Running the red line

7k, 41'51".

You'd know its October. Dark early, leaves thick on the ground, and kids dragging wooden palettes through Mountjoy Square. You have to admire their proactivity.

5k, 27'56".

My fastest ever 5k, by about 50 seconds. Supposed to be doing the Donadea 10k next Saturday though so I'd better do something longer than 5k during the week.

I had to abandon my Wednesday evening run for a call of nature, so it was an easy few days after all.

Today, Donadea Forest 10k, 57'11".

Happy with this. Unlike the 5k races, the pace at the start tended to pull me along rather than hold me back. At about the 4k mark I picked somebody who was going at my pace and stayed just behind her for the next 5k. There was a nice cool breeze as well which helped.

Next up is the 10k for the Irish Kidney Association on Oct 23rd in Parkwest

....well to continue that thought, it wasn't a cold winter after all. But the power of that negative thought prevailed and I didn't run in the last 3 months anyway. Went out this evening and did 3.73k, 22'52".

I started reading Time Warrior last night - its about curing procrastination amongst other things.

5k, 30 min.
Legs were a bit sore all week. It will take a few more runs to feel comfortable again and to get the pace and distance up.

Ankle is quite swollen and sore. I've been limping around all day like Dinny from Glenroe.

2k on the treadmill, 12'51". The treadmill can be very uncomfortable after about 10 minutes - I wonder if its static buildup that causes it - maybe I need to ground myself with the handrail.

The gym routine I've been given is quite good - its a circuit of about 8 machines, repeated 3 times. It only takes an hour because there's no need to rest between sets, because the same muscle group isn't used twice in a row.

Gym this evening, including 3k on treadmill, 19'10". Last night and tonight felt much easier than earlier in the week.

Gym last night (Monday).

5k tonight, 33'33".

The pace that I can comfortably sustain is definintely a good bit slower than 12 months ago.

Got a letter in the door for the Simon Fun Run in the Phoenix Park on October 6th - 5 miles this year - last year it was 5k, due to roadworks I think.

I was just thinking the other day that if I want to get benefit from the gym in particular and the jogging as well then I have to make sure I'm getting enought cardbohydrate, & protein etc., so I started logging my food intake on www.fitday.com.

On Sunday and Monday I ate what I normally eat, and it was only 1800 calories, so I ate a bit more before bed each night to bring it up to 2200 or so, even though I wasn't that hungry. I can't understand how I've been getting by on so little and yet maintaining the same weight for the last 2 years (87kg; 14 stone in old money). I'm 6 foot 5, so I would have thought that eating under 2000 calories is a big deficit for me. On the other hand, it might explain why I sometimes don't get out of bed on the weekend. So today I've been snacking on cereal bars, and had a couple of extra things to eat at various times and took in 3500 calories. I'll have to find a happy medium at around 2800 to 3000 calories and see how it feels.

Gym Friday, rest yesterday, 5.35km today, 34'48".
Took a different route and included Griffith Park in Drumcondra to see what its like - its a nice spot.

Maybe we've crossed paths, Dave! All my runs start and end in Mountjoy Square. Can you still get Boards.ie running vests, I wonder? It would be good to be able to spot other boardsies out and about.

Tonight was a 6k loop via a street I was never on before called Philipsburgh Avenue, and Griffith Avenue, 38'51". It felt better than the recent runs and the downhill stretch from Griffith Avenue to the Tolka is compensation for the uphill bit on the way out.

I'm happy enough to see that my speed is creeping up on the last 4 runs; 8.9kph, 9.0kph, 9.2kph, 9.3kph. I'd like to keep increasing the distance and be running at 10kph in a month's time.

6.5k, 41'09".
Running in the afternoon is definitely tougher than the evening. Today was a loop that included some of Drumcondra Rd, Griffith Avenue, St Mobhi Rd, and back to Mountjoy Square by the canal. There are a good few inclines. I'm tired - just out of the shower now and have to resist the temptation to lie down on the bed or I won't get up again.

7k, 46'54".
Really slow going. I had lunch at midday, an apple at 4pm, and then ran at 8.30pm. Won't be making that mistake again. My legs were tired after 5 minutes.

5k, 29'24".

4.8km, 28'24". Couldn't get any further because the Croke Park crowd was earlier than I expected. I can feel a couple of niggles in my legs that I think is because of pushing the pace in the last week.

So that 10k was 18 months ago, and I didn't even try and jog for a few months after, but the sharp pain in my big toe wasn't completely fixed. Then in May I went hillwalking in Scotland and totally overdid it, dehydrated and shattered by the end of the day. Two days later I had excruciating pain in my left big toe. Long story short it turned out to be gout, but I've been on a daily tablet since last summer and haven't had an attack in a good few months.

Did 15 minutes of "walk 2 minutes jog 3 minutes" this morning. Felt fairly uncomfortable in places. Hopefully won't be too long before I make some progress.

15 minutes of walk-2-jog-3 on Saturday, and same again today. I'd like to be running 5k comfortably with no walking breaks by June 14th. I've entered the 10k Dun Laoghaire Bay run on August 4th to give myself something to aim for. That's 16 weeks away, so there's time for a slow steady buildup, if I have the patience for it.

I've been thinking about publishing a "5k-to-couch plan", because I've done it at least twice now. It would include such tips as "If you feel like running, resist the urge by turning on your laptop and browsing the web". There would be a nutrition section which would include advice on how many battered sausages are needed to keep sodium high at high levels.

Out on Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday morning this week and last week also. If I was doing this in the evenings it just wouldn't happen. It's so much easier to go out before breakfast than to go out after a day of work, with all the things that can get in the way.

Have had some ankle niggles, so I haven't been tempted to push things. Still just 15 minutes each time; today had two 1-minute walking breaks.

Tried running on grass a couple of times. My pace seems to be slower on grass, but on the other hand I don't think the iPhone is very accurate. Mapmyrun today shows me taking a 200m detour down a street that doesn't exist. Apart from this, the site is quite buggy. It doesn't even sort workouts correctly, because it doesn't handle the date format. My Garmin is buried somewhere in the clutter of my apartment.

Monday night I set the alarm for 6.50am and went to bad planning to get down to Fairview Park on Tuesday morning. When my alarm went off, which is the 'ring ring' sound of an old fashioned telephone, there was a second or two where the sound manifested itself as a colour and a sound at the same time. The sound was a rich green colour. I got down to the park anyway and locked the Dublin Bike to a tree and did twenty minutes in the dewy grass.

Thursday morning did 15 minutes around the streets; no walking breaks for the first time this year.

This morning I volunteered at the Parkrun in St Annes and did a barely-competent job of marshalling one of the turns. A good portion of the runners were on the path instead of the road. Ah, well. Went home then and tried to do 20 minutes myself, but my legs were useless. The warm day was part of the problem, but it was mainly that I had been up for 4 or 5 hours at that stage with only two slices of toast for breakfast. Didn't eat a lot yesterday either due to not being able to leave my desk for most of the day. Jogging on an empty stomach works first thing in the morning but I'm not sure it works for me later in the day.

Entering the danger zone soon. Six weeks into a new activity is often where my motivation evaporates.

Out again 8 times in the last 3 weeks, mostly 3km to 5km on footpaths around the area. Missed two days early in the month due to work & study.

The warm weather makes a bit of a difference, even before 8am. I think there was just one incident of an ankle niggle and like the other ones it wasn't even anything much. The plan I'm following has me doing 4 days a week as of this week just gone, but the individual distances don't increase beyond 5k for another 2 weeks.