Back from Holiday and needing to train harder.

19/05/2011 - Well Cuba was great.  Been back a couple for weeks but I've been too busy to post anything - sorry.  SO how was Cuba? Well......

Holiday started with a coffee and a breakfast followed by champagne in Virgins lovely first class lounge.  Then continued, once boarded, on the 9 hour flight to Havanna (a bottle of Moet helped get us through it).  We landed in Havannah in the early evening but were all too tired to really enjoy the city so we had an hours walk around the main central square, an evening meal and then off to bed.  Next day it was up early and off to a small local airport for the one hour flight over to Cayo Coco.  This was not too bad but finding that our hotel room was not ready when we got there was.  Anyway by late afternoon we're finally settled in the hotel with a pleasent view of the sea.

Finally in the room

So now the holiday begins.  I'd planned to be very active during this holiday; pleanty of runs and making use of the hotel gym.  What I'd not planned for was just how hot it was.  The last two years I'd been too Mauritius in April so while it was in the hight 70's early 80's Cuba was in the high 80's and early 90's.  I managed in total 4 runs during the two weeks there and they were very slow and completed in the morning before it got stupidly hot.  Even then I'd return drenched in sweat.  Still the routes outside the hotel were nice enough.

Plenty of places to run

I tried the gym once and it was a bit of a hole so I returned only once more before giving it up as a bad job.  So improving my fitness was not going to be the "theme" of this holiday so instead I got stuck into the all inclusive food and alcohol.  Easy to do when it's sooo hot and this is the view from the bar:

View from the bar

As you can guess my plan to come back fitter than I went was in tatters.  My wife took a picture of me and looking at it I've decided that the camera's added oooo two stone :-(.  I decided that as soon as I get home it's back to the training otherwise I'll never make it round the TR24 in July.  For anyone with the stomach for it here's a picture of me on the beach:

Is black and white slimming?

Now I'll not bore you with the detail of my weeks on the beach other than to say it was very nice.  Eventually all good things must end so it was back to the airport and for a flight back to Havannah and the lovely hotel we'd stayed in on our first night in Cuba.  This time we'd get a day and a half to spend in Havannah and we were as fresh as daisies so we made sure we hired a driver and his coach and horse for the day and off we went.  What a day that was, wow.  I love Havannah.  Got a little drunk in a very nice cocktail bar, saw the sights, had a lovely meal in a hidden restaurant and got my hands on some lovely cigars for a mate.

What's going on?

Right enough of that.  The holidays now over and it's back to planet Earth and my normal life.  Getting back to work was tough and I fully expected getting back to running to be the same.  Fortunately and happily I was wrong.  First run out, a short five miler, proved to be an absolute pleasure.  A rest seemed to have done me the world of good and everything had got a lot greener since I'd been away.  I enjoyed Cuba but I think I still prefer running at home, well except for the bloody bugs; where did they come from?  Still here's a pic from one of my current runs:

Love it!

Off to the New Forest in a week so really looking forward to running through the woods :-).

Holiday!!

12/04/2011 - The holidays are here !!

Well went for my last run in the UK for a few weeks last night.  A lovely 5 mile jaunt in the sun, blowing off the cobwebs after my Sandy 10 miler the previous week.  I'm off to Cuba for a while so it'll be interesting running in the balmy heat of the Caribbean.  Hopefully there will be somewhere to run.  Last year I was in Mauritius and on leaving the hotel there was a lovely park next door where you could run for miles - perfect.  Fingers crossed there's something similar.  When I was in Turkey the hotel had a running track, it was 200 meters long.... and straight, it was completely useless. 

Anyway it'll be May before I post again but hopefully I'll have some stories to tell and some photo's to share.

Sandy 10 mile Race

04/04/2011 - Sandy 10 mile Race

It's Sunday 3rd of April and it looks like it's going to be a nice sunny day. Which normally is lovely but not so much when you're running a ten mile race.  I'd woken up with the snuffles which considering my wife and daughter both had colds was not unsurprising. So I nasal sprayed, got into my running gear, made some sandwiches, left sandwiches on the kitchen worktop :-( and headed off to Sandy. 

Pre-race routine

It was nice and easy to find and got parked without a problem.  It was getting warmer and was regretting wearing the jogging bottoms.  Also I was noticing how just about everyone seemed to be in running club colours and looked rather like proper runners look. So I headed off to the start and stood around waiting with several hundred others for the race to begin.  I tried in vain to find someone in the awaiting runners who was carrying too much weight; you know a normal person. My only hope now was not to be last. Damn it!

Parpppp!!  The starting horn sounds and we're off, sort off. As normal it's a walk, stop, walk, jog a bit start to the race for the first hundred or so yards but then we're running. Pretty quickly my lungs are hurting. Damn it to hell.  This is not normally an issue at the pace I was running at but I was not going to slow, not in this race. 

The first few miles were hard; it was hot and my lungs were burning. Eventually though everything settled down and though my lungs were not great for the entire race they settled down enough to keep going.  The first half of the race seemed to be mostly uphill but I'm not swearing to that (though I did swear a bit at that during the race).  At least you get a few nice downhill bits on the way back.

Downhill bit - well this was how it felt OK

At around mile 4 the chap leading the race came past going the other way.  Damn it to hell.  Quick stop to take on water, I can't run and drink from a cup as I end up drowning myself, and it's off again.  Mile 5; oooo half way.  Then it's the chasing down each mile marker.  Pass a pub with people sitting outside cheering.  At first I hoped there would be someone drinking a beer and I was planning a snatch and grab when I realised that no one had a drink as it was too early for the pub to be open.  Damn it to hell!

I think it was about now that two horses being led down the road became rather unhappy with all the people running past. They kept backing up across the road and runners and cars were stopping through fear of being kicked. Spiced things up a bit I can tell you.

Mile 8 and I'm flagging a bit.  There's a small uphill stretch that really tests my mental strength but I make it to the top without walking.  My left leg, behind the knee, starts feeling like it cannot support my weight.  I start doing a sort of hoping run as the leg becomes rather painful.  I struggle along until I pass the 9 mile marker and decide to just try and run normally and ignore the pain from the leg. Half a mile to go and the legs eased a bit and I'm running freer than before.  The finish lines in sight so I kick on and finish with a reasonable impression of a sprint. 

I finish having beat my previous best by a massive 1 minute and 34 second, oh well a PB's a PB. As I round the corner to my free snack and t-shirt the lady handing out the snacks asks "Oooo was it a tough race?".  I haughtily reply "No madam, it was not. Now please may I have my biscuit and a if you could just help me up off the floor I'll be on my way."  Then I stagger over to the t-shirt dispensary and the lady there says "Jim, give this man a large one".  Actually I don't know if she said "Jim" I was still struggling to get the non-life sustaining functions like sight and hearing working to full capacity.  It took a second to understand she meant t-shirt to which I responded with "Large? are you saying I'm fat?" with righteous indignation.  She smiled and gave me a large which fitted perfectly.

So it was off to the car, slightly sad that there was not a medal, and headed off home. 

The Sandy 10 miler was definitely a runners race though since there was about 100 people finishing behind me suggests that there at least some room for the average joe. It's very well marshaled and hat's off to them all as they encouraged, guided and smiled throughout the race.  I'd do it again.

Break Falling

20/03/2011 - Well firstly apologies for not posting for a couple of weeks.  I've only done a few runs since the half marathon due to initially taking a small break and just being too busy with other things.  Anyway I had to get back to training a.s.a.p as I have a 10 mile race at the start of April and a beach holiday coming up :-).

In the week I managed to convince my daughter to do one run a week with me and to do the fun run at Whipsnade in June.  How did I manage to pull that off I hear you ask?  I pay her a pound for every mile run which she collects for Scottish Wildcats conservation.  So I dragged her from the garden and took her out for a 3 mile run.  This cost me £2 since I'm the one with the GPS phone and quite prepared to lie :-).

Taking it easy in the garden

Any tonight was the night of the Perigee moon or some call it the Super moon.  Amazing sight and so bright I almost did not need the torch.  As I've mentioned previously I'd found a nature reserve just outside the village which is lovely to run round, day or night, so this was where I was heading.  I was still aching quite a lot from the Saturday as I'd completed a 3 hour combat crappling seminar with Matty Evans a top notch self defense instructor.  Damn my face hurt from being crushed more times than I can count.  So I did not really feel like heading out but I had to get going again and there was that glorious moon.  So first things first I took a picture, stored away the camera, popped on the headtorch and set off.

Perigee Moon

Set off through the village and out via the cycle path before jinxing off into the nearby field.  Two miles later and I'm in the woods.  Another mile and I'm out the other side and scare the life out of a small dog playing in the fields.  Off across the fields over bridges, back in to fields, bridges, fields, trip, arse!!  Rather than fall flat on my face I did a forward break fall, rolled and regained my feet.  Anyone watching it would have looked like I was doing a Captain Kirk impression ala those fight scenes were he forward rolls around to avoid the alien charge.  This is one of the benefits of a martial arts background :-).  Anyway, thankful I was not covered in horse shit, I carried on.  Eventually I decided I needed to head back home and turned tail and retraced my way back to the village. 30 minutes later and I'm back home, mud covered but happy to have got out.

Silverstone - The Race Report

06/03/2011 - Silverstone 1/2 Marathon Race Report.

Are we sitting comfortably? Yes, good, then I'll begin.

Let me start by saying, DAMN it was cold this morning.

I got off to a nice early start as I don't like being late and was safely at the track by 10:30am. They say it's a 20 minute walk from the parking to the track and for once they were not lying. I popped over to the Hearing Dogs for Deaf People charity stand as I was running for them. I met some nice people there and got my Hearing Dogs for Deaf People running vest. Off to dump my bag in the baggage area and down to the track. Did I mention it was cold? Well standing around in just a pair of shorts and a t-shirt for 35 minutes waiting for the race to start maybe exacerbated the chill a bit

Anyway eventually we were off so I fixed my eyes on the shapely rear of an attractive female and set off (hey whatever gets you round eh?). The sun came out and the first few miles were lovely, bottom hopping from one lycra clad deriair to the next (thank god for lycra and sunglasses. Before you judge me I'm sure the ladies were doing the same to me .... well it's possible .

I'd had a problem with my achillies tendon prior to this race so I was a little concerned but all felt fine. So by mile four I was feeling very comfortable and able to just run and enjoy it.

By mile five I was having deeply thoughts of the nature of life and what an incredible array of shapes ladies posteriors come in.

I was feeling pretty good as I reached mile six and grabbed my first drink. Further on and I was looking forward to the halfway point. Well I was until a tannoy announcement goes out to tell us that the first person was finishing. Git

By mile 7 I'd got bored of bums

Miles 8 and 9 were kind of unmemorable other than looking down, track, looking up, bum.... don't care, looking down etc.

By mile 10 I'd got bored of life. I started to get quite a few pains and gripes from my legs and it all got a bit painful. I was determined not to stop and to do the entire race without stopping or walking even once.

The last mile. I gritted my teeth and forced my legs to go faster, boy was it tough. 1/2 a mile to go and I could see the finish. That spured me on and I pushed a bit harder. Last 300 meters and I'm actually sprinting. I cross the line at full tilt I think just inside 2 hours and 10 minutes (I think around 2 hours 9 mins and something - official timings will confirm). As I'd never run this far before my goal was a sub 2 hour 15 minute run so I was over the moon.

With a big grin on my face I walk over to where they remove the race chips from the laces of your trainers. I'm feeling great as I walk up the ramp, I feel like superman, like Beckham after a wonder goal, and I present my foot for chip removal to the young lady who looks admiringly into my eyes. It's at this point I lose my balance and fall backwards into the arms of the young chap coming up the ramp behind me.

Having got the guys number and a date .... I'm joking... I head off for me free bag of goodies and a nice shiny new medal. I then run over to the charity stand and get another nice shiny medal from them, thanks Hearing Dogs for Deaf People ... people. You were lovely as were those marvelous dogs. As was the after race meal, a bacon baggette and a coffee.

Anyway to cap a fabulous day I then got to finally meet the lovely and completely certifiable barnaby bear (a member of a runners forum I'm a member of). Nothings better on a cold day than a hug from a lovely gal, it was a brill way to finish the Silverstone marathon day. p.s. I hope you had a good journey home BB. x

Would I do it again? Yeah

EDIT: - word of advice try to remember what carpark you left your car in. Oh and try not to own a bleeding silver Ford Focus, do you know how many of those there are..... loads.

OK official results: 02:09:39
Overall finish:  3937
Gender: 3045
Age group:  230

The medals

Ho Hum

01/03/2011 - well it just 5 days till the Silverstone marathon and I'm getting a little worried.  I did a 9 mile run the previous Monday and all was well.  Wednesday I did a 5 mile recovery run and at mile 4 my achilles tendon in my right foot became rather painful.  Had a rest till Sunday when I could only do 3 miles.  So I'm gong to try a short run, say 5 miles, a few days before the 1/2 marathon and hope it's better.  What's also not good is that my daughters been ill with a streaming cold and my wife's just come down with it.

So short post for now with my fingers crossed that everything will be OK for Sunday. 

Oh and as I did not take any pictures while out here's a pitcure of a plane I took the other weekend :-).

One man, a rucksack and a can of Fosters

16/02/2011 - In my previous post I detailed my new "off road" course.  Now the beauty of this new route is that it's still has many "off shoots" still unexplored and many miles of track to run.  So tonight as soon as I got home from work I decided to go out and explore.  Now obviously it was going to be dark but a man with a trusty headtorch is not so easily put off.  I'd seen some paths going off into the woods on my last jaunt and I was determined to explore some of them.  First I have to escape the lure of the Viennese Whirls placed on the kitchen side to catch my attention.



Temptation

I managed to hold onto my dignity and walk past the Viennese Whirls but having denied myself one pleasure temptation once again wiggled it's boobies in my face.  A frosted "tinny" of Fosters let out a siren call and seduced me into popping it into my rucksack.  So suitable attired in my running gear, trusty headtorch adorned, Fosters in rucksack, rucksack on back and runkeeper activated I set off out the door into the night.

What a lovely night for running.  A slight chill, clear skys and a beautifully bright moon lighting the way.  I could almost have run without the headtorch (trusty) it was so bright.  Now up the hill and out of the village.  On for about a mile before veering left across the road and through the gate into the countryside.  First bit of the run is along pathways intersecting farmland.  This is very open and as you get further in you start to feel a little isolated..... great :-).  It's also quiet a steep climb and a perfect for training for the TR24.

Eventually you start to approach another village so it's a veer off to the left past a football field and down a muddy track.  This eventually brings you out at another road.  Quick check on traffic and it's across the road, through another gate and into the darkness.  Here's where we reach the wooded area.  This is where I want to investigate but not quite yet as I've got some running to do before I tackle the woods.  First I run alongside the woods for a mile or so then it's through some farmland before I go through another gate and head up another hill.  Here I can see the ghostly silhouettes of the horses in the field.



Picture taken of the field on a previous run

So I do a circuit of the field, underneath the power lines that buzz and crackle quiet alarmingly as I run under them.  I'm lucky to keep my feet as it's quite muddy in parts.  Eventually I heading back through the farmyard and once again I'm nearing the woods.  So far I've run just over 8k over paths, road, mud and grass and decide nows about the time for a beer.  There's a picknic area next to the woods and in the middle of nowehere, comparatively.  So pop through the trees and settle on one the benches.  The moon is so bright I can turn off the headtorch, (can I just assume that you'll appreciate how trusty it is from now on? Good), rifle through the rucksack and exhume the can of Fosters.  I was surprize that it didn't spray everywhere when opened and took my first sipping with an appreciating sigh.  Oh it was good, not Peroni good but still.

Party in the Park?

Beer consumed I was ready to commense my voyage of discovery.  Not since the days of Magellan, Cook, Shackleton has one man so capture the spirit of adventurous exploration.  So to the woods.

The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Again it's running along side the woods until I spot the entrance and path into the woods I'd seen previously.  It's pitch black with the trees blocking out the light from the moon.  I jinx into the opening in the trees and set off down the path.  I have to adjust the angle of the head of the headtorch so that it illuminates the floor less and the branches more.  While this makes it much harder to see where my feet are landing at least I can see the branches that threaten to snatch and claw at my face.  As I get deeper into the woods the view in front of me, as I run along, brings to mind many a horror film.  Am I a soon to be victim watched by some evil predator.  The feeling that a werewolf or perhaps a bunch of loonies ala Severance are hunting me down impinges on the mind. I'm loving it. 

I come to a fork in the path.  Which one to take.  One looks like it heads back to civilisation, the other goes deeper.  I take the deeper path.  I've not had this much fun running for ages.  Eventually I pass a farmhouse in the woods.   At first I'm tempted to see of the walls are made of gingerbread but I decide I can do without the calories and press on.  And on.  Suddenly I break through into moonlight and into a muddy track across some fields. 

A mile or so later I'm at a large gate.  From here I can see the village where I live which was a nice surprize as up to that point I'd lost all sense of direction.  So with quiet a bit of reluctance, I could have easily have turned round and headed back into the woods, I headed home.   15 minutes later and I'm home and in the light I can see I'm covered in mud and my lovely Nike's are encrusted. Best run of the year, 8 miles of sheer bliss going to go for 10 at the weekend.