East Grinstead 10 Race Report - Once is Enough

With Run Jersey fast approaching and a consecutive 5k, 10k and Half Marathon to do over 3 days, I saw this 10 miler as a step in the right direction for my training. I didn't really look into it much more than that though and to be honest, It kinda came back to bite me on the arse!

With my usual my run nerves not helping matters, I knew the only plan for today was to get round in one piece. I did but no real thanks to the course. I set off with a group of maybe 250ish people at a 'take it easy' pace but it soon became apparent that whatever pace I may want to run was completely irrelevant. Within half a km, we all had to stop to go through a little opening. Then, in the space of around 5km, we went over, I think, 5 stiles. (and again on the way back). In between that was a lot over very narrow either single track path or mud puddles 6 inches deep. Me in road shoes (this maybe where I didn't read enough in advance) meant that I was slipping all over the place and could barely keep my footing and even when I could, I couldn't get into any kind of rhythm.

It soon became a just an exercise in staying upright and finding a nice bottom to follow round the course. That's all it was. I didn't look at my pace once (Garmin tells me it was as slow as it felt though). The entire intention was get to the end to get in my car and go home. I finished. No relief, no emotion, no nothing. I just didn't care. But hey, I completed an undulating 10 mile race so I can't argue that it didn't do me some good training wise but I hardly pushed myself.

To finish on a positive though, the marshalling was exceptional, friendly and encouraging, the scenery on the open bits of the course was spectacular (I think I saw about a dozen houses on the entire route) and at the end, there were jaffa cakes, fig rolls, mini mars bars and yogurt covered raspberry flavoured thingys.

In short:
The Organisation: Brilliant
The Course: Could to better
The Trainers: In the washing machine.

I remember when I used to run

I've always needed something in the diary to get my motivation going. I'm just not a run for running's sake kind or person. Stupid really as when I do it, I love it but that's just me. I have plenty going on at the moment to come up with hundreds of excuses why I can't run.

However, 10 days ago, myself and eatingtrees booked our 'little European jaunt of happiness' for 2014. It's something we have to do. It started in 2009 with the Prague Half. 2010 was the truly painful Lisbon Half. 2011 we drove to Den Haag for their Half Marathon and then 2012 we decided to do the Marathon in Berlin. 2013 needed something a little more... well silly.... so we cycled through Holland and Belgium for the Maas Half Marathon. This year, I'm on a budget more than ever but we couldn't not do something so we've booked early, got some cheap seats and myself, eatingtrees and Mrs HMC are heading to Jersey for their Run Jersey event. Keeping the silliness level up, this involves 3 races in 3 days. A 5k on Friday night, a 10k on Saturday morning and then a Half marathon on the Sunday morning. None of which are difficult in their own right but still aiming for good times on those 3 consecutive will make it that bit more challenging.

The even cooler thing is Mrs HMC is going to join us for both he 5k and 10k before she becomes our official mascot on the Half.

This has very much motivated me to get my backside out and about 2 weekends in succession which in most respects is pretty damn poor but when you consider that prior to this, I had run a grand total of 4 times (total of 26km) since the end of July, that says it all. 8km last weekend in under 41 minutes and 6km today in 29 minutes tells me the pace is heading in the right direction too. Losing that stone and a bit has really helped! Now I just need to keep it going... Easier said than done!

Breaking my Parkrun duck!

Parkrun is something I've wanted to do for years. About 3 at least I think as I'm sure there was one at Wimbledon Common but I've always been torn that Saturday morning should be long run day.

However, being as apart from a 5km last weekend, I can count the number of times I've run in the last 3 months on one hand, that argument kinda goes out of the window. As I've heard nothing but good things, I signed up around 3 weeks ago to get me back into running but then a Ofsted visit plus other commitments like Segway racing happened and I haven't got to one. My local Parkrun is Nonsuch but I'm yet to actually get there. Instead, it was a visit to my parents this weekend that allowed me to do the Maldon one with a friend of mine who'd 'never been but always meant to go' as well.

It was a lot of fun, fully recommended and I now have a time to beat of 24:04 (time delivered to my mobile) which I'm pretty damn pleased with. (The weight loss seems to have helped the pace) I then ran back to my parents which was exactly 3km and I managed to do that bang on 15 minutes so kept the pace up well. 8km at a good pace with my first Parkrun complete. A good start to the weekend!

Back in the groove - Nike Free 5.0 review

It's funny how things turn out. Only 2 days before, I had been telling eatingtrees that I really needed some new trainers as the current ones were a little worse for wear and lo and behold I get an email telling me that the senders finally had my size in and were offering me a chance to review the new Nike Free 5.0. I jumped at the chance.

The shoes I had run my first ever Half Marathon in were a pair of Nikes but weren't exactly running shoes. Once completed I realised that I needed a proper pair of shoes and went off to be checked and fitted and my wallet emptied. I have worn those shoes or the latest variations of them for around 4 years now. Reason being as I've always been scared of the dreaded iliotibial band syndrome as I knew a couple of people who 'got' it when they changed their shoe but it was time for a change.

Nike say of the Nike Free 5.0... 'Natural Barefoot-like Feel'. Well my previous foray into the world of minimalist running was with the New Balance Minimus range but for someone who comes in 'overweight' on a BMI basis they didn't have the comfort needed despite the enjoyment of a more forefoot strike. These Nike Free 5.0 are an absolute bloody joy. The 'barefoot-like feel' makes sense now I've tried the shoes. Yes there's cushioning on the soles for which I can hear the barefoot traditionalists shouting 'it's not proper barefoot running' and you know what, they are completely correct. It's not. But that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to be as efficient as I can be while being comfortable and enjoying my running. These are as light as a feather, still encourage me to forefoot strike and so far, I'm injury free. I love these shoes and the colour.... WOW

It's like they were designed by someone who works in a cave all day and once they came out, they wanted to spread a little colour around. I have to say, when I got them out of the box and was brave enough to remove my sunglasses, I was a little shocked but they've grown on me and I absolutely love them now. There's loads of equally bright colours (plus probably a black and white option) available but I wouldn't change these for anything now.

I've run the same 6km route 3 times in the last week in them now and I love how they feel. I've also upped the pace a bit although that's probably down to me enjoying running in them a lot more than my olds shoes but that's worth it's weight in gold. They offer me a good amount of support, they are comfy to run in and I know I'm still forefoot running as my calf muscles always feel they are given a good work out. And the best thing in the world about them???? They have Waffle Outsole Pistons. Nope I have no idea either but that's genius... What sane man in this world would NOT want Waffle Outsole Pistons!

I just have to add, the Nike Free's are also available on the rather cool NIKEiD. You can completely customise the shoe. I've just done it. A lot of fun and you can get the exact shoe you want. Not only can you muck around with the colours of EVERYTHING, you can also use different parts of different shoes. For example, using the sock-like feel of the Nike Free 3.0 with the cushioned midsole of the Nike Free 5.0. Or vice versa. Get it feeling exactly as you want it but in the exact colour combo you want too. For now, I'm completely sold on my neon ones but when they do wear out, I'll be heading out to find some more. Chuffed

Nearly ready, nearly packed & nearly fit enough!

Tomorrow, the final packing will be completed and the only thing left for me to do will be to get on my bike and pedal!

This is gonna be awesome. A reminder of what myself and eatingtrees have planned for our 2 beautiful singlespeeds is as follows:

Tues: Get the train to Colchester in Essex early afternoon for a 30km cycle to Harwich to catch the night ferry to Hook of Holland.

Wed: Approx 95km ride to the Netherlands/Belgium border where a lovely B&B awaits.

Thurs: Around 80km ride following the Albert Canal to an apartment in the middle of nowhere with the only thing close by, being a bar. Liquid dinner then!

Fri: The final long ride will be approx 105km all the way to a place near Vise in Belgium. This is our base for 2 nights.

Sat: Nothing, a quiet day resting the legs before Sunday.

Sun: Take part in the Maas Half Marathon on very heavy legs before getting back on the bike and cycling another 20km back to Liege before getting on the Eurostar from Brussels and *hopefully* getting home at a reasonable hour in Sunday night.

See simple. As long as we don't get lost, crash, have a mechanical breakdown we can't fix, find our places to stay, get injured, find enough to eat, are able to run 21.1km, not miss our train, get the bikes on the train and South West trains still run on Sunday night without engineering works to allow me to make it home. What could possibly go wrong?

Berlin Marathon - Race Report

The Berlin Marathon. This was it. My own stupid bet made with myself was back to bite me on the arse big style! Luckily eatingtrees was kind (stupid) enough to come along and put himself through the joy (pain) of 42.195km as well. For fun.

At least we picked a good'un. Berlin. One of the big 5. In one of my favourite cities and it's flat to boot. It'll be fine right? Well it should be. I followed an exact training schedule. When I say exact I didn't bother with the sprints after week 7 of 16. I didn't enjoy them. In fact I didn't bother with the mid week medium runs after about week 4. I didn't enjoy them either and I'm lazy. So in essence, my training was based on the tried and tested (well it is now) of one long run a week on a Saturday morning and a bit of cycling during the week. The training was quite frankly, monotonous, tedious and dull and this was one of the only ways I could get through it and that's the main reason I won't be attempting another one in the near future.

But to the weekend. A trip to Berlin with the family and eatingtrees with an apartment booked and the whole thing still not feeling very real. That was a good thing really. Even getting to the expo and collecting my race number and chip etc didn't get me. I mean I knew it was happening but I wasn't nervous and don't think the concept of running a maraton had quite sunk in yet! Until I put The Boy to bed on Saturday night and that was it. I could hardly eat, I kept running through everything in my head and realising that THIS WAS REAL NOW!!!

NUMBER COLLECTION AT THE EXPO

I did manage to sleep quite well though (without the aid of wine I might add) and when the alarm went off at 6am, my only thoughts were... it's time. By that evening, I would have either a Marathon PB or a DNF. As this was my first, there was no other option and to be honest, major injury was the only way there would be a DNF. The start/finish/baggage/toilet area is all around the Tiergarten so we headed there, dropped the bags off, and due to the differences in our numbers, lost each other for the first time before a race. Not really a problem as we run different paces anyway but would have been nice.

I knew the pace I had to stick to and with the aims of 'Under 4:30, I'll be happy' and 'Under 4:15 I'll be delighted', I set off enjoying the crowds, the bands and the steady pace. Mrs HMC and The Boy were waiting for me at the 11km (7m) mark and it was good to see them but as expected, all was good and I was having fun.

11km DONE AND STILL SMILING 

 I was OK for the next hour and a half but at around 28km (17m) I started feeling a bit of pain in the ball of my left foot. Nothing completely unusual but I'd generally only felt this after my long runs, not during. Essentially, it's just a bit of bruising caused by the impact of a 14 stone bloke thudding against a pavement for long periods (you should have seen the roads, they came off worse).

At around 34km, the pain was steadily getting worse and the ibuprofen came out and did absolutely nothing to help. It was painful but I did the best I could to not change my running too much knowing that that can generally cause an injury elsewhere. I have to admit, I wasn't loving this bit. But, the thing that kept me going was that you hear so many stories of THE WALL at 20 miles and while I wasn't bounding like a gazelle, I certainly wasn't dead on my feet and while I was OK, I just carried on.

At 37km,  a friend who was out there supporting another runner SCREAMED my name at the top of her lungs. This lifted me no end and a blown kiss and a thank you and I was on my way again. 4:15 was still achievable if I just didn't crash and burn. 

At 40km, I knew Mrs HMC was going to be waiting somewhere around there so I just kept an eye out and eventually saw her and stopped for a kiss to let her know I was OK. I couldn't actually speak to tell her I was OK but did have to stop her wanting to run along with me. She was 29 weeks pregnant after all! She did take a short cut though which meant I saw her again 3/4 minutes later and before I made my final turn towards the Brandenburg Gate.

THE GATE AS WAS 41.5km BEFORE

At this point I just put my head down, concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other and not bursting into tears. Through the gate an into the final 200m stretch completed with a sprint. OK, more a slightly faster amble than the last 8km had been done in but it felt like a sprint. The watch stopped and a big smile crossed my face as I looked at the watch. I'd done it. The stats can be found here for anyone interested.

BEAUTIFUL

Completely surrounded by other finishers and all the marshalls and quite frankly, I felt alone. It was strange but that was it. I was delighted but completely drained and I just wanted to get some food and drink inside me. The one thing I have to recommend to everyone out there was something that proved vital. Around 6 weeks before the day I looked up what energy drink they would have on the day and then trained with nothing else. By the time I finished the marathon, I had consumed 5 bottles of the stuff and it proved vital to me.

I finally met up with Mrs HMC and The Boy and we waited for eatingtrees who was making his way round. While we were waiting, I received a congratulatory call from my Mum and Dad but who unfortunately had some bad news. My Grandad who had turned 100 only 3 weeks before had passed away the evening before. This added to my emotions of the run and meant the tears well and truly flowed for a minute or 2 but a glass was raised that night in his honour. To Grandad. This one's for you. Cheers.

MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS

Marathon training week 1

Firstly, apologies for the spelling, layout, font and any other errors that appear in this post. It's being written on a phone in the Loire Valley in France which means it may not be up to the usual 'standard'. The errors in the writing and English language are as ever, all mine!
This was my first week of training for the Berlin Marathon and in the interests of honesty, I may be well and truly fudged!
However, all have been completed and have consisted of 8x400m sprints, a 5km and today, a 16km. All designed to be run at different paces, they certainly have been and all have hurt a lot. There is no doubt in my mind, I'm a tad underprepared. SHOCK! I have one plus point.... I've bloody well completed them! In 2 days time, week 2 starts so forgive me but I'm off to find the wine, pate and french bread.

Running with company

Well I'm at least a week late with this post but never mind. Last weekend (not yesterday) was great as we had visits from both sets of The Boy's grandparents in the space of 4 days so it meant that me and the lovely wife could get out for a run together. Twice! Granted my pace is quicker as I've been running so much longer but it was just lovely to run together. We did a 7.8km loop and knocked over 2 minutes off second time round! Result

That puts us squarely on plan for a sub hour 10k for the wife when we run together in the Old Deer Park 10k. This course currently has my PB but we'll be running together to aim for that sub hour for her! If she lets me anyway. She's come back from her last few runs saying she runs better without me. Where's the love??

Prior to that I have a Duathlon to do and in hindsight, it probably wasn't the best idea to sign up for it. I'm never at my greatest of motivation at this time of year but I've always wanted to try it. Based on the previous line, you can probably guess that my training is less than perfect. I.e. none. a couple of runs with the wife and a cycling commute. Never on the same day obviously, that would be sensible. It looks like I'm going to have to wing it. Why do I do it to myself? This year was always going to be a bit of a slow starter as I'm trying not to overdo it so I'm ready for the marathon training come May/June but we'll see. It should be fun. Ahhem.

A week or so ago, I was also sent some rather lovely JABRA sports bluetooth headphones to play with. Basically, these headphones make it possible to listen to any music player that has a bluetooth connection without the wires that can get tangled everywhere. Genius. I have to say, as I pulled them out of the box, my heart sank slightly as I realised they were not in ear ones that I prefer, but rather the ones that sit on the ear. Not ideal but I have to say they were really good. The extra bit of genius with these headphones is they work along side the Endomondo Sports Tracker app, a running application for Smartphones with features designed specifically for Jabra SPORT, including the ability to get quick and easy status updates on speed, distance and lap time simply by tapping the headset. How useful is that!! This does work extremely well if you have a half decent GPS signal on your phone. A great little gadget which will get plenty of use on the bike as I don't generally enjoy running with music much. If you're after a bluetooth headset to use while working out, I really can't recommend this one highly enough. Almost perfect! 

I did it!

At approx 7am this morning in the middle of Epsom High St, I completed my 2011 km for the year and therefore my 2011 year target is done!

I could have stopped to take a picture but quite frankly, it was bloody freezing so I leave you with this image of what it would have been like had I been cycling through Epsom High St in 1950! Ain't that lovely!

Now I turn my attention to 2012. That goal's easy. Complete a marathon which by the way, I'm still looking for your suggestions here

Maidstone Half Marathon Race Report - Ups and Downs

If I've learnt just one thing this year, it's that I can blag my way round a 10k and post a semi decent time. Push hard out of the blocks, get through half way and then just accept and deal with the pain that comes around 8k. Never going to be the quickest but job done. Not a problem. Today's race was a Half Marathon though. You can't blag a Half Marathon but I also know I hadn't done adequate training for this race which we were doing to 'celebrate' a friends 40th.

Christ was it cold this morning though. Up at 6am ON A SUNDAY and then had to de-ice the car before myself, Mrs HMC and The Boy could leave. That's not what you want come race day.

We arrived just before 8:30 for a 9:30am start and Mrs HMC and The Boy headed off into town to find a coffee and somewhere warm. At that point I decided I was going to run with my arm warmers as I only had a short sleeve and you cannot quite understand how grateful I was to have packed them the night before.

HUDDLING FOR WARM BEFORE THE START

I met up with eatingtrees and Paul and headed down to the start as we were discussing guestimated finishing times. I guessed 1:56 - 1:57. This was based on my recent 17 ish km run and using that pace plus a little bit for the additional distance.

A quick note about the route,  a dull first half along the side of the A20 and undulating throughout but a pleasant and countryside based second half with less pavements to trip on than the first made it a pretty good overall course but not a favourite. The marshaling and support was second to none though. Thanks to everyone for their encouragement.

The start horn sounded and we plodded along but the route was very crowded and very soon I decided to take to the side of the road and paths in order not to lose too much time. The first mile was recorded in 8:08 which delighted me and then the fear came. I'D FORGOTTEN THE NIPPLE TAPE. NOOOOO!!!! Oh well, too late. The shower was going to hurt later! Along with a second mile of around 8:00, I knew I was setting off fast but I didn't want to slow and then fail. I at least, wanted to push as much as I could and then crash nearer the end if that's what was going to happen. I just carried on and generally hit the 8:10 mark.

I ran through 6 miles in 48:4(? something) and I was happy with that. Not far off my recent 10k times. I then decided that I would go through the 7 mile mark and add 54 minutes and that was my time to beat. Knowing how much I'd slowed on the training run, I thought this was a good guess. 7 was done with the clock reading 57:3(? something). OK, time to beat was set at 1:51:30. It would give me a PB by 3 minutes and so I plodded on up and down the undulating route but I had a nagging thought of what if...

8 miles completed and now a new target. I knew sub 1:50 was a possibility but I would have to push really hard and give it everything. I did and as the miles ticked on, an energy shot was taken on board and the sodding hills never stopped coming. The downs becoming worse than the ups as the legs were starting to burn. I just wouldn't stop though. Now I knew sub 1:50 was a maybe, I knew I'd be absolutely gutted with anything less.

When I did my first Half, I forgot about the extra .1 of a mile you have to do. I wasn't going to make that mistake again. At 9 m/m, that .1 takes 54 seconds. That could make or break it. 12 mile mark. 1:41:28. I only had to run one more 8:30 and then I'd have a minute for the last .1! One last push.

The 13 mile mark came round in no time and my watch read 1:48:52. COME ON!!!!!! Look down, keep the legs moving and probably look as though you're dying in every photo. Here comes the finish line. A KERB!!! WHO PUTS A SODDING KERB 20 METRES FROM THE END! Up the kerb into the tape, over the mats, stop the watch, check the watch, collapse sideways in the dirt. I'd done it. 1:49:41. I was now a sub 1:50 half marathoner, had a PB by 5 minutes and 10 seconds and I was and am, bloody delighted!! Even the shower wasn't as painful as it should have been... There's only one problem with my time today but I'll save that for next time. I'm going out on a high with this post!

ALL FINISHED WITH A CAMERA SHY BOY

Ashtead 10k 2011 - Race Report

Ah the joy of a home town race. No getting up stupidly early and before The Boy wakes up, no looking up directions to places unknown the day before, no sitting in a car park for over an hour as you turned up far too early and best of all, a toilet close at hand without the queues.

The Ashtead 10k was here again and along with it, the uneven bridle path of kilometre 1 and 9, the 'will there, won't there' of the hornets, the wearing his union flag/jack shorts by the organiser and the singing of the national anthem before the start.

Being this close to home, it also gave Lovely Wife a chance of being on time for the finish too which is more of a rarity now The Boy's around and I'm please to say she made it to cheer me along the final straight and even got it on camera.

eatingtrees came to visit before the race which was good to have a catch-up and then a slow wander down to collect our race numbers, pin them on and get to the start. The course is an out and back and can only be described as 'undulating/hilly' and as I said while walking down there 'there's no chance anybody would get a PB here unless they haven't raced much'.

Knowing the area and course like I do, the second 5km is more downhill than up so at the halfway point, the thought is more, 'worst is over' rather than a 'having to tackle it all again' attitude.

It's a little bunched at the start so I took to the long grass at the sides and when I ran through the first km mark which is mostly uphill in 5:05, it boosted my confidence no end. A recent training run on this exact course was long, slow and painful so I plodded on with a renewed sense of energy.

It's a keep left on a pathway kind of race and for me personally, the plan was to get as close to halfway point as possible before seeing the leaders run back past me. As it was, I made it to just past 4km (just before 6km for them) before the leader sprinted (it can only be described as sprinting) past and got from me as well as others on the course, a big cheer/clap/well done such is the general good feeling of the runners.

I hit the half way point on 24:45 and wow did that bring a smile to my face. I was honestly expecting to fight against last years time on 52:07 but currently, I was on for a sub 50 minutes for the third time in the last four 10k's! Another motivational boost.

Right, off we go. A slapped hand while passing eatingtrees less than a minute later kept the legs moving up the hill to the back of Ashtead common and now the watch was being checked every kilometre. 6km, still under 50mins. 7km, still under 50mins and I knew 7-8km was a quick one. 8km, 5:15!! I'd backed off too much as I felt it was easy and was now only 10 seconds inside that 50 minute mark and had the short sharp uphill to come. DAMMIT! Time to dig in again and now I had pace makers. They were going at a good rate so I felt that if I stayed in touch, I could still do it especially as the final KM is downhill albeit on the most uneven bit of ground I ever run on. Well except Grim.

Uphill and 9km complete and I'd got back 15 seconds. Sub 50 was back looking likely. What I didn't know (and had I known during, I may have pushed a bit harder) was how close to a PB I had come. 49:10 finishing time. 7 seconds off a PB. Nearly 3 minutes quicker than last year and I felt great!

Wonderful marshaling, a lovely atmosphere and a great race for me personally. Today was a good day!

Cranleigh 10k Race Report - Payback time

Last year, I ended my Cranleigh 10k race report with the following words 'I can't wait until next year. I'll be back. This course owes me 17 seconds!' Today was payback day. I remembered this course from last year and knew it was flat so although I haven't done a tremendous amount of miles in the last month I did feel that going under 50mins for the second time in 2 races was a possibility. Could I go under 49:35 for a new PB though... that I wasn't as confident about.

I got Mrs HMC and The Boy up nice and early and headed off through the countryside to the little village of Cranleigh. There we met up with my mate Paul (eatingtrees was due to join us too but as he's completely broken, he had to pull out) and we made our way to the start area with a spring in our step.

You are organised into predicted finish time and then led to the start which is on a pretty narrow disused railway line so a little stony, a little muddy but plenty of shade from the sun. Surprisingly, people seemed to have got into the correct time pens because as we started, there wasn't as much overtaking as you usually get. People just seemed to settle quite quickly into their own races. First KM split was 4:38. WAY too fast. After that, I seemed to settle down and aimed to be under the particular 5 min mark (i.e. 5,10,15,20 etc) at every marker.

There were loads of marshals, loads of signs and 2 very much appreciated water stations. I love this race. The marshals are so encouraging and the runners so appreciative of them. You always here a lot of 'Thank you's'. I did feel a bit for the guy that got the job marshaling through the farm and next to the cow shed though. I picked the short straw. The one small hill appears around 6.5km and lasts for about 30 metres so it's pretty easy and then gone although Paul did mention that you can see it coming from quite a way out which means it affects you more mentally than the actual physical effort of getting up it.

8km passed and I had just under 11 minutes to come under 50 mins. No problem. At 9k, I realised my error. I had slacked off and recorded my slowest KM for the course so far, A 5:30ish!!! Time to dig and push on. I did and ran one of my fastest KM for the last one crossing the line in 49:03. A new PB by 32 seconds so absolutely delighted but annoyingly, knowing that I was only 4 seconds from going under 49mins, is hard to take.

I got a bottle of wine as I passed through the finish area (although I have no idea why, only some people were getting them) but very much appreciated and then turned to See Paul come into the finishing straight setting himself a new PB of 50:40.

Once again, thanks to all the marshals and race organisers. It was fantastic again. I guess there is only one thing to say, I can't wait until next year. I'll be back. This course owes me 4 seconds!

That's the year completed

Just a run round the block for today's Juneathon and a first little foray into my speed increase theory.

Really happy. I've now found and entered to 2 missing races (Aug and Nov) so that's my minimum one race a month for the year complete. August will be the Arundel Castle 10k (with maybe a little camping thrown in as it's the bank holiday weekend) and thanks to a friend of eatingtrees, November's race will be the Mens Health Survival of the Fittest in London. What have I let myself in for?!?!

November's race actually falls on my first wedding anniversary so I suspect it's going to cost me long term. I suspect a meal out is the very minimum I'll have to pay for asking my wife to stand around Battersea Power Station and watch my get tired, wet and muddy!

Crisis Sq Mile Race Report

Ignoring the fact that due to an number of excuses reasons including VERY late running trains, evening meetings and Mrs HMC's classes, I have missed Juneathon days 6,7 and 8, so Day 9 meant it was time for my first foray into the world of the Crisis Sq Mile.

An event that has been championed by numerous people as fun and a little different, it seemed too good an opportunity to miss plus I'd get to tick off June's race too.

I met up in Paternoster Square behind St Pauls with Cathy, Grant and Shaun and after donning the red shirt t-shirt and laying down for a bit for a photo opp, we started (surprisingly it seems) at 7pm sharp! I knew nothing of this race except that the roads weren't closed, we'd probably scare a few commuters and we'd cover many a sight of London. Distance... unknown. The only info I had was that last year (and bear in mind it changes every year), it was 7.3km.

So I continued my BUPA theme of pacing myself. That being say 'Sod it' and run as fast as is acceptable for as long as I could. The route (this year) took us from St Paul's, along Embankment, across Blackfriars bridge, looped round past the Millennium Eye, along the South Bank, back over Blackfriars, along Embankment in the other direction to, and across Southwark Bridge and then a loop round to finish after crossing the Millennium Bridge. It's lucky I'm a bit of a bridge geek really.

It's a great sight to see somewhere between 1000 and 2000 runners in red t-shirts hitting the streets Flash Mob style. It's an event I really enjoyed and I'd like to think I'll be back next year.

I finished the 6.71km (according to 2 Garmins) route in 31:26. That's an average pace of 'bloody quick for me' per mile.

And as it was this was another quick run (last 3 runs all under 8 m/m (5m/km) and Crisis at 7:32 m/m (4:42m/km) I now want to know how fast I can go. Every other time I've tried to speed up, I've picked up an injury but after recent conversations with both Grant and Shaun, a thought hit me while sitting on a stationary train for a long time last night (thanks SouthWest trains, twice in a week... nice). I'm not going to share my thoughts with you at this moment and not because of any secret 'build up the tension thing' or even 'I want no-one else to know thing'. It's purely that it could all turn out to be a load of crap so I want to test my theory first. It's not going to be a quick process but if I start to see an improvement soon, I'll let you know my thoughts. I'm going to be my own guinea pig!

After the fizzle, here comes the pop

Well after Monday's blistering BUPA 10k, I was ill all night and lost pretty much most of the fluid in body. Not the best thing for muscle recovery and diluting the lactic acid in my legs. Tuesday, I couldn't physically move. Wednesday was only slightly better so day 1 of Juneathon was a mighty 1.43 mile bike ride around the block to check the creaking in my cranks. I'm pretty sure that if I was at school, the report card would have said 'can do better'.

This morning I did. At 5:30am, I headed out on the route that WAS Juneathon 2010. Last year, out of the 22 days I ran, 19 days were run on this route and the majority of those at 5:30am. The fastest I had ever run this route was 25:02 and I remember it being tough. Today, with VERY heavy legs and a head that only a 5:20am alarm can bring, I headed off again. The legs hurt but it didn't feel too tough so I fail to understand how I smashed my best time again. 24:36!!

That's 4.47 KM pace (or a frankly ridiculous for me, 7:43 m/mile). This is someone who struggled to creep under the 9 minute mile barrier 3 years ago.

And yet more news, for the first time in at least 6 years and probably more, my weight has dipped (just) below 13 stone! I've been 13 stone something and once or twice hit 14 for so long, I was resigned to being that weight forever. Now, my weight starts with a 12 and I'm a happy boy. This combined with the last year running in the Surrey Hills and the numerous miles on the bike are obviously paying off with my times.

Continued hiatus brings out Yolkey

As I'm currently on a bit of a hiatus from running due to the continued pain in my left knee, it was wonderful to get out on Yolkey on Saturday morning with fellow London 2 Brighton rider, my Mum who was down visiting The Boy, and complete 37.3km.

I say it was wonderful to complete it because after not having one ever before, I got my second puncture in 2 rides! I didn't believe slim filled inner tubes would give me any benefits. I am now looking on the internet for some slime filled inner tubes as I'm sure they would have stopped the second if not the first. ARGHH!!!!

Something I did buy myself this weekend were some cycling shoes though. Mountain bike ones obviously so I can actually walk in them but cycling shoes none the less. See I've had a pair of clipless pedals sitting in the shed for a year or 2 now so finally decided to bite the bullet and get some shoes to use with them. Haven't tried them but I'm going to fit the pedals tonight and then in the next day or two, take it for a little test ride.

BUPA 10k next Monday and then follows Juneathon. Not sure how well I'll do with the knee and will probably have to be more cycling based rather than running based but with Crisis coming up too plus a camping holiday in France, things are looking like fun!

Job done

The 2 birds, 1 stone theory came out last night as I headed out on an 8km loop that ended at the polling station to vote a mere 300m from my house. Upon walking in and giving my address, I got the pretty quick witted line of 'and you're that tired running from there, you need some more practice'. It was said with a smile and I thought still showed some humour after being sat at a desk most of the day handing out polling cards.

The run was non eventful but felt comfortable the whole way and that even includes the 2 hills that i have to contend with on that route. In fact I spent pretty much most of the run thinking about Saturday's cycle to and Sunday's run around Worthing. It was just nice to be running in the evening again to be honest without the need for torches, 14 items of clothing and frost on the beard. The 8km was run in 5.15's which was a comfortable non pushing pace for me.

A 34km ride is planned for tomorrow followed by a run on somewhere in the region of 9-10km on Sunday morning which should give me a good level of fitness as I approach Grim Beast in the East the following weekend. Not that will be fun. Quite a few people I know who are doing it so it will be a real team 'get everyone over the line event'. Bring it on!

Sorry for the extremely dull post. I even got bored typing it but I've come this far now so I better fi....

If Carlsberg did weekends....

What a splended weekend that was. May I request that we only have 4 day weekends going forward please. I'm not anti royal or anything but the chance to get out on Yolkey on some quieter roads on Friday morning was too good an opportunity to miss and I promptly clocked up 25.25 miles around the Surrey hills which is a good start to the training.

This was followed up on Saturday morning by a repeat of Wednesday's 9.11km route but it was a tad slower due to heavy legs and took the best part of a minute longer. Then came Mrs HMC's idea of going camping for the night on Sunday. A chance to test the new tent properly and also get the boy camping for the first ever time before our planned trip to France in June. Everything worked. The boy slept like a log, the tent held up in some average winds and myself and Mrs HMC got to camp properly for the first time in 2 years as last summer, the bump was a bit too big to do it comfortably. Wine, open fire, marshmallows and sleeping under canvas. Bliss!

Strangely, my legs feel heavier today than they have done at any point this weekend so it'll be a quick jaunt out tomorrow, followed by a ride down to Worthing on Saturday to visit the in-laws and clock up more miles. I just need to get this few days of work over with first!

Hydration. I got a D

I worked from home yesterday. This meant a few things:

a)I had a fridge full of chocolate
b)I had a boy to look after as Mrs HMC had to pop into work for a meeting
c)I had lots of spelling errors on my emails from an excited boy hitting the keys
d)I had time for a run

Now seeing as this blog is loosely about running, point 'd' seems to be the most relevant.

I needed to take the boy to one of his nursery settling in sessions and had planned to stay in town, take my kindle, buy a coffee and kill some time. However, in a moment of inspiration, 10 mins before I was due to leave, I realised I could drive in, drop him off, drive back, get changed, go for a run, have a shower, drive back in and pick him up again just as he finished if I was organised.

I was. Now after my last run where I found an old route I'd done a while before and spanked the time out of the park, I decided on that theory again and promptly found a 9.11km route that I'd last run on the 24th July 2010. It had taken me 47:56 and I assume it was hot. It certainly was yesterday. Perfect blue sky, sunshine beating down (to give the tops of my cheeks their scarlet glow) and absolutely no water in my body. Yup, stupidly forgot to drink much during the day so when at 3pm, I headed out into the bright light, I could already feel that my lips were dry after about 500m of running. Arse.

The ups and downs ticked themselves off as I battled with the school eviction time and the mums in their ridiculous Chelsea tractors double parked everywhere but all got better once I got off the roads the through the common. I'd wrongly read the time I had to beat and was pushing to finish in under 47:11 which I thought was the time I'd set so when I came in at 46:58, I thought job well done. Then I checked the computer and realised I'd taken nearly a minute off. Result. Imagine what I could achieve with the power of water.

Long weekend number 2 is on the horizon and I'm hoping this one doesn't see me have to cancel any planned bike rides or spend any nights on the loo but hey, you just never know. If the plans don't get interrupted, they'll be a 37km bike ride on Yolkey, a bit of a run or 2, some tinkering on Mrs HMC's new bike and lots of play time with the boy. It all starts tonight though with dinner with eatingtrees and the listening to of stories regarding his Vibrams and his absolutely destroyed feet.

A great weekend for a run

My usual Saturday morning weekend run was delayed by 24hrs this week as I had some friends coming over for the weekend and he fancied a run to increase his training as he's signed up for his first ever race. That being Grim's Beast in the East. That meant on Sunday morning, after passing the babies over to the wives for their breakfast we hit the road.

He'd generally been running around 9km as his max distance so I added a couple of km for good luck and plotted a course on roads, paths, bridleways, mud and gravel over uphills, downhills and the odd flat bit. My thoughts being that it would be better training for Grim than just some roads.

He runs at a similar pace to my half marathon pace so it was easy just to hit the usual rhythm and plodded on. He's also talker but he's a very interesting person so it meant we chatted for a lot of it and it never felt tough or a chore. We finished after doing 11.77km in 1:04:58.

This week I had my race number through the post for eatingtrees home town race, the Hertford 10k and also got into the London2Brighton bike ride again. This year, we'll be doing it on the new builds and my Mum will be part of the team too. Such a good event last year that we couldn't resist. Life is good right now!