Tinnitus

One of the main vexations of running is how loud my tinnitus seems when I get home. Is it because I've had headphones on or just raised blood pressure? Is it actually getting worse and I should go and have another scan? I wish there was a cure.

It took ages to get out the door this morning - not because, well, running - but I've added even more stuff to my running kit: there is now a headband which I've had for ages and makes me look like a nit, but keeps my ears warm and hides the worst of my hair - and I found a little clip for my headphones which stops them moving around my neck. (Not in a strangly way, they just wander)

But I did run and it was OK.

4.80 miles
10m 16s pace. (but I did do one mile in 9m 41 - pretty bloody good for me these days...*

*I've just worked out that the 9m 41s referred to the last mile which wasn't a full mile - it was the 0.8 of the 4.8 miles. Prawn.

Insane

5.39 miles
9m 54s

I mean - I wasn't aiming to run that far or that fast - I was just doing my thing as per. I went the slightly less hilly route up to the downs which probably helped with the speed thing but other than that I wasn't thinking. Also I had no idea it was over 5 miles. I was thinking towards the end when Tracks finished and I had space to think that a half marathon is about 3 times the distance I was running today, that if I did it again I would want to do a PB which would mean 9 minute miles and that I would like to buy the bf a place in the New York marathon next year. I was rambling.

I did get one of these: Finburst running belt  - I wouldn't recommend. The belt is huge and the zip broke before I even left the house.

Weight vs speed

It's pretty much a straight line, the relationship between weight and speed: on a graph, it's a 45-degree angle. Simple.
For every lb over 9 stone, I think I probably take an extra 15 seconds per mile. It's just a theory and I can't be bothered to test it, but I feel in my bones I'm right so I'm just leaving it there.

4.76 miles
10m 14s pace.

I have to stick with the reassurance that simply getting out into the fresh air is a Good Thing and I never regret going for a run.

hamstrings give you wings

48 mins

4.79 miles

10m10s pace

After a relatively long time running – which is anything over ½ an hour for me – I get to the stage where the end is nigh, most of my energy is spent and the podcast’s finished. At this point this morning, I remembered I have hamstrings – I don’t use them much as a rule – but when they were added into the mix, I found an extra turn of speed.

It’s biomechanics, isn’t it and ignore them at your peril because they will keep you going in the long run

For example, remembering to keep your elbows tucked in to your sides to stop twisting, remembering to land mid-foot rather than on your heels, remembering to hold your phone in a manner which doesn’t trigger RSI.* (I failed on that score a couple of weeks ago in Whitstable and have been paying the price ever since)

But it does nothing for fat fingers – blood is centrifuged into my hands, making my digits increasingly sausagey the longer the run goes on.  Same for the red face* – it’s why I never run at lunchtimes at work (well, it’s one reason, and the best I can come up with)

It seems amazing, considering all that, that someone who’s overweight, knock-kneed and middle aged can actually run. It’s not pretty, but I am running.

One other side effect no one told me about is that it makes my tinnitus, temporarily at least, borderline unbearable: is it the raised blood pressure?  Is there raised blood pressure after running? (It's only temporary)

You talk to a (serious) runner and they will tell you they or someone they know, found running cured their depression, anxiety, all sorts of mental health issues. It’s great of course. For me – once the podcast finished and was hoping to get into this meditative state, I found myself over-thinking – ‘am I meditating here, am I thinking normally or am I getting into a meta rabbit hole and thinking about thinking?’ Whatever, I arrived back home with this list of ideas to jot down for the blog.

*I need one of these: Finburst running belt

**my face doesn’t go sausagey

2 runs and part time working

The weekend before I started working 3 days a week (again) I was in Whitstable which, by law, means a run along the seafront. I went the Sea Salter way and really enjoyed it - very blowy and bracing - and I felt very good about it

4.28 miles, 10m 23s

I honestly thought I'd gone faster than that - but the prize is the run itself - and it did help counteract some of the wine and chocolate. But not by much

And I have just returned from a midweek run - this is a non-working day and it is fantastic to have the time. I have to consider every single penny I spend from here on in and make sure I don't end up penniless and alone when I'm old. That's a different story.

Today's story is: 4.89 miles (ever closer to the magic 5 miles..) pace 10m 12s.

Amazingly I ran for 49 mins and 56 secs. It's the longest one for a long time. It was ok - struggling a bit on the early hill at the end of the railway path but the rest of it is almost 100% mental.

So I feel I have achieved something good here. It's 0955 and I have the rest of the day to pursue other interests.