Jun 23, 2023 | Legs!, Writing
For those interested, I posted on Substack earlier. The piece is here:
Correlations and Causations.
After posting that, I went out for a jog. I’ve already run 2 x 5ks this week and my plan was to have a shorter run just to keep the legs in trim before a longer run at the weekend. All was going well until I hit some loose gravel and couldn’t stop myself tumbling. I count myself lucky that I got away with scrapes and grazes, although I damaged my glasses and they will cost money to fix, even with insurance covering half of it. (Normally I don’t wear my ‘good’ glasses when I’m running but I got lazy today.) Anyway, I’ll rest for a day or so in case there are any hidden problems waiting to emerge (such as bruising) but I’ll also take the 2k that I ran towards my weekly total 🙂
The annoying thing is, I really was just out jogging without pushing it, but my pace (for me) was quite good…
Jun 19, 2023 | Got My Bus Pass
To the ancient town of Leith! Or part way there at least, by tram now that the extension down Leith Walk is open.
I took the tram today from Balgreen to about two thirds of the way down Leith Walk. Strolling back up the Walk in the sunshine, passing many many people enjoying the café/pavement culture that has sprung up, while trams clanged their way up and down, the whole thing suddenly felt very European and alive in a way that the number 12 bus never so much as hinted at, and certainly wasn’t true when I first came here in 1977.
Previously, I doubted the need for the single line of the Edinburgh Tram because we already have a very good public transit system. I think that I was wrong about that; I now think the tram brings something new. Ironically, given the devastation to businesses that tram works have wrought, I reckon that the tramline will open things up in unexpected ways.
Edinburgh and Leith have always been in states of constant change, not always for the better; currently the city feels like it’s on an upswing, however much we residents find to grumble about.
Jun 15, 2023 | Uncategorized
On 4 June I wrote here (Still Boppin’ Through the Wild Blue) outlining my plan for running. I was tempting fate – I’ve come down with my first cold for a long time. I thought I’d been bug-free since before the pandemic, but I see I last wrote here about being under the weather in December 2020.
I long ago learned that it is a mistake to try to run or take any other sustained exercise when my body is dealing with something else, so all of this week has been spent feeling grotty and resting.
I have found myself thinking about running and nutrition on a low-carb regime. This is not an issue at 5k or 10k – water is about all you need for them. Once you get beyond that distance, then hydration and electrolytes become increasingly important. As part of my research, I contacted two people whom I chanced across on the internets. I won’t name either of them. The first was a respected senior medical consultant and professor of medicine, the second an American who blogs on running and diet.
The professor, who turns out to be a runner, wrote back quickly offering a few tips as to what they have found works for them. The American blogger declined to say anything at all to avoid liability issues – unless I paid them up to $200 for a personalised consultation and plan. There’s something lurking there about the monetisation of social contact and depersonalisation, but I’m too stuffed up to think it through.
There has been more happening, but I’m off to sip Lemsip now.
Jun 5, 2023 | Sugar, Ah Honey Honey
For those who are interested, I have a new post on Substack
The Scores on the Doors
Jun 4, 2023 | Legs!
Old Faithful
I wrote in my last post that I was cranking up my couch to 5K routine again. Slightly to my surprise, I’ve completed two 5k runs in the last three days – this morning’s was a 6k.
I’ll be resting my legs for a few days now for family reasons, but this morning’s 6k tells me a few things, one of which is that 6k is probably about my present limit and therefore a benchmark. The other things it tells me are,
- the muscle memory is there from last year and my swimming has kept up cardio and general fitness levels over winter and spring.
- so long as I’m sensible, patient and don’t do anything stupid, 10k fitness is achievable by autumn (sooner, probably, but it depends on whether the summer gets really hot again.)
- even though I felt towards the end that I was slogging, in fact my watch says that I jogged every kilometre in exactly 7 minutes (except the first where I had to wait for traffic to cross a road).
- I used my old running soundtrack on an original iPod shuffle (pictured), and at the 3km mark – a bridge next to Murrayfield Stadium – I was slower than young me by a whole Immigrant Song. It used to begin when I reached that bridge, this morning it was just finishing as I got there. I’m OK with that – my legs are older. However I do recall that 15 years ago I was doing intensity sessions in the gym at work, so I think part of my routine now will include sessions of running a measured distance, say 500m or 1km, harder than I would normally jog, then rest and repeat.
- if I can get to 10k fitness later this year, then it becomes feasible to start the work needed to build that out to a half-marathon in 2024.
Wait – what? Yes, another attempt at a half marathon is in my mind for next year. The last one, in 2009, was an odd occasion – I completed the run in 2 hrs 08 min then fainted and ended up being checked out in hospital. That was when my blood pressure issues were uncovered. To run one again means my training has to recognise that I’m 14 years older, but I’m also 13 kilos (28.6lbs) lighter than I was then, believe it or not. My pace in 2009 was around 6 minutes per kilometre, so my 7 minute pace this morning isn’t too bad for an auld yin.
Don’t go getting excited. There’s a long way between now and then and the reality is that injuries can happen however sensible you are, and they take longer to heal now than they did in the past. Nonetheless, it’s a plan.
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