The Mile « The Next Challenge

Archive for the ‘The Mile’ Category

Mile Diary #2 – I wrote it in Comic Sans

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

The battle of third place, University of Otago Clocktower Race

I assume the walls were once cream but now they’re a mosaic of scuff marks from black rubber and grubby patches where sweaty palms rested and slick finger tips gripped.

The strip-lighting and low ceiling don’t do it any favours either. Nor, for that matter, do the two guys lying on the floor grunting like neanderthals.

“OK, go faster!” blurts out one of them on heavy breath and you can bet it’s not me.

An email the day before had warned me that this session would “work me to my aerobic max”, whatever that meant.

I’d assumed we were on the track but it was desserted when I arrived and the flood lights were off, leaving it with the feel of a Hollywood film set. Wheeling my bike back I could see him stretching out against the wall underneath those strip-lights.

“I printed one out for you”, he says, handing me a sheet of paper with lots numbers on it next to words like “crunchies”, “toe taps” and “marines”. First time round, he explained, we’d do 30 second sets with 30 second rests. Then 40 seconds to 20 seconds rest and finally 50-10. Once the whole session was a complete, a line at the bottom said: “Medicine ball work (if not literally dead)”.

It sounded horrendous.

“It only takes 54 minutes!”, he said with genuine enthusiasm, “and I wrote the sheet in Comic Sans so it wouldn’t look so bad!”.

Even as your body begs you not to start the next exercise, there’s a strange proclivity to get yourself into position immediately and keep checking the time to see if your 30/20 seconds is up. Perhaps it’s just the urge to get it over and done with.

By the third and final run through, there is barely time to roll from one awkward stance to another. I even heard Al cut himself off mid-sentence, muttering something like, “Shouldn’t talk. Stops breathing”.

I’m lying on my back with my knees bent back towards my head. I propel myself forward in a roll, jump up, groan out loud and touch the ceiling as someone walks past the door with a friendly wave. “Huh!”, my lungs offer in return. The penultimate exercise, a cross between crab walking and press-ups, and I’m a mess. I can’t coordinate my limbs and it’s taking me a full 10 seconds to get back off the ground each time.

“That’s it”, he says.

And it was.

Mentally, sitting down seems like the right thing to do but instead the first minute is spent pacing around. Endorphins keeping the buzz going. After some initial exchanges – “Hey man, that was good”, “Yeah man, good session” – we take seats on different apparatus and a slightly awkward silence descends.

“…so, what’s this medicine ball work?”

I am currently training to run a mile as fast as I can. This is my diary and it originally appeared at What’s Your Challenge?

Personal Best: 5 minutes 25 seconds
Latest Time: 5 minutes 25 seconds

Posted in Challenges, The Mile, Writing | 1 Comment »

16.5%

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Hong Kong skyline at night - Thom Allen

A current ran up my right leg, passed through my abdomen, dropped down the other side and exited my body.

It left no damage except to my ego.

It was a biometrical impedance analysis or “thing that looks like weighing scales and tells you what percentage of your body is fat”. Mine was 16.5%. That puts me at the larger end of the “Fitness” category – below “Acceptable” and above “Athlete”. My pathetic vanity meant that this was a disappointment. I had hoped to be an “Athlete” – 10-12%.

A conversation with my friend – which was indulgently longer than the three words it deserved (“Get. Over. It.”) – set me straight.

I was measuring it in part out of curiousity – I’d never done it before – but also as part of the research for my Mile run. A top athlete performing in such an event would probably have a fat content of closer to 10% which would mean losing over a third of my body fat. “I need to make some drastic changes”, was my immediate thought.

But, apart from the obvious fact that I could make significant inroads to my performance by simply training more and improving my technique, this was a question of commitment.

My problem is that I do a lot of things half-heartedly, spread myself thin. I’ve played hockey for years and do alright but I’ve never competed at a high standard. I’ve had a guitar since I was a teenager and can play a few tunes but am no maestro. I do a lot of fitness stuff but I’ve never won any races.

I’ve set myself the challenge of running a mile as fast as I can. I won’t reach the 4-minute bench mark because I know that will take more effort than I am willing to give. But how far am I willing to go? Will this be another thing that I’ll take on, do alright at and then move on from? Or will the hands that type this blog in a year’s time be one third thinner than the ones that write it now?

Posted in Challenges, The Mile, Training | 3 Comments »

Mile Diary #1 – Not enough lycra

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

Triathlon promo shot (cropped) - www.DavidTett.com

Warning: This article contains references to, and discussion of, the term “chafe”. Those under 18 and/or of a weak constitution are advised to seek advice before reading

Why does this always happen?

I’m late. Cycling through rain back from Guildford. On the train back from London. Discussing the terms of another voluntary position (are any of them not?). The excuses change but the result doesn’t.

I’m late.

Falling out of the car / off my bike, I jog through the car park and past the trees burdened with the weight of Autumn, and onto the track. He’s standing there in what I must say is a rather nice pair of lycra trousers. Nike, I think.

“How many sets of lycra do you have?”, I ask.

He gives me a blank look. The kind you’d probably expect from someone you just asked how many sets of lycra they have. But in this case it’s the opposite.

“Er, I dunno. A lot.”

I liked this guy.

I remember defending my interest in cycling at university with the caveat that “I would never wear lycra”. Times change. I’m a fan. I have a drawer dedicated to stretchy clothes suitable for excercise.

Chafe’s no laughing matter.

During one particularly memorable run in which I neglected to don appropriate clothing, I disappeared into the bushes about 2 hours in and had to remove the offending under-garment so as to make it home without the aid Ibuprofen and liberal applications of Vaseline (neither of which, I hasten to add, I had on my person). I also once had to walk the last hour of a race, in the dark, in November, because my team mate was struggling with more rubbing than Aladdin’s lamp.

Chafe’s no laughing matter.

What with regular cycling, runs, hockey matches, hockey training and now, track sessions, I simply don’t have enough lycra. Or, at least, not enough clean lycra.

“Right, we’re doing four three-hundreds”, he says.

That’s four lots of 300-metre shuttles with a 3-minute rest in between each.

“Doesn’t sound too bad”, I reply.

175 metres later, I change my mind.

I am currently training to run a mile as fast as I can. This is my diary and it originally appeared at What’s Your Challenge?