Long hair and heavy metal music

Captain's log 26 April 2020, week 5 of lock down.  It's like an episode of Star Trek - out of this world!  Fortunately we are healthy and busy with work.  My family and friends are all well and in the end that's really what matters after all.

My hair however is a disaster!  It's so long at the front that it's past my chin.  So when cooking a leg of lamb tonight I was dancing round the kitchen to heavy metal music "head banging" with the hair playing its part.  My kids thoughts I was off my head, after all I'm a soul man.  But there was times in the 70's when heavy metal was my thing. Lock down is having that type of effect on me so I'm hoping it's going to relax in due course.

It's been a good week of consistent training with some more virtual racing.  Again it's amazing the effect having a race in the diary makes.  Total focus meant I complete my Olympic Triathlon with 2 great runs and a less than average bike.  I'm delighted with the runs, they push me to the limit and I'm enjoying it but next week there will be some longer runs so back to a slower pace.  It's a different type of pain.  My 10 km run doubled up with a race organised by my pal in Romania.  His run meant there were over 2,000 athletes around the world running the race at the same time and I knew some of them so it made it special.

As for the bike, I decided to take a scenic route which involved a lot of climbing.  I was more interested in enjoying it rather than  pushing myself on a boring route.  It's a training session and my long term objectives are more important than a short term goal.  I'm just getting back to cycling so I shouldn't be too disappointed.
Whatever it takes, lets get through this pandemic and look forward to what they are calling a "new normal" in time.  Stay safe and healthy.

  

Virtual racing

So this is what it's come to.  Virtual racing.  Not something I'd ever heard of before but it's a gift from this current pandemic.  We're all locked up, limited to 1 hours exercise a day, assuming you're sticking to the rules and all races are cancelled.  And then, into my inbox comes an invitation to compete, yes compete, in a sprint triathlon - a virtual one.  WHF!
I notice that my fellow club members are all signing up so I think, what the hell, why not?  I may be a slow ultra runner but why not take on some short distance sprints and a bike race - I've only been on my bike 3 times in the last two years, and they were all in the last two weeks!
This weeks blog is about motivation.  For if I didn't have this "virtual race" in my diary, I can assure you I wouldn't have burst my arse getting ready for it with less than a weeks notice.  But that's the thing about races, even virtual ones, they are a target and once set you have to turn up ....and be ready.
On Friday I started with a 5km run.  Speed isn't something I've been training for, more endurance i.e. keeping going for 85 hours like my last Ultra.  I was really pleased with my time of 22:31 until I was informed that I'd ran it before the competition started so it was null and void. F@@k.
On Saturday I headed out for my 1.5km run and gave it everything; 5min 56sec pace 3:57 pace - delighted.  I followed that by my 20km bike - it was outdoor and a 20 mph wind so was reasonably ok at 28.5 km per hour.
The decision I had to make was did I give the 5km run another bash on Sunday having given it my best on Friday?  Bugger it.  So glad I did.  After all I had a target.  I couldn't have let it go and not completed the race.  So I went out and pushed myself to the limit.  It was tough.  Very tough but I had to convince my legs that they could go faster and my lungs they could breath better while telling my brain to MTFU.  I smashed it in 21:45.  Fastest 5km I've ever done, and all thanks to a virtual race.
The virtual race motivated me to push beyond the barriers I had set myself because I'm an ultra runner.  But I'm more than that.  I'm a 58 year old guy pushing the boundaries, pushing the limits.  I love every minute of realising I am capable of so much more.  And setting a target always raises my game.  What motivates you?  What gets you to push the bar higher?  Once you know what that is, repeat it.  Enjoy.

Where's Bruce Willis when you need him?

I'm starting to get used to lockdown, in a strange sort of way.  Falling out of bed, grabbing some breakfast and then wandering into my makeshift office feels....very time efficient.  This only occurred to me when we had to visit the office to send an important message to our clients who don't use email.  The office felt very strange with nobody in and a number of screens missing from desks which have been taken home by staff - working off a laptop screen when you are used to two large screens is a pain.  The journey took 25 mins each way and of course used fuel.  I filled my tank up 3 weeks ago and have hardly used any fuel so at least that's a saving and look at the impact of us all not driving is having on the environment!
Restricting my outdoor training to an hour is definitely having a negative impact on my fitness but it's just for a period of time.  This has shown up in my increased heart rate when doing my "heart rate recovery run" or granny shuffle as I call it.  Running slow and trying to keep my hear rate in the 130s has been impossible - it's been in the 150s!  Some of this is down to the hilly terrain around my home.  Some due to the reduced training but I feel a lot of it is down to the stress I've been under, like many people, in running a business in these difficult times - and we're in a good place! 
However, as I was getting frustrated at running at a granny pace with a high heart rate two days in a row, on the third day of doing the same my heart rate dropped from an average 151 to 121bpm - that's more like it.  My last two runs have been at a quicker pace and my heart rate has been within the acceptable range.
I really do hope that this bank holiday weekend doesn't see the numpties out sunbathing in the parks and having parties as this will ruin it for everyone who is enjoying taking daily exercise.  Bring in Bruce Willis and let him clear the mess up, he's got a 100% success rate over the years.  Seriously though, my house is on a popular walking route and it's so good to see so many people out walking, whether they have a dog or not.  Hopefully this challenging time will encourage others to reflect on what's important and when we come out the other side, they won't go back to their unhealthy lifestyle but instead remember what they enjoyed doing differently during lockdown and make a positive change in their lives.
I'm really looking forward to a club zoon quizz tonight, what a great idea and something we haven't done before, and I also signed up for a worldwide virtual 10km on 25th April.  Even signing up for the virtual race motivated me when I went out for my run today.  I hope you are all staying safe and sticking to the guidelines.  My nephew and his family came by yesterday and we had a chat while keeping a good distance apart outside in the sun.  They were there with their one year old baby and it was so nice to have a conversation with someone that wasn't online.  This won't last forever but we need to be mentally prepared that it's probably going to last longer than we initially thought.  Stay strong and we'll look back on this when we're in the pub or out for a meal and appreciate the simple things in life more.  Mother nature and the environment certainly seem to be enjoying the rest!

Living in lockdown

It's coming up for two weeks now since Boris told us to lockdown and it seems I'm in a different world, but one of the lucky ones.  There are four of us at home with one away.  Three of us are working from home and we're lucky to have the space, although our broadband is under strain and it drops at the worst possible times but I'm sure we are all facing that challenge.  I was never one for going to the pub but as soon as you can't do something, oh how I'd like to walk in and order a pint!
Social media has been a distraction and with some good humour which has made me chuckle.  I can see some people depending on it and other apps like Zoom which until two weeks ago I hadn't heard of.  Yesterday I had my first post run coffee meet up through zoom (I actually ran after it) and it was great fun catching up with my pals that I'd normally be running with on a Saturday morning.  Who'd have thought a month ago we'd be doing this and who knows what I'll be writing about in 10 days - two weeks when we reach the peak of the virus?  Rumours are they might ban daily exercise due to idiots not listening to the government guidance on social distancing - as always it's the selfish idiots that spoil it for everyone else and if they do fall ill it will be the NHS who will put their lives on the line to save them. Rant over.
It's been a steady training week and the highlight was going out on my bike - yes I took the stabelisers off!  It must be 2 years since I've been out on my bike and the roads were almost empty.  What a joy but I was quickly reminded you only need a couple of cars on the road to have near misses!  I'd forgotten the feeling of climbing a big hill and running out of gears and having to grit my teeth and get on with it.  It gave my feet a rest and did them the world of good.
Some good steady running to and I'm getting used to the walkers scattering with a look of fear on their face as they think I've got the plague.  Honestly I normally sound like that when I run, I'm not ill.
The lack of cars is strange.  Still queuing for 20 minutes to get into Sainsburys is now normal although I try and go to the small shops such as the butcher, baker and fishmonger.  A much more pleasant experience.  As our kids are away from home it's really nice to have 2 of them home and sharing making dinner, eating it together and clearing up has been an unexpected bonus - especially with the dishwasher out of commission!
We can't sell our house at the moment and the new house we're building is "moth balled" until the lockdown is over so we can only imagine how long it will be before we are living there.  By that time hopefully we will be over the worst of Covid-19 and life will probably be different following the experience we've being through, but that might be a good thing.
Please stay safe, this is only for a limited period of time.  Make the most of this time especially if you've been furloughed.  Take up guitar or learn a language.  It's unlikely you'll get this chance again.  There are plenty of online yoga classes or exercise classed to help work of the excess wine you've been drinking.  I think getting my bottle bin to the top of the drive might be classed as a weights session - think my neighbour must be using it as well!!!  Till next week for some more ramblings, and by then I may really be rambling, take care.