Cheaper than smoking?

During a conversation with the great Charles Stockford yesterday he suggested that I have recently spent a lot of money on equipment and fitness over the last few months. The conversation came about because I said I needed to get a headlamp for the Ultra at the end of Jan. He suggested the cheapest possible one I could find and be done with it. I attack things a little differently. I suspect this is because I have a less active social life than I should but never the less I still derive some satisfaction from researching the best bit of kit to buy and knowing that I have done all I can to avoid problems arising when you least need them.

More honestly though I just love my toys.

So this got me thinking, how much had I spent on fitness? Firstly, I should say that I believe beyond any doubt that spending vast amounts to obtain fitness is definitely not the proper way of looking at things. Internal desire to achieve fitness is the most important factor.

I totted up everything I have spent on equipment this year, I also included the cost of race entries as well. It totalled around £1300. A good chunk of which was on a bike. Give or take a few pence we are looking at £3.50 a day. I was strangely quite proud of this and was willing myself to remember other things that I had bought to swell the total. Anything that contributes to being aware of ones body is a truly wonderful thing and I can honestly say that all of this money has been spent on highly useful items. My life would not of ended without them but my training and therefore my life is definitely improved for having purchased them.

The question I often ask is 'how many pints would that of bought?' Lets see, call it £3 a pint and we come in with 433 pints. I like a drink but if I was to look back on a year and see that I had spent £1300 on lager I would be less pleased with myself than if it had been spent it on exercise. If I was a smoker averaging 20 a day at £5 a pack that would total a whopping £1825. Now, I know a couple of supremely fit people who enjoy drinking and occasionally smoking I might even be one of them but spending the best part of £2k on fags must break even the most devoted smokers heart-perhaps literally. Wow! See what I did there.

Just where did the money go? I wont bore you with the details (amazed if your still reading this anyway) but consider that £450 went on a bike (I will have this for several years) and around £250 has been spent on running shoes and you will see that £1300 is not that extreme for a whole year. Frankly, any financial investment made with a view to exploring this remarkable body of ours is a sound one. But realistically, unless you are preparing for an Ultra Marathon, Adventure Race or Expedition of some kind then most of what I have bought is utterly pointless.

Another thought worth considering is this; how much does your average person spend on Gym Membership? Around £50 a month not including joining fee. Even I know that totals £600 a year and there you have it £600 well spent! Perhaps not, if you only go to the gym once a week or once a fortnight.....can you see where gyms make there money? Yep, from people who clear there conscience by deciding to join a gym in January and then hardly ever attend. I know a few people who have managed Gyms and they will openly admit that the bulk of there money is made from the people who join and rarely attend.

Keep it simple and try to find something you enjoy. I bet you a thousand pounds that if you did sit ups and press ups to exhaustion before going for a 30 minute run 3 times a week then you would be fitter than at least 95% of all Gym members in the UK. Seriously. All for the price of a pair of running shoes. You will probably have a little more money to spend on tobacco and alcohol as well. Just a thought.

I wont do it now but I will make a full list of all the equipment I have used and purchased over the last year at some point in the future.

If you have read this then make a comment because I will be amazed if you have.

Crappy weather dude

Running in the greyness of the day I really cursed my self for ignoring my alarm clock at 5am. It was dry then and it would be over and done with by any normal persons breakfast time. Still, it did give me a chance to test out my new waterproof and I am pleased to announce its waterproof. The wind and rain were a real ball-ache at one point as it was kind of pushing the sweat into one of my right eye and that stung. I had to run at least a mile winking like a pirate....perhaps I should of just purchased an eye patch? Shut up Bruce.

I felt today. I had a backpack on and I have not run for a few days but even so I only covered 15 miles and I really felt it. Admittedly I pushed hard for the last 3/4 miles but I am surprised how sore my legs are this evening. I think I needed to get them working after being a little slack recently, I am sure they just needed to be shocked back into life. If they feel this bad after my next run then I will begin to panic about the impending Ultra.

Have I mentioned that I am entering one of Britain's utterly stupid eccentric races on New years Eve? Well, I am! The Mad Maldon Mud Race will have my good my self there this year and I hope to be able to post some jolly funny Photos straight after the event.

By for now legends and if i dont post again before hand: All the best for 2007!

You dont see that everyday.

Rather pleasant day today, did absolutely no work not even the much needed tidying of my desk I had intended. My daughter had not been well in the night and so jumped in with me. I love this, makes me feel like a Dad and reminds me of getting up in the night when she was little. All together....Ahhhhhhhhhhh. So basically, this resulted in a rather splendid lay-in. Bravo Jeeves.

Half a stone was accumulated over the last week or so and the fight back began today. My daughter and I cooked our favourite lunch. Known simply to us as 'Peppers'. A recipe first proliferated on these shores by the proprietor of the famous Walnut Tree restaurant. They consist of Tomatoes, Garlic, Anchovies and Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Delicious. Nice bit of real bread and voila, you have the perfect lunch. A bit more sunny Italy that cold English Winter but most nutritious. See picture.

This was followed by a cycle ride with Big Brother Al and Nick. Beautiful clear day in our neck of the woods and Nick was keen to head out in the daylight but wanted to ensure a post sundown return. This is not because he did not want the world to see him wearing silly tights but because he wanted to test his new super bright bike light! I was keen to see it as well!

All was going well and I took some beautiful wintry pictures of the countryside but just as the sun was dipping below the horizon for the one of last times of the year we had a bit of an incident.

Nick somehow got a twig caught in his rear spokes and this banged into his rear derailleur and subsequently came to rest against the frame of the bike thus locking up his rear wheel. Or this is is what I thought had happened. No! Upon closer inspection the chain looked rather twisted as well.......The 'twig' had completely ripped the rear derailleur off the frame! I could not believe it but when I saw Nick was dealing with it fairly calmly I could not help but laugh. I have simply never seen anything like it (See picture). I immediately offered him my bike and said that I would run home whilst pushing his one. He declined and managed that half on half off pushing thing that Postman seem to do so well.

I was curious to see how far we had come since leaving home until point of disaster but like a dickhead I had forgotten to press 'start' on my GPS gadget. Anyway whilst the two grease monkeys tried to manipulate the twisted bits of metal to a position whereby the rear wheel would at least move I took the chance to get some more pics of the stunning sunset. Enjoy.

I estimate only 8 miles were covered in total but we did discover that Nick could definitely cut it as a Postie!

Oh brother, where art thou?

Guess how much weight I have put on over the last seven days? Give up? Quitter! I will share this fascinating information with you. 7lbs. That's right half a stone in old money! I have to say, its amazing how much tighter a brand new shirt felt on me by the end of yesterday.

Give me ten days I reckon and it will be gone. Will keep you posted.

Apart from 'some' beers, plenty of excellent wine and large amounts of food I have taken in a few exercise sessions. Firstly, on Saturday the 23rd after a rather boozy session in London with my two big Brothers I got out for a thrash on the Mountain bike and bloody enjoyable it was too. Really cleared the head and reduced my anxieties about getting drunk again that coming evening. Which I did and bloody enjoyable that was too.

The Morning of Christmas Eve had me feeling less than sharp but I knew a huge roast dinner was planned at my aunts house that lunchtime so I had to get out for a some exercise. A short but hard run was the order of the day and I opted for my hilly 10k course and I was revved up for it. So much so that I ran another Personal Best. 41minutes 45 seconds. Over a minute quicker than my previous best. Rock on. Roll on the roast beef.......guilt free roast beef thanks to the run. A few short hours after this saw some friends and I once again consume enough alcohol to sedate a family of gorillas.

Christmas morn was a real pleasure. Its not often that all three Brothers wake up in the same house and even less common for all of us to have our Mountain Bikes in the garage ready for a little fresh air. So, after completing the Christmas Morning ritual of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs we exchanged some great gifts and headed out in to the country side. My eldest Brother and I are very familiar with the route we took and we proceeded to show my city dwelling middle brother the great outdoors. Oh yes! We were mightily impressive in our guidance.....until eldest brother who was in third place could be heard taking a rather large fall. We cycled back round the corner and all I could see were two legs poking up out of a ditch like a pair of bunny ears. Possibly one of the funniest things I have ever seen (see picture) and because of the way he had come to rest i.e head pointing down slope, he struggled to flip him self over. Much like a turtle floundering on its upturned shell!

Rather poor photography skills on my part though, I rushed back to get a picture and dumped my bike next to him. Naturally I wanted capture the bunny ear moment and headed back round the path to capture the shot. Like a nugget I left my bike in the way. I redeemed my self though..........On the way back home I really raised the bar in terms of high speed accidents. Sprinting down a rather steep slope I managed to get a bit of course and this piled me into a hedgerow and dumped me into a ditch witch, rather annoyingly was filled with freezing cold water. During the crash I managed to bang my head on the floor and I experienced the rather odd sensation of my neck being forced some way past the normal range of movement. This hurt, I was worried that I might of done something rather serious. However, the freezing cold water that I was now sitting in was enough to make me jump up and sort my self out. Oh yes, we really showed that lazy city dweller how to tackle the Essex countryside. In fact, Stuart (middle brother) was the only one of us not to fall off! He always was the smart one.

Any way, that is it in terms of exercise for me over the xmas period. To summarise: two bike rides of approx an hour and a half and one 10k run.

Cheers bro's for Christmas Morning. Definitely my Seasonal highlight.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas.

The big one (35.5Miles)

I had a late night on Friday and even had some Chinese takeaway after dinner at about 11pm. Shortly thereafter I went to bed and my alarm woke me at 3.30am. Raining cats and dogs outside so dozed on and off until a little before 5 then got up and had breakfast and a pint of water. I left the house at about 5.20am. The Chinese and breakfast all within a few hours of running meant that I felt full up for the first hour or so of running. This bloated feeling and light rain really did not endear itself to me and that first hour or so was not the pleasurable time I have spent running.

I was surprised by just how many houses had lights on at this early hour on a Saturday morning, one of the houses was a particularly beautiful house out in the country belonging to a friend and x-girlfriend of mine, partying until the early hours no doubt. Good work! I hope your well and Merry Christmas to you!

As planned, yesterday saw the biggest yet. 35.5Miles run. It took longer than I thought, this is interesting because I actually know that I took fewer breaks than normal. I did not stick religiously to the run for 9 minutes and walk for 1 like I usually do and even though I only covered approx 2 miles more than my previous best of 33miles I was out for about 45 minutes longer than before. I am surprised by this because I did not stop to take photo's either (sorry!).
The only explanation I can come up with is that I made additional toilet stops, and I mean ADDITIONAL toilet stops! I did not stop weeing yesterday. It was as if there was a tube going from my mouth directly to my bladder. As an example: During the first 2 hours of yesterdays run I pissed 6 times. 6! Not little trickles but 6 big powerful blasts. I think that I must of 'marked' most of Essex yesterday with my scent! I have just checked how much fluid I consumed on my previous 33miler and it was a whole litre more than yesterday. Now I am really am baffled as to why I was urinating at every opportunity. Over the space of nearly 7 hours of running I drank around 3.5 litres of water when last time I drank 4.5.

3.5 Liters does not sound like a lot to me for 7 hours of running and yet I have never passed as much water in a single day as I did yesterday. Upon finishing I dutifully downed a further litre and really wished that I had not. After a quick shower and bowl of pasta I had to drive for an hour and a half to collect my daughter and for the first time ever I had to stop at some services to go to the toilet and then once again I needed to go when I arrived in Brighton and once more on the way home as well. I am baffled by this amount of toilet activity! I am wondering if there was a diuretic of some description in the Chinese food? MSG? Please offer any theories you might have.

Anyway, how did I feel afterward? Its a funny thing running for that long. For the last 45 minutes I could literally of sold my own mother for a chunk of nice fruitcake and I never normally eat fruit cake. However, once stopped your appetite all but evaporates. I just want to sit in the fresh air and adjust to not running. I did not feel tired mentally afterward but yes my legs were sore. In fact apart from a spell of fatigue whilst stuck in traffic yesterday at about 5pm I felt far more awake/alert than normal. I attribute this to a kind of low level 'runners high'. It certainly was not because I had a great amount of sleep the night before! I would even go so far as to say I found it difficult to get to sleep last night. A little like the 'caffeine' feeling I have mentioned previously. I could waffle for hours about things I saw and experienced on the actual run but I wont, I'll finish by saying that today I feel way better than I did the day after my first Marathon.

All of this is positive, interesting stuff to me. Even the annoying amount of peeing is interesting. The only slight negative to come out of yesterday's run is the thought that at the end of Jan I need to run 45 miles as opposed to 35. Whilst I love the unknown factor of 'can I actually do that?' It is a little daunting. I reckon another 10miles would easily of kept me out for another 2 hours and that is a lot of extra running when you have already been out for the best part of 7 hours. I think I would like to get a least one more long run completed before I turn up in Tring for the start of the race at the end of January.

Science bit
Time: 6hours 54mins
Distance: 35.5Miles
Fluid: 3.5 litres
Food: 6 nutri grain bars

Friday night

Well, here we are at the end of another long week. Today has been particularly trying but that has had little to with running so I will leave that.

Tomorrow Morning will be another milestone run. 35+ miles and will be heading out very early morning I estimate at 4am. We are forecast rain tonight and if it is still raining when I wake up then I might stay asleep a little longer.....but who cares! I am tired, waffling already.

Last night Nick and I had a great ride. 25 miles covered. Including short breaks for snacks and drinks we were out for around 2 and a half hours.

Just poured a lovely cold beer and will have that before packing my bag for tomorrow. God I am interesting.

Have a great weekend everyone.

PS. I just hit the spell check button and I had made no spelling mistakes. WHO-IS-YOUR-DADDY?

couple of nights well spent

Tuesday night saw a good bike ride where Nick and I both had big 'off's'. I went down a rather steep section and came off in a big way and whilst trying to break my fall by using a tree it felt like I almost tore my bloody thumb off. Nick followed me down and promptly did the same. hilarious stuff.

All in all a good ride, new ground covered and it opened up the possibility of a few new routes that we can take advantage of. We were out for the best part of 2 hrs.

Running club tonight consisted of some hill work and then some flat out sprinting at the local Tesco car park. We were out for about 1hr 30 but a fair bit of that was spent standing around. I have totally forgotten how far we went but my heart rate did top out at 180 at one point. Thrilling ay?

Need to get some pics up soon me thinks. Will be taking camera on Saturday morning, so hopefully get some nice shots.

Well, what d'ya know.......

Just looked at the running clubs website and last week I ran a Personal Best for the timed lap of 14mins 21 seconds. I had no idea! I think an attempt at going through the 14 min barrier is beckoning me.

Will keep you all bored, er I mean posted.

And another thing

Whilst out on Friday night I met a couple of people who claimed to be very into there health and fitness and clearly enjoyed talking about it. 'Great' you might think but sadly, no. Strangely they both assumed that I had no interest in running/excercise and proceeeded to tell me that I really should work out and maybe even start running. Even more strangely I was modest and did not inform the first preecher that last Monday I ran 33miles before work. I was truly stunned by the way she spoke to me. She said that she ran regularly and I said at this point 'thats great, I love to run as well'. her response was not to question me and figure out if she was looking like a prat by bragging about her incredible fitness...oh no, she looked down her nose at me and said 'yeah but I run 4 miles everyday'. she was clearly very use to people being impressed by this and it was a full gone conclusion that I would be as well. Strange. Like I said, how I did not bite is a bigger mystery than how this person became such a wally.

The second fitness guru did get told I ran 33 miles last Monday and this left him speechless. Pretty much did not even know that humans could do this. With so many people competing in amazing events (way beyond the plodding I do) I cant believe people dive straight in with both feet and assume you are obviously not up to there high standards.

I am sure most people who exercise are not this annoying, hopefully I am only annoying in other ways.

Random quote time:

'Enjoy your body every way you can, dont be afraid of it or what other people think of it, its the greatest instrument you'll ever own'

Best line from a song ever!

Woh....getting lazy!

Okey dokey. Really quite a good run tonight 9.2 miles in 1hr 8mins. Was not really thinking straight but would of got an even 10miles in had I thought. I dont think I have run 10 miles any quicker than 1hour15mins so tonight I could easily of beaten that! Oh well, next time

Running club last Wednesday was pretty good. Start of the month so a quick timed lap of the town and back home for dinner. I have no idea how my time compared to the Month before but I will have a look on the website tomorrow and find out.

All in all last week was fairly lazy and this was topped off on Friday with enough alcohol to kill a horse. I really should be doing more as I am running my first Ultra in around 6 weeks. Yikes, not thought of it in those terms before. I am not picking my daughter up until Saturday lunchtime so I will be doing a mammoth 35 miles this coming Saturday Morning.

Other big news........new waterproof arrived today and goddam it's nice! Hunted for months to get last years model as the updated model is is a horrible colour! Its made by a French company that specialise in Ultra Running equipment called Raidlight. Its Rediculously, er, light, waterproof, breathable and has little thumb loops to stop the sleeves riding up when running with a rucksack. It even has a little clear plastic window on the cuff so you can see your watch/GPS/HR Monitor whilst running. I know! Genius!

Incredibly it scrunches down to about the size of an apple. I have owned a couple of running tops both of which were not waterproof but windproof and highly breathable. The first was a Lowe Alpine which was excellent but sadly stolen the second was a very expensive North Face item which was unfortunately not stolen. It was Utter crap.

Whilst the Raidlight has an RRP of £130 (the same as the North Face) it is clear how much thought has gone into it. I beats the others handsdown and really does look fricking good. Plus I got a great deal on it! £50 off! Happy days!

Bedtime.

Biathlon without the rifle or ski's...

Good morning all, biggest ride yet last night. Did not plan it like this but we got talking about an all night ride that we are entering in the summer and that inspired us to do something a bit bigger than normal. Still not epic in its proportions but the longest we have done since we started these regular cycle rides. Incredible full moon last night (looks strangely squashed in the picture though!) and despite strong winds it was not cold at all. Suits me!
It was going really well, we stopped at home for a quick drink at the 21 mile mark and then headed off again. The plan was to do roughly another 5 out and then come back which would take our total to 31 miles. This would of meant we had covered the entire distance of the disused railway line between Stansted and Braintree.

Unfortunately this was not to be. After a couple of miles I heard my bike was making a funny noise and when I stopped to inspect I saw that the noise was coming from a twig stuck to me tyre and it was knocking against my forks as the wheel went round. Annoyingly the twig was attached to the tyre by way of a big thorn. I did think about just pulling it out as I have inner tube protectors that are meant to stop punctures. However, after wiggling the thorn we could hear air coming out so we decided to make a dash for home without completing the full distance. Fat lot of good this did us! The extra speed I tried to go at on the road obviously knocked the thorn out and the tyre was flat in about 20 seconds.

That was me running home. Took about 30 minutes to jog back and I did not really mind. One of the reasons its good to be fit is that if this sort of thing happens you know you can get your self out of trouble.

All in all we covered 28 miles in 2 hrs 44 min. Now, we were not going fast for much of this journey and most certainly we could of done this a lot quicker but it is still incredible to think that a good Marathon runner could of run that distance quicker than we rode it. Amazing.

Look at 'you know your getting old' post....finally managed to get the photo's on and I am rather pleased with them!

Catch up

Right then, couple of sessions to add to this. Firstly, I had a great cycle ride on Saturday morning. Out for about an hour, it was a glorious morning....could of done with my new gloves but was fine once I got going. Upon my return I had a couple of parcels waiting for me. My gloves arrived about 10 minutes after I left.

Sunday afternoon I went for what was meant to be a brisk run but the wind was so strong on my way out that I was running no quicker than if was going out for a 30miler. Annoying. However, after I turned for home the wind was on my side and I got a bit of a wiggle on. Just under 8 miles covered and was out for 54 minutes.

Running club

Worked hard tonight. I had enough trouble understanding the training routine tonight so explaining it might be a rather big ask. Particularly good atmosphere though when no one knew what they were doing. Liked that.

Oh yeah did an upper body work out before running club as well, worked my shoulders, biceps, triceps and abs. Abs were actually as little delicate from the long run monday morning so exta core work is def needed.

Basically, we did speed work around a 500 meter lap. Teams of three with two running at any one time. After two laps you dropped off and the other joined in, the idea being you had a fresh pair of legs to chase when you were on your second lap. Get it? No? Oh well this blog is more for me than you so tell me I am an inarticulate fool in the comments and I can ignore you. (no wonder no one visits this blog, I am starting to abuse the 1 or 2 people who actually read this thing).

6.5 miles covered and club went on for a little over an hour.

After running 33miles on Monday morning I am fairly pleased with my performance. I am however a little worried about a pain that developed in my foot. This was about half way through the speed session and I seemed to run it off but when I stopped at the end it seemed to return.

I was desperately keen to say to people; 'I could of course run this faster but I ran an Ultra Marathon on Monday morning.' For once in my life modesty prevailed.

Being able to talk to my daughter on the phone tonight (back from holidaying in India) and having running club has taken the edge off of a truly awful day in the office. Trouble is tomorrow might be worse and I definitely cant run tomorrow as I have not had a rest day since the 33 miler........ Beer and burgers might just do it!

Tuesday night bicycle club

Reasonable cycle ride last night but it was a little lacking in pace. Nice pleasant evening not as cold as I had thought and just over 13 miles were covered all of which was on roads. We were out for an hour and ten minutes.

Legs have felt great considering I ran 33 miles on Monday morning. Certainly they have not been as bad when I ran my first marathon in the summer......but I was ill at the time (had to mention that again).

Last time I mention it but I took my little torch with me and it is amazing. Way, way brighter than my top of the range 1500+ Candlepower bike light. Awesome stuff. There was no practical reason to take it with me I just wanted to see how good it was and compare it to a light that I know to be very bright by normal standards. It will def make it into my rucsack at the end of January and it will doubtless see service in the desert as well.

Gadget tastic

Oh yes.....its here. Could really of done with this bit of kit this morning but nevermind its here now. Running with my bike light has been fine but it is a little awkward. Besides once I had heard about Surefire Torches I had to have one!

I know what your all thinking (if your a geek like me, that is) Maglites are the best etc etc. Well, this little puppy is 4 times brighter than a big D-Cell maglight! I know! I was excited too.

Its fricking incredible! They are described as 'illumination tools' not torches and I am not arguing. Its really quite something, one of there selling points is that they are so bright they can be used to blind bad guys and the bogey man. The police/army use them apparently.

The only downside is the price. The model I just got is £100 in the UK.

You know your getting old.....

You know your getting old when you notice chocolate and cereal bars getting smaller! I took some tracker bars out of there big box and put them in my rucksac ready for snacking on during today's run and when I cam to eat one they were tiny! Literally 'Fun size'! Why do manufacturers do this?! Just charge me more and give me a decent size bar! Please!

Ok rant over. Pretty good effort today, left at 5.20am and it was odd being in complete darkness for the first two hours. It kept trying to rain during those early hours but I got lucky again and it held off. The most remarkable thing about the weather was just how warm it was. I had my wooly hat off inside of 5 minutes and my windproof unzipped shortly after that. I had to keep reminding myself that it was nearly December. Not complaining but in a weird way I would of almost preferred it to be a bit cooler.

The sun rise was pretty spectacular this morning and stopping to get pictures did slow me down a bit. It was worth it. I actually looped past my house today at around the 13 mile mark and then carried on for the remainder of the distance. This gave me a chance to refill water bottles and put some decent sized snacks in my bag.

Now for the bad news, I did not do 35 miles. I estimate 33 but hate doing this because I know us humans tend to be generous in these kinds of estimates. My GPS gadget logged 31.8 but like an idiot I accidentally turned it off at around the 15.5 mile mark. I suspect that it was turned off for at least 1 mile and so I think 33 miles is a fair shout.

Like on previous runs my legs started to feel achey at around the 17/18 mile mark and at 22 miles when my direction turned once again for home I was in need of human conversation to take my mind off them. I had been running for over 4.5 hours and I needed a bit of company. Charlie in Australia was the obvious choice, so after a bit of a chin wag with el Stocko I got the iPod rocking and headed for home. My legs were severely weakened after after the Marathon mark and I was moving along very slowly, this frustration was compounded by a couple of very muddy/slippery sections towards the end where the effort to steady my self was monumental.

Although I would normally be annoyed with myself for not completing the goal of 35 miles I am not. I know I could of continued but time was really against me and I was feeling dehydrated. Earlier in the run my mind felt blunted and I felt oblivious to the winds. I was plodding along listening to music in a kind of nonchalant state. My mind had accepted the pain in my legs as normal and it was only when I stopped to pee, drink or eat that the pain could not be pushed into the back ground. I was knackered but able to continue. I love this body of ours, its so rediculously capable.

30 seconds after stopping I felt absolutely fine. Going and doing another 2 miles felt so plausible that I did not even feel the need to prove to my self I could do it. However after having a shower I had a bit of a power nap before getting on with some work and this did not not feel very nice, it reminded me of trying to sleep when you have a head full of stimulants. Slightly ill and cant really relax even though you are asleep...Weird. This is why I rarely drink Coke or coffee, but today was likely to be some kind of runners high that prevented me from feeling calm. Felt a bit rough when I woke up to.

30+ miles means that this really was my first Ultra!

Science bit:
Approx 4.5 liters of fluid were drunk
I was out for 6hrs 11 minutes
7 cereal bars (6 Kelloggs Nutri Grain and 1 tracker)

Its now nearly 6 hours since I finished and I feel in pretty good fluid balance but as ever will keep a close eye on thigs.

cant upload pics at the mo but will get them on asap.

F*ck

Very annoyed, alarm did not go off and I did not wake up until 6.30. My new phone needs to be told not only what time I want to be woken but also the day......annoyed, but at least I know now. This meant that if I began running at 7am I would not of finished until around 1pm. I was not happy with th idea of spending only the afternoon with my my daughter as she has been away for the last couple of weeks so that was the decision made. Another bonus has come from the rain Gods, unforecasted torrential rain (even some thunder) has hit us this morning so at least I have missed that......trouble is I have kind of been wanting to do a training run in the rain. I am well aware that this makes me slightly strange.

Finishing at 1pm instean 11am was not really an option. Alternatively, I am going to run the 35 miles tomorrow morning and start work a little later than normal.

Instead, we are learning the rules of chess! I never learned them and it was my daughters idea so I guess this will be today's adventure instead!

Cant wait!

Its 10.30pm on Saturday and whilst most eligible young batchelors are out trying to meet chicas I am sitting in so that I can get up early and do a 35 mile run. This rock & roll life is pretty wild at times.

In all seriousness, I am looking forward to my alarm going off at 4.30 tomorrow morning. I will be doing something I have never done before. I have spent the evening packing my rucksack at a relaxed pace and popping to the Supermarket to stock up on cereal bars.
The first 2 hours will be dark and I have clipped my rear bike light to my rucksack to increase visibility/safety. My new torch has not arrived yet so the front bike light is also doubling up for running duty as well. iPod is charged and I will finally get to have a proper listen to Royseven's album. Helen, who is just a little bit more rock & roll than me is there manager and was kind enough to send me an album to listen to. Sorry to be so slow Hel's!

Camera, is on charge, gloves/hat are in my windproof's pockets, warm clothes in rucsack, drinks are made and in the fridge.....think I am done.....Phone will go in Peli case, so even I get run over that will live....what else......New pair of Gel Kinsei's (shoes) are being rolled out tomorrow as well so hopefully my big toes wont ache as much come Monday.

Until now I assumed that my current (old) Karrimor sc35 rucsack would be used for Tring2Town but now I am not so sure. The longer you are out running the more little things you need quick access to. Vaseline/shave oil (for chaffing), drinks, food, iPod, torches, phone, gloves......

The bags designed specifically for Ultra's seem to have a plethora of little pockets and other nooks to stow all these little things meaning you don't have to go into the main the compartment. I generally think its quite nice to get the pack off your shoulders every so often so that you can let the muscles in your shoulders/neck have a bit of movement and rest. Now, I am not so sure. I am starting to see the benefits of having more little pockets to store things in....will keep you posted if a new bit of kit is purchased. You are going to love the torch I am getting!

I have gone off track tonight talking about kit and prep etc. The reason I sat down was because I wanted to record the fact that I am excited about tomorrow. This made me understand my reason for doing this a little better. I realized that to me doing something like this is a huge adventure! Running for 6 hours straight is a new boundary, a new journey! I have a need for travel within me but as a Father I could never leave my daughter for months to scratch this itch. I think this kind of running is Methadome to the hard drug of 'proper exploration'.

Sound like a drunken philosopher again. Really sorry.

Ps. I have no idea how you spell 'Methadome'. I may be describing some bizarre stadium from a Madmax movie for all I know.

Running club

Few days late....I knew I would soon lose interest in this blog!

Running club on Wednesday consisted of hills and speed work. In all, just over 7 miles were covered in a little over an hour. Enjoyed it.

On Friday I got out for a quick 30 mins on the bike but not exactly hard effort.

Week summary

Missed one of these out last week but not to worry it was identical to the week before.

Last week has been pretty pathetic to be honest. It mostly consisted of 'rest'.

Thursday: Cycle ride in evening 13miles
Sunday; 10k run followed buy 5 sets of walking lunges. Then hour and a half cycle ride (17miles).

The cycle ride consisted of at least a dozen photo stops though so nothing too intense

Crikey, I have some sore buns today though from the cycling/lunges!

That's better!

Good evening to you all, I trust everyone had a good weekend. My daughter is still away but I did my best to salvage things and the weather was kind enough to lend a helping hand.

Yesterday was spent at Brands Hatch cheering a friend on. This was followed by a bite to eat in London with the same guys I was at the track with.

Today is slightly more relevant to this running blog. I had always planned to steer clear of any huge distances this weekend. Instead I opted for a quick 10k and an hour and a half riding around the beautiful countryside where I live. The 10k was good and I somehow managed to run a Personal best for the distance. I ran slightly under 43 minutes so all good there. Cycling was awesome, literally everywhere I looked was a picture waiting to be taken! Luckily I had remembered to bring the camera and I will add as many pics as I can.


Most importantly, I enjoyed training today. I have been a bit down on it this week and wondered if I was coming down with something because normally I am chomping at the bit to get stuck in. Perhaps running marathons on consecutive weekends took a lot out of me? For probably the first time in my life I have experienced a dip in my sex drive and apparently this is normal when running long distances. Normally the reverse is true for me, the fitter I am the more intense the desire. Perhaps this explains the lack of motivation to train? The pleasure derived from these two activities is often similar so once one pathway in the mind is closed off perhaps the other fades away as well?

Dam this kind of thing fascinates me, our mechanics, the effects our actions and environment has on our bodies. On top of all that we have to consider the effect of the mind on our bodies as well..... Wow I could waffle on all night about this but I know my limitations as a psychologist and as a writer so I will spare you. I think however that this is what makes me want to run across the Sahara. To study your self under such harsh conditions and experience such extremes must be very special.

I know a chap who once had to make a very difficult decision and so he fasted for 7 days because many people believe that it focuses the mind. He felt that he could do with the additional clarity that it would bring and so this is why he went with out food. This notion literally captivated me and I had to experience it. So a few years ago whilst my daughter was still very young and University lectures were at a minimum I went with out food for 4 days. I have to say that I did not experience any kind of 'high' or a feeling of increased 'clear headedness'.

Despite all this I am so pleased that I did it. I had proved to my self that we Westerners do eat far too much and that our bodies are indeed designed to starve. Most people think this is somehow reckless, I believe they are missing a trick. I believe in making the most of our incredible bodies and like any worthy subject, the more you know the more it contributes to your pleasure. Besides, I bet our hunter-gatherer ancestors commonly went for days without food, given the amount of time that has passed since then it is unlikely that we have lost these remarkable capabilities. With the introduction of commercial farming we simply do not need to tax these hidden strengths.

Crikey I sound like a drunk philosopher. Sorry.

What a bind!

One of those days today. Everything has been a bit of an effort.....I suspect its because I decided to have a couple of days off after running Marathons on consecutive weekends. Then work prevented me from going to running club last night and suddenly its Thursday night and you have not trained since Sunday. Poor show old chap.

Anyway....You guessed it, tonight's cycle ride was frankly rather crap. Covered around 14 miles and did not really get into it. 99 times out of a 100 I will always be pleased as punch I got off the sofa and exercised. Not really the case tonight, I would rather have been watching the new Bond film.

Pretty negative post Brucey! Snap out of it!

Wild life

Bit of a delay since posts but its not as if I have had a load of adoring fans wondering when they can read more about my exploits. 'Exploits' almost make things sound interesting!

Anyway, last Thursday night a couple of us had a cycle ride of around 12 miles and the most memorable things were the wildlife. Nearly had another head-on collision with a badger and then shortly after that nearly ran a black cat over. If either of you chaps are reading, sorry about that. The highlight though was an Owl that flew above us for a few seconds. It looked ghostly in the moonlight/darkness and I don't think I can explain it any better than that, it just did not look real. Alex reckoned it to be a Barn Owl and frankly I am not in possession of sufficient knowledge to say otherwise. It was very beautiful whatever it was, something that will stick in my memory for many years to come. So, if you are reading reading thanks for joining us!

I have to confess to getting really rather drunk on Friday night and when attempting an early morning cycle ride to sober up the inevitable happened. On top of the black eye and grazes I think I have had a slight concussion ever since. I dont really think the 'the football hooligan look' will be a big hit on this seasons catwalks. Silly sod.

Onto the serious business of Sundays long run. Regrettably my daughter is on holiday with her Mother at present and therefore I did not have to get up quite so early in order to 'run long'. As planned I ran another Marathon. Around 5 minutes slower than last week and I am trying to decide why this was. It did feel like more of a chore than the week before but that could easily of been because of the previous nights alcohol intake or was it the concussion? Like I said, silly sod.

It felt like it took a bit more out of me this week, I ate more on route (6 bars instead of 4) and I consumed almost an extra liter of fluid. Yesterdays Marathon suppressed my appetite just as the previous two had and today I could literally eat a cow. I have been picking all day long and tonight I could easily jump in the car and grab some junk......But I wont.

Fluid levels have again been watched with interest. Last week I thought I had got my self back in to balance very quickly after the run but the reality was different. Last Monday afternoon it was obvious that I was quite low on fluids.

In light of this I did not stop drinking all day yesterday after the run and I have still struggled today to get back into proper balance. This is a lesson that all active people have hammered into them and frankly you get bored of hearing it and anyway, for the most part it is relatively easy to get right. Consequently, the last two weekends have really surprised me. I have drunk at least double my normal daily intake today and it was only at around 7pm today that I could say with any real confidence that I had topped my self back up. that's at least 30 hours after completing the run. Fascinating man. Fascinating.

Bottom line is: whatever the prevailing temperature a Marathon is a big undertaking and it takes a lot from your body, its vital to keep an eye on fluid levels for at least 24 hours after the run not just the traditional 'couple of hours after exercise'.

Running club

Pretty good session last night, basically pyramid training around a 300 metre circuit. i.e
1 fast lap and 1 slow,
2 fast and 1 slow,
3 fast 1 slow,
4 fast 1 slow
Then the same in reverse back down to 1 fast and1 slow

Had a mile or so run either side of this and the session lasted just over an hour. Thorough stretch afterwards and headed home to upload the data from the run (did I just write that? upload?) and then headed out on the bike.

As soon as Nick turned up at the house though it started to rain which was rather annoying. My first wet ride of the winter and it felt quite cold at times. We altered our normal route and found ourselves on a part of the railway line that had been used recenty but a tractor, quite possibly a lot of tractors! Very muddy and this made it slow going but very entertaining. Only out for about 45 minutes but ended up muddy and very wet. All good fun.

No stiffness this morning but despite drinking plenty of fluids last night I felt rather dehydrated upon waking this morning.

Working Lunch

Got my strength training session in at lunchtime today. Work was serving up a few anxieties so it was great to have a bit of relief.

Anyway, basically the same circuit as last Tuesday so wont bore you with the details. No bike ride tonight either as I am heading to the best burger restaurant in London.

Later potata.

Week Summary

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Upper body/core strength training and Evening bike ride
Wednesday: Running club
Thursday: bike ride of 13 miles
Friday: rest
Saturday: rest
Sunday: 26.5 mile run

Also a 20 minute brisk walk every morning followed by stretching

Big Thanks

I don't know about you but I hate Group emails. Especially the chain letters you get. They are probably more annoying that the 100 emails (not joking) I get everyday offering me Stock tips and viagra. I therefore cringed on Friday Morning as I hit the 'Send' button on a group email telling some friends about my plans.

So you can imagine my bewilderment when two of those friends were generous enough to sponsor me the astonishing sum of £100 each!

Cheers Adam, I thought I had peaked early with Greg and Kirsten but you kept it going! Then Mr anonymous slipped in another £100. Thanked him privately but prob best I respect his wishes and not mention his name. Thank you!

This amazing generosity has even prompted a close friend of mine to say; "I will sponsor you when a few other people have sponsored you 'normal' amounts"!

I never anticipated this problem! Seriously, £100 is great (putting it mildly) but so is £20 or £5 or £1.

Hope your all well and speak soon.

My First Ultra

Good afternoon. A momentous occasion has come to pass! This morning I ran my first Ultra Marathon. Just! I completed the distance of 26.5miles. Ok, so I scrape in by about 200 meters but I am so claiming it!

Weather was fairly misty and cold when I first went out at around 06.30. Apart from this it was a clear bright day. The picture you can see was taken at around 7am and even though I have run past this lake at least several hundred times I still wanted to get a picture. I am so lucky to live and train around here. I get very jealous of Charlie having the beaches, sun and sand but I know I am very lucky.

I took snacks with me today for the run. This was a first and I think they made a tremendous difference to the run. Sure, from 20 miles onwards my legs ached like a mamma jamma (remember the censored version of Coming To America?) but I never felt light headed or hungry despite being on the move for over 4 hours.

I had put a bit of thought in to what I should snack on on whilst running and ended up settling on Kellogs Nutri Grain bars. Not exactly health food but I knew that I liked the flavour and I have had a few of these whilst in the middle of a hang-over. I reasoned that if my stomach can deal with them when I am suffering from the night before I would be able to digest them whilst running. Thankfully I was right.

Total consumption during the run:
4 x Cereal bars and 2 litres of fluid (simple squash/cordial)

I finished off with a cold bath and I have to confess to finding these utterly horrific. Recent research has even cast serious doubt on there worth so I am definitely an idiot for putting my self through the torment. Interestingly, upon finishing the run I was approx 4kg lighter (around half a stone). Clearly this must be fluid loss but I don't feel dehydrated and getting back in to balance has been very easy. Interesting stuff.

Any way despite the fact that I just ran a Marathon and should be feeling rather smug with myself I feel that this has been a rather uninteresting entry. Apologies.

If you are reading this check out Charlies blog entry under 'Marathon Des Sables'. Its brilliant
www.charlierunsmds.blogspot.com

Good ride!

Cracking ride tonight! Just over an hour and 13+ miles covered. 90% off road. I did nearly hit a Badger though, poor thing! For something so big and cumbersome they can really Hussle when they need to!

Well, three posts in a day are quite enough so that's me done. Need a shower.

BIG NEWS

Hold the phone and Stop Press!

The most important news so far since starting this blog! my 'Justgiving' website is now live! Karen Chesney at Marie Curie Cancer Care and I set things up this morning. Thank you.

Click the 'Sponsor Me' Link on the left hand side and see how my fundraising is going or maybe even donate yourself. Donate the cost of a couple of pints!

Good friends (they definitly are now!) Greg and Kirstin have been incredibly generous and already given the astonishing sum's of £100 each. With 'Gift aid' that is over £250!! Unreal! Thank you very, very much.

Its only been on line an hour or so! At this rate we should of cured the worlds ill's by Sunday Lunch time! (approximate forecast)

Timed lap

Good afternoon! Need to be quick as in a bit of a rush. Running club was good, but I always forget that its the first Wednesday of the Month and therefore the dreaded timed lap! In the Summer its a lovely 5 mile loop round a near by village and in the winter its approx 2.5miles around town.

Strangely I find the 2.5 harder.

Anyway last night was good with a thorough warm up and warm down either side of the lap and I estimate that around 7 miles in total was covered.

Must dash

Next Caller....

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.