Furthermore: September 06

September 25, 2006

Saturdays Run

Here’s where I went - courtesy of Gmap Pedometer.

I tried to raise my turnover a bit, and found I could run comfortably at around 160 just by paying a bit of attention to it. That’s quite a big improvement on what I was doing before, so I think it should be possible to incrementally raise it further before next year.

Based on the gmap results and my run time (about 1.02 for the whole circuit), my best current estimate for my marathon time is about 4.15. I’d like to get it down to 4 hours at least, but again, it’s early days yet. Plenty of time to get injured…

Legs are quite stiff today. Next short run is tomorrow - it’s getting harder to get out of bed now the mornings are getting darker.

September 24, 2006

Big year for weddings

We went en famille on Saturday to Donna and Simon’s wedding reception at Bassmead Manor just outside St Neots. Although they are the third couple we know getting married this year, they’re the first where we’ve actually been able to get to the wedding (the others were in Wales and Australia, respectively).

Bassmead Manor was beautiful and very peaceful. There was a nice garden area for drinks and nibbles on arrival, and then the reception meal was in a marquee set up to adjoin the converted barn where the ceilidh band played afterwards.

The food was good, and there was plenty to drink (although I was driving unfortunately). A lot of thought had gone into the planning - L and E got party bags with toys appropriate to their ages. H got dairy free food with no problems. We had lots of little amusing things on the table to help break the ice - little quiz cards, and puzzles and sweets etc.

A bonus for me was meeting an old friend from school - Jim, who I knew before I met Donna in fact, so I’ve known him over 20 years now - a terrifying thought.

Anyway, it was a really good afternoon and evening. We had to leave about 9, although the girls were enjoying the ceilidh - E kept pointing and saying “DANCING” in a very excited way. They both did a bit of dancing, but you could see they were really tired by then (to say nothing of their parents).

September 21, 2006

Out on the road

I’ve managed to run both Tuesday and Thursday morning this week, which I’m quite proud of. Not particularly far - just round Cherry Hinton and back. The short version of the route takes about 35 minutes.

I’ve been looking at my turnover - currently about 152-154. I wasn’t sure what was considered a “good” turnover, but apparently 180 is where it’s at. So I’m going to look at gradually picking up my turnover - apparently higher is actually better at reducing injury too, as it means you tend to run lighter and without raising your foot so much.

September 16, 2006

Catching Up

I seem not to have been blogging for a while. No particular reason, but I just haven’t felt like it. Anyway, this is just a quick catch up post.

Running is going well - I did an hour this morning and felt fine. Whenever I look down to see where my right knee is going, it’s going to the right place (ie above the second toe, rather than collapsing in like it used to). My physio was pleased with progress when I saw her on Monday, so I don’t have to go back again unless I have problems. Now I just have to start doing a third run in the week, and I have the basis for my marathon training all set.

What else? I’ve been out a couple of times - once in London after a day working onsite for one of my company’s clients. I saw an old friend and we had sushi at Moshi Moshi in Liverpool St. She’s looking for a new job, so if anyone is looking for an experienced C++ developer in London let me know and I’ll pass your details on.

Then the other Thursday I went out with some old friends from college at the Kingston Arms in Cambridge. We were joined by Jay and one of her friends and a good evening of drinking and talking ensued. I can’t drink beer like I used to though - I was wasted after 5 pints, although I didn’t seem to suffer too much the next day.

That’s about all, except to recommend the Thursday night comedy on BBC2 - Extras didn’t quite get going, although there were some excellent cringe-making moments. Mitchell and Webb were genius - I loved the SS Officers sketch (”our badges are skulls - does that mean that we’re the baddies?”) and the drunks who think they are heroic crime-fighters (that one could have come straight out of my brother’s imagination in fact). I wasn’t expecting much from Mock the Week, but it was great. The bit about the dinner witch had me creased up, but too long to quote. Maybe it’s on YouTube somewhere.