Monday 9th I decided to go to the gym, which I had been absent from for quite a while with a combination of an increased running schedule and the laser eye. It was pouring with rain so the run to the gym was not nice, and by the time I got there I was pretty damp. I did about an hour of weights, chest, shoulders back and arms (no legs) and run home (it was still raining)

On the 10th I went for a 9km run in the morning and in the evening a 8km run, the intention being to have Wednesday off and then run Thursday, Friday off then the long run on Saturday. Due to factors outside my control this didn’t happen.

On the Monday I started to experience some discomfort with m eyes, nothing major and to be honest I thought nothing of it. I figured that it was all part of the healing process, Tuesday was worse with my vision decreasing and it appearing that I was getting more shortsighted, with sensitivity to light. I had an appointment with Ultralase on the Wednesday so decided I would discuss it with them, Wednesday came about and it had gotton worse, to the point where I was getting white outs and really struggling. Getting to London was a real pain given the vision issues, but I managed it.

When I described what I had been experiencing intially they couldn’t see why it would be happening, but I had some more tests and when they did my eye pressure it came out at 47 (anything over 21 being not normal). What I was told was that I was having an Optical Edema due to the Steroid eye drops, me being one of 2 people that they have ever seen with this reaction (and my own research after indicating that this reaction is a rare genetic abnormality). Obviously the Edema is not good, with words the doctor used of “worst case, possible optic nerve damage”. I was given lots of drugs to take to get the pressure down, and thankfully they kicked in and on the Thursday my vision had improved 100%. My followup appointment on the Friday indicated that everything was normal, and my pressure had fallen to 9 (my normal reading being 15 and 18) but another followup appointment next week will hopefully confirm everything is ok and my pressure will stabilise.

So, due to the above all form of training was out the window until after the appointment Friday and Sunday was my next available date to run, which I did and an easy paced 19km followed.

More good news, the profile for the Trail Marathon Wales is out and wow, does it look tough. Below is the race profile and as you can see, a lot of up!! 4821 feet of ascent (1470 meters), so any sense of doing it in a certain time is out the window, it will be a case of enjoying the views and just finishing, even if that is last.

They have a blog for the Trail Marathon Wales so if you fancy reading it, the link is here: http://tmwblog.com/

Incidently am taking the decision to switch to miles rather than km after Offa’s Orror next week as all the other events that I have booked are in miles, so it makes sense to make the change, and work on my pacing in min per mile.

So  not a lot of training done this week, having to take a week off from any activity following the eye surgery. I was finally able to do some jogging on Saturday. Apparently jogging only needs a week but racing needs 2, not sure what the distinction is, so I went for a 8km jog following my usual route through Lloyd park up to Addington hills and back again. Pace was ok, I wasn’t going to push it so maintained a steady pace at about 6min per km.

Sundays run again was an easy paced  run, but I had company with my brother joining me. He appears to have caught the running bug and has signed up for the Tough Mudder in May, a 12 mile assault course which has allsorts of obsticles, such as crawling through nettles and electric wires (sounds fun!!). It was going to be a shorter run, as I wasn’t sure how far he had covered so far but we ended up doing about 9.5km, which was good and he kept up with the pace and did really well, now all he has to do it run that again and avoid 10,000 volts 🙂

Training next week will consist of more running and a return to the gym (Greens keep emailing and texting me to see if I am ok, as I haven’t been in ages!)

I am still fundraising for the Special Care Unit, my Just Giving page is http://www.justgiving.com/AnthonyClark2012 or you can follow the link on my blog.

If this sounds like fun ‘Tough Mudder events are hardcore 10-12 mile obstacle courses designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie. With the most innovative courses, half a million inspiring participants, and more than $2 million dollars raised for the Wounded Warrior Project, Tough Mudder is the premier adventure challenge series in the world.‘ then follow this link to get some info: http://toughmudder.com/

Bit of a gap since my last weekly update, but normal service should resume from now on. Rather than summerise all the runs in this period I am going to just focus on yesterdays run, my first Marathon.

A lovely sunny day for a run, I knew I wanted to go long and with the intention to hit the magic 42.19km, or 26.3 miles. As it was a hot day (for the time of year) and I was unsupported I would have to carry all the fluids and nutrition I would need for the run, so with that in mind I had 2 litres of water in a hydration bladder, 400ml of electrolyte drink in a bottle on the shoulder strap, both on the OMM Ultra Pack. I was also wearing my Salomon waist pack with another 400ml bottle, giving me just under 3 litres of fluid which I hoped would last me. I also was carrying an energy gel, some Cliff Shots and a pack of Jelly babies so I felt I had enough to keep me going.

Armed with a camera to capture some of the journey, and a very loose idea of where I wanted to go I set off at 08:25. I followed my standard route via Lloyd Park, Addington Hills down into Addington, then heading up Featherbed Lane to get to the trail that leads up to Warlingham.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got to the end of the trail that runs through the Golf course and rather than my usual turn right, I decided to head left towards…well I wasn’t sure. At this point I was over the hour and had started to mannage my pace and mix in more walking, given it was my first Marathon I was intending to do, and that I am training for the Ultra I wasn’t too concerned over timing it was more about making sure that the distance was done.

There road I was travelling down was long, and just seemed to go on forever. That and it being lane with no path meant I was on constant lookout for what I soon came to realise the biggest risk, cyclists. Cars are ok, you can hear them coming so if one is behind you there is ample time to move out the way with bikes, no chance, silent up until you start hearing a faint noise of tyre on road and on this road travelling super quick I was on constant alert to avoid getting a bike up the arse.

Once I got to the end of the deathtrap of a road, I realised where I was and started heading to Titsey Hill as I knew there was a good trail that I could take, I was at about 18km when I arrived so the 6km route was the clear winner as I needed to get the mileage in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This trail starts off as a nice downhill followed by it levelling out for a about a km, before another downhill. Obviously what goes down must come up  and I wasn’t disappointed, it was hardwork! I was starting to feel the hills more and more so it wasn’t welcome, but one I got it out the way I knew it was a fairly level run back into Warlingham. As time wasn’t at the forefront of my mind and despite all the fluids I had onboard was starting to crave more carbs I was going to head into Botley Hill Farm to get a pint of orange and lemonade ( a decision I had made on the Titsey trail). To my disappointment the pub was closed and my craving went unfulfilled. That said I was running low on fluids so had a stop at Aid Station Sainsburys to get a bottle of water to put in the hydration pack (on a side note, why to people on a self checkout decide to to a trolly full of scanning!!!).

Sainsburys was the 30km mark (18miles) and generally this is considered to be the point where the body starts to suffer, most commonly known as ‘The Wall’. As I had never experienced this before I was uncertain how I would be effected, I would like to say I didn’t notice anything and just carried on but that would be a lie. The first thing I noticed was the feeling of sickness, I wanted to throw up, I knew I had to keep eating and drinking but I just couldn’t, every stride started to become harder and harder, with me focusing on a point ahead, such as a tree, and telling myself to get there then I could walk for a bit. This feeling carried on for about 3 miles (3 painful miles) but after that I bizzarly started to feel better. When I was on the home straight around 24 miles I was just giggling to myself as I ran because I knew I was going to do it.

The feeling of hitting the distance was amazing, and one I will want to repeat. More so it was a mental achievement, I know I can do this distance so the challenge of the Ultra seems that little bit more manageable. I did have a lessons learnt from this training day, hydration. I thought I drank loads, I had to top up my water at the shops, yet I only had to pee once, and it was not the pee of a well hydrated individual coming out the colour of lucozade. This is a concern, you get your hydration wrong your stuffed and is somthing I am going to look into in more detail with a structured plan for my long runs probably being necessary.

Anyway, summary of the 2 weeks in distance, time and calories followed my some more pics

Distance: 98.32km, Time: 9hrs 55mins, Calories: 8,205