Be Excellent To Each Other

The private sector, once again demonstrating how the fires of competition enable them to agilely respond and adapt to known obstacles.

Anyone heard from Kov?

Today I did my first marathon.

Congratulations on completing the Therme Manchester Marathon in 05:25:33.

I am very happy with that.

He posted on Facebook in the last 11 minutes - he’s successfully completed the marathon, but I’ll let him come and post a proper update

//edit: Curse you!!!!

(Well done mate, amazing achievement!)

I just did

Epic congratulations, Kov! That’s a huge achievement, and in fancy dress, too! Were you actually carrying the mallet with you?

Nice one dude, you've done it! Congratulations when are you booking the next one?

Incredible effort, well done.

Congratulations!

Good work Kov. Did it have chocolate inside?

Entered the ballet for London.

That'll keep you on your toes

Ffs. To be fair I was tired.

Haha, cracking Kov - hope you get in. I've entered every year for the past 4-5 years

Excellent job. I forgive you for disrupting my working day. In fact, I thank you for allowing me to ditch two jobs that I didn't particularly want to do.

Me too.

Stairs are not my friend today..

I'm in that ballot, too.

That's awesome, Kov. I don't think marathons are for me, running a half takes it out of me for a while I think a marathon would destroy me.

Yes I thought that as i passed half way yesterday..

I am an aeroplane.....

And not a Jumbo Jet.

Very coordinated. You look happy, and that’s a great picture x x x

I was very happy. It was near the end

Despite the best efforts of MerseyRail to ruin it by cancelling the train in the morning, I managed a 1-44 half marathon around Liverpool. I was aiming for 1-45 then I decided to try to go faster but my legs were not having it.

I saw some people I knew but manage to miss Gaz and Jem. Sorry Gaz and Jem.

Rest for a couple of weeks now.

We left earlier than originally planned anyway - having had virtually sod all sleep in the hotel the night before I was knackered, and Gaz had to relieve my sister of dogsitting duties. I waved to Wendy though!

I don't actually know what my time was, strava is giving me two different times and my chip time will be massively influenced by the fact we stood for 20 minutes waiting for the loo ended up supporting a friend rather than going balls out anyway, so basically treating it as a long training run. Don't think I'm due to support anyone at Ironbridge in a fortnight so might push myself around that horrible course.

1:44 seems very fast! Well done.

My walking plans were ruined this weekend (the swimming plans were long gone, as the recent rain had caused the river to be far too dangerous).

On Saturday, ,my ankle wasn't feeling that great, so I checked the forecast for Sunday and saw that it wasn't too bad. So I planned to go then.

When I woke up on Sunday, it was torrential rain, which was forecast all day. When it got to midday it did look better, but the forecast was for more of the same (and looking up at the moors when I went to the shops, they were all in clouds)

So no walking for me (I don't think I will make my monthly target - need to hit 40k by Sunday!) and it's left me a bit down (especially as the clocks go back on Saturday night

Have to go bright.

It is cold, dark, and wet, so I the next thing for me to do is "How fast can I run a 5k?".

22:22 is the time to beat!

Spent £25 on A Plan.

All my fastest 5Ks have been at the end of a 10K, but if I try to just run a fast 5K then I set off too fast and can't hold on. There must be some technique to this.

I suspect the answer is "six weeks of ever increasing intervals, with less rest in between until it is a 5k interval.

Different answers for levels of fitness, so I guess gauging the latter is the thing. Consistent effort is great, but my quickest went from going off too fast, and clinging on (but also having someone to chase, and also being fit enough that I didn't slow too much). I distinctly remember a couple where I thought "I'm running quicker than I can!" I'm sure I've forgotten several where I went off too quick and struggled.

Yeah, I think warming up before setting off might help too. I'd really like to be able to get under 20 mins one day but I'm already 48 and I wonder if that ship might be sailing away faster than I can really catch it.

Keep nudging, and who knows? (You, most likely.) But still - again, fitness depending, but a nice 20 min or so warm up is definitely ideal in my experience, fwiw - more than 30 maybe a bit too much, but it's an annoyingly long time nonetheless.

There's a parkrun that's an easy 20 min jog from my house so I might start hitting that up, always someone around the right pace to try and stick with.

Sounds ideal. And if it's one I haven't done, you'll be giving me powerful envy every time I see it on Strava.

Continuing my wild swimming into November

Water was painfully cold and took 3 in-outs to get used to it. My fingers found it really hard to pull my socks up and do up my laces after. My feet took the best part of an hour to stop feeling like ice cubes.

Do you go wild swimming with a group, Malc?

No, just me, I'd like company, but a group wouldn't fit in the small section of river, where I go swimming.

I do worry a little that I'm on my own up on the moors, but I take precautions by sharing my location on my phone with my family, and I know the route really well now.

I was more worrying about what support you have if you suffer from extreme cold whilst swimming out there. Could you find a group that goes swimming somewhere else accessible, for the colder months?

My friend goes sea swimming all year around (right through January and February), but goes with a group so they’d re all there to support each other in case of difficulties.

That's one of the reasons I'd like someone to go with me.

I do think I'm good at assessing the risk. And I had plenty of layers of clothes to wear straight after the swim. (I was down to T-Shirt and shorts again after an hour of walking)


I limit myself to 30 minutes in the water, and I'd come out sooner if I started feeling too cold before then.

I'd like to keep it up through winter, but, I'm also realistic, and if I feel it's too cold I'm not going to be silly.

I know it's not ideal, but because I know that, I take as few risks as possible.

Shin bone is swollen. It Is not going away, either, and I think I wil make it worse even if I continue.

I think I will be calling it a year at 921km, and it's been a super achieving year. Start again in January.

wtf? That sounds horrible. What causes a swollen shin bone?

Shin splints. Feels and looks swollen and prodding it hurts.

Urgh. Hope it gets better quickly but yeah it seems like a decent amount of rest from running is sensible.

How it gets better soon...

Cheers, but it is getting worse!

Are your trainers ok, some folks at the running club have had issue and swapping trainers helped.

Trainers feel fine. Toward the end of the red lair's life I was getting pains, so swapped them out for the new yellow pair and pains went. What I suspect is the issue is that I'm old and need a rest for a bit.

When I recover and start anew I'll see. It it felt like someone drawing a poker down my shin last night as I was on the sofa.

That's rubbish, rest completely for a bit and then maybe try a bike or swimming? I say that but I hate doing either of those things and absolutely dread something that stops me from running.