One Mile Per Hour
Posted: Sun May 17, 2020 5:07 pm
Full disclosure: I'm not exactly sure what the point of this thread is---it's part film recommendation, part training "advice", and part "look at this thing I did"---but there's enough slightly mad people on here that I think someone will find it interesting. I'm not even sure where to start, so I'll just start at the beginning...
A few weeks ago I ended up (no idea how, there were probably algorithms involved) watching some videos by a guy called Beau Miles on YouTube. If you don't know him, he's done some ultra-running and kayak expedition films, but also some videos where he's just being a slightly bonkers Australian doing something whimsical, like eating nothing but beans for 40 days, and being endearingly chipper about it.
"Run The Line" is typical of the genre, and is well worth a watch: https://youtu.be/rxCghemtjjM
But the video I'm really concerned with is "A Mile An Hour": https://youtu.be/EvT5XS7j-Dc
[Spoiler alert!] He has a load of unfinished projects and odd jobs in his old barn (which is rather envy-inspiring BTW), and he attempts to do as many of them as possible in 24 hours, in between, every hour (roughly) running a mile round the block, and so running a marathon in the process. Them crazy Aussies - rather him than me: I don't even like running.
I showed this to my girlfriend, a distance runner, who said "we should do that!" And so somehow we ended up doing it. Kinda. We have a shed-load of jobs, some big, some small, to do on this house we bought in the autumn, and we both struggle to get them done. Typically, she goes for a casual 10 mile run, takes the dog for a 2 hour walk, and then collapses in a heap, and suddenly the weekend's gone. I'm terrible for procrastinating on stuff, getting stuck with tasks, especially where decisions need to be made. Or sitting down and browsing the forum for 5 minutes and then realising an hour's gone by. And we both spend a prodigious amount of time eating (and in my case, making and drinking coffee).
So we drew up a plan for a Friday off work. We'd go for 16 hours, doing roughly 10 minutes of exercise each hour. I decided to mix it up, since we were theoretically only allowed one session of outdoor exercise a day then (so 16 would be taking the proverbial), and I don't like running anyway. Sixteen 10 minute bike rides didn't really appeal, so a drew up a fairly random schedule of running round the block, different interval sessions, cross-training (which is like running but you can watch YouTube videos), and a couple of errands where the ride there would take 10 minutes each way.
Long story short(ish) - it was was a pretty productive day, ticking off loads of jobs that had been waiting for that spare hour that never came for ages, and I got plenty of exercise, and earnt a guilt-free day of relaxing on Saturday. We were both shattered by the end, but satisfied with what we'd achieved, and felt we'd really earnt a beer/glass of wine by 10 o'clock, having been on the go since 6.
There's something about having to go and do something active that punctuates the day and keeps the mind focussed - perhaps it's forcing you to stop thinking about whatever it is you're doing, but not totally switching your mind off that makes it so effective. Also, breaking jobs down into what you can do in 50 minutes, and imposing a deadline probably helps.
What does this have to do with bikepacking? Probably not a lot TBH, but a couple of days before I'd listened to a talk with Sofiane Sehili and Jenny Tough. Someone asked them whether they were spending a lot of time on the turbo trainer during lockdown. I was reassured to hear them both say, no, they don't get along with them, since I won't go near one either. (The recording is here if you're interested: https://komoot.zoom.us/rec/play/tcEucOj ... CmwVE29m3d)
Around hour 13 or 14, I was pondering this, and realised that the day I'd just spent was similar in many ways to a long day's bikepacking, and might not make bad training. The early start and late finish. The sustained activity, with short bursts of higher intensity (akin to a long climb). Using different parts of the body (riding/hike-a-bike). The constant mental management of time vs. progress. Nutrition (I realised I needed to eat fairly constantly, but not too much at once). Only my arse hurt less.
As I said, I'm not a big fan of running. I do like the odd fell race---the category A ones where there's more scrambling up a hill quickly and controlled falling than actual running---and every couple of months, on average, I can be found at the end of the local parkrun, having been convinced by prospect of brunch afterwards, saying "I'd forgotten how much I dislike running." (Yes, I have a short memory.)
But I was so sold on the 1mph idea that I wanted to try and recreate it more faithfully. So yesterday, I wrote a list of 12 tasks I thought I could do in an hour, and set out to do a loop of my block, 1.2 miles, on the hour, every hour, for 11 hours - a half marathon in total. My legs hurt after about mile 3, but that's to be expected since I never do any running. An hour of standing on my tiptoes scraping paint off a wall between miles 6 and 7 was not helpful. But all but two small tasks done, some others I wasn't intending to do, and ran 13.1 miles (1:49 moving time, since you asked, though I realise that's not the same as 1:49 elapsed before anyone gets excited).
So there you go. I told you there was no point.
A few weeks ago I ended up (no idea how, there were probably algorithms involved) watching some videos by a guy called Beau Miles on YouTube. If you don't know him, he's done some ultra-running and kayak expedition films, but also some videos where he's just being a slightly bonkers Australian doing something whimsical, like eating nothing but beans for 40 days, and being endearingly chipper about it.
"Run The Line" is typical of the genre, and is well worth a watch: https://youtu.be/rxCghemtjjM
But the video I'm really concerned with is "A Mile An Hour": https://youtu.be/EvT5XS7j-Dc
[Spoiler alert!] He has a load of unfinished projects and odd jobs in his old barn (which is rather envy-inspiring BTW), and he attempts to do as many of them as possible in 24 hours, in between, every hour (roughly) running a mile round the block, and so running a marathon in the process. Them crazy Aussies - rather him than me: I don't even like running.
I showed this to my girlfriend, a distance runner, who said "we should do that!" And so somehow we ended up doing it. Kinda. We have a shed-load of jobs, some big, some small, to do on this house we bought in the autumn, and we both struggle to get them done. Typically, she goes for a casual 10 mile run, takes the dog for a 2 hour walk, and then collapses in a heap, and suddenly the weekend's gone. I'm terrible for procrastinating on stuff, getting stuck with tasks, especially where decisions need to be made. Or sitting down and browsing the forum for 5 minutes and then realising an hour's gone by. And we both spend a prodigious amount of time eating (and in my case, making and drinking coffee).
So we drew up a plan for a Friday off work. We'd go for 16 hours, doing roughly 10 minutes of exercise each hour. I decided to mix it up, since we were theoretically only allowed one session of outdoor exercise a day then (so 16 would be taking the proverbial), and I don't like running anyway. Sixteen 10 minute bike rides didn't really appeal, so a drew up a fairly random schedule of running round the block, different interval sessions, cross-training (which is like running but you can watch YouTube videos), and a couple of errands where the ride there would take 10 minutes each way.
Long story short(ish) - it was was a pretty productive day, ticking off loads of jobs that had been waiting for that spare hour that never came for ages, and I got plenty of exercise, and earnt a guilt-free day of relaxing on Saturday. We were both shattered by the end, but satisfied with what we'd achieved, and felt we'd really earnt a beer/glass of wine by 10 o'clock, having been on the go since 6.
There's something about having to go and do something active that punctuates the day and keeps the mind focussed - perhaps it's forcing you to stop thinking about whatever it is you're doing, but not totally switching your mind off that makes it so effective. Also, breaking jobs down into what you can do in 50 minutes, and imposing a deadline probably helps.
What does this have to do with bikepacking? Probably not a lot TBH, but a couple of days before I'd listened to a talk with Sofiane Sehili and Jenny Tough. Someone asked them whether they were spending a lot of time on the turbo trainer during lockdown. I was reassured to hear them both say, no, they don't get along with them, since I won't go near one either. (The recording is here if you're interested: https://komoot.zoom.us/rec/play/tcEucOj ... CmwVE29m3d)
Around hour 13 or 14, I was pondering this, and realised that the day I'd just spent was similar in many ways to a long day's bikepacking, and might not make bad training. The early start and late finish. The sustained activity, with short bursts of higher intensity (akin to a long climb). Using different parts of the body (riding/hike-a-bike). The constant mental management of time vs. progress. Nutrition (I realised I needed to eat fairly constantly, but not too much at once). Only my arse hurt less.
As I said, I'm not a big fan of running. I do like the odd fell race---the category A ones where there's more scrambling up a hill quickly and controlled falling than actual running---and every couple of months, on average, I can be found at the end of the local parkrun, having been convinced by prospect of brunch afterwards, saying "I'd forgotten how much I dislike running." (Yes, I have a short memory.)
But I was so sold on the 1mph idea that I wanted to try and recreate it more faithfully. So yesterday, I wrote a list of 12 tasks I thought I could do in an hour, and set out to do a loop of my block, 1.2 miles, on the hour, every hour, for 11 hours - a half marathon in total. My legs hurt after about mile 3, but that's to be expected since I never do any running. An hour of standing on my tiptoes scraping paint off a wall between miles 6 and 7 was not helpful. But all but two small tasks done, some others I wasn't intending to do, and ran 13.1 miles (1:49 moving time, since you asked, though I realise that's not the same as 1:49 elapsed before anyone gets excited).
So there you go. I told you there was no point.