If you want to know what it feels like to be 90 odd year old and struggling to get up a flight of stairs then just run for 3 hours non-stop.
That's right. Three hours plus of solid running with another hour at least to add on for the actual marathon. Next week is the last "long run" week. I'll be running with a few others from Middlesbrough to Hartlepool (approx 14 miles) to then join a 5.5 mile road race. After that I'll be winding down the mileage in preparation for the Manchester Marathon which is less than a month away.
Today was tough. I felt in reasonable health and didn't go too crazy with the wine last night, although the night before was a bit of a session around a running friend's house for his 50th. I ended up singing and playing guitar for the throng for a good while whilst being plied with more beer to encourage me. It worked. I postponed my usual Sunday run until today because of this.
The first four miles were torture. I had decided to try running in a new pair of trainers (despite all advice to the contrary). I had, originally, planned to run an 8 mile loop in them and then switching back to my old ones. After 2.5 miles I was ready to give up and go home. My left shin was aching and wouldn't run out. It felt like my left leg was hitting the ground twice as hard as my right. I had been having some trouble with my right foot but had bought some corrective insoles to try and resolve it. My right foot, ironically, felt fine. I had to draw on a great deal of will power to keep going, telling myself it would sort it self out once warmed up. It took four or so miles to do so and the pace was very slow, hence not a brilliant overall time. I had seriously considered taking the new trainers and insoles back but after the four miles they felt as good as my old ones so I decided to do the full 19 miles in them.
David Bowie has been all over the place recently, like a lightning-bolt shaped rash. His new album "The Next Day" has become instantly iconic with its post-modern sleeve and post-punkish musical leanings. I decided to go with a bit of a Bowie theme for the run today. First off was Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars. A gentle start you see? The first four or so tracks are pretty interchangeable in terms of tempo and feel which kind of works for the dynamic of the album if not for a varied, distracting listen. Still great stuff though and the rockier moments came just at the point when I needed a bit of drive to take my mind off the left foot situation. After that I tried starting a genius mix from closing track "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" but the iPod was playing up and wouldn't play many of the tracks. It managed the sublime Cosmic Dancer by T-Rex and some Morrissey (who, incidentally, used to cover the song live). Joy Division and other, reasonably predictable related artists came on and by this point the shin had stopped aching.
I need to start creating my actual playlist soon. It'll be like doing a mixtape for myself. I'll keep you posted.
Oh, I did stumble across a live, BBC session by my old band Amsterdam Film Company from 2003. Might post a few bits at some point. Not too bad...some of it ;)
Slow and steady today. I've been fighting a bit of a vicious cold, sore throat and chest infection possibly since just after Christmas but it flared up bad on Thursday so I've pretty much been resting. I did heal myself (for "heal" read "drugged myself to the eyeballs") just about enough to do a gig with The Southmartins at Arc in Stockton which went down well. With close to 400 advance tickets gone I couldn't bring myself to pull it and while, for me, it was a bit of a mess and my voice started going 4 songs in, the crowd enjoyed it and that's the main thing.
I had planned on just doing 8 miles today although my schedule has me up to 14. I'd been letting it slip a bit lately since I ran the Ann Johnson Absent Friends race a couple of weekends back which really took it out of my legs. I wasn't entirely confident I even had 8 in me so set off very steady at around 10 minute miles (which looking at my overall time seems to have been the average). At the six mile point I decided to take a detour to add a few miles to the route and to go for the full 14 miles. I calculated the distance out wrong though and heading back it dawned on me I still had a another two miles to get home. I made it though and my legs only really started to wobble over the last half mile. That's further than I've ever run in my life and alone too. It did boost my confidence to actually do this bloody thing as I felt at that pace I could have probably kept going with a bit more fluid and sugar.
Soundtrack - Genius mix
The Smiths - Panic - It didn't occur to me that there are a lot of running references in this. An unlikely but likeable addition to the final soundtrack I reckon. I also heard a bit of Johnny Marr's new solo album the other day and it definitely has a very Smithsy feel to the sonic soundscape. Decent. Everyday Is Like Sunday - Morrissey - And it was Sunday! A bit obvious to follow The Smiths though. Come on Genius! I Wanna Be Adored - The Stone Roses - Sensing a bit of Manchester theme developing in this playlist. I am running there though so all good. Actually quite spooky really if you think about it so far. The Killing Moon - Echo and the Bunnymen - My mind started drifting a bit here. Possibly the desired dreamy effect. A Forest - The Cure - The Cure were always a great pop band. I didn't go for the whole image at the time but I did like the songs. Even this, sparse and brooding electro piece has enough hooks to make it pop. She's Lost Control - Joy Division - I always think of the Control film when I hear this now and the aerosol sound effect. Changes - David Bowie - From my favourite Bowie album Hunky Dory. Plenty of other stuff to like of course but this does it for me. Temptation - New Order - I've never been a huge New Order fan although I do like a lot of their siganture tunes. This is one of my favourites. Worked well on the run too as it was an extended version. Step On - Happy Mondays - Washed over me a bit as I've heard it a million times. Hand In Glove - The Smiths - The Hatful of Hollow version. Started thinking about The Beatles because of the harmonica and when Rob Nicholls from local legends Shrug covered this with me and Maccy for Sharon's surprise 40th birthday party. It was fantastic. Disco 2000 - Pulp - Far from my favourite Pulp song or era for that matter (I prefer the earlier Gift recordings and His and Hers but also love the darker post-Different Class "This is Hardcore" which, although far less poppy, has a great deal more soul). Interesting hearing this on the hadphones as I wouldn't normally choose to listen to it. there's a lot going on that i didn't realise in terms of sounds and backing vocals. Modern Man - Arcade Fire - I do Love Arcade Fire. This has a bit of a wonky beat though, which perfectly fits the idea behind the song but doesn't help with your stride pattern! Time For Heroes - The Libertines - Their first album is brilliant but they fell for their own hype (or Pete did at least) and never recovered. I have listened to the second album maybe three times. It sounds exactly the same but less so. Pretty In Pink - Psychedelic Furs - A pleasant surprise. I didn't even realise it was on my iPod. A few interesting details in there that I hadn't noticed before. Good leftfield pop of the time. Waterfall - Stone Roses - Again, washed over me a bit due to overplaying. Neighbourhood #3 - Arcade Fire - I hammered this first album every day when I used to walk to work and kept it secret from everybody I knew for 6 months. I didn't want to share them! Ha ha. They managed to become successful without my help anyway. Atmosphere - Joy Division - Ponderous, clumsy nonsense. I skipped it. Martin Hannett hugely overrated in my book. Ask - The Smiths - Sprightly seaside sound. Starman - David Bowie - Bowie playing up to expectation somewhat with this but what a great pop record. Fantastic production to with super tight yet loose playing, strings and all manner of sparkle. True Faith - New Order - Another one from Substance. Someone played me some stuff from technique a few years back claiming it was a work of genius. It just sounded very dated to be honest. This is, of course, a classic though. Common People - Pulp - Their real breakthrough single. I loved Pulp from the original release of Babies. They were a band with pop ambitions, clearly and you knew, even tough they were, essentially, making the same record again and again that it would click (a bit like The Verve with Bitter Sweet Symphony). From the opening notes and lines of this I knew it was the one and that I would have to give them up to all and sundry. I didn't like Different Class as an album. It wasn't cohesive and I felt they were becoming a parody of themselves. A feeling borne out by the fact that they scrapped the songs for the follow up for the same reasons and came back with the wholly different sounds of This Is Hardcore. The most interesting period of the Britpop thing, for me, was this post-honeymoon period when all the key bands tried to smash up their own image and self destruct. Most succeeded. Pulp only made one more album that very few bought. I did, of course. Olivers Army - Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Bit of a curveball this one. Great song and production though. Parklife - Blur - Skipped it. Rubbish. Again, give me their post-honeymoon self-titled album anyday. Or Modern Life is Rubbish which this just takes a lengthy piss all over but not in a good way. Keep The Car Running - Arcade Fire - Anyone got a Playstation 3? When I turn it on I always sing this song because of that opening chord. The Cutter - Echo & The Bunnymen - Great closer to the mix. They really found their own sound around this time.
I had to resort to using some older mixes as the run grew ever longer but I've covered them in previous posts.
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Good strong midweek run on a full stomach. Felt above my
usual pace throughout although the time was a little disappointing. I had
expected closer to 23 minutes. No worries though, still a decent run. Interval
training tomorrow which I’m now starting to really look forward too as I reckon
it’s doing me some good in terms of strength and stamina.
Great Genius playlist tonight too. A few iPod glitches that
skipped a few tracks but what it got right it really got right for the short
run.
I’d been rooting through my vinyl today and found The Eight
Legged Groove Machine album by the Wonder Stuff and although I didn’t start
exactly from there it gave me an idea…
The Wonder Stuff – Welcome to the Cheap Seats – From their
much maligned, folk-flavoured “Never Loved Elvis” album. I played it to death.
They were, at their peak (of which I reckon this was) the best English pop band
going. Quirky, successful, punky in attitude, psychedelically melodic and
playful.
Pop Will Eat Itself – Def Con One. Another Kirk classic.
From a time when no one really knew what samples were (possibly why they got
away with so many classics). It differed from a lot of the other sampling based
music in that it took, for one, The Stooges killer riff from “I Wanna Be Your
Dog” and spliced it all up with The Twilight Zone theme, Lipps Inc’s Funky Town
amongst a host of others.
Dodgy – Saying Out For The Summer – Britpop’s also rans.
They never got the success their lesser able peers got, possibly because they
didn’t really sell an image loaded with attitude and seemd to be more about
having a good time and making classic pop/rock. Their first three albums are as
good as anything from that period if you want Beatlesy pop of the highest
order. Great playing, harmonies and arrangements.
Saint Etienne – You’re in A Bad Way – As good as they got
this one, for me. A sound that evokes Joe Meek’s spacey future-pop with kitchen
sink lyrical references and crystal clear production. I listened to these a lot
in the early to mid 90s but it wasn’t until their classic album Tiger Bay that
I thought they really nailed it consistently on an LP. Their early efforts
seemed more like sketches and collages but then a lot of pop was a bit
unfocussed in those post-acid years. Their latest album Words and Music is
pretty decent although I’ve yet to give it a real chance.
Suede – Metal Mickey – A sound that. In hindsight, wasn’t
too far removed from that of Oasis in their early days More sophisticated and,
indeed, syncopated but relying on those thrashy, trashy guitar strums. It took
me a while to really get into thses and it was The Wild Ones that did it from
their Dog Man Star album. I think it may have made me cry. Anyway, the follow
up album Coming Up was a favourite of mine, despite it not having the undoubted
skills of Bernard Butler on board. It was, again, just great pop music and they
managed to rein in some of Brett’s vocal extremities which I always found a bit
contrived. Kenneth Williams sings David Bowie.
Black Grape – Reverend Black Grape – Highlight of the
playlist. I saw these at the Leeds T&C in the mid 90s and it is still one
of the best gigs I’ve seen. Heavy, locked in funk and a unique sound generally.
It still sounds pretty anarchic despite it’s obviously derivative elements.
Would probably still rather listen to these than much of Happy Mondays output,
although I have my love for some of that too.
Julian Cope – World Shut Your Mouth – I’m still convinced
this is the template Kurt Cobain used for Smells Like Teen Spirit. Check out
the structure/arrangement – other than the drums included on the intro it’s pretty bang on
for the first couple of minutes at least.
Anyway, Copey can do much wrong in most people’s ears but
when he’s right all else is wrong. There are a couple of great tracks from this
album too. Trampolene is a cracker as Frank Carson may well have said.
I’ll probably add all of this stuff to the final
playlist I create for the marathon for a mid–to-late run boost. Nostalgia? It’s
just how I remember it.
Weekly distance - 19 miles. Long run 8 miles. Time 1 hr 8 mins 33 secs.
I've been attending a mid-week interval session at Hemlington lake with a mixed group of runners and it's been great for building up a bit of stamina and speed. There are a fair few working up towards marathons too but seem to be a few miles ahead of me (heading out for 13/14 miles today). My long run was an 8 miler for which I headed out to my dad's house and my childhood home. I only ever ran the loop once while I lived there but knew it was 8 miles pretty much to the metre. I wasn't sure if I had it in me to be honest, psychologically speaking more than anything. i had originally intended to head out later in the day to coincide with a meeting in the village I had planned but I got the itch in the morning and, strangely, through a post on newsreader Susanna Reid's twitter feed (@susannareid100), got motivated to get out a bit earlier. She can motivate middle-aged men to do almost anything I bet. A bit of a grim day outside and a vague chance of snow but sometimes these are the best conditions to get out in for long runs as they keep you cool. A hearty breakfast of eggs and muffins, a glass of odd-tasting tap water (that might come back to haunt me) and a sports drink for the run and I was set.
The run takes the form of an essentially square route out along country roads. A few dips and troughs but nothing too taxing. I trundled along at a steady pace, unsure if it was right. Had a few moments when I thought I'd maybe pushed too hard but managed to correct myself and avoid the train crossing being closed too (last time I ran I had to wait about half an hour mid run for the barrier to raise). I finished with a sustained, strong half mile which surprised me as I thought I was probably spent. Maybe it was the soundtrack...
SOUNDTRACK
Genius mix.
Having tried the shuffle a few times with varying results I set a genius playlist off starting with Prefab Sprout's "When Love Breaks Down". I'd been listening to their Steve McQueen album during the parkrun yesterday and was struck by the spacious production, subtle detail and mid-tempo songs. Nothing too "motivating" in terms of speed. Good for a prolonged run. The mix that genius spat out was great today, give or take one or two. It reminded me very much of what used to get played at The Kirk (The Kirklevington Country Club) in the mid 1980s. I also thought a lot about how most of this stuff came about from the post-punk scene which is excellently documented in Simon Reynolds book "Rip It Up and Start Again"
WHEN LOVE BREAKS DOWN - PREFAB SPROUT
OBLIVIOUS - AZTEC CAMERA
WOOD BEEZ (12" GREEN VERSION) - SCRITTI POLITTI - Didn't really get these at the time but this is great.
LOST WEEKEND - LLOYD COLE AND THE COMMOTIONS
LOVE ACTION - THE HUMAN LEAGUE
E=MC2 - BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE - I always remember Gary Davies playing this twice, back-to-back on the radio. I forgive him all other sins for that alone.
THE CUTTER - ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN
PROMISED YOU A MIRACLE - SIMPLE MINDS
RIP IT UP - ORANGE JUICE
SAME OLD SCENE - ROXY MUSIC
GOODBYE LUCILLE #1 - PREFAB SPROUT
PRETTIEST EYES - THE BEAUTIFUL SOUTH
KISS ME - STEPHEN TIN TIN DUFFY - This song tries everything to be liked. Contrived key changes, "up-to-date" production. Brilliantly cynical.
STEP ON - HAPPY MONDAYS - slight surprise this one but I suppose they have more in common, in terms of influences with a lot of these bands than say, The Stone Roses.
LOVE SONG - SIMPLE MINDS - This brought me home in great style. Much maligned in later times but their early stuff is great.
The thing that stands out with almost all of these is the faultless production and arrangements. Many of the post-punk bands (I'm not saying all of these are/were post-punk) were genuinely breaking new ground in terms of arrangements and embracing new technology. The emergence of the club scene through disco, electro, early house etc gives a lot of this stuff a groove based appeal.
Distance this week 16 miles. Long run 6 miles (approx 55 mins in the snow!)
So the snow finally arrived. I've always used it as a convenient excuse not to leave the house in the past but with my new found determination to stick to the training schedule I ventured out a few times this week.
Wednesday evening at Hemlington lake was probably the coldest but a few steady laps soon warmed me up. Your legs work harder in the snow, particularly where it's deep or icy underneath so the distances are only a small measure of the work done. I managed a 10k run today around the Middlesbrough route without stopping, although the middle few kilometres were tough. I had some of those rubber/metal winter tread things on my trainers which helped with getting a grip but I kept clipping my ankle with a metal section which was no fun. I've also had a bit of joint pain in my left hip joint since last week but, hopefully this is just my body getting used to working again.
Off to London for a few days next week with my college students to watch some Musicals! A few of our ex-students are in lead roles in West End shows (Ross Hunter in Rock of Ages, Matthew Dale in Billy Elliot) so it's nice to go and see them do their thing at the top of the tree as it were.
Not much in the way of musicals on my iPod though so the chances of it popping up on the shuffle is slim although I do get the occasional blast of Sweet Charity, Jesus Christ Superstar and others through them being on odd playlists I've created.
The shuffle was on good form today (I still need to rip a load of new stuff onto it). Only a few skips needed and I came in sprinting to Nick Drake's River Man which was a bit of a juxtaposition but worked fine. I've starred the songs/artists that may make it onto the final playlist mostly for my own reference.
Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order*
Theme from Return of The Saint - The Saint Orchestra*
A Real Mother For Ya - Johnny "Guitar" Watson (surely originally entitled A Real Mother fucker???)
I Dig Love - George Harrison
Fancy - The Kinks
Completely Sweet - Eddie Cochran
Diamonds - Mercury Rev (I was genuinely thinking about this band and then it came on next. Spooky eh?)
Butterfly House - The Coral*
Sweet Blindness - Laura Nyro* (I really need to listen to more of her. It's great.)
Marley Purt Drive - Jose Feliciano* (got me thinking about golden eras of music this track - even "unhip" artists like Jose and Andy Williams etc made some cracking records back in the late 60s. Jose's debut album "Feliciano" is just brilliant by anyone's standards)
Poor Cow - Donovan
France - Intastella (from their great debut album.)
Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Beatles
A Boy Named Sue - Johnny Cash* (story songs may be the way forward for the actual marathon)
River Man - Nick Drake
Was determined to stick to my training schedule this time after a slow start for the Great North Run and I've pretty much managed it. In fact I'd say I've gone above and beyond and my body knows it now.
A couple of short runs early in the week and then on Wednesday a trip over to Hemlington lake where a group of parkrunners meet to train.
I've never really done much in the way of interval training (generally involves a lot of very fast running followed by a lot of very slow running) so I wasn't too sure what to expect or how to approach it. I was a sprinter as a much younger man and pretty good at it too. At 13/14ish I could do 100 metres in 11.7 seconds and 200 in about 24. In my mind I still am a sprinter but I was about to find out if that was true or not.
After a gentle warm up lap of the lake (about 2 km) we were asked to sprint between three lampposts. I went off full pelt first time and trashed the competition (mostly girls, young boys and a pensioners). It felt good. I had a good deal of power in me. Another fella about my age seemed impressed and started to give me a run for my money the next 9 times we did it. And there's the rub. I'm not a stamina man. By the 4th time i was lagging a bit each time. Still beating off most of the pack but getting beat a couple of times too. I knew I'd feel it the next day, not being used to that level of sprint for about 25 years!
We continued for the best part of an hour doing relays and jogging. I knew I'd blown my wad with the first few runs but I didn't give up and it seems to have done me some good in feeling fitter at least.
Saturday was a first as I travelled with the family to York parkrun. Basically 1 and 2/3rd laps of York racecourse. Not on the track and not a steeplechase I was glad to hear. It was pretty tough and I came in 25:30ish although I'm not convinced the results were right. The main problem was it's a very open run and you can not only see people miles away beating the pants off you but you can see exactly how much further you have to go. I managed a reasonable sprint at the end though.
Sunday was my first official "long" run. 5 miles. 6 months ago that would have been a doddle but, having let my fitness slip, I found it fairly tough to keep going at points. The return 2.5 miles did go surprisingly quickly though. I'm not a "gung ho" type of person but I do have a General Patton quote pinned to my mind at the moment which basically says "make the mind run the body...the body will always give up". I've clung to this a few times and it's definitely true.
Nice bath after the run and felt warmed-down with a few less aches and then an impromptu, brisk, very muddy walk in Pinchinthorpe woods!
SOUNDTRACK:
Various. I've been relying on the unreliable iPod shuffle lately but it's definitely a bit hit and miss. More misses lately with plenty of skipping going on. Need to start building some new playlists and getting some fresh CDs ripped onto it.
Standout artist so far though has, surprisingly, been The Divine Comedy. I love them to bits anyway but the tracks that have shuffled their way onto the runs have really helped.
First Parkrun of 2013 and after a pretty full on Christmas in terms of alcohol and food consumption so not too worried about the time, although it's reasonable and maybe a bit better than expected. Got some pounds (if I'm honest - stones) to shift if I'm in with a hope of achieving a sub 4-hour marathon by April 28th.
Laid off the booze last night and watched a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad which i'm just getting into (I know, I'm a Johnny come-lately but better than a Johnny come-too-soony in most people's book if you catch my drift.).
Started a bit too far forward in the pack so ended up being overtaken for the first half of lap one but started to claw a few back during the second. In your face ten year olds! Eat my mud. A couple of friends had passed me by this point but, without really trying, I managed to pip them both at the post and still had a decent sprint in me. Chatted with a couple of people about joining their interval training session which could help with my PBs for parkruns (I'd love to get them down towards 23 minutes or, who knows, maybe lower by the marathon or the end of the year at least.)
Soundtrack - iPod shuffle.
It's rare that I let the shuffle take control on a run, especially a short one that needs a certain energy level maintaining. I can't access what it played but I remember it began with Beach Boys - Good Vibrations which was a great way to start. A bit of energy but also a laid back feel which helped me to settle on a pace. The Divine Comedy "To Die A Virgin", Jim Noir "How to be so real" and The Zutons "You could make the four walls cry" all came on in the first lap so a fairly steady, mid-tempo affair but it all kind of worked. Think I skipped a bit of Fleet Foxes because, lovely as they are, it wasn't working. I can't remember much else that came on other than midway through the second lap a big guitar riff kicked in. i thought it might be Hoodoo Gurus at first but turned out to be "She's On It" by Beastie Boys. A kind of forgotten single from their dubious early success as brattish misogynists. Strangely a song by New Kids on The Block came on the radio later in the day and I thought "That's pretty much a rip off of the Beastie Boys". Thankfully, by the time NKOTB started plundering the Beasties had already moved onto the glories of Paul's Boutique (a name synonymous with a great album to one generation and omnipresent branding of coats to another) and would later go on to make two of the best albums of the 90s in Check Your Head and Ill Communication.
I had toyed with the idea of building a Manchester only playlist for the run but I'm now thinking anything but. I love a good deal of music that's come out of the city but as a running playlist? A bit dour maybe. Might slip a few New Order 12"s on there to pass the time though and, if I time it right, Life and Death by World of Twist to finish (not technically Manchester I know but...). There's a thought. I need to load the Pre New's excellent debut album onto my iPod and try that out. Could be a winner.
I'm going to be setting up a page to raise funds for Leukemia research soon too ;)
