!

So, successful, and I feel stretched to my limit again. So I guess my limit is gradually increasing, which is the whole point… Cool.

Or not that cool, in fact, as I definitely needed a shower when I got in. What happened to all that nice cooling rain, eh? 🙂

Anyway. I must figure out what’s causing my lower back/upper backside (top of the glute? Not sure) to ache towards the end of the three minutes, only on the left-hand side. I may be a bit out of balance. Definitely something to keep an eye on, and I’ll maybe go through it with my Alexander Technique teacher on Friday.

In other news, the iPod Genius-generated playlists are getting repetitive, so I’m trying out Potion Factory’s Tangerine, which can analyse your iTunes library, determine the BPM count/beat strength of the tracks, and generate playlists with various options, like one that starts off slow and builds up to tunes with a faster beat. I’ll report back once I’ve had a play!

Just back from the last run of week two. This was quite difficult, but I put that down to the fact that I’d already traipsed around the Harbour Festival for a few hours earlier in the day, where I also picked up a (very minor) bit of sunburn.

Also, I reckon I was running faster! The last few runs, I’ve been starting the iPhone app off as soon as I’ve left the house. This was the first run where the halfway point was exactly underneath the Suspension Bridge — I’ve always been just a little this side of it before. So, that was gratifying.

And, while it was difficult, I managed it. I was definitely flagging a bit by the penultimate run, and I don’t think I had much left by the end, but I’ve got a couple of days of rest before the next session, and I can always take that a bit slower if I have any trouble.

Today’s picture is a hot air balloon, clearly practising for next weekend’s Balloon Fiesta. I’m planning on getting up there for one of the 6am launches to take some photos. But I don’t think I’m up to jogging up there yet 🙂 Maybe next year!

I changed my mind! Some encouragement from the LiveJournal C25K community came at exactly the right time. I still had some energy, it had stopped raining, there was at least half an hour of daylight left…

So I went. And I’m just back from my first run of Week 2. Huzzah!

It wasn’t easy, though. The worst thing was that I’d had dinner. And not a particularly light dinner, at that. So that weighed me down. And having to run around the puddles didn’t help much.

But, aided by yet another Genius playlist — kicked off from The Go! Team’s Doing It Right, and finishing, rather ironically, on The Primitives’ Crash (“here you go/way too fast/don’t slow down you’re gonna cra-a-ash…”) — I managed it.

So, I guess that’s another lesson learned: if there’s a chance, no matter how slim, that you’ll actually get out and run, then go for occasional grazing style eating, rather than a big lump. Otherwise you’ll be carrying that big lump around with you for a half-hour…

I’m meant to be doing my fourth run this evening. But the rain outside is way beyond Sunday’s drizzle, and into the realms of Heavy Weather.

I need some wet weather running gear (I’m woefully under-prepared for rain, clothes-wise.) I shall if I can buy some this week, even if it’s just some jogging bottoms rather than the shorts.

It’s not so much the running that worries me — I think I’d do okay-ish running through the rain — it’s that there’s still quite a lot of walking involved in the plan at this stage. And walking through rain this heavy while I get my breath back just seems like a dejecting thought.

Ho hum.

So. The weather forecast for tomorrow looks unsettled, but with some chance of a lack of rain here and there. And I think I’ve learned part of my lesson for running in the British summer — get out when you can! I should’ve looked at the weather forecast yesterday, and run then, whatever my training schedule said…

This morning has been a morning of water. I have a lot to do today. After I woke up, had breakfast and had a shower, I looked out of the window.

Onto dreary grey drizzle. Meh. But, looking at the weather forecast and the rest of my busy schedule, I figured that drizzle might actually be my best option today.

So, on with the running gear and out into the rain. Carrying a water bottle for the first time. I didn’t seem to need it for the first run, but I got a little thirsty towards the end of the last one.

I twanged¹ through my songs and happened upon Babyshambles’ Fuck Forever, which seemed suitably bouncy and rebellious, so I hit the Genius button, and my iPhone generated the perfect energetic playlist for my run, churning out:

• Fuck Forever
• Nancy Boy — Placebo
• Ever Fallen in Love — Buzzcocks (as opposed to the Thea Gilmore version I very much enjoy, too)
• Disco 2000 — Pulp
• The Passenger — Iggy Pop
• She Bangs the Drums — The Stone Roses

It even produced Alabama 3’s Woke Up this Morning for the warmdown. Classic.

Anyway. A slightly different run today. First off, I decided to start Get Running as soon as I got out of the door, rather than waiting a bit — I wanted to get through the run and out of the rain before it turned nastier. Earlier on this week there were sudden hail- and thunderstorms, so I figured I’d try to cut down my chances of getting caught out.

Second, as you can see from today’s picture, it was high tide and not low tide, like yesterday. Because of this, there must have been a few boats leaving the harbour, so my route was changed a bit: I normally cross the harbour by walking across the top of the lock gates, but they were open this morning, so that wouldn’t have got me very far!

So, instead, it was up a concrete spiral staircase and onto the A‑road flyover/bridge, which has decent enough pavement, to start my running just as I got to the top, luckily. Jogging is one thing; jogging up a spiral staircase seems like it would be a mite trickier…

And after that, pretty much as normal. It was a little harder, not because of the rain, but because my breakfast was still weighing me down a little — I baked fresh bread yesterday, and I couldn’t resist scrambled eggs on toast this morning 🙂 Next time, if I have the time, I’ll leave it a bit longer or have breakfast when I come back!

I arrived back feeling pretty chipper. Although I really must stretch after I’ve finished this blog entry and before my muscles cool down too much. Good job I’m a quick writer!

This is my third run, and the final run of the first week of the Couch to 5K program. So the next run will be a bit harder. But I have a couple of days off — Get Running is telling me that Wednesday would be a good day for the next run — so I should be doing it when I’m nice and fresh and ready. Until then, have a good week, everyone!

¹ twang, (n): to flick vigourously through a list using Apple’s touchscreen interface, and stop suddenly, thus producing a pseudo-random selection.

I was aching yesterday from my first run. And I was aching today from my first run, too.

It wasn’t terrible — I certainly had worse in my karate days, as kicking at head height definitely stretches the muscles more than running. Plus you tend to get hit, too 🙂

But I was a little apprehensive about tonight’s run. I walked home from work to make sure I was warmed up — that’s a couple of miles, at least, so it did the job. And then I did a quick change and got out there.

And it was fine. My aerobic fitness is definitely more of a limiting factor than my muscles. But even though I puffed a bit towards the end, it was fine, and I didn’t feel like I was seriously pushing any limits.

So, that’s the second run done! And I felt a little looser doing it, plus I’m starting to work out all the tiny niggles that will make running just a touch more pleasant — where best to keep my keys, how to stop the phone from rattling around in the bum bag, and all the other trivia.

Longer-term plans involve finding some different routes (I’ve been told that mapmyrun.com is good for this, but I’ve not tried it yet), and maybe making up some specific iPod playlists, but the Genius is actually working out pretty well so far…

Today’s photo is in the same direction as yesterday’s, but taken from the flyover on the way back from the towpath.

That’s the first run under my belt, then!

I got home from work to find the cheap bum bag (“fanny pack”, for you Leftpondians) that I’d ordered waiting on my doormat, which was handy. I hadn’t realised how difficult it is to buy running shorts with pockets, and I don’t like the idea of the iPod armband thingies for some reason.

So, I put on my new running shorts and my cheap Puma socks, both from TK Maxx, donned an old T‑shirt and my normal walking trainers (because they’re comfy, and because good running shoes don’t have to be expensive), popped my iPhone and keys in the bum bag, and got out there.

I’d grabbed the latest version of Ben’s Get Running App onto my iPhone. It worked a charm. I hit the “Run” button, and just followed the voice instructions.

Well, actually, I paused it for a couple of minutes during the warm-up to get closer to the safer and rather less public towpath, rather than having to run across dual carriageways or have all the car drivers laugh at me.

And that worked out fine. When I got within site of the path — which runs under the Clifton Suspension Bridge, as you can just about see from the picture — the five-minute warm-up was over, and the running had just started.

It wasn’t easy-peasy, but it wasn’t too difficult, either. Which I guess means I’m starting at exactly the right level.

In Week One of the Get Running plan, which is based on the well-known “Couch to 5K” programme first put forward by Josh Clark, you run for eight single minutes, interspersed with a minute and a half of walking to get your breath back. I was starting to flag a bit at the end of the seventh run, but that was a bit uphill, and I was better for the last one (possibly just because I knew it was the last one.)

It might not be a massive accomplishment for a fit person, but for a lardy geek who’s not done any proper exercise for a while, I think it’s probably a good starting point, and I’m just as proud of myself for actually getting out there and starting as I am for actually doing the running.

So, it was all good. I’m glad I had Ben’s app to keep me company — it prompts you all the time during the runs, which is great; you always know what you’re meant to be doing, and it does little “there are only ten seconds left! Keep going!”-style encouragements, which really helps. And it’s a human voice, not a synthesiser, too.

Plus the new version really did play nicely with my iPod. I’d chosen a bouncy song and hit the “Genius” button, which did as Apple promised and generated me a related playlist, of bouncy songs that helped keep me going. And instead of mixing in with the music at a similar volume, and thus being difficult to hear, which is what the first version did, the new version “ducked” the music down for every voice prompt, said its thing, then restored the music volume. Top marks to Ben for sorting that out!

Anyway. Can you tell I’m feeling all bouncy and enthusiastic now? Time to stop gushing words, I think. According to the app, my next running day should be Friday, so I’ll probably write some more then!