Road To London

Rest day which means gym day.

Yesterday's 13 miles didn't go as planned but that's fine and my legs still feel good so an early start and an hour of kettlebells and core work, you don't get a physique like this by just drinking red wine and eating Toblerone you know.

Actually you do get a physique like this by doing those very things and let that be a lesson to you all.

Gym done, home, take the dog for a walk, have a shower, cup of coffee and then a days massaging and listening to some music, probably go for a bit of…….

The Velvet Underground, thought I was going to say Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine didn't you.

It was Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine.

I lied to sound cool.

Tuesday is club day and today was a track session, I both love and hate track sessions.

I should probably start here by addressing the red wine shaped elephant in the room, yes this week I did knock back a fair bit of booze compared to previous weeks.  So, today I got some crappy news, actually that's something of a ridiculous understatement.  This morning I was told my brother had died, he was only 49 years old, he shouldn't be dead, he should be with his kids, he should be watching them grow up, he should be talking shit to me on the phone and reciting Alan Partridge quotes, nobody should die that young, it's shit. I have a million things I want to say to my brother but now I can't. I'm sorry Chris.

I've decided to try and raise a little bit of money whilst doing London so if you enjoy reading my blog and following my road to London it would be much appreciated if you gave a quid or two and here's the 👉 link 👈.

Now you weren't expecting to read that today were you? Apologies for the slight detour but I needed to get it out there. Anyway, that's enough of all that and onto the pointless stuff you all love to read about.  

Decided I needed to get out the house and so something so went to the club to just run and switch off my brain for an hour. Track session tonight was 1km tempo, 10 x 300m and finish with another 1km tempo.  I am feeling really good at the moment, probably best I've felt since the vintage days of '2016-2017 Simon'

Now that was a good Simon, a Simon that ran 19:03 for a 5km, a Simon that ran 40:23 for a 10km and a Simon that was slimmer, fitter and faster than all previous versions of Simon and there have been a lot of versions of Simon, there's been 18 stone Simon, new to running not sure what he's doing Simon, kebab eating Simon, vegetarian Simon, househusband Simon (the happiest version of Simon ever) and now running coach and sports masseur Simon.  

Years ago I was the only Simon at the club and a new Simon joined who was an ultra runner and he became known as 'ultra Simon' and I was just Simon. I can't even begin to explain how much this pissed me off, just writing this now is making me annoyed about him.  Thankfully he didn't last long, I outSimoned him and he left ashamed and defeated.  Now, in defeating him I should have been able to claim his title but sadly I'm still not ultra Simon.  Usually it's Simon, Coach, sadistic bastard or Sexy Beast (thanks Andy Fury).

Anyway back to the session, I held my own on the 1km, was right at the sharp end for all the 300's and for the final 1km managed to keep Hannah and Phil within touching distance, as I said earlier this is vintage Simon in all his glory.  

Roll on Wednesday and easy miles.

4 miles easy today which is just what I needed, been a long and very crappy day and I needed to get out.

Today was a day for The Velvet Underground and Stevie Wonder and a nice run up the coast to Cullercoats and back and that's exactly what I did.

Home, shower and a takeaway with the family, mum, my brother and a bottle or two of wine and a bit of Taskmaster to forget the day.

It's Thurs'threshold'day.  The threshold intervals are getting longer in time and shorter in number and today was 3 x 15 mins with jog recoveries in between each one.  Aim was to hit at least 2 miles in each one.

Hang on, I haven't talked about music for a while.

The playlist for today was mainly Young Fathers, Velvet Underground, yes obviously Carter USM (I'm giving up writing Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine every time as it takes too long) and Jamie T.  A busy day meant I had to do the session late in the day which meant missing the club !! I hang my head in shame for not being there, a disgraceful performance from the coach.

Busy day meant by the time I finished work it was nearly 6 and it was dark and I've talked about my dodgy eyesight in the past and me running solo doing thresholds in the dark is an absolute recipe for disaster.  Basically it would start okay but involve me more than once running into a lamppost or signpost, so scrap that plan and move threshold Thursday to Easy Friday and easy Friday to threshold Thursday.

I once ran into the massive advertising sign opposite the magistrates courts in Shields, it's about 15 feet high and 20 feet wide and I didn't see it.  I clipped it with my left arm.

I say clipped but actually I ran straight into it with a thud.

It hurt.

A few easy miles and some half-hearted hill sprints and I went home my head wasn't right and I didn't want to be doing it.  I want home and lay on the settee listening to music. 

Easy Friday was now Threshold Thursday, read above to see what I was doing as I'm not writing it again.

Nailed it.

Each rep was spot on, actually they were all too fast but it felt great.  I ran, I thought about my brother, I ran harder, I cried my eyes and it was exactly what I needed.

I went to co-op and got a flapjack and a coffee and went home.

I love flap jacks, none of your fancy chocolate covered ones with lumps of biscoff on the top.  No, give me a good old fashioned flap jack any day of the week.

Actually give me a massive traybake of Charlotte's flapjacks and I'll eat all of it in one day, easy.

Wasn't planning on doing Parkrun, felt I needed a lie in but Lily had the day off and said she was going down so headed down with her to have a nice dad & daughter run and a chat.  Never going to pass up a chance to go for a run with Lily. 

It was lovely.

We went to co-op for coffee and pastries and walked home chatting then all 5 of us spent the day together mooching round shops and it was brilliant.  

Tomorrow is 16 miles, I bought a bottle of red for tonight. 

Sunday long run.  16 miles sitting at around 8:20 mile pace was on the plan, my coach tells me it's just what I need, then a rest day.

That man's a genius, he's genius Simon.

No, he's ultra Simon.  

No, ultra Simon was a bit of an arse, I don't want to be him.

So, 16 miles today to sweat out this week's wine and poor food choices.

I don't really plan my runs and routes, I put way more effort into planning my music choices than I do where I'm running.  Added a loop on at the start and then settled into the usual route, I generally check my pace for first couple of miles and then settle into it and just run.

Should have been 8:20 pace and first mile was 7:56, slowed down and 2nd mile was better so stopped checking.  

Now this was mistake number 1.

Actually it was mistake number 2.

Mistake number 1 was no breakfast, just a cup of coffee and out the door.  Started to feel a bit fatigued and realised I was struggling, usually I'd push through but my head wasn't in it and I didn't have the desire to push on, so at 13 miles I stopped in Cullercoats and stood for 10 minutes looking out across the sea.  I love Cullercoats, it's always quiet and peaceful.  Stood for a bit, thought about my brother, pulled myself together and ran back to Whitley and called it a day at about 14 miles.

I shall class this as my first failed session of marathon training.  I need to properly think about my pre-run nutrition and I need to think about fuelling effectively  on a run, red wine and coffee does not work.

Rest day tomorrow.

Sorry for the slight detour with this week's blog, not what you expected and normal service will resume next week.

At least I didn't mention Ben, not even once.

I might make next weeks blog all about Ben.

All previous blogs are available to read HERE