Adam in Runderland

You learn a lot when you get into running. None of it particularly useful in any other area of life but interesting none the less. Here are twenty things I now know because I run. The exact point at which I am one mile from my home, in any direction. Fartlek is a Swedish word for a speed training session. Wearing tights feels really good. Stretching is essential before and after running. Always spit downwind. Where to apply Vaseline to prevent chafing. Nothing beats an endorphin rush. I am ridiculously competitive. A taper is the process of resting before a long run. Sweat tastes like the sea. A marathon is 26 POINT TWO  miles. I feel more tired when I don't run that when I do. How fast I can run 5K, 10K, half and full marathons to one hundredth of a second. The foods with the most carbohydrates. How to drink water while running without choking. My body is capable of much more than I think it is. I can do mental maths when it involves split times. It is possible

Doping is back in the news. A new set of tests have implicated dozens of athletes from the 1990's of taking performance enhancing drugs. No names have been released but you can sense a scandal about to break. Of course it's nothing new. Doping has been a problem for decades in many different sports. I've just finished reading a book on the history of the Tour de France. It's painful reading especially when you reach the 1990's with scandals surrounding the Festina team, Jan Ullrich, Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis and others. A decade of winners wiped out. Then of course you have the most famous drug cheat of all Ben Johnson who 'won' gold in the 100m at the Seoul Olympic Games after taking anabolic steroids. Other drug takers were discovered including Marion Jones, and Tyson Gay. Sadly clean athletes become tainted by the scandals. Everyone comes under suspicion especially if they achieve anything special. Witness Chris Froome in this years tour

Many of my posts have mentioned parkrun. It is the centre of my running life. It is the event that, more than any other, has contributed to my love of running. It has become a fixture of my week, provided me with good friends and been a fantastic barometer of my improvement over the three years I have been attending. It also lifts my spirits to see people take on the challenge and then come back every week, getting faster, fitter and happier. When I started running the three mile course I was finishing just outside the 21 minute mark. The target was clear, I wanted to break 20 minutes. Every week I attempted to reduce my time to one in the teens. After 34 attempts I finally cracked it with a time of 19:42. I thought that was it, my aim achieved. I would happy if I never ran that quickly again.....for about 5 minutes before...... Best Annual Achievements Year    Best Time    Best Age Grading    2012 00:20:46 63.88% 2013 00:19:21 68.99% 2014 00:19:08 70.30% 2015 00:18:27 73.44%

It's a fine line between being competitive and just plain crazy. Must....beat...Nick..... I think sometimes I cross that line with my running. There is something in me that can't seem to resist a challenge, even one I have set myself. I see this when I'm running alone but also when I'm with others. It happens during race conditions and also when there is no organised event. There is always something I can find to push myself that bit harder. Sometimes the competition is against the clock such as the lunchtime I went out for a gentle 3-4 mile jog and found myself sprinting the last of 6 miles to get under the 45 minute mark. On other occasions it is against a person (they may not even be aware that I am competing against them). I spot them ahead of me and can't resist trying to pass them. It happens when I see an unknown jogger on the path in front of me or when I'm doing fartleks with the running group. parkrun is the worst for this. I have lost c