age and grace

 

3rd Feb

Parkrun was cancelled this week due to the Winter Warmer half / 10k / 5k being held in Holyrood. Probably just as well as I am not fit yet but might have been tempted to run parkrun and the effort required to avoid deep shame could easily have made things worse. Whereas recovery is going okay-ish. Not great but I tentatively did a speed workout and didn't make anything tangibly worse.

The weather was unexpectedly bright. Cold as anything but a bit of cheerful sunshine which helped. If I'd known it was going to be like this I'd probably have gone on a photo safari and missed the workout. I find working up the enthusiasm for running tough these days although almost always enjoy it once I'm out and going. We did a slow warm up today, Mary's rules, and I nearly froze to death before we got underway. It probably helped though and we didn't push the pace for the first couple of miles through the park to the Meadows.

a blue tit peeping awaywhile we waited
at the lights at the Meadows

Today's workout was the same as last time here: 2 minutes hard, 2 mins recovery. But 8 of each rather than the 6 we did last time. On that occasion I ran near to Mary and near to her pace to avoid aggravating my sciatica injury. (I had the exact same problem last year, nearly to the day, and point the finger at the cold shit weather. (Time I emigrated.)) This time Mary "suggested" I don't try and regroup during the 2.5 laps. Last time we completed a loop of the Meadows after the third fast 2mins so I knew it would be around 2.6 laps. I wasn't going significantly faster than Mary but somewhere between 6.15 and 7.15m/m was a decent workout without hurting my leg/glute. I could feel it, but it didn't feel like it was doing harm. We passed David M (opposite direction) on the first lap, a wave and a smile!

did you spot the dog?

I saw the above image on the first lap (during recovery interval) and photographed it on the second. Juxtaposition of old and new. I felt a (contrived) kinship with the old building surrounded by the newer flashier faster buildings. Okay they aren't faster. And most of the folk jogging round the Meadows were not going at any kind of swift pace. I overtook a couple of the moderate ones who were asking for it! 

I made a point of not running to exhaustion or at a pace that I couldn't sustain, and really quite enjoyed the session. I felt a bit tired at the end but happy to jog home. But didn't have any extra to go out with the camera afterwards. The hardest part of the process is being able to accept the limitations of getting older and slower. And to enjoy the same business at a reduced capacity. If I were (even more) bone headed I'd walk away from the activity knowing my best performances were all in the past, however running is not just good for events, it is very good for your health. It is almost obligatory to go forward into one's latter years doing as active a life as possible. It is hard enough being reasonably fit and eating a healthy diet, never mind letting that slip, putting on weight and becoming a couch potato. It is good having Mary's influence as she is far keener than I am. She is the proper runner in our household - although I may have won more prizes -  and encourages me out the door when I am feeling indifferent about it. 

Talking of aging gracefully (or not), there was some gossip doing the rounds in the running world about Kate Carter who it seems hasn't been strictly honest in her running and recording her races. A half marathon with missing portions of the race, a race number folded, and a much speedier second half than first. London Marathon with faked strava post. Clearly she is a decent runner. Not National standard but an experienced and capable runner, so why "cheat"? It happens so rarely in the running world (outside of drugs cheats at elite level) that it is quite a novelty when it happens.

Ironically Kate's husband, also a journalist, wrote up an article (a year ago) the last time someone got caught doing something daft along the same lines: when Joasia Zakrzewski got in a friend's car during an ultra event. After driving 2.5 miles she felt she could continue the race and exited the car, but failed to mention this when picking up the third place medal. Probably more a case of brain fog than deliberate strategy, it is easy to lose your marbles when running long distances. She was banned from competition for a year.

The most noticeable thing about the current incident is Kate Carter is Commissioning Editor at Runner's World UK. I use the present tense "is" but suspect that might change. I assume it was the pressure of having to remain at a certain level of running to seem valid in her position as an influencer in the running world that led her to start manipulating the facts. Although it might have been more honest to accurately report the decline of a woman aging, something that may strike more of a chord with RW readers than of a superwoman able to continue at a high level.  

My advice (and my own tactics) would be to avoid entering events rather than looking for short cuts once you start bombing, because yes, it is an unforgiving sport. I wonder if Runner's World will do an article on it? Best shortcuts during marathons? Ten Top Tips for a Super-Quick Half. Fold your number and say your garmin ran out of charge. Have a bike parked on the course. Maybe they could get Rob Sloan (the Kielder Marathon cheat who caught the bus at 20 miles) to write an article about how to lay low and recover from a royal humiliation?

nearly having fun!

2.6 laps of the Meadows
over 9 miles covered in total