It occurred to me that in all the posts I’ve written on this blog, I’ve not yet mentioned my closest running companion. I take him on every run to keep me company, spur me along, and invariably provide the motivation I need to get me over the line when much of the rest of me is gently suggesting to (or even screaming at) me to stop and go have a lie down somewhere.
It is, of course, my MP3.
Up until recently, it was an Apple iPod Nano. But as part of a revamp of my music playlist since I returned from my time on the Camino, I’ve now bought a Sony MP3 and stocked it with a much wider range of tunes. Several have been with me since my marathon days a decade ago. Many others have been there over the past 100 or so weeks as I’ve been punching out the last few half marathons. And a few more are recent additions.
So, for the sake of completeness, following is the full list of my current running songs. I might add one or two, and maybe take some away, over the next little while as I get more used to the combinations, but essentially, this is it (in alphabetical order of artist).
Abba - Gimme Gimme Gimme A new addition. It’s got a great driving beat and I really like the tune.
ACDC - Jailbreak + Long Way to the Top if You Want to Rock'n'Roll Another two new additions to my running playlist. I defy anyone to start listening to these songs and not immediately bust out the air guitar!
Adele - Rolling in the Deep A great pounding beat ideal for running.
Bee Gees - Staying Alive Love the beat on this one too. The song itself is also my favourite Bee Gees tune.
Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling This was the first of a few songs that I picked from a couple of lists after googling ‘best running songs’. It’s not bad.
Bob Seger - Hollywood Nights I’ve had the studio version of this song for a while, but now replaced it with the much better live version with the crowd going off their heads.
Bryan Adams - Run to You I’ve wanted this one on my playlist for a long time and I’ve now finally got around to putting it on there. A brilliant lead-in riff headlines a really punchy tune. The running connection also helps.
Chris de Burgh - Don't Pay the Ferryman This has been a staple for a while now and while it’s not an absolutely outstanding song, I know that when it comes on, it won’t let me down.
Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing + Telegraph Road Both of these are off the live “Alchemy” album, with each over 10 minutes long. I’ve had the much shorter version of “Sultans of Swing” on my list for years, but the 11 minute live version here is an absolute classic. I spent quite a bit of time air-guitaring to it on the Camino. “Telegraph Road” is a little slower in parts and slightly less catchy, but the final few minutes are also excellent.
Don McLean - American Pie A song I’ve loved for years and thought I should add it to my playlist. I’m confident it will survive the transition.
Eagle Eye Cherry - Save Tonight I really like this song and have thought for a while that I should put it on my running list. And finally here it is!
ELO - Tightrope Probably my favourite ELO tune. It builds brilliantly as it goes along and deserves its place here for the first time.
Elton John - Teacher I Need You + Tiny Dancer This is the long version of “Tiny Dancer”, and also builds really well to the chorus, while “Teacher I Need You” is an under-rated rocking tune I really like that is worthy of its place here.
Fleetwood Mac - Don't Stop + Tusk Oldies but goodies. They have that magic combination of the motivational and a great pounding beat.
Foreigner - Feels Like the First Time + Urgent Love these two Foreigner classics, with “Urgent” a staple for a while and “Feels Like the First Time” another song that builds to a wonderful crescendo.
G Wayne Thomas - Open Up Your Heart A much under-played Australian song evidently written in just 20 minutes in the early 70’s. The guy is a genius, with lines like - “There's no formula for happiness that's guaranteed to work; And no lover's ever been in love, and not been hurt; No dreamer has ever dreamed, and seen it all come true”. Give it a listen - it’s sensational.
Gary Barlow - Forever Autumn A beautiful rendition of an amazing song.
George Harrison - My Sweet Lord A wonderful tune and good to jog along to.
Gerry Rafferty - Get it Right Next Time + Baker Street In my marathon days a decade ago (and in the days before the shuffle function), “Baker Street” was always my lead-off training song and I knew I’d get a kilometre or more done before that song had finished. Good to see it back here now. “Get it Right” is my other favourite Gerry Rafferty song and an easy addition.
Glee - Don't Stop Believing + Jessie’s Girl I prefer the Glee versions of these songs over the originals. Both are wonderful workout tunes.
Goanna - Solid Rock A long-time running song with a strong, driving best. A must have.
Heather Small - Proud An inherently inspirational song making a return to my playlist now. It should never have left it.
Hunters and Collectors - Holy Grail This makes a return to the playlist after a while away. A good tune.
John Denver - Annie’s Song + Country Roads Two excellent tunes with both new to my MP3. I’m not sure they’ll last the distance on the running list, but the quality of each should keep them there.
Lady Antebellum - Need You Now A great song but new to the running program. I’m sure it will survive.
Londonbeat - I’ve Been Thinking About You This song first appeared in my consciousness when I heard it as a music video at my gym a few months ago. It made an immediate impression and I just had to have it.
Owl City - Fireflies Not sure if this is going to make the grade as a running song, but I like it a lot. We’ll see how it goes.
Passenger - Let Her Go Another newbie and a simply beautiful tune that I only recently rediscovered on the Camino. A fond memory of someone that I used to know.
REM - Losing My Religion + Man in the Moon I quite like REM and these two songs are probably their best. I’ve had them in my car for a long time but now they’ve graduated to my running MP3.
The Corries - Go Lassie Go Not an immediately obvious running song choice, I grant you. But it builds throughout and deserves its place.
The Script - Hall of Fame Another google running song. Really inspiring stuff when the going gets a little tough.
Train - Drops of Jupiter A favourite song for a while now and it easily retains its place on the new songlist.
Van Halen - Jump Another taken from Google’s list of ‘best running songs’. It’s OK I guess, but it’s on probation for now.
And last but not least ,,,
Yes - It Can Happen + Love Will Find a Way + Rhythm of Love I was at University years ago with a guy who was a massive Yes fan. Back then, I couldn’t really see the attraction. Now I absolutely do. They produced some incredible songs in the mid-80s and these three are probably their best. “It Can Happen” has been a staple running song of mine for a while now and probably also ranks as my favourite all-time song. It’s my go-to tune when I’m at the back end of a hard training session or about to launch into a sprint finish in a time trial. The other two are equally brilliant songs and I’ve only just added them to my playlist. I don’t know why I waited for so long. They should have been on it years ago.
Wednesday, 21 September 2016
Friday, 9 September 2016
Speed-bumps and changed directions
For the benefit of those amongst you who are not keeping count, it’s been just on four weeks since I landed back in Sydney after finishing my Camino journey and about the same time since I resumed running in pursuit of this little quest of mine to qualify to run the Boston marathon.
And it’s certainly been an eventful few weeks.
I mentioned in my last post about a back twinge I’d just picked up and, happily, that disappeared as quickly as it came on. Week 3 of the 12-week training program for the Auckland half-marathon (my first full running week since returning) went very well and I managed to clock up 44.34 kilometres, with a strong 1 hour 45 minute long run to cap off the week.
But in the following week, the back pain returned from nowhere with a vengeance and after a few increasingly painful runs through gritted teeth, I conceded defeat and spent the next few sessions on a bike trying to maintain some fitness while hoping the injury would just go away.
A visit to the physio about a week later confirmed a problem at the L4-5 vertebrae which he thinks should be cured in a week or two with some focussed daily stretches and an abstinence from any running. Long-time readers of this blog will appreciate that it has actually been quite a while since I’ve suffered any injuries so I suppose this one really is overdue. And while it’s terribly annoying, it has given me the opportunity to do some serious bike riding (my average session is an hour at a constant heart rate of 70-80% of maximum) and also to participate in some spin classes at my gym for the first time - which I’ve really been enjoying.
So hopefully all this won’t set the Auckland program back too much. But we shall wait and see.
I’ve also decided to substitute my 2 hour 15 minute long training run scheduled for the end of week 10 with an entry in the Melbourne half-marathon on that day. I had such a good time running that race last year (carrying a left calf injury), I thought I’d do the same thing again this year and simply follow the 2 hour 20 minute pacers around the course as my reasonably easy long run for the week. Looking forward to it - so long as the back has healed by then.
More significantly, I’ve also just made the decision to abandon the next half-marathon I had scheduled after Auckland (i.e. Hobart, on 15 January 2017) and head back to Spain for a while. I have to confess that I’ve been bitten badly by the Camino bug so I’ve decided to fly to Europe a week or so after the Auckland race and walk the Camino Frances again (St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago) followed immediately by the Camino Portuguese (Porto to Santiago). With Christmas Day in Santiago, it’s then off to Finisterre and Muxia on the western coast of Spain before arriving back in Santiago on New Year’s Eve. All-up, it should be about 1,200 kilometres of mid-Winter walking in around 50 days. And after some time in England, it will be back home and into training for Canberra in April 2017.
Although I love Hobart and Tasmania generally, it was probably the half marathon in my program that I was the least excited about, so it wasn’t too difficult a decision to scrub it - especially given the attraction of the alternative. And it’s still on the program for 2018.
So all that means that the BQ-Quest schedule (past, present and future) now looks something like this:
1. Sydney half - May 2015 (time 2:00:26)
2. Gold Coast half - July 2015 (missed with hamstring injury)
3. Melbourne half - October 2015 (time 2:18:04, with calf injury)
4. New York half - March 2016 (time 2:01:46)
5. Gold Coast half - July 2016 (time 1:57:46)
5A. Melbourne half - October 2016
6. Auckland half - October 2016
7. Canberra half - April 2017
8. Gold Coast half - July 2017
9. Great North Run (England) - September 2017
10. Hobart half - January 2018
11. Gold Coast Marathon - July 2018
12. Melbourne Marathon - November 2018
13. Gold Coast Marathon (1st BQ attempt) - July 2019
And it’s certainly been an eventful few weeks.
I mentioned in my last post about a back twinge I’d just picked up and, happily, that disappeared as quickly as it came on. Week 3 of the 12-week training program for the Auckland half-marathon (my first full running week since returning) went very well and I managed to clock up 44.34 kilometres, with a strong 1 hour 45 minute long run to cap off the week.
But in the following week, the back pain returned from nowhere with a vengeance and after a few increasingly painful runs through gritted teeth, I conceded defeat and spent the next few sessions on a bike trying to maintain some fitness while hoping the injury would just go away.
A visit to the physio about a week later confirmed a problem at the L4-5 vertebrae which he thinks should be cured in a week or two with some focussed daily stretches and an abstinence from any running. Long-time readers of this blog will appreciate that it has actually been quite a while since I’ve suffered any injuries so I suppose this one really is overdue. And while it’s terribly annoying, it has given me the opportunity to do some serious bike riding (my average session is an hour at a constant heart rate of 70-80% of maximum) and also to participate in some spin classes at my gym for the first time - which I’ve really been enjoying.
So hopefully all this won’t set the Auckland program back too much. But we shall wait and see.
I’ve also decided to substitute my 2 hour 15 minute long training run scheduled for the end of week 10 with an entry in the Melbourne half-marathon on that day. I had such a good time running that race last year (carrying a left calf injury), I thought I’d do the same thing again this year and simply follow the 2 hour 20 minute pacers around the course as my reasonably easy long run for the week. Looking forward to it - so long as the back has healed by then.
More significantly, I’ve also just made the decision to abandon the next half-marathon I had scheduled after Auckland (i.e. Hobart, on 15 January 2017) and head back to Spain for a while. I have to confess that I’ve been bitten badly by the Camino bug so I’ve decided to fly to Europe a week or so after the Auckland race and walk the Camino Frances again (St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago) followed immediately by the Camino Portuguese (Porto to Santiago). With Christmas Day in Santiago, it’s then off to Finisterre and Muxia on the western coast of Spain before arriving back in Santiago on New Year’s Eve. All-up, it should be about 1,200 kilometres of mid-Winter walking in around 50 days. And after some time in England, it will be back home and into training for Canberra in April 2017.
Although I love Hobart and Tasmania generally, it was probably the half marathon in my program that I was the least excited about, so it wasn’t too difficult a decision to scrub it - especially given the attraction of the alternative. And it’s still on the program for 2018.
So all that means that the BQ-Quest schedule (past, present and future) now looks something like this:
1. Sydney half - May 2015 (time 2:00:26)
2. Gold Coast half - July 2015 (missed with hamstring injury)
3. Melbourne half - October 2015 (time 2:18:04, with calf injury)
4. New York half - March 2016 (time 2:01:46)
5. Gold Coast half - July 2016 (time 1:57:46)
5A. Melbourne half - October 2016
6. Auckland half - October 2016
7. Canberra half - April 2017
8. Gold Coast half - July 2017
9. Great North Run (England) - September 2017
10. Hobart half - January 2018
11. Gold Coast Marathon - July 2018
12. Melbourne Marathon - November 2018
13. Gold Coast Marathon (1st BQ attempt) - July 2019
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