Heard of it?  If not, check it out here (http://www.janathon.com/) and then come back.  I’ll wait.

Did you look?  What do you think?  Well, it’s what me and many others are doing for the month of January.  I suppose everyone has their own reasons but mine are simple.

1. Regain some of the fitness I’ve lost by sitting around on my fat ass for the past few months.
2. Train for my fourth outing at the Reading Half Marathon (http://www.readinghalfmarathon.com/)

I’m pushing myself as hard as I can but not to the point where I hurt myself (I hope).  I want to do the Reading Half Marathon with a time near to 2 hours again as it was seriously high for the 2010 event and the run didn’t feel good.  That will change for 2011!

I didn’t want to start January/Janathon cold so I’ve already been laying down some miles in order to get this wobbly body ready for a run/walk EVERY day in January.  I’ve already worked out that on my “rest” days I will simply do 1 mile (1.6 km) and that’s it.  I will also have to blog every day… which could be a problem.  I mean, I can’t think of anything interesting to say most days so to come up with something to write for 31 days?  Yeah, ok.

This Site

Even though I haven’t exactly been spewing forth loads of witty blog posts for some time, I’m happy to say my blog still comes top or near the top under the following Google searches (when I’ve tried it anyway):-

• best running blog
• best running blogs
• virtual runner
• running blog

So, it’s up to me to at least keep this thing updated and Janathon could just be what this blog/site needs!

I’ve also recently installed an update on the site which makes it viewable on the iPhone and supposedly on other mobiles as well (although I don’t have any other type of mobile so I can’t check).  If any of you out there DON’T have an iPhone and you get a minute or two how about you check if this site works on your phone and let me know?  Thanks.

Just so you all know, I refuse to let this blog become like many others you see stranded out there on the internet.  You know the ones I mean; last post was from two years ago and nothing since.  Or they started it because of a charity run they were doing and never updated after the event. etc. etc. etc.

Not me.  Not here.  Not The Virtual Runner.

100 Push-Ups

I have tried this before and never made it to the end for one reason or another.  Personally, I think it’s almost impossible to do it in about 6 weeks but it will be a nice compliment to the running so I’m giving it a shot again.  iPhone app in hand.

For more info:  http://hundredpushups.com/

There is also:  http://www.twohundredsitups.com/

What Else?

You gotta have goals.  That means I need to start planning ahead and see which 10k events I want to take part in for 2011.  I’m looking forward to enjoying running again and I’m already enjoying it now.  I was really on a downer with all the marathon training and I hated it.  I’m looking forward to going out on a Sunday with the family, doing a 10k, getting a medal and coming home.  I’ll let you know what runs I’m planning on doing.

I think I’m going to go back to the running club as well.  Probably in early Feb when it starts to warm up a bit and I feel a bit more confident.

I haven’t really done any running this last week at all since the Bupa 10000 in London and I would’ve thought the great feeling from that run would’ve kept me going.  Nope.  I think it comes down to mind-over-matter and I just need to get on with it!  So, starting from today I’ll be putting in a big “push” and trying to get my running sorted out.

1)  I’ll need to update my running log with total mileage to date.  I’ll also need to keep a pad or something in the kitchen (easily accessible) where I can write down my mileage and duration each time I train.

2)  I’ll need to do more quality workouts.  They can’t all be easy or long runs!  I need some intervals and even hill-work thrown in there or nothing is going to happen and I won’t develop any further.

3)  I need to watch what I’m eating.  I don’t necessarily eat loads of “bad” foods but I tend to eat too much.  I love food!  mmmmm…. food.  So, calorie intake to decrease somewhat.  I’m not going to set myself any particular weight loss goals but I’d be overcome with joy if I was 20lbs lighter than I am now.  Ooops… just inadvertently set myself some sort of mental goal.  Great, pressure.  I’d like to get down to 199 lbs (90.26kg) and maintain that weight or less.  I’d be very happy if I could do that!

4)  Need to start doing some weight training a couple times a week.  I’m not sure when I’ll squeeze this in but I’ll do my best.  I think I’ll have to re-start the whole “100 push ups” challenge as part of this to make up for the days when I can’t get to the gym and use any weights. 

Sound like a plan?  I’m not sure how it is for others out there but for us average 103kg guys this whole running thing takes a lot of motivation at times.  Wish me luck!

As for non-running related matters, we’re getting chickens!  We’ve thought about it in the past and discussed it a bit and now we’ve decided to go for it.  We’re going to get 3 hens and a nice little coop for them to live in.  Hopefully, before you know it we’ll have our own eggs!  Chicken names have already been confirmed as Claudia (Schiffer), Elle (MacPherson) & Rachel (Hunter); all good chicken names.  We just haven’t decided what breed of chicken to get yet as there are so many.  My wife is inclined to get some ISA Browns as they would normally go to a battery, however this may all change when we go to the farm to choose some.  We’ll also take the advice of the lady who runs the place we are getting the hens because we want them to be docile.

It won’t be straight away, it’ll probably happen over the next month or so because we still need to discuss a few things and make sure the funds are available to do what we need to do.  Initial outlay is the biggest thing but I think it’ll be worth it.  It’s also good for our son (he’s 3 1/2 now) as we don’t currently have any pets at all and he will learn to take care of them too.

This means that the “non running” posts of my blog will now include information on keeping hens and what’s happening with them.  I apologise in advance if you find this boring or if there are too many “non running” posts.  I mean, I don’t just run do I?

http://thevirtualrunner.org/blog/100-push-ups/

This should be interesting!

• Run or exercise every day
• Blog about it (if you don’t have a blog, join the Facebook group and post your efforts there)
• Visit your fellow Juneathoner’s blogs and leave a comment in support (or call them a slacker)

So I first when to JoggerBlogger’s site and commented on his post.  I also joined the facebook group.  However, I was left off the list on JogBlog’s site for some reason.  I’ve decided I’m going to do it anyway and I’ll read the other blogs and comment accordingly as per the rules.  As I was left off the list though, I doubt people will find this one!  Oh well, what can you do.

I probably won’t be running every day during June but I’ll certainly incorporate some sort of exercise.  I’ve decided to give the 100 Push-Up training a go again and I’ve also bought a new book called “The Official British Army Fitness Guide” which as some handy exercises you can do at home.  Also, the one thing the book talks about at the beginning is having a good cardio base and running!  It’s a pretty good book to have I think.

I’ve added a lot more “planned” races and events to my calendar and you can see some of them listed on the right.  I’ve only actually paid for the Dorney Dash which takes place next weekend.  The other races are relatively local and I’ll probably just show up on the day and pay the £10 (or whatever it costs) and just run them.

As for non-running related matters, my lovely wife and I are off to London tomorrow to wander around (dinner etc) and to go to Madam Tussauds.  My wife says she has wanted to visit Madam Tussauds ever since she was a child, so that’s where we’re going.

We’ll be taking some pictures so I’ll stick some on Flickr so you can have a look.

Tomorrow I’m going to head off to Dinton Pastures early in the morning (06:30) so I can get in a run of at least 6 miles before we get ready to go in to London at about 10:00 in the morning.  I’m hoping it will be a long run but we’ll see how things play out!

On wednesday this week I was starting to feel better and I wanted to run and start clearing some of the congestion.  I ran 7.82km (4.85 miles) at a 05:45 min/km (09:16 min/mile).  It was a nice easy run with lots of coughing up of things… very cleansing!

Thursday was a bit longer at 10.50km (6.52 miles) at a 05:42 min/km (09:12 min/mile) pace.  Again, very cleansing.

Friday was a bit faster with 10.67km (6.63 miles) at a 05:37 min/km (09:03 min/mile) pace.  Not as much cleansing going on but it was a good run.

Saturday was a rest day.

Today (Sunday) I ran 14.00km (8.69 miles) at a 05:28 min/km (08:48 min/mile) pace and it felt great.  A nice speed which was easy to maintain and not much coughing/cleansing going on either.

This is usually my long run day and I would’ve gone further but I didn’t want to push things too far.

Slow and easy run for me tomorrow!

I’ve also been checking out my split times from the Reading Half Marathon and it turns out I got my PB for 10km during the race!  I hit the 10km marker at 00:53:42 which is faster then my current best 10km time.  Not bad.

I’ve been updating my running logs this evening to make sure that it is up to date.  I seem to neglect my online running log a lot lately but write more.  It used to be that I would update my logs and not write anything.  Oh, how times have changed.

I have been doing a lot of blog reading over the past week or so though.  I use Google Reader to keep track of all the ones that I read and some of my favourites are down on the right if you want to take a look yourself.

I’ve decided to undertake the 100 pushups training again.  I don’t know if this is the right time to start it though, considering I’ll be in Greece in a couple of weeks doing some serious relaxing and overeating (it’s all-inclusive). 

I’ve printed the 100 pushups training stuff so I have it readily accessible and I’m contemplating tracking my progress on a spreadsheet or something so I can see what it actually happening.

As for other non running related matters, my son got easter overload today when he was gifted more chocolate than any two-year-old should ever have.  He also received a Buzz Lightyear and Woody doll which he played with non-stop all day.

Yesterday we took my son for his first ever haircut at a barber.  We were quite cautious and prepared to restrain him if need be!  He surprised me and my fiance by being the best little boy ever.  The barber was amazing and my little boy sat there the whole time and let the barber cut his hair.  It was so great.

I’ve seen on another blog where the person puts terms that people have searched on and found their blog.  This is what people have searched in Google and ended up at my blog:-

day in the diet of a marathon runner
is there a half marathon on mothers day 2009?

The second one seems a bit odd.  I’m sure there is one somewhere in the world.

Legs feel good after yesterday’s long run around Dinton Pastures and I’m quite surprised really.  I expected some residual pain but perhaps that will hit me tomorrow?  Who knows.

I thought I would show you my route around Dinton Pastures:-

As you can see, not a “pasture” in site.  What an odd name for this place.

One lap is about 5.25km (3.26 miles) and on a nice day it is actually a pretty good run with lots of attack geese, cyclists, dogs, dog shit, fishermen (not sure what the heck they think they will catch) and walkers to keep you entertained.

Before I forget, the one thing that amuses/annoys me about people that fish in the UK (remember, I’m originally from Canada) is how they really kit themselves out just to go and sit by a large pond and fish.  They wear camoflouge clothes, have camoflouge tents (yes, tents) and take so much stuff that they have to wheel it to their “spot” in (literally) a wheelbarrow.  I’ve never seen anything like it. 

All my 27 years growing up in Canada (and I fished a lot) I never once wore camoflouge to go fishing.  Perhaps it is some secret I didn’t know about?  I mean, you don’t want the fish looking up out of the water and seeing you!  How foolish of me!

Tomorrow’s run is an hour at an easy pace which means I’ll cover about 10.5km.  I might speed it up a bit and do 11km in the hour but it depends on how I’m feeling in the morning.  It’s on the treadmill too so I get to watch all the news on TV whilst getting my fix.  What a great combination.  Has anyone invented some sort of TV you can strap to your shoulders for when you run on the roads?  Probably not.

As for my 100 push ups training, it kind of ground to a halt when I got that stupid cold.  I’ve done the “initial test” again to see how many I can do now and I did a whopping (sarcasm) 30.  Wow… Great…

So now I don’t know what to do.  I’m thinking of going back to the beginning and starting all over again. I don’t want to just give up.  I’ve got until tomorrow night (cause that’s when I start again) to make up my mind.

Anyway, the workout for yesterday seems to go back to less then previous and went as follows:-

Set 1:  17 – Easy Peasy
Set 2:  19 – Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy
Set 3:  15 – Still easy
Set 4:  15 – Easy
Set 5:  To failure (Max 20) – I did 26 and it was of course hard.

Now that the workouts have suddenly become easier I’m questioning how this program will get me to 100 push ups in a few weeks time.

As for running (which is the main point of this rambling), I decided yesterday that if the weather today was okay I was going to go to Dinton Pastures (although there are no pastures there) to run around the lakes and get my 19k long run done outside.  I thought it would be a nice break for my treadmill legs.

When I got up this morning I had a bit of a congested right sinus and upper back part of my throat had that slight burning sensation that precedes a head cold.  I thought “to hell with it, I’m not going to let this stop me so close to the half-marathon!”.  I checked the weather and it said it was going to be grey and cloudy all morning but no rain.  Sounded good to me.

I had a nice breakfast of porridge and multivitamins followed up with fish oil (tablet form) and lots of fluid.  I got the baby boy up out of bed because I could hear him upstair kicking around and talking to himself.  I got the baby boy sorted with a bottle and some spongebob on the tv and I went upstairs to get ready and wake up my fiance.

Now for the run itself, I’ve done it a couple of times before and I’ve mapped it out.  One lap of both the main lakes is approximatley 5km so I thought I would just do about 4 laps (of both lakes) and that would be my 19k (random photos of the route for you in the middle of this posting).

When I got there I walked in a little ways first so I could find a place to stash my water bottle.  I don’t like carrying the damn thing whilst running so I had the bright idea to hide it along the route and I could have a drink every lap.

Obviously I didn’t want anyone to see me stashing my bottle anywhere because someone might have nicked it or let their dog piss on it or something.  Who knows.  The only problem is, as this is the UK, there is no actual countryside or parts of the country where you can actually go and be alone.  No matter what idea you have to go somewhere there are always other people there.  So it took a few minutes before I had an opening where people weren’t walking their dogs past my secret spot.

I stashed my bottle eventually, set my iPod and started off on the run.  It was a really nice run and I took it easy the whole way and tried to get a feel for what my “easy” pace is on the open road.  Obviously it’s different when you don’t have a treadmill telling you your precise pace whilst running.  I tried to keep my pace around the 05:40 min per km mark the whole time because that feels relaxed enough to me and my breathing is quite easy.

During the run I thought I would see quite a few other runners, especially as it is the run up to the Reading Half-Marathon at the end of the month.  In fact, it’s pretty much marathon season as there are many marathons and half-marathons during March and April in the UK.

I didn’t actually see that many runners.  Maybe two.  Everyone else was wearing wellies (rubber boots) and walking their dogs OR pushing a push-chair (stroller) and walking their dogs etc.

On the first lap around you say good morning to people but after that when you pass them over and over again, what do you say?  I just smiled and kept going.

The weather held out and it never rained and the air was cool.  Overall it was one of the best runs I’ve been on in a long time.  And to top it all off I managed my 19k, which means that was the longest training run I’ve ever done.  I was (and am) so proud of myself.  It felt like such a great achievement.

After the run it was a walk back to my secret water bottle location and a walk back to the car where I stretched and changed in to my hoody for the drive back home.

After my run this morning and for the rest of the afternoon I have been completely knackered.  I mean, does everyone feel like this after their long runs?  I do replenish my fluids constantly and I have carbs and banana afterwards etc, however I am yawning an hour after the run and I’m utterly exhausted.  I even have to have a nap in the afternoon for an hour or so too.

I’d be curious to know if there are other runners out there that experience the great fatigue at the end of a long run and how they manage during the rest of the day without looking like some sort of zombie.

As for my virtual run across Canada; I’ve updated my site with my current location and I’ve updated my mileage.  You can view my current location by clicking here.

I’ve now passed Montreal and Ottawa and I have covered the following distances:-

Distance covered so far in run across Canada:  1490.87km (926.43 miles)
Distance covered so far this year:  367.15km (228.14 miles)
Distance covered since I started running:  2872.24km (1784.72 miles)

As for non-running related matters, my baby boy is getting better and has been dutifully taking his antibiotics three times a day.  He’s a much cheerier boy now and we are planning to take him to the doctor again this week for a follow-up to make sure the infection is cleared up.

Don’t forget, it’s the first day of the month:-

White rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit.

Tomorrow night is running club again, 6:30pm at Palmer Park stadium.  Wanna come?

Push ups tonight went as follows:-

Set 1:  29 – Okay
Set 2:  33 – Very Hard, but I did it.
Set 3:  29 – Impossible; I did 25.
Set 4:  29 – Impossible; I did 24.
Set 5:  To Failure (max 40) – Was never going to happen.  I did 19.

After the impossible 5th set I did a few more sets to failure as follows, 19, 19, 19, 16.  I thought I would really push myself in preparation for the next stage which is another test to see how many I can do from a cold start again.

I might give that test a go tomorrow before running club to see how I do.

For non-running related matters, my son and I had sword fights tonight, watched Polar Express (he loves the train) and chased each other around the house.  This was in between sessions of me hanging him upside down over the sofa and tickling him.

One of the reasons I wasn’t using WordPress in the past was because I just couldn’t find a template I was happy with and simple.  This one is definitely simple and the html code was easy to amend in the backend to make it more my own.

I’ve imported all my blog posts from Blogger/Blogspot and I’ve just got to tidy a couple of things up with regards to categories and tags for previous posts.

I’m also happy that I won’t have any more formatting issues like I did with blogspot.  Every time I posted something it kept spacing all the paragraphs either too far apart or not at all.  I would have to update the post about 4 or 5 times just to fix it all.

No real pain today after my long run yesterday.  I’ve got a bit of a niggle in my right hip (butt cheek) and that is my re-occuring sciatic problem that I get from time to time.  Some extensive stretching will resolve it.

No running today and no push ups either, however on Tuesday I will begin day three of week two of the 100 push ups training.  Actually, I started on Week 4 of the actual program.

I got the idea from the Chocolate Runner’s Blog but he hasn’t mentioned it in quite a while.  Perhaps he’s given up?

The muscles in my inner thighs were sore and my calves felt a bit tight as well. I plowed on and did 10.36km at a 05:47 (per km) pace. For you imperial minded people that is a 09:18 (per mile) pace.

My long run is tomorrow and I’m going to go for 18km (11.18 miles) again. Hopefully my pace will be about the same as my last long run which was 05:39 (per km) or 09:05 (per mile). I want to do the Reading Half Marathon in under 2 hours and I don’t care if I do it in 1 hour 59 mins and 59 secs! I’ve worked out that if I run at about a 05:38 (per km) pace or 09:05 (per mile) pace that I should finish in just under two hours.

I haven’t mentioned my weight in a long time but I will today because I went in to town to buy some new running shorts.

I was trying on some new shorts (I bought Nike) and I tried on a large for the first time in ages. I’m usually an XL and have been for some time (as far as I can remember). They fit. I couldn’t believe it. I tried on a pair of L shorts (waist 34/36) and they fit perfectly fine and even felt loose. Considering my waist was about 40/42 at it’s biggest, buying those shorts today felt amazing. Last time I weighed myself I was still hovering around 99/100kg (218 pounds).

Now for the push ups training that I’m becoming obsessed with…

You’ll see from my last post that the previous training session didn’t go well and I didn’t manage to achieve many of the goals for each set. This time it was different:-

Set 1: 25 (okay)
Set 2: 29 (hard, but I did it)
Set 3: 25 (hard, but I did it)
Set 4: 25 (very hard, but I did it)
Set 5: To failure (at least 36) – I only did 21

I wasn’t that bothered about the impossible 5th set this time. I thought “Screw it! I’ll just rest a minute and do another 15!”. And that’s what I did. So, I did the 36 but not all in one go. To top it off, I did two more sets of 15 with short rests in between. I was extremely weak afterwards!

As for non-running related matters, nothing much to report. My fiance and I took our son on a train in to town this morning (to get me shorts) and he loved it. We’ve taken him on the train a couple of times now and he just loves it. His little face just lights up.

I’m sure he won’t be like that when he’s older and if he has to commute to work every day on the train. Oh, how the enthusiasm will wain.