Ashtead 10k

Jaffa cake not pictured

Today’s 10k race was the first race I’ve run since leaving school in the early 1990s. So, as long as I finished, I was guaranteed a personal best.

As it was I came in at just over 52 minutes (I’d been aiming for under an hour, and hoping for 55 minutes, so I’m definitely pleased with the time).

The race was really enjoyable, though I made the beginner’s mistake of starting too fast and so from 4k on had quite a few people pass me.

Back to running

This week I went for my first runs after six long weeks without any running.

It was the longest break from running I’ve had in years, though I kept busy with regular cycling. Nonetheless it was frustrating to feel time running out for my 10k preparation.

But injuries, even relatively minor ones, need rest. So I rested.

Stalled running

Sometimes the best way curtail a new project is just to loudly announce it to all and sundry.

Inadvertently this happened with the preparations for my first 10k race, which were quite literally stopped in their tracks, though not for want of enthusiasm.

In fact, it’s the enthusiasm that stalled my training. Or rather, my throwing myself into long 45 minute runs (three in eight days) when my usually – once ot twice a week – runs last about 27 minutes.

10k preparation

I’ve been running for nearly 11 years* but have never gone beyond idly considering running in an actual race.

But at yesterday’s village day, amongst the candy floss, dodgy motorcycle display team and former Mr Universe runner up with a squeaky voice was the local running club’s stall.

The 10k race they organise is not until the end of September, so I’ve made the rash decision to give it a go.

Searching for my disapearing fitness

An online friend reckons that runners lose fitness if they leave more than three days between runs.

True or not, it certainly sounds accurate, particularly after my recent six week (!!) layoff.

The prolonged break from running, my longest in a couple of years, made sense at the time as a way of coping with the school summer holidays, the first when we’ve had two children.

Exercise in the time of holidays

It’s been more than three weeks since my son’s primary school term ended and more than three weeks since I last went for a run.

It’s not the world’s worst confession, but lately I’ve found myself looking jealously at joggers, envying them the spare time that allows them to get out.

I’ve only recently come to the eminently sensible conclusion that exercise, school holidays and playing an active family role are not compatible. Before then I would still do just as much around the house as usual and still try and manage as near as possible a normal run schedule, cramming outings in at odd moments.

Running and biking in the countryside

The recent good weather in the UK arrived in time for my return to exercising last week.

Before then, there was one (unplanned) week off due to work, tiredness and general lack of motivation, followed by two (planned) weeks off with the Easter school holidays – keeping up with two kids being more than enough during these times.

But last week it was back to two runs and a bike ride a week, my usual routine … on a good week. I also had the choice of keeping away from the roads as the warmer weather had dried out the paths across the common, as the picture above shows.

Winter running

I’ve not managed much running this month. In fact I’ve been just once, thanks to an enforced layoff due to a week of not-quite-flu, followed by two weeks of coughing, spluttering and more in the same vein.

So Monday I forced myself out. The air was so cold I thought my eyes would mist up and frozen puddles on the common had been smashed into shards of ice across the path by walkers.

I’m not sure I’ve entirely recovered from the low-level illness (one of the most annoying kinds, bad enough to lay you low, but not quite bad enough to stay off work for) and recorded perhaps my slowest time of the year for the three and a half mile circuit I do. Slower even than in June, when a heatwave drove up the temperature inside our house to 25 degrees centigrade. Not in itself crazy heat, but hot in an airless house and hotter still to go running in.

Returning to running

Autumn’s my favourite time of year for running. Occasional rain doesn’t bother me and the  slow easing in temperature makes running, and life in general, much more pleasant than in the summer. In these globally-warmed days even British summers increasingly manage respectable, if inconsistent, temperatures.

So it was a pleasure this week to finally get in a proper run. Over the last month the only running I’ve done has been with A when I take him for a bike ride, and more recently jog along with him as he cycles to school. The downside of doing the school run in this way is of course turning up at the school gates hot, sweaty and in short shorts, none of which makes for a particularly pleasing look.

To carve out half an hour from the morning for a bit of quality time pounding the footpaths through the common near where I live, just me and my headphones, was a rare treat. My time for the three and a half mile circuit was a slower-than-usual 27 minutes, but hopefully it’s a return to getting out regularly again.

Keeping up with kids on wheels

The countdown to baby’s arrival continues. In the midst of this there’s the challenge of working from home during the school holidays to contend with. Now, a few weeks in, I’m getting used to having other people around all the time – though a tactical use of iPod and earphones helps when my son has friends around.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a misanthrope, not all the time any way, but this is the first summer when we’ve all been at home so much. My wife’s stopped working and her condition means we took an early holiday in May to avoid traveling, so we really have all been around most of the time.

One of the things I like about this (told you I wasn’t entirely misanthropic) is spending more time with my son, which this week has seen me become more active than I’ve been in a while.