So sang Matt Bellamy, and he was right but maybe I'm getting a bit ahead of myself, still three months to go.  But with the past two week's performances I'm getting worried that I won't be able to keep up a good level of training.  You might have noticed that I'm a run short for each of the past two weeks.  Last week's I've already explained but this week's is a combination of things.

Firstly I was at a party on Saturday that left me worse for wear (to say the least) on Sunday and so I was catching up on the weekend's sleep on Monday morning.  Miss one run.  Making up for this on Tuesday was good but I was disappointed with the outcome. [For details check out The Log which is now annotated]  I did however achieve my first Goal!

The plan was to then head out on Wednesday as per usual but I realised that knowing I'm getting up to run in the morning makes it harder to sleep.  So Wednesday at 07:00 I'd had barely any rest and stayed in bed determined to find some.  Miss two runs.  Same thing Thursday and again on Friday.  On Friday I tried to make up for this by hitting the treadmill which knackered me out more than ever.  Then Saturday provided my weekly run with Lisa which was fine.  I can only hope that I'm more focussed next week, although with a party tonight who knows what will happen?

On the charity side, both Accord and the Beatson have set up accounts with CharityGiving and we're only waiting on word from Macmillan which shouldn't be long now.  We're not expecting any problems but if any should arise we'll sort something out.

Over in The Tunes we've got a new feature: Top Track.  We'll be giving some space to the tune that has given us the best push this week, so head over now and see what done it for Week 4.

Stay free,
Joe.

 

Could be because I've had to give up my long lie for a run.  But then I'm probably just being cranky because I'm tired.  Another day another graph as they say.  Who say that?  Probably mathematicians or statisticians or the like.  So here's your dose of orange-yellow graphiness: Week 3 Run 1

Nothing to complain about this time and even a new PB to report of 8'06" for the mile.  Quickest pace so far at 5'17"/km and as a result my fastest 2km yet at 10'32" so a definite improvement on display.  I'm still using the same playlist because it seems to be a fair motivator but any suggestions would be appreciated!

On the organisation side, I'm working on a few t-shirt designs but I'll have to find somewhere that prints onto a wicking fabric because I've only seen printing on cotton so far so I'd be grateful for any help you can offer here too!

Stay free,
Joe.

Well I think the initial novelty of the Nike+iPod is wearing off and it's getting quite hard to pull myself out of bed just to get knackered.  Nonetheless, I did it again today and the results are up on The Log.

In the words of the D-Generation X theme: Break it down.  Compared with Monday's run, this one looks a fair bit bumpier perhaps suggesting I wasn't as consistant in my pace or maybe it's just that the previous run was affected by the long dip at the end when I forgot to hit "End Workout" on the iPod and so simplified the graph a bit.  I can't know for sure but based on the fact that the Week One runs are as bumpy as this latest one I'd say the reason is the latter.

I had a wee surprise when I finished today: some lady came through my headphones to tell me I'd achieved a new Personal Best for the mile of 8'41".  Nice one!  (I'm sure I can beat this easily but not without keeling over at 1.1 miles.)  Also my average pace was 5'32"/km which is pretty consistant with my performances so far.  You may have noticed on the most recent graphs that playlists have started to appear.  They didn't before because I was just running with Shuffle but I'm trying to get some tunes that really push you when you think you can't go much further, and I'd love any suggestions you have so check out the playlists so far at The Tunes then suggest some via The Wire.

I'm trying to make the most of the experience so far, hence the blog and shiny graphics, because it won't be long until I have to start studying again for the August diet of exams that I missed in January.  I don't know how much time I'll have during this because I'll be pretty much re-teaching myself material for four or five classes in the space of a month, but I'll try and get some updates on and even if I don't, I'll make sure I'm still running.

So until next time, get trawling through those playlists of yours and send some belters my way!

Stay free,
Joe.