Running: Ho Yus!

Posted on April 1, 2014 by theroamingmind

20140402-002022.jpgThe River Lagan, wot I sometimes run beside (but not today)

I was a bit apprehensive about tonight’s run, because my last one, on Sunday, was horrible. My legs felt like dead leather weights, and every step was a struggle. I jacked it in after fifteen minutes, sore, wheezing and miserable.

But tonight turned the tables – it was the best run of the year so far! One of those effortless ones, where your legs take off like a wound-up clockwork toy, and you’re just a passenger sitting on top of them while they do all the work. 🙂

Stats – 3.9 miles in 30 minutes. Which by my standards is amazing, especially after Sunday. It also means I hit the 5km mark around 25 minutes! On Saturday I was aiming for 35 minutes for 5km, saying “every minute below that is a bonus”.

So yeah. I’m slightly buzzing.

Now, the Map My Run was being too generous. And by my reckoning and map measuring, it was only 3.5 miles. But that’s still a 5km well below 30 mins.

But more importantly. Forget the stats, it felt bloody brilliant! More runs like this, please!

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Couch to 5k: Moving on

Posted on March 28, 2014 by theroamingmind

For the past lot of runs I’ve been feeling that the C25k plan is holding me back, so I’m going to ditch it. It’s a good training programme, but for me, it’s done its job – and that job was really to make running a habit once again.

The principle of it – basically to build it up gradually – is perfectly sound. I’ll keep doing that, but just tailor it more to my own needs.

I started off with a decent level of fitness from hiking: some people doing couch-to-5k have obstacles to overcome in terms of age, weight, and health that I just don’t, so I’m ready for a bit more. Not to denigrate people who find it tough, far from it! They’re to be admired all the more for it – the only thing I have to overcome is plain old laziness. Some people start the programme in their sixties, after heart surgery. That’s massively more impressive, no matter about paces, times or distances.

Saturday will be my first proper 5k, and I’m looking forward to it. So, what’s the gameplan?

Well, not much. Having plans is just a way to tempt fate. 😉

But, I’ve a vague figure of 35 mins in my head. I’d settle for that for a first time. And I’ll admit to a slight bit of vanity – I’d rather not finish last, or last in age category, but I don’t care that much.

It’s three laps, so if there is a plan it’s to run two, take a walking breather for a minute or two, then run to the finish.

But we’ll see. My main priority is just to enjoy it!

No doubt there’ll be a report and photos here at some stage over the weekend.

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Couch to 5k: Week 3, Day 1.

Posted on March 4, 2014 by theroamingmind

Well, that was weird.

This is the “break-even” week of the programme, when the proportion of running is equal to that of walking. And I was expecting to find it harder. But truth be told, it was the easiest workout yet! I’m a bit disappointed it wasn’t more challenging.

I took it at a fairly relaxed pace, but the extra running meant that the average pace was chopped from 11-12 minutes per mile to 7 or thereabouts.

For day two, I think I’ll see if I can work on speed a bit more. Maybe I was too cautious – I felt like I could do it all over again when I’d finished.

Still. A little more progress every time. The shortest workout yet time-wise, but it covered the longest distance. So it’s heading in the right direction!

But I’m impatient.

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Couch-to-5k: End of week two

Posted on February 28, 2014 by theroamingmind

Well, that’s the second week over. It took more than two weeks because I missed running a couple of days.

That was the first run in daylight hours, and spring is definitely here. There’s still going to be plenty of heavy rain, and maybe even snow, between now and summer, but the Sun doesn’t lie. She knows about seasons. They’re her thing.

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I’m not sticking rigidly to the C-5k programme. Today I did the planned session and repeated half of it. I’m looking forward to starting week three, because it’s starting to feel like time to step it up a bit.

Discoveries of the day:

  • A new route down to the glen, that I never knew existed! This needs exploration another day
  • That this area is more drumlin-y when running than it is when walking
  • That there are far more runners about in the early afternoon than you’d think.

Aye. So, week three, Letsby Avenue!

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Run, rabbit: C25k Week two, Day two

Posted on February 21, 2014 by theroamingmind

Best run yet since I’ve restarted! The first time I’ve gone over two miles.

This really wasn’t meant to be a running blog, and I’m not going to post about every single run I do. That would bore you to tears, as much as it would me! But the odd progress report won’t hurt.

Stats: 2.01 miles, 1.5 mins running to 2 mins walking. Still at the more-walk-than-run end of the programme.

It’s strange. I could walk 25 miles at a brisk stride, no bother at all. I am, generally, pretty fit. But a brief little run can still take it out of me at this stage! Give it time. I’ll get there. I had to work hard at the end to push over that 2-mile barrier. 😉

Observation of the day: when you’re running down suburban streets past gardens, it’s amazing how strongly scented the plants are! So much stronger than you notice when walking past. It must be the deep breathing that does it.

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Running, day 2

Posted on February 11, 2014 by theroamingmind

I did the second run tonight, a bit behind schedule. It should have been done at the weekend.

Again, no special route, and again more walking than running. But that’s all part of the plan.

Still, minor improvements: tonight was an 11-minute mile average instead of a 13-minute mile. Progress is progress!

Wednesday should be the next night, but it probably won’t be. Thursday is earmarked for hiking in the hills, so I’d rather not start the day with stiff legs.

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Running Again

Posted on February 6, 2014 by theroamingmind

running in wee white trainers
Tonight I started running again. It was the first time in…well, years probably, now that I think about it. So I’m starting from scratch with the couch-to-5k programme.

It’s not yet truly running, as at this stage it’s actually more walking than running. I felt like I could push myself more, but that’ll come. I’m just aiming to ease back into it.

Stats: 1.72 miles, about 20 minutes, about a 13-minute mile. So, not really much to write home about – but getting off my ass and starting again is half the battle!

Lessons:

  • Music. Could do with some music as I run.
  • Route. A nicer route would be good. I just ran up and down random streets in the area.
  • Time of day. It might be an idea to get out for a run before half ten at night! But then I’ve always been more of a night bird…

I’d rate it a 3/5 run. It felt good, I wanted to do more, and I’m looking forward to the next day.

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The Palm House, Botanic Gardens, Belfast.

Posted on January 28, 2014 by theroamingmind

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She’s not bad looking for a 174 year old! The palm house in Belfast is one of the oldest in the world.

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Templecorran Churchyard

Posted on January 17, 2014 by theroamingmind

Just yards away from James Orr‘s grave is the ruined church of Templecorran.

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If you were here in the late seventeenth century, you might have heard the voice of Jonathan Swift drifting out of the building.

If you were here in the early 1600s, you might have heard Edward Brice, the first Presbyterian minister in Ireland. (Although a Presbyterian, he held a position in the established Anglican church – things weren’t quite so cut-and-dried at that point in time.)

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Of course, it wasn’t necessarily all prayer, hymn and sermon. At certain points around the building, you can still see loopholes in the wall, used by the musket men inside.

If you went back even earlier still, perhaps a thousand years ago, you’d find yourself in the middle of a massive Christian settlement. It was only in the 1980s that people realised how big the site originally was – aerial photographs clearly revealed the original boundaries. Early Christian graves have also been found far outside the modern churchyard. (The early Christian site may have been abandoned due to Vikings, but who knows. Some historians just have Vikings on the brain…)

The graveyard’s still in use. While we were there, we met a few people leaving Christmas wreaths on the family grave.

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A thousand years of burials, all in this one little spot. There must just be something about burying your dead up a hill that appeals to the human mind.

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Templecorran – Remember Orr!

Posted on January 10, 2014 by theroamingmind

On a soggy December Antrim day, we found ourselves trudging around near Larne, up a soggy hill, with a biting wind gnawing our knuckles. We were at the grave of James Orr. Not by design, it has to be said – that’s just where the wind blew us.

James Orr was one of the Ulster “Weaver Poets”. He wrote about local themes, local landscapes, and local folk in local lingo. Which isn’t in any way a slight – as another great Ulster poet once remarked, “all great civilisations are founded upon the parish”.

He took part in the United Irishmen’s rebellion in 1798, and fought in the Battle of Antrim. After that defeat, he went into hiding in the Antrim hills, before escaping to America. His commander, Henry Joy McCracken, was captured and executed before he got that far. A lot of his poems draw on his experience of the rebellion and flight to America.

After he died his grave was unmarked for fifteen years, until this monument was erected by the Masonic lodge Orr had belonged to.

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The grave is in Templecorran churchyard, which is also the site of an interesting old ruined church. But we’re up a hill being pelted by wind and rain, so that’s a story for another day.

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