Tag Archives: North Downs Way

Training Updates

Training update, the plan for the 100

Leave a comment

My previous post mentioned that I was considering a 100 mile ultra next year, well (assuming all the places don’t go before I can register) I will be doing the NDW100.

With the decision made my focus on training has returned, albeit limited due to the Snowdonia Marathon in a week. With the cycling a firm feature of my week I have to look to ways to incorporate this as part of my ultra training. It’s not ideal, but you have to work with what you got so I am going to make the best of it.

So this week has been the usual fair of 10 mile cycle in 12 mile cycle back Monday to Thursday, with a 9.5 (Garmin missed the first 0.5) mile run in. The run wasn’t to bad even after the 4 days of cycling, with my pace averaging 09:40/mi

OK, so its pretty much downhill all the way

Its not the most taxing of routes, being on the road for the most part and practically all downhill but with the added weight of a full rucksack it is good training. My plan, following the recovery from Snowdonia is to incorporate running to work maybe twice a week, to work and back. I won’t start straight away with the 20 miles per day, building up to the full 10 miles on the way back by getting the train initially and getting off before home (not being near any stations I am always going to have a small run at the end)

I am hoping to keep the “long” weekend runs to a minimum as I want to keep this time to spend with the family, building these into the training as probably once every 3-4 weeks, starting out with a 20 miler and increasing it from there. Its going to be interesting to see how it works out and I am sure my plan will be modified here and there.

In other news, the latest edition of Ultra Tales is out, with contributions from many ultra runners, me included. This is a free e-magazine featuring contributions from many runners and I can thoroughly recommend it to anyone interested in ultra running, being newbies or seasoned runners, with just under 250 pages it is a great read.

The links to the download are (Box) http://bit.ly/RLhLgc  (GoogleDrive) http://bit.ly/WL6Yr2  (SkyDrive) http://sdrv.ms/Vd6Soy (links courtesy of ultratales)

For more information, follow @ultratales on twitter or Facebook to support this magazine and keep up to date on upcoming issues and how to contribute.

Uncategorized

100 miles?

5 Comments

This the question I have been asking myself since the NDW50 in August. My feelings immediately after the 50 miles was “no way”, with me instead wanting to get some more 50 mile Ultra’s under my belt before tackling double that distance.

Sitting here now, 2 months on my feelings have changed. I have been thinking about why I wanted to do a 50 mile run in the first place, I have a desire to reach the limit of what I am capable of, to get to the point of failure. Now most people would be expecting for me to say “and push through it” but if I am honest that is not why I am doing it, don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t go into it hoping to fail, or to fail because I didn’t but the effort in training. In some ways to reach the limit of my capabilities is to potentially not be able to continue, be it 40 miles in, 60, 70 or even 99.

With the registration for the North Downs Way 100 fast approaching I have little time to make a decision, one which I will make together with my wife (as she is the one who suffers the absentee husband, out on his 4+ hour training runs). With the NDW50 now on a different date it is easier to build in that run as part of the training for a 100 mile attempt.

It is quite a difficult thing to explain, this type of rational behind why I want to do this. Most runners wouldn’t contemplate this, going on the assumption that the goal is to finish. This maybe what separates individuals who compete in Ultra distance vs. other running events. The challenge is not always to succeed, but to know yourself and you limits.

Could this be mine?
Uncategorized

Ten Questions About My Running

Leave a comment

I have seen this post on a couple of other blogs, namely Fit for a Year and Gareth Davies PT, the questions originally started on another mother runner blog. I figured I might as well add my responses to the questions.

How long have I been running?

It all started with garethdaviespt.com and another guy, Simon, doing a Duathalon and then deciding that they wanted to do the Grim Original and asking if I wanted to join in, this was about September 2010.

What is my most memorable run?

Surprisingly it isn’t the North Downs Way 50, it isn’t even a race. The most memorable run I have done was a training run, the first time I every hit the Marathon Distance. This run was a milestone that cemented my path to the Ultra, and gave me the belief that I could achieve it with training and willpower.

Three words that describe my running.

A title of a book that should be read by all wannabe Ultrarunners “Relentless Forward Progress”

What running shoes do I use?

Several different ones, I own New Balance Minimus MT10 and MT00 as well as New Balance MT110, I am looking to get some MT1010 in the near future as well as some Minimus Road.

NB Minimus MT10
Do I have any quirky habits while running?

My left foot tends to stick out when I run, I sometimes look like a paddle boat going along.

When do I run, morning, midday or evening?

Mornings, although I am having to rethink my training plan with the daily commute on the bike.

Does the weather stop me running?

Sometimes, I really dislike running in the rain. I will do it, but some days I will have a bonus rest day!

Have I ever had a running injury?

I had an IT Band injury for a while, switched to barefoot shoes and this improved and eventually resolved itself. Currently dealing with intermittent forefoot pain on the left, but again treatment does seem to be working (RICE)

I felt most like a badass runner when……

Finish line at the North Downs Way 50

A pretty good feeling crossing that line
My next race is….

Snowdonia Marathon

Training Updates

Im Back!!

Leave a comment

So its been a while since my last post and I would like to say I have been doing lots of running but unfortunately that’s not the case. The last post before my break, I mentioned that I had a niggle on the left foot and to date it is still causing some issues, it has improved a great deal but is not what I would call ‘healed’.

That said I think I am now in a position to start running properly again and begin to build the mileage back up, which is lucky as I have a marathon to run in just under 5 weeks. I have been lucky to an extent as, following a recent move I now cycle a round trip of 22 miles a day to and from work, which has helped keep my fitness up while keeping the impact low on my legs. With all the cycling though, I have realised how much I enjoy running and the freedom it brings, cycling along busy main roads brings me now pleasure and I have been itching to get back out the trails, which I managed to do this weekend.

With my move I am now a stones through away from the North Downs Way,which I could have done with a year ago! As the running has been limited this weekend was the first exploration of the local trails and how I could factor the NDW into my training regime. Obviously with a 100mile+ commute I am focusing on the weekends to get my running in and moving forward this will be a regular thing, building up the distance again as I am planning on doing the NDW50 again next year, with some other marathons and shorter ultra’s in-between.

Saturdays run then, starting out about midday the weather was lovely and it felt a perfect day for a run. I had an idea of the route I would be taking, map in hand I headed off:

Not a bad start to a run, after about 500 yards of road I am on the trails!
After 3 weeks of roads and cars, a quiet trail is the best place to get back that sense of calm
A familiar sight, those sign posts mark one of the greatest trails in the south.
The views from Gravelly Hill, Caterham
Another photo which sums up why we run trails

So a pretty scenic run throughout, one thing that happened requires special mention. Following the map I had gone onto what appeared to be a fairly unused public footpath, enjoying myself and not paying too much attention I approached the next style, when I looked up I was presented with the below and practically jumped out my skin.

No way getting through, and that one in the middle poking his head up is a big bad Bull! No way I was going to mess with them and no way around, time to turn back and find another way.

So a total distance of about 7 miles, the longest run in 3 weeks. I did manage another run the week before, my brother recently got married in Warsaw, Poland, so as we were over there I took my running kit and went for a 4mile run to see some of the sights, a great way to see the city.

Lastly:

Spot the river, spent ages trying to find a way across.

 

 

 

 

Training Updates

Training this week: 13/08/2012 – 19/08/2012 (and hitting the wall for the first time)

Leave a comment

Not a lot to report as I spent the majority of the week recovering from the North Downs Way 50. I have basically been eating non stop since the race, telling myself that I need to replenish although trying to justify the nutritional quality and recovery benefits of a Dominos Pizza is pushing it.

In terms of running, Saturday saw me returning to the North Downs Way for a run with Gareth from Reigate Hill to Box Hill Stepping Stones and back again, 14.65 miles in total, hindsight says this may have been too much.

A lovely day for a run, or so I thought

Heading out from Reigate Hill at 07:06 we started running at a reasonable pace, we had started early as we knew that the day was set to be warm and didn’t want to get caught in it. I had paced my Salomon with 1.5 litres of Electrolyte and was carrying 3 gels but had only planned to use 2 (the third being a spare)

An epic view from the North Downs Way

Following the NDW I felt good, the section between Reigate and Box is probably the toughest of the Way (or the toughest of the sections I have done), we were not pushing the pace but were speeding up on the flats and downhills and easy running or walking up the hills. Time  passed with not problems and before I knew it we had covered the 6+ miles to get to the Box Hill viewing point

The view from Box Hill, as always lovely

Opting to make sure we had the mileage in we headed down Box Hill path to the stepping stones, a descent where my legs were starting to point out to me that I had run 50 miles a week ago. If they were pointing it out on the way down then they were shouting at me on the way up, I was in a bad way. I seemed to lose all energy in a shot; and still had 7 miles to go to get back.

It had also started to get increasingly warm, more so than we had anticipated and my hydration bladder was down to about 250ml which wouldn’t be enough to get back. Getting to the top of Box Hill I was busted, feeling absolutely drained but walked for a bit on the flat and started running, this however was not going to last.

Misery, that’s what I felt going back. Despite it being a relatively short distance at this point, probably about 9 miles I knew I had hit the wall (Bonked) and hit it hard. Despite all my training up to this point I have never really experienced the ‘Wall’ and it was making up for it now.

By now I was walking more and more so I had said to Gareth to go on, no point in me slowing him down. With 2 miles to go my water had run out, the spare gel had been eaten but I was feeling no better. What I noticed was that I kept have the same thoughts repeat through my head; “just sit down and have a rest” and “when I get back I am going to get a bottle of water and a bottle of coke”, fortunately the latter prevailed and I kept going and got back (and got my drinks)

The only thing I can put this down to is that despite feeling ok to run on the Friday and for the first 7 miles I was no way recovered from last weekend. I will chalk this up to experience for future runs my bit of advice for anyone reading this is, following an Ultra (or even a Marathon) you may be feeling great and ready to run after a week, but it may have taken more out of you than you realise so keep the mileage down, or run a route which is composed of shortish loops so if things start going south you can cut it short without having to suffer a painful return journey.

Today I went for a much more sedate 2 mile run, mainly to test out my new New Balance Minimus zero drop shoes. I will be writing a separate review of these once I have logged some more miles in them.