Biggest Month ever

Wow what can I say but my BIGGEST month for distance for a very, very long time. Last time I was anywhere near this figure was nearly 25 years ago when I was but a wee snip of a lad. Here are some facts:

1. February comprised 16 runs
2. Total distance 220.7 miles
   
3. The average run length was 13.79 miles
4. The longest in distance was 24 miles
5. The shortest in distance was 6.2 miles

Things are really picking up now, once I get my Saturday teaching out of the way I can concentrate on my back to back work prior to April

Lights Out

So there we have it, no run this morning but I was determined to get a run in today one way or the other. After ensuring some of my chores had been done I left the house at 4.30 pm with the intention of running 24 miles along two main roads which are joined by about 6 miles of country road.

It soon came apparent that I had misjudged the weather as at mile 8 a swathe of clouds came rolling in which must have every type of wet weather in it ready to dump on me during that 6 miles. In that period I had rain, hail and even snow at one point all that with a failing headtorch (please remind me to change those pesky batteries)

On arrival at the other end, I was 14 miles into my run, 10 miles to go with the route pointing mainly down so it was a matter of digging in and toughing it out. As the last bits of snow battered my face, I pulled up my Buff, pulled down my cap and dreamed of a cup of tea.

Great run, made epic by the horrific weather and the spooky 6 mile run along the country roads...but as usual great.

Whether I go...

...Whether we stay! I think it is more a matter Weather we stay. I awoke this morning at 6.00 am with all the intentions of running for 4 hours but one look at the downpour outside, my flooded driveway, a car splashing through puddles made me decide enough was enough and there was no running this morning.

Hopefully George got my text, I have this horrible feeling he was waiting outside his house at 6.45 am for me to pick him up!

One of These Days

This has to be played loud, in head phones and when you have pace in you legs....enjoy

Ridgeway Challenge ( 85 Miles)

You heard it first here my dear readers and fellow #ultrarunning friends, yes, I think I have finally lost my marbles on some muddy trail in Deepest, Darkest Kent as I have now entered the Ridgeway Challenge, an 85 mile trail run with 2,743 metres of ascent.

This challenge has my name all over it a foot slog along 5,000-year-old pathway and through the Chiltern Hills and North Wessex Downs from Tring to Avebury. There will be crop circles a plenty, checkpoints to die for and a sense of history. So August 2010 sees me entering one of the biggest challenges of my life and I honestly can't wait... Watch this blog,, more is to come but let us get April's challenge completed first.

BTW, the picture on the right are the hardy gentle men and lady folk starting off on the 2008 event

Today I waxed lyrical

Noticing the grumbles that have been on the blogs, mine included, in the past weeks I found that today's impromptu 16 mile trail was uplifting and then I found myself penning this on a forum after someone talked about our latest run:

Today

Today was another impromptu run on the trails for me, no circles, no lanes, no trackster prima donnas to tell me when and where I can run.

Today was wonderful, although a nip in the air, there was blue sky, darting clouds and bird song. The final 1 mile scurry through the woods with the moonlight casting shadows the muddy woodland path.

Today was a day when I saw the first glimpses of Spring, the smell of forested trees exposing the ground to the miriad of snow drops and crocuses showing their dainty little heads.

Today I waxed lyrical.

Will it get better?

A tough call tonight, the weather was rain all day but the track seems to be quiet on Wednesdays so I made the decision to run to the track and do my 25 laps and come home.

When I got there (I was late at work tonight) everyone was leaving and the track was all mine, there was a drizzle rain in the air and the secondary spots were ready to be switched off and the caretaker was safely ensconed in his hut...Boy that was a lonely run tonight!

A little achy at the end of the track run but I was able to keep the lap time consistent ± 2 seconds.

Toughing it out!

The mileage is mounting up and now my head cold (soon to be chest I think) is beginning to pay its toll. Apart from a sprinty runny nose I felt OK tonight but just in case decided to go to the running track just in case I felt bad I could pull up and go home. However on arrival at the track I found it to be packed with sprinters with a big sign saying:

No Joggers in Lane 1 and 2

So that was my track run out for the evening so I decided to go to the running club for a road run and with it a 7 mile road run. The first 5 were fine but there was the usual "sprint" finish, legs were working but towards the end they were really beginning to hurt...training is working at last.

Not a good idea

Well it all sounded like a good idea "Let's go for our usual 20 mile run Jerry!" and even though I have the dreaded Man Flu I said yes.

Even though it was cold out there today, whilst running I felt fine except when I stopped for a drink or a short rest after a big climb. So back at home I am marking my umpteenth script and now feeling decidedly unwell thinking whether it was a good idea to have run at all. Headache, sweats and the inability to hold my temperature. Oh well who cares, I should be doing a Cycle Down next week so this is probably a good thing to get it over and done with, after all I haven't had a cold for over a year and was due one soon anyway.

Sunday run, a cold one.

I woke this morning at 6.00am and looked out the window to a cold frosty morning, little did I know that this was soon to change for the worse.

Leaving the house at 6.45am I soon realised that this was going to be a long, wet and cold run as the rain started to drizzle from the sky. Once getting in the car with George there was a decision to go to Tatsfield , Kent, park the car up and run 10 miles South, turn around and come back.

The first part of the run was easy as we knew the route well but being the route of the London to Brighton race last September but on arrival at Edenbridge there was a change in direction when we joined the Gatliffe Marathon 50km route where we soon found a new track to investigate. By this time we were soaked and our gloves were wet through and what with the chill factor and icy paths were soon very painful. I had, in my own stupid way, decided to wear shorts and was now extremely cold. The 9-11 mile mark was a toughy as the rain did not let up.

At the 10 mile mark we stopped for a satsuma, a carb gel and a drink to soon retrace our steps. Of all the places to take the wrong turning it would be a road junction, trails and paths, fine but roads gggrrrrr and it is only when outside Edenbridge did we realise and after asking another runner directions made a decision to cut North and go cross country, it worked and were soon back on track.

By the time we reached the car, we were wet, cold and tired but boy what a great run, 21 miles of gritty trail running.

Man Flu

Touch and go at the moment as the whole of the Jerry household suffer from various seasonal illnesses, mine is definitely the worse with a very serious bout of Man Flu one of the most virulent of all of these types of infections. Having a household of females (Now do you see why I run long distances) they obviously do not get this type of infection only having to deal with the common all variety of colds and do not realise the suffering we men have to go through.

So to bed with a Lemsip soon and will hopefully find myself sufficiently strong enough for a run on the Downs tomorrow.

Ad hoc

I got an unexpected phone call this afternoon from George who was looking to change the planned Saturday run to this evening. It appears there were ulterior motives called "weekend lie in" which appears to be a perfectly valid reason.

So within 30 minutes I was kitted up and out of the door for a brilliant ad hoc 15 mile run. As is expected by these types of runs, there is no plan apart from what is discussed at the roadside and we soon found ourselves running the local trails in a vaguely southern direction with the sole purpose of running an out and back. Our knowledge of the trails is so good now that we can generally calculate the route as we go and be back within the specified distance. So all is well in this camp, I am still planning to go to the track tomorrow but will probably drive there as I want to save my legs for Sunday. Good call George.

Seb Coe v Steve Ovett - Clash of the Titans

Like a horse

Today

• I woke up feeling hungry, I ate,
• Throughout the morning I felt hungry, I ate,
  
• This afternoon I felt hungry, I ate,
• This evening I felt hungry, I ate and ate and ate

I am no longer hungry, today has been a hungry day and I have a feeling my body was telling me something.

Ammonia

Boy did my kit smell of ammonia after my run tonight...I am very aware that this is indicative of fluid intake and level of activity but it also proves yet another aspect of training I need to look at.

Track running is no different from road or trail running I still need to take on fluid and there is a misconception that fluid is always available trackside but I don't want to stop regularly during my track time.

So I will carry fluids with me from now on, just enough to get me through.

Track running

Time to bite the bullet, there is no way I can shy away from this thing called a track!

This evening I am going to jog up to the local running track and do 25 laps or 10,000 metres. I haven't been on a running track for nearly 20 years so it will be a new experience but just feel really nervous about the whole thing.

I just have visions of all these track and field sprinting types getting irritated by a pacing ultrarunner plodding around the track but as long as I stick to the etiquette what can they do.

Throw it all away

It is unusual for me to think this way but at the end of my run tonight I felt like walking into the house and ripping my training plan into shreds and then going back out and finishing my run properly. (That is Shredder on the left BTW)

Training is going well, a few aches and pains, but generally the distance is coming and I am becoming more consistent and controlled in my style.


I have to be careful though, tonight was about recovery from the weekend but instead of 6 miles I went off to do 11 miles but I enjoyed it...so who cares.

Should our training plans rule our sport and do they obscure the real reason we run?

Calf pain

So why at 16 miles do I suddenly get a pain in the base of my foot? Plantar Fasciitis? Bad shoes?

I posted this on Twitter on Sunday:

"24 mile run in the snow and fog this morning, 3 carb gels, 500ml flat Coke and 500ml Nuun, feel great"

I got a wise response from my buddy UltraFlynn (a.k.a. Matt)

I'd still say that you're underdoing to the liquid though mate. I'm looking at carb intake at the moment. Difficult to get right.

This got me thinking and Matt may have cracked the problem or at least part of the problem. I reckon that whilst approaching the 14 mile mark during runs and after the sudden stop from White Van Man I noted that I was beginning to get the sharp pain in the base of my foot again. Concentrating on my foot strike I realised that I was pointing my toes slightly outwards! Because I was pointing my toe out, it causes me to run on the side of my foot and in turn put undue pressure on my outer foot...this pain moves up an increasing sharp pain in the calf.

So what causes the pain in the calf to make me compenstate?

Tonight I read this from runrescue.com:

Excessive hill work and a sudden increase in mileage can cause a calf strain. Many runners carry on running even after the initial signs of a calf strain. They adjust their running stride to increase the forefoot foot slap and decrease heel strike. This further exacerbates the condition.

Calf strains can be caused by dehydration. Many runners don’t adequately hydrate. Deficiencies in calcium, trace minerals and magnesium can also lead calf strains. Therefore we would recommend to ensure adequate water intake and multi minerals.

One of the most common causes is a condition called over pronation. Over pronation basically means that your feet are rolling over too much as you run which causes excessive pressure on the calf muscle and achilles tendon.

The highlighted in red text was by me, I think I need to look at this more seriously. All I can say is thank you to UltraFlynn...

Chicken Madras

Or What not to eat the night before a 24 mile training run washed down with two bottles of cider.

Yes, you have guessed it, I was ravenous last night and really fancied some spicy food so popped up to the local supermarket and bought an "off the shelf" Chicken Madras with mushroom rice and a naan bread, afterall I was going to burn it all off during my run the next day.

It went down a treat and when I woke up had no problems with "down below" and happily went off on my run until 4 miles in, halfway up a hill I got the most horrific cramps and just managed to get to a woodland path and far enough from the road to safely open the "bomb bay doors" Gosh I was ill.

It must have been a real sight to see me staggering up the hill clutching my stomach one minute and the next saw me skipping out at full pace as though nothing had happened.

Make a note to myself "It must have been the naan bread" ;-)

I dreamed a dream

SuBo move aside and leave it to the professionals. Ruthie Henshall expresses it how it should be and raises the hairs on the back of my neck.

One more for the trail...and you are allowed to sing out loud.

White Van(gry) Man

Irony is often lost on the ignoramus.

Whilst out running today there was a deluge of snow for about an hour which started to lay down on the pavements causing it to be slippery under foot so I decided that on some sections to run on the road between the white line and kerb. The road was wide and I was running in the gutter so not causing an obstruction even less than a cyclist would have.

I was plodding along happily when from out of the blue there was a llloooonnngg hoot of a vehicle and then I was aware of a white van about 1 inch from my arm. Without thinking, more reaction, I shouted at the van to f&@k off to which it then skidded in front of me and mounted the pavement causing me to bounce off the back of it. I stopped walked very slowly around the van and was met by an onslaught of angry shouting, I'll cut out the Middle English language but it went along the lines of

"Get off the road you [censored], roads are for cars you [censored] [censored]"

I didn't respond as pointing out that pavements were for pedestrians and not vans would have probably had me impaled in a lamp post.

So after Mr Idiot had said his bit I gently trotted off, in the road....after all he was on the pavement now. Ooooh the irony.

Twenty Four

Well that is the plan anyway, 24 miles at #ultramarathon pace on the road by myself! It has been quite an interesting day as I got a call offering me a place in a 30 mile cross country race tomorrow down near Guildford and was really up for it but as the day went on I realised that it would have meant that I would have been out for most of the day and I am just too busy at home what with the decorating and a load of scripts from College to mark....and the small matter that it is Valentine's Day.

So I will be up early tomorrow to go on a 24 mile run along some roads near me. I will be taking along some water but I will be passing a "runner friendly" church where I can fill up if need be but will take some Nuun to hide the taste of lank tap water. Strangely looking forward to it but there is nothing worse that a long training run by yourself but I need to get the mindset again if I am to get the experience. At least this way I will be back sooner and available at home.

Nappy Rash

The question still has to be answered, should a rufty tufty trail running, mega-distance bipedal explorer and ultrarunner smell of nappy (daiper) cream?

This cold weather and tempo phase is playing havoc on my torso where my shirt rubs. Mrs Jerry commented the other day that I had a rash on my abdomen after a long run which soon turned to a large dry patch. Tonight, with the cold weather returning I realised that it is in fact a series of salt rashes which sting badly after I sweat. Sudocrem was good enough for my girls when they were babies but I have to admit it works wonders on salt rashes but Oh Boy does it smell strong.

Time to dream

So why do we run? How does it benefit us? Who knows?

Tonight's run started with the big issue of me actually dragging myself to the front door and physically pushing myself through it, boy am I mentally tired...

Running for me is to get away from "All that Crap" and get into the training plan and belt out the weekday miles in preparation for the weekend runs...easy you may say but why the Hell did I find my mind wandering off to the land of eXtensible Markup Language and the schemas. Boy I need a break :-)

Seriously though, I needed that run just to put things in order...that was one hell of a deadline.

Big freeze again?

Wow it is getting cold out there, -3 centigrade at 8.00pm.

I was raring to go tonight after a stressful day at work and a Parents' Evening at the Jezzarette 1's school. So off I went on my set piece 10 km route around the very slippy and slidy roads in my local area. The first mile was a little slow as I picked my way through the ice patches until I hit the main roads and then there was no holding me back, it felt great.

Latest scores on the doors show me at:

• ~61 miles in the last 7 days
• ~208 miles in the last 30 days

Mileage I thought I would never be doing at such levels but boy is it paying off let's hope this bad weather clears up soon.

Billie Whizz

Even with all this long distance training on trails and paths won't dispel the pace out of my legs. Thirty years ago I was called Billie Whizz due to my prowess on the cross-country field.

Tonight I went to the club with the intention of taking it easy on a 10 km run to let the battering my legs got from the weekend be subjected to a recovery session.

The run was a nice steady pace for most of the time however at mile 4 there was a call for a "free for all" and for us all to meet back at HQ via a specific route. There is a particular guy in the group who, like me, is always up for a little race so I took to the front with no intention of letting anyone pass. Hard work leading from the front...I was on fire 2.2 miles in 15 minutes!!! Boy was it hurting towards the end but that was my 10 mile pace thirty years ago...Billy the Whizz is still around

Change of Plans

A 14 week#ultramarathon plan is now being reviewed after I got offer of more work at the College. Normally this wouldn't be a problem as Saturday is my rest day but now I have had to ditch my night marathon (at the moment) and the fact I am doing Saturday/Sunday back to backs I am going to have to review my training plan as I will be teaching all day when I would have been running.

The latest idea is to go to College on the Saturday and for two of the four of the days I will run back from London to home, a distance of about 15 miles depending on my route. This will mean that I can have a lie in on the Sunday and then run a 20 mile later on in the day.

It will be an interesting idea running from London as I will have to back pack it and carry my clothes...at least I can justify my wish list now :-)

Lazarus...

Yes you heard it again here, as I wrote last year Lazarus is alive and living in Kent.

I seem to be picking up these nasty little injuries that hurt like Hell for a bit and I have dreams that it will knock me out of the game for a few weeks and then two days later I go off and run a 12 miler.

Sunday's run was horrible with the last 5 miles of the epic 23.5 mile trail run in real pain on the underside of my foot that crept into the calf like a hot knife. I have reviewed the injury tonight and have decided a ankle/foot support bandage and ibuprofen are the answer for the moment. I am keeping it raised as well. I will see how it is tomorrow but I am seriously thinking of dropping one of my 6 mile road runs from my training log as they are just junk miles at the moment...fingers-crossed.

420 calories...

After today's 23 mile run I broke my promise and went to a fast food outlet and bought a milkshake.

I detest these burger bars and the smell when I went in made me feel quite sick, that fatty, greasy smell that lingers in the air. However I had an absolute craving for a vanilla milkshake and once ordered and payed for I was out into the street thoroughly enjoying it.

I think it must have been something in the shake that my body was craving after my recent heavy training sessions. Once imbibed I felt great, I have a feeling it was the fat and sugars. I am still shocked to read that one medium milkshake from this restaurant contains 8 grams of saturated fat or 36% of my GDA!!!! I now see why I don't eat the meals there now.

The run that would never die

The weekend started with plans to run a 12/20 mile back to back trail running.

Saturday's ran went without any drama apart from a small miscalculation in route which saw us running a glorious 13 miles, Sunday's however was another matter.

I was rudely awoken by my alarm at 6.00am and it was immediately apparent that I was just not in the mood for running and the bed beckoned me to stay but as I was on driving duties so dragged myself out but the mood lingered.

Picking George up at 6.45 am he soon picked up on my somnolent attitude but coaxed me out of myself until we hit the sleepy village of Knockholt Pound. The plan was to get as quickly as possible to the North Downs Way (NDW) and follow it eastwards until we reach the Titsey Park approximately 10 miles from the start and join the Vanguard Way to get to the outskirts of Limpsfield Chart, head East until Westerham and beyond to head North to the NDW and then return to the car.

It was a great run but a small misunderstanding from my map reading, I thought a Parish Boundary line was a path, meant a major detour which found us running a little longer than the projected 20 miles. It soon became apparent when we reached 20 miles that we had some distance to go and with the already tired legs from Saturday's run it was really starting to tell, my foot was screaming for me to stop and the pain had now progressed into my calf. I was praying to join trails as running on roads just made the pain worse. Even though we were surrounded by a network of paths we soon found that there was no shorter route back to the car so we just retraced our steps.

In the end we had covered 23.5 miles of glorious trail, George commented and I agree that it seems ridiculous that we had covered so many miles and found ourselves in the likes of Westerham.

So a busy weekend 36.5 miles covered, I am tired, battered and bruised but not defeated, time to rest for a few days.

Back to back

So starts the weekend and the serious job of back to back runs to get the training really set in my legs. I am looking for a total of about 50 kms so it looks like 12 miles on Saturday and 20 miles on Sunday but that is subject to time.

Saturday's run will set me up for the day, no planned route just the fun of the run with my Garmin measuring the distance. Sunday is open to ideas as we have a few more trails to investigate.

Money or Racing

I got an email from my College asking me to lecture at short notice for a four week contract. The money is not to be sniffed at so I have had to pull out of my night ultramarathon on 27^th February 2010. I will see if I can start a hour later than the rest of the competitors and still complete the course but I may be pushing it.

Bloody annoying when work interferes with our fun.

Ouch

I have a feeling the recent rise in mileage has been the cause of my foot pain. Although there was a slight tenderness there on Sunday, it was gone by Tuesday when I went for a run with the club.

I awoke this morning to find the underside of my right foot sore and uncomfortable when I put my work shoes on. I have iced, stretched but worse of all I have had to cancel my 12 mile run tonight...and I was looking forward to it.

I just hope it is not plantar fasciitis

One for the trail

I think this one should be played just as the quads are first starting to hurt...a lovely soothing track, enjoy

To all my dissenters

I was on an IT technical forum the other day where some idiot had got wind of my ultrarunning and what I did, calmly and without venom I wrote this and it is only after reading it a couple of times did I think it only right to publish it here:

I ran in excess of 2000 miles last year, it took me to places I would have never reached normally, I have seen and heard wildlife and stumbled upon beautiful scenery only miles from my door. Traced routes of ancient Roman roads by map and compass, yesterday I watched the moon hovering in cloud and at the same time saw the sun rise over a hard frosted landscape. I have stood in a churchyard and drank a cup of tea in the snow and eaten sweet cox's apples straight from the branch as I ran by and other days run waist deep in water to reach the other side to continue, ran in thunder, lightning, sun, rain, snow and have been hailed upon whose size was that of broad beans.

I have run a 30 mile race competitively but sat down at the end to a hearty meal and drank cider with my trail rivals.

In all that time I have never grumbled (well only a little) learnt things I never knew about myself but in all that time I have always had a smile within me.

So to my dessenters try it before you slag it off you may find you actually enjoy it too

Rest Day

It's the start of the week and like any good training plan it is a rest day.

Monday morning and it was a real strain to get out of bed and get ready for work but I got up, had a cup of coffee and filled my work bag with two bananas and two ripe clementines for my morning snacks. On the way to work I got a fresh hot cross bun and I was ready for the day. Boy did I need those items of food.

I have suffered from slight tightness in the quads but the pain in my foot has returned which feels like a bruise but will monitor it tomorrow to see if it will allow me to do a recovery run on Tuesday evening.

I am feeling really positive at the moment if I stay uninjured I reckon I will do OK later on this month, let's hope so.