1000 miles and counting

....just passed my first 1,000 miles this year...YIPPPEEEE

Prostate Charity Update

I have received my last donation for the Prostate Cancer Charity today and have made the final manual update to my Just Giving account.

I made an amazing £1,157, thank you to everyone who made a donation or gave time to help on the day of my Crawley 12 hour Challenge.

There is still time to donate if you want to.

Great run

Had a great trail run with a bunch of people from my club this morning, I have had a very busy three weeks of training (170 miles to be exact) and my plan told me this was a cycle down week, so no long stuff.

Today's run was perfect as it was a nice steady pace, lots of hills, some very steep and great company with lots of chatting and laughter on one of my favourite trails, the North Downs Way and a reasonable 11.2 miles. I think I got a few strange looks as I was wearing my backpack with 1000 mls of water and packed up with "Skinny kit", map and compass but it was good resistance training...so happy with that.

Big news to report tomorrow!

Nettles

EEEKKK, I forget how much these pesky things sting!!! Yes, dear reader, I know they are called Stinging Nettles but, boy, when you run along a 200 yard path with these either side it is "gonna hurt".

I came back this morning, had a shower in hope that the soap would counteract the stings to no avail, so I am now sitting here with my legs tingling and tiggling.....ggrrrr

Cravings

I went for a cracker of a run tonight what was supposed to be a 20 km out and back soon turned into 24 km pacey, non-stop slog over some quite undulating trail made worse by the high humidity and heat.

I was out with Duncan, my barefoot running mate, who I am in awe of and forget that he is keeping and pushing the pace in some quite rough trail with no shoes on!!!

As we said our farewells my mind wandered off to the shopping list I was to get and all I could think of was grapefruit juice, lovely cold, fresh from the freezer cabinet, grapefruit juice. After the shopping I have guzzled down about 500 mls of the stuff and it has really hit the spot, now I have to work out exactly what is in it that my body craved!

In the news

I feel rather embarrassed again when I received the latest running club newsletter labelled "Marathon Special 2010 FINAL" via email and upon opening it found I was front page news with the headline Jerry's 100k slog...with a write up of my exploits back in April...

In the letter were some people who had run the London , the Brighton and the Edinburgh Marathons whose endeavours were impressive for one reason or the other...I just wish I could talk a few into going ultra, even if it is a 50 km.

Surreal

I had one one of those runs that just seemed surreal tonight!

Tonight, unusually, I wore my Ipod Shuffle which has a really weird set of playlists:

1. Heavy Metal
2. Opera
3. Philosophy Podcasts

One minute I am listening to Iron Maiden's Run to the Hills then Puccini's Nessum Dorma and then it slipped to Philosophy allowing me to listen to muses of the Infinity and then Descartes' Cogito!

A GREAT 10 mile and I have forgotten how soothing it is to have "conversation" to listen to. Whilst not a great lover of the Ipod, tonight it was totally acceptable and got me through.

Auto Pilot

I had a fantastic run with the club tonight where the plan was to run about 7 miles through the woods and nature reserve at a steady 9 min/mile pace. It soon transpired that the group had a little bit of a spring in its tail as it was soon cracking out a steady 8:15 min/mile pace.

I felt particularly strong tonight and if I say so may have been the culprit that raised the pace but my defence was that I went into auto pilot on two occasions where all my surroundings were lost and all I was aware was my quad muscles working and this mental state of refusing to stop on the ups. I was snapped out of my dreaming to pull back to the group.

Really pleased with tonight, I felt really strong considering my recent mileage, I think it may be beginning to work.

One for the trail:

Smoke on the Water...play it loud

Slowworm

Anguis fragilis, or slow worm, slow-worm, slowworm, blindworm or blind worm, is a limbless reptile.

Out in Otford early this morning I was called back by George who spotted a slowworm on the path, I was oblivious to it but was really pleased to have a close look up of this weird creature. Of course this is not our first meeting with the snakes and worms whilst running but I was surprised to feel an initial fear of the creature until we identified it as a slowworm and fear was replaced by fascination and a welcome excuse to have a break in the 24 degree heat.

Trail word of the week

Coruscate

1. to emit vivid flashes of light; sparkle; scintillate; gleam.

Running through some of the wealds and woods today it was quite tricky seeing the roots and path we were running on due the strong sunshine flicking through the leaves on the trees onto the pathway. The light coruscated through the leaves.

When to run?

This is a difficult one...should I run early in the morning or late in the evening on Sunday?

If I can believe the forecasts it is going to be 13 C at 0700hrs rising 23 C by 1300 hrs, about 1-2 C per hour so by the end of my run tomorrow it could be about 18 C.

However I could wait to the early evening and run as the sun sets when it is cooler, either way it is going to be hot...yuck

The postman always rings twice

...and then almost immediately after my race number arrives then the doorbell rings again and there stood another postman, this time with a BIG grey parcel with the Likeys logo. Yippee, my Inov 8 back pack and bottles....I have already 12 miles wearing it, boy was it hot tonight.

Postman Cometh

Great news, I have been accepted for the 50 Mile Challenge on Sunday 18th July 2010.

It looks like I am race number 142 so looks like it will be quite a busy course but looking at previous years a lot of runners and walkers don't do the full distance.

More news to come over the next few weeks as I build my mileage up again.

Stop being personal

Time for a rant and I apologise now but it just MAKES ME SO ANGRY...first let's look at some facts.

1. Age - 44 years
2. Resting heart rate 44 beats per minute
3. Weekly current mileage ~58 miles
4. Miles run this year ~900 miles
5. Longest distance run in one go - 62.45 miles

I could go on, in a nutshell, I am one hell of a fit 44 year old man who is in a very small group of elite sports people (0.001%) in Britain who has run more than 100km. I accept that I have a small [beer] gut caused solely from my love of cider, I am surrounded by friends and colleagues, who if I can be frank, look at my life style in either disbelief, awe or for some people absolute jealousy.

So why oh why oh why do people feel as though it is their "right" to point out the fact I have a beer gut (be it a small one)? Why should it only be men who feel the need to do this?

I know I should ignore it but it just grinds you down and I am just weary of it...

I pointed this out to a colleague who mentioned my tummy this morning and asked why? He, in a rather flustered manner stated that "I suppose you could point out my bald head Jerry" to which I replied that "Why?" He had no answer

Zzooomm

Tonight was a bit of a shock to the old body for tonight was an organised speedwork and core strength training session!

I took an easy run to the recreation ground and then met up with 14 others from the club, my sole purpose was to just get some crunches in, a good sprint session and then leave for another 5 miles of woodland running.

Great session of parlaufs, sprints, sit ups, press ups and stretches; It became apparent that I am in dire need of upper body training as things are a little flabby up there so hopefully a few more of the sessions with tone me up nicely. A good evening of training, still on for mileage and looking forward to a steady 13 miles on Friday.

New bag

At last I have made up my mind and bought my new backpack the Inov-8 12 litre shown here on the right. I hunted around the internet and eventually decided that although I had £50 burning in my pocket, other well known companies were up to £15 cheaper.

These are great packs and have also chucked in two x 500 mls water bottle holders as well. I reckon these will come in handy over the next year or so for the Ridgeway 85 all they do is attach to the shoulder straps and are nicely set to near my centre of gravity.

I was really worried about the size but I reckon 12 litres is fine for most kit requirements and will also be useful for travelling abroad.

Trail word

Pantheist

1. the doctrine that god is the transcendent reality of which the material universe and human beings are only manifestations: it involves a denial of God's personality and expresses a tendency to identify God and nature.
2. any religious belief or philosophical doctrine that identifies God with the universe.

Not my cup of tea dear reader just a subject that was brought up whilst on the trail last night. I was chatting to David from my club last night whilst running and challenged him to a little run out on the last mile when I said to him after he whimped out "The only thing that stops you is your ego"

Then without prior warning one of the guys went on to tell us all about Eastern doctrine and belief, very interesting but wwwoooooohhh heavy stuff for a trail run...I'll race David next time.

50 Mile Challenge

It is done, even after my cunning plan was scuppered, I have managed to put together my own collection of stamps and envelopes so that I can enter unhindered.

I have now officially entered the 50 Mile Challenge on 18^th July 2010, a nice little run that is traffic free, flat and across field tracks and pathways...in fact it is 52.4 miles or 8 laps of 6.55 miles. This will be a nice interim run in preparation the Ridgeway 85 in August and even considering wearing a backpack....just considering for now.

Zzzz

Boy was I tired today! I hadn't realised how tired I was until I got on the train this evening when I sat down and I reckoned I was asleep before the train left the station waking just as I pulled into my destination. I then walked home, ate my tea and then fell asleep on the sofa for another hour.

Weird thing is that I feel alright physically, if a little sore from yesterday, but I just have this nagging tiredness.

Tough Run

It has been a tough week running, one which saw me return from injury at the beginning, one which saw me run just short of 58 miles!

It was an early start today, 6.30 am pick, running by 6.50 am, the weather at that time was glorious and it promised that it was going to be a hot one with the sky blue and cloudless. This was soon to change as about 3 hours intothe run the wind picked up and the clouds rolled in with a few splatters of rain.

It appears George and I had no plans as to where to run but we did want to go for about 24-25 miles. The whole run can best be described as a tough, gritty and hilly run as we ventured to the West of Biggin Hill and Keston to explore new roads and paths.

I can safely say we achieved all of these targets falling just short of 25 miles, but I have to add we ran those 24+ miles on one banana and one carb gel... a massive success, great run George.

Trail word of the week

Xanthous

1. Yellow
2. of the color intermediate between green and orange in the colour spectrum; of something resembling the colour of an egg yolk.

Why I hear you say, well this morning at 6.30 am the weather was glorious, the meadows and fields were resplendent with buttercups and dandelions. As we stared across the Downs the vista was spotted with the glorious yellow hues of Rapeseed, beautiful.

Picture from bbc.co.uk

A cunning plan scuppered

Late on a Saturday night is the time that an ultra runner is seen skulking around the house gathering pieces of kit and packing their back packs ready for Sunday's long run.

It is also the time that it is presumed safe to enter races, a time when wives are in bed, children have relinquished the home computer. This time is the time that awkward questions are not asked as to WHY they are looking for a credit card, cheque book or searching for a PayPal password late at night, this is the time the ultra runner works best.

However, the ultra runner also forgets his wife may have got wind of such clandestine behaviour! This is the time that she knows that the ultra runner husband reads:

Please enlcose a cheque for £ XX.XX and a LARGE STAMPED, SELF ADDRESSED envelope for the return of numbers and other information.

This is the time she hides envelopes and stamps so the ultra runner's cunning plans are scuppered.....gggrrrrr

Regret

Looks like it will have to be a long one tomorrow!
It was enjoyable though :-)

image from http://thisisindexed.com/

On the internet

nobody knows you are a dog.

So there I was, running in the woods and the local nature reserve, 10 miles or so of trails, fauna and flora around me. During that run I saw no other runners, dog walkers or cyclists!

In a way I love the idea that during the day I work in the Big Smoke where one person passes 60 people every minute to go out in the evening and pass no one in 90 minutes....not even a dog, perfect

Blisters

Incredibly, even after 4 weeks from my Crawley run I still have a BIG blood blister on my heel.(see image left) It is not bothering me, it even looks pretty cool as it is now black and still soft but it will only be a matter of time before it opens and hardens.

Thinking everything was OK down there I return from my 10 mile trail run tonight to find another blister forming next to it and then I remember that it is Spring and for some reason my feet "molt" at this time of year!! Weird

Next Challenge

I have been toying with my next challenge and I am on the cusp of a decision as I have been wanting to do this for way over a year. More news to come as I work out the logistics and organisation for the day which will be a double marathon!

As always with these events I will be setting myself a target and my initial, if moveable target, is 9 hours ± 30 minutes.

Cravings

Back running properly and my injury a near distant memory I have realised that in the past 7 days I have run 50 miles and in the last 3 days 37 of them.

With it, the cravings that I last had in the run up to London to Brighton last year have returned, tonight's craving was Doritos and Salsa sauce...scrumptious. Now I wonder what the hell my body needed to have such a craving...I'll never know.

Hardest substance known to man

I think I have discovered the hardest substance known to man and plan to make my millions from it.

I was hunting through the kitchen cupboard this evening for a bag of sugar to refill the bowl when I found an old carton of Lucozade Sport - Body Fuel Mix. This carton must have been in the cupboard for about a year and the lid had come loose and condensation had got in this had made it set rock hard.

I tried a carving knife, a rolling pin and then, for the heck of it, a hammer, it didn't even chip it...maybe I could sell it to the diamond business

Hare today

Gone tomorrow...

It is the club's 5 km time trial tomorrow and have worked out I have run 29.4 miles in the last two days. If I run tomorrow it will mean I will have run 38 miles in three dats....ye gads, that will be a lot. I am however not racing it as I think I will open myself up to injury again so will be running as the hare.

The hare's job is to start with the slowest handicapped runners and remain with them, showing them the route (they tend to be newcomers) until they are overtaken by the higher handicaps who they can then follow.

The hare can then either race off or remain with the slower runners. It will be a great recovery/easy run either way.

Trail word of the week

Menagerie

1. a collection of wild or unusual animals, esp. for exhibition.
2. a place where they are kept or exhibited.
3. an unusual and varied group of people.

This one has been provided by George F whilst we were on an excellent 21 mile trail run in and around Cudham, Biggin Hill and Tatsfield. Whilst cutting through a new footpath we had never been down before we could hear a cacophony of animal sounds and turning a corner we were met by a back yard that had turkeys, Rhode Island Red chickens, goats plus a number of yet unidentified hens

SCUM

OMG.....I decided to put the bladder back into my Gulper today. I haven't used it for months and the scum it had inside it was DISGUSTING and it has spent the last 4 hours in Milton sterilising fluid. I don't know where the stuff came from but it looked like slime...YUK

So, dear reader, if I don't write for a few days you know I have been slimed, wish me luck.

Payment due

Oooppss, just got a first reminder for my running club membership via email!!

I am sure I am cracking up as I am for ever forgetting to take my form and cheque on club night so as soon as I got the email I zoomed off to the membership secretary's house with the envelope...phew!

All I have to remember to do now is to send my membership money for my secondary affilliation, I'll do that tomorrow after I do my run

Batty run

Went out for a late run this evening and decided to get as much of the local woods as possible until it got too dark. By about 8.30 pm I was surprised to see a small black animal flit by, you've got it, a pipistrelle bat.

It seems the pipistrelle hunts over a regular beat, flying at between 2 - 13 metres, usually up to 6 metres, above the ground. The bat eats mostly gnats and tiny moths, hunting for them in open spaces around a building or tree, or above water. It eats several hundred insects every day.

What makes it so interesting is the area where I saw them was around the pond area which backs onto a large open field in the centre of the woodlands. I will definitely try and get up there at sundown again to see if they appear again.

Back on track...

...no, no dear reader, not back on that track, I am back on the road and all looks good[ish]. I went out for a run in view of fulfilling my democratic right and if all was well, to continue...and I did and I felt good.

I made a point of really pulling off the gas tonight, run the flats but if a gradient put strain on my calves to walk. So there we have it, I am up and running again, taking it easy and building it up...hooray.

X marks the spot

Like most Britons tomorrow I shall be trudging up to the Polling Station to vote for the next Government of wannabe politicians...scary stuff!

Just like my ballot paper, X marks the spot where my leg injury is; I have found a distinct area on the outside of my right knee where there is a sharp pain which I have spent some time icing tonight, stretching it and taken some ibuprofen for any swelling.

I will revert to training plan but temper the mileage for the moment and see if I can keep to a routine on a lower mileage. Wish me luck as I run up to the polling station as I keep an eye on both of the crosses that mark the spot.

Back on the road

With great trepidation I went out for my first run since my injury to see how my leg would stand up to the rigours of the road and trail.

Things were going well for the first few miles but my calf and hamstring started to tighten up but I decided to move on until I arrived at the running club where I could stretch out and just meet up with the members. After a chat I decided to return home without a run out but found that the beginners group were going towards my house and had a very enjoyable [recovery paced] run with them...trouble is the leg was hurting, hurting, hurting.

Cold compress and then a hot bath has relieved it for this evening but I dread tomorrow morning!

Looking Good

Mrs S wanted to go for a walk today and I was happy to oblige as I was going stir crazy having had no proper exercise for a week. We decided to go to the local woods and just walk about 3 miles, now remember this was a walk for Mrs S's new health regime, I was going along for company but was also checking my calf out.

The funny thing was that I noticed whilst walking was that although I have run that route on hundreds of occasions, walking them allowed me to see it in a completely new perspective and allowed me to notice so many new things, new paths and new views.

I am really proud of Mrs S for getting out there and doing some exercise and have made a commitment that I will walk with her at least once a week on Sunday........ but after my run ;-)

Wise Words

I have been mulling around at home feeling very down about my leg injury and also very jealous about all the challenges my peers have just completed or about to undertake.

George has run VLM last week and then the Oxon 40 yesterday, Matt is about to run the Halstead marathon (with a 25 Ib back pack) and Rob the Neolithic, all races and challenges I want to do at some stage but Crawley has got in the way of them ( no regrets there)

I saw that the Orpington Marafun is next week and I mentioned it to my wife and she said:

"Just do your normal running Jerry, you are way too competitive for your own good and bound to try and race someone and hurt yourself trying to beat them"

...and there we have it, the go ahead to do my running but to keep it real. If this week's running goes OK I will embark on a long one next weekend.

Challenge

Always set the trail,
never follow the path

Having looked at this little saying a few times now I reckon it is time I set myself a new short-term challenge.

It doesn't necessarily mean a race or an organised event just the opportunity to get out there and enjoy my chosen sport.

Thought for the day

Do not confuse the moon with the finger that points at it.

Zen proverb