Tuesday Evening

Nice steady ride tonight, predominantly on roads and covered about 13 miles in a little over an hour.

Quite chilly though, might have to buy some of those girl leggings you see people in.

Tuesday Morning

Lovely walk before work and a bit of a core/upper body work out. Consisted of a Nice circuit of Elevated Press ups (feet on step), bicep curls, standing shoulder presses, over head tricep extensions, sit ups (elbows to opposite knees) and that Superman thing whilst laying on front.

Completed the circuit 3 times and each set was to muscle exhaustion. i.e until I was literally unable to continue. Consequently, I have no idea how many reps of each were conducted ( not too many!). The last circuit certainly did not take as long as the first though, that's for sure.

I really find my heart rate revs up during this kind of thing and when laying on my front (lower back Superman thingy) I can really feel my blood being pushed through my body. Even standing up the visible fluttering of my stomach indicates blood vessels being charged with blood below the surface. I find all this rather fascinating and when my daughter was small enough to take out running with me (God I use to love that) I would go to great lengths to explain all this to her. She would ask why my face had turned red, why I was breathing faster and why my skin was wet. I remember standing on Southampton Common and loving the fact my little girl was asking these questions. I was so thrilled to be able to give her half sensible answers to her simple observations. In my opinion few bits of information can be more important than those that illustrate how blindingly clever our bodies are. I hope it encourages my daughter to enjoy and respect hers. I digress.

Fascinating it may be but its a sensation I still feel rather squeamish about.

Just remembered my that my Daughter arrived on a Tuesday. Nice coincidence.

Week Summary

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Early morning 10k and 9 mile cycle ride in the evening
Wednesday: Running club followed by 9miles on bike
Thursday: Cycled in evening, approx 12 miles
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Rest
Sunday: 10k

I don't recall getting out for many early morning walks over the last 7 days so best say that I did not do them.

Indian Summer

Beautiful in Regents Park today for the annual Rainforest Foundation 10k. Could not of wished for better weather. The underground was dirty, busy and smelly but it always is. God alone knows why people choose to do that everyday.

After a few problems with the rail network I found myself at Euston Station (not the intended plan!). My trusted friend and running comrade Helen told me to just walk to Regents Park from there. Worked out well because I met her on the way when she disembarked at Great Portland Street just as I was walking past. Helen was posing in all her new running gear and I was convinced it would take at least a few minutes off her time!

We met up with another friend of Helen's (we all went to school together too!) who was also running for a chat. Nicky has run a few races like this before and even completed some triathlons so it was great to hear her talk a bit about these and to ask her about her own running club.
After loosing our tracky bottoms (weird taking your trousers off in public!), and a round of photos we made our way to the start. It was a change from my usual running environment because the masses seemed to be predominantly girls. Which was nice. 3000 was the potential capacity of the run and I suspect that they hit their quota.

I have never run in a race this busy before. The New Forest marathon is around 300 runners (I think!) and the even the Sydney Half Marathon was a relatively small affair. I certainly don't remember there being any where near the 3000 runner's that graced the Park today.

A chap at running club had warned me that I would not run a great time because I would be picking my way through the crowd but who cares? Today was more about doing something I had not done before i.e a big organized race and supporting a friend with her running. Additionally I got to run around one of our great Capitals beautiful parks.

My learned friend at running club was not kidding though! For the first 20 minutes of the race I literally was just weaving in and out of other runners only to get boxed in again as soon as I thought I had found a passage through. Would of been a complete disaster if I had been fretting about running a good time but I was along for the experience more than anything. After all I had certainly not even considered doing any specific 10k training.

The race progressed well and it was really great running with so many people, I could even comment on probably half of there playlists as well. The tinny jangle of music from headphones was a very familiar noise all the way round the 3 laps which added to the atmosphere. I ran the race with out any problems, which is more than can be said for one poor girl in front of me who was literally knocked off her feet by a stray football. Poor girl. The shout from the the offending player of; 'It was an accident yeah, sorry love, you alright yeah' did not paint him to be a terribly sympathetic individual.

The other thing worthy of mention was the very attractive girl who pipped me to the finish (For some reason I love a girl beating me at running!) and the fact that this happened to a soundtrack of a man growling as loud as his vocal chords would manage as he crossed the line with us. Even the guy on the tannoy said 'Woh Scary runner'.

After returning my microchip and grabbing my doggy bag I had a quick stretch and waited for the girls to finish. It was great having someone to look out for and cheer home. Helen has never ever run as far as 10k in her life and she was justifiably proud of her self! Well done!

After commandeering the podium for a few comedy shots of the three of us it was time to wander back to Euston and wait for a rediculously long time grab a train for the 6 stops or so to meet my driver (big brother). Whilst killing time on platform 10 I spoke with my good friend max who had a surprisingly fun evening after meeting a Danish girl in a bar last night. I must get out more.

All in all a very positive experience and whilst I have no real basis for comparison I would suspect that this race ranks in the 'very well organized category'. I even got to see one of our Olympic greats, Sir Matthew Pinsent handing out the trophies. The man is a bloody giant.

Man of the day has to go to Mark! Definitely the key member of the gang! Kind enough to look after our bags, I was very grateful for this before the race but when I saw the length of the queue for the baggage reclaim I was even more appreciative. Thanks again.

Time to enjoy the evening with my daughter and have a curry. No school for her tomorrow so extra day together! Wahoo!

DOMS part 2

Legs/groin are really quite sore today. Definitly from Wednesday night, amazing that one little sprint can have this effect. Evidently certain types of muscle fibre have been ignored for a bit too long.

Must try harder!

Water sports

Nice steady ride tonight. Nothing to heavy but totally different route. Basically the same disused railway track that I use for my long runs. I am guessing about 12 miles but I forgot to turn my Garmin on.

There is a lovely ford at the start of the trail so on the way back I rode through it. Wet feet but rather fun. Inevitably I fell off and found my self sitting down in a foot and a half of water. All good fun.....No decent pictures of my paddle though I am afraid.

Groin is rather sore tonight after running club and strangely enough the left side is worse than the right. Clearly did not warm up properly before the sprint.

Frustrations....

Felt a bit heavy when we (running club) first started running tonight. Half hour of fartlek and then some sprint relays at the local Tesco's soon got me feeling perky. I have been worried recently about loosing a bit of outright speed but as soon as I went for my first 50 meter charge I felt really quick. Not leaning back too much, just nice and balanced. Relaxed and light on my feet, I felt great.

Just as I slowed down very gently over another 15 meters or so...Bang! Chronic shooting pain down my right leg. Originating from the top of my leg at the front. Bang in between outer hip area and groin. Adductor type area? (no real idea what I am talking about). Anyway, had to run another sprint but hobbled along at avery modest pace. Then I dropped out and John one of coaches took my place.

I just could not put any weight on it. It was a nervey electric shock type pain. Anyway, I kept it moving and it does not seem too bad. Lots of stretching and there was no pain by the time it came to running home. Does not feel as it should sitting here right now but lets not panic for a couple of days.
Then cycling, good ride but earlier rain meant it was very slippery. Particularly on one sharp downhill section, ay Nick? (See picture of Nick climbing back up hill to reunite himself with his bike). Naturally my first thought was for his saftey or maybe it was; 'why wont the bloody flash work on this camera'.

A short time after this, some farmer type chap pointed out to us that one of the paths we were using was not a bridleway and therefore we should not have bikes on it. When I asked if he wished for us to walk he replied 'no, your alright now'. We both endeavored to be polite to one another but it was hard to take the point seriously when he had driven along the footpath in a 4x4 in order to make us aware that we should not be cycling on it. Still, best not to inflame things and we parted company. After all, he was technically right.

So, running club was average for me because I had to sit out the best bit but I am sure everyone else got a lot out of it. As for the ride, it was great but frustrating because of the interference from the pathway police. I mean really....Its the great outdoors for goodness sakes. Best I don't get started.

Most importanly 2 hours of exercise and fresh air has been achieved when I have been behind a desk all day. That my friends, can only ever be a positive thing, even if it turns out I am injured.

Fuel

Oh yes the correct nutrition is vital! Best Burgers in London baby!

Gourmet Burger Kitchen in London is the business! Perfect after a long day which began with a great early morning run.

Cheers Max, was a good night.

Breakthrough!

I just ran a fastish 10k first thing in the morning! 45.34 (ok, not by a serious runners standards), but usually I can't run at all first thing in the morning. Stomach felt a bit odd and some stomach cramps while sitting here scrunched up at my desk but otherwise it was not the torture it usually is.

What a pleasant surprise.

DOMS

DOMS. Short for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. It is basically the name given when muscle soreness peaks the day after, the day after. Basically you wake up after a tough run/football match etc and think. Great I don't feel too bad, bit sore, but ok. The following morning you have walk down the stairs backwards because your legs have stopped working properly.

Fingers crossed, that wont be the case tomorrow because my legs have no soreness or fatigue at all this morning and I suspect this means that I wont tomorrow either. Even the joints of my big toes don't feel as bad as last week but I rather suspect this is a signal to get some new running shoes. Since buying my Garmin device in April of this year it has logged over 900km (over 500miles) and since I purchased my shoes on the same day as the Garmin the vast majority of those miles have been completed in the trainers I had on Yesterday (Gel Kinsei).

DOMS has been a painful feature of my running for many years so if any one can come up with a more fun/rude way of using the abbreviation of DOMS then I would be grateful, maybe; Drunk On Mostly Scotch? Lame Bruce. Lame. If my imagination has inspired you to waste several minutes of your life thinking of something funnier than that please add it to my 'Comments'. Anyone can do so, you do not have to be a member. I have to moderate everything before its published so be as dirty as you like. If it makes me feel ill then I will salute you but I might not be able to publish!

Given that I feel fine, I will boost (do you still get 'boost' chocolate bars?) the time/distance of my next long run. The fact that I am doing a 10k race next Sunday does rather interfere with this though! See you at the start line Helen!

Week's summary

Monday: rest
Tuesday: 9 mile cycle ride
Wednesday: Speed work at running club and 9 mile cycle ride
Thursday: 9 mile cycle ride
Friday: short run, short cycle, strength work (lunges, pull ups etc)
Saturday: rest
Sunday: 3hour run

1.5 mile brisk walk Monday-Friday Morning

Red Dawn

I am shattered. Slept terribly last night, I woke up at 2.30am and was rather annoyed because I knew I had to be up at 5.30 otherwise I knew I could not fit in a 3 hour run before doing family stuff all day.

The insomnia was made all the more excruciating by getting a text from Charlie saying: 'Got me a sponsor, they are going to cover everything for the mds'. If you are reading this and you have ever tried to raise money for a charity you will know that this simply does not happen. Of course, I am naturally pleased for the great man but I also have to confess to having the odd pang of jealousy for his good fortune. I am happy for you mate, really I am. Honestly!

I managed to get back to sleep and eventually checked the time again at 5.45 ish. Time to go. Quick bit of food, couple of bits into the rucksack and a pint of water down me and I was ready. It felt dank and lonely stepping out into the darkness but I knew that if I waited there would not have been enough time to complete the run. I could hear the milkman coming round the corner as I stepped out the door but there were only a couple of other cars around as I made my way to the edge of town and onto the disused railway that once joined my Town with its neighbour. I had my new bike light in my hand and as I got off the roads and into the countryside I was very pleased I did. It was a pitch black for the first 45 mins of off road running. It was over an hour into my run when I left the trail to get this picture of the sky. It was beautiful.

When running hard in the early morning my body protests violently. For instance; Running my hilly 10k course at 7pm can be done fairly comfortably in around 45 minutes. The same run has never been completed quicker than 55mins when run at 7am and they are 55 painful minutes. If any sports scientists can give me the physiological reason for this I would love to know.

Thankfully I did not experience this phenomenon this morning. The lack of sleep made no noticeable difference even though I estimate I only had around 4 hours. Frankly, for a one off effort this will not effect an otherwise healthy individual and I did not expect it to.

On one occasion I was fortunate enough to have a little bat come with in spitting distance of my head as I was running through the first bit of light and twice I tried in vain to sneak up on dear with whom I was sharing the pathway with. Only a zoom lens would have countered the alertness of these beautiful animals. As it is I have no Bambi snaps for you!

For practical purposes I will record my routine for the 3 hours. As before. I ran for nine minutes and walked for one. These walking breaks began at 14 minutes and at my 44th minute 'slow down' I walked for 2 mins in order to get some fluids down me. I did the same 2 min 'slow down' 45 mins later and a third time 45 minutes after that. In addition to this I walked all hills and today I indulged in a little bit of photography (most of which is rubbish). However, apart from the rubbish pictures, all admin such as; urinating, drinking, altering clothing and fiddling with iPod was done with in the time designated for walking.

I am surprised I have taken to this regime of walking up hills and taking regular walking breaks. Because I like running up hills. You know you are working your self, you know what you have to do and you know they are making you fitter. As for the walking, that is self explanatory. I am a runner not a walker, but even so I have enjoyed this new aspect.

For all my troubles my Garmin device told me that I had covered nearly 2 miles less than last week! I don't really see how this was possible but it may of been, I certainly did not feel like I could of fainted at the 2 hour 50 mark like I had last week. So maybe I did cover a lesser distance during my first hour and a half of running? I will look at the GPS mapping again and try to decide but it does seem unlikely.

My refueling consisted of my usual 'Recovermax' and the less conventional Chocolate fountain and mini donuts followed by a belly load of canapes at a run through for my brothers wedding.

Although getting up early was a bind I was pleased to have the run completed, especially when it rained for the rest of the day!

My gym!

Little bit of strength training today, short bike ride and a little jog but trust me none of this was too serious. I mainly wanted to get some pictures of where I am fortunate enough to train and get them on this blog.

Other big news of the day is that my MDS partner has started one of these Blog's as well, check him out at http://www.charlierunsmds.blogspot.com. I was encouraged by his shameless action shots (mmmm, nice guns) so have decided to issue a little challenge.....Who can post the most staged training photo. With this post I believe I have taken a commanding lead.

rest day tomorrow and then another big one on Sunday, likely to be raining so start feeling sorry for me and telling me I am mad.
Will post a summary of all activity over the last seven days after the run on Sunday and might even write out a training program!

Weapons of choice

Why do people run? One of my favorite explanations is because they probably love to eat! Quite true in my case, I eat somewhere approaching twice my body weight in Dairy Milk chocolate everyday. Its true, I am eating some as I sit here at my keyboard.

The real reason though is because you have an excuse to buy stuff! I mean Gadgets that can be easily justified are easily carrying the least amount of guilt. Spend away! Besides they help motivate me as well. Believe me?

My loyal fanbase (thanks Helen) have suggested I get some more pics on here and this is an easy way of doing just that! This might not be what she had in mind but hey I'll get there!

So, first up we have a waterproof and indestructible iPod case (no I am not joking! Mine is in a much more manly shade of black though) These are very hard to get in the UK but let me know if you want one by way of a 'comment'.

My bike, Trek 6500 in orange, the amazing Cateye EL530/LD1000 lights that have just taken delivery of (Like looking at the Sun, seriously).

Most importantly there are my brilliant Asics Gel Kinsei Running shoes followed closely by the gadget-tastic Garmin GPS Forerunner.

A new windproof is on the way but as far as I am aware that has no buttons, space age cushioning or gears so I might just ignore it for not being any fun.

Great Man

I am running this great race with an even greater friend. He is also God father to my Daughter and she will one day thank her Mother and I for having such good taste. Enter Charlie.

Charlie is far smarter than I and one of the benefits of being smarter than me is that he now resides in Australia. In my ongoing commitment to keeping this deserter in the loop I emailed him with a progress report on my training, what charity I was running for etc etc. I received the following text:

'You sonofabi**h. are you entering this with out me? Perhaps I have not shown enough interest but I am def in. Ok?'

Steady on Legend, we cant even apply for a place until this coming Feb!

Here is a picture of the two of us after finishing the Sydney half Marathon on 11th September 2005. Speak soon mate.

What is an Ultra Marathon?

A number of people have asked me this, several of whom have actually been members of my local running club. So, the moral is don't be put off of joining a running club, most people at mine simply run for fun or to keep fit. Most enjoy running but not all, for some it is simply an embuggerance that they endure in order to keep the weight off or to know they are 'doing something'. Don't think they all must be Marathon runners or are training for some difficult race. Some have no desire what so ever to push beyond that 1 hour a week that they attend with their club. Nothing wrong with that I say, they are miles ahead of the average individual who has not exercised since school PE. Do what you enjoy.

Trust me though, if you do no exercise of any description. You know not what you miss.

Where was I?

An Ultra marathon is anything longer than the 26 miles 385 yards of the standard Marathon. This is a universal distance and is the same for the great televised events held in Cities like London (apparently the best), Boston, New York or Sydney for example. There is even one you can run in the Arctic! Not surprisingly the tag line is 'the coolest marathon in the world'! I believe them! One day, one day.....

So, technically speaking an Ultra could be 27 miles but from what I can gather the ultra fraternity tend to not be interested in anything like that. 40+, 50+, even 100+ are respected and events of these distances are becoming increasingly ubiquitous.

Then there are multi day events that last for more than a day. Probably the most famous of which is the Marathon Des Sables.

What a lot of waffle for a quick definition. The end.

Running, what running?

Great bike ride with the boys again tonight but it did dawn on me that since starting this blog I have Cycled on three occasions and run only once. I think I might have this wrong way round as most experts will agree that the only way to significantly improve your running is to run.

This is the trouble with not having a training programme to follow, you tend to lose focus but it has got me wondering if I could get away with one long run on Sunday's and then running club on wednesdays. This would obviously be in addition to 2/3 cycle rides a week. Would it keep running related injuries at bay? Or would it mean I am more likely to injure myself during my increasingly lengthy Sunday run?

I am not going to decide until I have done at least one more long run this Sunday. I figure that working on general fitness over for the rest of October will be good for injury prevention and morale as opposed to run after run.

I seem to be forgetting upper body work in all of this though......Mmm.....Stop making excuses Brucey and write the programme out.

Wednesday means running club!

Having someone else organising your running is always worth taking advantage of. Along with the variety that it usually offers, running club is always time well spent. Lots of new faces over the last few weeks which is awesome.
The darker nights are definitely upon us now and that restricts us to running around the town and through various housing estates. Great fitness work tonight, all speed sessions of various duration some on the flat some up hill. Performed pretty well compared to some of the new faces which is always pleasing, but I am definitely lacking a bit of raw pace that I am use to being able to turn on. I think is to be expected after training for a Marathon. Perhaps in a couple of years I can try for a quick 100meter time! Perhaps not, I don't think the lycra would show me in a favourable light. Speaking of which, what is going on with male triathletes outfits? Crop tops? Any way, I am straying off the point.

The last of the hill reps brought with them those uncomfortable but satisfying stomach pains that signal a bit of effort. All in all running club went on for a little over an hour and around 5.5 miles was covered.
I even hopped on the bike after that and did the 9 mile loop that I covered last night. Tonight though I covered it in a fairly swift time of 42mins. I would like to claim that this is because the others were not with me to slow me down but more likely that I was scared of the dark and was racing to get home.

So there you have it, after hosing the bike down (do we still have a ban?). I mean, sponging the bike down I am sat here with a bottle of 'Recovermax' and some frustration at my GPS running gadget not working properly. There you have it, now its showertime and then dinner at around 11. Brilliant.

Training session

A cheeky little bike ride today I think, along the disused railway that runs along side this charming town I live in. There will be a couple of us and should be fun. About 50/50 on/off road and will take around 50mins to cover the 9 miles. Might even get a snap or two.

It looks like the training program might not materialize tonight either.

And another thing, if you are reading this please take a look at the 'links' you have no idea how long it took me to figure out how to add them. Even though the instructions were very good.

Update at 11pm: Lovely bike ride but the pics were worse than my writing so I will spare you.

The discipline of the long distance runner

If I am being honest and I would prefer not to be........
I love the fact that people believe me to be mad when I say that I like running and keeping fit. Or better still, that they think I am an amazing person for getting out for a run with some regularity. I don't mean the usual; 'A Marathon, are you mad?' comment, because after all I have only ever run one Marathon. I mean the general, 'oh I could never do that' or 'I am useless' and 'you are so good'. I suspect any one who exercises feels a little smug about it, I know I sure as hell do!

Trouble is, the winter is coming and I know that getting off the sofa will be a major obstacle, which is why sitting down and writing out my training program's for the Tring2Town Ultra Marathon is vital. Oh yes, self discipline was all important last night. I made sure I had nothing else to do and then bang I would steal a few bits from my previous Marathon program (all of which was stolen from some dude on the net), but being careful to build the big Sunday run up in the right increments and voila! All done! Yep, people are right to admire my reserve when it comes to my unswerving focus for all things fitness related.

However, I kind of managed to lose an entire evening doing something else. Something so important that I have already forgotten all about it. Oh yes, Self discipline will get me through this one.

As soon as I have actually written it I will post it on here and my vast readership can bore themselves silly reading it. Incidentally I think that even the few people I have mentioned this new blog to have not even read it. Still cant blame them, they must think I am mad.

First entry

A minor miracle has come to pass, I have set up a blog! I am told this site is the best and easiest one to use but some of it still seems a little less than straight forward. No doubt that is down to me being useless with computers.

However, this blog is to be about Fitness training. More specifically my training over the coming 2+ years that will finally see me running across the Sahara Desert, Morocco. Dont ask why, becasue I know I would sound daft if I said; 'those who ask the question will never understand, those who know simply feel the answer'. That is obviuosly a completely stolen quote and one which is slightly untrue in my opinion. I believe that even complete couch potatoes have in them the capacity to fall in love with exercise. And from there, the sky is the limit!

Anyway, first off I should warn you that I have no experience of writing and have only ever kept a diary once before and that was about 10 years ago and that did not last very long. So there you have it, I have never even written consistantly in private so forgive these public ramblings! I reallly do have no idea about grammer and where all the little dots, commas colons etc live. So, sorry in advance.

Right then. If you have not already moved on to the next Blog then its time to get the task in hand. Running. I am on a rest day today after running a steady but challenging 18miles yesterday. This is the first serious long run I have undertaken since running the New Forest Marathon almost exactly a Month ago on the 17th of September (It was a bloody disaster by the way-running my first Marathon with a chest infection was always going to hurt).
I am still enjoying the benefits of the fitness that I gained whilst training for the Marathon and after a very relaxed Month (first two weeks of which I did not run at all) I am getting back into a more organised training regime. Well, I will be just as soon as I sit down and write out the training programme. I really must do that tonight!
Yesterdays run was a bit of a first for me and involved doing things completely differently i.e instead of knowing what distance I was going to run and then trying to run it as quickly as possible I ran out from my house for an hour and a half and then made my way back. But more importantly I made a point of following advice I had read from more experienced Ultra runners.....I walked! Thats right! 1 minute out of every ten was spent walking. The idea is to save your self for the distance. I was dreading this but I actually loved it. Obviously the walking slows down your overall pace but it also helped me to tune my self in to how I was running. Quite a nice surprise as I expected to find it frustrating as opposed to productive. Oh yes, I had a light rucksack on as well with warm clothes, water and some music. I have never really fancied running with earphones before but I could not help but remember some of the truly dull recoverey runs I had done as part of my Marathon preparation. hence it came to pass and I have to say I think recent research suggesting you exercise better to music might be right! So, after a little over three hours of running I still wanted make the most of the sunshine and went out on my bike for an hour before having a shower and then binge eating on Roast Beef!

You might be wondering why I am already thinking about training for an event that is over 2 years away. Although it is some way off in the future I want to make sure I do it properly. I previously entered the Marathon Des Sables several years ago shortly after my Daughter arrived when I was still at University. Whilst traning progressed well at first I managed to injure myself long before I even boarded the plane to Morocco. 2009 is the earliest event that I can apply for and so I figured that if I was serious I should use that time to train and gain experience of Ultra Marathons. A brilliant bonus to all this is having over 2 years to raise money for Marie Curie Cancer Care as well.

And so the first Ultra event has been entered, its called the Tring2Town and it is being held on the 27th of January 2007. The start line is perhaps not surprisingly in Tring, Hertfordshire and the finish is 45 Miles down the Grand Union Canal in London Town. Little Venice to be precise.

So, as I sit here with sore legs from yesterday I must log off to write out a traning program that will help ensure success at the end of January.

Details of how you can contribute to Marie Curie Cancer Care (Registered Charity No.207994) through my efforts will be Posted imminently. I am waiting for them to issue me an account and then I will be up and running (pun intended. hilarious). Thanks for all your help so far Karen.