Save the Fluffy Kittens

I have been told that every time I run off schedule from my plan in the next 2 weeks a fluffy kitten will be eaten by a Big Brown Bear. Every extra mile I run a fluffy kitten will be eaten by a Big Brown Bear.

This has been the most abrupt taper of my running career so far, a sharp descent to absolute zero next week for 6 days.

So in case there are reported shortages of fluffy kittens in the Kent area please don't blame me, I am going to try and be a good little runner and try and keep the Big Brown Bear hungry.

A gem from 2009

Don't you just love it when a little gem of a photo pops up on the radar after about 6 months. I was just looking through some old events and this little nugget popped out. This was me at Caesar's Camp 50 mile cross country race in October last year...boy was that tough. I pulled up with a pulled hamstring...but great picture,

Trail Word of the Week

The inaugural Trail Word goes to David S. who came up with:

Mellifluous

1. sweetly or smoothly flowing; sweet-sounding: a mellifluous voice; mellifluous tones.
2. flowing with honey; sweetened with or as if with honey.

David came up with this cracker whilst we were discussing the wonderful vocal tones of Oliver Postgate of Bagpuss and The Clangers.

Well David, great word

New Feature

I am introducing a new feature to my blog today and it will called Trail Word of the Week. This will be a word that was either came up in a conversation or described the run itself.

If you have a great word to add tomy blog email me: jezza@magicforest.co.uk

Where did my knees go?

Over the past couple of months, whilst the mileage has been increasing, I have noticed my trousers getting looser and a little bit of weight dropping off but one side effect of all this running I wasn't expecting. If I stand up straight and then look down the length of my leg I cannot see my knees any more! No dear reader it is not my portly tummy obscuring my view but my thigh muscles.

So before any passing Kentish Man cannibals start preparing the stock and dumplings ready to ambush me whilst I am out running just remember it is probably the toughest, sinewy bit of meat you will ever taste :-)

Poetry for the trail

"Suffering is permanent, obscure and dark, And shares the nature of infinity."

William Wordsworth
(1770 – 1850)

Peroneus Longus!!!

I had an absolutely brilliant 11 mile run this evening although I wish I had had the foresight to wear trail shoes and it would have been even better.

I have been grumbling about a little niggle of late but I seem to have had it under control, a dull pain in the outer calf, a dull pain in my ankle and a pain in the base of my foot. I have just done an interweb thingy search to show the tendons in an ankle and finally saw the peroneus longus. The dull pains seem to be exactly where the the muscle and tendons of this muscle are seated right down to where it connects to the base of my foot. Back to what I said a few weeks ago, a calf strain..ggggrrrrr.

Let's hope the tapering will allow it to rest and repair.

Prostate Cancer- Make it £600

Thanks to the Prostate Cancer Charity...I got home tonight to find a great big parcel on my door mat stuffed full of posters, leaflets, a t-shirt and sweat bands ready for my big run on 10^th April 2010 a really generous gift.

If you can afford to donate and help to go above £600 click on the Just Giving link to the right of this page.

No Ipod

I mildly irritated as I was wearing my Ipod tonight when it started to rain quite heavily, I thought it would be OK but suddenly it stopped working.

At first I thought it was just the batteries thinking they were showerproof but how wrong I was, dead as a Dodo. I will try and leave it out to dry tonight and hopefully it get to work again, annoying as I was really enjoying the lecture I was listening to.

Raindrops

What looked like a lovely dry night for a track run soon proved me wrong when as soon as I had arrived then the clouds opened. Unperturbed I went about the business of a fixed pace run for an hour around the track.

In that hour I think I saw every shape and size of raindrop from the misty rain to drops the size of a large pea. In no time I was soaked but I pulled my cap down and my collar up, listened to a podcast scentific debate and the weather was soon forgotten. Thankfully the clock was against me as I was feeling really strong tonight and was willing to do more but I am tapering and it would have served no benefit.

Audio Books

The long runs are now coming to an end prior to Crawley but I can't believe I hadn't thought of this before. I am not a great lover of listening to music during my longer runs but recently I have had to go out on 20 + mile distances by myself and have had to have a distraction.

I received a £10 iTune voucher a couple of weeks ago from my sister and whilst looking up some new tunes decided to look at the audio books....perfect. I have just downloaded a new book (Richard Dawkins- The God Delusion), some scientific lectures and a load of short stories. So now I can mix two interests, reading and running.

Tape/Ear

You have got it dear reader, I am tapering ( Tape Earing)

I screamed like a little piggy

Over a year later and I have obviously forgotten how "invigorating" an ice bath is after a long run.

I had been on a brilliant, if lonely 23 mile run today, had a glass bottle chucked at me from a passing car narrowly missing me. I went fully kitted today, carrying a skinny kit in my back pack as I knew I would be returning home after dark but stupidly didn't take my torches but it was pretty cool going XCR without lights for a change ;-)

By the end of this run I would have run my longest training week ever (64.4 miles) and a lot of it at tempo pace but by the last 5 miles it was beginning to tell that it was all catching up but the thought of a taper focussed my efforts. By the time I got home, all I wanted to do was jump into a bath and rid myself of the pains in my knee tendons, boy were they burning!

So tonight was cold water emersion therapy, a bath full of cold water with 4 freezer blocks chucked in for good luck.....eeekk did I SCREAM? I sat in the cold water for about 15 minutes and then jumped out and ran a HOT bath....glorious, I even felt my legs tingling, pain evaporated.

Carb Gels

It was that time again, time to replenish the Lucozade Carb Gels as the cupboard was looking decidedly bare today. I very rarely have a carb gel during my training but have found that the increased mileage is almost making it a requirement as I feel the energy drain from my legs.

Yesterday was an example when on my 17 mile run I just found myself walking up a gradient with my tell tale sign of achy quads, a quick dose of a gel and some water and I was off back on track.

Sunday's run promises to be a hard one as this is the final big push before taper and the carb gels will help me out.

Monkey Butt

This has to go down as one of my favourite descriptions of my current condition...I have a Monkey Butt!

I went out on my 17 mile run today wearing my Kamleika smock with my long sleeved top under it and my trusty back pack with a litre of Nuun. When I got back I found I had terrible chafing all around the small of my back where my pack was probably rubbing, around my groin and down the side of my chest. I have a feeling the top was making me sweat too much causing the chafing.

So yes, a back that looks like a Monkey Butt

Blue Cars

One of the weirdest things I noticed today whilst out on a long[ish] run in the countryside today was the amount of blue cars. I was passed by about 15 cars in a seven mile stretch of which I counted 8 as being blue!!! No rhyme or reason just blue cars.

Casey Jones

GGGrrr for some strange reason I found myself singing this tonight on my run. Listen to it, I bet you will be next time you are out :-)

Night Running

I went out on my 10 mile set piece tonight of which about 2 miles are on country roads with no pavements. I decided to chuck an old red LED bike light in the right pocket of my back pack. I found this light lying in the middle of the road one night last year and so pocketed it....what a great safety device.

I put it on flash and found during this 2 mile stretch, all the cars that came from behind me were actually moving over the white line having indicated a course around me. Add to this my £2.50 white LED torch to the front and on my shoulder and I had all bases covered.

Rolling Average

What? I hear you say...not to panic dear reader, I haven't gone mad but wanted to show you how not to come a slave to the weekly mileage totals but rather see how you can adjust your training plan to suit your life style; after all I have missed a few runs recently.

How many times do you chastise yourself not to have run that weeks planned total miles for what ever reason? Why become a slave to the figures of the week when you can take a mileage total for the past 4 weeks.

I was having that problem so in my training diary created a new column to add the miles I had run in the past 4 weeks, adding the past weeks total to the previous 3 weeks and then graphed it in Excel and to a surprising result. Click on this story's image and you can see that there is almost a linear progression for these 28 Day rolling calculations apart from week 3 where I had a cold and cut back on the miles. This amazingly also takes into consideration I have had Cycle Down weeks but still the miles add up.

Barbed Wire!

One lucky escape tonight! I was 7 miles into my run tonight and was desperate for a wee so up ahead I saw a section of woodland on the edge of the road and ducked in out of sight.

I finished up and turned around onto the road and felt a horriffic rake and then pain in my shin but managed to keep upright and release my foot. I went back to see what it was, yes you have got it, barbed wire. I was aghast and pulled my leggings up expecting to see blood but instead I just had grazing....I must have missed the barbs by inches. Phew!

Press Release

I sent a press release off to the local newspapers today, I really hope they pick up on my story of running for the Prostate Cancer Charity.









PRESS RELEASE

Ultrarunner wants to run for 12 hours to raise money for charity

Click to sponsor Jerry at http://www.justgiving.com/Crawley12hour

Chislehurst resident Jeremy Smallwood is facing the challenge of a lifetime as he gears up to run 100km in 12 hours in aid of the Prostate Cancer Charity.

Jeremy, 44, is usually seen training on the streets of Chislehurst and the local area but on 10^th April 2010 he will be kitting up to run for 12 hours around the 400 metre track at the K2 Centre, Crawley starting at 7.00am.

“I used to be 14 ½ stone and smoked 30 cigarettes a day until I saw my Brother-in-Law run in the London Marathon” says Jeremy “That was 3 years ago and you will now see me getting up at 6.00 am on a Sunday morning to run 20 miles!”

The hard work will all be worthwhile for Jeremy, a member of the Petts Wood Runners club if he succeeds in raising in excess of £1,000 for Prostate Cancer Charity.

"I was shocked to read that 1 male needlessly dies every hour in Britain alone from this horrific illness and I am hoping my run will raise awareness of the charity and provide much needed cash to help knock the disease into touch”

You can sponsor Jeremy by visiting his online fundraising page on http://www.justgiving.com/Crawley12hour. You can pay by credit or debit card, and the money will go directly to The Prostate Cancer Charity. Where supporters are UK taxpayers, the charity will automatically receive 28% extra in Gift Aid, which makes Justgiving the most efficient way of sponsoring Jeremy.

Notes to Editors

For further information or to arrange a photo call please contact Jeremy Smallwood at jezza@magicforest.co.uk

You can read more about Jeremy’s training and his preparations at http://ultramagicforest.blogspot.com/

Another Day

I have had a stomach ache for part of the day and as I had no running commitments erred on the side of caution and enjoyed a lie in. Feeling guilty for most of the day that I hadn't been on a "long" run I ventured out tonight in view of cracking out 13 miles but how wrong I was.

It soon came apparent that things were not quite right with the "drainage in the bottom field" so a quick detour and I found myself eventually running just 7 miles...not a problem but it would have been nice to get 60 miles in this week. I'll do it next week as my last big week before I slowly taper off to Crawley.

Countdown to Crawley

Remember to click on the Just Giving link on the right to sponsor me for the Prostate Cancer Charity

Running Stance

So the mileage is picking up and I have completed the first 20 miles for this weekend and now 48.6 miles for the week. Naturally by legs are getting tired and it was obvious at about 14 miles into my run today that I had to adjust my pace and running style.

This first came apparent about 2 weeks ago as I ventured onto the track to adjust my body to "flat" runs. I told George I was going to try my new ultra stance and run a couple of miles to see how I felt. The change over was incredible as I moved my style from lifting off at the toe to running from mid-foot, instantly I felt the strain move away from my thighs and calves. It could almost be called armchair running, a lovely methodical, relaxed style that will take a few more miles to perfect but I am really happy with the result.

New torch

Outstanding value at only £2.50! I found this little baby at Millets camping store, amazingly at that price it is almost cheaper than the 3 AAA batteries that come with it.

It has 9 white LEDs that create the light beam and light weight, ruggedised casing means it is ideal for trail running and its small size means it is easy to tie it to my backpack shoulder strap so I can run hands free at night time without resorting to my headtorch when running country lanes and woods.

At this price I will get one to point backwards and put a red filter on it.

One for the trail

As a move away from opera I now have one for hard, lonely, up hill trails. This will get the blood pumping. Play it LOUD.

40 miles

That is the plan for this weekend, one of the few back-to-backs I am doing as I prepare for Crawley on 10th April. It looks like it will be a road/trail run with George in the morning, I have yet to look up a route yet but by the looks of the rain today it will be a muddy one :-)

Sunday will be a little less adventurous but I will make up the add or subtract miles to the run depending how far we run on the Saturday. It will be a little less tiring as I will be doing it on the local track.

Prostate Cancer

Please sponsor me for this worthwhile charity by either clicking the Just Giving widget on the right or via the link below.

The Prostate Cancer Charity

I will be posting more information in the next few weeks to tell me how it is going. If you want to be part of my challenge in Crawley, UK please email me at jezza@magicforest.co.uk

Temptation

Here is a challenge for all you "It's Lent and I have given XXXXX up" I had to run past the local bakers this evening, not your little street corner one but a big factory......yaarrhhh they must have just baked 10 ovens of hot cross buns and the neighbourhood smelt delicious. My old tummy was rumbling by the end my 10 miler tonight.

The Big 500

Good to see that the plans are working and I have just passed my first 500 miles for this year.

The have been a wet, cold, windy 500 miles but still a great 500 miles.

Turn Back

I helped out at the club meet tonight by being time recorder and admin for the monthly 5 km time trial, a job I quite enjoy in a silly way. I had already run there, a distance of about 5 kilometres and then had plans to run another10 km after.

When it was time to run home I got about 1 km up the road and then thought to myself "Why bother, the training plans say 10 km for tonight, ease off Jerry, go home and rest" and that is what I did, those few kilometres would have been no benefit, in fact the rest did me more good.

Faversham is off

News just through tells me that there is no Faversham 6 hour ultra this year.

I am a little disappointed as I had planned to make this a target race this year and trash my 37.2 mile personal best. There is still a chance it may happen but I am not holding my breath.

So with that I have a loose sail flapping and now looking for a medium term target to ease me into August and take of the Ridgeway

Motionless

"The shorter the run, the longer the warm up." These are words I use to hear when talking about training; I never really believed it until today whilst at the track.

I arrived at the track at just gone 9.00 am and was really pleased to see no one was there, this meant I was able to do some clockwise running and then when people arrived I would switch back to the usual way. As previously reported, I was planning to do 50 laps so I went about the task, when I was 23 laps into it another runner appeared and I called to him that I would be only doing 2 more laps and then reverting to the anti-clockwise, he thumbed up and then I saw him run one gentle lap.

He then went about stretching , sitting down, standing up, stretching and the next time I saw him run was when I was on my 38^th lap for 200 metres, then stretch for some time, sit down, change his shoes and then jog 400 metres at my 45^th lap! In the time I had run 5.5 miles he had run/jogged 600 metres, incredible!

Big 50

Not an impossible task but certainly a new one that I have yet to try as I carry on my training for my Crawley race in April.

Tomorrow sees me run to the track and then do 50 laps around it. It just doesn't seem very much when you say 50 laps but in fact it is 20,000 metres or 12.4 miles! When said like that you begin to realise the numbers soon add up.

So tomorrow's objectives are to smash the 60 mile per week glass ceiling, a real psychological barrier.

Snooze time

Too much work, too much over time, too much running, not enough rest something had to snap and that thing was me. I had to work at the College today, 6 hours of "up front" lecturing left me exhausted after the event of the past week which saw me fall asleep on the train and then when I got home fall into a deep luxurious sleep on the sofa for 90 minutes...glorious, but it just shows my body needed it. More big runs tomorrow, this time on the track.

Crazy

I am used to seeing weird sights whilst on my long runs but tonight's one was one of my favourites. I was eight miles into a twenty mile road run and had just dipped off the main road and was descending quite steeply. I heard the sound of a car behind me moving over the loose uneven surface and so stepped aside to let it past and as I continued I heard a quiet 2 stroke engine coming up at speed and then "Get out the way, move over, move over" It was a young male voice so I stepped aside again, stopped and looked around.

I couldn't believe my eyes but as I stood there a golf buggy with 2 lads in hoods on the seats, one on the front bumper and as it passed 2 more hanging off the back waving with a cheery wave.

Don't get me wrong I do not condone such behaviour but the sheer cheek of these lads just made me grin.

New shoes

Hard to believe I have had to buy another new pair of running shoes, my latest pair are only 18 weeks old and have run in excess of 520 miles in them, so time for a change. I can no longer get my favourite Mizuno Wave Inspire 4 so have now moved back to the Mizuno Wave Riders series.

They are all white, shiny and smell new...I just need a muddy puddle, I mean, it is just not natural to have running shoes that colour :-)

What made the purchase so much sweeter was when the shop assistant showed them to me I said "Wow they have gone up in price!", without a blink he said "ten percent off for you today"

Clockwise

Great run tonight after yesterday's "little wobble", I arrived at the track and dumped my bag in the groundsman's hut and went about the task of fixing my pace. I settled immediately into 2:10 mins/lap and am really chuffed to find after that this is my set ultra pace. My plan was to run 30 laps, 15 laps anti-clockwise and if I could get away with it, 15 clockwise.

On Wednesday evening the track is vacated by 8.00 pm and I am left to myself so I happily went about my run. I am beginning to enjoy my track time, my pace is fixed, I run the line between lane 1 & 2 and I can just drift away, roll on Sunday...but first Friday.

Idiot

"Remind yourself that by finishing the marathon, you'll be among the 0.1 per cent of Britons who go the distance"

(Runner's World Magazine p23 April 2010)

That statistic amazed me 0.1% of Britons have run a marathon at one time in their life time, that is a measly 62,041 people. My reckoning is a large proportion of that figure do it once and once only for either charity or "things to do before I die" types. What I want to know is how many Britons have run above that distance, I would say not many. I like the idea that I am "A special idiot" thank you Alan Cabelly

The full quote

“Any idiot can run a marathon - it takes a special kind of idiot to run an ultramarathon.” - Alan Cabelly

All Stop

Felt a bit sore today which can only be the heavy schedule last week and my long run on Sunday. I planned to go out for a run with the club tonight and do about 11-12 miles, 2.5 miles to and back with a 6 mile with the group.

It soon became apparent that all was not well in the Jerry camp when about 4 miles into the group run my legs began to ache and I became out of breath, I think I had hit my limit for the night and so when I was about a mile from home I bowed out and waved the gang goodbye. Normally I would feel down about this drop out but I am more than happy, I would rather stop now than have carried on and injured myself.

Change of Plans

I have had a look over my plans until April 2010 and have noticed a change in behaviour that I have to vector in. When my current plan was put in place I was not contracted to work on the next few Saturdays and also my request for carrying over my leave to the new year was turned down meaning I have every Friday off until April.

The common sense answer was to review my plans and fit in back-to-backs where I can. Where I cannot to fit in a long run of 20+ miles to keep the "running on tired legs" concept working and do these on Friday morning or evening dependent on how I feel.