chriscorcoran61

Two Steps Forward, Five Steps Back

That’s how it’s felt for the past few weeks. Following the R U OK? morning walk/jog and BBQ with the Running 4 Resilience group on Friday 13 September, I walked the western circuit of Lake Burley Griffin – a distance of 15.62km in 3 hours 4 mins. This was a great endurance work out, focusing on getting time and distance, rather than speed. Unfortunately, work and health then combined to keep me sidelined for two weeks.

Work is hectic at the moment, with several people away. I’m feeling close to burn out, which I’m sure is why I feel washed out all the time and frequently succumb to infections. I have plenty of time before London, but it is frustrating.

After a break of two weeks, I returned to the gym. Some good news was that I hadn’t added any weight whilst inactive. I manage 15 minutes at 7kph then a recovery period of 5 minutes at 6kph followed by another 6 minutes at 7kph. Not much considering London is 42 km, but definitely progress.

On the Friday, I again join the Running 4 Resilience group and manage 18 minutes non-stop slow jog, covering 2.5km.

7:15 am on Sunday 6 October sees me at Rond Terrace on the Lake Burley Griffin. It’s the starting point for the Donate Life 5k Fun Run.

This will be my first ‘formal’ event since City to Surf in October 2019. The weather is blustery and cool. The start is about 8am and I start OK, but soon I notice a twinge in my left calf. I find it hard to stomach – when I ran City to Surf exactly the same thing happened, except that time it was my right calf. This meant that I had to walk up any inclines, extending finish time significantly.

Today I manage to keep jogging for nearly 15 minutes, but in the end I have to accept that I need to walk/jog the rest of the course. This decision was also influenced by my heart rate reaching nearly 170bpm.

The route includes three 1.2km loops which take in part of Floriade plus the starting and finishing sections. I’d not been to Floriade for over 12 years, so it was nice to enjoy that aspect of the morning.

In the end, I need to remember that I am still significantly overweight and that Covid has damaged my lungs. It will take time to get there, but I will. Today was about promoting the Australian Transplant Games and the need for organ donors.

On the way home I dropped by my local chemist and bought an ice pack and started the healing process.

Slow progress, but progress all the same

Saturday 14 September 2024

It’s been a few weeks since I last wrote anything. Work and university get in the way and for about 10 days I had a ‘slow burn’ RTI that whist not bad enough to keep me off work, did leave me feeling drained. Just what I needed when I was struggling to get my head around an assignment on policy development. It wasn’t helped that the policy case study was Australian superannuation!

Eventually, I did get back to the gym on Tuesday 3 September. Whilst the gym provides an opportunity to get some exercise in, plodding away on the treadmill is not very fulfilling. So, on Friday 6 September, I put my social anxiety into a locker and went to try out the Running 4 Resilience experience.

Running 4 Resilience

Running 4 Resilience is a community group that has a tagline of “A Suicide Free Canberra” and is based on the concept that exercise and connection are fundamental in helping to counter the debilitating effects of depression. Having lived with depression since my teens, exercise was usually the way that I prevented full-on decline into addiction.

Sunrise over Lake Burley Griffin 6 September 2024

As Friday is my work from home day, I don’t have to arrive at 7:15am (or earlier) to guarantee a parking spot in the cheapest all-day parking lot in Civic, so instead I was at the Arc De Resilience on Kingston Foreshore at 6:15am. There were about 100 hardy souls, ranging from runners to walkers with dogs. I walked/jogged for about 30 minutes and then had a coffee before heading home.

At the Arc De Resilience after first my walk/jog with Running 4 Resilience

After a rest day on Saturday, I walked/jogged around Lake Tuggeranong, a 6.15km circuit in just over an hour.

Mist coming off Lake Tuggeranong – 8 September 2024

Gym workouts followed on Monday and Wednesday mornings, including a 23-minute non-stop jog (at 7kph) on Monday.

Yesterday saw me back at the Arc De Resilience at 6:15am. There was an added reward in that the team from R U OK? were on hand to provide a BBQ when we finished. (Thursday 12 September 2024 was R U OK? Day.)

Canoests on Lake Burley Griffin 13 September 2024

I walk/jogged 3.5km in 30 minutes. So, although my lungs were burning and my legs felt leg lead, I have definitely made progress. I fully enjoyed my sausage sizzle and double espresso!

The R U OK? team setting up the end of event BBQ 13 September 2024

Life Gets in the Way

It’s very early days, but even so I get frustrated when my plans don’t pan out. This week has been somewhat hectic. After a great work out last Sunday, I was hoping to build on that progress. Unfortunately, life, or more accurately work, had other ideas.

Monday morning saw me scheduled to be at the ABC Canberra studios for a live interview on my experience as a ‘mature’ student and volunteering. Not wanting to race through a training session before heading to the studio, I chose to go into the office first. I then got a call from the presenter telling me that I had been “Drop the Dead Donkeyed”* and that they had an urgent news item that would need to take precedence and could I come in on the Tuesday at 7:30am to record the segment.

* Drop the Dead Donkey was a British TV comedy series set in a TV newsroom.

The interview was then recorded on the Tuesday morning. We recorded 10 minutes, and they broadcast about 5 minutes which can be heard here (segment on volunteering starts at about 20 minutes): https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/canberra-mornings/mornings/104167830

On Wednesday and Thursday, I had early starts and long days at Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) for the 2024 Canberra Careers Xpo, By Friday, all I wanted was a lie in, so no training.

Saturday was dedicated to working on an assignment for uni, that left Sunday morning for a sole work out this week. It stated well enough, but when I increased the speed of my walk, I soon realised that I would need to cut the session short. My lungs were screaming and although my heart rate was still well below 150, I stopped at 45 minutes rather than 60. It’s important that I remember that I have 9 months to prepare for London and that the tortoise eventually beat the hare.

Image credit: Quotefancy

Getting started

It’s cold in Canberra this time of year, especially in the morning when I’m planning on doing most of my training. Given my history of respiratory tract infections this means that I’m in the gym and on the treadmill, at least for now.

I have a bad habit of going too fast – too hard early on, getting injured or sick and then giving up. I’m hoping that I can put into place some of the things I learned when studying Sports Psychology a few years ago and also that I am a bit less impetuous now that I’m in my 60s – mmm, I think the jury is out on that one.

I have a day off due to Time Off In Lieu on Friday 2 August, so I head to my local gym at 8am and turning on my 70s playlist I hit the treadmill.

Picture credit Pexels – Public Domain (CCO)

I’m slow but I get a 45-minute walk/jog session in plus some machine weight work. It’s a start and I have 9 months to get ready for London.

Sunday

In the gym before 7am and this time with a 2000’s playlist, I walk for 65 minutes on the treadmill before doing some core work. Now the impetuousness strikes and I’m back on the treadmill and try an “extended” jog. I manage 5 minutes at 7kph. A sobering thought brings me back to earth – if I maintain this pace in the marathon it will take me about 6 hours!

I don’t know who to credit for this meme, but it’s spot on.

A decision is made…

In April 1985 I ran the London Marathon in 2 hours 43 minutes. I never improved on that time. Starting university at Heriot Watt in Edinburgh in October 1985, I had high hopes of advancing my running, and early on it seemed that I would – then I self-sabotaged the night before a trial to represent Scottish Universities in an international cross-country meet and it never got better. Although I did set the university record (at the time) for finishing in the British Students Cross Country Championships in 1986, I never really got back to running on a consistent basis.

Going downhill

Since then, I have run only one other full marathon, the New York Marathon in November 1992, which I finished in 2 hours 57 mins and 10 seconds and a couple of half marathons in Hong Kong.

I moved to Australia in January 2009, and I’ve dabbled in running since then but nothing serious. In February 2014 I was medically retired from my career in geotechnical engineering, with significant mental health and substance misuse issues. Later that year, I also discovered why I was in so much physical pain – I need bilateral total hip replacement surgery! Whilst waiting for the surgery and with the help of some strong anti-inflammatory medication, I completed the Canberra Times 10k in September 2014 in 49 minutes 58 seconds!

A couple of weeks later I completed the Sydney to the Gong Bike Ride.

I underwent surgery in April and July 2024 and started the journey back to employment. I went for a change in career and studied for Certificates IV in Mental Health and Alcohol & Other Drugs and then a Diploma in Alcohol & Other Drugs from the Canberra Institute of Technology before commencing a double degree in Psychology and Sports & Exercise Science and the University of Canberra. I’m now in my penultimate unit of a Masters in Disability and Inclusion at Deakin University. My first job in recovery was delivering newspapers, which required getting up a 2am. This was fine in summer, but not so great in the freezing Canberra Winters. Since then, I’ve worked as a residential disability support worker, an alcohol & drug support worker. and I’m currently a senior community development coordinator.

My running and other sporting activities took a back seat during this period, but I did run City to Surf in August 2019. Finishing despite an injury to my left calf.

In January 2020, I contracted pneumonia and have barely exercised since then. In October 2023, I was diagnosed with focal epilepsy, which was a bit of a shock but explained a few things that I had been experiencing.

The Bug is Back

I’m significantly heavier than I was in 1985 and I’m starting almost from scratch whereas I was a competitive runner when I entered the 1985 London Marathon, but the bug is back and as it will be 40 years on, and it’s over 16 years since I was last in the UK, I thought “Why not?” and I entered the 2025 London Marathon and booked my holidays! In addition to visiting London, I will also visit family and friends in Staffordshire, Edinburgh and Leicester. I will also get back to the place of my birth, Morecambe, for the first time since 1988.

This blog will chart my progress from an overweight 62-year-old who can barely run for more than a couple of minutes to what will hopefully be a successful return to the course of the London Marathon. It is as much for my own enjoyment as for others to read, but if you do read it and find enjoyment or inspiration, then so much the better.