Get On, Clip In, Fall Off

The ups and downs of running

The last time we left our intrepid hero (that's me) I'd just finished my first run. It should be noted that this is a fairly liberal interpretation of the word "run", considering that in reality it was a 28-minute attempt to walk, run and stagger a distance of just over two miles (3.6km). Still, I'd managed to finish it without dropping dead, which was the first obstacle. "From now on in", say the gurus, "it should just get better".

I took the next day off for two reasons. Firstly, the gurus all give stern warnings about not having plenty of days off at the beginning as your body needs time off to repair the damage and work on building up muscles and whatnot (technical term). Secondly, my legs hurt. The next day I went out again and did the same run, only this time it took me 0:25:38, which is two minutes faster. I also ran more than I did the first time. After another run two days later the time was 0:21:52, with a comment in my running log about "bananas and pre-emptive Ventolin". It looked like I was starting to get used to this running lark, even if what I was doing still couldn't technically be described as running.

On the Saturday morning I got up, had breakfast, went out for a run, realised why it's stupid to do that after you've just eaten and cut the run short, staggering home and deciding not to do that again. The next day (yes! the first two consecutive days!) I managed the full 3.6km, but it was a hot day and I felt like throwing up afterwards. Yuck. After all this, it was pleasantly gratifying a couple of days later to be able to write "Zero walking!" in my log.

Of course, "zero" means "zero voluntary walking" in this context - the disadvantage of running round the streets of Surbiton and Kingston for at least part of the route is that your speed is at least partially dictated by the need to cross roads without getting run over. It can be rather useful to have to stop to wait for traffic if you're a bit knackered, though - not only do you get to have a bit of a breather, but you get to look as if you're only standing still through having to wait for the traffic. Double whammy! Hurrah!

What this meant, of course, was that I needed to start making my runs (now I could properly call them runs because they actually involved running) longer. Out came streetmap.co.uk and a piece of string, and I found a nice little extension that brought the run up to 5km. This route was christened "Kingston Yuppies" because the far end of the loop involved running through the astonishingly expensive flats about 200m short of Kingston Bridge while the designer patrons of the various cafes around the base of the buildings looked at me in a way that said "Running? I thought that was something you did on a treadmill in the gym, darling!".

Anyway - over the following couple of weeks, despite the sore legs, being harangued by odd women on the Kingston riverside path and having abuse hurled at me by brats on bikes, getting soaked when it rained, twinges, stitches and wheeziness, I got gradually less rubbish and this evening finally managed to run five miles (five point three, in fact - 8.6km) without stopping. It took 46 minutes 19 seconds, which means that my average speed was 11.1km/h. I always seem to run at 11km/h - my last twelve runs have all averaged 11 +/-0.3km/h. If I try and run slower, I run at 11km/h. If I try and run faster, I still run at 11km/h but get more knackered anyway.

My legs still hurt afterwards, though.

Posted by mpk at September 26, 2004 4:42 PM | TrackBack