First One.

Inspired by my good friend Mark, I'm going to start blogging my runs too. I don't know how long I'll keep this up for, but it'll be good to keep a record of things over and above the weekly times on my Runtastic profile.

March 4th
Usual wander down to Hove Prom for a parkrun. It's not my local one, but it's fast and flat. The wind coming off the sea usually has a cooling effect, and 50% of the run is towards the i360 which helps keep my head up and improve my breathing.

I had a good feeling about this run. The weather was cool and clear, the prom was pebble-free and I had a good warm-up. I kept my pace up and knocked 14 seconds off my PB, finishing in 29:18, grateful of my Shot Bloks pre-run.

March 7th
I had the day off ahead of my aunt's funeral back in Kent that evening, so I went out for a run along the seafront early doors, instead of heading to the gym to use the dreadmill. I'd planned to run a full 10k to boost my distance, but the route I planned took me towards the power station past a very dusty aggregate site, which caused me to abandon my 10k plan and stick to a simple 5k, running past some different beach huts along Hove seafront finishing in 34:48.

March 11th
Back to Hove Prom for another parkrun. Wasn't feeling too confident about this one, but managed to shut up the nagging voice telling me that last week was a fluke, a one-off, all down to the energy blocks. I stuck to a steady pace on a foggy prom, just behind a father/daughter couple. I dropped back from them around the 3k mark, a distance hurdle I need to get over, but at the 4k mark I sped up with the intention of reeling them in. Unfortunately 300m from the end as I planned to kick on for a sprint finish they did the same! I ended up finishing with my watch showing 29:29, after nearly collapsing on my pregnant, Gillingham-supporting friend volunteering as tunnel marshall. The text showing my time took an age to come through, confirming my time as...29:18 again! Nothing if not consistent, at least!

March 14th
After an earlier post on tumblr about body positivity, BMI and weight (which I will transfer over here soon) I decided to continue my casual weight loss attempts. On a Thursday at the gym I tend to use the exercise bike on a "fat loss" program, spending 35 minutes cycling (and watching Gossip Girl on my tablet) before using the weights. I noticed that the treadmill had a similar program, so decided to try it out, wondering if I could combine my usual Tuesday 5k with something that'll help me lose some more fat.

Unfortunately not, and twenty minutes later I spluttered to the end of a dull 2k, having wasted my running time for a Tuesday. However my extended weight training led me to discover the ab machine, so in a fortnight or so I'll have a body like Zac Efron.

March 18th
Parkrun day! This time I performed a little experiment. The night before I went up to London to Shepherd's Bush to see Tove Lo live in concert. We didn't get back until half past midnight, so I was running on around six hours sleep (two hours fewer than I normally get). Not only that, I'd had a few pints at the gig (my limit on the night before a run is one, normally) and I was feeling clogged up from the London air. I wondered what effect these three factors would have on my run.

Well, I started off badly. My smartwatch utterly refused to start timing me, and by the time I gave up on that it was too late to start the app on my phone, meaning I was running blind. I usually run with a timer so I can check it on my watch (plus I get an audio readout of distance, time, pace and calories every km) so this was a further experiment on how I could cope away from my comfort zone. At the first turn of four I noticed an older chap in a blue football shirt that I didn't recognise, so I gradually increased my pace to catch up to him and the two people he was running with, and asked him who the team was. He explained that it was an old Montrose shirt, as he was a fan, and proceeded to tell me all sorts of interesting facts about the club while I was struggling to keep pace. At the dreaded 3k mark I bade them goodbye and slowed to catch my breath. The 3rd km was mostly stop-start, and for the final bit I again tried to reel in those ahead of me. I crossed the line at 30:16, a pace that six months ago I would've been delighted with, but a disappointing end to a run of four sub-30 parkruns in a row.

This was longer than I intended it to be. I didn't even mention my wife tail-running for the last two parkruns, or the Swindon-supporting friend I made because of our shared love of obscure football shirts. In the future (i.e. when I can be arsed) I'll copy that piece from tumblr about body fat, and also do a post about music to run with.