Chris Curtis Web Site

I am just back from my first run in weeks. It is the first time for ages that ice and snow, or various commitments, have let me go out to run. It was very cold and dark and my lack of running was extremely obvious, but it was good to be out there.

I realised that slow and short as it was, this was the first run of 2011, so I thought I would do a summary of my running in 2010. Not great but at least I did it.

47 runs in total, amounting to 21 hours and 12 minutes and covering 171.5km at an average pace of 7.5 mins per km. At less than one run  of about 3.5km per week this is not as much as I hoped, but only 1km less than my 2009 total (though my average pace for that year was 7:17 per km). There was no running at all in March and December, and very little in February and November so the average hides a lack of consistency with May, August and October around 30km per month or 1km per day.

Running targets for 2011 (realistic)

• average at least 1km per day so the annual total is more than 365km (more than double what I have done in the last two years.
• run at least twice every week for a total of more than 104 runs
• Achieve an average pace of less than 7:15 mins per km.
• Post new PBs for 5km and 10km

We had light rain for most of the morning and there are dire warnings of very heavy rain for this evening (which seems to have started now). There was an interlude around tea time so I decided to get today’s run in. Run 2 of Week 8 of the “Couch to 5K” programme. Run continuously for 28 minutes.

I was struggling from the first minute. Humidity was near 100% and the temperature about 24C – plus I was just out of sorts and lacking energy. I had to take a few walk breaks but did not stop – I was moving for the whole 28 minutes. Despite the lack of energy, I quite enjoyed plodding along in the cloudy gloom, all on my own.

This week I ran the longest total distance in a week so far this year – only 11km but things are moving in the right direction.

It is very difficult for me to keep running regularly. There are lots of excuses, and they are genuine, but I suffer without that regular exercise, and without the concentrated way that being out there, on your own, pushing your physical limits brings things back to utter simplicity. I do need a programme or plan to follow: it helps to keep the excuses in perspective and raises the priority of getting out there.

I am using “getrunning” on my iPhone. A pleasant sounding, but very bossy (and encouraging), woman’s voice cuts over whatever is playing to tell me when to run and when I can rest. After a long lay-off I have gone from 6 minutes of slow running to 16 minutes of reasonable running within a half-hour framework all in four weeks. Each “step up” is hard but possible and each success makes you more determined. Ten weeks should see me back to running full 5Ks and I will then need a new programme to take me on towards 10K which I want to run for real in the autumn.

I went out this morning to join over 1,000 people all over the planet on the “world wide festival of races“. During this weekend, you either join in an organised race or run the distance using a gps watch (as I did) for the “Kick the Couch” 5K, the “Zen” 10K or the World Wide Half Marathon. Being realistic I went for the Kick the Couch 5K and finished in a new personal best of 29:12 – finally, after literally years of trying, beating the half-hour barrier!

I was not at my best. I have been ill all week and do not feel 100% today, but was determined to get this run in. I stayed dry, but it is grey and gloomy and the rain is never far away. Everything is autumnal in yellows and browns and it is cool – a good thing, really. I set off too fast but after 2K realised I was well under the 30 minute pace so gritted my teeth and kept going. The fourth kilometre was very hard: I was fading very fast and it seemed a long way still to go.

Anyway, a significant target met, even if the run felt scrappy and uncomfortable rather than smooth. Next target – under 1 hour for the 10K.

According to the software, personal bests for ALL the distances up to and including 10K were set this month. I am officially running faster and further than ever before.

Well, the running programme now calls for 5K training runs. Officially, there are no stops, but I find myself having to walk to cross roads or even having to stop for traffic and I still have a tendency to stop the clock for a minute or two about half way round, but I am just back from the first of these runs and my gps watch says that I ran or “jogged” 98% of the way. It took me 31 minutes and 56 seconds. This is a new personal best and if I keep it up, I should be running under 30 minutes by the time of the world wide festival of races (http://www.worldwidefestivalofraces.com)

Although these runs are laughably slow, they were unimaginable for me just 10 weeks ago when I was struggling to jog for two minutes. It is amazing how quickly the body adapts and develops if trained right. I am enjoying it too. It was light when I set out and dark when I returned. The evenings are becoming cool now and the sky was quite lovely as the colours faded through a million types of subtlety and a big, creamy yellow harvest moon emerged from behind picture-book clouds. I was in a private and wordless place, just pounding along at peace with the world – feeling the joy of everything moving, breath panting, blood rushing and being alive.

Just signed up for the “Kick the couch 5K” in the “World Wide Festival of Races” which commits me to run 5K on the weekend of 10 – 11th October in company with runners from all over the world who will be doing 5K, 10K or half-marathons – the training has a purpose!

The WWFoR is linked with Phedippidations (itunes)- a podcast which I often listen to while running.