After a few butt kicks - I stopped reading and went for a run

Despite the relatively reasonable, given the heat and the level of fitness I know I have at the moment, race on Sunday, I was feeling a little down yesterday, reviewing my time, and comparing it to what I was capable of running only a few short years ago. So, I went back to my old haunt at Kickrunners and posted a question regarding motivation, and how you got it back after such a long lay off, Well, I got a couple of butt kicks from old "friends" - well deserved I might add, and it has helped me assess the situation, and I know what I have to do - So I will.......

KSRUNR over there, came up with a great line for all of us who read far more about running than we actually run! His quote - "Quit Reading This and Go Run!" - So I did........

Well, to be fair, he posted that yesterday, and whilst not trying to find excuses, I didn't get a planned run in yesterday. It was well into the 90's all day, so i went to the gym for a treadmill run, only to find all the power out in that part of town, sadly a common occurrence in the summer down here - As soon as it gets hot, the AC Units are powered up at full blast, and the systems can't cope, so frequent power outages (we had three on Saturday at the house!)...

But I did today. At the weekend, I received personal delivery of a new pair of Asics Nimbus 13's from my good friend Vincent, who had brought them down from New York, on one of his many trips down to South America - the joys of being retired. It may seem a long way to bring shoes, but they cost twice the price here for last years model, as government import restrictions make it difficult for non-Argentine companies to compete in the local market, despite Buenos Aires having the largest growth for running related products in South America, but if savings are to be made, and I get the right shoe, I'm a happy chap...

So today, with power on, I went the gym, and ran an easy, even-paced, 5Km run in 27:12, feeling comfortable, with no after effects from Sunday, and no difficulties with the pace at all, which augurs well. I also weighed myself at the gym, and found I had dropped to 91Kgs, which leaves me with 11 to go to my target by April of 80Kgs - I started at 93kgs, and have a 14% weight loss target - at 1% per week - seems reasonable -

And as for KSRUNR's quote I stopped reading, and I ran :) - And it felt great..........

My new Shoes :)

UNDAV 8K (Actually 8.5K) Race - Avellaneda

My first race in my attempt to get back to a good level of fitness for next April and the Marathon in Santiago. This race was being run locally in Avellaneda, and is free to enter, with a Tech T-shirt thrown in for good measure. Managed to talk a few friends to run the race as well, and so Team Frinking had a decent turnout with 5 of us running. The race was advertised as an 8K run, but after the race it transpired that it was actually 8.5K, which explained the last kilometre (or not!), but I jump ahead of myself.

The race was due off at 9am, and with around 2,500 people lining up for the run, we were faced with the prospect of a great, flat course, with the clouds being burnt away by the sun, and temperatures rising steadily, reaching around the 30C mark by the end. I was hoping to run under 45 minutes, and started at a modest pace, and lo and behold, the first Km was run in 5:08, although it felt easy. I didn't try and slow down, or ease up, just kept the legs turning over steadily, and the first few kilometers felt good. I reached the 4Km mark in 21 minutes, but by now the sun was heating things up, and a welcome hose down from the local fire brigade cooled me down for a few minutes. I missed the 5Km mark, but estimate that I had run the 5km in around 26:20, and around that time I had to take a walk break as I was overheating. A sixty second walk break to cool down, shouldn't lose me too much time, and I started off again, running slower now, but determined to hit my time marks.

I had plenty of time in hand at the 7Km mark, spot on 38 minutes, and knew I would be within my time goal. By now it had got exceptionally hot, and I was struggling with this, but I could see my friend Scott about 20 meters ahead of me, so I focused on keeping him in my aim, as I tried to increase the pace a little to catch him. I wasn't looking at my watch at all at this point, trying to concentrate on closing the gap. As we turned onto Av.Belgrano and the home straight to the finish line, I narrowed the distance to 10m, but with some 200m to go, Scott found his own second gear, and I knew I had nothing left in the tank, so I backed off and glanced at my watch to see that somehow the last Km was taking me over 8 minutes!!!!! Somewhat surprised with this, I gave one last sprint, overtaking a couple of people, and crossed the line with my watch at 46:40....

I subsequently found out that the race was actually 8.5Km, which explained the anomaly over the last stretch form Km 7.

Much needed water was plentiful, with fruit available too, and I met up with the rest of the gang, and the Race Director who was delighted with everything. The Team then headed back for a shower before meeting up with more Frinkers and we headed off to El Tano Parilla for a great lunch, followed by beer and wine for a very enjoyable day in the sun, after a decent race, which, thankfully, was longer than expected, making my time very acceptable for 8.5, with the 8 being around 44 minutes, well inside targetted hopes.

Next up is the 10K Hispano race in ten days time, and I will aim for 55 there.

9 am Running at 28 degrees

As the race on Sunday starts at 9am, and with the summer having arrived this week, I decided to go out for an easy run at 9am today to acclimatise. It was already 28 degrees at 9am, and I decided to run for time, rather than distance, and a shortish 20 minute run in the sun was called for.

I'm laying the trail for the hash in a couple of weeks, so I ran the first 4 km of that route today, more or less. It was hot, and sweaty, but enjoyable, and despite having some chaffing on my inner thigh, I felt comfortable at this distance, and didn't have too much problem with the heat.

Sundays run over 8Km will be a little tougher if it is as hot, but I aim to be quicker than last years attempt at this race, and while not wanting to set myself too hard a target, given the level I know I am at, I shall simply look for around 45 minutes, nice and easy in this weather.

Entered the Hispano Race on Dec 8th yesterday, and got another great tech T-Shirt,all for 70 pesos entry fee, which works out around 12 euros - You couldn't buy a Tech Shirt for that, never mind get a race included as well.

An easy 5Km run in the gym

With the temperatures starting to climb, in a reversal of what would be happening if I was back in Ireland, I am heading to the gym, where a fair amount of my training will take place. I have always had an affinity with treadmill running, having trained a lot on the machines in the past, mainly for the opposite reason, dark and cold winters in the High Peak. But with the day time temps hitting the high 20's at the moment, and already a nice shade of lobster, a steady run of 5K was called for, and I delivered.

A nice easy, even, pace of 10.8 kph, saw me clocking off around 5:30 per kilometre, and while it was tempting to click up a notch as I ran, I stuck at the even pace, and completed the 5K in 27:27, which according to my running diary, is the fastest I have run a 5K on the mills since July last year, although nothing to write home about. I was simply pleased to get the extra distance completed on the treadmill.

Just because we enjoy a beer after - It's still a Hard Run!

I appreciate that to the dedicated runner, my enjoyment of the Hash House Harriers, and my participation in hashes every two weeks here in Buenos Aires, may seem like a diversion away from any attempt I may have to get back into serious shape to achieve my goal of the Santiago Marathon next April. Well, I can say that in BsAs we have many serious runners who partake in the Hash, none more so than this weekends hare, Gonzalo, who is a very experienced runner, tri-athlete, and medal winner at adventure races around Latin America. This past weekend, the hash had their annual weekend event, this year celebrating the 555th Run by the pack here, and we all went to Carilo, some 400km south of the capital, on the Atlantic Coast, set in a forest, with a wonderful hotel, and beautiful weather for running, and relaxing.

As it was a weekend event, we had two runs planned, late Saturday afternoon. and then again on Sunday lunchtime. We arrived on Friday evening, had a nice Mexican meal, and an early night, waking to glorious sunshine on Saturday. A stroll down to the beach, and dipping toes into the cold Atlantic - The air temperature may have been 28, but the Antarctic Drift ensured the water was freezing - I certainly caught the sun, and am presently a nice shade of lobster! After a light lunch, the Hashers got together and the first run of the weekend set off. With two runs planned over the weekend, and knowing that Gonzalo would not have set easy runs, I took it easy on Saturday, only running the shorter, and easier run of around 6Km, through woods, beach and sandy roads, but still felt like I had a decent run, and the disappointment of Thursdays gym session was forgotten.

After a party on Saturday night, with a lot of energy spent dancing, Sunday morning arrived with, once again, the sun shining, and conditions set for a serious run. Gonzo didn't disappoint, and as he knows that I am gearing up for Santiago, he pushed me all the way, with a tough run, along the trails, and up and down sand dunes, before insisting I ran the full distance, which amounted to around 12Km. Obviously, as this is a hash, this distance is a touch stop and start, but the last 4 Km was a full run with the better runners, and with one or two others potentially looking at marathons in the fall (southern hemisphere one!), I was happy that whilst not quite keeping up their pace (most of them 20 years younger than me as well!), I managed to get a great run in and I can confirm this morning that I felt it - My legs are aching, but in a good way - from hard exercise, and a new found belief that I can once again run a decent distance.

As my good friend Theia says, baby steps, and the hash has at least kept me going when other running may have been falling my the wayside. Onwards and upwards........

No run today - but......

After yesterdays weak performance, no running today, as I will be travelling later to Carilo for a weekend of Hashing, which will involve two decent runs, albeit non-competitive, and a party on Saturday night :). Next week, the training starts in earnest.

After posting yesterday's picture of my daughter graduating, it's only fair to post a picture from today's Graduation Ceremony from DIT for my son, his diploma in programming, and he is progressing on the full degree course. Nice to see them both graduate in the same week.

Well, I never said it would be easy.

After writing yesterday, and feeling like I had taken a decent step in the right direction, I decided to head to the gym today and try a 4Km run at even pace. I started at 11.1KPH on the speed gauge, and within a few hundred meters I felt lethargic, and finding it tough to breathe properly. By the 1k mark, I knew that 4Km was not going to be possible, I was overstretching, even at this ridiculously short distance. I persevered, and increased the speed a notch at each 200m clocked, having taken the decision to bail out at 2Km.

A short run, only 2km, some 40 Km less than I have to run in 4 months, and in 10:47 pedestrian pace. I guess I should believe the title of this post, it isn't going to be easy, I have let my fitness level drop to an alarming position. 2Km should be a warm up for any runner, today it was a struggle - Oh well....

On a brighter note - I posted yesterday about my son being an influence in me getting back running. I should also mention my daughter, who turned 24 last Monday, and the same week received her degree from Sheffield University. A degree she completed a little more than days before the arrival of Little Maisie her beautiful daughter, and my first grandchild. She achieved, what to many would be impossible. her final semester at University with the imminent arrival of her first child. But she stuck with it, and I am proud of her achievements this year (and every other one too!). I attach a picture of her graduation to show how proud we all are.

My grandchild has probably started school since I last wrote!

I must go back over my blog and see how many times I have said, I am starting training again, and I have a new goal, and blah, blah, blah..... nothing happens! Well, guess what, I am training again and I have a new goal, so, here goes again.

For new readers, don't bother going over the old stuff - I used to be a semi decent club runner, back when I was young, but if I am honest with myself, I haven't really put a huge amount of effort in for the last 7 or 8 years, with a couple of exceptions when I trained for Connemara and Prague Marathons back in 2006. Since then I have only added one more Marathon finish to my name, in 2008 when I ran Surf City over in California, and my age graded best result since then was a 23:10 5Km race in Dublin in March a few weeks later. Don't get me wrong, I have continued to run in all that time, just never with any effort over a period of time. Some excuses were valid, the odd injury in my ageing body, but mostly, the reason for the lack of continuity in my training has been idleness.

Since moving down to Argentina back in November 2009, I have completed in a few local races, and in fact managed three races in Ireland while on holiday back home, none of which have been great feats of running to even challenge my own M50 records, let alone anything else.

Well, now I will be 54 early in the New Year, my weight is stagnant at around 93 Kg (205lbs), and whilst a good 5 Kg than I was at the beginning of the year, its still 10 to 15 Kg more than I would like to be. But the biggest motivation to get back into running has been the success of my son, Liam Og, who took up running this year, and completed the Dublin Marathon in 4:24:11 in his first attempt at the distance. He also bettered my M50 times for other distances, so I have a year to get those back!.... I should point out that, obviously, my son is not in the M50 category, having just turned 26 last week, but he set my times as targets, so one way of making sure he continues to run, may be for me to improve my times - And look at setting new ones at M55 in 15 months time.

So, I looked for a goal that was not only achievable, but not too far distant that I would lose interest. Living in South America, there are less options, but the Santiago Marathon on April 1st, some 4.5 months away, seems like a reasonable, if challenging, target. My aim, to finish faster than 4:24 - In the short term, I have an 8Km race on Sunday 27th, locally in Avellaneda where I live. Last year, an unfit me, completed this race in the awful time of 47:23, age graded to 52.29%, and I will be hoping to be a fair bit quicker than that whilst not challenging my M50 best time of 39:10 set back in Galway two years ago. We shall see.....

In the meantime, this morning, with the temperatures hitting 28 degrees, I went for a modest run of around 3.25Km, which I was pleased with, especially with the heat, and I can gradually build the distance, and hopefully some speed, over the months ahead.