So what did you do on your Christmas break

Eat my own weight in chocolate!!

Run/Walked 6 marathons and a couple of 12 milers in 11 Days.

Stats, Stats and more Stats

The wonders of modern technology has enabled me to accumulate these mildly interesting facts from the past 12 months.

I have run/walked just short of 3000 miles - About the same distance between London and Nigeria or London and Uzbekistan
Climbed 71,000 feet - That's twice up Mount Everest plus a quick trip up Mont Blanc
Burned 320,000 calories - That's about 1100 mars bars to me and you....

Now technology has let me down during the year so all those figures are lower(!) than they probably should be!!!

Christmas shopping what Christmas shopping...

Happy Christmas!

While everybody else was going crazy with last minute shopping i have spend the last 3 days getting up at 06:00am and walking 25.5 miles each day, I have to say that the 76.5 miles have been quite easy, my new trainers (yes another pair) have worked well, a slight rub on my right heal was sorted with help from my roll of Kinesio tape which i have been using for a couple of years now (long before David Beckham was seen sporting it on his back while playing football!), my legs, joints etc. are all fine........

And from the mist god said......

Don't worry i haven't gone all religious on you!!!!

It was a odd day, another 25 miles under my belt, but the whole day was spent in dense fog, visibility was 40 feet at most, God spoke to me and Hackney!! from the mist came "god is your savior" and various other religious ramblings... I stopped to listen and was almost hit by a cyclist on the tow path, she explained everything.....At seemingly random times there is an open air church service held in the field next to Lee Valley Ice rink, thousands of people stand in the field and do the praying thing....They must have a amplifier setup worthy of the foo fighters cos it was really loud, and the fact that was in dense fog and you couldn't see anything made it a very weird experience.....

Anyway as stated another 25 miles, feet good, shoes good, legs good, perhaps god is looking down on me!!!

The Beast of Chingford

Well it hopped like a rabbit, but was the size of a fat fox (or large dog), it was like a wallaby but had chunky front legs, To be honest I'm not sure what it was!!!

A heavy 8 days.....

Sat - Round Rotherham 50 miles
Mon - Bike 38 Miles
Wed - Run home from work 10 miles
Thu - Run home from work 10 miles
Fri - Run home from work 10 miles
Sat - Walk 8 Miles
Sun - Lee Vally training run 26 miles

Total = running/walking 114 miles, bike 38 miles

So if i fall asleep in your company it's not because you are boring it just that i'm a bit tired!!

Running by numbers.....

I read somewhere that Paula Radcliffe repeatedly counts too 100 while running during which time she has covered about a mile, the theory is that the counting takes your mind of the fact that your legs hurt, so while struggling during my Lee Valley Ultra training run (or another marathon to me and you) i thought i would give it a go, after all counting too 100 can't be that difficult, now maybe the cold had got to my head or that I'm just plain stupid but i found it incredibly difficult, the first problem was the need to count out loud and not just in your head, the second is the simple task of the counting to 100 without missing any numbers out!!.

Now i'm sure practise will make perfect but i was quite alarmed that such a simple task was so hard!!

My theory is that Paula head doesn't bob because she is working hard but because she is trying to successfully count to 100!

So if you see me out running and counting out loudly please don't think that i am mad (probably not too far from the truth) it's just that i have run a long way and things are getting tough!

Blisters don't hurt when you feet are numb with cold!!

Out on the bike today to give my feet a bit of a rest, it was very wet, windy and very cold, did Loughton to Ware and back along the tow path at the side of the river lea, had a nice bacon sandwich at Dobbs Weir and feed the ducks......

The alarming creaking noise from the pedals just disappeared, and a trip out on the bike would not be complete without a puncture which duly came at the halfway point....I've had the bike 6 months and had at least 6 punctures, today i tried the compressed air sealant puncture repair kit and it worked a treat with the number of punctures i seem to get i better order a case of the stuff.....

Anyway it was a round trip of 38 miles, it was quite hard work and my feet haven't been that cold well since the weekend!!!, all good training for the arctic....

Rotherham - Lovely this time of year - NOT

Even some of the regulars had to admit that was a tough day, 50 miles round Rotherham in the driving rain and gusting wind all in the name of fun, the day started at 06:00am with a chilly but dry start but soon the rain came, the round Rotherham is 30% trail, 20% road and 50% farmers fields, and we all now what farmers fields and rain means - yep MUD, this made it particularly tough going underfoot, not that it stopped the winner who completed 50 miles in just over 6hrs!!
In the end i ran/walked the 50 miles in 11hrs 55mins, In my mind i thought i had run big enough chunks to be quicker than that, but i suspect the conditions had a big hand in the overall time.

The positives - after 50 my legs were fine, my mind was still functioning, in fact i felt quite fresh.

The negatives - blisters, two quite large blisters on each heel, now i thought i had finally found a shoe/sock combination that worked, again maybe the underfoot conditions played a part

Gear:-
Jacket:- New Marmot jacket worked a treat in the driving wind/rain, only issue was the rucksac i was carrying caused the jacked to ride up at the back.
Trainers:- worked well until the mud/rain just got to much, the bootie design meant that at the finish once i took them off i could not get them back on again!! due to plan of blisters and the swelling of my feet - this is a serious problem....

Not quite Dean Karnazes but still 4 marathons in 1 week

Well that week didn't exactly go to plan, but i still managed effectively 4 marathons, 2 sub 4hr marathons (one with a full rucksac), and 2 walks one of 30 miles and the other of 25.8 miles (so we will call it a marathon!), the 25.8 miler included some running so that i wasn't too late for the pub!!

This weeks plan is a couple of easy 10 miler's on Monday and Tuesday and then a rest because it's the Round Rotherham next Saturday and thats 50 miles!