One down, one to go

So that is January 2012 in the bag and it has been a very successful month in running terms with me travelling just short of 200 miles putting me in a perfect position for the start of my GUCR training plan and the final stages of preparation for the Thames Path 100 mile run (TP100) in March.

I now have 1 week to go for the Moonlight Challenge and 5 weeks to the TP100 which is approximately 200 miles (~320 km) of running before then.

I went out for a 10km set piece run this evening, very slowly, just to get some blood flowing through my legs before my two day forced rest whilst I teach in the evenings. Not the greatest of runs but good after my longer (and faster) than usual long run yesterday.

#######STOP PRESS#######

I have identified the final target event for this year,

more details to follow once I have been accepted

One for All

...and All for One.

This morning was a real strain to get up and my duvet kept calling me to return and keep it warm but I kept true to my word as I now say that something wonderful is waiting to be seen on my run. I had set myself the task of running 24 miles on the road by myself, a training run that can be very boring when I have done it before but I was determined to get through it in one piece.

Starting about 30 minutes later than normal I was surprised to see so many runners, some obviously the usual bunch of New Year marathoners getting prepared for the London or Brighton marathons but could see in the distance a running gait I recognised, Jason Cherriman, who was no doubt running his 20 mile long run at my 5km pace! With cheery waves we shouted our greetings and carried on our ways. This continued on for a few miles with runners and cyclists waving or greeting each other and it kept me motivated until turning a corner I saw two people who used to be from my club who left under a dark cloud, I shouted my greeting, even calling them by name, they didn't even flinch, didn't even look up, ignoring me. I know they had seen and heard me but couldn't help but shout out to them to grow up...that got the reaction I was expecting :-)

My run went on and I again was pleased to see my average pace of 6 mph (~10kph) was almost spot on as I ascended a hill that just seem to go on for about 5 miles and just seem to sap the energy from my legs but I was soon at the top with the chance to get off the main roads and into the fog which was getting thicker and thicker the closer I got to the North Downs.

I was about 18 miles into my run and I had decided to get off the road and go along a well trodden woodland path and trail when suddenly from around the corner a snake of runners closed in and I heard them shout "Hey it's Jerry, high five" and stepping to the side I saw Brian C, Clive, David, Kevin and a swathe of people slap my extended hand, as quick as it started, it was over and I am racking my brain to remember all the faces and names but it spurred me on and after the rudeness of the previous two runners cheered me up no end to have such a lovely bunch of people as friends.

On my arrival at home and reflecting on the run I am really pleased that I ran it in 4 hours exactly, perfect pacing.

Someone once asked me

"Why do you always insist on taking the hard road Jerry?"
and I replied
"Why do you assume I see two roads?"

All packed

and ready for my 24 mile self-sufficient Sunday run tomorrow.

As is the norm these days George and I have had varying personal commitments to deal with and so have missed yet another week of training together on Sunday he had to do his today. My training mileage has to increase and I will have to start doing some on my own to get the mental toughness going so tomorrow I will be out and about on a course yet undecided so have packed my bag with:

• 3 x 500 mls of water
• 1 x Satsuma
• 2 x Gingernut biscuits (cookies)
• 1 x Marmite sandwich

As an experiment I have a tin of Red Bull which I will try nearer the end to see if my stomach can take it.

Worn in not out

This is an old adage that I learnt from a fantastic gentleman called Mike Inster the organiser of the Moonlight Challenge and the subject of the book Unstoppable.

Through the past few years I have gathered pieces of kit from running shirts for finishing an event, waterproof jackets, shorts  and much more but the amount of running I do the kit does take a beating as well as my poor old body. Take this last week for example, 

1. I return from my night run last Saturday having worn my OMM Kamleika smock for both runs totalling 17 miles and pull my shirt off to find a red welt just behind my right armpit. This was caused by a seam weld coming unstuck and the sharp take scratching me...imagine what it would be like after 100 miles?
2. My run last night whilst being a standard run on my return pulled my sock off and my toenail finally decided to lift off. I am down to 7.5 nails now which is down to just general wear and tear from the mileage.
3. I often find that I have a series of sores around the kidney area where my backpack rubs against my shorts

Imagine my annoyance ( and amusement) that I noted in the past week or so when I started to feel an odd sensation in my right buttock cheek which initially felt like muscle pulling. I would get home, bathe and then be rested to realise that the sensation had gone only returning when I ran....but then only when I wore my Skins A200 tights. Then imagine my embarrassment when I now the know the reason, discovering it is not my muscle but the ENORMOUS cleaning instructions label in them which will soon be cut off.

As for the smock, I have snipped off the various pieces of seam welding that were scratching me  and hope they hold out as it is a great piece of kit.

Trace the Pace

After yesterday's successful training run on the track where I planned to do some pace training where the object was to settle into a comfortable pace and keep it going, continuously. I had planned 11kilometres per hour tonight and I was near as damn it spot on. Tonight was to see if I could do the same on the road so I set out on an 13km set piece I have devised.

It was noticeable tonight that my quads were a tad tight so I chose to use the first kilometre as a very gentle warm up as it was up hill all the way and then found them nicely warmed up for the next 2km gentle ascent which I chose to dig in and accept the discomfort and then down hill all the way.....wwweeeeeeeee arms out like an aeroplane on a busy A road and I didn't care. One gentle, but long, ascent later and again down hill all the way to home coasting into my home.

I am feeling a little more positive in myself today and it possibly showed through my run and general demeanour but....well time will tell.

Good quality short run tonight, kit drying on the radiator, let me see how I feel tomorrow to see if there is a back to back this weekend.

Back to the Track

Having lectured on both Tuesday and Wednesday evening I was looking forward to getting out into the fresh air for a good run. As you know, Thursdays for me are a real strain to get out to train but I am pleased to note that the marathon wannabees at my club are all very keen and getting out to train at my local track every Thursday now. 

Due to my depressive mood and my miserable outlook on life at the moment I need every bit of motivation to get me out and the fact that there was the chance of some company tonight I pushed myself out of the door. My intention was not to be part of their 3 x 1600 metres reps but just wanted to plod out 28 laps at a fixed pace, 14 one way and 14 the other way. I am quite pleased with my pacing which varied by no more than 2 seconds per lap, the plan was to do it in 1 hour and I managed to do it in 59:16 which was an almost perfect 8:30 min/mile.....I was pleased with that but did have the caretaker switching the lights off whilst I was pulling by backpack on so did cut it fine tonight.

The run back felt almost like a commute and was just a method to get home and get a cup of tea. Training is going fine at the moment although my legs do feel a little stiff at the moment but considering the quality of my training I am happy with the way things were going with only 8 days to go before the Moonlight Challenge 32.75 mile off-road run.

Humdrum

Monday night's run was found wanting; after my disastrous attempt of a run on Sunday I was worried about this one. I stepped from the door and took the first 100 metres slowly finding that my aches and pains were much reduced and just needed a gentle warm up and after about 1 km was feeling reasonably OK.

Then the humdrum part started, this run held no joy for me, it just seemed a monotonous push forward, I was disinterested in things going on around me until I decided to step into the local parkland. I had donned my headtorch and when I came to the clearing looked up into the sky to see the night's stars were outstanding for the trees had hidden the streetlights sufficient for me to see Orion's Nebula making me stop in my tracks and gaze up for a while.....well it felt like a while, in fact it was 5 minutes and I hadn't even noticed the dark!

So off I went on a joyless run and as I approached my usual turn I found myself continue on, and on, and on such that when I looked down at my Garmin, what was supposed to be a quick 10km now found me 13.5 kms in and 2.5 km from home. Here comes the strange thing about the dualism of running my body now wanted me to carry on, my mind just didn't....I was just fed up and miserable......I went home, run to forget.

A question of numbers

Let me get this into context and this ever need to "keep to the training plan", the danger to see the numbers but not listen to the body.

I wrote my training plan way before Christmas, a mixture of previous plans and ones drawn of the internet from various sites and resources. They have been really useful and have got me to where I am today. This week has been really strange what with not running until Thursday and I had it in my mind that I would run Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday....I must have been deluded and whilst recognising I wasn't to run early on Sunday I was to go out in the evening.

See the mental image of me rushing about the house, climbing ladders earlier in the day, clearing various things up and doing the general chores so that I could run this evening. See me get my kit on, headtorch in my pocket and I step onto the road to run, I get 100 yards up the road.......stop and came home and sit here writing my blog. "Why?" I hear you exclaim Dear Reader, why indeed.

Now let's get it into context, looking at my running diary for the previous 7 days I have calculated that I have run 64.7 miles (104 km) 34 of those in the previous 3 days and of them 47.5 miles on trail and hills....my legs are beaten up and I am tired....that Dear Reader is why I turned around, the mind said yes, the body said no as I felt my right outer knee grumble and my problem toe gripe.

I am a little perturbed by not doing the run tonight but that is probably more the fact that my routine has been altered and I will have to adapt afterall, the Moonlight Challenge is soon to be upon me and I want to rock that little world.

So let's call this a rest day and then I can go out tomorrow for a sensible run and get to grips with this training.

12 Night Runners and a Badger

Race Report

Having picked up Liz at her house (amazingly on time at 7.15pm as planned) we hot footed it to the car park at Shoreham village, Kent arriving a tad early but to find one car in the car park, the usual joke was we hoped it was another night runner and not a dogger; we were pleased to discover it was the former. Over the next 10 minutes the car park slowly filled up and I was really chuffed to find that we the run was going to have 12 runners including myself and a yet to be discovered 13th member of the pack! 

Whilst we awaited for any late comers there were jokes and nervous conversation about the water feature. After a short "safety" talk we were off on the dot of 8.00pm and into the night and having discovered that a few runners were not lovers of cows (a.k.a Badgers) so we made a slight detour to run parallel to the offending creatures. Whilst running this section we had a small regroup and we were introduced to Andrew's running partner "Bodger the Badger" who appears to have secreted himself into his backpack much to the hoots of laughter to the pack. Bodger was later to come out at the pub (see picture below)

The run went on and we were really pleased as it had been threatening to rain all evening and we must have started during the lull and were soon blessed with a beautiful moonless night sky with Orion the hunter and Ursa the bear guiding us along the paths. Each section of this run had different hazards and things to look out for so I may have appeared a little fussy as I gave a briefing where necessary and it great to hear the pack calling out hazards and trips as they appeared and cries of realisation as we popped out onto well known landmarks.

The Water Feature

The route was to take us to Chipstead Lakes which is serviced by a series of small stream and rivers, the stream we were to traverse was very shallow but was made difficult to access as it cross the path of a disued railway line. Some kind locals had placed some stones across it and whilst easy during the day was tricky during the night with headtorches, something the pack did with skill and dexterity. Soon through it we ran along the path of railway line over numerous roots and branches with hoots and screams jumoing under and around the obstacles

The Pub

As if from nowhere the pub arrived in our sights a lovely pub called The Bricklayers Arms, Chipstead and we soon to crowd the bar correcting the bar lady who had the audacity of calling us "Night Walkers" was gobsmacked to hear we were running.

Pints in hands we had a good catch up of the run so far and as it was a reasonably large pub were lost to own company not to be bothered by other clientele.

Soon, dragging ourselves from the lovely warm pub we ran off as the air was cool around the lake to return to the water feature but take on a new part of the route to continue out of Dunton Green joining the Darenth Valley Path again to croos beneath the M26 motorway and over the railway lines to the North Downs Way and through some paths surrounded by barbed wire and thorns it was still time to concentrate until we regrouped and ran the last road section together as  a pack to the car park where we said our farewells and a few of us returned to the local pub for a proper debriefing and to discuss the run.

Recce over

After driving various family members to their ventures I was cut loose to do my own, the clues were there for all to see as I bounced down the stairs in my running kit.

Arriving at Shoreham public car park I was off and out by 12 noon to hit the trails and immediately became aware that the path I had chosen for the outward journey was through a field full of cows, often called badgers on these night runs as a euphemism as a few of the runners are scared of them so I have found an alternative and parallel path that takes us around this field without too much of a diversion.

The recent rain has turned the usually hard downs paths into a sticky mess that made it hard going in places but will certainly make it a good workout for the runners.

I enjoyed today's run as I wanted to prevent a complete out and back so wanted to join to paths together so took my map with me and have found a fantastic path that joins up two major sections of my normal running routes and extends it out .

I am happy with the route which, whilst having a few tricky areas, promises to be a challenge for all of us with the promise of a lovely pub stop halfway around...I just have to do the run again this time with some great people.

Recce time

In a moment of  madness panic I remember that the route for the night run had to be changed when we discovered that field we were planning to run over was deeply ploughed and not the comfiest thing to run over. With that in mind I have decided to run the route during Saturday daytime just to check it is all the same and no surprise changes have been made.

One thing I know that will not have changed is the "water feature" which I am looking forward to showing the pack. From what I can see from my Facebook Event Page there are about 13 people confirmed with a few promised offline so it could potentially be a big pack hence why I want to get it right. So with military precision the plans are set for family duties and in between their exploits I will be able to escape for a quick 8 mile reconnaissance  cross country and may even pop in for a quick half of cider at the turn around point :o)

Tomorrow promises to be a fun day of running and I can't wait.

Show me your war-face

I have had a very stressful week both physically and mentally and having missed my run at the club on Tuesday was desperate to have one tonight just to say my training plans were back on track.

Great aspiration but after I had fallen asleep on the sofa and it took a great amount of will to get up and put some kit on and having done so remembered that some of my club were meeting at the track for their marathon training. I thought I would run up there and have a look at them go through their paces and maybe join in for a  few laps but I had to get my skates on.

On my arrival there they were, all warmed up and ready to do 4 x 1km reps, I scuttled across the track and had just got to the start line when someone shouted "GO" and they shot off, I didn't follow....

I happily watched the runners go by at their different paces, I would join in on the shoulder of one of them, do a lap and then stop doing it for various people which I found quite therapeutic getting me out of my self-imposed depression. I stopped everso often and you could see that the runners were getting tired as the lactic acid started to build up ....they were getting war-faces very much like mine froma previous post.

I enjoyed tonight both from my comfortable 11 mile run and the opportunity to watch the others go through their paces

With looks like this...

I had to laugh at this still taken from a video from Rob a.k.a ultrabobban during the recent Winter Tanners. People sometimes say I look hard/angry/grumpy but I was actually really enjoying myself....thousands would disagree if they looked at this picture though!

Change of plans

It is now Wednesday and I haven't run since Sunday's 30 miler in Leatherhead, sounds bad but that on the surface equates to just one run of 12 miles at the club. However it means that if I am to keep this training regime up I will have to make it up somewhere in the week. The frustrating thing is on Monday I felt absolutely great apart from a little twinge in the calf, Tuesday I was recovered and now Wednesday I am full of beans if not a little tired from two evenings worth of teaching.

So what is going to happen to the training?  This is a difficult one as I am going to have to do 4 runs this week on the remaining days adding up to about 50 miles, I hate making training plan claims but I better do it now so as to get some motivation.

Lone Wolf

Time to grow up and start bringing in some coin of the realm for the Delicate Mrs S to spend on my behalf. Tuesday evenings have always been my running club evening, fixed in the calendar, set in stone but not for the next 4 weeks as I have been awarded two teaching contracts at the university one on Tuesday and the other on Wednesday evening.

I love my running and equally love my teaching (my second job) but something has to pay for the running shoes, races and equipment. Now it will be a matter of reviewing training plans as Tuesday is a very important easy/recovery run day...will Monday evening be its replacement? I will have to think about it for a bit, this is an example of a trial and tribulations of a long distance runner.

Winter Tanners 2012 - Race Report

It was at 6.45 am when we arrived in the municipal car park at Leatherhead, Surrey completely deserted apart from about five cars and some human activity of people setting up tables and maps...we were way too early and it was -3 centigrade. George and I cracked open our flasks and quietly drank a warm drink sitting in the car watching the walkers beginning to arrive, they had the benefit of having about 3 layers of clothes whilst we were in lycra!

At 7.15 am we jumped from the warmth of the car, donned our last bits of kit and then negotiated with the organisers that we wanted to start and as we were going to gently plod it would probably beat the first checkpoint times, begrudgingly they allowed us.

The run

Firstly, we were not going to push this run, we were not there to win or get personal bests; although we had run in these parts a good few times we didn't know the route and know there is always a little sting arranged by the organisers.....we were going to plod out at an average 5 miles per hour afterall, this was a training run to prepare for the big events coming up in the next few months and that is what we did.

We were running really strongly for the first part finding that there was a theme, National Cycle Path 22, which seemed to be the route of choice. "So what?" I hear you say Dear Reader but that is the point, where there are cycles there are smooth paths which made it easier for us between 7 and 10 miles, this allowed us to hit out and keep our pace consistent even over some of the tougher hills.

What made this run so nice was that the organisers had made a brilliant route description with accurate distances marked and descriptions that really assisted us, there is an in joke with the walkers who say "Less haste, more speed" when they see a runner dawdling and ironically this was our saying today but this time we were doing well.

The first big hill

At 12 miles it came apparent that the hills were coming and as the instructions don't always tell you where you are we recognised the sandy, wide path, the sharp ascent....it was St Martha's Hill, a mount that both of us had run on numerous occasions and we knew it was a matter of digging in and climbing it for the journey on the otherside would be a breeze and after that we realised that the sun was on our right shoulder, we were on the way back.

The Return leg

The time was beginning to slip and our pace slightly dropping off but we were happy as ever but it was getting tougher with a nasty ascent to come which carried on for 5 miles and 500 feet which also undulated so it was a leg sapping journey taking us to Newlands Corner, the last time I was here was last September in the Surrey Tops 50, it was wet, it was dark and it was windy a total different day today's cold, light and cold day. We lost a bit of time here as we were getting a little confused with the instructions (caused by us having a little wobble) but battled through to the final check point where we agreed to have a hot drink and a chat with some other runners who were quickly overtaking us. George mentioned David and Rob wonderng where they were and as soon as mentioning them we heard "Oi George, Jezza, wey hey" there they were but we were off down the trail so called to them to catch up. These guys are getting fast today, one because of their training regime and two because they are about 10 years younger than us and we just cannot compete. They soon caught up and we had a 5 minute chat with them to see them blister off into the distance

The last 5 mile leg was down hill on average so we dug in and took what we had to get to the end via the same route we had done at the start, I looked at my watch and realised that we were nearing 6:30 hours and wanted to end before then and by magic we caught up a runner who was struggling and he joined us for the last mile returning to the car park in 6:26 hours which I am totally happy with beating our last run by 33 minutes...cool

Stand by your beds...

kit inspection.

All ready for tomorrow, food, drinks, money (for snacks), instructions...aaahhhhh instructions, I better get them printed off!

The plan is to get up at 5.20am, collect George at his house by 6.00am and be at the start at 7.00am ready to run at 7.30am. We reckon we will be plodding out pretty well so will probably miss the first checkpoint as we will be too early..well that is the plan more on it tomorrow.

I just hope I don't meet an electric fence again

The problem with carb-loading

Well it was not really carb-loading but we all went out for a lovely meal to celebrate the Delicious Mrs S's success at getting a new job contract. She decided that she wanted to go for a Thai meal about a mile from our house and we all were keen to try it out, I was looking forward to a good plate as I was feeling hungry all day and quite enjoy this type of food although I am not an expert.

Drinks ordered we went through the menu and I asked the waitress about a dish I had tried "They are noodles that are flat and made of rice but I cannot remember their name" I explained...excitedly she open the menu at the back and said "Pad Thai, you need Pad Thai" so being a trusting fellow I agreed "Yes, get me Pad Thai"

After a long wait our food arrived and the Pad Thai was placed next to my plate...I was starving so piled my plate up high with it and a big slosh of red curry and tucked in...........WWWWOOOOHHH what started as a warm glow went on to be a fire then furnace.....the cook must have put in too much chilli oil for soon my nose was running, my face all blotchy and my eyes streaming much to the hilarity of Mrs S. The waitresses were even looking worried as I battled through the fire that was inside my body.

I am totally OK now but I am really worried that I am going to have stomach problems on Sunday's 50km run

Ouch! Send in the Clown.

The saga of the toe continues with it now becoming infected such that it looks like a clown's nose! Last night I was aware that it was a little tender, not throbbing, but uncomfortable and so decided to soak it in some warm, salty water. At first it was uncomfortable but overnight it seems to have dried up the nail bed and less swollen.

I have been running around like a headless chicken today preparing for the afternoon and realised that I was required to wear a "light coloured top without branding" to the Test Event and so had to go out to the shops to buy a shirt. The Delightful Mrs S was at work and taken the car so I decided, like a clown, to jog to the shops in the centre of town, get the shirt and then jog back which I have done and my toe now hurts....when will I ever learn?