I Drink, therefore I Run

A short post this week, as I am sitting here with a bit of a cold, feeling sorry for myself! Of course this should really form part of next week's blog, but there you are. A couple of runs, nothing spectacular. A difficult week to get in mid-week exercise, with 3 days out up and down the country. Sunday Long Run was on my own, and as such I put in a good time - 15 miles at my proposed marathon pace - and not too wiped out on my return. So, all good. (hence disappointing to be 'grounded' tonight!). The solitary mile was, as always, the quick dash into Romsey on Saturday for a forgotten ingredient, as we prepared foods etc for next weekend's guests. Wine of the week was a delight - from a mixed case of villages 2007 Rhone wines. It was Coudoulet de Beaucastel 2007 (about £15-£17 a bottle, at Berry Bros.), the second wine of the esteemed estate Chateau Beaucastel in Chateauneuf du Papes. It is on land that is just outside the boundary of the famous wine (in fact it is the...

The week of the Hursley 10k arrives! Two short but fast runs in the week, then a couple of days resting, before toeing the line. It was another glorious day, a little windy, but nothing to worry about. As ever the carnival atmosphere made this a very special race, over the IBM Hursley estate. That only adds to the sense of something a bit secret - 500+ people all gathering, as if by some unknown force, to run over the oh-so-confidential hub of IBMs development home, across tracks and fields, with not a single step on a public road! As if to add to the air of peculiarity the photo of the START actually reads FINISH - the more astute amongst you will realise that we return and end the race under this banner going the other way. Surely the techno boffins at Hursley could scrub out the words with photoshop? Or indeed is this still within the spirit of 1950's Cold War counter-intel, putting the enemy spy off the scent? Oh, I am transported back to the world of Grahame Greene already...B...

I mark a milestone this week with a return to (a bit) of hard training. Clearly the imminence of the Hursley 10k has impressed itself on my mind. So, I tried out 5 x 1km fast, with a 90 second float. Actually I was not that bad at all. I even think I could have gone faster. So, a really good start, though one training session does not a Gebrselassie make...anyway I really enjoyed that feeling of pushing again, that sense of making yourself work hard. There is a phrase, 'being in flow', that seems to sum up good training so well. The sense of flow comes best when you have a challenge that matches your skills, you know why you are running, the feedback is unambiguous (hitting a target time for an interval sure is unambiguous!) and you can focus only on the present. When you get this going, even tough tasks feel good. I am reminded of the excellent books from the 'runner's philosopher', George Sheehan, who just seems to sum up so well why we run. Out on Sunday with Sou...

A new running determination has come back to me this week, as I stare at two inevitabilities. 1) I am entered for the Hursley 10k in 2 weeks, and, much as I may like to think that I have all my fitness still in my legs, I really don't when it comes to going faster. I am still able to knock out 15 miles at a fair old lick, but faster work - well, I probably haven't run as fast as a 10k requires since about early April and 2) I am also starting to slip just a bit through a lack of a goal. I have determined that I intend to run London next April if I get a place, or a club place (I will not take a charity place as I cannot be bothered with the fundraising - sorry - done it twice now!) and so I will need to get used to hard work again. So, only two runs, but both good ones this week. I went out for a cycle on Wednesday evening as I just fancied it - it was raining yet again so I was not bold enough to cycle in to work; however, by the evening it had all improved dramatically. There...