Arrival Day in New York 2014

1.15pm (GMT) Flight from Heathrow was pretty lumpy all the way across. Then a crazy taxi ride from JFK to The Row NYC. 17 hours of travel with a little sleep. 

The little glimpses of the city on the way into Manhattan where captivating. Once we arrived in the chilly city, the sky was dark, now 6.30pm in New York, but the bright lights of the advertising boards almost made it feel like daylight.

Southwold 10k

Today was the day I ran my last race of 2014. This has been a funny year for me. Not funny haa haa, but funny peculiar. 

All done now. Roll on 2015. Cambridge half marathon then Brighton marathon. 

Rejected runner

Another year, another rejection from the London Marathon. 6 years of failing to make the ballot. I would have probably deferred until 2016 anyway. As I have already entered Brighton marathon anyway. I know I could do it for charity, but over the years I've exhausted all of my fundraising avenues. I'd rather raise the money on my own terms too. No pressure to raise £2000+! If I can raise a few hundred for a local charity I'd be more than happy with no stresses of coming up short.

On the 12 day.....

Too busy. Running has become secondary over the past 11 days. I have been totally preoccupied with health issues. Mine and my wife's. 
Last week my wife was in hospital for an operation on her hip. She is now on the road to recovery, but the long drives, long days and a stinking cold really took it out of me. Coupled with a heavy workload at the pub and a stag night to plan.
Basically, I've been totally shattered. Something had to give, that would be the running.
I pushed it to the side for a week. I have been doing my stretches, but the knee pain has increased still.
I think I need to run to keep the pain away. 


Too much alcohol..... Back running soon I hope.

Hip hip.....hooray?

I am sitting here in Costa coffee inside Addenbrooks Hospital waiting for my wife to come out of the operating theatre.
She's had a niggling hip pain for a while now, years in fact. Finally, after several appointments with doctors and consultants. We may our answer.
She has been very nervous understandably. She has a history with anesthetics wearing off. Or surgery going off plan. Its my job as her husband to try and keep her cool, calm and not panicked.
This has been bloody hard. I am scared. I do worry.
Its only minor surgery, but there is always risk. I can only say this now, as she's unconscious.
I write these blogs as a personal diary and I chose to share some. Likewise, you can chose to read it. Those who know me well, know that I very rarely, if ever, project my panic, worry or stresses.
"Always pretty cool about everything"
"So laid back"
.... right now I'm shitting myself.

That's my wife you've got there Doc. Don't break her.

I don't care too much which religion you follow. Whether you believe in a god or not. Just pray or send a positive vibe that all goes well. So I can go back to getting shit wrong, being moaned at for leaving my pants on the bathroom floor and saying the wrong thing to the wrong person.

Cheers, thanks, love ya!

C.B.A.

...... No, really.

.........I Can't Be Arsed!

This week*. Running sucks arse!

That is all.

*I am full aware that it is only Monday!

10 x Hills

So, I went with Constitution Hill to do my reps. Good hill. But if i'm totally honest, looking back at the data. I was surprised at how slow I was. I was trying to maintain an even pace throughout the session. I did do this, but it was an even slow pace.

I guess in the back of my mind I am being cautious. Hills scare me. My last two running injuries have come when running hills at pace. My knees are still sore most of the time. I'm doing my stretches twice a day. But it is coming up to a year since the knee pain started. With no real sign of repair. Running is ok, up to a certain pace, but then the recovery time can be painful. Oh well.... Just need to get to race day!


Before my run, I had planned to hit it quite hard. I had a little flick though my Jim Fixx book for some inspiration. I did find this ....

After the hills I headed home. My knees were very sore,but I needed to reward my brain with stimulation. After the relentless monotony of going up and down the same hill 20 times, a much needed trot down through Christchurch Park was nice.

Evening Easy 5 miles

Another nice run this evening. Starting to feel stronger and fitter. Still out of sync with my training plan though.  I needed to drop off a letter to my brothers house, so it was a functional run too. I'll have my rest day tomorrow before attacking the hill session. Plan says 10 x hill, so i'm thinking Constitution Hill 10 times. Should be interesting. Should be a challenge. Should be fun!

I like running, I do!

:-)
Evening Easy 5 by BJP1974 at Garmin Connect - Details

10 miles (Easy pace)

Today's run was a lot better. I knew I needed to run a lot longer than usual. Not having run since Thursday. I had planned to run yesterday but time had got away and it was also Isaacs (my son) 12th birthday.
My last run had made me quite miserable. I felt that I was not running for pleasure. I was just putting up the numbers, running the miles for the sake of it. This is not what I am about. I have never followed a training plan before. Now, three weeks into it, I can comfortably say that training plans are not for me. Not strict ones anyway. I think I need to allow myself the flexibility to move sessions around. For instance today should have been interval, but I really could not be dealing with that today. I just wanted to run. So, the 10 mile easy run which I should be doing later in the week, I moved to today..... and it was awesome.

Headed up Valley road and called in at Northgate Sports centre for some water. It was hot today, but I had chosen not to take water with me. My plan was to stop at Sports centres or even then Hospital if I needed to drink.
I continued down heath road to St Augustines, through Kings Way, Rands Way and along Nacton road. Then making my way back along the waterfront and home. 10.6 miles done.

My pacing felt fine. I could have gone on for another 5 miles. I feel that the 4 days away from running did me a lot of good. mentally and physically. I'm not sure which session I'll do tomorrow if any. My first though is to ride my bike. It's been too long.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/546233074# 

Off plan week

This week has been terrible. My training plan has gone to pot. I am getting the miles in, which I suppose is what counts. But the structure has disappeared. 

Part of the problem is that at the weekend I over indulged in alcohol and had very little sleep. The after effect of this has been ongoing. Tiredness and physical exhaustion.

 My working week has altered slightly too. My days of have been sacrificed so I could assist a lad on work experience with me. It's not been hard work, but not having the time at home to chill and recharge has made a difference to my mojo.

I feel like i'm playing "catch up" 

Sunday evening Easy 5

Headed out for a 5 mile easy trot. I had missed a couple of my sessions due to being away on a stag weekend.
We'd had some very heavy thunder and rain earlier in the evening and the air was still quite muggy. I felt awful for most of the run. I think this was due to the epic amount of alcohol i'd drunk while away.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/540923284

Stag night pic!

https://www.facebook.com/brian.powlett/posts/10152997918452571

Day 11: Up n Down.

Day 11 of my training plan. 8 x 1 minute hill repeats.

I decided on Valley road. Its not the steepest hill but it seems to have a consistent gradient, which I though would be better for me and my achey knees. Today was nice and cool. So once I dropped my daughter off at school I headed out for my session. Light warm up run, stretches and then the hills. I really enjoyed it. Although afterwards, while doing the cool down jog, I did wonder whether I should have picked a steeper hill.... maybe next time.

Right... quick bath then off to work!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/538322004

Day 10 Scheduled 8 mile Easy

Started with a 7.5 mile loop of Bramford and Sproughton with run up to work through town. I got my stretches done at work. This is definitely helping my recovery. I'm not sure the fried egg and ham roll I had once I got to work had any recovery properties, but it was delicious.

7.5m

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/537847060

After work Run home

1.5m

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/537847041

Day 8 and 9 of training plan

Day 8: was supposed to be 12x400 intervals but I had to go to a physio appointment and school sports day. Eventually time just ran out. So I turned it into a rest day and moved the session to day 9.

Going back to the physio session. It went well. I have been give some more stretches to do. It would seem that my quadriceps are very tight and are pulling at the tendons around my knee. Which is creating the pain.

I really NEED to commit to these stretches. I NEED this knee pain gone....

Day 9: Intervals 12 x 400 

Well that was a killer. I headed to the park at the end of Bramford Lane. Initially, I was not sure how I was going to get through it. By the 5th interval I was feeling pretty battered. Got the extra adrenaline I needed from the series of dogs running of their leashes and toward me. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/537252782 It was quite muggy out too. But I did it. It was very hard and I also remembered to do my stretches. Good times.

2 years on!

Post by Brian Powlett.

Day 7 of training plan.

I'll just start of by saying that I have deliberately moved my training updates to this blog. So by clicking on the link you have chosen to pay an interest in how my training is going. I like to post on Facebook/Twitter. I am not showing off or massaging my ego. This acts as a training diary for me to record where I am at right now. I've chosen to share it.

 I like running, cycling and triathlon.

You can read it or ignore it. If you rather I just reshared stuff from Buzzfeed or viral videos from youtube etc then i'm the wrong friend. I have a lot of friends who have a common interest in my chosen sport. Also I know some people have been inspired by some of the stuff I've posted about. Anyway, you get my point.... Thank you, Love ya! xxxx BJP

For the first time EVER! I have started and maintained a training plan. I have been running and cycling for around 5 years now, but have never committed to a plan. I have decided that I would give the Jaffa 12 week plan a go, in the build up to Ipswich half marathon. So far so good.

Today I was scheduled for 5 mile easy running. I still struggle to know what my paces are. My slow pace is ridiculously slow when compared to my race pace. I knew I wanted to be around the 10 minute miling. I also made sure the route I was running was quite flat. Yesterday, my 7 mile "Easy" run included park run and the run up to the park was a steady incline. Then the run afterward up to my work includes quite steep sections. All in all, I was struggling with my knees at work. I was not sure how they would feel today. But they were fine. A little sore at the start thats all. Garmin Data here.

Tomorrow is 12 x 400 meter intervals. But I have an appointment with the Physio in the morning to assess my knee pain. See what happens tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

Day 5 and 6 of training plan.

Day 5 was a rest day. Quite frankly, my knees needed it. Took Ibuprofen. Had a beer. Watched football.

Day 6: Is 7 miles at easy pace. The plan is to run to ParkRun and back to work. Targeting 9 minute miling. After a week of glorious weather, today looks crappy and wet. Although, I do like running in the rain.

Update-

Just back from my run. Managed to make it to the park in time. My legs felt pretty heavy at the start but found a rhythm a mile. 

About 2 miles to park

5k park run

2 miles back up to work.

 Job done.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/534973730 Garmin connect data

Day 4 of Training Plan

I went for a run today and what happened next will amaze you....

That's the current trend isn't it? Reel you in with a hook of an opener.

What happened?..... I want to be amazed!!

Well not a lot actually happened. I had fun. Scheduled 5 easy miles. I did get dive bombed by a seagull. An old lady said "Nice legs darlin!" and the sunshine was glorious!

The video was put together on my phone. It will not win any oscars for cinematography. I like it.

Click here to see the Garmin Connect data if you want.

Day 3 of training plan.

Day 3. Training plan says "4 miles, Fartlek". Being a newbie to training plans, I thought I'd better find out what that actually means. I found this in one of my old school training books. Nicely put I thought.

In essence it is variable speed, over variable terrain. Which sounds a lot like my normal runs anyway!

Day 2 of training plan.

Day2: Ipswich Jaffa Training plan says "rest day". So I'll take the opportunity to do some core and upper body work. Nothing too hard, just conditioning. Also, food shopping. Need to make sure we have the RIGHT food in the house. Currently tipping the scales at 191lb! No beer today.

I am also making more of a conscious effort to drink more water. I downloaded an app which reminds me to drink and tracks how much I'm drinking. It is suggesting 3000ml a day! We'll have to see how that works out.

Today's workout will be powered by Paul Weller's Stanley Road album.

Update: session went well and I incorporated some sit ups too via the 200 sit ups app. (I do like an app) lol.

Day 1 of of Training plan.

Today is day 1 of #Ipswich half marathon 12 week training plan. #PB4BP I don't think I'll be able to make the Jaffa track session tonight. So I'll probably head to a park later. 1 mile warm up, 6x 800m of 2 min recoveries (need to check that with my coach @tomwake) 1 mile cool down. Followed by 2 pints of Heineken.

World Cup rant

I posted the following on my personal Facebook profile after the England game. I was getting a little upset about some posts I'd seen on social media and wanted to put my point across.

Too many armchair football managers out there. Anyone who dons a shirt to represent your country deserves support. Whether its football, tennis, rugby, athletics or tiddlywinks. Representing England or GB is something that less than 1% of us will ever do. So don't be a hater and sit there moaning. Yes, some sports men and women are paid highly, but be sure that media will highlight the negative side to this. Forgetting the good that the majority do in their community, for their families and making great Britain an attractive place internationally. Take issue with the businesses who avoid paying billions in taxes, the corrupt politicians and blinkered media, letting you know their version of how you should feel. I love the purity of the sporting act. The romance of achieving. The nostalgia of past glory and successes. Memory of failure and the desire to move forward is all part of being human.

When England win the world cup. I will be whooping and hollering with the rest of you. If, just if the don't, I will be happy knowing that seed of inspiration has been laid in the mind of the future achiever. Who will do it for England, for Britain, for you and me. Rant over.

Brains... brains....BRAINS!

Over the last few months I have been having CBT Cognitive Behavioural Therapy as a result of my cycling anxiety caused by a road accident in 2012. Initially I was not sure whether I wanted to have the treatment, but I am now glad I did.

I've been seeing a private psychologist at Nuffield Hospital, Ipswich. Thankfully this will be paid for through the insurers.

The advice I have recieved from my doctor has been fantastic. It has really opened my mind into how the brain works. For example. One of my bigger issues was being over sensitive, hyper aware of my position on the road. I would critically assess every single car that went past me. Too close. Too fast. Too aggressive. I would not ride too far from home. One of the tasks I was set was to focus on acknowledging the good drivers with the same enthusiasm as I would give to the bad drivers.... This worked for me. It highlighted to me that the majority of drivers were not trying to kill me. Obviously there are a lot of pricks out there. The ones who would rather use there car as a blocking device than let a cyclist get on his/her way. Heaven forbid their journey be delayed by 2 seconds.
Other psychological tools the doctor has given me, was at certain points during my ride, to acknowledge that I am safe. Doing this verbally or mentally at a junction in a road or just pulling over to the side of the road and take it in.

I know now that without the CBT sessions I would not be riding again. It was due to these sessions that I was able to go out on my first "real ride" on my road bike, since my wreck. This was a very significant turning point for me.

It has really made me happy that companies like The AA and Halfords have collaborated in a "Think Bikes" campaign. I have fitted the stickers to my car.... Because I do drive too.
I particularly liked the YouTube ad which came out too. Far better than the insensitive bollocks which Top Gear produced.

My brain is starting to heal and I have learned some new methods of dealing with my anxiety. One person's momentary lapse of judgement has cost me 2 years. I am not bitter. In fact I am thankful. Thankful to be alive and thankful that if just one person thinks more carefully about other road users (Not just cyclists) then the purpose of this post has been met.

Please read the articles I have linked in to this page.

http://road.cc/content/news/114228-family-dead-cyclist-release-hospital-photo-warning-drivers

http://road.cc/content/news/114288-video-australian-driver-hits-cyclist-behind

What's the rush pal???