Fartlek

Yer what? Quite! What is fartlek?

(a) A character from a Tolkien novel;

(b) An enemy of Doctor Who;

(c) A Swedish term meaning 'speed play'.

Well, the correct answer is (c), a Swedish term meaning 'speed play' - otherwise there wouldn't be much point introducing it into my training regime.

It's time to increase the schedule to four runs a week. My extra run will be a fartlek session.

"Here’s how a typical fartlek session would work. After a steady warm-up, simply pick a landmark – for example a tree, lamp-post, or phone box – and run to it hard, then jog until you’ve recovered. Then pick another landmark, run hard to that, recover and so on."

"If you want to add an unexpected element to fartlek training, run with a friend and take it in turns to call the next fast leg."

Anyone want to be my friend? I promise you a great night out!

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Sierra Oscar Sierra

Yes, I'm sending out an S.O.S. This is one of my worst jokes ever. Okay, I was invited to a pre-Oscars party last night. You had to go as a film, not a character from a film, but a film. So what film is this? Answers by email to Uncle Chris.

Oh, I suppose it might help to know that what I'm wearing is a wedge of cheese - art & craft was never my strong suit.

A level maths question

This week Uncle Chris went running three times. The distances he ran were 15km, 22.6km and pkm. The total distance that Uncle Chris ran was 52.8km.

(a) Find p. (6 marks)

(b) If Uncle Chris had been able to run at 30km/h, how long would his shortest run have taken him? (4 marks)

(c) There are approximately 900kcal in a tube of cheese pringles. If Uncle Chris burns approximately 90kcal for each kilometre that he runs, how many tubes of cheese pringles did Uncle Chris eat whilst running this week? (10 marks)

(Total 20 marks)

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Blankety Blank

"Our Uncle Chris has been training for the marathon. He's been pretty fortunate with injuries. Last Saturday he went out on a 17½ mile run and all he came back with was a sore left BLANK."

Please send entries to Uncle Chris, and remember, the clue is in the question. The winner will go through to the Supermatch Game.

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Is God a delusion?

First, a reminder that the week of talks (If eternity is at stake... - 4th Feb) begins next Sunday evening, the 25th February. Please let me know if you want to come along with me to any of those talks.

As yet there have been no takers for the evening of Tuesday 27th February, so maybe the following event is more appealing:

Is God a delusion? John Humphreys will chair a debate between Professors Bill Craig and Lewis Wolpert at Westminster Central Hall at 7.30pm, Tuesday 27th February. Entrance is free. Let me know if you want to come along with me.

Blog a Jog Week

Half-term is upon us, so in a bid to improve the nation's health and literacy, this week (traditionally 'Bob a Job Week') has been rebranded as 'Blog a Jog Week'. Thousands of youngsters will be out running and then telling the world about it!

The government has enlisted the help of many of the country's top runner-writers to assist with the project, and thanks to the recommendations of many of my readers, I was overlooked. For me, this is simply one of those headline grabbing nonsense ideas that surface from time to time, destined to be remembered as a damp squib (who is going to read all this stuff?), and I feel fortunate not to be associated with the project.

Yes, I suppose it's possible that this is just sour grapes, but one of the problems with the internet is that it allows absolutely any old Joe Bloggs to publish a whole load of rubbish!

Anyway, I predict total chaos in the parks and long queues outside web cafés, so I have decided to get away from it all and return to my training camp for the week. While the nation runs and writes, I'll just be running.

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Condition, Confidence, Control

It felt really weird this morning as I dealt with 17½mi like it was a walk in the park! And there was a bonus - a milk delivery at Kensington Palace gave me the opportunity to cruise past a milk cart - that pace car had better watch out!

For the next seven weekends I'll be alternating between shorter runs (½M - 15mi) and longer runs (20mi - 22½mi). For the last couple of weeks, I'll cut the distances down and that should get me fresh and ready for the race itself.

These longer runs are crucial for at least three reasons:

• Condition - most people can't just get out of bed and run a marathon;
• Confidence - it's really helpful to know you can finish;
• Control - you must learn to stick to a pace you can cope with.

Now 17½mi might be two-thirds distance, but come race day, get this far and the mental battle will have barely begun. The key is to remember what the tortoise taught us and to start slowly. It's much easier to cope with the last few miles if you're passing all the hares.

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Altitude training

A thousand apologies blogfans (that should be enough to go round), but I've been away training at altitude. My chosen camp is situated on the edge of the National Forest, about 150ft above sea level. Communication is difficult, with patchy mobile reception and no broadband - blogging is for blumberjacks.

Sporting my new grade-two haircut (I am always looking for that edge over the competition), I completed a 10½mi run on Monday. Fortunately the weather was warmer, and so I was also able to ditch my lycra layer, which was attracting far too much attention anyway, mainly from men. The only downside was running past the pig farm three times.

I'm back in London now though. A 6km sprint last night and now two days rest before 17½mi on Saturday. Time to start the serious training!

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The hare and the tortoise

It was cold and wet this morning, so the only disappointment was the lack of wind. I took the precaution of travelling on the Metropolitan Line to get to Regent's Park - I think if I had used the Circle Line I would have been tempted to stay on it for two hours, jogging on the spot.

Anyway, another 15mi completed, and much easier than the last time two weeks ago. A much more sensible pace saw me complete the first 9mi a minute slower but enabled me to run the last 6mi seven minutes quicker. I think it's all beginning to come together. Next Saturday, 17½mi - Hyde Park the venue.

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Snow joke!

Suddenly the whole enterprise was in jeopardy! The intention was to do 6km last night and then 15mi tomorrow and then down came the snow.

My trainer was obviously worried for my safety - here he is inspecting the conditions - but not that worried, as he told me to clear off and do some exercise.

It turned out to be an ideal opportunity to start breaking in my race day spares, which gave me that bit of extra grip. And it looks like everything will be fine by tomorrow. You see, I'm not looking for excuses not to run. I'd rather take my pain now and enjoy the race!

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One hit wonders!

I woke up to a bit of a shock yesterday morning. Apparently there were 18 visitors to the site on Tuesday and 11 of them were from China. Do they really consider me to be a medal threat for next year's Olympics? Anyway, back to normal yesterday - 1 visitor. Hey, if you were one of the people that never came back, can you let me know why. Just click on the comments link below.

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Happy to be running

Yes, that's right Ofblog, I've done some more running (although it's been a bit parky!) - ¼M on Sunday night and another 9½mi tonight. One more run this week (a 6km sprint) and then another crack at 15mi this weekend, probably Saturday morning in Regent's Park if anyone wants to join me?! Come on you crazy kids! Just think of the serotonin release!

Hopefully we won't encounter any more jesters. These are the people that think it's a really smart idea to jump in front of you, waving their hands, sporting a daft grin. I simply return the grin and turn the speed up a notch, at which point their grin usually disappears along with the rest of them.

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If eternity is at stake...

It is not unthinkable...

• that God is the answer to the question of existence, why there is something rather than nothing;
• that a God who created us would want to communicate with us;
• that the most effective way that God could communicate with us would be to become one of us and live amongst us;
• that if God has communicated with us, it would be worth listening to what he said;
• that if we are to believe in life after death, God would have demonstrated this to us.

If eternity is at stake, it's worth spending some time on it.

So why not come along to one of the following talks with me at
St Helen's Church:

Sunday meetings with questions to the speaker
25th February (6pm)
4th March (10.30am)

Midweek meetings (booking required - so let me know)
Tuesday 27th February
Wednesday 28th February
Thursday 1st March

7.15 for supper at 7.30pm
8.20pm talk, followed by dessert and coffee
9.15pm question time

Strike One

I am sad to report that Ofblog, the independent regulator for weblogs, has issued a damning report on the state of blogging in the UK. Alive and Thinking came in for severe criticism. In the report, Ofblog cited a 'lack of focus', in particular complaining that 'there had been no mention of any actual running since the 15 mile ruin [sic] of 27th January'. Furthermore, my reporting of a 15 mile run 'a mere 10 days into training' was described as 'irresponsible'. Well, in hindsight, it probably was, and for that I apologise.

So this blog has been placed on a watchlist. Apparently, I will receive one further warning and then if it is determined (by the powers that be) that insufficient attention has been given to the matter, I will be told to blog off!

And so, in an attempt to regain some focus, here are 3 training runs which, until now, had gone unreported:

(1) 25/01 - 6km

(2) 30/01 - ¼M

(3) 01/02 - 9.5mi

Now then Ofblog, add that up without using a calculator!

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Ask Uncle Chris - January postbag

As you know, I get hundreds of letters, emails and texts from fans all over the world. Sadly I don't have time to answer them all. But here are a few highlights from my January postbag:

Q Can we have a photo of you in your pink running vest on the blog please?
A Yes, this was quite a popular request. And yes, I do look a bit dopey, don't I. But no, I don't have a giant snail crawling down my vest - that's a reflective zip.

Q Who are your marathon heroes?
A My top three are:

1. Michael Watson
2. Dick Beardsley
3. Vanderlei de Lima

And here are a few villains:

1. Paul Appleby
2. Rosie Ruiz
3. Chris Goodlad (the link will be added when it becomes available after the race)

Q Uncle Chris, what thing do you find most difficult to do each day?
A Making my first cup of coffee.

Q How do you cope with those long lonely training runs?
A Good question. Obviously it will be much easier on race day with 35,000 people chasing after me. Seriously though, I spend a lot of the time praying and thanking God for what Jesus has done for me and others - I am never alone.

Q Uncle Chris, it's Valentine's Day soon. Do you have any suggestions for me - which food is most likely to get the pulses racing?
A Runner beans.

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