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| Look at all that green! Green is good! |
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| I had Board meetings on 4th, 19th & 28th February. Can you tell? |
Thursday, 28 February 2013
February's cake chart of general greeniness
.....featuring the wiggle chart of Board meetings
Sunday, 24 February 2013
Busy doing nothing
CS is a man of few words. In fact he mainly communicates through grunts and sighs with occasional hand gestures. But when he does say something, it tends to be very important.
Like this Friday, when he said, simply, "Enough". I then had to play a game of charades with him to figure out exactly what he was referring to.
I'm still not sure to be honest, but it got me thinking.
I've been following this slow half marathon training plan for numpties on and off for at least seven weeks. This means that I have been thinking about running here there and everywhere. I've been talking about running here there and everywhere. I've also actually been running here there and everywhere. Which means that CS has been standing in the cold here there and everywhere. Cheerfully & Soulfully as his name implies. But also I suspect Coldlfully and Boredfully. He has LoR with him with all my medical supplies, so I probably need to add Worriedfully to the list of fullys that he was perhaps trying to mime.
He e-mailed me confirmation of a ferry ticket to the Isle of Wight for this weekend (oh yes, he e-mails a lot, but doesn't say much in his e-mails either). From this I assumed that he was going to see his folks. I asked him if this was correct. I got a "D'oh" in response, which I think was an affirmative. I asked him if he wanted me to come too. I got an "Errrrrrrm?" in response, which I think was an affirmative too. I asked if we were bringing our bikes. I got an "Unghhhh" in response, which I took to be a "shut the eff up about bl**dy bikes, bl**dy running and bl**dy triathlons. Can't we just do b*gger *ll this weekend?". Although I might have misplaced some of the asterisks. Or completely misinterpreted.
Anyway, this weekend we did bu**er *ll on the Isle of Wight And it was wonderful***.
***Mainly because his dad has got a load of triathlon books and magazines, and I spent the whole weekend reading them.
Like this Friday, when he said, simply, "Enough". I then had to play a game of charades with him to figure out exactly what he was referring to.
I'm still not sure to be honest, but it got me thinking.
I've been following this slow half marathon training plan for numpties on and off for at least seven weeks. This means that I have been thinking about running here there and everywhere. I've been talking about running here there and everywhere. I've also actually been running here there and everywhere. Which means that CS has been standing in the cold here there and everywhere. Cheerfully & Soulfully as his name implies. But also I suspect Coldlfully and Boredfully. He has LoR with him with all my medical supplies, so I probably need to add Worriedfully to the list of fullys that he was perhaps trying to mime.
He e-mailed me confirmation of a ferry ticket to the Isle of Wight for this weekend (oh yes, he e-mails a lot, but doesn't say much in his e-mails either). From this I assumed that he was going to see his folks. I asked him if this was correct. I got a "D'oh" in response, which I think was an affirmative. I asked him if he wanted me to come too. I got an "Errrrrrrm?" in response, which I think was an affirmative too. I asked if we were bringing our bikes. I got an "Unghhhh" in response, which I took to be a "shut the eff up about bl**dy bikes, bl**dy running and bl**dy triathlons. Can't we just do b*gger *ll this weekend?". Although I might have misplaced some of the asterisks. Or completely misinterpreted.
Anyway, this weekend we did bu**er *ll on the Isle of Wight And it was wonderful***.
***Mainly because his dad has got a load of triathlon books and magazines, and I spent the whole weekend reading them.
Sunday, 17 February 2013
Saturday, 9 February 2013
Run, parkrun (Forrest), run! - DRAFT
My new half marathon training plan is minimalist. There's very little training and no plan. In fact the only thing I have to do is run a half marathon. I should like the sound of that training plan, and normally I would. Except that half marathon is next weekend.
I can't just turn up and run on the day. No, I have to do SOMETHING beforehand. Something to make me think that I can actually finish. I mean I haven't even walked 13.something miles in one go, how in hell am I going to run that distance in 8 days? Well, according to lots of people who know what they're talking about, it's easy. I don't. Woohoo, my minimalist training plan just got more minimalist.
But if you look hard enough on the internet you will find an answer you want - even if it's not the right one. Apparently I need to do a long run the week before. Not quite as long as a half marathon, but longer than I have ever run before. Hmmmm, so maybe it's more of a training plan than I first thought. Which means that Inspirational Steve might not be as loony as I thought.
My longest "long run" so far has been a very slow 12k, and that was with a following wind (home-made lentil soup doesn't count as a performance-enhancing drug as far as I know). I've been meaning to run to parkun, run parkrun and then run back from parkrun for ages, but I've only been able to do it with asterisks*. However, today is make or break. Today I have to run without asterisks.
Reader, I did it. A whole 17k of mainly running, with a teensy weensy bit of walking. I then slept for a week.
1) Unexpected CS
2) Yoga for runners with Bionic Kay, giggles, and Inspirational Steve's torture
3) Being caught out by Fiona on Facebook
* "run*, parkrun, run*" involves replacing the word run* with drive.
http://really-trying.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/unexpected-parkrun-in-preston-area.html
I can't just turn up and run on the day. No, I have to do SOMETHING beforehand. Something to make me think that I can actually finish. I mean I haven't even walked 13.something miles in one go, how in hell am I going to run that distance in 8 days? Well, according to lots of people who know what they're talking about, it's easy. I don't. Woohoo, my minimalist training plan just got more minimalist.
But if you look hard enough on the internet you will find an answer you want - even if it's not the right one. Apparently I need to do a long run the week before. Not quite as long as a half marathon, but longer than I have ever run before. Hmmmm, so maybe it's more of a training plan than I first thought. Which means that Inspirational Steve might not be as loony as I thought.
My longest "long run" so far has been a very slow 12k, and that was with a following wind (home-made lentil soup doesn't count as a performance-enhancing drug as far as I know). I've been meaning to run to parkun, run parkrun and then run back from parkrun for ages, but I've only been able to do it with asterisks*. However, today is make or break. Today I have to run without asterisks.
Reader, I did it. A whole 17k of mainly running, with a teensy weensy bit of walking. I then slept for a week.
1) Unexpected CS
2) Yoga for runners with Bionic Kay, giggles, and Inspirational Steve's torture
3) Being caught out by Fiona on Facebook
* "run*, parkrun, run*" involves replacing the word run* with drive.
http://really-trying.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/unexpected-parkrun-in-preston-area.html
Monday, 4 February 2013
A: I'll tell you later
I got an e-mail from one of the running groups that I signed up for but never went to. Someone had to pull out of the Brighton Half and was offering their place to anyone who was interested in exchange for a donation to a charity helping very cute puppies. I am now the proud owner of a race number, but you have to call me Catherine.
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| How could I resist? |
Sunday, 3 February 2013
Chichester 10k
It's not the same without sis, whatever her name is at the time, but she made the decision not to get out of bed unless there's a medal involved, and this race gives mugs to finishers. So at stupid o'clock in the morning CS, LoR and I headed off to Chichester whilst sis was tucked up in bed under a nice warm duvet/man/delete as appropriate
Instead of sis, I ran with a beepy thing on my wrist. A shiny new huge orange beepy thing about the size of a laptop. It's one of those contraptions that tells you everything you wanted to know, a lot of things you don't, and a bunch of things you will never understand about the activity you are currently doing. People in the know call it a Garmin.
As I may have mentioned before (but may have been far to embarrassed), CS got me one of these Garmin contraptions for Christmas. About a month before Christmas. As I may have mentioned before (but may have been far to embarrassed) I have a MSc in Astrophysics. Could I work out how to use the Garmin? Could I hell. It took me two months to figure out how to switch it on, let alone get it to tell me things I will never understand. I still can't get it to tell me the time*.
What it did tell me was that I finished the race in 1hr 1min and 57 seconds (I wanted to know that), I should have died of a heart attack in the process (I didn't want to know that), and that the elevation corrections were disabled (not sure what that means). So it did the job just fine.
Boring race report
I will let the Garmin do the talking.....
I'm not sure what's better, smashing my PB by over 5 minutes, or not dying in the process. I feel so chuffed about this result, so much better than I thought I'd do. I wonder what I could do if I tried a little bit harder?
NOTE TO SELF. Do NOT immediately sign up for another race. Especially one that's longer, harder and involves lots of stress. Definitely ignore e-mails from people who entered the Brighton Half but got injured and are offering their place in exchange for a donation to charity. Even if that charity helps very cute puppies.
* Ha! Guess what? It can't!
Instead of sis, I ran with a beepy thing on my wrist. A shiny new huge orange beepy thing about the size of a laptop. It's one of those contraptions that tells you everything you wanted to know, a lot of things you don't, and a bunch of things you will never understand about the activity you are currently doing. People in the know call it a Garmin.
As I may have mentioned before (but may have been far to embarrassed), CS got me one of these Garmin contraptions for Christmas. About a month before Christmas. As I may have mentioned before (but may have been far to embarrassed) I have a MSc in Astrophysics. Could I work out how to use the Garmin? Could I hell. It took me two months to figure out how to switch it on, let alone get it to tell me things I will never understand. I still can't get it to tell me the time*.
What it did tell me was that I finished the race in 1hr 1min and 57 seconds (I wanted to know that), I should have died of a heart attack in the process (I didn't want to know that), and that the elevation corrections were disabled (not sure what that means). So it did the job just fine.
Boring race report
I will let the Garmin do the talking.....
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| What my Garmin had to say about the race. I ran 10.16k in 1:01:56 minutes and my heart exploded |
NOTE TO SELF. Do NOT immediately sign up for another race. Especially one that's longer, harder and involves lots of stress. Definitely ignore e-mails from people who entered the Brighton Half but got injured and are offering their place in exchange for a donation to charity. Even if that charity helps very cute puppies.
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| What, no medal? Just a stupid mug. On the RIGHT. |
* Ha! Guess what? It can't!
Saturday, 2 February 2013
Q: Who is more foolish - the fool, or the fool who follows him?
Or her of course, wouldn't want to be politically incorrect. Unlike CS, who is a closet Tory - can you get more politically incorrect than that?
Last week I reported that my training plan wasn't going to plan. Partly because I'm allergic to planning, but mainly because I'd lost the link to the training plan I was supposed to be following.
I also reported that although I was lucky enough to know a whole bunch of inspirational people who are also great runners, I felt I couldn't ask them for help. Partly because I don't like asking for help, but mainly because I feel that I can't live up to their expectations, no matter how low they set them.
I'm not really helping, am I?
I sat myself down and gave myself another one of those talks I give myself when I need a kick up the arse*. This one had something to do with resolutions and promises and triathlons - to be honest I stopped listening after I realised I wasn't going to talk about cake any time soon.
But then I remembered my blog. This blog. It's called "Really trying to be really athletic". And I like writing it. I can't carry on writing it if I don't really try any more. So I did what anyone would do in my situation - I met Inspirational Steve for a coffee.
What was I thinking?
Last week I reported that Inspirational Steve taught himself to run by running until he bled, and then ran some more, and I wasn't making that up. I did however miss out one small detail. He bled so much he needed stitches so he stopped, stitched himself up and then started again.
This week I met him for coffee, and confessed that I was struggling with my training plan. We had a quick chat about it...
Me - "I'm struggling with my training plan"
Inspirational Steve (IS) - "No worries - Just run the Brighton Half in two weeks and see how it goes"
Awkward pause
IS - "I can lend you my first aid kit if you need to stop any bleeding"
Awkward pause
Me - "Did I tell you that I have a Steve-ometer which ranges from 'Inspirational' to 'Annoying'?"
Awkward pause
What was he thinking?
But it got me thinking. Should I? Could I? Would I? I considered it far enough to check the website to see if there were any places left. Nope, sold out in November. Phew, lucky escape there.
I can't decide who is more deluded - Steve for suggesting I run a half marathon in two weeks time, or me for considering it.
* I find it easier to talk to myself than give myself a kick up the arse, unlike those people at Cirque de Soleil who I went to see last night. Wow, they are BENDY.
Last week I reported that my training plan wasn't going to plan. Partly because I'm allergic to planning, but mainly because I'd lost the link to the training plan I was supposed to be following.
I also reported that although I was lucky enough to know a whole bunch of inspirational people who are also great runners, I felt I couldn't ask them for help. Partly because I don't like asking for help, but mainly because I feel that I can't live up to their expectations, no matter how low they set them.
I'm not really helping, am I?
I sat myself down and gave myself another one of those talks I give myself when I need a kick up the arse*. This one had something to do with resolutions and promises and triathlons - to be honest I stopped listening after I realised I wasn't going to talk about cake any time soon.
But then I remembered my blog. This blog. It's called "Really trying to be really athletic". And I like writing it. I can't carry on writing it if I don't really try any more. So I did what anyone would do in my situation - I met Inspirational Steve for a coffee.
What was I thinking?
Last week I reported that Inspirational Steve taught himself to run by running until he bled, and then ran some more, and I wasn't making that up. I did however miss out one small detail. He bled so much he needed stitches so he stopped, stitched himself up and then started again.
This week I met him for coffee, and confessed that I was struggling with my training plan. We had a quick chat about it...
Me - "I'm struggling with my training plan"
Inspirational Steve (IS) - "No worries - Just run the Brighton Half in two weeks and see how it goes"
Awkward pause
IS - "I can lend you my first aid kit if you need to stop any bleeding"
Awkward pause
Me - "Did I tell you that I have a Steve-ometer which ranges from 'Inspirational' to 'Annoying'?"
Awkward pause
What was he thinking?
But it got me thinking. Should I? Could I? Would I? I considered it far enough to check the website to see if there were any places left. Nope, sold out in November. Phew, lucky escape there.
I can't decide who is more deluded - Steve for suggesting I run a half marathon in two weeks time, or me for considering it.
* I find it easier to talk to myself than give myself a kick up the arse, unlike those people at Cirque de Soleil who I went to see last night. Wow, they are BENDY.
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