Partner Swap

Mike has been a great running partner over the past year and I have learned a lot from him. He has added a cheery face and a quick wit to some long and tough training runs over the winter. The Jurassic was also a great event where we ran together on the first day, however we also learned that our pace was some way apart and Mike's commitments made it difficult for him to fit in the training in the run up to the event. He has just had a major shoulder operation which is meaning he has to recuperate and take time out from running. He is therefore no longer going to participate in the TransAlp SPURT team.

As a result, I have been searching for a new running partner. I have now found him - Chris Baker. Chris is a mere youngster at 33, but has been running for many years. He ran the London Marathon for charity in 1999. He adds that he did so because Nostradamus said the world would end in the year 2000, so he wanted to run it before he died! He has since run a number of marathons, including the Cornwall Coast Challenge in September last year. That was three marathons in 3 days along the Cornish Coast (duh!) finishing at Lands End. He spends his week as a personal trainer for MyLife based at Redland tennis club.

We'll be getting to know each other pretty well over the coming weeks, but we're already looking happy at the end of our first 15 mile training run:

The Olympic Run

So here I am back in London, getting back into the training runs. Lots of long slow runs. Now here's a thing that you don't find out about too often. You lose more fat by running slowly than you do by running fast. sounds ridiculous, but it's true. It's due to how the metabolism of the body works at different levels of exertion. If you push very hard, you use 100% carbohydrates, which are readily available as sugars in the blood and muscle tissue. If you run slowly, which is best measured by an easy pace that lets you have a conversation with someone you're running with, then you burn much more fat. After a year of training, I now know that at that steady pace, I have moved from 70% fat burning to 100% fat burning. I'm sure that's good! It means that I can run much much further at a steady pace.

Anyway, why the Olympic run? Well today I ran form my hotel in the City of London up to the Regent's Canal (only about a mile away). Then turn South East and run along the canal towpath for a couple of miles. As you can see, it's very pretty on a Spring evening at about 18.30.

Lots of joggers and cyclists out enjoying the early evening sun. What I can't fathom is why so many use ipods to run with. I've been sad enough to count and about 70% run with them. I like to enjoy the evening sounds of the birds and boats on the canal. It also means that they never look at you and never say Hi! Unfriendly bug***s.

Anyway, after a couple of miles, I came across the Hertford Union Canal branching off the Regent's Canal, turning East towards Stratford, and even more tranquil than the Regent's Canal.

I came across a German bloke running along the towpath. I didn't catch his name, let's call him Hans. Hans is training for the Ironman in August. That's a 3.5 mile swim, 125 mile bike ride followed by a 26.2 mile marathon to finish off. Hans looked very fit and is training 20 hours per week. 10 hours on the bike, 6 hours running and 4 hours swimming. Wears you out thinking about it! Even if I run 60 miles in a week, that takes me less than 10 hours! And I don't run 60 miles very often.

Hans turned off into Victoria Park and I carried on along the Hertford Union Canal. After about a mile, I came to the River Lee navigation, and there before my eyes was the beautiful sight of the brand new 2012 Olympic Stadium. It's great to see it in such a state of completion more than two years before the games. I am very enthusiastic about the games being in London for 2012, so much so that I registered my interest in tickets on the 2012 website today.

On past the Olympic stadium I came across 3 Mills Island. One of those pieces of English Heritage that you don't expect to find. It's even mentioned in the Doomsday Book. There now stands the oldest standing mill in England, dating back to 1776, and beside it stands Clock Mill, pictured below. Quite a contrast to the new Olympic stadium.

Running on from the Mill then came across 3 Mill Wall River (No I'd never heard of it before either) at Bow Locks, which leads onto the Limehouse cut. In the picture of Bow Locks below, you can see Canary Wharf poking its nose up inn the background.

The Limehouse Cut joins the watery basin around the Olympic Park to the Limehouse Basin. The Limehouse basin pictured below is also where the Regent's Canal also starts from, since the basin itself is joined to the Thames by a lock. You can just see the Gherkin peeking out through the trees, just to prove we're only a couple of miles from the City.

Then its running along the Thames Path with a view back to Canary Wharf and on to the iconic landmark of Tower Bridge. Both look beautiful in the late evening Spring sunlight.

For me it's then the last mile back to the Hotel past another infamous landmark of Monument, marking the spot where the Great Fire of London started in Pudding Lane. Again spectacular against the early evening sky.

There we are. A lovely 12 mile run in a couple of hours. A relaxing way to spend an evening in London...

North Wales (Views on the run)

After the exertions of the Jurassic, I was in need of some R&R. Where better than Easter in North Wales, at the end of the Llyn peninsula? I went for my first post Jurassic run as a gentle 6-miler along the coast path at the end of the peninsula. What a fabulous way to remind the recovering legs why you go running. This first picture looks back up the Llyn from Plas Carreg towards the Rifles (The hills on the horizon).

Then looking down towards Whistling Sands. What a fantastic view down to the sandy beach, even if the water is freezing still.

Then a full panorama giving some feeling of the spectacular green wildness of the Western Llyn.

And then there's one of me running along the coast path emblazoned with my St Peter's Hospice logo. It's quite a rugged path with a steep drop down to the sea.

Then finally down to the beautiful and quite unspoilt Whistling Sands. The sand truely whistles under your feet when it is dry due to the shape of the sand particles. And yes, the beach was pretty deserted on Easter Saturday - all the better to run across. This really does show why it can be quite inspiring to put on the running kit and get out there. That's good for me since I'm going to have to do a lot of running over the coming 5 months up to the TransAlp!

A belated Happy Easter.

Jurassic Day 3 - More hills

So there we were at the start of the third and final day of this year's Jurassic Challenge. It's called a Challenge because it's not a race. (Yeah right! Try telling that to the guys - and girls - at the front). We were back at Lulworth Cove for this start, and here I am raring to go. The start took us down to the beach for about 200m, then up this little hill as a warm up. You can see the path running down the centre of the picture. This was the first set of steps for the day. I hate running down steps!

After Lulworth Cove was a series of big hills. Now I have been known to run a flat Half Marathon in 1Hr 40mins, but after some punishing hills for 13 miles, my watch showed over 3 hours.

However during this stretch, we passed some of the Oners. The Oners were a group of 61 starters who were taking on the Jurassic Challenge as a single day race. So they started at 18.00 on Saturday and hoped to finish by 18.00 on Sunday. I have to say that when we passed these runners, they were hanging, having covered 60 or so miles in 18 hours. How they made it through that first day mud overnight, I don't know.

Here's another hill...beautiful scenery, but after 50 plus miles, one likes a bit less undulation.

We were running through military ranges now. So you can see a group of tanks just to the right of the road in the centre of the picture. Guess what? We'd just come down that hill and were going up the other side.

We again had our fair share of mud. This shot shows the ridge up the centre of a muddy path that I referred to yesterday. There was just no way of avoiding it.

Somewhere after the halfway point, a kind walker agreed to take a picture of me. I'm really not sure about this picture. While it shows that I was sort of enjoying the run, I think my arms look longer than my legs! The waist strap from the rucksack also makes it look like I have a paunch. I'm certain I got rid of that. However, you can clearly see my support for St Peter's on the shirt.

I should add that we have so far raised close to £7,000 for St Peter's, a great total, but still a long way to go. (Please click on the Just Giving link at the side of this blog to donate!)

Swanage provided a change of scenery. No hills, although the concrete was very slippery on the seashore. We had just passed the last checkpoint meaning about 10km to go. A nice easy one hour run normally. But normally I wouldn't have run 72 miles getting there, and we still had one big climb to go. I had been running the last few miles with Carole, Samantha and Liam. Carole was the leading Female Vet (but it's not a race!).

We made it over the last hill and down the other side to Studland Bay, a beautiful sandy beach. Sam and Liam had pulled ahead of Carole and me on the descent through some woods, but when we got onto the beach Sam and Liam were nowhere in sight. We could however see the finish about two miles away. We couldn't figure out where they could have gone.

Here's Carole leaving me standing on the final 'sprint' to the finish.

The last 500m was up through the soft sand. Not good on weary legs, which were screaming for the finish to come into sight. Note no sign of Carole now!

Then some massive puddles across the path, which meant we could wash our muddy shoes!

..and into the final finishing stretch.

Mike finished with a great smile at the finish and ran with his walking poles that definitely helped in the mud.

We all received a finish medal of a glass trophy that we will savour for many years. My time on the final day was 5Hr 50mins, which I was delighted to achieve on such a gruelling course.

And what of Sam and Liam? They appeared about 10 minutes later, crossing the finish line in the wrong direction and having run an extra couple of miles. They got lost on the last descent. These races can be cruel!

Overall, a fantastic training event for the TransAlp. Superb scenery along a beautiful coastline to keep the mind off the pain of the hills and the mud. I should also add that I thought the event was logistically very well organised by the VO2 team. Carting everyone around to the starts and back from the finish each day and providing loads of food and drink at the checkpoints takes some organisation and they did it with a smile and good cheer, even if the runners were too knackered to say thanks.

Roll on the next marathon.

Jurassic Day 2 - Flat and Hilly!

52 miles gone, 26 miles to go!

A beatiful day today, much sunnier than yesterday making for a much nicer day all in all, even if the organisers organised a sting in the day of today's run.

We started running along the side of Chesil Beach from Weymouth to Portland. The picture on the left shows the first climb of the day out of Portland about 3 miles into the run.

We then ran down to the tip of Portalnd Bill to the first checkpoint at about 6 miles by the lighthouse. I'm afraid my picture was taken while running, so a bit of camera shake!

The weather stayed kind, with little wind as we then ran past the Young Offenders Institute. Yes, yes, saying hello to a few mates!

It was easy to miss the Caost Path along this stretch and a few people went down a deadend path for a mile, only having to make their way back up. they weren't happy.

Then it was through Weymouth. Mike and I were running separately today. Mike enjoyed coming into Weymouth to see the swing bridge that we had to run over swung up, so he was able to catch all the runners in front waiting for the bridge. It opened as soon as Mike arrived. Joy!

There was then a long stretch along beside the beach. All along tarmac (painful on the joints), before getting to a muddy stretch. Hadn't seen much of the mud today to that point. I got my walking poles out that definitely helped. I would have used them yesterday had I not successfully left them in the bus, which I found locked when I ran back to get them.

The mud looked like you see in the Winter Olympics. When you see the cross country skiing, they often have two grooves cut into the snow. It was the same for us where you could only slide your left or right foot through the mud, leaving a high ridge of mud in the middle of the path. And when you get out of the muddy section, your feet weigh about 2 pounds heavier each. More Joy!

This photo shows the great view looking back at Weymouth and Portland Bill after about 18 miles and about 3 Hours 15 minutes. Only 8 to go. 4 and a half hours should be possible? Little did I know.

After the mud came the hills. The morning briefing described the hills here as 'legendary'. They were right.

The two photos below show the hill looking back after we had come down, then turning around to show the hill we then had to climb. These were two of the gentle hills too.

Then on to Durdle Door.

A beatiful piece of geology, even though we didn;t have long to look. We only had a mile to go to the finish, but it was still two more hills. A couple of miles after a marking stone that said 3.5 miles to Lulworth Cove (our finish line), I came across two walkers, who gave me encouragement, saying there was only 3.5 miles to Lulworth Cove! If you read about two tourists who were unexpectedly found at the bottom of the cliffs, you'll understand the true story. They may have been right, but it's not what I wanted to hear! The finish finally came into sight. Here's the finishing straight:

And me looking very happy getting to the finish.

I promise I didn't actually crash into the van below, but it was close. A long tough day, but beatiful scenery, as you can see from the pictures. But no, I didn't get close to 4.5 hours. I finished 52nd in 5 Hours 15 mins. The winning time was 3 Hours 46 mins. Hmmm.

Tomorrow is almost all steep hills, apart from the last three miles along a sandy beach. We'll look forward to that...

If you really want to be impressed, I sat down beside Adam Holland at dinner. He's 23 years old and wants to be the youngest person to run 100 marathons. He's up to 75 or so and plans to run the 100th on 10/10/10. Very apt. Good luck Adam. He doesn't run slowly either. He finished fourth today in 4 Hr 11 mins. He also doesn't eat anything during a marathon and rarely drinks anythinng. And he doesn't stretch. In other words he breaks all the rules, but it works for him.

I'm now off for a massage, then bed.