Health and Fitness Routine Update

[Mab y Mynydd]

Ahhh!  Not so, it is in their contract that they have to work so many hours outside of the 'normal' working hours,

Yes, the time they are required to give outside 'directed time'.  Helping to run Easter Bonnet parades and bingo sessions is not stipulated as a required part of their contracts.

And now back to the fitness regimes.

[Rascal]

Like I said, it was theFriends of the school committee that organisedt the event, not the teachers, however, you know how it is when you are dedicated to your job and see it more as a vocation and you actually care about the children...

I have decided to take a few days off training.  Friday was dedicated to playing with Rascal Bach and collecting The Present Mrs. Rascal from the airport, Saturday, Sunday and Monday have been spent in Holyhead.  We have had a great time seeing Nain (Mam Bach) and Daid (Dad) (even though we had arranged to meet Wils here and he has let us down but I won't mention that).  We have been on Walks around Trearddur Bay, The Country Park and parts of the mountain.  Today we are going on the Easter Egg Hunt in the Country Park.

[Mab y Mynydd]

Like I said, it was theFriends of the school committee that organisedt the event, not the teachers,.....

But did the teachers give their time for free in order to attend?

.... however, you know how it is when you are dedicated to your job and see it more as a vocation and you actually care about the children...

I do indeed.  However, many members of the public do not observe this.

[TreFFS]

I have decided to take a few days off training. 

Have you put the strapon in for a service?

[Mab y Mynydd]

Dangerous words Tref, dangerous words.

[Rascal]

To be fair Mab, the Head teacher was there, I think the rest was us lot off of the Friends of the School thing.

Today, Rascal Bach and myself played a lot of badminton.  We have an old net that was given to us when they got new ones in the gym I uesd to work in.  It was a bit windy and we have to move out of the way of cars, but we have a lot of fun.

The bike got some air in the tyres today and I went for a short spin.  Nothing to write home about really but a nice start considering this is going to be the year of the bike (according to the new years resolution).

Tomorrow is the start of the Sexarathon race series and the first race has been reduced to a five mile run rather than the usual 10k.

[Mab y Mynydd]

Good luck with the Sexarathon.  I shall make no comment about the strapon and its possible contribution to events.

[Llaingoch]

I wonder if it's sponsored by Viagra ?

[Tecsyn]

Good luck with the sexmarathon Rasc, I hope you can keep it up to the finish-line...

[Mab y Mynydd]

I presume a sexarathon involves participation in six events.  This is, truly, a stiff test.

[Llaingoch]

I wish you all the best Rasc, I'm sure it will be very hard.

[TreFFS]

How many are likely to turn up for that event?

[Tecsyn]

How many are likely to turn up for that event?

A dozen runners and 300 dyslexic pervs...

[Rascal]

Thanks for all your kind wishes and support.

The race last night has been changed from a 10K to a 5 miles, so the course has changed to take the route past the gardens with the shale paths that have always been part of the race in the past.  I knew that I had run the first mile very quickly because when I got to the first mile marker, I hadn't started sweating yet and I know that I start to sweat at seven minutes.  Therefore the first mile was a sub seven minuter.  At the mile two marker I still had Nelly in sight, so I knew that I was flying along, she is really good.  As the course took a different route around the streets this time, one of our running mates whom couldn't get the time off work had taken one of the works cars and drove down to watch for a bit and cheer us on.  At about half way, the course turns back into the Sports Ground and there is a bit of a flat section.  There were a few people there cheering on the runners and I heard them shout for a clubmate we call Beryl.  I have never beaten her in a race before and was determined not to let her past me so when I heard the crowd shout her name I put my head down and gave a bit of a kick.  Then came the long hill.  Usually I pass loads of people on the hills and I consider this to be one of my strong points when running, but last night there was no way that I was going to pass anyone as I had gone off so fast, there were no slower ones to pass.  Worse was yet to come when a load of people passed me!  I kept my cool though and used each one to pull me along by kicking each time someone passed me and tucking in just behind them for 20 meters or so.  I did this about four or five times which took me up to the Sport Centre buildings.  From then on it was about half a mile left to go and my breathing was heavy but I decided to lengthen my stride and to relax a bit, I thought that this would be better than getting tense and help with the run.  At the last turn left I took a quick look back to see where Beryl was but couldn't see her.  This left me not knowing where she was and I was determined not to let her take a sprint finish past me, so I picked up the speed but not quite a sprint yet.  There were a load of TAC members and they gave me a fantastic cheer and at this I belted to the finish line.  When I got there, there was a runner standing in the way and not crossing the line.  Heck knows what was going on there but I wasn't waiting to find out so I ran into him and pushed him over the finish and out of my way.  What a strange thing to do?  He didn't seem to botherd about it.  As I moved down the finishing funnel and got my breath back, I started to heave but no sick came up.  I bent over double and caught my breath, and as I was doing this, someone in a TAC vest came over and congratulated me but I couldn't tell you who it was.

The Legend had a good run and came in 40 seconds in front of one of his rivals.
A load of the TAC lot got very good times and came in in under 29 minutes.
The Salmon did well and was pleased that his hip was giving him no bother.
Beryl came in behind me and we congratulated each other.
Nige did really well considering he has had a knee op recently (nothing to do with running, he hurt it at work) and he actually came in in front of The Salmon.  he was very pleased with his progress but his knee was giving him gip today.
Martin ran his first race in a long time and is getting back into it now that his wife had passed away and it was really good to see him back at the races.
I did a time of 34:07 coming in 76th place out of 258 runners.

Although a good time and I am pleased with it, it still isn't on target for a sub 40 min 10K, more speed work is needed.


Today, because it was such a lovely day I thought that it was a shame to miss out on the great weather so I got the racer out and did a fair few miles.  Geepers creepers, it uses different muscles to running and I sure could feel them kicking in.  After that I went to circuit training and pushed it really hard and managed to do more pressups than usual all with very good form.  I even put in the efforts on the shuttle run sprints even though my legs were screaming out for a rest.

[Rascal]

The weather had the decency to remain today so again the racer came out.  I arranged to meet the Salmon and we did a few miles on the bikes and then a couple of miles running.  Both the bike and the run were not as fast as I would have liked but it was the first time The Salmon has been on a bike in years and the first time he has run off the bike.  He had proper jelly legs for the first part of the run as his legs got used to the running motion after the circular motion of the bike.  He looked like he had really put himself through the paces and looked knackerd afterwards.

When I go home, Rascal Bach and The Present Mrs. Rascal were out so I did the yoga DVD.  This evening, the strap on made a return to the ab section.

[Mab y Mynydd]

.... the strap on made a return to the ab section.

Ooooooh Sailor!

[Rascal]

that was not an AZED clue

[Rascal]

Todays swim went like this

400m warm up

8x50m on 65sec
8x50m on 60sec
8x50m on 55sec

4x100m swim

800m pull - first 400 steady and then the nex 400 getting progressivley faster.

50 catch up, 50 swim x 2

25m fast 25m slow x 3

Total 3150m

[Rascal]

After the swim yesterday, the strap on came out for a bit of a stint.

Today The Salmon came round and we took the little ones swimming 9-10.  When we were there I saw an old neighbour and he has recently done his first triathlon, so I invited him to run with us around the Wrekin.  It took a bit of persuasion but eventually he said yes.  We picked him up and met The Legend at the base of the Wrekin before setting off together.  I did a mad dash up to the firing range and then doubled back to pick the three of them up.  We then took a right turn just after the style but rather than taking the longest route we cut it a bit shorter today as Richard, even though he has done a tri, isn't a very strong runner.  Having said that we still went down and did the big drag back up to the Permissive path.  The Salmon and The Legend met up with me at the Halfway House but sent Richard down the short path back to the car.  We did the run down past the beech trees.

When I got home, the Present Mrs. Rascal and Rascal Bach were out so I did the yoga routine.  They came back a few minutes into it but to be fair, they were both very well behaved and let me get on with things.  The Present Mrs. Rascal sat reading her book and pointing out mistakes and Rascal Back lay on the sofa with her Christmas present.

At three o'clock we met up with the Present Mrs. Rascals sister (Portys favorite) and her husband and along with the spaniel, we all took a walk up the Wrekin.

Strap on later.

[Rascal]

Tired today so left it until circuits but was busy with Rascal Bach and her friends and other things to do.  At circuits it was a new set of exercises.  Once started, I was well away and really enjoyed the session.

Strap on!

[Rascal]

The three of us went to the climbing wall today.  The Present Mrs. Rascal only wanted to watch (reading her book?) but Rascal Bach and myself had a cracking time.  I haven't climbed since about 1996, I got my climbing shoes out and really enjoyed it.  It takes a while for the forearms to get used to all the strain that is put upon them and the fingers take a hammering too with having to grip tight and the rough surface of the wall acts like sandpaper on the skin.  Rascal Bach was amazing!  After a while of climbing with me, I left her to her own devices.  We then played follow my leader and traversed across the wall.  There were two other little children there and they played nicely with Rascal Bach.  I went over to the other wall and Rascal Bach came with me and rather than using the large hand holds that are bolted onto the wall, she used the grooves that are in the wall and used a proper climbers grip whereby you put the tips of your fingers on the grip and bend the knuckles over and take the weight on that.  I exclaimed 'Where did you learn to climb like that!'  She replied 'Just here'.  I was gobsmacked.

At 5:30 I went out for a bike ride with The Salmon, we did a good route and finished at the running club.  At this point he split off to do a bit by himself and go home.

At the running club we ran down to the 1000m efforts lane we train at.  The first lap went well and I shot off and kept up with the really fast ones for quite a bit of the way.  They do a mile lap but we turn at the post and double back to the start.  I finished my first rep in 3:56 and was gasping for air after crossing the finish line.  From start to finish there is eight minutes, so the quicker you finish, the more recovery time you get.  The second rep was done in 4:03.  Not bad at all, I passed one of the other runners whom came in in front of me on the first rep but coming up to the finish I could hear him kick and I thought that there was no way that I was going to let him past.  The Legend said that it was good being at the back and watching this go on.

Rep third rep was the same time as the second, 4:03 but I really had to put in some effort and I had my eyes closed and my chest felt like t was being constricted by my clothes.  When I got over the line, I dropped to my knee and closed my eyes as the ground seemed to be spinning.  After a few seconds of heavy breathing, I was back to normal and stood up and controlled the breathing.

Rep four seemed easier and I didn't seem to be gasping for air as much on the way out.  It did get heavier on the way back but I found my pace to be easier and the rep flowed a much better than the previous.  This only affected the time by three seconds with 4:06.

The Legend came up to me after and said that the coach was well pleased with my times today and that last year my best time at that distance was 4:09.  This meant that each rep tonight was faster than any last year.  PBing it all the way man!  This is good news for that so far elusive sub 40 10k.

On the couple of miles run back up the hill to the running club, I was beside Jonsey and we were doing quite a fast pace considering thatwhat we had just done.  Jonsey is a much  faster runner than myself but even he said that his legs were tired after that and his calfs were hurting.  I said 'lets slow it down then', to which he responded  by upping the pace.  I thought 'Alan B'stard!'

Once back at the club, I grabbed my bike and did the cycle home at a cracking pace.

[TreFFS]

While you were up that climbing wall did you by any chance see that Wils?

[Rascal]

Na, I think he is keeping a low profile after letting us down at Easter, but I won't go on about it.

Today I did the yoga routine and although the backs of the thighs were tight at first, the session seemed to do them a lot of good.  My form is improving on it all the time.

In the evening I picked up The Salmon and went to the Wrekin.  We were supposed to meet a bunch of others at 6:15 but didn't get there until 6:19 because of babysitting duties so we missed them.  We decided to do a different route and went up the Beech trees first.  This is a big climb to start off with but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, plus after that it was a long and steady decent all the way around clockwise except for a couple of minor climbs.

We finished the run and I always like to do a stretching routine afterwards, especially to get the legs free of lactic acid so they don't hurt the next day.  As we were doing this, the rest of the guys came running down the main drag.  They all said that their legs were sore and tired after yesterdays sprint efforts and they felt tired in themselves.  They said that they would have waited the extra few minutes until we got there but one of the guys had to be back pretty handy, but we know the rules that if you are not there on time, they go without you.  It would have been nice to do the run with the rest of them but we did a good one anyway so all is good.

[Rascal]

The four of us had a lovely walk around Harghmond Hill today and watched the buzzards circling around and a peregrine searching for it's next meal.  Then a cracking circuits session this evening.  Martin was there with his lad, whom did well.