A GRIM weekend

December 5th and 6th the GRIM Challenge took place on the army vehicle testing land at Aldershot. It's an 8 mile multi-terrain race which involves running through waist deep water, clambering through camouflage netting and running up and down steep sandy hills.

Last year I took a small video camera with me and filmed the race from a competitors point of view and posted the footage on YouTube. A few months later I was contacted by Michael McGrath, the head of a Muscular Dystrophy charity, and asked to film the 'Muscle Warriors' team at the 2009 event. The result of my efforts can be seen here..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPXaJqQBj0M

And on the following day I took part in the Sunday race and managed to knock 4 minutes off my personal best.

Athens Marathon

Two weeks after the Snowdonia Marathon and I was off to Greece for the Athens Classic Marathon. It was warm and sunny in Athens when we arrived on Saturday but the following morning we awoke to the sound of heavy rain. The race started in the town of Marathon at 9am which meant catching a bus from the centre of Athens at 6:30am.

The weather at the start was pretty miserable but at least it was fairly cool for running.

The route from Marathon to the Panathinaikon Stadium in Athens follows the coast for the first 10k before heading inland and uphill for the next 20k and then dropping down to the finish.

I completed the race in 4hrs 45' 23" having found it a lot tougher than I'd expected. The fact that I'd run a marathon two weeks earlier (and a tough one at that) must have had an effect on my energy levels so I was fairly happy with my efforts in Athens.

Next year's race is the 2500th anniversary of the battle of Marathon so I may be tempted to go back for another attempt at the classic course.

Snowdonia Marathon 2009

Well it was back to North Wales for another crack at the Snowdonia Marathon. Last year the weather was terrible - 90mph winds, driving rain and cold. This year it was marginally better -70mph winds, driving rain and milder temperatures.

I was aiming to get round in under 4 hours but it actually took me 4hrs 26' 24". I wasn't too disappointed with my time though because the conditions were pretty bad and i did knock about 40 minutes off my 2008 time. So the target for next year is sub 4 hours.

Here's a video of the race as seen from the runner's perspective. Sorry if it's a bit unsteady but I think it captures the essence of the event.

an up and down week....

On a positive note, the training is still going well. There are just two weeks to go before we make the journey to Wales for the Snowdonia Marathon and four weeks before flying out to Greece for the Athens Marathon.

To that end I've been building up the weekly mileage over the last few months and am currently averaging just over fifty miles per week.

Last weekend I went out with James for a 20 mile training run which took us from home to the other side of Aldershot where we picked up the Basingstoke canal towpath. We ran alongside the canal for about five or six miles, passing through Fleet and out into the countryside towards Odiham. We then followed the narrow lanes through Crondall and Dippenhall before returning to Farnham in a pretty good time of two hours and fifty six minutes. Both of us felt good all the way round the course and neither of us suffered much in the way of aches and pains over the following days, so we both took a good positive boost from our efforts.

And talking of aches and pains - I've had a very unpleasant time of it over the last week and a half thanks to some severe tooth pain caused by a root canal filling coming out and leaving an exposed nerve. Not only that, but it turns out that I also had a abscess under the affected tooth!

Several nights spent trying to sleep through the agonising pain and overdosing on ibruprofen and paracetamol left me pretty miserable and desperate to get something done about it asap. Luckily, I managed to see a dentist on Tuesday thanks to someone else cancelling their appointment. The news from Ms Van der Bilt was not good however. The tooth was 'not viable' and would have to come out! I was back at 2pm on Thursday for the extraction. I won't go into details of the procedure because it wasn't very pleasant but I guess it was worth it in the end as I'm now virtually free of pain - it's just a bit sore now from all the yanking and tugging that was required to get the tooth out!

Anyhow, I was sufficiently recovered to get out on a 14 mile x-country run today in the bright Autumn sunshine. That'll probably be my last long run before Snowdon, so look forward to a couple of weeks tapering down now.

Running as the sun rises.....

Here are some photos from this morning's run..

This is why I get out of bed at 6am!

Tempos, hills and intervals....

I'm attempting to increase my pace with a view to getting under 4 hours for the Snowdonia Marathon and sub 3:30 for the Athens. So, as well as regular long runs - 15 miles last Saturday - I've also been throwing in plenty of sessions designed to improve my speed. These include hill-sprint sessions at the Devil's Jumps, tempo runs of about 10k on Hankley Common and interval training at the military running track in Aldershot. And all of this seems to be doing some good because I'm starting to notice a gradual improvement in my overall pace.

I'm also increasing my monthly distance and for the first time I exceeded 200 miles, which is a bit of a mile-stone. I'll have to careful not to pick up any injuries though as there are only about 8 weeks to go before the Snowdonia Marathon and it'd be a shame to injure myself now through overtraining.

West Cork

We had a great 3 week holiday at the cottage in Union Hall. Jenny and I spent the first couple of weeks alone and were then joined by James and Richard for the last week and by Jess for the final few days. The weather was really good apart from a couple of days of rain and we made good use of the boat with plenty of waterskiing and trips to Sherkin Island. We also made good use of the windsurfer and kayak.
On the running front, I kept up the training with daily 7 mile runs through the West Cork countryside. Jenny came with me for all but one or two runs and managed to cope really well with the hilly course. We also hiked up Hungry Hill on the Beara Peninsular with James and Rich.
So al in all a very relaxing few weeks despite all the physical activities!
Now back at work but maintaining the training momentum with some good sessions over the last week or so including hill training at the Devil's Jumps (new pb of 1'38" for the sprint to the summit) and 26k around Hankley Common last Saturday. I also smashed my 10k rowing time and got under 40' for the first time.

Gibbet Hill 10k

It was off to Haslemere last week for another go at the Gibbet Hill 10k race which, as the name suggests, is a hilly course starting in Wey Hill and climbing to the top of Gibett Hill and back down again. I was joined for the race by James and his mate Tom, who was doing his first race having only started running a couple of weeks beforehand.
I was aiming to try to beat my record of 49'21", which I'd set two years ago.
It's a pretty informal race but with a high percentage of local running club members taking part it can be quite competetive. And so it was a short walk to the start, a few words from the starter and we were off.
The first mile or so took us along a quiet road which climbed out of the residential area and into the countryside before a marshall signalled for us to turn onto a bridleway and the start of a serious climb to the viewpoint at the top of Gibett Hill. By this time I'd left James and Tom to their own race and tried to make my way through the field of runners, many of whom had started at a strong pace but were struggling with the climb through the forest.
The top of the climb came at about three and a half miles after which the next mile and a half was pretty flat. As I approached the final mile back down to the finish I noted that I'd been running for just over 40 minutes and was in with a very good chance of beating my pb. So I pushed hard and virtually spinted down the road towards the finish. Somehow the last mile and a bit took over 8 minutes but I still managed to cross the finish line having knocked 50 seconds off my pb. Job done.

Back to the training...

Since the Picnic I've been back running regularly over at Hankley Common. I've also been trying to mix things up a bit with visits to the gym, cycling (road and off-road) and swimming. The gym sessions are designed to increase my upper body strength - in particular my arms. I was surprised at how much my arms were aching after the Picnic marathon - running up hills requires good strength in the the arms and shoulders. I've also been back on the rower for some longish sessions. My latest efforts produced a 40'52 10k and a 5k in 20'13. I need to get under 40' and 20' respectively and also test myself over 2000m.

The Picnic...

was no picnic. It was damned hard. I got very bad cramp at the 18 mile point and was very close to pulling out - mainly because I was at the bottom of 200 odd steep steps and every time I tried to lift a leg up to place my foot on the next step my legs cramped up completely. Eventually I managed to sidle up the side of the steps thus avoiding having to raise my legs too high and temporarily holding the cramp at bay. It took me about 20 minutes to get to the top though and when I did I tripped over a root and fell to the ground at which point the cramps came back with a vengeance. I couldn't even stand up, it was that bad. I had to crawl along the ground to a nearby tree and haul myself up using the lower branches for support. The rest of the race - the next 8 miles - was spent trying to overcome the frequent cramp attacks which were particularly viscous on the up-hills - of which there were many!

I finally finished, to my great relief, in 6 hrs 23 mins. I was 80th out of about 120 starters many of whom dropped out at the half-way point.

I'm planning to have another attempt at the Picnic when it's run again in 2011 - hopefully I'll be able knock a few minutes off my time (maybe even get under 6 hours) and next time I'll be carrying some electrolyt drink with me which should help with the cramp problems.

Tapering for the Picnic

The Picnic Marathon is only 4 days away now so I've had my last run until Saturday's race. I started last week with a long Sunday run of around 14 miles and then took it easy on the running front with a few morning runs, a couple of swims and a 30 minute session on the rower. At the weekend I just did a 4 mile run with Jenny and then an 8 miler on Sunday. I've been using my Mizunos for most of my runs over the last couple of weeks because I think that at 850 miles the New Balance shoes are beginning to lose a bit of cushioning and I was noticing some soreness in my achilles and underneath my heel. That seems to have cleared up now so it looks as though I'll be starting the Picnic free of injury. The only slight concern is that the forecast is for very warm weather on the day of the race so I'll need to take plenty of water + electrolytes to ward off the cramps!

Turbo X trail race...

On Sunday I took part in the first of this year's Turbo X races at Bracknell. I was ill-prepared for the race having been out for two runs and a mountain bike ride the day before. In theory you're supposed to rest the day before such an event but nevermind, I just got carried away.
The weather on the day of the race was very warm and sunny. The course was pretty tough with loads of hills and of course the mandatory muddy bogs to wade through. Having had such little rain recently it was a surprise to find just how wet and muddy some parts of the course were. It was all good fun though and a good way to spend a couple of hours on a Sunday morning. I finished the race in 1 hr 56 - the distance was said to be between 10 and 12 miles.
It took me almost as long to rinse the mud out of my kit when I got home. And I must remember not to wear a white running top at these events in the future!
Check out the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P22Z65wTWCs

Speechless..

Whether or not it was the drenching and cold bath from last weekend, or just bad luck, but I developed a sore throat and cough during the following week and felt pretty rough when I awoke on Thursday morning. So I decided to have a rest from running for a couple of days. The following morning matters were even worse and I had completely lost my voice. The first time that's ever happened to me! It was pretty weird being at work and not being able to communicate with anyone apart from through little messages on post-it notes. Friday night I ventured down to the Spotted Cow in the hope that a couple of pints of beers would loosen up my larynx but it was not to be. Luckily, though, I woke up on Saturday morning with a partially restored voice which I took to mean I was on the mend. I'd planned a long weekend run of 20 miles or so but decided to allow myself time to recover properly and opted for back to back runs of 8.5 miles on Saturday and the same on Sunday. I also went out mountain biking with Jenny on Sunday evening. The weather over both days was brilliant, 25 c and hardly a cloud in the sky - a definite improvement on the previous weekend.

Drenched...

I'm keeping up the regular weekday runs which are between 4 and 6 miles daily but trying to get out on a long-ish run every weekend. This Sunday I set off with Jenny for a circuit of Hankley Common and then ran home via Frensham Pond, Bourne Woods and the North Downs Way. And it absolutely poured with rain for the first hour and a half. I was completely soaked and was past caring about getting any wetter so enjoyed myself splashing through the middle of the deepest, muddiest puddles I could find!
I'd more or less resigned myself to running the whole way in the rain but the sun did come out eventually and I started to dry off and warm up a bit as I crossed Frensham Common.
After 10 miles or so I was running along the Tilford Reeds bridleway when I heard voices behind me about 200m back. I realised that the voices were undoubtedly those of the 'Farnham Runners' out on their regular Sunday club run. I didn't want to be overtaken by them so upped my pace a bit. After a few minutes I could tell that they were still behind me but not gaining on me any more. By now the competitive streak was coming out in me so I upped my pace a bit more and the voices soon drifted off into the distance. And that was the last I heard from the Farnham Runners! The rest of the run went okay and I managed to get home in under two and a half hours. Total distance was 14.3 miles.
Unfortunately our central heating boiler was broken so I was forced to have a post- run cold bath! Brrrrr! Good for getting rid of the lactic acid though (so I'm told) and sure enough I was free of aching muscles this morning so maybe it does work.

North Downs Way 23 Miler

With the Picnic Marathon looming on the horizon I decided it was time to test myself on a longer run of 20 miles plus, and what better test than to have another go at a stretch of the North Downs Way path which runs from Dorking to Farnham, a distance of 23.5 miles. So I packed my rucksack with energy bars and a couple of bottles of water, made up a new playlist for the i-pod and set off on bright, sunny Saturday morning. I got a lift to Guildford station from where I caught the 8:48am train to Dorking Deepdene. After a very relaxing 15 minute train ride I was strolling up the London Road out of Dorking and after about a mile I was at the point where I could pick up the North Downs Way. So I started the stopwatch, switched on my i-pod and to the sound of Lykke Li's 'I'm Good, I'm Gone' I set off up the path leading to the top of the North Downs.
After a few miles I was to encounter the first of many groups of teenagers out on a days hike, carrying large rucksacks and bedrolls. It must have been a Duke of Edinburgh Awards day or something. As for my rucksack, it was getting a bit annoying. I had a water bottle jammed into the bottle holder at the side of the pack and I'd stuffed another one into the main compartment for later. Unfortunately it was soon bouncing around the inside of the bag and banging into the small of my back with every step I took. So I retrieved it from inside my rucksack and opted to carry it the rest of the way. The leg from Dorking to Newland's corner is about 8 or nine miles and seemed to go on forever but the occasional view across to Leith Hill made it less monotonous. Once I'd passed the cafe at Newland's corner and countless more groups of young D of E hikers, I dropped down into the valley and immediately up a sandy path to St Martha on the Hill, a church which stands on the top of a wooded hill with fantastic views across Surrey. From there it was mainly downhill to Guildford and after crossing the River Wey I was soon heading out towards the village of Puttenham. This was to be the fourth time that I'd attempted this run and on the past three times I'd always taken over 5 hours to get back to Farnham. So I was keen to get below 5 hours for the first time. As I jogged through Puttenham I realised that I was making good time and providing I kept running and didn't slow too much, I'd get in under my target time. So I munched on an energy bar (the first of the run) and battled on. By now I was starting to feel a bit achey. I wasn't so much tired but my back was getting a bit stiff and my hips were aching a bit too. As I approached Farnham Golf Course I stopped briefly for a stretch to loosen my back up a bit. That seemed to help somewhat and I was soon back on my way and with just two miles to run I knew that I was definitely going to get back within the 5 hour limit I'd set myself. As it was , I completed the run in 4 hours 49 minutes. The next time I'm aiming for a sub 4 hours 30 which I think is do-able.

Cross training

Well, I ended up having a light weekend as far as running went with a 5 miler on Friday and a couple of 4 mile runs on Saturday and Sunday but I did get out for some good mountain biking sessions. It was good to do something different and about time I the Marin out for a blast. The weather was perfect for cycling - not too hot but plenty of sun - and the trails were dry after the recent spell without rain.
The only drawback with the warmer weather is that the Adders are starting to come out of hibernation and are ready to pounce on any unsuspecting runners who happen to disturb them! I heard one slithering off into the heather as I ran past on Saturday and some dog walkers warned us that they'd seen one on a nearby trail that we were about to run on. I guess I should be more concerned about Jackson getting bitten as Adder bites can often be fatal to dogs. How do you train dogs not to go near snakes?

Longer runs

I'm still increasing my long weekend runs and am now up to about 14+ miles. I'm planning to do a slightly shorter one this weekend and then attempt the Dorking to Farnham 20 miler next Saturday. If I can manage that okay then I'll feel in with a realistic chance of completing the Picnic Marathon in June.
Everything's organised for the Athens Marathon in November. I'll be flying out with Julian (a colleague from work) on the Saturday morning, doing the race on Sunday and then flying home on Monday evening. That'll give us a chance to get in a few beers on Sunday night and do some sight seeing on the Monday!

High mileage...

It looks like I'm going to be hitting the 150 mile/month target this month. I put that down to doing more long runs and also having less rest days. I know that I'm supposed to have a rest day every week to let the body recover and avoid injuries but the way things have been working out I've just felt like going out running every day. The only exception being last Monday when I had some sort of 24 hour bug or maybe a mild dose of sunstroke. Or maybe it was just my body telling me to take a rest. But I was back to normal by Tuesday and have put in some good training sessions this week. Today I went for a run with Jenny and then a 1600m swim at the Garrison pool. My first swim for ages and I really enjoyed it so will try to make time for more swim sessions.

Skyline 10k

Had a great race this morning.

The Trionium Skyline 10k http://www.trionium.com/skyline/ starts at Denbies Vineyard near Dorking. The race is organised by Dr Rob McCaffrey, who also puts on a number of other running events in the Dorking area. This was to be the inaugural Skyline 10k race but the course record of 45'11" had already been set by Dr Rob himself on a solo jaunt a few weeks ago!!
The first 2k is up a steep track onto the North Downs. Then it's a further 3k along flat-ish trails until the 5k mark, at which point you turn around and run back to the start. The weather was fantastic and the views amazing. My race plan was to just try to pick off as many runners on the initial climb as I could and then really go for it on the flat section, knowing that I'd have the luxury of a 2k downhill finish. Everything went pretty much according to plan and I came in a respectable 39th place out of 169 runners. My time was 48'49" which means I was averaging about 7:52/mile. Not bad for a hilly x-country run!
The rest of the day I spent on other activities including some lawn mowing, weeding, table tennis and finally a hard game of squash with Richard.
I think I've overdone it a bit today though or maybe had too much sun because I'm feeling a bit shivery and tired now, so it's off to bed early tonight.

Bank Holiday Monday....

The sun peeped out for the first time this holiday weekend but I was back at work so didn't get to see much of it. I did, however, grab a quick run along the Thames at lunchtime. The path on both sides of the river was packed with cyclists, walkers, dog walkers and other runners so it was a bit congested and I was forced to stop a few times to squeeze my way through the hordes!
I also had a session on the weights bench when I got home in the evening. I'm bench-pressing 55kg now and hoping to build up to 75kg. That'll be more than my body weight, so a good target to aim for. Mind you, I don't want to end up looking like this...

Getting easier...

I was particularly pleased with this weekend's efforts.

Friday...

I managed to get back home from work at a reasonably early time thanks to the Bank Holiday traffic being very light. So I opted to head out on a run from home on a course that we call the 'Bourne Hill Sprint'. It's about 4.5 miles and takes in pretty much all of the hills in the nearby Bourne Woods. This makes it a pretty tough run and the idea is to time the run and sprint round as fast as possible. On this occasion, though, I decided to do the run with my back pack which has about 8 kilos of weight in it. I knew that I wouldn't be breaking any records for speed but hill running with added weight is a really good workout for the calf muscles and something I need to do fairly regularly before tackling the Picnic in June. It took me about 40 minutes to complete the circuit - slightly longer than usual due to the back pack. The run was also slightly extended as the film production people had fenced off a couple of areas which I had to detour around. But all in all a good run.

Saturday...

I decided to treat Saturday as a bit of a rest day but went on the usual 4 mile run at Hankley Common with Jenny and Jackson. We ran the course a bit faster than usual. I think Jenny's finding these runs a lot easier and manages to get round in a good time. She's looking quite lean and athletic lately!

Sunday...

I've set myself the goal of a long run every Sunday, except on weekends when I have a race. This Sunday I did my usual run which is split into two; the first 4 miles with Jenny at Hankley Common, after which she drives home and I run back via Frensham, Tilford Reeds and the North Downs. I've been adding extra loops to this run over the last few weeks and the total distance now stands at about 14+ miles.
I arrived home after about two and a half hours and felt in very good shape, which, considering the distance and terrain, was encouraging. The training is having a noticeable effect and these long distance runs are beginning to get less arduous! And I even managed a game of squash with Richard a couple of hours later. It was a pretty competitive game and I was feeling fairly confidant at two games all and leading the final game. But a late comeback by Richard sealed the match and he produced his first win against me!

Yoga and other stuff...

I started back at Yoga classes on Wednesday. There's a new teacher called Natalie. It was good to give the body a good old stretch and work on the core abdominal muscles, which are important for any sport, including running.
I'll be back to kickboxing on Tuesday too. I haven't been along for the last six weeks because I've had too much extra work to do on the South African World Cup program.

As for the rest of the week's training - I went for a 10k with Jackson on Thursday night and a tough Bourne Hill Sprints run on Friday, with the back-pack. This morning was an easy 4 miler around Hankley and I'm planning a long run tomorrow.

I've bought a new arm-band thing for my i-pod. The old one had started to get a bit moth eaten and had started to smell a bit rank. Not surprising really as I've had it for quite a few years and it's spent many an hour strapped to my sweaty arm!

Not much to report..

I was up at 5:50 yesterday morning and out for a 10k x-country run with Jackson. He's looking a bit on the thin side lately, which is probably due to the increased weekly milage that we're doing of late. I'll have to increase his food rations to compensate. I wonder if I'm looking a bit thin too?
What do you reckon??

Plans...

I've decided that from now on I'm going to use the car as little as possible and just walk or cycle everywhere when practical. So no more jumping in the car to buy a newspaper or go to the shops in Farnham. That way I'll be adding in some additional training and saving on fuel costs.

I covered about thirteen miles on a run this morning, which took me on a circuit of Hankley Common followed by a couple of miles up the road and around Frensham Pond, then through Tilford Reeds to Tadpole Lane and across to the Elstead Road and back home via the footpath that passes the Witch's cave and the old finishing school.

I'm going to aim to increase my weekend long run to about 15 miles in the next few weeks and try to incorporate a midweek tempo run of about 9 or 10 miles plus a weekly hill session. I reckon the combination of those three elements, plus a couple of shorter runs, should start to increase my fitness and endurance in good time for the 'Picnic' marathon in June.

I checked my resting pulse this morning and it was 44bpm which I think is pretty good.

Robin Hood set...

Here are some photos of the set being constructed for the new Robin Hood film starring Russell Crowe.

Ireland...

My daily routine for the 5 day visit to County Cork was:

Wake up at 7:30. Bowl of porridge for breakfast. Out for an hour's run. Second breakfast - eggs from the nearby farm. Five or six hours up a ladder, painting the exterior of the cottage. Walk or swim. Evening meal at home or at the pub. DVD and then bed.



The weather was pretty fine for the whole period that we were at the cottage. In fact, Wednesday and Thursday were warm enough days to get away with shorts and t-shirt. Not bad for early April.



I ran pretty much the same route every day. It's about six miles and passes through some really nice Irish countryside and coastal scenery.

Here's a photo of our little cottage after I'd finished painting it.



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MDS 2009 ....

Things aren't looking good for the folk running in this year's MDS. There's been heavy rain in the desert and localised flooding which has caused the start of the race to be delayed by a day and the first stage abandoned. Hopefully the race will now start on Monday as long as the weather improves. Regardless of what happens, there must be many disappointed people out there who have gone to so much effort and expense to get to the start line only to find that they won't be able to complete the full distance. The photo below shows the flooded campsite from where the race was supposed to start.



I went for two runs today. The first being a 9.5 miler this morning and then a 4 mile trot around Hankley this evening. I felt pretty good on both runs and reckon on getting out tomorrow and Monday to add a few more miles to the monthly total which currently stands at 129 miles. The target for March is 140 miles so I should be able to reach that without too much of a problem.

12 months to go...

The current (2009) MDS runners left for Morocco yesterday and will be starting their race in a couple of days. I would have liked to have followed their progress online but will be away in Ireland next week, without internet access so will have to catch up with the news next weekend.

Since I first entered the MDS in November 2006 I've seen the 2008 race come and go and now the 2009 event about to start. So it's my turn next!! With just 12 months to get into seriously good shape I've started to gradually adjust my training and lifestyle. Less alcohol (down from 2 glasses of red wine per night to just a couple of drinks on Friday evenings) has meant that I've been getting to bed earlier, sleeping well and getting up early most days, feeling fresh and ready for some quality early morning runs. My diet has always been pretty good -being a vegetarian helps - but I've made a point recently of substituting fresh fruit for other less healthy stuff!

So overall I'm feeling pretty good and looking forward to some hard work on the running front as the weather improves and the days get longer. I've entered a couple of races before 'The Picnic', namely the Trionium Skyline 10k in April http://www.trionium.com/skyline/ and the Saab Salomon Turbo X in May http://www.saabinmotion.co.uk/turboxtrails/
I'm also down to do the Snowdonia Marathon again http://www.snowdoniamarathon.co.uk/Index.asp and am planning to enter the Athens Classic Marathon http://www.athensclassicmarathon.gr/html/ent/045/ent.1045.1.asp which takes place 2 weeks after the Snowdonia.

So a busy year ahead and the hard work starts now!!

Leith Hill Half Marathon

In the end I opted to give Saturday's 10k a miss and concentrate all my efforts on the Leith Hill 1/2m. If I'd gone for both races in one weekend I wouldn't have done justice to either.

As it happens, the half marathon on Sunday was a superb race. The weather was perfect - sunny and dry and not too cold for the time of year. The race started from a school just outside Dorking and I arrived about an hour before it was due to start so had plenty of time to register and prepare.

And to get everyone into the right mood, the organisers had arranged a little curtain raiser in the form of a 'Wife Carrying Race' which was held 30 minutes before the main event. It was great fun to watch but looked pretty hard work for the carriers, some of whom were also running the half marathon!
Here's a video that I made of the wife carrying event.


My target for the main race was to beat last year's time of 2 hours and 2 minutes, so I set off at a slightly faster pace than I was comfortable with on the basis that I could relax a bit on the return leg which is essentially all downhill. The ground underfoot was fairly dry for the most part but where there were stretches of mud and water I decided to run straight through them rather than lose time just to avoid getting wet feet.

The mile markers came and went pretty quickly and I was soon clambering up the last couple of steep hills before reaching the tower at Leith Hill. There was a brief chance to take in the views towards the South Downs before turning around and heading back again. I checked my time at the halfway point and saw that I'd taken 1 hour and one minute. So, in theory, I had to be in with a good chance of a new pb for the course.

The return leg was much easier and I managed to race down the tracks and footpaths at a pretty decent speed. The last mile, however, had a sting in it's tail in the form of a very hard climb which had the effect of reducing everyone to a walk and adding valuable seconds to the overall time. But once at the top of the killer hill it was a sprint to the finish and a very satisfying time of 1 hour 56 minutes - over 6 minutes faster than last year.

And I'll be back next year for an attempt at getting under 1 50'.

Sunrise...

I took the camera with me this morning to capture some daybreak scenes at Hankley Common.

So, an early morning run today and a 30 minute session on the rower this afternoon.

Onwards and upwards.

I'm aiming to increase my long weekend runs each week, hopefully peaking at around 18 - 20 miles by mid May. I need to bump up the milage pretty dramatically, mainly because I've entered the 'Picnic' Marathon' http://www.trionium.com/picnic/ which takes place on June 20th and is described as the toughest marathon in the UK! So I'll have to be getting in plenty of long, hilly, cross-country runs over the next few months.
Today I set off on a run from home at about 10-ish and planned to head out to the Devil's Jumps via Bourne Woods and Frensham Common and then return across Hankley Common, through Tilford village and back via the footpath that runs past the witches cave.
I decided to pretty much make up the route as I went along and use my GPS to keep track of the milage and hope to run about 14 or 15 miles. It wasn't a particularly pleasant day, with grey skies and a chilly wind blowing but I plodded on for mile after mile up some pretty challenging hills followed by yet more challenging hills; eventually coming onto Hankley Common . The Army were there in force and at one point I had to run through one of their ambush exercises. They were busy shooting at each other (I hope they were firing blanks!) but were ordered to cease fire by one of the NCOs to let me run past before resuming the fire-fight. Never a dull moment on my training runs!
Another highlight of the run was the sighting of some new cows in the field near to the witches cave. Don't know what breed they are but they looked pretty cute so I stopped to take a couple of photos.

The 'cow photo stop' was quite welcome as I'd run about 11 miles at that stage and the brief stop gave me a chance to stretch a bit and have a drink. And so,refreshed, I carried on for about another 3 miles, making an overall distance of 14 miles.

Next weekend should be interesting as I've inadvertantly entered two races in succession; the G3 10k on Saturday and the Leith Hill Half Marathon on Sunday. Guess I should give the running a rest on Thursday and Friday but we'll see!

Speed and distance training.....

Okay, Wednesday saw a run along the Thames at lunchtime and a yoga session after work; the first one since before xmas due to the yoga teacher being out of action for the last 5 weeks after she fell on some slippery tiles and cracked her head...ouch!
Thursday night I opted for a road run through Farnham of about 10k and then on Friday morning I ran with Jenny on the short 7k Hankley run.
Picked Richard up from Gatwick late Friday night after his trip to Spain with Joe. He'd had a good time and even managed to squeeze in a days skiing in the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Despite the late night, it was up early on Saturday morning - a gloriously sunny Saturday morning - and out for a run round the longer Hankley route with Jenny and Jackson. They returned home in the car whilst I took the scenic route on foot via Frensham Pond, Tilford Reeds, Bourne Woods and across to the Elstead Road and back past the Witches Cave. Total distance of about 21k.

The rest of Saturday was spent mainly doing stuff in the garden with the occassional break for some sunbathing - YES it really was warm enough to get the shirt off and soak up some rays!
Later in the day I had a very competetive game of squash against Richard. And somehow, despite their earlier workout, the legs kept going for 50 minutes.

Sunday was equally busy with a 40 minute x-country run first thing then loads of sawing and chopping in the garden This included chopping down the conifer that stood in front of the lounge window and blocked out all the light.

And then it was back to the Devil's Jumps for a hill session. I was in half a mind whether to go because my legs were feeling a bit jaded and I didn't feel particularly energetic. But I went anyway and was glad that I did. I ran four laps and my times for the climb were significantly faster than I acheived last Sunday. My record now stands at 1'44 and that's the target to beat next week!

Hills...

Had some good news on Friday from James in Buenos Aires. He's had two lengthy root canal sessions with the dentist and his tooth has been fixed and he's now free of pain which means he can get on with the rest of his trip.

I had a day off from running on Friday but was up early Saturday morning for the G3 race at Newland's Corner. It was a great morning; sunny and cold and slightly hazy. The race is one of a series of three which are run at monthly intervals in January, February and March. The course is pretty much the same for all three races but with minor differences. And there are always loads of hills; the worst being the slog up to St Martha's Church from the south side of the hill. A lot of runners became walkers for the climb and there were the inevitable bottle-necks as the path is quite narrow.
I got around the 10k course in 1hr 04'57" which put me in 149th position out of 300.

Sunday morning I ran with Jenny and Jackson on the usual morning route around Hankley Common and then, after dropping Richard at Gatwick for his flight to Spain, I was back out for a punishing hill session at the Devil's Jumps. I left the rucksack in the car and concentrated on trying to get some speed up on the climb to the top of the hill. The first time up was done at a steady pace but after that I pushed myself as hard as I could and managed to get the time down from 2'37 to 2'14 then 1'59 and finally 1'51. The last effort was an absolute killer and it took me a while to recover sufficiently enough for the jog back down to the car. It's a good work-out for Jackson too. He devoured his bowl of food when we got home and then fell into an exhausted sleep!

Monday lunchtime I did the 7k bridges run from work. The legs were pretty tired so I took it easy and just enjoyed the fresh air and watched the rowers out training and just generally jogged my way around.

Pounding the streets...

So I've been doing a fair bit of road running this week, which I generally try to avoid. Staying off-road for the bulk of my training has almost certainly helped me to stay free of injuries. But I've been busy at work this week and not getting home until well into the evenings and the added time spent driving to Hankley for a run would have meant not getting back until 9pm and sitting down to eat at about 9:30pm. So I squeezed in a lunch run from work along the Thames on Wednesday and a 10k run through Farnham and back via Hale on Thursday. The snow returned on Thursday evening, making the pavements nice and slippery and somewhat difficult to run on in places but I managed to get round in about 50 minutes.

News from James in Buenos Aires was not good. They'd arrived safely but James was suffering very painful toothache and had to have emergency root canal work done to alleviate an abscess. He's had to go back to the dentist today for a second lot of treatment after which he should be okay to resume his trip, free of pain. I feel really sorry for him because he's been planning and looking forward to this trip of a lifetime for ages and must be feeling really down and depressed at the moment. At least he's got Jess with him to cheer him up and he's away from the miserable English weather.

Anyway it's an early start for me tomorrow morning as I'll be running in the G3 10k race at Newland's Corner. The race starts at 8:30am which is a bit on the early side but at least means I'll be finished by 9:30 at the latest and still have the rest of the day to do other stuff.

Back in the gym...

...Monday afternoon for a session on the rower. 7421m in 30'.

Tuesday morning; up at 4am to take James and Jess to Heathrow for their flight to Buenos Aires and the start of their 4 month tour of South America. Felt very jealous!!




James and Jess in disguise!

Thought about going for a very early run when I returned from the airport at 5.25am. Didn't think about it for very long and decided to go back to bed for another hour or so before getting up and driving to work.

Took Jackson for a 5 mile road run through Farnham this evening. Luckily he refrained from stopping for a pooh in the centre of Farnham which is something I dread happening whenever I run through town with him!

Hidden dangers...

I came across this on my run today...

One of the hazards of using military land for my training runs I guess! Anyway, I stuffed it into my rucksack and brought it home with me and will be nailing it to the gate into the back garden as a burgular deterent. Combined with Jackson's bark (which sounds more like that of a Rottweiler than a Springer Spaniel) we should be safe from prowlers and robbers..

Slush...

Friday. Somehow I managed to get everything wrapped up at work by 2pm so jumped in the car and headed back to Farnham. It was raining as I left London but by the time I reached junction 3 of the M3 the rain had turned to snow. And as I reached Farnham the snow was getting pretty heavy. So I made a brief stop at home to get changed and to grab Jackson and then we were off to Tilford for a 10k dash around Hankley.

But it wasn't so much of a dash as a careful jog because the recent snow had turned into a soft, wet slush which was pretty difficult to run on. Also, the snow that was still falling wasn't really settling and was only adding to the general wetness. And somehow I managed to slip and fall over within 5 minutes of setting off and landed in a puddle!

Surprisingly I came across a few other folk out walking their dogs. There was the guy that looks a bit like Ed with the two Setters - Jackson had a scrap with one of them as we ran past! And then, a bit further down the track there was a women with two dogs - and Jackson had a scrap with one of those too! After that we didn't see anyone else for the rest of the run, maybe Jackson's new aggressive nature had scared them all off or maybe the weather conditions were just too adverse for most people to venture out.

Friday night the temperature dropped to minus 3 or 4 and the snow and slush turned crisp and icy. So the Saturday morning run with Jenny had a completely different feel to it. It was still hard work but more fun because it was much easier to avoid slipping over. The only downer was that I'd forgotten to dry out my trainers from Friday's slushy run and had to put them on while they were still soaking wet which was pretty horrible.

Training continues...

..despite the snowy conditions and lack of daylight.
I've seen loads of pedestrians slipping over on the icy pavements in the last few days and decided that I really didn't want to risk injuring myself by trying to run on the local streets. So, I thought, the only thing for it is to attempt a night x-country run in the snow at Hankley Common. Jenny didn't think that was a good idea at all and told me that I was 'an idiot' to even think of running off road at night through deep snow. But I went anyway.
I parked the car on the road as a precaution as the muddy area that I usually park on is down a little snow covered slope and I had visions of returning later on and being unable to get the car out. That proved to be a wise move because James parked there the following day and did get stuck! He had to get his girlfriend to push the car while he drove it out!
After parking I had to walk a short distance and cross the road to get to the start of the run. I was aware that people in the cars passing by were looking at me and probably wondering what the hell I was doing in the middle of nowhere, at night, dressed in running gear and wearing a rucksack and head torch!
Once onto the common, though, I was able to get running and was pleasantly surprised on a couple of counts.
Firstly, the running itself wasn't difficult at all, in fact the deep snow seemed to even out all the usual bumps, roots, puddles etc so that I could run at a pretty decent pace. It was a bit slippery on the steeper up and down hills but I only actually fell over once and that was a soft landing, also thanks to the snow.
The other thing was that with everything being so white it was really easy to see in the dark. I reckon I could have got round without a my head-torch. There was a bit of moon to help (about half a moon or so) but even that was obscured by clouds for most of the time.
And I wasn't the only one foolish enough to be out. As I crested the last but one hill I came across a bunch of soldiers lying very still with their weapons pointing in my direction. Luckily they must have realised that I didn't pose a threat and decided not to open fire!
The rest of the run passed without incident and I got back to the car in about the same time as I would have done in daylight without the snow.

I enjoyed myself so much that I went and did the same run the following night. The snow was much softer though and a lot more slippery. And it was quite foggy. So It wasn't as much fun but still good.

A slippery run...

I opted for a late afternoon run along the Thames from work to Hammersmith Bridge and then down to Chiswick Bridge and back to work. It was a bit on the slippy side but I managed to stay on my feet and took some video footage on the way round. Total distance of about 8.5k.

snow...

A 10k x-country with Jackson on Sunday morning was followed by a 6k hike (also with Jackson) later in the afternoon. The snow clouds were looming in the distance and the forecast for overnight and into Monday morning predicted heavy snowfalls. Sure enough we awoke to 6 inches of snow on Monday morning.

This is a video of part of my journey to work, it normally takes an hour door to door; Monday morning I was traveling for over three hours!



Of course there was too much snow to make it safe for a run and being one of the few to make it into work, I was a bit pushed for time anyway. But today I'm planning to brave the ice and snow and get out to Hankley for an attempt at a 10k. It's probably safer to run off road at the moment as the roads and pavements are turning into ice rinks. I'll just have watch out for those crevasses and avalanches on my way around!

Russell Crowe!!

Part of my 8 mile run this morning took me through the Bourne Woods near Farnham. It's the location for the opening sequence in Gladiator where the Romans battle against the Germanic hordes. The same area of woodland has been used for a number of film and tv scenes over the past few years including 'Children of Men', (see video taken on James' phone!)http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YNDyXRVhrvw 'Harry Potter', 'The Descent', 'Wolf Man', a Coldplay music videohttp://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=tNwQeedQfZE. 'Ultimate Force' and various other productions.

The latest film to arrive is called 'Nottingham' and is a Robin Hood film seen through the perspective of the Sheriff of Nottingham - directed by Ridley Scott. Apparently Russell Crowe is playing both the parts of Robin Hood and the Sheriff - that should be interesting!

It's early days in the production and it's mainly the film's art dept who are on location at the moment - designing a small village and a castle which will be built over the next month or so. The filming itself will start in March and continue through until May/June after which the latest Harry Potter film will be arriving. So plenty to see over the next few months as I run through the woods!

Getting lighter..

......the mornings that is!

Not much to report but have been getting up early the last couple of days and going x-country running with Jackson. It's now got to the point where it gets light before I finish the run unless it's a particularly gloomy day with lots of cloud cover.

Yesterday morning Jackson found a tennis ball in the middle of nowhere in the pitch dark, which was pretty impressive. He looked well pleased with himself when he came over to show me what he'd found! So we played 'fetch the ball from the thick heather in the dark' for the rest of the run, which involved me having to stop and throw the ball for him every hundred meters or so and then he'd race off in the general direction I'd thrown it and sniff it out and bring it back for the next throw! This kept us busy for a few miles and also meant that I was doubling up my morning sports activities to include running and ball throwing!

A good weekend...

Training went really well at the weekend.
Saturday I went off for a run with Jenny. We took Jackson on the long circuit round Hankley after which I ran home x-country but this time I added in a lap of Frensham Pond which took the overall distance to just over 12 miles. And I felt pretty good afterwards. Not tired at all despite the boggy conditions and hilly nature of the course.
Sunday morning I drove to Rushmoor for a hill session at the Devil's jumps with the rucksack. I was carrying about 8kg of weight and decided to see how things went, but maybe do three laps if possible. The first climb up to the top was a killer but, strangely, it seemed to get easier after that and I managed five in the end. I wasn't expecting to find the session easy as I'd done a long run the day before but maybe my increased fitness is starting to show benefits. Either that or I was just having a good day.
Sunday evening I had a little session with the punchbag and did some weights, chin-ups, skipping and core strengthening exercises. Have to admit I ached a bit on Monday but still managed to get in an 8k along the Thames.

Early morning breakdown...

Not a good start to the day. Firstly it was pouring with rain and v. windy when I crawled out of bed at 6am to go for a run with Jackson. Then, on the 3 mile drive to Hankley Common I drove through a massive puddle and must have got water in the electrics because shortly afterwards the engine stopped and refused to start again. So I pushed the car off the road and decided to go for my run anyway and hope that by the time I returned the engine would have dried out and I'd be able to get home.
The run itself was a pretty dark, muddy, wet and windy affair and I hardly saw Jackson at all; he must have been off chasing deer or squirrels. I did hear lots of shooting and shouting though as the army were out on exercise. They must have had a miserable night of it!
We finished the run at about 7.10 and I approached the car with fingers crossed, which must have worked because the engine started straight away. Phew!
note to self: in future keep some WD40 in the car - just in case!

Walking in Ireland...

Last week was a fairly laid back affair with a couple of easy runs on Monday and Wednesday, Kick-boxing after work on Tuesday and three days at the cottage in County Cork.
I flew out to Cork with Jenny at mid-day on Thursday and reached Union Hall early evening. Friday morning was spent sorting stuff out at the bank in Skibereen after which we drove to Lough Hyne and went walking for a couple of hours. The route we took involved climbing to the top of Soldier's Hill and then following a path down the north side of the hill and eventually emerging on a farm track. We then had a couple of miles to walk back to the car. The weather was bright and warm, in fact so warm that I was walking in a t-shirt; not bad for mid-January; that's the Gulf Stream for you!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FuqS8bkp0fI Video of the Lough Hyne walk.

Saturday saw a severe storm hit the coast causing all sorts of damage to trees and buildings but despite the wind and rain we went for a stroll along the beach at Clonakilty and somehow managed to avoid being blown away!
Saturday evening we consumed far too much alcohol at Bridgit's place and woke up Sunday morning for the flight home feeling a bit hung-over and queasy. But after driving back to Farnham from Gatwick I'd recovered enough to take Jackson out for a run around Hankley. He was very glad to see us return from our break and started his usual crazy dancing and jumping around and dropping his squeaky toy at my feet!
This week I've only managed to get out running on the roads around Farnham and today the Thames footpath but it all adds to the overall mileage so can't complain.

22 k Devil's Punchbowl run

Had a day off from all sporting activities on Friday apart from cycling to the pub!
On Saturday morning went for a leisurely 7k run with Jenny and Jackson followed by an afternoon swim at the Garrison Pool. Swam 1200 meters in about 25 minutes.
Sunday morning I set off for a long run from Stockbridge Pond through Frensham Common and the Devil's Jumps and up to the Devil's Punchbowl at Hindhead. I took a backpack with me but no added weight, just some water and bananas etc. I also took my video camera to get some footage of the route which I'll upload here when I get round to it. The run went pretty well and I managed to get to about 10 or 11 miles before starting to feel a bit of tiredness in the legs. The weather was brilliant though compared to recently; much less cold and with bright sunshine. The good weather seemed to bring everyone out for all sorts of activities; there were horse riders, mountain bikeres, ramblers, dog walkers and a couple of other runners.
I finished the run in about 3 hours for the 22k which wasn't too bad considering I stopped quite a bit for filming etc.

And then I was delegated the task of getting up at 5.50 on Monday morning to take Jackson out for a run! Despite it being pitch black and wet 'n windy I enjoyed the run and didn't seem to be suffering at all from Sunday's efforts. I also dropped by the Garrison for a swim on the way home from work. !600m in 31 minutes so getting a bit faster!

Swim 'n run

Wednesday I had a day off from running but dropped by the pool on the way back from work. As expected the pool was really busy not only with New Year resolutioners trying to get themselves motivated but also with gym users who couldn't go to the gym because it was closed for refitting or something. The start of January doesn't strike me as a good time to close a gym anyway - surely more people will be using it than at any other time of year. Anyway the long and short of it is that the pool was packed with slow swimmers in all the lanes so it was hard to keep up any sort of momentum but I persevered and eventually managed to get my 1000m done.
Thursday I ran from work along the Thames and spiced up the run with some fartlek training on the run in from Chiswick Bridge. I should aim to do more of those sort of sessions as a way to hopefully get faster. Had planned a long run for the weekend but will have to see how domestic duties go before deciding.

More night running...

I had planned a road run around Farnham and was thinking maybe I'll do a long-ish one of say 13 or 14k but then, as I got ready to leave the house, Jackson started jumping around in his way that he does when he knows I'm taking him for a run (which I hadn't planned to) and so I decided it wouldn't be fair to leave him behind on his own in the house but it also wouldn't really be very practical to run around the streets of Farnam for that sort of distance with a dog on a lead. So I thought, okay Jackson you win,and off we drove together for a headtorch-lit run around Hankley Common, which was probably more enjoyable and definitely less polluted by car exhaust fumes. The only thing I had to watch out for was that if I'd stumbled and broken an ankle or something I'd have been stuck out in the middle of nowhere with temperatures hitting -10 and probably would have ended up with hypothermia - so I trod very carefully on the frozen sand and rocky trails and even slowed to a walk in a couple of places. No such problems for Jackson though, he enjoyed himself, chasing around on the scent of rabbits and squirrels and in fact I only saw him a few times during the whole run but he was there at the finish and so I gave him a biscuit, put him on the lead and strolled back to the car, and pretty soon we were on our way home to get the fire lit and warm ourselves up.

Back to work...

Well 2009 has arrived and the holiday is over and it's back to the daily commute to London in the rush hour traffic. First day back wasn't too bad though and I took my new Mizunos for their first outing along the Thames Path at lunchtime. They looked very white and clean and probably gave the impression that I'd rushed out and bought some running kit as part of a New Year resolution to get fitter and be more active! I need to dirty them up as soon as possible!

Looking back over the last year since entering the MDS I feel that my training reached a bit of a peak last summer with regular 20k runs most weekends and highlights such as the Dorking - Farnham 38k run that I did with Simon. I suppose that with the onset of autumn and winter the days are shorter and there's less opportunity to get those longer runs in but I need to be building back up again soon and really putting in the miles. The other factor I suppose is that I've been entering quite a few races during the last couple of months and they've tended to take priority at the weekends when I'd otherwise be going out for a few of hours training. On a positive note, I've so far managed to avoid injury but I guess that when I increase my mileage there'll be more chance of something giving way. I think that the way to avoid that is to build up the distances slowly over the next few months. I've also got to bear in mind that I'm doing the 'Picnic' marathon in June which is a real tough one and I ought to really be planning the build up to that.

Gorilla video...

Went out with Rich on the Witches Cave run (with the backpack) - legs were a bit tired so didn't manage to beat last week's time. Still, it was a good workout and we made it round in about 51 minutes which wasn't bad. Weather very cold - down to about minus 10 and set to get colder tomorrow.
Had a bit of fun this morning making a Gorilla Training video for the Great Gorilla Run which James and I are doing in September. check it out http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kLEkPSqGhRY

Recovering from Box Hill....

Made do with a short recovery run on Friday morning (7k) and a longer effort of about 14k this morning. Today's was a nice run in bright sunshine but the ground was frozen solid so needed to be careful not to turn an ankle. Also went swimming (1000m) late afternoon.

Here are some more photos of James and myself at Thursday's race....

Knacker Cracker...

Today it's New Year's day and traditionally that means getting over to Dorking for 10am to compete in the Box Hill Knacker Cracker 10k race. The race is described as the UK's toughest 10k and invoves running up and down Box Hill four times with a total height gain of 470 odd meters. The organisers encourage runners to come in fancy dress so I went along in Rambo/SAS type gear complete with camo face paint - and just to add to the challenge, James and I carried back packs with about 8kg of weight in them.


James was feeling a bit rough before the race having been out drinking until 4am and then only managing to get 3 hours sleep due to all the Red Bull he'd consumed with the alcohol. I was also suffering from a late night and a few glasses of red wine!
Despite the lack of sleep and all that we got round the course in 1hr 19 which was a pretty good time considering the hills and the back packs. And, as usual there was a great atmosphere amongst all the runners and a sense of acheivement at having started the new year in a positive way, getting out in the fresh air and pushing the limits a bit.