Stop Lard Start Lard Less Lardy

35.4 Miles (719.6 Total)

Oct 14th - 8.0 (W4 to Richmond, river to Kew splutter home.  Wanted a longer run but Lardy was struggling) 

Oct 17th - 5.0 (After a weekend of excesses down in Cheltenham celebrating Macca's big 4-0, the week ahead will be a long work one and running will be pretty much impossible)

Oct 18th-22nd - 0.0 (Selling Lardy's wares at Olympia for 3 days followed by a weekend of cooking were my excuses!) 

Oct 23rd - 2.0 (A semi-drunken Sunday morning chug through Chiswick to collect the Lard-Mobile!)

Oct 24th - 8.4 (Where did that come from!? Each mile under 9 minutes with an average of 8;45, the rest and 'recharging' clearly stood me in good stead, the rest and long runs in chunks are the way forward I think)

Oct 25th - 12.0  (A chuggy dark early morning run from W4 to Putney by road then north bank to Kew and home)

A very interesting 10 days indeed.  Let's not much about here the 1,000 miles is going to be a struggle by New Year, almost impossible by Christmas but there is good reason to be cheerful for LB today.

1. 20+ miles in the last 2 days, this morning was not much fun.  I took a wrong turn before Putney Bridge meant a run through a deserted and dark graveyard, I was crapping myself.  As I ran deeper into the graveyard, I began to realise that it might be a dead end.  Despite being near the middle of the biggest city in Europe it was bloody terrifying.  Happiness in getting through were soon off set my another mile in pitch black through Fulham Palace Park.  The fifth mile of my run this morning were by a long way my fastest!

2. Last weekend was the first of my 2 Lardy Boy Dinners.  Rose from Chiswick Bootcamp very kindly donated £150 to the cause , and I was pleased to say the food went down a storm.  Very pleased indeed.  I wasn't massively happy with the main course, but I was in the minority of 9 people and that is what matters!  Cheers Rose.

3. When I stepped on the scales yesterday I was more than a little shocked.  After 3 weeks off the scales I was fearing the worst but was delighted that I tipped in a little-less-Lardy 14.5 Stone.  I have lost 1.5 stone this year so far, and although I still have another stone to lose, I weigh less than I have for at least 10 years.  

4.  The 700 mile barrier has been broken!

On the flip side I have to face up to the fact that it is 90 days til my self-imposed deadline of Christmas Eve (yep 90 days til Chrimbo, sorry!).  This means I near as damn it need to run 5 miles per run (assuming rest days) between now and then.  Given the fact that I have given up on the run streak, my ankle just cannot do it, I have to really bag 3 longer runs a week to keep the target in place.

I have therefore decided against doing the Great South Run on Sunday.  I am really disappointed to do it but getting in the car at 6am on Sunday to drive to Pompey and 'only' run 10 miles isn't what I need to do.  Especially when I can get out for an early 14/15 miler on my doorstep and not have to drive so far.  It is a shame but I need miles not races.

I have got a lot to get through and I am pleased to say work is really picking up too.  The balance is going to be a challenge, but hey, if the challenge is easy what's the bloody point!

Rest day tomorrow and back out on Thursday morning.

Have a good one all.

LBx

Devastated then Rejuvenated

24.2 Miles (684.2 Total)

Oct 4th - 4.7 (A nice trot around Acton and Shepherd's Bush) 

Oct 5th - 1.4 (No choice but for a quick 10 minute run as the missus has run off to Dublin and left me on my own with the nippers!  Thanks to our neighbour who took care of the kids while I went out)

Oct 6th - 9th - 0.0 (Disaster, see below!) 

Oct 10th - 3.4 (Fitness test with the missus to see how recovered I was)

Oct 11th - 7.5 (Unreal, 5 days after thinking the challenge was over I breezed this in pretty quick time for me with 8.45 minute mile average)

Oct 12th - 7.2  (A little sore towards the end of this run, was helped by the fact that I had a running partner who was busy running her longest run ever, good work Jo!)

More than anything I was pleasantly surprised that in the past week a few people have asked where the blog is!  I had no idea that my ramblings had such an effect on other people's working days.  It must be the opportunity at laughing at a fat man trying to complete 1,000 miles in a year.

The last time I wrote I was starting a run streak.  I tried this in June and then got injured but at least I got to day 20 that time, this time I only made it to 9 days!  I am clearly not built for run streaks!  This time the issue was related to my favourite right ankle, but this time quickly referred to my heel and the sole of my foot.  I was in agony on the Thursday morning to the point that I was struggling even to walk, I really thought that I had done some serious damage and that the 1000 miles was off.

Instead of trying to run through it I decided to use my brain for a change and rest.  Total exercise rest for 4 days, on the Sunday (Day 4) I really was itching to go but I forced myself to wait for the Monday.  After a little fitness test with Mrs LB on Monday the last 2 days have been great runs and all of a sudden I am back on track.

I do though have to address the problem that I cannot run everyday, some people can do it but it really doesn't work for me.  Therefore I have to change my plans with 316 miles and 11 weeks to go to the end of the year.  The weekly plan now is pretty simple:

• 2 days rest a week
• 1 small run with Mrs LB
• 3 medium length runs
• 1 long run

I will see how we go, I am currently planning rest today and then 12 miles tomorrow morning.  This will put me 28 miles behind my target to finish by Christmas Eve but that can be sorted pretty quickly.

Onwards and upwards!

LBx

Reject Lard

31.3 Miles (660.0 Total)

Sept 28th - 3.3 (A quick loop of Chiswick, 2 days following my large golf weekend and a day after my first run of the run streak the legs felt rather heavy but I need to keep going) 

Sept 29th - 2.7 (The 'rest' day trot around Acton and Chiswick, I have a loop that I find interesting that will be my 'rest' day run)

Sept 30th - 2.3 (A gentle jog with the missus, she is recovering from a cold and my ankle felt dodgy so glad just to keep the streak going) 

Oct 1st - 12.5 (6am long run, in time to get back and watch England play Scotland..... why did I bother!  Awful.  The run was pretty good although running each day I think will affect my pace.  'Refuelling' may also prove to be more important than normal!)

Oct 2nd - 3.0 (Recovery run on location in Hampshire, bloody hilly though and a small hangover meant the going was a bit tough)

Oct 3rd - 7.5 (6am run from home to Hammersmith, river to Kew and home.  A great way to start the week given the fact I wasn't exactly overly keen to get out of bed at 5.45!)

Run Streak - 7 Days

Morning all

The first thing to discuss this morning is that I missed out on the ballot for next year's London Marathon.  As much as I hated the rejection of not getting in, I was secretly a bit pleased to be honest.  The training for a marathon is relentless and a bit brutal to be honest, so not having to do 13 weeks of training in the winter including 3 * 20 mile training runs is quite nice!

So what to do next year instead.  Having thought about entering another marathon, and one I would be more likely to get into I decided that I wouldn't.  Instead I am focusing on the following challenges for next year:

• 4 Half Marathons and 6 10k races
• The Wales 3,000's (climbing the 14 peaks in Wales over 3,000 ft in 1 day), this happens in June I think.  I have been roped into it by 2 blokes who are rather fitter than me (to say the least!) so need to get training for that!
• Potentially running the Thames towpath in 3/4 days (180 miles, which I think is possible but Mrs LB still needs convincing)

But before even really thinking too much about these I have the small matter of finishing the 1,000 mile challenge for 2011.  This week has been a good one.  I have finished my first week of run streak and in the past 7 days I have run 38 miles and am bang on track.  There are 13 weeks til Christmas and I have daily targets to hit to get me to the magic 1,000 miles by Christmas Eve.

I have had a few people contact me about making a donation for the Cri du Chat Syndrome Support Group.  My just giving site is now closed but if you want to make a donation please click here to go to the CdC website, donations can then be made directly to them.

Thanks for continuing to support me by reading this blog, it means such a lot.  Please do share with anyone you think might be interested.

LBx