We win a national award!

The cycle park opening. We now have trees planted, exercise machines a cycle tool station, off road routes and more coming

I know I tend to go on about my local cycle club – how we set up a company, became a charity, built a cycle park, run cycle training for children and adults and set up a shop to repair and recycle bikes.

Farcycles (‘Faringdon cycles’, from where we are based and pronounced as ‘farcicals’) was set up purely as an informal cycling club more that 12 yers ago. It has always had a social conscience and sense of community and over the years it has become more than just a group of cyclists enjoying the sport.

We think it’s something to be proud of (in a very modest way, of course) but it’s great when someone else agrees. The news is now free of its embargo: we are winners of ‘The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2021’.

Although I haven’t spotted Her Majesty cycling at the park, or buying from the shop, it’s a great honour for everyone involved – and we wouldn’t disagree that it’s really good to have the efforts of so many people recognised.

The moral? With a few people with ideas, commitment and drive – and many more willing supporters, it’s surprising what can be achieved.

Age is not ‘just a number’

To be honest, six consecutive days of exercise (three runs, two gym sessions, one bike ride) from Tuesday to Sunday last week was probably more than I should have done – I was wiped out on Sunday evening.

I keep hearing that age is just a number – but I disagree. As I understand it, my age relates directly to the very real matter of the length of time I have been alive. As such it denotes all sorts of cumulations – most notably experience and physical wear and tear – more than ‘just a number’ could only dream about.

I’m happy with the experience cumulation but there is no getting away from the fact that my body has had 20 more years of wear than a 45 year old.

This does not mean that I have to accept slowly sinking into decrepitude without a fight – I plan to be the fittest 65 year old that I can be, but I do realise that I really cannot be a 45 year old any more.

It isn’t that ‘age is just a number’ – it’s more a case of ‘don’t let your age be the determining factor of what you can and can’t do’.

If someone tells me that next year, at 66, I’ll be too old to run my first ultra marathon, I won’t pretend that I’m not 66, I’ll just try to prove that their thinking about 66 year olds is wrong.

Soapbox dismounted.

Getting back to normal – but starting to plan the abnormal

‘The Indians send signals from the rocks above the pass, the cowboys take positions in the bushes and the grass’. Why ‘cowboys’ and not ‘soldiers’ as the next line is ‘The squaw is with the corporal …’? So many questions …

I ran a very gentle 2.7m (4.5km) with my wife on Monday, testing the progress of the muscle pull that was giving her ITB issues. I wonder if my Achilles rehabilitation requires no running, or whether easy runs are OK?

As the tendons weren’t getting any worse with all the marathon training, I’ll carry on running gently (even if that slows down their recovery a bit) – with a lot of stretches and heel drops.

Garden and bonfire on Tuesday (lovely, as the birds are out in force and the woodpecker is back); Bournemouth on Wednesday doing the (almost) proper fix on the fence that blew down and which I bodged a couple of weeks ago; gym on Thursday followed by a very enjoyable lunch with friends.

Hmm ……. that says it all really, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with normal but, let’s be honest, it doesn’t exactly set the pulse racing with excitement.

Last year the big challenge was riding to the alps – a solo, unsupported, 550 miles (880km) in 84 elapsed hours. I loved it but it meant that the challenge highlight of the year was over in July. I certainly suffered a bit of a post-event dip – I’m coming to realise that I’ve become a bit of a challenge junkie in my old age.

This year, the big challenge was the Rotterdam marathon – and that was on 7th April so the dip merely starts earlier.

Already I’m struggling to get myself motivated for the White Horse Challenge next weekend. It’s 90 miles (c150km) around Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire visiting the White Horses at Broad Town, Hackpen, Cherill and Uffington with climbing anywhere between 1400m and 1750m (4600-5750ft depending who you believe). Sure, the cardio side should be OK but the leg muscles work a bit differently cycling compared to running – just think of the amount of extra flex at the hip and knee when cycling – and I’ve had just the one ride outside in over 3 months.

I promised my wife no crazy solo challenges this year and a promise is a promise, so I’ll have to deal with it (and it’s time to build up the brownie points again by playing my part in the de-cluttering process that’s been going on around me for a few months).

For a bit of a vicarious challenge, I’m looking forward to following some other folks on their challenges this summer but mainly I’ll have to entertain myself with some planning for next year.

I’ll be 65 in July 2020 so that might have a bit of a potential ….

Physical stocktake

• Muscles: modest in amount but all working as they should, no issues in the training for, or running of, the marathon
• Achilles tendons (ATs): Improving slowly
• Left shoulder: a bit sore still after the fall (I was knocked over, honestly) skiing in January
• Left knee: a bit sore – no issues in the training for, or running of, the marathon but a bit painful since
• Resting heart rate: 49 (odd as it was mid 50s during marathon training and low 40s last year during cycle training)
• Weight: 66.5kg (c.147 pounds, 10 stone 7)

Back to the bike (but with the running shoes close by)

Needs new bar tape!

With the marathon training taking up so much time recently, it’s been quite a while since I got on the bike – any bike – it’s a month since I used the turbo and 3 months since I rode outside. Disgraceful!

Even more disgraceful were the cobwebs on the Rose when I brought it out of the bike shed.

So, it was ‘start to prepare’ time on Friday. The last time I rode outside I ripped the sidewall of the front tyre (a Conti 4000sii) so I’ve changed that and now have Michelin Pros front and rear (having put a tear in the sidewall of the rear Conti 4000sii when cycling out to the alps last July). Is that just me with the Continentals, or are their sidewalls not very clever?

I’ve also put on a new rear mech hanger having slightly bent the original falling off on the ride out to the alps (not associated with the destruction of the tyre). It was a slow speed fall on gravel within 50 yards of my accommodation for the second night, having ridden an incident-free 310 miles in the previous two days. More embarrassing than anything.

With a bit of a clean and a minor fettle I was ready to go – but dipped out of the club red ride on Saturday as it was cold (and I’m still a wimp) and I want to get a few bike miles in my legs to find out how all the running has affected my cycling.

It warmed a little as Saturday wore on so I headed out in the afternoon to take a book to a friend and did just under 30km (18.4 miles) to test the legs and the restored bike. With youthful exuberance I went out at an average of 18mph (29kph) but with increasing maturity and a freshening headwind I came back rather more sedately.

The Achilles tendons are improving slowly thanks to the break from running (weird to think that, exactly a week ago as I write this, I was running the Rotterdam Marathon) so it will be more cycling and less running for a while to see if they will repair properly.

My first ride outside for 3 months but enjoyable – this cycling lark could catch on.

Rotterdam Marathon: short review of training, injury, highs and lows – what I learnt in the process

I am a purely recreational runner – and not a particularly good one. I have no great expertise or knowledge so this is certainly not a ‘how to ..’ post – at best it might be a ‘how I ..’ review.

I ran the Rotterdam Marathon on 7th April 2019, aged 63. I’d run two previous marathons (London) in 1998 and 1999, just breaking 4 hours both times. After that I did relatively little in the way of sport until I started road cycling about 10 years ago so, if I’ve been anything it’s been a cyclist and very occasional runner to keep my wife company.

Our younger son ran the Brighton Marathon in 2017 – 4h 06m on a blistering hot day and he decided he wanted to run another to break the 4 hour barrier. He chose the Rotterdam Marathon because it was easy to get a place and it is said to be both a flat and fast course. Foolishly I decided to run it with him.

Training plan

I chose a 20 week plan because of my age, its simplicity and because of the fact that it had two rest days a week. I didn’t want to train more than 5 days a week. Also I knew I’d be unlikely to stick to it over Christmas – and I had nearly three weeks booked for skiing in January. I guessed that, on a longer plan, I’d be better able to cope with the occasional lapse or problem.

It required one long slow run, two normal runs, a session of speed work and a cross-training session per week. I stuck to it better than I’d expected (subject to the issues covered later) – but 20 weeks is a long time and I was certainly pretty weary of it all by the end. I think it was the right choice – but I’d have been attracted by something shorter if I’d been younger.

I ran what seemed to me to be a lot of miles (450 of them – 725km) in training. That was many more than I did for either the 1998 or 1999 marathons. Partly I was able to, being retired, but mainly it was fear that the day itself would be very painful if I didn’t train properly. I did 14 runs over 10 miles (16km) this time (I did only 4 when preparing for each of the previous marathons). My longest training run was 22 miles (35.5km) but I did two others of over 20 miles.

If I ran an average of 10 mins per mile, with the race itself, that’s about 80 hours of running on top of more than 50 hours of cross-training and time on the turbo trainer. You need to be committed to the project and a supportive partner/family will come in handy too.

Injuries and illness

I was very lucky not to be ill during the training and I didn’t get very injured either. The exception was Achilles tendon issues – they had begun to hurt every morning, even before I got to the start of the training. I guess that was just age related but I did aggravate the problem by doing calf raises with too much weight in the gym early on in the training.

Speed and endurance

I kept to the training plan quite well – except for the speed/hill work which I was sure would finish off my Achilles Tendons. Accordingly the endurance was OK but I was always off the pace for speed. The hope at the start had been to run sub 4 hours but it became clear that was not going to happen as I failed to run any significant distance at the required pace for that (5.41min per km or 9.09 per mile).

No doubt the lack of interval and speed sessions didn’t help – but I’m sure that was also down to age which shortens the stride, and a general lack of athletic ability.

Weight

I’m 5 feet 10 (just under 178cm) and when I’ve done silly cycling challenges in the past I’ve not found it too hard to get under 65kg (143 lbs). This time, my weight was more resistant and stuck around the 68-69kg for much of the training. eventually I got it down to nearer 66.5kg (147 lbs). I don’t know if that was due to putting on some muscle (unlikely as it’s hard to put on muscle as you get older) or me being less disciplined with the food intake. Happily, running is a less sensitive to extra weight than cycling up mountains.

General preparation

Marathon wisdom is that everything you do on the run itself should have been well tried and tested in advance. I tried to do that as far as possible but with a run abroad there is a limit – I did not know what breakfast would be available in the hotel and discovered that the energy drink served on the course was not available in the UK (so I stuck to water on the run). I took some breakfast oat bars, energy bars and gels with me to Rotterdam and stuck with them.

The weather throughout the training was pretty poor so I hadn’t tested warm weather running gear as well as I’d have liked. Right at the last minute, it turned on its head and we got a very warm day for the race itself, such that I got tan lines in just a few hours. I’d only worn the lycra shorts once in training – they were fine on the day but proper running shorts would have been a good idea if I’d been able to test them in advance.

I thoroughly enjoyed the trip to Rotterdam and the experience of running a marathon abroad but the travel does make things a little more complicated – not a reason to avoid a run abroad but certainly something to think about.

The run itself

I went out with the 4 hour pacers and kept with them beyond half way before dropping off the pace and finishing in 4h 11m. More importantly, our son beat his 4 hour target. We didn’t try to run together which was a good decision – it could have ruined both our runs.

It is important to remember to enjoy the day itself. If you train, and choose your marathon well, it should be a great experience and the crowds can make a big difference. You may be lucky (or gifted) and sail around without any problem but I guess that would put you in a small minority. Despite the training, I found a few miles around the 22-25 mile marks (35-40km) to be pretty tough. At this point a lot of it is in the head – it would be easy to give up but sheer bloody-mindedness is a useful attribute.

The future

I remember the ‘never again’ feeling at the toughest point in the run but now, a few days later, I haven’t ruled out another. Our older son would have run this time but for being a passenger in a motor accident last summer – if he decides to give a marathon a go, how could I resist the chance to run with him?

It would be great (ridiculous?) to see if I could go under 4 hours at 65 – perhaps there is an appropriate race late in 2020? The main factor will be the state of the Achilles’ – after 6 months of soreness every morning, I need to find a way to keep them happier.

So, I’ll carry on running which will be a good addition to getting back to cycling – and who knows, if the shoulder I hurt skiing gets back to 100%, perhaps I can improve my swimming enough to have a go at something more than a sprint triathlon?

This week

I went to the gym on Thursday – light weights and a 2km run (just over a mile). Strangely, I didn’t feel the need to do the other 40kms (25miles).

Rotterdam Marathon 7 April 2019: denouemont

Rotterdam Marathon. Been there, done that, got the T shirt

Small Spoiler Alert: we survived the Rotterdam Marathon, despite the surprising heat.

After I completed the training, my wife and I drove to London on Thursday to make the trip to the channel tunnel shorter on Friday.

Alex, our younger son, came to the flat and we left at about 8.30am – the drive out of London to the M25 was a bit of an unknown but worked well. Even the M25 behaved reasonably (for those who don’t know it, the M25 is, allegedly, a motorway encircling London – sadly, with road works, accidents and volume of traffic it often makes a passible impersonation of an orbital car park).

Having made good time to the tunnel we were put on an earlier crossing and then appear to have been sneaked on to the train before that. It was helpful as the drive to Rotterdam involved a few slow bits but we still arrived late afternoon (their time). We unpacked and went to the marathon Expo where we registered and collected our bibs.

The textbooks say stay off your feet on the day before a marathon but none of us had ever been to Rotterdam before so we spent much of Saturday wandering round a really lovely city. It doesn’t have the quaint old buildings of Amsterdam (the city was largely flattened in WWII) but has a really nice relaxed feel to it and it seems to be full of hospitable and charming people. There were also a number of runs for children and a ‘city run’ in the centre of the city – they were great to watch and contributed to the ‘running festival’ feel of the whole weekend.

I have to disagree with the second part of Michael Caine’s (excellent) line in Goldmember when he said “There are only two things I can’t stand in this world. People who are intolerant of other people’s cultures… and the Dutch”.

The Dutch are very nice people (my only complaint is that the indigenous Dutch are a bit too tall – reportedly the world’s tallest nation).

The weather had been forecast to be fairly cool – about 9℃ at the start and 13℃ at the finish (48 and 57℉) and that was how the weather was right up to Saturday. However, on Friday we’d started to receive messages from the organisers warning about very warm weather for the marathon itself on Sunday. Suddenly the temperature range had shifted to around 15℃ at the start and 20℃ at the finish (59 and 68℉). Not stupidly hot but way beyond anything we’d trained in.

After pasta for lunch and supper on Saturday we had a reasonably early night – I didn’t sleep particularly well (typical for the night before a marathon) but I was at least well rested by 7am when the alarm rang for breakfast, followed by another 45 minutes snooze before having to get up. The Marathon starts at a civilised 10am so we walked in to the city centre and found our starting pen very easily.

It was clear that the warm weather warnings were right and so we were pleased that we’d adjusted our clothing choices – I ran in lycra shorts and a fairly lightweight long sleeved running shirt (sleeves pushed up within a few miles).

Our wave was away by about 10.14 and I tucked in behind the 4 hour pacers (Alex went on ahead). The course is pretty flat – the ‘hills’ were really only the Erasmus Bridge (twice) and two underpasses – and I hit a fairly comfortable rhythm as the pacers did a great job taking us through the half way mark in exactly 2 hours.

The whole event was very well supported with good crowds all the way around and the usual array of bands and music. The whole event had a very good feel to it.

By just after half way I began to feel the pace a bit as that was a good 5 minutes faster than any half marathon distance I’d run throughout my training. The predictors available on the internet suggest that a 2:05 half marathon indicates a marathon of over 4:30 and although I hung on for another few kms I knew that I wasn’t going to run the second half in two hours in the increasing heat.

At around 28km (18 miles) the route went close to the finish area but then veered off for a loop towards the north east – that’s always a bit disheartening but I saw my wife just before that point which was really good and she was able to confirm that Alex was still running strongly about a kilometre ahead of me.

I never hit anything like ‘the wall’ – I had kept reasonably hydrated, had used the three gels I’d taken with me and and had made the most of the cooling sponges that were available – but it got harder from there. By 35km (c. 22 miles) I most certainly had a bit of the ‘running in treacle’ syndrome when the breathing is fine, none of the muscles hurt particularly but the legs simply don’t take you as fast as they did previously.

I resisted the temptation to walk (a surprising number were walking by now) and eventually everything improved and I felt reasonably good coming into the finish (but no, I did not manage anything resembling a sprint to the line). What I did manage in just a few hours was tan lines on my legs and arms – it was much warmer than expected.

So, I hit my C goal of a safe marathon, running all the way. I hit my B goal of going under 4:30 and managed a time of 4hours 11minutes which was inside my A goal of 4:15. In the male 60+ category I came 98th out of 326. I was inside the top half of finishers too.

More significantly, our son Alex ran sub 4 hours (a finely judged 3:58) – which was the most important goal of the whole weekend.

Apart from the usual transient twinges while running, I had relatively few problems (other than the distance and the heat) but the Achilles tendons were very unhappy as soon as I stopped running.

We met up and walked back to the hotel (as a cool down) and found a lovely little restaurant in a (happily nearby) back street alongside a canal where we sat outside for supper.

The knees were a little sore that night but by Monday morning both Alex and I were surprisingly mobile – and my Achilles’ were probably better than most mornings over the last 5 months, which is quite beyond me. I drove us back to London by mid afternoon, in cool weather (both in the UK and Holland) that would have been very suitable for running a marathon!

So, a really excellent experience and a thoroughly enjoyable long weekend. I’d certainly recommend the Rotterdam Marathon to anyone.

I’m sure I’ll reflect on it all over the next few days – in the meantime, remind me what I used to do before marathon training …

Marathon training week 19.5/20: Run, run, run – training complete. Apparently, I now have to run a marathon.

Next stop Rotterdam

That’s it for the training. Three runs this week: Monday, Tuesday (with gloves, hat and stinging hailstones) and Wednesday (wait for the hailstones to finish, go out and get caught in more of them).

In all, only 10 miles (16km) but getting faster – Tuesday’s was a p.b. at 5.23 per km (8.37 per mile). Wednesday’s was faster still at 5.13 per km (8.24 per mile).

I seem to have managed not to twist an ankle, break a leg, pull a muscle or tear a cartilage in these last few days so it’s off to Rotterdam to see what awaits on the run itself.

It feels like I’ve done a lot of training over the 20 weeks – exactly 450 miles of running (a pleasingly round number) with – I think – 14 runs over 10 miles, including 3 over 20 miles. I have missed out on what would have been really helpful interval and hill sessions because I’m pretty sure my Achilles tendons would not have been able to withstand the extra stresses those would have caused. If I’d have done them I might now be more hopeful of a decent time – but I’d have risked not being able to run at all.

I’ve been a little tempted to go out for one more longer run – but I appreciate that is likely to be counter-productive so I’ll resist. Instead I’ll just go through the normal process of worrying if I’ve done enough training. Happily there are plenty of other things to agonise over too – what do I wear, what do I eat the night before, what do I have for breakfast, what do I eat on the run, do I try to go with the 4 hour pacemaker? It’s an angst-fest.

The rest of the preparation hasn’t been too difficult so far – I don’t drink alcohol Monday to Thursday (and will go very easy on Friday and Saturday this week, if I have any at all) and eat a lot of fruit and vegetables anyway. I’ve cut down on the coffee a little in favour of water and green tea and always sleep more than 8 hours so I’ve not had to change too much.

Without trying to diet, my weight is down to 66.5kg (a fraction under 147 pounds, 10.5 stone) but I won’t track that from here – it’s more important to eat the right stuff in the last few days than think about weight.

The weather forecasts started to to converge and are now diverging again. On average, Sunday in Rotterdam looks likely to be dry, not too windy and reasonably cool – perhaps around 9℃ (48℉) at the start, warming to about 13℃ (55℉) by a likely finish time. I’ll settle for that.

Although I’m now running faster, it’s over short distances and I don’t see any reason to assume I can now run under 4 hours (I think 4 hours would be my qualifying time for this year’s Chicago Marathon so it’s not surprising that it’s tough). Conventional wisdom says a sub 4 hour marathoner should post a 1h 50 half in the training – my best has been 2h 05.

For me, the most important outcome from the marathon is for my son, Alex, to break 4 hours.

After that, in ascending order of ambition, my targets are to get around:

• safely, running all the way
• sub 4h 30min
• sub 4h 15min.

Week	Run	Cycle	X-train
1	16m  (26km)	10m  (16 km)	2:00
2	19m  (30km)	13m  (22km)	2:00
3	21m  (33.km)	66m (106km)	1:00
4	22m  (36km)	14m (22km)	1:00
5	24m (39km)	13m (21km)	1:00
6 (Christmas)	13m (21km)
7	26m (41km)	63m (101km)	3:00
8	14m (24km)	13m (21km)	7:00
9 (Skiing)	16m (25km)		12:00
10 (Skiing)			12:00
11 (Skiing)	7m (11km)		6:00
12	34m  (55km)	35m (56km)	1:00
13	38m (60km)	14m (22km)	1:00
14	38m (60km)	30m (48km)	1:00
15	39m (63km)	14m (22km)
16	42m (67km)	10m (16km)	1:00
17	33m (53km)	9m (15km)
18 (New York)	20m (31km)		4:00
19	19m (30km)		1:00
19.5	10m (16km)
‘Running’ totals	450m  (724km)	290m (466km)	56:00

Marathon training 19/20: Run, walk, run, run, run. Well into the taper and neurosis sets in.

The Thames, not looking its best on a cool and dull Sunday morning, from the Thames Path near Craven Cottage (the home of Fulham Football Club). Hammersmith Bridge in the background. By the light blue bibs they were wearing, I’m wondering if the rowing 8 were one of the Cambridge ladies’ crews practising for next week’s boat race.

My marathon entry confirmation has arrived and will get me my bib. Eerily, I entered from here in Oxfordshire, my son signed up from London – and our start numbers are within 5 of each other.

On Monday I did the long slow run from week 18 that I couldn’t get myself motivated for the previous day. I did 13.22m (21.3km). That’s the last training run over 10 miles. It was OK and felt quicker but it wasn’t much faster and was still too slow to suggest that I can go sub-4 hours.

The week 19 runs ware 3×3 miles and an 8 miler. It all seemed quite appealing and easy but I woke on Tuesday with painful Achilles tendons and some tightness in the calf muscles (I wonder if that’s a cause of the Achilles issue or a result of it?).

Does that mean I should stop now to avoid making it worse for the marathon itself? Based on previous experience I don’t need to do that but I’ll keep it up my sleeve as a last resort if they don’t get better. Yet more stretching needed, I guess.

I spent the morning hobbling around at a local infant school helping to run a ‘balanceability’ session. That’s starting to ride on bikes with no pedals, which is the new method of learning to ride properly – steady wheels are very outdated, apparently. The children were 3 year-olds, and it was good fun as they enjoyed it so much and put such effort into it. My wife and I walked for an hour in the afternoon in very pleasant early spring sunshine.

I did the final long run on Wednesday afternoon – my normal 8 miler. To my surprise, I managed my best time (just one sec/km inside sub 4hour pace) which is encouraging – but I had to push pretty hard to do it and it was just less than one third marathon distance.

I read that a key difference in running as you get older is a shortening stride length – I guess that’s down to the strength and spring in pushing off the ground. Any spring I might have ever had has certainly sprung.

Thursday I did 3.3miles (5.3km) at a very similar pace – wearing lycra shorts and no compression top beneath the running shirt … for the first time in the whole of the training! I did the same run on Friday, 11 sec/km faster (although the Garmin recorded it as being further so that might account for some of the apparent speed).

The main problem now is neurosis about even the slightest twinge while running. I’m sure that I’m not alone in having a broad range of pains (knees, feet, ankles, quads, thighs, calves, hips, etc) that come and go whenever I run. Normally I ignore them but now I find myself wondering which of them will develop into something serious that stops me running in the marathon.

Time to get a grip.

We went up to London on Friday afternoon for three social meals over the weekend. I ran along the Thames Path Sunday morning which was delightful – 6.7km (4 miles) @5.27 per km. It had turned cool again after a warmer end to the week but I ran with a short sleeved top for the first time in all the marathon training over the last 6 months.

A bit more food discipline this week and I managed to get down from a post New York high of 68.5kg. Weight isn’t the most important factor now but every little helps. The week ended with me around 67kg (about 148 pounds).

I’ve rejigged the mileage chart from the previous post to put Monday’s run into week 18, where it should have been – it’s only one day’s difference but looks more sensible in relation to the taper.

At the start of the week I (foolishly) looked at weather forecasts for Rotterdam for the marathon. It did not look very good: fairly cold and quite possibly wet, with a stiff breeze. One forecast even mentioned snow. By the end of the week the consensus was for slightly milder weather and a reduced possibility of rain. Oh well, plenty of time for that to change again (for better or worse).

Looking on the bright side, at least my lack of warm weather training isn’t going to be an issue.

Week	Run	Cycle	X-train
1	16m  (26km)	10m  (16 km)	2:00
2	19m  (30km)	13m  (22km)	2:00
3	21m  (33.km)	66m (106km)	1:00
4	22m (36km)	14m (22km)	1:00
5	24m (39km)	13m  (21km)	1:00
6 (Christmas)	13m (21km)
7	26m (41km)	63m (101km)	3:00
8	14m (24km)	13m (21km)	7:00
9 (Skiing)	16m (25km)		12:00
10 (Skiing)			12:00
11 (Skiing)	7m (11km)		6:00
12	34m  (55km)	35m (56km)	1:00
13	38m (60km)	14m (22km)	1:00
14	38m (60km)	30m (48km)	1:00
15	39m (63km)	14m (22.km)
16	42m (67km)	10m (16km)	1:00
17	33m (53km)	9m (15km)
18 (New York)	20m (31.2km)		4:00
19	19m (30km)		1:00
‘Running’ totals	440m (707km)	290m (466km)	56:00

Marathon training week 18/20: Run, lots of walking. New York, New York, it’s a wonderful town.

I love Central Park – I always wanted to run in it so that’s another bucket list entry ticked off

After last week’s training we went to London on Sunday where our younger son ran a half marathon in 1h 48m. I’m sure he’ll break 4 hours in Rotterdam, and show me a clean pair of heels.

On the Monday my wife and I did exactly what every training plan (almost) recommends – we went to New York for a few days.

I think it’s a glorious city – right up there with San Francisco, Barcelona, Rome, Paris, Berlin and London in my eyes. I’ve been a couple of times before and both our sons have been …. apparently that is grounds for my wife to insist that she also went for a visit. We walked a lot (I think that’s always the best way to see a city) and managed to take in a lot of stuff, including a Circle Line trip, the High Line, an off-Broadway play, the Empire State building, Ground Zero and the 9/11 museum, Central Park, Chinatown and MoMA.

Although we had a bit of rain on a couple of days it didn’t stop us doing anything and we had a great time in a city I love for its incredible variety and the feeling of general mayhem – not that I think I could live there. I particularly like the people, especially people in positions of any authority – so confident with, often, such little reason for that confidence … but charming with it.

It was a rare occasion when I was extremely pleased not to be driving – the grid layout with continual traffic lights is great for navigation but must be a real pain in terms of making forward progress (I guess mass stationary traffic is not called ‘gridlock’ for nothing). The city might be a happier place if NY drivers could be reminded that the motor horn is for use in cases of emergency, not cases of annoyance and frustration.

I really like Central Park but it struck me this trip that New York has rather put nearly all its green eggs in the one big basket as there are relatively few other green areas in the central part of the city – another drawback of the grid structure that doesn’t lend itself well to little squares with gardens like you get all across London. I guess it might be just a bit too expensive to flatten some entire blocks to create a few more Bryant Parks!

With luck, the walking will have counted for something in training terms but I did get out for a really enjoyable run on Wednesday: W40th, up 10th Ave, across at 58th, into Central Park, two loops round the ring up to the Lake and back via 9th Ave. Assuming it is permitted to run in kilometres in New York, in all it was about 10.5km (6.5m) in 58 mins. I even overtook more runners than overtook me (just).

Back to the UK on Saturday but (after 12 hours sleep) I decided not to run on Sunday. I’ll do the week’s long run (12 miles) on Monday, together with the week 19 runs.

The timing of the trip was designed to fit into the marathon taper period to miss the least amount of valuable training. That seems to have worked quite well (allowing for a one day shift in the long run) and I even managed to put on only about 1 pound (0.5kg).

Week	Run	Cycle	X-train
1	16m  (26km)	10m  (16 km)	2:00
2	19m  (30km)	13m  (22km)	2:00
3	21m  (33.km)	66m (106km)	1:00
4	22m  (36km)	14m (22km)	1:00
5	24m (39km)	13m  (21km)	1:00
6 (Christmas)	13m (21km)
7	26m (41km)	63m (101km)	3:00
8	14m (24km)	13m (21km)	7:00
9 (Skiing)	16m (25km)		12:00
10 (Skiing)			12:00
11 (Skiing)	7m (11km)		6:00
12	34m  (55km)	35m (56km)	1:00
13	38m (60km)	14m (22km)	1:00
14	38m (60km)	30m (48km)	1:00
15	39m (63km)	14m (22.km)
16	42m (67km)	10m (16km)	1:00
17	33m (53km)	9m (15km)
18 (New York)	6m (10km)
‘Running’ totals	407m  (656km)	290m (466km)	50:00

A post-marathon challenge on the way

With eyes on post-marathon possibilities, I have heard that I got a place (for the first time) in the ballot for the Prudential Ride London-Surrey 100 Sportive in August this year. It’s a sportive held in conjunction with a top level professional race on much the same course.

It’s a ride I’ve wanted to do since even before it was started in 2013.

Its predecessor, the London-Surrey Cycle Classic, was held in 2011 as the test event for the London Olympics Road Race. I was a Games Maker for the Olympics and marshalled at the test event and the real thing a year later.

It’s a 100 miler starting and finishing in London and heading through the Surrey hills – including the famous (in the UK) Box Hill (and the slightly bigger Leith Hill). I’m looking forward to riding it to find out why Box Hill is quite so famous – the climb is 2.25km (1.4miles) at 5% – not exactly a rival for Ventoux.

The big attraction of the sportive is the chance to ride through London on closed roads. It starts at the Olympic Park and finishes in The Mall (in front of Buckingham Palace). I guess it’s close to the London Marathon finish and I remember how good that was in 1998 and 1999.

I’ve only done two closed road rides (the L’Étape du Tour in 2013 and the first Velothon Wales in 2015) and I loved them, so London on closed roads will be a real treat.

Start times range from 5.45 to 10.00 am so it’s a night up in London and a 12 mile ride from the flat to the start and a 4 mile ride back from the finish.

Interestingly, I think I’ve only ridden 100 miles 5 times – and three of those have actually been over 150 miles (my ‘everest’, and the first two days going to the alps last summer). It will be good to have a real purpose for getting back on the bike in April.

It’s even prompted me to send off for a new rear mech hanger to replace the current one that I bent during the trip to the alps. It’s strange that the bent one works perfectly with my winter wheels but is all over the place with the best wheels.