Finally

I spent much of my time and energy training for the Oner. And whilst finishing was a very satisfying moment, the journey was what mattered:

"Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it."
- Greg Anderson (American best-selling Author and founder of the American Wellness Project., b.1964)

Roll-on my next journey!

78.6 miles, 22 hours 27 minutes, 2 feet...

I hope you're feeling strong as this race report is a bit of an epic. However, with 78.6 miles to cover, I'm sure you'll realise it was a bit of an adventure.

After about 6.5 months of training, plus a rather leisurely 4 week taper, I arrived at Corfe Castle in Dorset on Friday evening and had a quiet night staying at my Mother-in-Law Pauline's house.

I opened the curtains on Saturday morning to see that the 'light' rain was rather more persistent than had been forecast. Thankfully, from the afternoon onwards the forecast came good, and the weather for the race could not have been better.

After breakfast, lunch and final kit check, I changed into my race gear, and Pauline very kindly dropped me off at the registration point (which would also be the finish) at the National Trust car park just near the Studland chain ferry.

After registration, Ben (the race director) gave a briefing which included such delights as:

• This is a self navigation race. Keep the sea on your right and the land on your left, and if you see a hill then it's most likely you need to climb it!
• There are 40 competitors in the race. To be honest, I only expect 10 to finish

Plenty of incentive then!

Finally, we all got on-board mini-buses for the 1hr+ drive to Lyme Regis - The start.

A final photo before the off (I'm in the centre with the red top):


Between the start and the end of the race would be 12 checkpoints. These were a chance to grab food and drink, and to get my number marked and time taken.

I had decided to take a Camel Back 'bladder' in my rucksack with a drinking tube. This contained water and Nuun tablets for hydration. Most of my nutritional needs would come from a special powdered nutrition called Perpetuem which I carried as a very sweet, concentrated, gloopy mixture in a hand-held bottle. My Brother and Sister, who were staying along the course, had kindly agreed to meet me at checkpoints 3, 6 and 9 (20, 40 and 60 miles) to let me refill with more Perpetuem.

The start of the race was unusual to say the least, with most 'runners' ambling off, not wishing to start too quickly. This gave a nice chance to meet some of the others in the race. I don't think there were too many for whom this was their first ultra-marathon, and it was good to hear about some of the other 'famous' races that some had completed.

The first obstacle was Golden Cap - the highest point on the South coast of England. Climbing up I didn't feel like my legs fancied another 75 miles, but in the end I think this was probably just nerves.

Checkpoints CP1 (Seatown) and CP2 (Burton Beach) passed smoothly. I refilled with water and Nuun tablets and grabbed savory bread rolls (tuna mayo, Marmite, etc.) which helped counteract the over-sweet Perpetuem.

Between CP2 and CP3 (Abbotsbury) a friend of Suzi's - Louise, her husband Simon, and her parents, were on the route lending support. It was great to see such friendly faces - a great boost.

At CP2 it was beginning to get dark, and by the time my brother Colin met me at CP3 (with the next batch of Perpetuem) it was time to don the head-torch for the night run.

The night was beautiful - a half moon only occasionally shrouded by cloud. With my head-torch providing a really good light, I started making good progress. But this was hindered somewhat when the ground under foot started to get quite uneven across fields.

Along this flat section towards the next checkpoint at East Fleet (CP4) I met two other runners that I ended-up spending the rest of the run with.

Sophie and Phil knew each other from a famous ultra-marathon - the Marathon des Sables (a 6 day / 151 mile endurance race across the Sahara Desert). We soon found that we were a good match. Firstly, we all seemed comfortable at the same pace. Then I could offer a good knowledge of the course, which helped Sophie and Phil, especially during the night. In return, they provided support, especially helping me to keep my walking pace up - Walking fast is a key part to successful ultra-running.

After CP4 we set off for Portland, 1 hour 45 mins ahead of the cut-off.

I was so glad to have recc'ied Portland when it was light. This helped us reach CP5 on top of Portland. Unfortunately I completely lost my bearings due to the darkness and only partially managed to navigate the way out. We took a detour into a quarry, but eventually found a road
that took us back to the causeway towards Weymouth.

Sophie, Phil and I had by now settled into a good pace. Our reaction to the terrain was generally either 5 minutes running / 5 minutes walking on the flat, walking the uphills, or gently running the downhills.

Weymouth at about 3:45am on a Saturday night was not a pretty sight. There were plenty of plump, semi-clad drunks happy to hurl abuse at weird looking sober people with head-torches. Not surprising really!

When we got to CP6 (Weymouth and 40 miles) it was great to see my brother again. This provided me with a real lift. And, with Portland and Weymouth behind us, and the very first light beginning to show, Sophie, Phil and I headed off for Osmington with raised hopes.

I stopped briefly to tape the bottom of my right foot which felt like it was beginning to blister, and then we got stuck into the Jurassic cliff paths.

After Osmington (where Sophie and Phil enjoyed a quick pasta meal) we headed up to a headland called Whitenothe, where there is a small terrace of 19th Century coastguard cottages. These are now mostly used as holiday homes. And whilst being well built, they still don't have electricity or running water. My family have spent many years holidaying at Whitenothe, and my brother and sister and their family were all staying here while I was racing. So, when Sophie, Phil and I passed, my sister (Hilary), sister-in-law (Teresa) and niece (Ruby) were all there to give their support.

I was now well into my longest run ever, and whilst my leg muscles weren't too bad, my heels and ankles were quite painful.

The terrain from Osmington to CP8 (Lulworth Cove) starts to get very hilly, and Sophie, Phil and I started to show our strengths and weaknesses. I was able to march quite steadily up the hills, but found the steep downhills very difficult. Whilst Sophie and Phil weren't so quick on the uphills, but easily caught up on the steep descents.

After Lulworth Cove we had a short stop while Phil popped and taped his poor blistered feet.

The section between Lulworth Cove and Kimmeridge is just brutal. I hadn't done this section before as it passes through an MoD firing range which was closed when I practiced the 2nd half of the course.

The uphills here were tortuous. I think this was the crux of the race. Getting through here in one piece with a reasonable time buffer should get us to the finish within the cut-off.

Despite all beginning to slow, we made it to Kimmeridge. Again, I think that being a small group working well together really helped us through.

At Kimmeridge (60 miles) I was beginning to comprehend the enormity of the last 20 miles. However, Hilary, Teresa and Ruby were there again which was great. I refilled my hand-bottle with Perpetuem for the last time and off we set.

I was pleased that the navigation was now straight-forward because my mind was starting to get confused and I was beginning to mix-up bits of the course or even add in bits of other runs I have done during training. This wasn't so good for the others, especially Sophie, who was finding the uphills a real strain, and my uncertainty about the upcoming terrain wasn't helping.

It was during the CP9 (Kimmeridge) to CP10 (St Albans Head) that we all first began to fall apart. Sophie was suffering due to the hills around Chapman's Pool. But she also had stomach issues, and very bad chaffing between her legs. She really showed her strength to tough it out through this section. Phil's feet were troubling him, and my heels and ankles were slowly getting more and more painful.

After St Albans Head, the last two checkpoints were both long at 11km and 12km. The first of these leading to Peveril Point at Swanage was fairly flat but just seemed to go on and on.

On this section I began to really suffer, and I found that I could not run. This was definitely the low point of the race. We were mostly silent as we trudged towards the next checkpoint. Phil was the only one who was able to give encouragement. This was really helpful, even if I was getting fed-up with him saying "come on now, let's get a wiggle on".

Arriving at Peveril Point (CP11) we all looked a mess - John Cleese would have been most proud of our reenactment of the Ministry of Silly Walks.

For the first time in the race, and with 12km to go to the finish, I decided that some refined sugars were the order of the day. So I had two cups of coke and took a good handful of sweets.

We set off for the finish on the last, but at 12km, also the longest leg of the race.

Once along the promenade at Swanage, we climbed the headland (Ballard Down) and made our way to the point where there's a big chalk rock in the sea called Old Harry.

I was still really suffering, especially with my left ankle. Phil gave me a couple of ibuprofen and that really did the trick. Within 30 minutes I was back to speed marching.

The last section along Studland Beach just went on and on, and comments like "come on now, the others who came through here were running!" didn't help!!!

Finally, we rounded South Haven Point and finished - 78.6 miles, 22 hours 27 minutes, 2 feet.

Louise and Simon were at the finish, and a bit later Suzi arrived with our children, Laura, Helena and Felix.

As you might expect I was very emotional. But we had done it.

I'm so grateful to Sophie and Phil for their support. Would I have made it without their help? Being my first ultra, I don't think so.

Of those I spoke to, the consensus was that the Oner is one of the toughest (but also most beautiful) ultras around. Most of the difficulty being the combination of the tough terrain, combined with going through the night and all of the next day (as well as the 78.6 miles of course!).

Would I recommend the Oner to others wishing to undertake an ultra-marathon? Absolutely!

Will I do the race again? Almost certainly not!

Physically, I haven't been too bad afterwards. I have several broad bean-sized blisters around my heels, and my feet keep swelling, but are recovering.

I will add more photos as I get them. However, I'll leave you with my feet after 78.6 miles non-stop (Hmm, nice!!!):


Arriving at the finish:


Great to see my family there:

Inspiration...

We all have people who inspire us.

Here is someone who inspires me - My eldest daughter Laura, who like all my children, inspires me greatly.

This picture was taken last weekend when she took part in her first triathlon.

Oooh, ER!

The second course recce, this time over the second half of the course, started with an early drive to Swanage, then bus to Wareham and finally a train to Weymouth.

Another nervous, on the bus picture:


The run started from the clock-tower in Weymouth:


After a short while things started to get hilly. However, my nutrition (Hammer Perpetuem) was working well and I felt strong.


The above picture (Bats Head) sums up the beautiful Dorset coastline.


More beautiful views at Durdle Door (pictured above) and then on to Lulworth Cove. Here I stopped to sort out a couple of spots on my heels that were beginning to get sore because my socks were too short. A combination of Compeed plasters and duct tape (which didn't stick terribly well) sorted the problem, and I was on my way.

However, my route from Lulworth Cove to Kimmeridge was majorly diverted inland due to the Army firing range being closed. I had to head to East Lulworth, then along a road that was open through the firing range, and finally back down to the coast path at Kimmeridge. The diversion added a bit of distance but was probably a more forgiving terrain.

I ran out of drink at about East Lulworth, but managed to find a pub where I filled my Camel Back (water not beer!).


The above is Chapman's Pool - A truly majestic scene.

The route after Kimmeridge had some major ups and downs. My legs still felt pretty strong, but it was very hot and I emptied my Camel Back of water quickly. Unfortunately, there was absolutely nowhere to get more water, so I just had to carry on regardless.

I was still reasonably well hydrated, but couldn't really eat anything else because I knew, without water, the food would stick in my stomach and make me feel nauseous. So I carried on more slowly, walking a lot more, and resigned myself that my day was pretty much up.

When I finally reached Swanage again, the thought of carrying on towards Studland Bay was not very palatable. So, I ate and dipped my feet into the sea before heading home tired but quite pleased with the day.


All in all I covered about 34 miles in 8hrs 20mins. I have had no ill effects, and feel surprisingly chipper today with no muscle soreness or fatigue.

There are 4 weeks to go until the ONER, so from now on I will taper slowly until the big day.

Not too long to go...

The Harpy Throne

The Harpy Throne - a mostly off-road route around Bristol that I discovered via the Closer to the Countryside website, which in-turn I found when investigating the Town and Country Harriers off-road running club.

Having already completed a hard 50mins hills session during the lunchtime of the same day, and some leg exercises the previous evening, I set out at about 8pm and ran 15 miles from home out to the Beehive pub and then around the route until exiting Nightingale Valley. At this point, as I lost the route and the wooded-sections were getting pretty dark, so I headed back to the centre of Bristol, went around the harbourside and then home.

My legs felt pretty good the whole way round, so all is well with the training at the moment.

I had recently bought some Hammer Perpetuem nutrition and this run gave me a chance to try it out. Carrying a concentrated solution in a hand bottle and sipping frequently seemed to work really well. I'll test some more in my next few long runs as liquid nutrition may well form much of my calorific needs during the second-half of the ONER.

My next run is hopefully a 5am start on Saturday morning. At which point I'll probably try to complete the whole Harpy Throne route 20-24 miles.

The ON - 38 miles, 9.75 hours, 2 (sore) feet

I did it! There is some detail and pictures below, but in summary the positives and negatives are:

Positives:

• My previous longest run was 24 miles in 5 hours. Completing 38 miles in 9 3/4 hours is a big step in terms of miles and time on my feet (both important)
• I have no significant bad physical outcomes - a bit stiff if I sit for a long time, but no tendon or muscle injuries
• I handled the uphill parts of the course pretty well
  
• I learnt a lot about navigating the course, especially some of the route I will be covering in the dark, so hopefully no surprises
• I learnt more about nutrition on really long runs
  
• I have completed an ultra distance (50Km is the recognised starting distance for ultras, I completed 60Km)
• I hope (expect) that when I do the ER (2nd half of the course) I should handle the distance a bit easier
  

Negatives:

• I felt completely exhausted and my feet, legs and knees all hurt at the end. Although, this didn't last long, and by the time I got home, the residual hurt was fairly minor
• I'm not sure where the next 40 miles is going to come from (I felt pretty spent)
• The 1st half of the course was I think a lot easier than the hillier 2nd half will be
  
• I need to work on my quad strength as some of the steeper downhills were becoming quite difficult
• I'm a bit worried about navigating Portland in the dark, the route is quite complex and changes from coast path to footpath to road quite often
  

Anyway, here is a bit more detail and some photos of the day:

The day began at 04:00am, after a broken night's sleep (thanks to Felix). I drove to Weymouth and got the 06:15am bus to Lyme Regis.

Here I'm looking nervous on the bus ride:

At Lyme Regis I bought a coffee, and then struggled to find the start of the coast path which, once I had found it, immediately turned into the first of two diversions on route due to landslides.


Having got onto the coast path proper, things started to get pretty hilly, the climax being Golden Cap (shrouded in cloud):

After Golden Cap it was still quite hilly for a while, with lovely views, but flattened-off at about Burton Bradstock.



Everything was still going well as I swanned-around (sic) Abbotsbury:


After Abbotsbury, there was a long flat section alongside Chesil Beach, leading towards Moonfleet Manor, and then on to Ferrybridge (between Weymouth and Portland). There were a few sections here where prior knowledge of the course should hopefully help me during the race.

Somewhere after Moonfleet Manor I ran out of anything to drink which was a bit worrying, however around East Fleet I came across a campsite where I could refill my Camelback.

At East Fleet I reached the marathon point at 6hrs 30mins.

From East Fleet to Ferrybridge, I first began to feel quite fatigued. So before making my way out to Portland, I found a cafe and bought a Strawberry Split ice cream and a bottle of Coke. After wolfing these down I felt a lot better and continued on to Portland.

The trip around Portland was fairly demoralising - a dusty island mostly populated with quarries and a prison - I will be pleased that this section will be dark during the race.

Navigating around Portland was also difficult, and I was really starting to feel tired. However, having got back to the causway, I ran reasonably well back to Ferrybridge.

The journey from Ferrybridge back to Weymouth bay was another matter - I think I'd run low on nutrition, and this being combined with the last leg being 2.5 miles rather than the 0.5 miles I was expecting, made the going very hard.

Finally I made it back to Weymouth and dipped my sore feet into the lovely cool sea:


My nutrition for the day was:

• Approx. 1.5ltrs water with 3 x Nuun tablets
  
• 4 x Crunchy Granola bars
• Lunch of 1 x Marmite sandwich, 1 x Peanut butter and jam
• 1 x Strawberry Split, 1 x Coke (330ml)

Probably a bit light for 9 3/4 hours running.

Even though I feel pretty good, I've decided to rest for the next 3 days to give my endocrine system a chance to recover. Back to training on Monday.

Beautiful little run

I was staying at my sister-in-law's at Chesham Bois over the bank holiday weekend. Managed a 13 mile run on Monday - starting from Chesham Bois, running to Chesham, and then along an ancient trade route from Chesham to Wendover (Chiltern Link Walk).

After the run, I was expecting to meet everyone else at a play area in Wendover Woods, but the risk of rain meant that there was a change of plan. Instead I had to hot-foot it over to Wendover station to catch the train back to Amersham to meet the others at a coffee shop before going for a family swim.

I thought that the meadow flowers and wild garlic in the woods deserved a couple of photos (even if my mobile phone isn't very good quality):

Preparing for the ON...

Next Thursday (28th May), I shall be attempting to do the first half of the ONER course (hence the ON!). The plan is to drive to Weymouth, then get a bus to Lyme Regis, and run back - about 38 miles or so.

For the day I need to make a list of what to take:

• Running kit (trainers, socks, compression tights, shorts, tee-shirt / tri top, warmer top, waterproof kagool)
• Head torch
• Map
• Backpack with Camelback pouch
• Money
• Nuun tablets
• Caffeine tablets
  
• Food - Peanut butter and jam sandwich, Marmite sandwich, energy bars, gels
• Loo roll
  
• Mobile phone and digital camera
• Flask of strong coffee for the journey home

Leave home at 4:15am, drive about 2hrs15mins to Weymouth, 15 mins to park and walk to Kings Statue to catch bus (service 31) at 06:45am (next bus 07:40am).

Arrive Lyme Regis at 08:20am. Start run at 08:30am, hoping to finish before 09:30pm.

Leave Weymouth at 09:45pm, back home about Midnight!

Swim, bike, run?

Today, I cycled North of Bristol to Tockington Manor School to take part in a dry-run of the inaugural BAD Tri Bristol Triathlon. A pool-based super-sprint triathlon (400m swim, 20Km bike and 5 Km off-road run).

I would have gone out for a long run this morning, but the club were looking for volunteers to try out the course, and I thought that if I cycled to Tockington and back (circa 16 miles) and did the triathlon, that would be a reasonable workout.

The weather was appalling on the way to Tockington - Windy and rainy. However, on exiting the pool after my swim, I was pleased to see the day clearing to sunny intervals.

I was quite pleased with my swim time of 7 mins, which considering I haven't swum since last September, was OK against my best 400m swim time in a race of 6mins20secs.

I didn't particularly enjoy the bike. My legs just aren't trained for 20 Km of all-out time trial, so I found it rather frustrating.

I had totally misjudged the run, not realising it was off-road. All the rain in the morning had made the hilly tracks pretty slippery and my trainers just weren't up to the job. However, on the positive side, my base endurance meant that, whilst my run wasn't particularly fast, I felt comfortable throughout.

The rest of the day was fairly quiet, playing with the children, and then we all went out to Zizzi's for a family dinner, which was a good end to the day.

Update:

Got the results through from the triathlon dry-run. I ended up 4th out of 19. The three in front of me were very fit young things, so I'm pleased with my performance.

Sunday cycle

Decided to go out on my road bike rather than mountain bike.

Left the house at about 5:45am. It was a beautiful morning.

My route went from Bristol, down the A38 to Churchill, through to Winscombe, over to Axbridge and then Cheddar. Up through Cheddar Gorge (photo) and then over to Priddy, West Harptree, Chew Valley lake, over Dundry hill and finally back into Bristol.

3 hours, 50 miles = tired back, tired legs, sore backside.

Back to running tomorrow night - over to the BAD Kids track night at Filton Sports Academy and then a longer route back.

During the ride today, I had the following track running through my mind - No batteries required!

A matter of pace...

Just wanted to get over what a finely balanced race the ONER will be.

To complete the course within the 24 hour cut-off requires an average speed of 3.3 mph.

The ONER in 2007 had 20 starters and only 5 finishers. The second placed finisher completed the course with an average speed of 3.93mph.

So, 0.6 mph average is the difference between just squeezing past the cut-off and achieving second place.

GULP!

GWR Towpath 10k - Race 1

These races are great - Turn up with your number pinned-on, race, finish, go home (happy).

The course is a measured 10km along the towpath under the Clifton Suspension bridge. The terrain only has a few undulations, nothing you could call a hill. It's an out and back course.

Last night's conditions were very good. It was cool with a bit of a breeze, and a few muddy puddles to keep the legs cool.

I went out with the goal of beating my one and only previous attempt at the race in June last year - 41mins01secs.

The race began well, and the first 5km passed fairly easily. However, after the turnaround (19mins28secs) I began to slow. There just wasn't much in my legs/lungs. The difference in pace was very noticeable. But I hung-in and just managed to squeeze under 40mins (39mins58secs), which is a personal best and brought me in 33rd out of 229 finishers.

Today I've recovered well, and could probably do a long run tomorrow, but just to play it safe I'll go out on my mountain bike - Hopefully a hard 4 hour session. I'm making some good progress with my training and I want to make sure I keep progressing, and don't get injured.

Night-running deserves a quiet night

Went out on Saturday night (25 Apr) for a night run. The purpose of the run was to try out my head-torch and to get a feel for running at night.

The run took place between about 8pm and around 11:30pm, and covered about 19 miles.

The run was just mad - running through woods and along the towpath. A bit spooky, but exciting and fun too.

I was pretty shot on Sunday, but am OK'ish now.

My next goals are:

• Add another leg weights session per week to help balance my leg strength
• Reduce my Sunday long runs to 20 miles and increase my Monday long runs to reach 20 miles, so that I'm doing 20 miles + 20 miles back-to-back
• Do the first half of the ONER course before the end of May, not worrying about how long it takes, just getting used to the course

Night-running, remembering that night
August's coming soon I'm pining for the moon
And what if there were two
Side by side in orbit
Around the fairest sun?
That bright, tight forever drum
Could not describe night-running

(Modified Nightswimming lyrics, R.E.M.)

Very pleased...

...today I clocked up a 24 miles training session in 5 hours.

I set my alarm for 4:45am, and was out of the door by 5am.

The route began by running down through the centre of Bristol and around the Harbourside. Then out along the towpath beneath the Clifton Suspension bridge. Up through Leigh Woods, across to Abbots Pool, through 100-Acre wood and then around Ashton Court. From Ashton Court, I went around Leigh Woods some more and then back down to the towpath. Followed this along to Pill and then over the M5 across the Avonmouth bridge. I managed to find about 4-5 miles of off-road path on my way back in to Bristol before I was forced to run along the Portway (A4). Finally up through Clifton and back home.

My mapped route looked something like:


And here are a couple of photos I took along route as I was overjoyed to be running amongst Bluebells and Hawthorn blossom.




The only downside of the whole run, was being attacked by a Poodle in a jumper (no I wasn't hallucinating!) as I climbed up a steep hill to get to Clifton. It really was the most unattractive dog as well as being badly behaved.

Hills, hills, hills...

The last week has been a bit of a recovery week. I skipped the long run over the Easter weekend, but did get out for two runs, an 8-miler with a friend Jon, who we stayed with in St Ives, and another (5 miles) on my own.

I have recently taken the step of trading-in pure miles for shorter more intense hill training sessions.

My weekly schedule is now usually:

Sunday - Long run (unless it's a recovery week)
Monday - Medium / long run to back-up the Sunday run
Tuesday - Rest day
Wednesday - Hills
Thursday - Weight training
Friday - Hills
Saturday - Rest day

Trading-in the pure miles seems to be suiting me better. I feel less like I'm on the verge of illness or injury, and I am recovering better from my training sessions and feel like I'm getting stronger.

Yesterday was a typical hills session taking-in a variety of local hills. I wore my Heart Rate Monitor out of interest. The results were as follows:


I gave it some stick up Marlborough Hill. A hill steep enough to get my HR up towards its limit. My heart maxed-out at 184bpm which was lower than I was expecting.

My max-HR used to be about 192bpm. Maybe my max-HR has lowered due to age.

Hoping for another good long run this Sunday.

A historic training session...

I had an opportunity today to train both when and where I liked. Suzi had taken the children to Dorset to visit her Mother. I would have gone too, but I've been getting a bit run down by Felix's terrible sleep, so I stayed at home to do some DIY jobs, sleep and go for a good long run.

I decided to use this opportunity to train away from my normal trails around Bristol. And much as I don't normally reminisce, today's training session was a trip down memory lane for me.

In the morning, I got a bus from Bristol to Churchill in Somerset. Even the bus ride reminded me of a bus journey back from Bristol to Hill Farm, where I used to live, with a girl friend, after a good day's ice skating.

From Churchill, I ran (well actually mostly walked) up to Rowberrow Warren, and then on up to the top of Beacon Batch, Somerset's highest point - 1066ft above sea level. Here, I had previously been on School walks and youth club camps, and in my teens I could even be found tearing around this area on a motorbike.




From Beacon Batch I headed over to Cheddar - Somewhere I sailed (a bit) previously on the resovoir. I even had a few piano lessons in Cheddar when I was about 7 or 8 years old.

From Cheddar I run-walked over to Shute Shelve hill, and then up through Kings Wood, past Hill Farm, where I used to live, and along to Crooks Peak.

I lived at Hill Farm from about 1972 until around 1982. During most of my time there, I was always out on the hill - playing in the woods, riding bikes, hiding in the bracken, riding horses with my Mother - I have many fond memories of that time.

From Crooks Peak, I descended down to Barton, then on to Loxton and Christon, and over a hill and along a Roman road to Uphill.

I finished my run by running along the beach at Weston-Super-Mare.


All in all, I run-walked for 4hrs 30mins, which was 30mins longer than last week, although the same mileage - 22 miles. The extra 30 mins was accounted for by the very hilly route. At least as hilly as I expect the ONER course to be.

A good day out.

ow, Ow, OW! Thanks, where do I pay?

I started this week with an 18 mile run on Sunday afternoon. Setting off at about 4pm and returning home at around 7:30pm.

I didn't do my normal 5am start because it was Mothering Sunday, and also Helena's birthday on the following Monday, and both Helena and Suzi needed (and deserved) breakfast in bed.

The run route was a change from my normal run route also. I set off from home to Eastville Park and then followed the Frome Valley Walkway all the way until just after the Winterborne Viaduct (see picture), where the pathway began to cross very rough fields that made the going quite tough, and so I decided to return home.

I felt like the 18 miles was pretty much my limit. Thinking about how to go further, I think I either need to toughen up, better my nutrition, or go more slowly, or probably a bit of all of these.

When I returned home I used an ice-pack on my knees as they tend to be the area that feel the most sore. This treatment seemed to really work, and on Monday I ran the 8 miles round trip to the Junior BAD Tri track session at Filton Academy and my knees felt fine.

Tuesday (today) was a rest day. However, I had booked myself for a sports massage. Hence the title of the post - My God it was painful (but effective).

Gina, my massuer, highlighted some possible issues with my legs and gave some helpful advice on ways to improve things:

1. I have an imbalance between my legs. Most pronounced is that my left hamstring is much weaker than my right. So from now on, when I do weights sessions, I need to concentrate on strengthening my left hamstring
2. My ITB's are both tight. Gina recommended using a cut-off part of a swim woggle as an effective roller to loosen my ITB's
3. My glutes are very tight, and she gave me some stretches to assist with this

I'll try to repeat the torture of the sports massage every 4-6 weeks, as it has really helped to loosen-up my legs.

Spring is in the air...

What a fantastic day to begin my week's training.

After feeling very old last week, with achy joints and slight malaise, I decided to skip my long run today and go for a long mountain bike (MTB) ride instead. My thinking was that I could still give my muscular endurance a good workout whilst also giving my joints a much needed break from the pounding of a 20+ mile run.

I arose at 5:10am and was out of the door by 5:30am. And once on my normal run route along the towpath, there was just enough light to see the terrain and enable me to push-on rather than just dawdle along. I tried to keep a pace that would keep my heart rate up at about my normal run HR -10 beats.

As the Sun came up, it turned out to be a beautiful day, with Spring very much in the air. With Daffodils, lambs and wild garlic all showing an end to Winter!

By the time I got home 4 hours later at 09:30am, I really felt like my legs had had a good workout, but my joints felt fine. And, given the success of today, I will probably look to change my training plan so that I have a long run every other week with a long MTB in between.

I wore my heart rate monitor to give me some idea of the intensity of the workout. My average was 135bpm, which was about what I expected. Here's the chart of my heart rate:


The long gap at about 3hrs 20mins was for a stop to get something to eat. By then my breakfast of two oatcakes with peanut butter had definitely burnt-off.

All-in-all, a very good workout.

On my return, I found that the children had gotten Suzi up very early, so the household atmosphere wasn't its best. However, Suzi had managed to get another hour's sleep while the children played.

Now, given how wonderful that the weather was, we took all the children's bikes up to the Downs - which is a big open space not very far from our house.

Helena had her first try riding a bike without stabilisers, and just took off without me having to hold her at all! Top marks. In fact, this has very much been her weekend. Firstly, she got promoted to the top group at her swimming class despite being much smaller than the other children in the top group. She also went to two parties, one Saturday and one Sunday, and learnt to ride a bike. Surprise, surprise, she was very tired tonight!

Tomorrow evening I shall be off to help with the BAD Kids training night, and will try to get in a good long run as well (10-15miles).

Back on track? Just maybe...

The trouble with enthusiasm...

...is it can get you into trouble!

Oh what a fool I am. The week following the Tough Ten Challenge, I was so full of enthusiasm that I pushed on hard trying to claw-back my mileage total for the week .

I seem to be at the point where my muscles are able to accept plenty of training volume, but my tendons are not. Smashing down rough, rocky descents in the Tough Ten Challenge, followed by too much road mileage training resulted in another tendon inflammation (tendonitis), this time - the knee (hence the picture).

The main symptom of the injury was a stabbing pain in the knee when attempting to run up any sort of incline. So, again there wasn't much to do but RICE (Rest Ice Compression Elevation) and add some leg strengthening exercises.

On the positive side (sort of), my knee injury coincided with a head-cold, caught from my darling wife. So, dodgy knee and snotty nose - not great!

After a week's rest, with the exception of doing some gym work, I managed to get out for a 17 mile slow run on Sunday. This started badly with a few bouts of the stabbing pain, but after about 10 minutes or so the pain pretty much disappeared. And since this run, my knee swelled very slightly but now seems pretty much back to normal. But just to be sure I've kept it pretty low volume this week.

Looking forward, I need to re-focus on the ONER. And therefore I have decided:

1. To skip the Bath Half Marathon as it won't help me at all towards preparing for the ONER, and will just take time for me to recover
2. Add more leg-weights sessions, particularly leg press, as there is some evidence that these may help to protect my quads against all the hills that the ONER will present
3. Don't fall into the trap of just adding more and more mileage at the expense of other training
4. Listen to my body more to try not to get injured again

I have re-planned as follows:


Also, mad as it seems, I have taken to carrying a rolled-up piece of roofing lead in my work rucksack. I will soon be adding to this with a pair of 1Kg ankle weights. These impediments are to help me get general conditioning at every opportunity (free training!). Will these work? Only time will tell...

The Tough Ten Challenge

This race is described as...

"The 10 mile course uses sections of (closed) tarmac road along the seafront and coast, a section of the Promenade, woodland paths and trails within Worlebury Woods, and a little of the beach. In parts is it flat and fast; in others there are short climbs and long down hill sections."

The race was bigger than I had at first thought with 1250 entrants. I travelled down with a friend, Martin, and we met a few others that I knew whilst at the race. This included a friend Simon and his wife Sarah. Simon and I used to be very close surf buddies. There wasn't many a Sunday that went by without us heading down to the Devon/Cornwall coastline come what may surf-wise. It was great to see Simon at the race - Do all land-locked surfers turn to recreational running?

The race itself went pretty well. Despite feeling pretty fatigued from training going in to the race, I felt quite strong throughout the 10 miles.

I mostly walked the big hill up into the woods, and this tactic seemed to work well versus those who attempted to run the whole way. They made a bit on me on the ascent, but I very quickly caught-up and overtook once at the top.

The descent down the hill was a chance to let go, only in semi-control:


I finished in a time of 69 minutes which put me 97th out of 1070 who completed the course.

My average pace was 7:05/mile (8.45mph) which was OK.

Here's a picture towards the finish:


Back to the serious stuff now - plenty of training miles!

Raising money for...

The NSPCC is a UK based charity specialising in child protection and the prevention of cruelty to children. It is the only children's charity with statutory powers, enabling it to act to safeguard children.
If you would like to donate to NSPCC in support of my attempt at the ONER, please either visit my ONER-NSPCC Justgiving page (to donate a fixed amount), or if you would prefer to sponsor me per-mile, download my sponsorship form and send it to me at the address below.

CLIC Sargent is a UK based children’s cancer charity, supporting children, young people and their families through cancer. The care they offer includes: * Nurses * Social Workers * Play Therapists * Home from Home * Research * Financial support and advice * Holidays
If you would like to donate to CLIC Sargent in support of my attempt at the ONER, please either visit my ONER-CLIC Justgiving page (to donate a fixed amount), or if you would prefer to sponsor me per-mile, download my sponsorship form and send it to me at the address below.

Address for sponsorship forms:

Luke Taylor
55 Fremantle Road
Cotham
Bristol
BS6 5SX
UK

I have a cunning plan Baldrick...

"Is it as cunning as a fox that used to be Professor of Cunning at Oxford University, but has moved on, and is now working for the UN at the High Commission of International Cunning Planning?"

Erm, perhaps not. But it is a plan. And here it is -


As can be seen, the main basis of the plan is the long run on Sunday, followed by another long'ish run on Monday evening. The mileage during the rest of each week will be made up of various sessions at various times.

I have tried to create a plan that increases my training volume gradually, and provides a recovery week every third week.

I e-mailed my plan to ed_m, an ultra runner who I got to know via the TriTalk triathlon forum. Ed very kindly commented on my plan. This has helped give me confidence that my plan is probably about right. However, as Ed said - "...ultra training more than shorter stuff can vary depending on the individual & recovery times etc."

So far, I have been sticking to the plan (early days I know!). Yesterday I completed a 19 mile run, and backed that up today with another 8 mile run - In the snow!

I'm just really pleased to have completed the last 10 days without any further Achilles problems.

I'll finish this post with a photo of Laura completing a snow angel:


And a picture from my phone, out on a run on Saturday 7th February:

Ups and downs of training

The first month of training has had its ups and downs. The most positive aspect has been Suzi's brilliant support for me doing a long run every Sunday morning. I get up and out at 6:00am, taking some sandwiches and a drink with me, and then return at about 9:00am, still with the day ahead with the family to look forward to.

The runs start in the dark for the first hour or so, but I'm finding that there's plenty of ambient light or moonlight to light my way out along the towpath, beneath Brunel's Suspension Bridge alongside the River Avon (hence the picture). The route continues along to a village called Pill, where I join-up with the A369 that returns to Bristol. There are lots of woods and parkland (Abbots Pool, Leigh Woods, Ashton Court) on the return leg to ensure that most of the run takes place off-road.

My training so far this month has been as follows:

• 14 Dec - 20 Dec = 34 miles
• 21 Dec - 27 Dec = 28 miles
• 28 Dec - 3 Jan = 11 miles
• 4 Jan - 10 Jan = 36 miles

As you can see, and to be expected, there was quite a dip over the Christmas and New Year period whilst family took precedence.

My training plan is roughly developing as follows:

• Run 4-5 days per week
• Sunday long run (building-up to 5+ hours) backed-up by another long run Monday evening (I help with the BAD Kids track night, and run about 4.5 miles to Filton Sport Academy) with a longer loop on the way back (building to 3+ hours)
• Weekday lunchtime runs to include hills work and a small amount of speed work
• Plenty of core exercises and regular weights (low weight / high reps)

The main negative aspect of this month's training has been that towards the end of my last long run, my right Achilles flared-up again with Achilles Paratendinopathy (inflammation in the Achilles area). This is something that I've had before, and looking back it was caused by:

1. Increasing my overall training volume too quickly (I did a hills session followed by a tempo session followed by the long run, all in 4 days) when my body just wasn't ready - the muscles were OK, but not the tendons
2. Not stretching properly after my runs

My treatment has mainly consisted of:

1. Not running, but doing general leg weights instead
2. Eccentric calf lowers to strengthen the Achilles
3. Lots of stretching

I'm hoping that I've caught this problem early enough that I can restart running after a week's lay-off.

I'll make sure I continue with the exercises to strengthen my Achilles, along with lots of stretching, which should hopefully prevent any reoccurrence.

There was some very useful information on Achilles Tendonitis in my training bible - The Lore of Running by Dr Tim Noakes.

Looking ahead, I still want to reach my first goal of completing about a marathon distance as a training run by sometime in March (without any further injury!). The pace will be about 10 minute miles, equating to about a 4.5hour training run. That will give me April/May/June to extend this to 6+ hours.

That's the plan, but this is a journey into the unknown for me, so we'll see...