Cold hands, sore arms

It’s the end of week one of the hundred push-up challenge and time for an update. The good news is that I completed everything I was supposed to, so currently on track with it. 

If you’re not aware, the hundred push-up challenge is a six week incremental training programme, which should prepare you to complete the challenge at the end of it. There are three workouts each week, and each workout consists of five sets. The format is typically the second set is higher than the first; the third and fourth sets are the same lower number; the fifth set is pretty much do as many as you can.

So how has the week gone? First of all, I managed a total of 174 push ups this week over the three days. That seems a great start. On day one I felt my form was a little off at the beginning so made sure I was concentrating on doing push-ups correctly, rather than semi-formed ones that could end up causing me problems in the longer challenge. 

On Wednesday, my day two, I found my pectorals were still a bit sore from the Monday workout but I managed to complete the five sets, and by today, day three, I was feeling good again. The last workout was challenging but doable and I made the mistake of looking at the numbers for week two when I’d finished. Looks like the challenge is going to be a bit of a steep curve up to the hundred!

For anyone else following the challenge I’d love to hear how you’ve been getting on and also hear your thoughts going into the next week(s) too.

(Not) Being pushy, an update

I wrote on Friday about the hundred push-up challenge I’d decided to start. Today was day one of the challenge for me so I wanted to give a quick update for the others who have also said they’d take this on with me.

The challenge has three workouts each week, my plan is to do these every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I’ll then post an update of how I got on for the week after the last session on the Friday and anyone who is taking part can post progress in the comments too (should you want to).

Spoiler alert, the first workout today went well. There’s no backing out of the challenge for me just yet!

Being pushy again

Push-ups or press-ups? I’d call them press-ups, but overall I think I’m in a massive minority worldwide. Let’s call them push-ups for now and not fret too much over the old potato-potato argument. 

Why are we talking push-ups? Many years ago I became aware of the hundred push-ups challenge, a program spanning six weeks that builds you up to completing one hundred push-ups in one go. For whatever reason, my brain decided to remember that fact this week and I’ve been reminding myself of what’s involved to get there. 

The hundredpushups.com website shows the steps and how the weeks break down. First, get your current level of push-up-ness through the initial test: do as many as you can before you collapse in a heap. I managed about twenty-five, but then re-read the instructions and they’re supposed to be “good form” push-ups. After watching a youtube video on how to do a push-up properly, I need to go back and do this again. Apparently you’re supposed to get reasonably near the floor, not just hover about in the top position and wobble up and down a bit. 

Over the course of six weeks the program takes you through three workouts a week, with five sets of push-ups, incrementally increasing over time. There’s a second exhaustion test halfway through where you can check on your progress and see how you’re improving, or not. The beauty of how the program works is that if you find it’s getting too tough then you can just repeat a week to build up strength and confidence.

This looks like a great challenge to take on and a good method to get to the hundred push-up goal. So the question is: has anyone completed this challenge before and if so, was it worth it? And secondly – does anyone want to join me in this challenge and see if we can do it together? If you’re in, first push-up workout is on Monday!

Get back (to where you once blog on)

Here we are again, following a two week break on holiday with the family I feel less fit than when I left, slightly wider round the middle, in need of another fortnight away in a health spa, but all the more better for it! Running, writing, app development have all taken a back seat in favour of sun, good food, and multiple trips to the bar. 

But it’s now time to get back to where we were before we went away… so what was that then? Dusting off the notes from last time, it looks that I was committing myself to smashing a ten year old personal best time of my local Parkrun. No harm in that then, best get back to it. 

I’ve decided on a couple of goals to get me going: with my target time at 21:40 (really?!), I’d like to run a Parkrun in a few weeks to set a benchmark. First up though will be an initial 5km run this week with the aim of consistent splits of 5:20/km, ie 26:40 in total. Not sure if I can hit that now so may take a few runs to get there – must start somewhere though.

Right now I feel a stiff and generally not in great shape but will write on that first run back later in the week.

It’s great to get away but also good to come back and pick up on life. In my case this is back to running, back to writing, and especially getting all the updates from across all the other sites I follow here, looking forward to reconnecting.

And the results are in…

The race is run, the results are in. The months of training, improvement, learning, bodily abuse (forcing myself to eat healthily and cut down on alcohol are bodily abuse, right?) are at an end. The goal was to beat a personal best time for an organised 10km race I run every year, a pb that has stood since the first time I ran it twelve years ago. And today was the day of the race.

So what happened? Did I manage it? Well, yes, yes I did. And not only by a second or two, I managed to chop off a full minute and fifteen seconds! My finish time was a shade under 45:30, far beyond my expectations at the outset. The ghost of twelve years is no more, here’s to the future ghost of 2022!

Obviously I was pleased with my performance, and lucky that everything came right on the day. Indulge me as I take us through some of the highlights.

The journey there was uneventful, parking no problem, registration took seconds. The weather was perfect: cool but sunny, breezy but not windy. No immediate concerns from the off.

All my thinking leading up to this had been around ensuring my pacing was correct. A few weeks ago I ran a 10km race but I went off too quickly and suffered in the second half, so didn’t want to repeat that. I’d already worked out my target splits based on last years race – it’s a hilly course so some kilometres are naturally slower than others. 

Before I headed out to the start, I sat in my car and jotted the target times on the back of my hand. This is something I hadn’t practised in my training, how hard could it be? Very hard, apparently. My pen was a bit rubbish and it ended up taking me ages. Next time, get a decent pen and maybe write the times on my hand before leaving the house!

At the start of the race I lined up somewhere between the 40 and 50 minute markers; these were a bit close together for my liking and I felt a bit contained with the other runners. When we set off I ran within the pack but found some space for my stride, it wasn’t long before we naturally stretched out and I had a good amount of personal space for the majority of the race. I managed to keep the right pace I’d planned and as the pack thinned I could focus on the times I wanted to run. The third km was a slower target pace, and I felt good dropping down and letting people overtake me, maybe I’d get them at the end!

Through all ten kilometres I kept to my pacing strategy, feeling relaxed and comfortable as I went. Sticking to a target pace isn’t that straightforward and I came in a few seconds under target each kilometre. By the time I came to the 8km marker I knew I was well under my target time, I just needed to keep the consistency to the end. The ninth kilometre was hilly, but I dug deep and hit that target too, and as I came through the final half kilometre the course levelled and dropped down the other side, leading to a fast finish in front of a reasonable sized and kindly vocal crowd. 

It was exhausting but felt extremely good. Once I caught my breath I saw and spoke to a few of the runners I’d been running alongside throughout the race. One of them told me he was running twenty miles today, the 10k run we’d just completed was just a short part of that. And he beat me. I decided not to talk to him any more!

This was a massive personal achievement that has been in the making since I finished the same race twelve months ago. I knew it was possible with the right levels of training, and have come out with (let’s face it) a new target to beat next year. And how do I feel about that?

Bring it on! 

Goals just wanna have fun

An important part of a running blog is carefully explaining the running goals the author may have in an attempt to either a) muster some moral support in the comments, or b) give themselves a moral and mental boost, as once it’s published there’s clearly no going back. 

So here I am, taking the time to articulate a goal that is as personal a thing as it can get – I’m not aiming to beat someone else in a barefoot race up Ben MacDui, not planning on coming in the top 100 of the 2023 Brighton Marathon, and I’m certainly not attempting to beat Sally Gunnel’s 1992 gold medal winning time in the 400m hurdles. 

Of course I’m not, these are clearly out of my reach. I’m doing something much more straightforward. I’m going head to head with the toughest opponent in the world. Me. 

Specifically me from twelve years ago. Twelve long years. Twelve years of age pressing against me and whittling my self backwards. 

The detail behind this is that I run the same hilly 10k race every Autumn and every year I fail to beat my inaugural time. After setting that benchmark, I’ve never had a pb. Well this year it’s going to be different.

If you’ve read my other posts you’ll see I’ve recently been focussed on technical aspects of running. I’m also looking to train more often, run further, take on more cross-training between runs, and target strength training to build muscle and (please) prevent injury. 

And the main thing is… I’m enjoying it. The first half of this year I focussed on weight loss, dropping off nearly a stone. That took a lot of discipline and I’ve since put a fair bit back on (I couldn’t resist the biscuits any longer), but I think I’ve reached a balance of healthy living, maintaining a reaonable weight and getting outside for exercise multiple times every week. 

You may be interested in the targets. The one to beat is 46:50. If I can get below that it’s a win. If I can near to 45 mins that’s amazing. And if I can get down as far as 44, well, that’s something else entirely. 

So there we are, goal written down and shared, moral and mental boost in place, that makes me fully committed now. There’s clearly no going back!