Finally i finish a race

this year has been a year of DNF's (did not finish) or in some cases DNS (did not start), i DNF'd in the Arctic, The Grand Union Canal race, Ceasers camp, and DNS's in the London to Brighton, Long tour of Bradwell, i did managed to finish 3 marathon distance races, London and Toronto marathons, and the 3 forts off-road marathon.
The last race of the year was the 47 mile Beacons ultra, it had everything wind, rain, very heavy rain, darkness, up hill, down hill, fire roads, mud, trails designed to break ankles, canals, great company, great marshalling, just a great event all round, i trotted round in 10 1/2 hours with the "face of scottish adventure racing" Rab, i know we could have gone a lot quicker, Rab had done little training and i just needed to finish and finish i one piece, as it turned out i was fine apart from a little wobble on the second climb when i just seemed to run out of steam, it was only a blip and i felt fine and strong for the rest of the race in fact the next morning i felt no stiffer or sore than i normally do after a 10 mile run home from work and i was back out training on Monday evening.....

un-healthy healthy man....

now i like my biscuits, i eat my fair share of cake, and i could live on chocolate, but no more when i had the chest infection a few weeks ago i had a blood test which has shown that my cholesterol is sky high, initially the doctor wants to just reduce my biscuit/cake/chocolate intake and review my cholesterol level after a month or so, the blood test also highlighted some issues with my liver, after a second blood test i have now got to go and have a liver scan, being a typical bloke i never asked the doctor any questions about what was wrong so i don't actually know what the problem is, i don't get much feed back from my doctor but even i detected a slight hint of concern, the scan is on the 15th Dec.

South Africa here i come

no not the football world cup, but the Comrades ultra race, it is a 56 miles race run in alternate directions between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, this year is a "down" race and will run from Pietermaritzburg and Durban, it's one of the most famous races in the world and a "must do" race for any ultra runner, one of the things that makes it so special is that you have 12 hours to complete the course, if you are outside the 12 hours even by a second you are classed as a non finisher, you don't get any medal, you don't get mentioned in the race results, its as if you never raced. it's not the easiest race to get into, the field is limited to 15,000 and only 5000 of those places are given to "first timers" but i was luckily enough to get a place, the race is 30th May 2010.

Illness it was then...

chest infection was the diagnosed, to be honest I've probably had it quite a while and just been ignoring it, after a long course of heavy duty antibiotics i can't say I'm feeling total right but at least my chest doesn't hurt each time i breath in or out!!!, I've only run twice in the last 6 weeks, once at the aborted Caesar's camp race and today at the Toronto marathon!!!, unlike Caesar's i actually finished this race and in a time of 3:48 which all things considered I'm quite happy with

Illness or over-training you decide

I'm going with illness i have been doing a fair amount of training but no more than I've done in the past, i missed a couple of races with cold like symptoms which i just could not shift, i had the obligatory mild swine flu that every 'man' has had, more annoyingly i missed the London to Brighton when i felt fine during the week but by the time the weekend and the race came i felt appalling, it was at this point that i decide to take 3 weeks off from any running/cycling just doing a little light walking, do i feel any better, no not really but I'm bored so have decided to have a go at the Caesar's 50, i have a busy few weeks lined up after the Caesars 50, i have a weekend of navigation training in Brecons followed by a week in Toronto and the Toronto marathon, then hopefully at the end of October i have a week away somewhere warm to do some swim training.....

A bit sluggish.......

Well i have an excuse, that being 62 running miles, 115 cycling miles in 8 days....ankle and groin have been fine but i have a slightly sore right achilles which will require a few rest days to make sure it doesn't develop into anything.....

A busy few weeks......

Just a quick catchup, its been a busy few weeks, Jo had a unsuccessful attempt at the A2A, it was an amazing effort and she will be back in a couple of years for another go, i followed her overnight run and add that to the days work i had already done and it was 38 hours without sleep, all good practise i suppose, the last couple of weeks have been spent either cycling to/from work or running home, it added up to quite a few miles, even mild swine flu didn't stop me, my ankles have been quite sore but the stretching and the frequent use of my ultra sound machine seem to be finally making a difference, at last i seem to have got over the groin strain i have been suffering with for the last 2 years it been a while but finally the running is becoming pain free, this weekend I'm off to the Peak district for the 31 mile race so we shall see where we are at on a longer run.

Armchair athlete

Saturday i took a quick drive up to Hull to see Rab at the 24hr track race, he was on good form but even the lap counter couldn't help but notice that their was more walking/talking than running :-) but true to form he was still going 24hr later.....Sunday Jo was due to start her Arch to Arc challenge but the good old British weather has delayed the start until the weather is good enough for the channel swim section, fingers crossed for some better weather later this week.
As for me it's been a bit of a slack week, managed 3 x 10 milers and a couple of short walks, hopefully things will settle down later this week and i can get back to either running or cycling to/from work.

A bit of a mixture.....

Over the last couple of weeks i have continued to cycle to and from work, I've done a couple of shortish runs which have been hard work, I've done a couple of longish walks and some unicycling so a bit of mixture really....I've not unicycled for a few years now and it is certainly utilizing some muscles that don't get used too often, you can certainly feel it in the legs the following day!!

What a great day in the hills.....

but what a long day, a great run in the Hill's by Talybont-on-Usk, ankle was quite sore but then under foot conditions were never going to make it a smooth run, shin was fine, felt good so did a very hilly 25.5 miles, legs were quite stiff the next day but i think the 5hrs it took to get home was a little to blame.....

Is it supposed to hurt that much.....

I've not run for a month now, that said in that month i have done 580 miles on the bike (so much for the rest!) and last week i had my lower legs manipulated and in the process the person doing the manipulation managed to catch a nerve in the back of my leg to say it hurt would be a understatement but i have to say they feel a lot less stiff, i have tried to resume my daily stretching and my legs in general feel quite good, I'm off to Brecon this weekend to give them a bit of a work out, the plan is for a 20+ mile run/walk on Saturday and a shorter run on Sunday but it will be a very much a 'see how we go weekend' with a nice change of scenery.

That will be the bike run in then.....

I've managed to fit in 230 miles this week with about 170 miles of that off road, including cycling to work every day and a 60 miler on Saturday, the bike is running smoothly and I've only managed to get one puncture!!! I've bought some clip on pedals and shoes but after seeing someone fall off at a set of traffic lights on Saturday and almost getting run over when he didn't unclip quickly enough I'm still to fit them....

Stan Boardman

It's actually a Chris Boardman MTB, but when i walked into the bike shop and was asked if i needed any help i said i was looking for a Stan Boardman MTB, my stupidity was lost on the 12 year old shop assistant, but back to the bike, after wearing out 2 cheap bikes i bought a proper bike designed/made by Olympic bike champion Chris Boardman, the difference between the old bikes and the new are startling, it is so light and the gear change is precise and the brakes unbelievably powerful and smooth it's a slightly smaller frame so I'm optimistic that it will fit in the car, I'm also looking at a couple of endurance MTB races which will be something different.

Get me some water wings

it's time i learnt to swim.....all these injuries have taken the fun out of my running, the training has become a painful chore and when i stand on the start line of a race I'm already thinking about what injury is going to stop me finishing, this weekend it was the recurrence of a shin injury that stopped me at 55 mile point in the GUCR, up until that point i had been fine and although a little dehydrated i felt quite strong.
So i have a plan and it doesn't involve running, I'm going to have some swimming lessons (i can't swim!) and do a bit of swimming, buy myself a proper bike and cycle to work more often, stretch until I'm as flexible as a russian gymnast, reinstate my lunch time strolls around Mile End, and most importantly I'm going to have some fun!!

It's only 145 miles......

This time next week I'll hopefully be 26 hours into my journey from Birmingham to London, i have 2 hopes for the weekend, firstly to finish and secondly that we get a dry race, 145 miles in 42 hours is as tough as it gets but 145 miles in 42 hours in the rain is as depressing as it gets...I only mention the rain because 3 times this week i have trained in torrential rain and the novelty value has begun to wear off.
This week i plan to do a little walking and plenty of resting, i travel to Birmingham on Friday (with my one way ticket!) and the race starts on Saturday at 06:00 sharp.....

As if their was ever any doubt....

after another tough week of cycling, working, more cycling and even more working and yet another marathon(!!) i have confirmed my participation in the GUCR, my participation was never really in question but the general tiredness of the last few weeks had sowed the seed in my mind, the deciding factor was my 5th marathon in 5 weeks at the 3 Forts challenge in Worthing this weekend and it's 3800ft of climb and distance of 27.5 miles, i was hampered at the beginning with a dodgy stomach but finished very strong, and even after the 2hrs car journey back home i didn't really feel like i'd run quite a tough 27 miler.

London Marathon

Another great London Marathon as always the support from the crowd was incredible, the crowd was 5 deep for all 26 miles, managed to see Steve/Sue/Haley/Robert at about half way at which point i was feeling strong, began to suffer a little at about 20 miles but was pretty much done for by about 24 miles, the aim had always been to keep it under 4hrs but at 3hrs 57mins i was cutting it fine, on the Embankment i had a quick chat with both Gordon Ramsey and Iwan Thomas who were also both suffering a little.
In reflection 3hrs 57min wasn't too bad considering that this was the 4th marathon in 4 weeks, this week i will cycle a little and then hopefully I'm planning a bit of a toughy next weekend before i make a final decision on the GUCR which is now only 4 weeks away.

I had a plan but it gone out of the window....

Been very busy with work and 'non work' related work so my training plan has gone somewhat out of the window, Saturdays 25 miles was hard work, managed to fit in a couple of 5 mile walks, and hope to cycle tomorrow, i'm hoping for better luck than last week when i cycled twice and got 2 punctures!, that will leave me a couple of days rest before the London marathon on Sunday.....

No time for easter eggs....

Due to work it was a bit of a slack week followed by a busy bank holiday weekend, Friday was another 30 miler, Saturday was a 10 mile walk, Sunday a 2hrs cycle ride and Monday a fast 12 miler, it was reasonably pain free weekend until i got 2 massive gnat bits on each leg which not only itched but had bored themselves into my muscles!! making any sort of leg movement quite painful.

Welcome to my bizarre world...

OK, the week started with a sore leg, a sore feet and a neck that didn't want to turn to the right, Monday i did a painful 5 mile walk, Tuesday i did a pain free 13 miles but got a big blister the size of a small country on my right foot, Thursday i did did the hardest 15 miles i can remember within 5 miles i was running on empty and once i got to work every muscle just seized up, Saturday i planned a run of some sort but was just too tired and basically just went back to bed, Sunday up early and did a pain free and relatively easy 30 miler!!!

oh no more pain.....

While sleeping on Thursday night i managed to pull a muscle in my neck!, nothing too serious and it only hurts when i turn my head to the left or right but it has left me with a headache that will not go away, it hasn't stopped my going out for a couple of runs but a swollen ankle and pain on the top of my foot has, these are new injuries and i will monitor them over the next couple of days, i can't help but think that at some point my body is going to say enough is enough and just stop working!!

What next.....

Well the 6633 is over and done with for another year, I've still to conquer it so will be back next year, over the last couple of years i have done the first and last 100 miles, now i need to do the middle 120 miles and put it all together and get my sorry ar$e over that finish line....
The immediate plans now switch to the London Marathon at the end of April, and then onto the Grand Union Canal race in the end of May, so their is no let up on the training front i need to start losing the few extra pounds that i put on for the 6633 and also concentrate on my stretching and see if we can have a reasonably pain free couple of months.....just looking at the sunrise/sunset times and the rise in temps, it looks like i will be soon be able to start cycling to work which i'm quite looking forward too.

And the winner is....

Chris Todd, chuffed to bits that Chris completed the 352 miles 6633 Ultra it was an awesome achievement, he is the only the 3rd person to complete the course and the 1st for 2 years, i completed 100 miles of the ice road with him which was good to get that sort of mileage in and i felt reasonably fresh as we strolled into Tuk at the end of his amazing journey...

The Ice Road

After consultation with the Ice Road authorities we are unable as non racing individuals to race up the Ice Road, we can however support Chris (who is the remaining racer still in the 352 mile race) and walk with him, so myself and Keith are going to take it in turns, it's going to be quite a shock to the system as we have been inside in the warm for the last couple of days and it is currently -40 and it is only going to get colder as we get further up the ice road, I've got the first 12hour shift so once Chris has woken up we'll be off......

Well that didn't go to plan.....

well after months of training and planning it all went horribly wrong after just 35 miles....I had not been feeling 100% for a week or so and had had very little sleep in the days leading up to the race, for the first few miles i felt great with the temps around -40 and was moving well but very rapidly i got very tired to the point that at one point I'm pretty sure that i fell asleep while walking and i hadn't even got to the arctic circle!! at the arctic circle i took too the support vehicle and had some food and set off again but with little change after a few more miles i withdrew from the race...so that it's another year and another failure, the plan is to see how i feel in a couple of days time and then give the 120 miles from Inuvik to Tuk along the ice road a go.

Are we there yet.........

Yep, after 10 hours from London to Vancouver, 6 hour layover in Vancouver, and the a 3 hour flight from Vancouver to White Horse we finally arrived at the hotel, the temp at the airport was -30, just off to the shops for a little last minute race related shopping and then i shall start sorting out the sled ready for tomorrows kit check, We will be in White Horse for the next couple of days before we start the long drive up to the start at Eagle plans.....
The weather today is -30ish but over the next couple of day rising to -15, but once we get to Eagle plans it will be back down in the low -30's...

Here we go again.......

I've had a restful couple of weeks, concentrated on my stretching, had a physio session on Friday my flexibility is getting better but is still a long way off where it should be, not sure the physio fully understood the 6633 Arctic ultra as she wants me to keep up the twice a day stretching while racing 352 miles in -50, I've also indulged in my favorite past time of eating and will be hitting the start line at 87kg (2kg heavier than last year), i read somewhere that i can expect to use 7000 calories a day during the race of which I'm likely only to replace about 2000 a day which is quite a deficit, so the few extra kilo's should help out.
Just been checking the weather in the Yukon area, current temps on the race route are -30ish, the first part of the course is currently closed due to drifting snow but the long range weather forecast is for continuing low temps but the wind and the snow will subside.
I'll update my blog as and when i can, wish me luck......

looking forward

Now that the Arctic race is almost here it's time to start thinking about the Grand Union Canal race, this is a whole different challenge, I'm reasonable happy that injuries permitting i can walk 352 miles in roughly 6 days in the arctic circle, what I'm not sure about is running 152 miles in 42 hours from Birmingham to London, now that is a big ask but as always I'm up for the challenge, my 5 mile run tonight is a good start just need to do that back to back 30.4 times and i would have run 152 miles, oh and did i mention that is is only 8 weeks after i get back from the Arctic!!!!
I'll be using the London Marathon as a training run(!) as that fall's between the Arctic and the GUCR.....

A week before i fly.....

No long run/walk this weekend so it was good to not have to get up at 05:30 which i have been doing most weekends for as long as i can remember, from now until Friday i will do short runs just to keep the legs moving and have a bit of a rest.
At this late stage i have decided to change my trainers for the race, nothing wrong with my normal race trainer of choice, just the new inov-8 roclite 320's I've been trying out are just so much more comfortable and when you have 352 miles to cover comfortable trainers are the top of the priority list.....
My front room is full of kit, sled, food etc, i have a new bivvy bag and have been sleeping in it for the last couple of nights just so i get the hang of it, all i have to do now is get the whole lot to north western Canada and get on with the real business of racing 352 miles.....

Is it time for a rest yet......

A tough week, walked home all 5 nights (that's 50 miles), 35 miles on Saturday morning and 3 hours of humping concrete and rubble into a skip, no running/walking on Sunday but10 hours in the car too and from Wales, Monday morning was up early for physio and then a day moving bottling machine, safes, tables from a sub and other equally heavy objects. thankfully today is a rest day, not that it has been restfull, did a Arctic gear check tonight and gave the sled the once over which is just as well as one of replacement bits has the hole drilled in the wrong place and needs to be redrilled.
Good news from the physio, my legs and joints have started to point in the right direction, their is still a lot of streching to be done but she said in just a week their is a noticable difference, and to be honest the i can feel the difference....

There is a god

and her name is Fran and she's a NHS physio, OK she may not have obtained god like status just yet but she is the first person to actually listen to me and try and understand my various points of pain and discomfort.
Within a couple of minutes of stretching and twisting she noted that my pelvis/hips were out of alinement's by half an inch, this apparently can been fixed by just pulling it back into place!! which is exactly what she did....further twisting and stretching highlighted the quite alarming difference in flexibility between my left and right leg. So the focus of the next week is stretching and lots of it, i have a series of 10 stretches to do as often as physically possible.
I always suspected that i didn't do enough stretching relative to the amount of running/walking i do, but i was as shocked as Fran at the degree of inflexibility in my legs and hips/pelvis.

A strange old week....

After the back to back 32 milers of the weekend Monday i was greeted with 3" of snow and a very long day at work, managed a quick 8 miles on Tuesday, Wednesday was another long day, Thursday i had to go to Covent Garden so walked back to Leytonstone which was about 10 miles, again it snowed it was odd to walk through central London with the snow settling everywhere....Saturday was a tough old day did 18 miles, the first 10 miles were easy but the last 8 my body just seemed to shutdown by the time i got home everything was hurting and to honest i was in considerable discomfort for the rest of the day, Sunday i seemed to recover and after working i walked the 10 miles home without any problems. I have the first of my NHS physio appointments on Monday morning so will see what they can suggest.

A free concert, £40, oh and 64 miles....

Another chilly training weekend in London, the highlight was undoubtedly while walking the Thames path i stumbled across Kelly Jones (for the uneducated of you Kelly Jones is the lead singer of one of the biggest (and in my opinion best!) bands in the world - The Sterophonics) recording some sort of video on the side of the Thames unfortunately for me it was one song done in one take and he was off, it's always good to come into some extra money but £40 was a little unexpected, some poor runner somewhere will be kicking themsleves for dropping it, on the training front it was a good weekend 64 miles over 2 days (back to back 32 milers) 2 early starts to get me over south west London before i walk right accross London back to Loughton...

snow snow and more snow

For the second time in the last few weeks London has ground to a halt due to the amount of snow!! but believe it or not the snow plays havoc in training for the Arctic!!, the snow only lasts for a few hours before it turns into a sheet of ice making any sort of training just plain dangerous. I'm sure the enforced rest is doing me a favour but it just doesn't feel like it, it's times like this when i wish i still had some sort of gym membership.

Now thats an unusal sight in london - a pack of hyena

A chilly 42 miler, it has to be said that the Paddington branch of the Grand Union canal is the scummiest bit of canal I've ever seen, dead animals/dog mess/rubbish all the way into Little Venice it just plain horrible, it got a bit better once it becomes the Regent Canal which passes through the middle of London Zoo, so at one point i had exotic birds on one side of me and a pack of Hyena on the other!!, i carried on through Camden and onto Victoria park, then it was onto the River Lea and on to home, felt very good and decided to run the last 5 miles which was remarkably easy :-)
It was good to catch up with a number of people taking part in the T2T race and i walked the first 6 miles with Tricia, Steph and Rach, Perks and Matt from the www.themds.co.uk they appeared to have an equally dull walk up the Grand union canal to Tring.

More of the same with and twist and a little extra

It's been a slack(ish) week training wise, general tiredness at the beginning of the week and a few late finishes at work had limited my training to walking from Mile End to Leytonstone (probably not the safest 5 miles in East London) on 3 occasion after work.
Made up for it at the weekend, On Saturday it was back to Richmond along the Thames path this time following the Thames right up to Wapping before turning up the Regents Canal and then hoping across onto the River Lea up to Chingford and then through Epping Forest to home, it was about 38.5 miles and was livened up by a dodgy stomach at about 15 miles, after a particularly poor nights sleep (again) i was up and out in the rain for a surprisingly quick and easy run of about 11 miles round the streets of Loughton, I've metioned it before but i'll mention it again - i LOVE running in the rain.....

More of the same....

Repeated the Thames stroll of last week, same start time, same finish time, same route, not so cold as last week but still cold enough to keep my jacket on all day, after some slight rubbing from the Berghaus trainers last week switched back the the Salomon XT wing trainers and my feet were fine.

Funny/disturbing sight:- daffid the only gay in Richmond - some bloke wearing a rubber puffer jacket and patent black high heals strolling along the very wet and muddy Thames path.

Impressive sight:- The yellow Sea King helicopter hovering 20ft above the Thames by the Tate Modern.

Impressive sight/sound:- The McLaren SLR "giving it some" across Westminster bridge.

if i had a dog it would be a fit dog....

A nice gentle stroll along the Thames today, well you know me i don't do gentle or strolling, took the first train to Richmond (that's 35 stop on the underground!) and then walked the 37 miles back to Loughton, my alternate arctic trainers were great up until they started to press on the joint of the large toe on both feet, i'll adjust the laces and try them again next week.

old age and your choice of sport!!

2 years of pain, 8 months of waiting for appointment and scans, and the opinion of the specialist is that my various injuries are due to old age and my choice of sport.....
The pain in my ankle is arthritis and not a lot can be done about it, i have some fluid around the tendon which can be sorted with some stretching and physio, the groin pain is still mystery and were put down to the amount of miles I'm putting in (who would have thought it, ultra running and over use injuries) again the physio may be able to help me with a proper stretching regime that will at least help to minimise the discomfort.
So we are back were we started, still in pain and going to see a physio....

Perhaps it's time to take up a less athletic pasttime, may be chess or bowls....