Berlin Marathon: Norfolk Ten-Miler

Swallows shocked at my relentless ten-miler

Up at 7am after a sticky and fitful Saturday night's sleep for a long run from North Creake to Holkham Hall and back. It was so hot and sunny as I set off full of banana and SIS electrolyte that I seriously worried I might end up sunburnt even at that time in the morning. 

This was a straight and steady run with the skylarks and yellowhammers for company. The first mile was steeper than anyone has a right to expect in Norfolk before undulating into the Holkham estate, over the cattle grids, under the Triumphal Arch and arrow-straight past the obelisk to the lovely lake of intimidating Greylag and Canada geese parading their goslings. 

The route passed in front of the handsome house and out towards Lady Anne's Drive to the halfway point. Then it was back up the long climb to the obelisk and steadily, relentlessly under the arch, the swathes of lush greenery in either side barely shading me from the strong sunshine. 

I took it fairly easy. It was too hot and rolling to push it too hard and I was enjoying the air and the swifts screaming overhead. 

I took the belt with me and finished both mini bottles of electrolyte en route then enjoyed a good old sweat-drenched stretch on the North Creake village green. I necked a protein shake before feasting on a no-holds-barred brunch prepared by Uncle Andy. 

I topped that up on the way back to London with a carvery lunch at The Swan in Hilborough. The Adnam's East Coast IPA was as refreshingly lively as ever. 

This was also a reasonably fond farewell to the orange Asics gel-cumulus 15 trainers. Both left and right had split just over the sole on both sides. I paid £65 for them in a sale in November and I'm surprised they've haven't lasted a bit longer. I reckon I've got around 150 miles out of them. I never really warmed to them, either; they always felt a bit big and garish. 

But we'll always have Hackney. 

Berlin Marathon: Week Four Training Summary

Dark Green Fritillary, Norfolk

Tuesday: a hearty 10k

 After yesterday's rest day I managed to squeeze in an easy six-miler along the Thames after work. This was the first time I'd specifically focused on keeping my heart rate within the cardio zone, instead of the peak zone, for most of the run. It inevitably meant I ran slower but that's ok when the air is filled with jasmine scent and the breeze is keeping me cool on a lovely summer's evening. 

My peak heart rate should be 171 bpm using the classic calculation of 220 minus my age but a check of my peak rate during last Saturday's ParkRun 5k suggests it's more like 181 bpm. Yasmine the PT calculates as follows:

 Max 171

70% is 120

95% is 162

Based on that my usual average bpm of around 146bpm is probably on the high side. Today it was 137bpm which felt fine; I think I'll keep it like that for a few runs and and see what happens.

Wednesday: Henley Royal Regatta

No running today, not much walking either, but plenty of gorgeous sunshine, real ales and wine as guests in the Stewards' Enclosure. It was a special day to see Joseph row at such a prestigious occasion for the first time. It was so hot that us gents were allowed to take off our jackets by mid-afternoon - rare indeed. LOSBC came second to the Germans of Osnabruck in their Princess Elizabeth Cup heat. But just qualifying for the first time in the school's history was a major achievement. 

We celebrated so much over fish and chips in The Baskerville in Shiplake afterwards that I left my credit card in the pub and had to phone up the next morning to ask the barman to destroy it. Happy days. 

Thursday: third personal training session

An 8am body conditioning session with Yasmine. I found the techniques and the balancing tricky - wobbly on the single leg squats and unimpressive with the single leg deadlifts. The Viper twists were easier and the Plyo box bear crawls were fun. I need more practice time on all of them. 

The highlight of the session was a cardio rowing challenge: row 1km in one-minute bursts with 30 secs of rest inbetween. I just dipped on the 4min mark but it was fun. 

Recovered with a sauna and a jacuzzi followed by a walk to The Blue Boat in Hammersmith for a vigorous rehydration session. It was so magnificently hot the real ales were all off so it was down to Yakima Red and Sierra Nevada topped off with a few German favourites in the sun-dappled garden. 

Friday: Easy 40 Minutes

Up at 6.30am for a routine five-miler down the Thames before work. A lovely sunny morning for it and again I was keeping an eye an the heart rate: averaged 145bpm. 

Saturday: Norfolk Hiking

Swallows at Titchwell in Norfolk

We drove up on Friday night to stay with Cath and Andy in North Creake. No running but a steady six-mile walk in the high summer sunshine along the dunes from Burnham Overy Staithe to Wells. 

Butterfly highlights included Dark Green Fritillaries, White Admirals, Ringlets, Red Admirals, Speckled Woods and flocks of Meadow Browns. After a pork pie and pate lunch we headed to Titchwell for a first sighting of Red Veined Darter dragonfly with the bonus of a flock of young Swallows to enjoy. 

We celebrated with fish and chips at The Jolly Sailors in Brancaster and a selection of quality items from the Norfolk Real Ale Shop. 

Berlin Marathon: Post-Kanye Nine Miler

A tough nine miler this morning on the Thames loop via Chiswick Bridge and Hammersmith Bridge. Tough because it was muggy. Tough because I enjoyed steak, chips and three delicious pints in the Princess Victoria last night (was that Tom Parker Bowles and his aunty next to us?). Tough because of that bottle of Hardy's Aussie red I needed to dull the pain of Kanye West's headlining show at Glastonbury until midnight. 

I ate a banana and a gel, took the running belt and got round thanks to the SIS electrolyte and a short pause for a dry heave after emerging from the subway under the A4 on Black Lion Lane. 

First run on that route since they mowed the river bank between Thames Tradesmen's and Tideway Scullers. Always a sad sight - summer already drifting away.  

I rehydrated with a protein shake before an unexpected outing to 12.30pm Mass with Grace. I didn't have time to eat before I left so I was weak and dizzy every time I had to stand or kneel. Made good with a fry-up as soon as I got in.

Relaxation and recovery not helped by work calls about cancelled shows, a dark control room, a fake ISIS flag and an imminent Grexit. Finally recovered with a sunshine snooze in the garden while being serenaded by a nearby outdoor karaoke party. 

The left foot is still red around the toe joint but now virtually pain free, thank goodness. Let's hope the rest me is tomorrow morning. 

Berlin Marathon: My First ParkRun

Wormwood Scrubs

I did my first 5km ParkRun at Wormwood Scrubs this morning. The colchicine worked its magic overnight just enough to allow me to walk and trot gingerly in the garden with endurable discomfort in the gout-addled joint of the second toe on my left foot.
So I cycled to the Scrubs and met up with a friendly bunch of 57 souls, most of them ParkRun veterans but a few newbies like me among them. Most distinctive of all were a team who'd opted for convict stripes and fun police uniforms in homage to the famous prison on the border. They were celebrating one of their number's 50th run and had travelled all the way up from Basingstoke. Apparently it's a thing to run in as many ParkRun venues as you can. Good on them.
It was Go at 9am in perfect sunny conditions and after a bit of watch fumbling I found myself on the edge of the leading group of elite runners and running rapidly out of puff. The first few metres were unexpectedly up hill across the grassland and I struggled to get a good breathing rhythm together.
In fact I couldn't believe how heavily I was breathing until a glance at my Fitbit watch revealed my pace was sub-seven-minute mile; too quick for me. I eased off and let the big boys gradually disappear into the distant flowering blackberry bushes.
By the end of the first of two laps of the bone-dry Scrubs I'd settled down and felt like I was running on my own with just the chiffchaffs for company. But as I trundled up the hill for the second time I heard heavy breathing behind me. It gradually got closer until with about half a mile to go a bloke overtook me almost apologetically. Then a young teenage boy. I couldn't go with them. I was just glad to take the welcome applause from the quickies at the finish line and kept moving until I could breathe again.
I was pleased with the time - 22:45 with an average pace of 7:24/mi. That was later upped to 22:53 by the official timer which took into account my pensioner pressing of the wrong button on my Fitbit at the start and having to set it up again.

The Strava summary (above) listed some new PBs: 4:21 for 1km, 7:07 for the mile and 14:40 for two miles. Not bad considering the foot pain and the, er, dehydrating effects of the hardcore drug. I don't suppose last night's bottle of red wine helped much either.
I rewarded myself with a protein shake followed by a sauna and a soak in the jacuzzi. Then it was time for the traditional Saturday fry-up with a less traditional colchicine tablet on the side.
The impressive ParkRun set-up texted me my time and later an email linked to the full results; I finished 15th in the race and second in my age category with a grade of 63.95%.
A decent start and something to aim for next time - minus the bloody gout.

Berlin Marathon: My Left Foot

Nice toenail

I'm injured again. It feels like gout or arthritis in the joint of the second toe of my left foot but the fact that it flared up a couple of hours after my second personal trainer session this morning makes me wonder. 

The 8am session was great. A really good hour of body conditioning; burpees, tyre jumps and flips, round-the-world push-ups, battle ropes - all brilliantly demonstrated by Yasmine. She's good at encouraging and cajoling without overdoing it. I huff and puff and feel ashamed of my bony girl arms but I can feel myself getting stronger. 

I went home feeling pleased with myself and got to work just as news was breaking of a terror decapitation in France closely followed by a tourist massacre courtesy of a lunatic jihadist in Tunisia. 

It was straight into organisation mode; getting Hala on the road to Lyon, sending updates to Max on air in Berlin, shuttling between the Newsdesk and the gallery, scrambling writers and briefing programme teams and Atlanta bosses. 

But I still felt fit and good. I even printed out my ParkRun barcode thinking I could do my first 5km run at Wormwood Scrubs tomorrow. 

The toe joint twinges started about an hour later and got gradually worse. By 12.30pm I'd popped a couple of ibuprofen with my Leon chicken tagine and I was starting to limp. By 4pm the familiar pain was pretty constant and the drugs weren't working. 

The rolling coverage meant I also had to biff an evening dash to Henley to watch Joseph's boat attempting to qualify for the regatta next week. A big blow on a lovely summer Friday. 

Did I tweak something during the session, could it have been stress related or was it just a routine acute explosion of gout? I limped out of the office at 7.30pm and despaired all the way home via the 207 bus to avoid the walk from the tube station. 

And now I sit with an ice block on my foot having swallowed a couple of colchicine tablets while enduring the lamentable Mark Ronson massacring The Smiths at Glastonbury. 

 I really hope the tabs kick in tonight. If not it's a weekend without training but I'd rather it happened now than the Friday before the marathon. 

And the best news of all - Joseph did it. Yay!

Berlin Marathon: Work-Training Balance

Trafalgar Square today

It's sometimes tough to fit in the training schedule around the full-time job. Yesterday was a good example. I had to be at work at 8.30am and I didn't fancy a 6am run even though I knew I wouldn't have any time for a workout during the day.

The Calais migrant story meant I didn't leave the office until 9pm and went straight to The Clachan with the editorial team for a couple of celebratory pints of Meantime London Pale Ale before heading home. So no training. 

This morning I took revenge. I went to the 9am editorial meeting, set the news wheels in motion then ducked out for a five-mile run along the Thames. It was fabulous. Warm and sunny, running into a cool breeze on the way out on the south bank and running back with the light wind behind me. 

I felt out of puff in the final mile but my right foot felt fine and I returned to the office by noon with a lightly-perspired white shirt and a mood buoyed by the summer sights of a golden Parliament and the imperious London Eye glinting in the mid-June joyfulness. 

It was also a pretty quick run - one of the miles was around 7'30, so go me. 

I headed back to work, revived and refreshed, via a photo-op in a sun-kissed Trafalgar Square. 

Berlin Marathon: The Spin Zone

Back on track with a booze-free rest day yesterday but the top of my right foot still felt a bit wobbly today so I opted out of a scheduled 40-minute run and in to the 45-minute 7.35pm spinning class at the Virgin Active cycle zone with Dean. 

Dean is cool. Strength of a sprinter and the grace of a panther. In spinning classes I've been to before the instructor sits on their bike at the front, over-modding into their lip mic over blaring pump thump noise. 

Dean is different. He circulates, he encourages, cajoles, calls the tap-tap-tap rhythm at pedal level and makes his orders clear. 

I'm still struggling to make spinning work for me, though. I give it my best shot and work up a decent sweat but the Fitbit stats suggest I'm not working hard enough. I'm outside the peak cardio zone and trundling along in the slow lane. I obviously need to ramp up the resistance and boost the cadence. I'll give it another go soon. 

The eternal effort to cut eat healthily is going well, though. Muesli for breakfast and salads for lunch and dinner so far this week. Only a delicious Magnum let me down tonight. And it was worth it.