birdw0rds

More w/e mileage decently completed. A 60-mile spin to and from Rockaway along the Gateway NRA paths in the cold-but-bright-n-sunny, pretty much following this route, albeit with a detour south to the Coney Island boardwalk on the way down, and a alternate route east and north from Fort Greene up through Williamsburg and Greenpoint and the over the Queensborough. Almost constant bastidd of a headwind on the way back north burnt the nebb and worked out the calves.

Sunday was the first jog event: the Scotland Run around Central Park along with about 7,000 other trotting bods. A chance to give some loose idea of where the fork I am after a month n’arf of ‘proper’ training compared to other chubby, middle-aged git runners. Aimed for a max. of 9 mins. per mile of the 6.2 around the ring road and official timing looks a bit better than me own and was nicely below that target. 7.4 mph is about as fast as my arse goes over any kind of distance. Looks like I was in the top half for my age and gender class which is good enough ferme.

1916 out of 6936 runners (28%)
1509 out of 3645 men (41%)
645 out of 1394 30-39 year-old men (46%)

Share on Facebook

Enforced inactivity worked wonders and removed the Blightylag accordingly coupla weeks ago. Following w/e 7 miler was comfortable, and a decent 35 mile bike sprint through the fog in 2 1/2 hours around the Manhattan periphery followed on the Sun. Then a full week of plodding again, including the first of what are apparently known as ‘brick’ days – swim, bike, run combos. First one last week was in grim, cold, drizzling greyness; yesterday’s much more comfortable in the albeit-still-winterlike sun. Birdlegs definitely feel the pinch by the end of those. Made it up to 9 miles for Saturday’s long jog without much trouble, and the Fleecieone and I wheeled it over to Joysey and completed a 40 mile round ride via some reasonably steep Pallisades hills on Sunday. Since mid Feb., the little mile tracker indicates about 115 miles on foot and over 200 miles on wheels in total (around 20 and 35 mpw). Ave. jog speed at around 6.6 mph – maybe sluggish, but decent enough.

Share on Facebook

Sometimes your body knows better than your brain. Stewpid brain. The bird training plan has been going swimmingly, although mainly runningly, and occassionally bikingly, since mid Feb. Today at the junction between jog mile 2 and mile 3, however, the body decided that it was spent. “Out of petrol, mate”. It took a mile to convince the stubborn brain, by which time there was a literal ringing in the ears and a tingle in the fingers. Knacked, innit. One limped the last mile or two and staggered towards an injection of power bar from the Garage on 96th St.

Message received.

Recent schedule meant that the only two ‘rest’ days were spent in transit first to Blighty and then back again. Hardly proper recuperation from the cumulative mileage. Having laid down for half an hour, felt like there were lead weights pulling on the limbs from the centre of the earth. Not a completely unpleasant feeling to be truly fatigued for the first time in yonks, but a clear signal to take a day or two off and rearrange things a little.

Share on Facebook