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 !

Tapering

No time to write my blog anymore, let alone go for runs. Anyway, since I've started tapering, I have less to write about anyway.

Last week:

Stockholm, Sweden - Tuesday morning saw me pounding the treadmill of the hotel I was staying in. I'm thinking about writing a book on running treadmills around the world. Could be onto a bestseller here. 10km in 47 minutes. Felt pretty awful. Don't know if this was due to the 1% slope I put on the machine or an excess of beers and schnapps from the previous night. Either way, it was uphill all the way.

Stockhom, Sweden - Wednesday morning. Another workout on the treadmill. Only 7km this morning but in 30 minutes as I set the machine to 14.2 km/h. Highlight this morning was some company in the fitness room (a young lady on the nordic ski machine) and the fact that the TV was working. View was a darn sight better than staring at the diving photo stuck on the wall in front of me for 40 minutes. Still hard work and still uphill - it just lasted shorter though.

Friday morning. Back home at last and able to run in the real world again. How pleasant to feel the air in your face and to see the road beneath your feet. Real running. Set off slowly and then got carried away by how good I was feeling (fewer beers and less uphill). By the end I was running at 3:44 pace. 10.15 km in 43:29 or 4:18 per km.

Saturday morning - back to Cora with the lads. Nick and Andy can't compete with a Swedish lady in her workout gear but they were far better company. Nice to see Andy again who actually admitted being in bed last weekend when we called by. His shame knows no boundaries. Nick and I both decided to punish him severely and dropped him after Cora up the hill. He arrived back home looking far easier than he has in a while and at a good pace too. Perhaps a Saturday in bed did him so good. Anyway, this weekend he'll be training alone while we're in La Rochelle. 75 km this week in total so a 25% reduction on the previous week. Good tapering.

6 days to go before the race. All the worries are there. Am I fit enough ? Can I stay the distance ? Am I too ambitious ? What should I wear ? Will it be windy ? Do I take gels or not ? Etc., etc. Too late now.

Hola ! Madrid

I was in Madrid for business on Monday night and Tuesday. As a seasoned runner now, I carry my running kit with me wherever I travel. I forgot my toothbrush and shaving kit, but not my running gear. I have a true sense of what is important in life.

It was hot when I arrived in Madrid on Monday night. When I say hot, it was actually parched. Madrid from the sky looks like a lost city in the sierra: landscape all around that has been deprived of water for months. I got out of the aircraft and the heat hit me: it was 8:30 pm in the evening and still 35°C. After checking into the hotel, I had a meal and a few beers and it cooled down drastically. It was now 11:30 pm and 32°C.

My initial plans for going for an early morning run around the hotel were dashed. If I tried to run in this heat, I would have managed 200m before wilting in the sun. I decided to go for the easy option and attack 10km first thing in the morning in the treadmill in the hotel fitness room.

The fitness room was a delightful experience at 6:30am. I entered the room using my roomcard and the lights came on automatically with the motion sensor situated by the door. The gleaming equipment stood out from the starkly empty room. I got on the treadmill and began running at 11kmh to begin with then raising the speed rapidly to 14kmh. The lights went out.

Marvellous, automatic lights that come on as you enter the room and then go out as the equipment you want to use is farthest from the door. I couldn't be bothered to stop so I ran 10k in the dark just using the glow of the machine and the timer and distance ran to determine when to stop. There's nothing so boring as running on a treadmill: no scenery; no breeze; no movement, just the sound of the machine and the sweat running off your clothes and face and dripping on the equipment.

10k in 45 minutes. Nothing more to be said.

Treadmill

In Amsterdam for business yesterday, so I took my running stuff to go for a quick run around the hotel while I was there.

When I arrived and saw that the hotel was situated right next to Schiphol airport in one of the greyest areas of the city, I was instantly put off by any thoughts of running the streets. Luckily the hotel had a sports room so I set off early morning to run on one of the treadmills there.

It's a completely different feeling running on a treadmill. There's no wind in your face to begin with. Not the slightest breeze even. I was sweating after not even 5 minutes. I set the speed to 10km/h to begin with and then built up to 13.5 km/h by the end.

Ran 7km in the 35 minutes I had spare. Not impressive but just enough to keep the fitness up.