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!