Week 6 Weight 72.4 Rory 0:00:00

Well after the euphoria of last week, this week has been a let down with a big bump.

I did my usual interval training on Tuesday am and came back with a serve pain in my lower abdomen just under my hernia operation scar.

I dis two more slow painful runs on Wednesday and Thursday and did no more running. 

Instead of did two 1km swims on Friday and Saturday. No Rory on Sunday and went to the doctors on Monday evening.

She said she thought the pain was not related to the hernia, but to be on the safe side I should go to the surgeon who operated. I have this appointment next Monday16th.

In the meantime I have travelled to Helsingborg for work and will just do gentle 10kms until I get the all clear.

Week 5 Weight 72.5 50km 4:18:14

This week I have not run so much, as I had the Rodgau 50km race on Saturday and therefore also no Rory. My weight drifted up peaking at 72.5kg.

On the way down to the race I got a little stressed out, but Chrissy said to me, "Don't be silly, you have run three Rory's this year, this is simple." She was right, as always and I also was not running in a bin bag, as I do in all my training,  so that would make it easier

The weather was reasonable about 0 degrees and no snow on the ground.  I wore a Craft Warm Crewneck, a long sleeve t-shirt and  Adidas lycra shorts.  On my feet were Wright Escape quarter length socks and Asics GT2100. I covered my nipples with Leukotape, my nether regions with Vaseline and my feet in Sudo cream.

The race is ten times around a five kilometer loop. This time I had a GU Gel  on each loop and carried a 500ml bottle filled with SIS Go Energy Drink.  The bottle was empty after ~15km.

I set my watch to 5:10 p/km pace with the aim of being +-10 seconds of that.  I ended up having only 4 km quicker than target and 3 km slow than  this target range.

I had a few moments when I felt I was not doing well but repeated my mantra:

• Don't be shit - as I was last time.
• Fuck average - I am better than this. 
• No more girly bullshit - I am not feeling the pain that other people have to suffer.
• Don't be a cunt - I have trained hard, the weather is good, there are no excuses.

I also reminded myself of the people who were following me.  I couldn't let them down. Ugly had messaged me and my sister Anne was keen to know how well I would do.

Normally I have the urge to quit all the time. But on the whole the feeling of wanting to quit was not present at all. I counted down the Km to go with time passing quickly. I was, very comfortable  all the way and within my abilities. 

On the course there is a out and back bit,  where you can see the people ahead of you coming back towards you.   Slowly over the laps I noticed my consistency was winning out as I passed more and more people....As Tiny says it is a great feeling chasing someone down. 

I have done the Rodgau 50 km race five times now and this year was my best performance. Below you can see a graphic of how I have done each time.   Normally I start well and fall apart. What pleases me more than anything else is the consistency over the ten loops. This shown by the blue flat line with  a deviation between the fastest and slowest 5 km  of less than a minute. 

I was expecting to get the train home, so it was great to see Chrissy as I crossed the finishing line greeting me with an excited "Well done you did it, you were under 4:20 like you wanted to be." So that was nice.

Week 4 Weight 69.3 Rory 3:40

The weight  is definitely making progress in the right direction and so are the times.

Wednesday night I was running to the flat after 10km I realised that if I got a move on  I could do it in under 1:30 which is good for me. So I did :-)

I really didn't fancy a run on Thursday night ..I had a fast 10km  scheduled.  My Ugly mate hassled me until I went out and I did it in  under 47 minutes... which is in my top ten performances and the best time since August 2014

So lesson  learned is no matter how tired you are you must go out. You never know, you may get a PB.

Today I beat my Rory time and felt very comfortable and unworried by it all the way.  At no time  did the chimp ask me to go another way or quit.  

All in all a good week. Which sets me up for my first race of the year. Rodgau 50km. 

My targets are

A) finish under 4:10

B) finish under 4: 20

C) finish quicker than last year 4:27

Run on me

I have many colours
I have many lands
I have many names
Run on me

I will flatten your feet
I will annihilate your ankles
I will crush your calves
Run on me

I will splint your shins
I will knobble your knees
I will thump your thighs
Run on me

I will hamper your hamstrings
I will hit your hips
I will squash your spine
Run on me

I am hard
I am smooth
I am unforgiving
Run on me

I am the master of muscle mastication
I am the mistress of maddening misery
I am TARMACADAM
Run on me

Week 3 Weight 70.7 Rory 3:44

I have started to control my eating better and I am always thinking of the impact before reaching for the biscuit draw or another beer.

This has had a noticeable effect and I am now approach pre Christmas weight when I was fasting.

It is now three weeks since I had a cigarette. Strangly this year it has not been a struggle to halt smoking.

I was hoping to get under 3:40 on Sunday but the darn wind was blowing again. Still seven minutes faster in a week is better than nothing.

Week 2 Weight 72.5 Rory 3:51

The weight is a kilo down and the Rory is ten minutes faster

The weight was going well. I was still eating too much. Then it was affected by a blow out on Friday and Ross' birthday.

I will do better this week.

The Rory by the wind so 3:45 is possible on Sunday. I promise to do 3:30 by 9th march.

Week 1 Weight 73.8kg Rory 4:01

I looked at my 2014 goals and found that disappointingly I singularly failed to meet most of them.

I did too many races too close together.

I didn't hold myself to account and no one did it for me. This year I have a friend who will nag me incessantly.

I did my first Rory yesterday in under four hours in shorts, bin bag, snow, slush and ice.

Races

31st Jan 50km Rodgau
28th February 50km Lahntallauf
29th March 50km Eschollbruecken
9 May 24hour Steenbergen
15th August 100km leipzig
28th August Koberstädter Wald Marathon
25th September Spartathlon.

Monthly Goals
In order to do this I have some monthly goals.

I will lose a kg a month until I reach a goal weight of 62kg.

I will reduce my marathon time in stages, until I can run 42.2km in under three hours.

I will reduce my 10k time in stages, until I can run this in under 40 minutes.