Viridian Systems Blog

The first 4 weeks of the training plan specifies combinations of running, jogging and walking for set times with rest days normally every other day.  Don’t think I’ll be sticking rigidly to the plan, more just using it as a guide. Certainly don’t think I’ll be doing any of the walking bits.    

Week ending Sunday 07/02/10 – t minus 7 weeks

Sunday 7^th: first day of training.  Did an easy jog for 48 minutes covering 5.5 miles. Felt fine.  So far so good.

Week ending Sunday 14/02/10 – t minus 6 weeks

Monday 8th:  Ran for 29 mins covering  3.3 miles

Tuesday 9th:  Rest

Wednesday 10^th: Ran for 1 hour 26 mins covering 9 miles.  Longest time and distance I’ve ever ran. Felt really good. Half marathon should be a breeze.

Thursday 11^th : Rest. Legs a bit achy today.

Friday 12^th: Cycled to work in morning. Only 6 miles but legs still feeling achy. Started to run home after work on a route that should be about 7.5 miles. Oh dear.  Only done  about a mile and I’m really suffering.  Legs are hurting and my feet feel numb. Manage to drag myself along to a bail out point after another 3 miles or so but it’s torture all the way.  Walk for about 15 minutes until pins and needles start to go in feet then jog for another 15 mins until get home. 

 Maybe I did too much too soon.  Maybe I should have done the walking bits as per the plan after all.

Saturday 13^th : Rest

Sunday 14^th :  Ready to run again.  After less than a mile I’m getting pains in the lower part of my shins just above my ankles, and I’ve got pins and needles in my feet again.  Here we go again. It’s a hard slog and I think about getting to 3 miles then walking for a bit.  Keep going and after an hour the pains seem to ease. Eventually do 1 hour 23 mins and cover 9 miles actually feeling quite strong at the end. Could carry on for longer.

Bit concerned about the pains I’m getting in my legs.  Read up on shins splints, but they seem to be higher up the shins. My pain is lower down and around the sides.  And, the pain seems to ease after about an hour of running.

Week ending Sunday 21/02/10 – t minus 5weeks

Monday 15^th : Rest

Tuesday 16^th : Rest

Wednesday 17^th : Run home from work. 1 hour 10 mins, 7.5 miles.  Had the same symptoms as normal.  Pains around lower shins and pins & needles in feet, all of which seem to go after about an hour. 

Starting to have another problem. Boredom!  Running for just an hour on my own is becoming a bit monotonous. I could try an I Pod but that would mean going out and buying one of those little clippy on jobs and some proper running ear pieces. I’ll persevere for now.

Thursday 18^th : Cycle home from work along the coastal path. 10 miles in the rain and the dark. It feels good to be back in the saddle.

 Friday 19^th : Rest

Saturday20th : Rest

Sunday 21^st :  Drag myself out of bed this morning. Bit too much to drink last night and really couldn’t be bothered today. Snow on ground so get kitted out in tights (nice) and jacket.  Run for only 1 hour 10mins covering just 7.5 miles. Every mile was torture with dehydration kicking in. Then the sun came out and made the problem worse due to being too hot. Glad to finish today.

5^th February 2010

To put you in the picture:

Vital stats:

Age:                41 ¾

Occupation:  chained to desk at Viridian

Interests     :  married, so I’m not allowed any.

I’m not a keen runner. It’s basically a bit of cross training for my mountain biking.  A once a week 30 minute jog around the block is usually the norm with the occasional 10k race thrown in for good measure. PB for 10k is 48 minutes.

I have always said I’ve got no interest in running anything further than 10k. I’m happy to stick to that distance and work on reducing my PB (if only).

So what am I doing? Well, peer pressure has finally got the better of me. Some of the lads who I run the 10k’s with, as well as my sister in law, have signed up for the Liverpool half marathon on Sunday 28^th March. And maybe due to me being slightly competitive, I couldn’t let them do it on their own, so I’ll be there on the start line with them in 7 weeks time.

Right then.  Maybe a bit of training will be required. Onto the run Liverpool website to print off their ‘beginners’ 8 week training programme for running a half marathon. Oops! I’ll start on week 2 then. 

Phil on his last run

Viridian Systems Blog.

Hello!

Welcome again to the Viridian blog!

As you may have noticed we have been working on a new website (www.viridiansystems.com). We hope you like the changes and we welcome any feedback you may have about the site.

As the site is re-built we will have the obvious teething troubles and errors so if you think we have made any glaring omissions then please let us know!

As for building the site, we at Viridian like to take care of things internally so rather than outsource this process it has been a joint effort with Paul Rose (webmaster) responsible for the mechanics of the site, with myself being responsible for the graphical look and (hopefully) flow of the site. Of course other Viridian team members have contributed to the content of the site so on behalf of Paul & me we would like to thank the other members of the Viridian team!

Paul has worked particularly hard juggling this task with his other considerable duties so well done Rosey! (It has been mentioned in the office that there are a few more grey hairs on his head since before we started this undertaking so if anyone knows a good place for discounted hair dye please let us know.)

We will be adding further flash animations over the coming weeks and also updating our translated pages (yikes!). So for our international browsers:

• Por favor sea paciente el sitio web estará viniendo pronto!
• Bitte sind geduldig die Website kommt bald!
• Por favor seja paciente a website estará vindo logo!

Apologies for any errors in the translation! We will be employing professional translators for the website!

We hope the website reflects the new products and services we can now provide to our clients. We will of course be adding greater technical explanations of these services over the coming weeks and months but feel free to contact us regarding any queries.

On other business, Viridians very own Iron Man Phil “bean counting” Dabner has begun training for the Liverpool half marathon on the 28^th March. (I was thinking if we drive a car in front of him with a £1 coin tied to the bumper by a piece of string….this will ensure he finishes the course in record time!) Seriously, good luck Phil we will keep St Johns Ambulance informed of your whereabouts….we will let you know how Phil gets on later next month.

Phil has a very competitive nature (used to great comic effect in the office) so if anyone knows any good challenges we can put to him please let us know!

Paul Williams

www.viridiansystems.com