Treadmill

I hate these sessions but there was no alternative. I wasn't going to run around Brussels airport first thing in the morning by myself. I headed up to the fitness room at 6:00 am and got onto the one and only treadmill in there. It was a very basic affair and I was so tired that I couldn't even be bothered to work out all of the limited functions so I just pressed quick start, set the speed to 13 km/h and began running.

I was very bored by 6:15am as the screen in front of me was sowing MTV but without headphones there was little point in watching. I was still tired and only taking in half of what I was seeing anyway. All of this changed 5 minutes later when this gorgeous young blond lady entered the room and proceded to use the stepper machine.

I tried to look as good as possible but after a late night, sleep deprivation, an excess of alcohol and 20 minutes exhausting myself on the treadmill, I definitely wasn't looking my best. I found the fan function at last and at least I was able to reduce the number of beads of sweat that were dripping from my face onto the machine. I pitied the person who was going to use this after me. I'd been running for 45 minutes now and finally found that there was a distance function on the machine so I could have worked out how far I'd run. This would only work if I restarted and I was well past this point so I ran for 51 minutes and hit stop.

A glass of water and a quick glance at the stepper machine and I left, ready for work.

11km all up very approximately !

Brussels running

I was in Brussels for work on Monday and Tuesday this week and I'd packed my running kit to keep up the training schedule despite being away from home. I've got a bit of a reputation at work now and am known as a running fanatic. Personally, I think that this reputation is a bit exagerated as anyone who runs regularly knows plenty of other runners who are more hardcore, more excessive, more fanatic than them. I see plenty at the club who run further per week, who run longer races up to 120km across the hills, who race more often than me and as such I consider myself as "normal". Unfortunately, it appears that running clubs are already perceived as exceptional havens for running fanatics, and runners who attend only judge themselves by the fanatics they train with.

Anyway, whatever my own opinion of myself, I'm perceived as excessive by my work colleagues. Luckily, there are other runners who also pack their kit when travelling and I knew that Bruce would be there this week and that he would probably accept to go running with me. Bruce and I and a few others had dinner together on Monday night and as I went to the bar for a last coffee, I noted that Bruce had slipped away off to his bedroom without organising a meeting time for a run. My last ally had deserted me. Not to be thwarted, I e-mailed him accusing him of backing out and he gave in to my hassling, arranging to go for a run at 6:00 am the next morning. I checked out google maps for a suitable route and the run was on.

We met in the hotel lobby the next morning for the run and the weather had turned distinctly colder. There was a layer of frost on the cars in the hotel carpark and we headed outside with a little trepidation, fearing the bitter nip as the cold hits the body before you start running and warming up. It was not easy to find a good route to run as we were staying at the Holiday Inn near the airport and any paths in the direction of the airport were impractible whereas in the other directions, main roads were the barriers.

We headed out of the office zone and across some tracks through the fields. We were running at just below 12 km/h and I was enjoying the pace, and feeling guilty that I wasn't running my 2 x 30' at marathon pace as specified in the marathon training. We reached the end of the countryside paths and hit the main road and after 1.5km, we turned around and headed back so that Bruce could get to his first meeting. We got back to the hotel after 45 minutes and 8.5 km and I headed back out for a couple of laps of a 2km loop that I discovered, running both of these at around 15 km/h before calling it a day and stopping at the hotel.

13.1km all up in just under 1:03 so an average of 4:48 per km.

Brussels training

We were in Brussels this weekend, meeting old friends and making the most of the long weekend with the bank holiday today. I'd caught an awful cold last week and I was having trouble getting rid of it, coughing during the night and losing sleep. I was hoping that the weekend away and relaxing away from work would be beneficial in getting me over the cold. Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy.

Laurence and I set out for a run together this morning. The appart'hotel where we were staying was just under a kilometre away from the park, and we set out in this direction. By the time we got to the park, it was obvious that the tendon pain that Laurence had contracted under her foot post-marathon was not getting any better and she told me to push on while she eased off the pace. This is very frustrating for her as it would seem that the only way that she'll get over this is by resting her foot for a while. Having completed her third marathon in a record time and looking fitter than ever, this is not exactly part of her plans.

I ran on and felt happy to be back out, with the worst of the cold behind me now. I sped up a little and saw the Garmin showing 4:16, 4:22, ... so I knew that I was running well again. A quick toilet stop in Brussels park after 5k and I carried on at my previous pace. When I left the park after 9km, I could feel my thigh muscles aching again. This is the after-effects of the marathon and it's easy to underestimate the damage that this race does to your legs and the time necessary to repair the impact. I won't push my training levels too hard until December now and try and complete a race before the end of the year, to finish this year on another high.

10.2k all up in 46:51 or an average of 4:37.

Just finished reading Born to Run by Christopher Mc Dougall. This was a really good book and discusses the likelihood that mankind evolved and survived Neanderthals by our ability to run long distances and to hunt down other mamals by running them into exhaustion. He also discusses the impact of shoe manufacturers on running injuries and basically states that most of our running injuries today are caused by the comfort of modern day shoes. This encourages inefficient running styles and exacerbates heel impact on the lower half of the skeleton. Great story, well told with some larger than life characters. Makes me want to take up ultra-trail running ! I'm definitely running with a big smile on my face at the moment.