Catching Up: Ghost, London and the miles in between.
After a hacked WordPress site, major surgery and nine unsuccessful ballot attempts, I have a new home on Ghost and a place in the 2027 London Marathon. The writing may have fallen behind, but fortunately the training has not. By the time you read this, you may have noticed that things look rather different around here.
Some idiot somewhere in the world decided it would be a good idea to hack into the WordPress administration of my old site and create fake users. To give credit where it is due, the IONOS security system detected the access and isolated the threat. Thank you to them.
It also finally made up my mind. I want to spend whatever time I have left living my life and recording the interesting parts of it, not trying to keep a website safe from idiots. I have therefore moved to Ghost. I hope in the near future to get my old domain name to point at this current site.
This will become my legacy site: partly a record of what I am doing now and partly an archive of the things I have somehow managed to do in the past. In time, I hope to restore accounts of my progress following my breakdown to the Challenge and Ironman and events, my Triple Challenge in 2017, the long-distance walks, the 2023 canal ride, the medical setbacks, golf and anything else worth preserving.
The immediate purpose of this revived site is much clearer. After nine unsuccessful attempts, I finally secured a ballot place in the London Marathon in April 2027. For this one year the event is being held across Saturday and Sunday, and my place is on the Saturday.
That gives me a target and, perhaps more importantly, a reason to train with some purpose.
In 2017, I completed the London Marathon in 5 hours 11 minutes. I am not trying to recreate that result ten years later. At 72, with Artie the replacement hip from 2020, major pancreatic surgery behind me and Type 3c diabetes now part of daily life, the objective is simpler: reach the start line in reasonable condition, use a sensible run/walk strategy and finish. Six to seven hours would be perfectly respectable. Indeed, getting there at all will be perfectly respectable.
Following pancreatic surgery in February 2024 and a month in hospital, the remaining part of my pancreas has gradually become less effective. I was diagnosed with Type 3c diabetes in March this year and started metformin in April, although so far it appears to have made little difference to my blood sugar levels. The unusually hot weather may not have helped.
After twice being unsuccessful in obtaining a Pancreatic Cancer charity place, I plan to use my ballot place to raise money for Diabetes UK. It feels appropriate: the marathon is now tied not only to where I have been, but also to the condition I am learning to live with.
So I continue to plod, and I intend to keep doing so until next April at least. Since my last post in February I have not spent the intervening months entirely in an armchair.
I have continued trying to get to parkrun on most Saturdays and visited several different events. Haughmond Hill is much quieter than Shrewsbury, although it includes a thoroughly unnecessary hill just beyond halfway. I completed two almost entirely running sessions there in around 35 minutes. While we were in County Cork in June, I ran at Glengarriff. It was an interesting event with a very small field, and I used a ten-minute run/two-minute walk pattern to finish in about 35 minutes.
There was also a family Easter Egg 5K. Sophia and I ran and walked together until she discovered the traditional finishing sprint and abandoned me. Gemma went ahead and recorded a good time, while Phil and Matteo completed the 2.5K. We all received an Easter egg and a medal, then celebrated with an ice cream. This may not be textbook sports nutrition, but nobody complained. The following day, Gemma, Sophia, Matteo and I had a bracing run up on Stapeley Common.
At Shrewsbury I have continued both running and volunteering, including acting as a 40-minute pacer. This has proved an enjoyable alternative to Friday-night drinking, although admittedly the two activities set a fairly low bar for comparison. On September 12th I completed my 50th run (40th at Shrewsbury) and celebrated with new socks and headband from Sue and a round of applause from the crowd. I celebrated (?) by running all the way around - see below! I have also continued to wear my old tops from my events in the past, starting in 1991. I shall be making a gallery of these images as time allows.
July was the month when the marathon stopped being a distant piece of good news and became something that required a plan. And having tinkered with AI and Chat GPT in my other project (one has to keep busy!) The Cold Face - my attempt at fiction, I turned to the data centres and asked for hep with training and also documenting my journey to the start line.
It has helped extract data from Garmin FIT files, distinguish rounds of golf from extremely slow walks, organise the training workbook and turn the figures into something resembling a coherent report.
It is also helping me build a 40-week framework towards London, monitor the balance between training and recovery, and create an easier way to enter the contents of my old paper training diaries. Those diaries may eventually provide a fuller history for this legacy site and, as a bonus, allow me to declutter several decades of paper.
Artificial intelligence does have limits. It cannot run the miles, repair Artie or prevent me from agreeing to a marathon, a charity walk and a sprint triathlon at roughly the same time. It can, however, point out that this may be unwise in several impressively organised formats. And it also makes me laugh with how it responds to my random suggestions!
July
So i started training with a bit more focus in July and chenged my emphasis from cycling to walking and running mostly with a 3 run / 3 walk strategy. In July I was able to complete 24 miles in 7 runs.
There was also a development in my indoor cycling. One evening I could not get my very old Tacx Neo to connect to my favourite app - Fulgaz. As i was trying to connect it there was a spark from where the mains lead connected to the body of the trainer. I contacted Garmin support and after a couple of conversations they surprisingly agreed to replace my 2019 model with a new Neo 2T! Not only that but they agreed to discount the new trainer by the amount I paid for the old one - despite the fact that I had completed over 6000 virtual miles on the old one. I don't think you can get better service than that! I am therefore now the proud owner of a new training - currently with Claude mounted. However, I am still strggling with which app to use as I was very upset after using Fulgaz since 2019 that it managed to lose my account and ride history. But Gemma has plans so watch this space! I did test the new trainer with 40 miles in July and even did a single 11 mile ride on a proper "bike". And there is news on that front too - see below again.
ChatGPT tells me that the longest run/walk was 4.21 miles. Across all recorded activity there were just over 19 hours of movement. The totals now classify golf as golf rather than as a suspiciously slow walk, which makes the training picture a little more honest.
The first significant session was 4.04 miles on 12 July in 53:21, averaging approximately 13:13 per mile. I recorded the effort as 6 out of 10 and described the workout as feeling normal.
The rest of the month became a useful sequence rather than one heroic effort: an afternoon 5K, a harder parkrun, a steady 5K, the 4.21-mile longer outing and The Great Field parkrun in Dorchester.
At The Great Field I trialled the controlled three-minute run/three-minute walk pattern and finished in just over 39 minutes. Despite the heat, I felt comfortable and fairly relaxed. That is much closer to what I need now than chasing an impressive 5K time and spending the following week recovering from it.
I did not play much golf in July with only rounds with Phil at Arscott when he came over in early July and 18 holes with Pete at Folke in Dorset in the middle of heatwave. Think long shots that run along the ground. I found the course very interesting in that although it is only nine holes one plays from completely different tees which means there is a variety. I played quite well with rounds of 50 and 47 - so I broke 100 for the first time this year. Thank you hot weather!!
August: building the distance
August was a much fuller month. I completed eleven run/walk sessions totalling 41.56 miles, compared with 24.02 miles in July. I also accumulated approximately 88 miles on the bike and another 22.23 miles of purposeful walking, excluding golf.
The most encouraging session came on 31 August: seven miles at an average pace of just over 13 minutes per mile. I rated the effort as 7 out of 10 but still described myself as feeling strong afterwards. At this stage, that is more useful than producing an impressive pace for one isolated outing. It also completed the 10K in August challenge on Strava. You can see my Strava page here
There were signs of progress elsewhere too. A five-mile session on 20 August averaged about 12:40 per mile at an effort of 5, while a four-mile outing three days later was deliberately steadier. Some of the shorter sessions were quicker, but the objective was not to turn every run into a test.
The increase from July was substantial, so it is worth resisting the temptation to treat it as the new minimum. Muscles, tendons and joints need longer than enthusiasm to adapt, particularly when their owner is 72 and has previous form for agreeing to unreasonable challenges.
I was also able to meet up with Roger again at Arscott and we played two round of 18 and one of 9. As we play on a Wednesday we have to tackle the back nine first and this means a drive on the 10th (first hole) so this can be a bit random.
I managed my best round of the year - 93 on the 12th August with pars on the 2nd, 15th, 16th and 17th and then 96 on the 19th August (Stableford 38). This included pars on the 10th and 17th and a very good 43 on the front nine including pars on 1st, 2nd, 8th and 9th. This is the most pars I have ever achieved in a single round with a Stableford score of 45. The highlight was my drive on the 2nd which ended up just 30 feet short of the green.
Things have gone a bit downhill since then - thanks to rain and overthinking and I have not broken 100 in my two rounds in September.
In July, I got my annual bonus from HMRC who insist on taxing my pension at the higher rate and then have to reimburse me the overspend when I don't earn as much as they think I am gong to! This year I have used it to purchase a Skarper e-bike conversion kit which I had fitted to Shirley by Swinnerton Cycles in Stoke. It was not a good day to be there - there was an accident on the M6 and the A500 was a carpark for nearly two hours!! But this is an excellent bike shop with great service.
September: less running, but certainly not less activity
By 17 September, the running total was lower: three sessions covering 9.89 miles. On its own that might look like a loss of momentum. In context, it was a deliberate shift towards two other imminent challenges.
Sue and I have been preparing for the 10K Shine Night Walk in York at the end of September. By the 17th I had already recorded 21.20 miles of walking during the month, not including another 16.40 miles spent playing golf.
I have also been preparing for a sprint triathlon, which explains the 53.52 miles of cycling and the sudden reappearance of swimming in the diary. The swim was short, but it at least confirmed that I could still remember which way up to be in the water.
One run demonstrated that there is still some speed available when required. I completed my 50th Park Run on 12 September at just under 11 minutes per mile. It also produced an average heart rate of 158 and an effort rating of 7. Useful evidence, perhaps, but not the model for a six- or seven-hour marathon.
The more relevant session was 3.83 miles on 5 September at about 12:22 per mile. I rated that only 4 out of 10 and felt very strong. The long-term task is to make controlled effort repeatable, not to prove once a week that I can still make Garmin anxious.
Recovery: information rather than judgement
The Garmin recovery figures have remained reasonably steady. Average sleep increased from about 6 hours 55 minutes in July to just over 7 hours in both August and the first part of September. Average sleep scores rose from 77 in July to 80 in August and 81 in September, while resting heart rate remained around 45 to 46.
Those averages are reassuring, but individual days still vary considerably. I do not intend to become ruled by a number on a watch. The useful approach is to combine it with how I actually feel: effort, aches, energy, weather, hydration and whether I am still functioning later in the day.
Perhaps the best entry in the diary is not a number at all. No new musculoskeletal problems were recorded through 17 September. Given the increase in activity, that may be the most valuable measure of progress.
My blood sugar continues to be relatively high (between 7 and 8 most mornings) even with the Metformin although I have always known that this would be case as the little bit of the pancreas that survives is getting weary. I have tried to help by reducing my alcohol intake and trying to be a bit careful with what I eat - greatly helped by Sue. This does mean that my weight is falling steadily but this is not yet a concern.
What a difference 10 years makes. Ten years ago, on the 11th September I completed my first official Ironman at Weymouth, having done a full length Challenge event in 2015 and a shortened event in 2014. A lot has happened since then and as I reconstruct the site it gives me a chance to reflect as well as plan.
I am hoping to work towards ten miles by early December but thanks to a kind invitation from Phil I am in the middle of planning a couple of weeks in the USA that may slow my progress a bit. So the ten miles remains a possibility rather than a deadline. The more important target is to build consistently without turning a promising start into an injury.
So this first Ghost update has become rather longer than intended, but it had a great deal of catching up to do. The website fell behind; the legs, fortunately, did not.
There is no need for triumphal music yet. London is still seven months away, and there will be plenty of opportunities for life, weather, blood sugar, ageing joints and simple bad judgement to interfere. For now, however, the project is underway.
Keep plodding,
AJMB
There is also The Cold Face, my attempt at fiction, which may or may not be finished one day. I apparently require more than one unfinished project at a time.
