Project Good For Age Week 19 of 30
Goal : Automatic Entry Into the London Marathon
How? : Run a 3:15 Mara @ Manchester Mara in April (Current PB 4:45)
First Step : Run a 45 Minute 10k @ Windmill 10k race on 12th November (achieved) (10k time at start of project : 58 mins) www.fyldecoastrunners.com/uploads/5/2/4/9/52490083/w10k3_overallresults_classic.pdf
Next Stop : Blackpool half mara in Feb – Target 1:37 (Current PB 1:58)
So despite completely falling off the rails diet wise this week, I only put 2 pound on, weighing in at 13/7
This could have been a lot worse.
I don’t know what is wrong with me, I know exactly what I need to do on the diet front yet for some retarded reason I keep doing the exact opposite.
That said, I weighed myself 4 times on the’ bodytrax’ machine at the gym (its 99% accurate don’t you know) and I got 4 completely different results.
This annoyed me.
Don’t worry, I picked the ‘worst’ figure, so 13/7 it is.
I fancied a laugh so I went over to the PT and demanded he explain how the machine can give 4 completely different results one after another when it is meant to be 99% accurate.
Of course he waffled some bullshit excuse.
PT’s piss me off.
Well most of em….
I’m not talking about legend Ironman PT’s at the top of their game (you know who you are)
I’m talking about knob head ‘kiddie’ PT’s in their early 20’s who strut round the gym thinking they know it all yet chuck em in the deep end of the pool and they will shit themselves….
They are the ones that piss me off…
Always have…
Monday 5k on the mill
So all the ‘industrial’ tredmills were taken up today which meant I ended up on the shitty baby ones.
This initially wound me up….
But then this happened.
0-1 Ok @ speed 15
1-4 @ speed 14 – Before I know it I’m at 3km
3-4 km I steadied myself @ speed 14
4-5 I unleashed the beast and went for it! cranking it up to speed 15 once again – Buzzin, lovin it!!
Wednesday 5k on the mill exactly as above
I goes the gym all happy and whistling, thinking I’ve cracked it like.
Makes my way onto my favourite ‘industrial’ mill and what happens?…
It kicked my arse.
The session felt tough from the outset and throughout.
I am sure this increase in ‘perceived effort’ is down to the quality of the treadmill.
Either that or its all the crap ive been eating catching up with me.
In my opinion there is a clear difference between these speeds on the ‘industrial’ mills and the same speed on the little shitty baby ones….
Going forward, all speed sessions need to be done on the Industrial strength treadmills, simple as that.
If all the Hardcore ones are taken I am going to pick a random victim then go stand directly in front of their mill and just stare at them until they abandon session prematurely….
Either that or go up to the ‘walkers’ and tell them to ‘do one’ as the Ironman has arrived…..
The above aside, I made it through the session, exactly as Monday, first kilometre at speed 15, 1-4 at 14 then ramping it up to 15 for the final one.
Friday 5k on the mill
On the way to the gym I treated myself to a starbucks…
Just hold that thought…
0-1 @ 15 – strong
1-2 @ 14 felt too tame, wanted more
2-3 Let’s have it, Cranked it back up to 15 – lovin it
3-4 steadied myself @14 for the final kilometre
4-5 Cranked it back up to 15 again – ok, starting to feel it but emersed myself in the music and grinded it out.
Buzzing that I’m back to where I left off before xmas.
Caffeine???
Sunday : 17k on the mill at target race pace (speed setting 13) www.strava.com/activities/1379225540
My god this was a slog.
I never really got going for a couple of reasons.
First, I ran out of both electroloytes and gels prior to the set.
That David Lloyd do not sell neither electrolytes nor energy gels says it all.
“What’s an energy gel?” said the lad behind the counter…
Don’t worry about it son….
Got any bananas?
They didn’t even have any bananas….
I had to make do with plain water and some dogshit flap jack.
Also, the plan was to listen to a motivational speech for the first hour and then crank up the dance music for the final 4k.
Once I got cracking, the ‘speech’ immediately began to ‘buffer’ due to the crap wi-fi at the gym.
This agitated the fuk out of me.
But the point is, it’s all about being organised.
It’s not David Lloyds fault.
It’s my fault.
There is no excuse for being un-organised.
No Excuse.
I really should know much better than this.
The fuel should have been sorted and the ‘speech’ downloaded well in advance of the set.
Tut tut rookie…
Anyhow, point is, I never really got going for the first 10k.
The pace was alrite and my breathing was alrite but my body was feeling heavy, my muscles in particular.
“Make it to 13k” I said to myself and then we can get stuck into the dance music.
The tunes initially gave me a boost round to 15k and then there is only 2k to do.
Into the last kilometre and I began to buzz once again.
Make no mistake, this was a slog.
But I made it…..
Another new distance at target race pace ticked off the list.
Oh and by the way, I remembered something amazing today…
A dark secret which I already knew about but had long since forgotten…..
I remembered how to unlock ‘marathon mode’ on the mill….
Starbucks anyone?
Next update : 04/02/18
To your amazing journey!
By the way, I have written a book, it’s all about how I went from zero fitness to completing an Ironman triathlon, it’s only just come out but it has got some fantastic reviews already!- you can check them out here: (also available on Amazon in the US but please read the UK reviews first!)
