Mammoth month

Wow what a month, what a busy month more like it. This month has seen me break the 200 mile ceiling averaging out at 50 miles a week and included a 45 mile ultra marathon from Wendover to Central London.

I have now changed my training plan slightly and now doing back to back on the weekend with me just completing a 32 mile or 50 kilometres of running on the weekend mileage I could have only dreamt off at the beginning of last year when I hobbling around on crutches.

So it will continue, I have a break from distance for a couple of days when I will be out all evening on Monday and a short run on Tuesday with the Club, long may this streak continue.

Roman Run

Great run today exploring some of the more unusual aspects of Kent as we tried to navigate along the London-Lewes Roman road from Keston to Titsey.

The over night mixture of snow and a very hard frost made the paths and fields treacherous underfoot which many a twisted ankle and stumble along the way. There were a few mistakes in my map reading but in my defence it was quite difficult in the dark with a fine covering of snow in places so did pretty well considering the conditions.

The Roman road although visible was not much to look at and if you were to stand there without knowledge of its existence you would not have been able to spot it. Our little excursion took a little longer than expected but the training is taking its toll at the moment and we are just glad to get time on our feet and push through the current "running on tired legs" part of the training. I have added a Garmin download for you to look at, I have a feeling you will be able to spot the track of the road by its straightness.

Distraction Techniques

You are allowed a quick guffaw whilst reading this but it does have serious side to it.

In recent times whilst running I have been very much on my own in dark, cold conditions, feeling decidedly uncomfortable either physically or mentally as I go for my goals. I think I have even commented on this previously how I can find myself so absorbed in my run that have I left a few people behind me when I went into autopilot mode.

Wednesday's run of last week was a perfect example of finding myself in a complete auto mode but this time it was because I had "put myself there!" This is where my friend the squirrel comes to help me.

Eddy the Squirrel comes out with me on runs and is often seen (in my minds eye) sitting gently on my shoulder, he has the ability to vortex (hence Eddy) and glide around my body to any place I choose for him to go. The ability for me to control his position also allows him to go to places that maybe hurting at that time or he may even go to other places so that I can "ignore" the pain. Eddy never talks, never argues but is a presence that is soothing to me.

Today, whilst Eddy was resting in my back pack, we were coming to the last 5 miles of a very tough run and we had two more steep valley crossings to do to get back to the car. George and I were happy not to chat at that point so I practiced "juggling" two imaginary silver balls which were orbitting my head and decided to stop for a quick wee, George stopped behind me and said "That is a nice view for someone to see from their bedroom window in the morning!"

I was so engrossed in my mental juggling that I had not noticed that I was taking a wee break opposite the only house within about 1/2 mile!

Although it sounds silly, it really does work with practice, just be careful not to do it by busy roads.

Green Tea

My latest idea came after a craving for a cup of hot green tea after a run a few weeks back. I had been in a Chinese restaurant just before Christmas and had a cup with my meal and thoroughly enjoyed it compared to its Indian brother.

I was out on a run last Saturday and was just grumbling about the cost of sports drinks considering that they are in fact just sugary water when I came upon the idea of cold, sweet green tea in my sports bottle.

So, as I write this I have a pint of the stuff cooling down in a jug ready to decant in the morning. I'll see how it goes after all there is nothing wrong with experimenting.

Romans

Saturday's run has a Roman feel to it as I have discovered that about 5 miles from where I live there is the course of a Roman road that is begging for me to explore. Armed with my trusty waterproof map and compass I am planning run down to the road which is now woodland track, path and permissive path across farmland to see what it looks like. This will hopefully take us through a much needed shortcut to the North Downs Way on the Surrey Hills which is the main ancient thoroughfare to east coast of Kent. I'll report tomorrow to tell how it went.

One for the road

For the old hippies out there ;-)

The training starts to kick in

And so does the apparent tiredness that goes with it. 

• Last 30 Days - 182 miles
• Last 7 Days - 52.5 miles

I started off tonight with the intention of doing 12 miles, no more, no less. The difference was that this time I was to run with no Garmin as I wanted to see if I could pace myself at exactly 9 min/mile average pace. I was really pleased that I came in at exactly 1:48, perfect. However I was only saying the other day that when I hit 50 miles in any 7 day stretch I feel a great feeling of fatigue. It may be a coincidence tonight but about 2-3 miles from home I just found myself stop running and just started to walk, I hadn't realised the significance at the time but I must get through this silly physical block. Don't worry, I only walked for about 50 yards and then I carried on up an up hill stretch looking forward to a hot cup of tea. :-)

Bbbbrrrr

I helped out at the club last night as the Timekeeper for the 5 km time trial, I don't normally run in these monthly events as I like to do a recovery/easy run on Tuesday's of about 6-10 miles, the 5 km event tend to wreck my legs a bit.

The normal organiser of the event was not available so, I with two others stepped into the breach. I ran to the club, a distance of about 3.5 miles and then immediately regretted this as I found us standing in a dip for 30-40 minutes with the sweat on my back cooling me off bit by bit. I later found that some people had recorded -4 degrees centigrade on their car thermometers.....ouch, no wonder I found it hard to write with my cheap biros.

Say NO to cafe food

Monday is traditionally my evening off training and I usually relish it to catch up with some reading or if they want, my teenage daughters if I can wrench them from Facebook.

However, needs must when the Devil drives and to earn a little extra cash I am often seen rushing off to London of an evening to do some lecturing at a well known university. This means that on those days I go without a hot meal for nearly 48 hours!

With the increase in training I am noticing need to eat a small meal at least 4 times a day but getting sick to death of eating sandwiches or supermarket pasta meals...I am desperate for ideas on low fat, carby alternatives, any ideas?

Where is everybody?

So there we were, near to the end of our run we had worked out that during that time we had hardly seen anyone throughout. As we plodded past a small intersection a lone runner came lumbering out of a side path looking flustered.

"Did they go that way past you?" he said

"Who, the HEROES?" I said

"I'm John"

Getting confused I knew him as a group of runners called HEROES he pointed down into the valley and said "There they are" and ran off with a cheery wave. Looking through the trees I could see a gaggle of runners in a multitude of colours, yellow, red or blue. These guys are a mix of all the running clubs in the area and run every Sunday in the areas we had covered. I have done a couple of runs with them and they certainly know the area.

It got us thinking that we missed those runners by about 200 metres at the intersection and had it not been for John we wouldn't have seen them. So whilst we are running around this area there could be loads of other people who we did not see or just the other side of the hedge, we just think we are running by ourselves most of the time

Off the Map

Had a great 14-15 mile run today with a buddy from the club called Duncan who is a barefoot runner. Duncan always amazes me as he was getting continually injured until about a year ago when he threw away his training shoes and went bare foot! A year later, a new running style and he can run with no problems, injury free.

We met up at 7.00 am and went straight to the countryside to start running at 7.15 am, 30 minutes before sunrise, It was just about bright enough to run trail but I wore my head torch for the first mile until in open fields. My biggest objective today was to run off the map and try and discover a few more trails and just run until we felt like getting back to the car. All these objectives were achievedand was really pleased when we found a new trail that joined up a set piece route, I can now add 5 miles to a circuit without having to map it.

It has been a busy 8 days and have run 79.1 miles in that time quite some going and I feel great.

Confirmation

I have just got an email from Mike Inkster about my entry to The Moonlight Challenge in February 2010.

My foot has been playing up over the past week since I ran at Wendover and I am just a tad worried about it although it has improved today after my run and a hot bath. I wrote to Mike telling him that I was carrying an injury and asked if it was OK for me to enter on the night of the challenge as I was unwilling to commit to the £30 entrace fee quite yet, here is the answer:

Jerry,


Thanks for the message. As you're so keen to come and play in the dark, mud and cold, I'll be more than happy to keep you a place - just in case you feel fit enough to be there. If you could let me know before hand that you're coming that would help as I can then have a number ready for you. However, if all else fails just turn up by 17.00 and we'll sort it out then. Good luck with the injury and hope to see you next month.

Mike

 Just the answer I was looking for, thanks Mike

Calluses

Not the greatest subject to talk about in polite company but after today's run and my little discovery of what I suspected was a large blister was in fact a wet callus.

I had a good shower, let my feet dry out naturally and then tonight have given them a good look over. It seems they are in pretty good condition but there are some hardened areas that need to be rubbed down and so got a small piece of P120 sandpaper and had a good rub over.

I put my trail shoes back on and amazingly they feel really comfortable now. The heel is a little worrying but I will keep an eye on it and see how it turns out.

Blisters

I can't believe that after running 45 miles in rain, snow and wind then traipsing through mud, snowmelt and snow last week I suffered no ill effects to my feet.

I pop out for a 13.4 mile run this morning, some of it on road and a big chunk on trail and I get home to find I have a blister on my foot.....gggggrrrrr.

Posted later...Phew not a blister just a raised piece of hard skin.

Note to myself: I must look after my feet better

Out with the Mob

The only thing that was going to get me through my hectic and stressful day at work today was my promise that I was going for my run. This run heralded the official start of my training for my April challenge of the 12 hour run in Crawley, England.

It started out with a gentle recovery run and reaching the top of the hill one mile out from home I began to realise that my legs had some pace in them but pulled off for a bit until I was warmed up. Stepping into it I then noticed that there were loads of other runners out training, some the remainders of the "New Year Resolution" runners, a few serious ones with the gait of a trained runner and then a mob of runners, I realised they were from my secondary affliate club but chose just to say hello and then wave goodbye as tonight was my chance to have "Me time"

So I am back on the road taking it very easy for the moment whilst my legs recover after last Saturday.

Back on the trail

I am sufficiently rested now and will be back into training as of Thursday evening this week. 

This is great news as I seem to have come away from C2C with no injuries to talk of just few post race DOMS which have settled down nicely. I have planned in a 10 km run but will take it very easy and do it at recovery pace...we'll see.

Footsteps in the Dark!

The Moonlight Challenge....I think it is time for me to bury my demons

(#ultramarathon)

Watch this space

Resignation

Bad news at the beginning of the year which saw 3 people resign from my running club committee was made even more shocking when the remainder of the committee resigned with effect of midnight tonight.

Obviously the membership is confused as to what has been going on but a sad day that saw a flourishing club dwindle to nothing over night. As one of the members reported publicly "...the club should be bigger than any individuals."

Desperate Dan

And with the passing of my latest 45 mile challenge so goes my beard. I was enjoying the idea of a beard but after a short reflection I decided that it just had to go.

I felt like Desperate Dan shaving the thing off and went through two disposable razors to get to a satisfactory finish. I have to say though it was a great asset on Saturday's run and really kept the wind chill off my face, however you won't be seeing me with another one for some time now , they are just too itchy.

Free Poo

I have just visited the Susan Does London Blog created by the fantastic susankyliu of Twitter fame and she has a BRILLIANT photo that is just so wrong on so many levels.

I am trying to work out if Dulwich Riding School based in London is offering any passing runner the option of having a free poo or if it is a call for emancipation...I'll let you decide! Great shot Susan