My left hamstring is feeling better, so I have started running again. The weather has been quite chilly here, so I wore two layers on top and a beany when I went for my last run.  It was a 5km run around the Kai Tak Development area.  My legs felt fine, but the constraint is still my breathing.  I'm still not very fit.  I realise this will be a long process to get back to my level of fitness from years before.

One of my main goals this year is to run a half-marathon in a decent time.  I say a decent time is something under 1 hour and 45 minutes.  To be serious about this, I really need to make the sort of running schedules I used to do.  I should make a spreadsheet of targets per week, which steadily increase to something significant.  These days, I don't expect I can run 6 days per week like I used to.  Or, at least, I won't be able to run 6 days per week immediately.

When I am working from home, it should actually be easier to find time to go for a run.  I have the flexibility to start work earlier and finish later, and go for a run in the middle of the day.  Or I could finish earlier and go for a run after work.

I took the day off from work yesterday, so I had plenty of time in the afternoon to go for a very long walk.  I had registered with a charity through work, where if I recorded 10,000 steps between Jan 9th-23rd, then I would qualify for a certificate.  This is very easy to achieve in aggregate, so I decided I would do all of the steps in one walk and take a screenshot of the steps count in my phone's Health app as evidence.

I walked up to the top of Lion Rock and then carried on westward, eventually going down Jat's incline and ending up near Choi Hung MTR station. I walked back to Kowloon City from there.  My phone registered 18,573 steps, which was pleasing.  The MapMyWalk statistics are: 16.27km, 2'44''34 time and 666m elevation gain.

The view was not very rewarding as it was pretty cloudy.  In fact, at the highest point, I could only see mist/cloud when I looked down.  I had been hoping there may be some good outlook for photos, but no luck.

I saw a few very big monkeys when I was running downhill on Jat's incline. The monkeys were not interested in me and I made an effort not to do anything provocative.

The next day, I have sore quads and knees, which is as expected.  I'll have a rest today and see how I feel tomorrow before deciding if I will go for a run/walk.

 In the middle of the last week, I felt a general stiffness in my right calf. I still tried to go for a run on Friday evening, but called it off immediately as that calf didn't feel right.  I still went for a walk instead.

I decided to be prudent and go for long walks in the weekend, instead of proper runs.  Saturday's walk was enjoyable with lots of hills.  I went along Boundary road and passed through Shek Kip Mei on my way to City University of Hong Kong (very close to Festival Walk).  Then I headed back towards Lok Fu, walking next to the main highway which runs from west to east. The walk finished going downhill back to Kowloon City.  It was 9.1km and took 90 minutes, according to the Map my walk app.  I might consider making this a running course, although there were a few small sections where walking is probably required.

Tonight (Sunday), I went for a shorter walk around the To Kwa Wan area which was 4.2km and took 42 minutes. So, it seems I am maintaining a fairly consistent walking pace of 10 mins per km.

On both walks, I listened to parts of a few audiobooks I have on the go.

I ran to the top of the Ho Man Tin reservoir today, following the reverse course.  It was cool and getting dark.

There have been increased restrictions in place due to the rise in Omicron variant COVID cases, so the actual park at the top of the hill was closed, but there were a few people around there anyway, with their dogs. I ran to the top of the hill in two parts; separated by a walk for about a minute, halfway up.

 I ran to the top of Ho Man tin reservoir and back.  It was a tough run, I felt unfit though I made the effort to run long stretches and only stop at the lights, or on the hill road to the top of the reservoir hill. According to MayMyWalk, distance was 5.62km and time was 35 mins 35 seconds.

 I will start using this diary again, to write down my thoughts on running and any highlights from recent runs.  I should probably also start using my big excel spreadsheet again!

I am back to a beginner's level for running.  At least, that is how I feel.  I wouldn't be able to complete a half marathon right now.  This needs to change.  One of my ambitious goals for 2022 will be to complete a half marathon, in a reasonable time.  I will need to plan for this and get into a habit of running at least 3 times per week.

I have set myself a goal to run 10km in under 40 minutes.  I expect this will be my main running goal for the year.  I haven't noticed any half marathons or full marathons in Hong Kong which I would like to enter.  While there may be some events in other countries which are appealing, it is too difficult with our current family and financial position to travel to these.

I have never run 10km in under 40 minutes.  I had a look through my running spreadsheet and I noticed that my best time was 43 minutes and 15 seconds, at a Run Ponsonby night, back in November 2006.  Almost 10 years ago.  I can claim that this run involved running up College Hill (a steep road entering Ponsonby) and I might have been delayed at the lights when crossing a road near the finish.  I will admit that even if the run were flat and I had no traffic-related delays, then I wouldn't have broken the 40-minute barrier.

So, it seems a bit too ambitious to be aiming to break 40 minutes for a 10km run now.  Now, when I am 37 years old.  38 years old in late September.  I think the term for this is an 'inspirational' goal.  While I might not achieve the goal, I may end up getting a personal best time on the way.

I will build up to it slowly, assess progress and be sensible about my training.

I went for a trial run today at the Kowloon Tsai track.  25 laps.  I was reasonably happy with the outcome: 46 minutes and 31 seconds.  This is a similar pace to what I do when I run on the same track for half an hour.  My pace was steady for the whole run, except for the last lap when I kicked on.

My left ankle was feeling a bit tender for the last 5 laps, but I kept running.  I was satisfied that my technique was correct - my body was straight, my arms were moving well and I didn't feel overexerted.

I am feeling confident about my running. My legs feel good and I am managing the longer runs well.

I think it has been a change of mindset. While I may have been too concerned about my times before, I now run based on effort. If I feel like I need to walk during a training run, I'll do it. Paradoxically, I have noticed that I feel less like walking when I am at the end of long runs.

I also get my arms to do more of the work, through creating momentum. The more the arms are moving, the less the legs need to do, so they get tired less easily.

My next marathon is in Valencia in November. I am also doing a half in Nottingham in September.

I was very happy with Sunday's long run.  I feel like my running plan is bearing fruit.  I kept a steady pace and felt good throughout the whole hour.  I even felt better towards the end, which is consistent with my theory that I tend to take at least half an hour to warm up.

It was a rare sunny day in London today.  I still wore my long pants and double layers, but got a bit overheated so I took my gloves off.  I warmed up by walking around the dock area and doing a little jogging.  I took a slow pace throughout the whole run.  My legs felt a bit leaden and heavy and a bit restricted by the long pants.  It felt like a hard run, but got better towards the end.  This seems typical for my long runs: it really takes me about an hour to get into these.

Today's run went better than other runs have recently. I experimented with a few things. I tried to do a more thorough warm-up and warm-down, by walking around for a few minutes before and after the run. The idea is that you lessen the shock caused by your body going from full running mode to stillness. During the run, I tried out different speeds, including sections of just walking: something I wouldn't usually do on a 9km run. Despite the walking, I still broke 45 minutes for the run.

The weather is dampening my enthusiasm to run.  When I get home from work each night, it's dark.  It has been really cold these past couple of weeks too.  I stayed close to home for last night's run: I did the triple out-and-back at the Royal Victoria Dock.  My right hamstring felt strained from the start and my knees felt cold and stiff.  I kept my strides short and got through the run.  It felt like work.

I think that I just need to keep to the schedule and keep exercising.  These runs will feel better soon, I hope!

I went for a half hour row in the gym tonight.  I just wanted to row for the whole 30 minutes, because I found it hard to sit for that long rowing last time and it would be an easy move back into training.  I wasn't worried about making a distance target.  As it happened, I got over 7,400 metres, which is still ok for this row.

I prepare for the row mentally by breaking it down into 15 x 2 minute pieces.  It doesn't take much to row for two minutes and I only need to countdown 15 of these, so it feels manageable.  Similar to long distance running, part of the method is mental.

Last Sunday, I ran in my second Amsterdam marathon. This was my first marathon, back in 2003, when I got a time of 4 hours and 28 minutes.  I was happy to be going back to the same place, 9 years later, to do my 6th marathon.

I was very happy with the result: 4 hours 1 minute and 47 seconds.  I felt like this was going to be a turning point for my marathon running.  If I were to have a race similar (in performance) to the recent Paris marathon, then I may have thought that I would never break 4 hours again.  As it turns out, I improved my time by over 40 minutes and I am in a confident frame of mind as I get back into my training.  I am planning to run the Vienna marathon in April next year and I will be targeting a personal best.

The course had changed from what I remembered.  Barely 2km into the race, we were running through Vondelpark.  We would run back through the park at the 39-40km mark.  There were also parts around the 30km mark that I couldn't remember.  I was telling myself about a hairpin turn that was coming up, but it never came.  The main section of the course - the long section alongside the Amstel river (and back) - hasn't changed.

I set off at a slow pace: I covered the first 5km in just over 30 minutes.  I think the only reason why I ran at this pace was because I had told Angel that I would be running at a 6min/km pace so she could predict where I would be on the course at what time.  Aside from right at the end, that was the slowest part of the race for me.  I would maintain a steady 27-28 minutes for each 5km from that point on.  Throughout, I had been targeting a 4 hours 14 pace (which I think is almost exactly 6 min/km pace) and I would work out how much of a time buffer I had at each km mark.  (This was easy because I just needed to remember the 6x table.)

Unlike the Paris marathon, Angel saw me a few times in the race: at around 7km, 27km and 37km.  It is great when you recognise support in the crowd and it gave me a boost each time.

From around 15km, I noticed a girl in a yellow top running at what seemed like a good pace, so I decided to pace myself against her.  She steadily passed people, so I kept up with her.  I kept up with her until the 30km mark, when I went to the side of the track and did some stretches.

From the 30km mark onwards, I tried a psychological trick of pretending that I was out on a 10km run.  I literally kept saying to myself "This is a 10k run... this is a 10k run, so you will run at 10k pace and pass all these slow runners".  It definitely worked.  In the last couple of marathons I had hit the wall at this point, but I seemed to maintain my pace, perhaps run even faster than I had in the first 30km.  Sure, my legs were sore, but I wasn't mentally affected by the run, which is the greatest danger in the second half of a marathon.  I passed the girl in the yellow top at around the 36km mark.

Just as we got into Vondelpark, at around 39km, I hit the wall mentally and pretty much decided that I couldn't run further.  I had cramp across my shoulders and my calf muscles felt like they would burst.  I walked for the next 200m, resigned that I might be walking for the next half an hour, at least.  But a runner past me called out for me to keep trying, and then the girl in the yellow top caught up and told me to "come on!".  That was the push I needed, so I started running again.  It was a slow jog, more like 6'30 or 7min/km pace, but it was still much faster than walking.  Also, it was probably better for my recovery to keep running, rather than walk and get cold.

I checked my watch at the "1km to go" milestone and saw that I had taken 3 hours 55 minutes and 30 seconds.  I decided that it was too hard to try cracking the 4 hours and I just maintained the same pace.  I wasn't too worried that I didn't beat 4 hours.  I was just pleased with the big improvement from last time.

While I was waiting for Angel at the agreed meeting spot, I kept my legs moving and did stretches.  I could still walk properly which was another great improvement compared to Paris, when I didn't do this after finishing that race.

I had a couple of good Sunday runs leading up to my week of tapering for the marathon.  I bought a special belt which can store a small amount of wine gums and I wear it on the long runs.  I am very pleased with this purchase.  I hardly notice that I am wearing it and it doesn't move around while I run.  It looks small, but I can actually cram in a lot of things.  This belt full of sweet snacks and a small bottle of water have combined to make my long runs more manageable.

I did the Tate Britain run under these conditions last fortnight and my time improved by a full 20 minutes.  I am still surprised by the variation.

The marathon is in two days.  I will be happy if I can run the whole way.  I am still undecided about my strategy to do this.

I had a very enjoyable run on Thursday night. I did my Bromley-by-Bow run which is 9.3km. I started conservatively, as usual, but there were long stretches where I felt good stretching my legs at a decent pace. The stretches were good afterwards. I had no discomfort in my knees.

In contrast, Saturday's run was dissatisfying. I did the run to the office and back. It felt like the sun was shining too brightly. My top got heavy with my sweat and it felt uncomfortable. Even the stretches afterwards felt like a burden. I won't be running in that particular black top again.

The marathon is only 3 weeks away.  I went back up to the Tate Britain run - my longest run.  I need to do this run at least a couple more times before the marathon.  One of those times was today and the second time will be next week.

I carried a small bottle of water - the one that I got when I did the JP Morgan run a couple of months ago.  It is an ideal size.  Big enough to carry a decent amount of water, but small enough to not be a hassle for me to carry in my hand.

The run was ok: legs were not too tired, but I noticed that I was a bit down on energy from 7km left to go in the run.  I think I need to get a running pouch/bag of some sort, so I can carry some sweets with me to boost energy levels when I need it.  I don't care about the style, so long as it doesn't take up much room and doesn't move around when I'm running.

I noticed that I had done this run in around 2 hours 47 minutes when I ran it in April this year and today's run took 3 hours 8 minutes.  That's quite a big variance!  Granted, there were a few times during today's run when I fully stopped and did a range of stretches for 3-5 minutes, but I still thought that it would even out in the end.  I am aiming for a sub 3 hour run next week.

I am still working on the strength of my knees and the muscles that support them: the quads.  When I'm waiting in a queue, I will balance on one foot and raise the other leg, bent at the knee, or I will do some gentle squats.

Someone vandalized the apartment block gym, so it was closed off for the past week. I have been doing a half hour run along the side of the dock instead of the usual half hour bike ride or row. The half hour run is a simple "out and back" done three times. I have done this run twice now and I am running times slightly on either side of 29 minutes. I haven't felt my best on the runs, but the times appear to be quite good: around 4 mins 20 per km. It made me suspect that I undermeasured the run, so I took 200m off it when I added it to my spreadsheet.

I had a week off from my exercise schedule because I was recovering from a sore throat. This is frustrating, particularly when it is only a month out from the marathon. I got back into the schedule on Saturday.

I ran slowly on purpose as it takes me at least a km or so before I am warmed up. I chose to follow the benchmark run, hopeful that they had taken down the fence around the Excel arena. I was unlucky: the barriers won't be down until Tuesday. So I ended up doing an extended run. I was a bit out of breath at the end, but I had a good round of stretches in the gym. I wandered over to the grass outside the new Crystal building, but that was also closed off.

I decided to do the Tate Britain run on Sunday. This is my longest run and I estimate it takes 3 hours. I notice that there are sections of my long run where I always feel a bit drained (Commercial Rd) and others where I always seem to feel fresh (running down Kingsway, towards Aldwych).

I bought a 500ml bottle of water from a convenience store near Westminster bridge. It was a quarter the size and double the price of the bottle of water I got last fortnight. In any case, it was probably the right size for me on this run. I had a third of it immediately, then drank the rest in bursts until I had finished it after London Bridge. I felt better for having the water, but it was offset by feeling a little bit bloated.

At Wapping, my legs were tired but ok. But my back felt funny and it was uncomfortable to run. I ended up walking much of the rest of the way home. The time was 3 hours and 15 minutes. I might need to do more exercise that strengthens the upper body, and also stretches for my back.

I did the Credit Suisse and back run on Saturday. I had had a very sweet crepe for lunch earlier, so I was full of sugar. But I crashed from the sugar high and felt a bit low on energy on the way home. I forgot my watch and estimated the time.

I chose the Westminster run on Sunday, so it would be my longest run for a few months. Last week, I noticed that my legs were ok but I needed to be more hydrated. I haven't noticed any drinking fountains on my long running routes. I took some change with me so I could buy a drink during the second half of the run. I got a two-liter bottle of water for 47p from the M&S near Southwark. It was obvious that this was way too much water! Another runner was coming past, so I offered him some of the water which he accepted. I had a few big gulps myself and there was still almost all the water left.

It's a hassle to carry 1.8 liters of water with you while running. The long shape of the bottle is awkward. I swapped it from hand to hand as it got uncomfortable. Nearer home, in a park, I took another big drink then poured the rest of it over my head.

The last half hour of the run was the best I have experienced in a long run for a while. It was a good step on my training. I iced my legs extensively when I got home.