LOST!

14th March, 2010

Ran over 11 miles today, really good running, listening to The Best of Groove Armada to spur me on.

Was going really well, the weather was great and I decided to be adventurous and go "off piste" taking a new route deep in the Foret de Soignes, a massive (10,920-acre) forest to the south-east of Brussels.

It is a great place to run. It's very difficult to get bored, with a lot of different paths and surfaces to run on and a lot of other people: horse-riders, bikers, Sunday strollers, to gawp at, as well as other runners to pace with and overtake(!).




















After a while everything began to look a bit "same-y" and I ended up having to ask for directions and run back along the road.

On return home, the Garmin map shows I was actually on the right track before I turned around, but it enabled me to add a few more miles to the tally. I will definitely run here again, as I increase my mileage ahead of the London marathon. Might consult the map a bit more carefully next time...















www.zonienwoud.be

Distance: 11.15 miles
Time: 1 hr 56 mins
Pace: 10 mins 27 seconds per mile
Calories: 1, 274

Boshing Out The Miles

10 March, 2009

Sunny but very cold this morning. Got up, went running, ipod ran out, I cursed, asked myself WHY am I doing this again? Made it home, chalked up another 5.5 miles to the marathon prep...!




















Ran: 5.68 miles
Time: 54 mins 59 seconds
Calories: 664

Icy Cold And Forced

9th March, 2010

This morning I decided I couldn't be bothered to run all the way down to the Bois de la Cambre. It was cold and I was tired. In fact, I had a hard time getting out of bed at all.

I ran to my local park, Parc Tenbosch, which is about 5 minutes away from my flat and one of my favourite places to hang out in the summer.

It is very, very small but -- to use a cliche -- perfectly formed and very beautiful. Once owned by a botanist, the 2.5 acres are well landscaped and great for lolling about reading in the sun, or sitting chatting with your friends and a drink. Tourism Brussels describes the park as "a green miracle in the heart of Ixelles," which is probably a bit over-the-top but you get the idea.

There are sandpits, tennis courts, benches, fountains and 50 trees, including the only horse chestnut tree in Belgium (who knew they were so rare).

Anyway, all this beauty and smallness is great when you're hanging out with a book in the summer, but not so great when you're trying to clock up at least three miles in the cold. I managed 2 loops of the park before leaving and running a circuitous route home.

It was an icy cold struggle. For more on Tenbosch, click here

Ran: 2.16 miles

Time: 22 mins 28 seconds

Average time per mile: 10 mins 23 seconds

Calories: 246

Leeds, Yorkshire & A Short Run

7th March, 2010





Spent the weekend in Yorkshire, visiting a friend who lives in Leeds.

Two of my friends are currently training for half marathons so we went out for a little jaunt in the rain on Saturday morning.














Running in hilly Yorkshire made me remember how much I hate running up hill. Our route took us along the side of a valley, down from the house and then up again at the end. Even though we only ran 2.5 miles, it was tough and the incline slowed us down.

One of my friends said she'd read about "pumping the arms" to get up hill, in a book by Bob Glover, called The Runner's Handbook. The theory is that you pump your elbows back and forth at the rate you want your feet to go. This creates momentum and your legs follow, driving you up the slope.

I tried it. It didn't really make that much difference if I'm honest. Maybe I wasn't doing it right or trying hard enough, or maybe my heart just wasn't in it when the Obviously a lot of people have problems running up hills, as there's a lot of info/tips here

We also went for a rather blustery walk in the Yorkshire dales, up Almscliffe crag - which is a great outcrop of millstone grit, really high with fantastic views. It's on the northern side of Wharfedale.
















Established in 1954, the Yorkshire Dales National Park covers 680 square miles in the north of England. It's divided into different dales - the most famous of which is probably Wensleydale - home of the famous white crumbly Wallace and Gromit cheese.

www.yorkshiredales.org.uk

www.wensleydale.co.uk

Ran: 2.6 miles

Total time: 29 mins 10 seconds

Average pace per mile: 11 mins 15 seconds (what were we doing??)

Total calories: 297

The sun is shining, the weather is sweet!

2nd March, 2010


















Not a lot to write about today, a gorgeous day here and a fantastic morning run: sunny, frosty, fresh.

Total distance: 4.27 miles
Total time: 41 mins 49 seconds
Average Pace: 9 mins 47 seconds
Calories: 497

6.46 miles and a crazy plan

1 March 2010

Sunday was a bit of a wipe out for me. I was tired. It was RAINING.

I mean seriously raining. Big fat drops of rain and lots of wind to blow them right in your face. I really didn't feel like getting out of bed, but I had committed to run. And, when you've set a time in the morning to run and told members of your newly created running club to meet you at a certain point at 11am, there's not really much room for manoeuvre.














In the end it was fine. I dragged myself out of bed and donned a lot of waterproof gear and a warm hat. We ran for a while, jogging for 10 minute stints and then stopping and walking for two minutes. We totalled just over six miles in a little over an hour. I surprised even myself at how good I felt at the end. Little stiff today.

Actually there's an interesting study somewhere that shows the run-walk-run approach to running can actually work out faster overall than just keeping going. The logic is that the recovery segments make the next bit of running more powerful and faster. More here.

Also -- in a late addition to my running calendar -- I have enlisted to run the London marathon in eight weeks time. ARGH! Diet and running plan need a lot of work :-)














Total: 6.46 miles (around 10K)
Time: 1 hr 7 mins 31 seconds
Average pace: 10 mins 27 seconds per mile
Calories: 724

A Paris et cinq miles

20th February, 2010

The weekend: partly perfect, partly annoying.

Late return from work trip to Dublin cancelled out Friday night plans. A very happy and very sunny day trip to Paris on Saturday involved a lot of wine, cheese and cocktails. Planned to return in a few weeks for the Turner exhibition which has just opened and runs until May 24th.



















Sunday was a lazy day of paper reading and cinema going. I managed to cram in a 5-mile run and was pleased not to have lost much of my fitness despite drastically reducing my running in recent weeks.

Ran: 5 miles
Time: 49 mins, 21 seconds
Calories burnt: 584 (two lumps of cheese)

Spa-ah-ah

Saturday 30th January, 2010

No running this weekend, more snow and a visit to Spa, a town in eastern Belgium.

Leaving Brussels on Saturday morning, it was pelting with snow and we wondered if we would make it -- Spa the town is at the bottom of a deep valley in the Ardenne. After laughing at other unfortunate drivers who had spun off the road and avoiding a few very icy patches ourselves, we arrived in the beautiful white valley.

The Thermes de Spa are amazing, like being some 1970s science experiment or scifi movie. There's one massive indoor pool, which is over 800 square metres and a host of other indoor and outdoor pools. Light currents swirl around the pools and jet streams pummel the tension out of your shoulders. Sitting in the outdoor pool, being gently massaged with hot water, while snow fell down and coated the forest was a magical experience.

Spa at night: blurry

Back in Brussels, I finally got round to sorting out the running club: we will have our first meeting this month.

First Run Of The New Year

Saturday 23 January, 2009

For the first time this year I woke up feeling like a run on a Saturday morning. I was taken by surprise because so far 2010's been sluggish and I've had to force myself out of the flat even to get the gym.

Not wanting to scare off the resurrection of my enthusiasm and concious that it could start to wane at any point, I dressed for running and made my way outside as quickly as possible. This took a while, since my running kit's been redundant for several months and was scattered about the flat and buried in different drawers.

I stuck to my normal route, down Avenue Louise to the Bois de la Cambre and around the pond, clocking up four easy miles. It's not the prettiest time of year in Brussels. Those who criticise the city for being grey should avoid visiting in mid-January, when it is cold, rainy and composed singularly of shades of grey.
















The woods look stark and unwelcoming now the snow has melted. On the upside, all of the pathways have been redone and are fresh with yellow sand.

A restaurant has opened on the island in the middle of the man-made lake: Chalet Robinson, linked to the shore by an electrical raft which looks precarious... Apparently it was first built in 1877, but was destroyed by a fire in 1991. There's a Belgian restaurant on the ground floor - which I'd like to check out - and a ballroom on the first floor.

www.chaletrobinson.be

Ran: 4.1 miles
Time: 38 mins 45 seconds
Average pace: 9:40 per mile
Calories: 467

Then It Snowed

January 10, 2009


Beautiful weather here in Brussels over the weekend, lots of snow.














I was using it as an excuse not to run and went on a long walk in the forest. What shocked me was the number of runners who were out in the cold, decked out in hats, gloves, scarves and trainers with special grip, lolloping through the forest. And loads of them where wearing STABILicers.

Made from steel, STABILicers strap over your trainers and provide extra grip so you don't skid over in the snow. They cost around £30.

I wondered if I should get some, wrap up warm and get out there, but I settled for a snow fight, building a snowman and a hot chocolate while watching Mad Men series two instead!

For those of you who are more keen, there's another blog about running in the snow here



http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=115725&sectionid=351020605

New Year - No Incentive

4th January, 2010

Day four of the New Year, back in Brussels after a long time away and an amazing holiday. No runs yet, no desire to run yet.

Another toe nail has fallen off, but I grossed so many people out with the first set of pictures that I can't blog about it. Still, it made a good Christmas present for one lucky person.

Need a new challenge for the New Year. A friend suggested Everest, I suggested no. Another friend suggested a triathlon, I suggested psychiatric help.

Got to thinking another marathon wouldn't be too much. The pain, knee anguish and lack of time for anything other than running are all a distant memory.

Berlin 2010? Sub four hours? Need to find something better to do with my time...