photography | Matt Gets Running

Snowbound

It was hard enough walking to work today, so I haven’t been running. Nevertheless, I made sure to get some exercise. On top of walking a couple of miles to work and back through the snow, we had a snowball fight at work at lunchtime — well, in the park next to work, anyway. Must be good for a few calories.

But, not content with that, I figured I should do some more formal fitness today, to keep up some kind of routine. So I dragged the exercise bike in front of the telly and pedalled for 35 minutes — about the same time as it would have taken me to run 5K.

So, that’s about all I have to report. I guess the pavements are going to be a bit ropey for a couple of days, looking at the amount of snow there out there and the temperatures we’re expecting — down to ‑7ºC tonight, so this blog might be a bit minimal for a while!

Enjoy the snow, if you’ve got it!

Slow Build-Up

I’m still not feeling fab, but sleeping in very late today seemed to leave me with some energy, so I decided to go spend it on another post-Christmas momentum-building run. It seemed fitting for the first day of the year — start as you mean to go on, and all. And it was a lovely day, with a distinct lack of rain, at least.

I’ve noticed a few people bemoaning the lack of personal jet-packs as we enter 2010. I could certainly have used one today. At the last minute, I decided I was feeling okay enough to clamber up into Clifton instead of staying on the flat.

I just about coped with it. I was a lot slower than normal — the RunKeeper stats show my average pace being eight-and-a-half minutes per kilometre, which is seriously slow even by the standard of my normal uphill-into-Clifton runs. But hey, I figured it was psychologically more important to do 5K rather than to run quickly, and it felt like an either-or choice today.

My run ended up looking out over the Clifton Suspension Bridge at sunset, which is today’s picture.

So, that’s my second run of the week. As long as I get out this weekend, that’s three in a week, and back to my usual routine. All I have to do is keep that up…

Odd Clothing Combination

This morning, I put on my wooly hat before heading outside, on the grounds that it was ‑1ºC. Then I got out into the street, turned around, and went back for my sunglasses. I definitely needed both, which is a combination I’ve not found necessary since the last time I went snowboarding…

As the rest of the UK gets blanketed with lovely snow, Bristol was being its usual recalcitrant self by having such a lovely clear day that if there were leaves on the trees, you’d have thought it was July. Until your nadgers dropped to the ground with a clang, anyway. I even jogged past a highly-optimistic ice cream van.

Because I did 10K last weekend, I figured I’d just do a simple, short run in the sun today, so I did my shortest Downs-based run, a smidge over 5K, and then went and got an amaretto latte from Coffee #1. Nice and simple.

This week, I’m going to do at least one run before Christmas, and I might make it a harbourside run, just to mix things up a bit. Until then, enjoy the snow, if you’ve got it!

Soggy Slog

Today was a bit crap. It was cold, wet, and I wasn’t in the mood. But I got out and did a desultory 5K anyway, which I guess counts for something.

The first run after a long run is definitely hard work. Certainly I’ve not noticed an exception to that rule yet. I left it an extra day, after Sunday’s 10K, and set out just to do 5K fairly steadily, as I figured it might be bad.

But hey, it wasn’t awful. I just slogged my way through it, and 5K doesn’t seem like a long way, as it used to. Knowing I could do it twice over on a good day makes it easier to get through on a bad one…

Anyway. This post is more for the purposes of record, rather than entertainment, so I’ll leave it here.

Deep Six

…well, deep puddles, anyway. I want to push my weekday runs out a bit further, so I figured I’d do 6K this evening. It varied between drizzle and outright rain, but it was still good. I felt fine, and kept up a nice pace. About the only thing that wasn’t great were my calves/ankles, and I think that’s probably because I forgot to stretch after Sunday’s run. D’oh.

So, a nice, simple 6K, in just a smidge under 40 minutes, at an average pace that’s faster than I was doing 5Ks in the dry a month ago. Cool.

Didn’t take any photos tonight — my camera lens would’ve been covered in rain in seconds — so here’s one from Friday, where similar, if slightly less rainy conditions prevailed 🙂 As usual, click through it for Flickry goodness.

Back to Basics

Bearing in mind all the rain we’ve had recently, I’ve been pretty lucky with the running. It was gorgeous this morning, brilliant sunshine and not even that cold.

As well as this one of the winter trees, there’s a couple on Flickr taken from the same point on the Portway, one looking out of town, and one looking back toward the suspension bridge.

After last weekend’s 10K extreme, I stuck to a simple five-and-a-bit K, averaging a nice 7‑and-a-half minutes per kilometre, including the slow struggle up Bridge Valley Road.

I went into Coffee #1 in Clifton Village for my now-traditional vanilla latte. But they apologised before I’d even said “hi”, as they were out of vanilla syrup. And they gave me amaretto for free instead, which was lovely of them.

And that was my morning jog.

5K, with occasional stops

Tonight I realised I was tired of jogging without photos, so I grabbed my camera and a mini-tripod on the way out. I took a nice steady jog, starting a little further out on the Portway than normal, and made my “halfway” point a little further on, too.

Then on the way back, especially toward the end of the run, after 4+ km, I stopped every now and again to take a photo. I got two or three good ones (it’s tough to get good night photography with a compact camera and a tiny tripod in the rain!)

All in all, I did a rather raggedy 5K. But hey, it was late, and I was tired.

I don’t have time to process all the photos, so for now, here’s one that caught my eye as I was grabbing them from the memory card. This is a view from the footbridge I use to get to the Portway, looking back towards Bristol over Cumberland Basin.

Simple and Steady…

IMG_0461 2.jpg …that’s me.

Remembering how rubbish I felt on my first run after doing 8K, I figured I’d best be careful for my first run after 10K.

This time I left three clear days after my long run before getting back out on the road. It seems to have had the right effect. The simple 5K I just did wasn’t brilliant, but it wasn’t terrible. And I came in at a normal pace, comfortably under 35 minutes.

So, I think that’ll be the plan in future — after a big push on in distance, give myself a few days of recovery time before running again. Seems to work.

I didn’t see anything particularly thrilling on the Portway, so tonight’s picture isn’t from my run, it’s from my walk home. I figured I might as well get into the Christmas spirit; this was my first run of December, after all!

The Sun and the Rain

You never know whether it’s going to be a good run until you get out there. Today I woke up at 6:30am with a headache. I got up, took two paracetamol, and went back to bed. When I got up again at 11am, I still felt a bit rubbish.

Nevertheless, because it looked like it might chuck it down with rain if I left it any longer, I finally got out for my weekend jog a couple of hours later. And it was fine. Although I’ve been feeling tired all day, mentally and to some degree physically, that didn’t seem to stop my legs moving. Result.

So, aided by an iTunes Genius playlist kicked off by She Bangs the Drums, which meandered through some lesser-known bits of my library, including some of Ian Brown’s solo stuff, and the Magic Numbers’ Mornings Eleven, which was pleasingly bouncy, I jogged nearly 7K, at a decent pace even though it started off with a relatively slow puff and pant up Bridge Valley Road.

And I’m glad I did. Especially as I’d not managed to have lunch by the time I made it to Coffee #1 and Chandos Deli in Clifton Village at the end of the run 🙂 Vanilla latte “for the win”, as I believe the youngsters are saying these days…

Today’s photo is a bit of autumn colour from the path back to Clifton Village from the Downs. Click through for Flickr bigness.

Quick Harbourside Jaunt

I’ve only jogged around the harbour once before, during week 7 of the C25K. Tonight I did it again, and did it a bit quicker, too.

So, all good. I’d got a bit bored with running along the Portway all the time, so although the round-the-harbour run feels quite short for me now (it’s only a bit over 4K) I figured I’d do it just to make a change.

And it was a lot more interesting. I saw other joggers, a gym (although with no-one on the treadmill, which would have been appropriate), random drinkers around Pero’s bridge, and a rowing club.

Also, it was a good job I was jogging, because there were a couple of guys I passed who were smoking skunk so strong that I probably would have passed out if I’d gone past too slowly.

At some point, I’ll take it a bit steadier and go twice around the harbour. Maybe one weekend next month. I’d prefer to do that in daylight. In the meantime, here’s a pic from the end of tonight’s run. You can just see the ghostly motion-blur from a couple of other runners who passed when I was taking the picture. Click through to see it bigger on Flickr.