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Day 13 / 03.02.1l4 / 400km30days

February 4, 2014

endurance, injury, London, running, training, Twitter, ultraboy, ultraboyruns

Pain, pain, pain, pain and more pain. The problem with pain when you run is that the bugger hurts.

Yesterday my back had been really sore which I assumed was a flare up of my back and hip trouble caused by my cycling on Sunday. Regardless of this I thought that a few kilometres wouldn’t hurt – how wrong can you be! Less than a dozen strides in I could feel my left foot smacking the ground rather than brushing it as it normally does and by the time is reached Marylebone High Street I felt like stopping. However, it was also freezing cold and had I stopped it would have been a chilly trundle down to the station and so I pushed on through the city, even making a sprint for the train but the throbbing in my hips, back and annoyingly my shin was hideous. I’ve run ultra marathons and been in less pain afterwards! However, despite the pain I did manage to run but I do need to reflect on the possibility that I’m over training and perhaps some more time on the yoga mat and in the pool might benefit me.

I didn’t #Janathon this time but I’d still recommend it

January 31, 2014

endurance, injury, training, Twitter, ultra, ultraboy, ultraboyruns

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I didn’t do Janathon this year.

I did attempt it last year and enjoyed it but as it comes to an end I am filled with a kind of sadness, a sadness because I know that my inbox won’t be quite as full of the blog posts from all the Janathoners attempting to make it to the full 31 days without a hint of an excuse, plus there will be the battles at the top of the leaderboard, the middle of the board battles and the general Twitter banter that comes from a group of people so diverse that you’d think they simply couldn’t find a common ground – but they did, exercise.

What is Janathon / Junathon?
Janathon and Junathon are a months worth of exercise, logging of that exercise and then blogging about the experience, or as a new addition micro blogging. It is an opportunity and excuse to perform some exercise every single day of a month. Some people, like me, would call this RunStreaking but to the ‘athon community this is much more than that, it’s as much about understanding you personal fitness as it is about the exercise.

As with ultra running it’s all about personal commitment and the support of those around you to help you to the finish line, infact the ‘athon experience is very much like an ultra marathon. The distance of 31 days seems epic at the start but once you get into your stride it all becomes habit, the endurance needed become second nature, the spirit that is built up through the blogging, Facebook and tweeting is akin to the moment when your head goes down at mile 55 and somebody just puts an arm around your shoulder and makes it all better and suddenly you can do that last little bit. I suppose the greatest connection between an ‘athon and an ultra marathon is the sense of achievement as you cross the line and know that you’ve done something really special.

What I got
I found a great deal of enjoyment in the adventures of others as much as I found enjoyment in the doing, I got into habits that I carry through to today such as reading blogs and writing blog posts on the train in the morning and then running to and from work, doing longer runs at the weekend. Janathon helped me set up my mantra for ultra running of ‘never give up, never sit down, move your fat arse’. I made some lovely friends along the way, some of whom I met, some of whom I didn’t but many of whom will be friends for a long time to come. Being a part of the ‘athon community is a good thing and I would recommend giving it a go when June comes round.

Why aren’t I doing it in 2014?
That seems a reasonable question and the answer is pretty simple – priorities. The first thing was I was injured at the start of January and therefore was resting when it launched this year, the second thing was that my ultra marathon training comes first and I find my competitive nature means that Janathon isn’t so good for those days when I need to be resting as I get obsessed by leaderboards and mileage and that should no longer be my obsession. I may one day go back to being an ‘athoner but not this time but if you ever needed a kick up the bum or some heartfelt feedback this is an event that can deliver both by the bucketload.

Try it in June and see what you think.

Day 7 / 28.01.14 / 400km30days

January 29, 2014

London, training, Twitter, ultraboy, ultraboyruns

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So I did some running, took my Hoka Mafate 2 out for a spin in some thicker socks but my knee, which had been harassing me yesterday, continued to flare up but I did a few kilometres to make sure that even if I don’t manage 400km then at least I’m putting in effort to reach the highest possible target I can. It was pretty wet conditions last night but it all felt rather pleasant.

I jumped on my train, took my seat, played some Angry Birds Star Wars, returned fire on Words with Friends and started to read through some of the lovely blog posts that my fellow runners, bloggers and tweeters have been rocking on about. It was about 20 minutes into my journey that I finally noticed a man staring intently at me and even when I made that momentary eye contact he didn’t flinch. I was now very aware of him staring me I was being creeped out by it. It got a little worse when the train started to empty off a little and he moved seats to sit directly opposite me and stare more obviously.

What did he want?

He was a big lad and I didn’t fancy either a possible fight or worse a pick up line in such a a confined space. I put my iPad away and my iPhone, making a last tweet just incase I was about to become a murder statistic and then turned to face my aggressor, feet lifted casually onto the seat next to me to look like I was remaining casual. It was at this point that his gaze drifted down to my Hoka and I was able to more closely assess the man and consider the threat level. I decided he was just a weirdo but I was only a few stops from home and I’d be rid of him shortly. I stood up early as we approached my station and I stretched my aching post run a little as I often do while waiting for a train to pull in and in the last few seconds he stood up and positioned himself just within my personal space, breathing heavily. I knew he was too close because I could smell the tobacco all over him and there was a faint whiff of something fishy for lunch.

Now I just wanted to get off.

There are about 30 steps out of my station and the crowd made it difficult to get any headway and the man was close enough that I could still smell him. As I left the station I decided to do what I do best and that was run. Over a kilometre, under duress, I can still hammer out a sub 3.30 and that is exactly what I did – I had no intent on this unpleasant little man having any idea of where I lived.

In retrospect I should have perhaps made something of it but I didn’t. I wonder if it will happen again tonight? I’ll let you know.

But do remember runners, creepy people like this are rare and commuting is still pretty safe but always be mindful of the man who is watching you nonstop for half your commute home. And especially be mindful perhaps of the commuters on the South East train lines out of Charing Cross and London Bridge 🙂

The Virtual Run and TwitterChallenge @VirtualRunnerUK @michloise @UKRunChat

January 28, 2014

Arse Kicking, fun, London, medal, Racing, running, training, Twitter, ultraboy, ultraboyruns

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I’ve banged on extensively about the need (for me) to try different types of racing, so as regular readers will know I’ve done things like the Sweatshop 5km, been a member of the London Social Runners (and was a founding member of its Wednesday nights), adventure racing, track racing, road racing, every type of distance, I’ve even raced on the water and taken up cycling to further my adventures. But yesterday I saw a tweet from @VirtualRunnerUK inviting runners to engage in a virtual race with the benefit of a medal.

The idea is brilliantly simple, you run a specified distance during a specified period of time (seems like a couple of weeks) and then you bang out the mileage you’ve signed up, send in your proof that you’ve done it and a medal is despatched to you. The fact that the organiser is making money only for Charity makes this even more appealing and at £5 you’ll never find a better value race or better organised (because you’re organising the running bit yourself!). This, to me, all sounds like heaven and I’m thinking, well presumably 12 virtual races would give me 12 medals in a year?

Let’s hope that’s right because I’ve got an idea… while bumming around on Twitter I agreed to engage in a Twitter challenge with @michloise, the challenge was that she will break Sub50 10km and I’ll get back down to the sub42 (possibly a sub40) 10km. The problem for me is all the ultra running takes away from racing 10km races but if I had a method of earning medals and at the same time engaging in the racing without impacting my ultra running that would be perfect and here it is. So I’m now waiting for the date to arrive so that I can do my 10km and then kick back waiting for my medal.

Good luck to all the virtual runners taking part and more importantly to those runners that aren’t – why not get involved yourslf at http://www.virtualrunneruk.com

Day 5 / 26.01.14 / 400km30days (a big thank you Tweeters and Bloggers)

January 26, 2014

cycling, family, FAT, fun, kit, running, trainers, training, Twitter, ultraboy, ultraboyruns

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This morning was a simple three stage affair – 5km bike ride, 5km run, 5km bike ride, half of effort was very uphill and the other half was nicely downhill. The weather added in an unpleasant challenge and as the rain lashed my face I did wish I was still tucked up in bed but hey ho, all fun. Hope everyone else has had glorious Sunday running.

Additionally I’d like to say I wasn’t advertising either the colour blue or OMM today, I just chose a very OMM and blue kit!

I’m also adding a dog picture to this post because dogs make me happy, especially my dogs who were waiting for me when I got home. Cute 🙂

On a final note for this posting I’d really like to say thank you for all the support and responses to my posting about my ‘running argument’. There has been a huge amount of messages and conversation about the value of tweeting and blogging about running and the need for community. Needless to say I won’t be leaving the blogging and twitter community, not because I think I’m something special, but because you guys are amazing and being part of this wonderful community is helping drive me on to a successful. 2014.

Day 1 / 22.01.14 / 400km30days

January 23, 2014

fun, London, running, training, Twitter, ultraboy, ultraboyruns

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I set out yesterday with only one thing in mind – 15km. By the end of my evening run I had three things on my mind 1) I really needed a toilet 2) I must have taken a wrong turn 3) when the bugger did I press pause on my Suunto? The toilet was pressing, my navigation skills were disappointing and the pressing of the pause button instead of the light button was annoying but 10.82km down only 389.18km in 29 days to go.

I got into a #running argument, I didn’t cry

January 22, 2014

Twitter, ultraboy, ultraboyruns

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I was having a discussion about the value of blogging as you run with a colleague and a fellow runner, we met about a decade ago and have periodically run together – he’s something of a monster having completed dozens of marathons and a few ultras, I’ve often looked toward him as something of an inspiration and although we have beaten slightly different running tracks we have always been very respectful of each others achievements – but on blogging and Twitter we simply could not agree and more for the first time ever it got insulting.

The suggestion was that my blogging has no value other than to publicly air my dull thoughts about what running means to me and that there is very little interest in what I (and others like me) have to say. I disagreed

It was here that it started to get even more personal and he laughed at my rather poor blog spelling – here I defended myself saying that my blogging often takes place while I’m commuting or walking to work and spelling errors are the result usually of the dreaded autocorrect

He further questioned the value of race reviews that focus so much on my personal feelings about them and less about the numbers ‘people don’t much care how you were feeling, they care, if anything, about splits, elevation, pace, etc.

I tried to explain that if I wanted to write about pace and splits and speed and the more technical end of my running I would but that the reason I write about my experiences in the way I do is that if I feel good, bad or even amazeballs that is something that might lift someone else, or empathise with someone else.

To this he countered that my audience was too small to actually offer a connection to other runners but my view is that my blog has a couple of hundred hits per day, not massive but then I don’t promote it extensively and as long as one person finds it of use then it has done its job and sometimes the job it does is let me express my running angst or happiness. Does this seem so bad I asked?

By this point I was feeling a little dejected and so the conversation turned onto Twitter … another thing he simply couldn’t understand.

‘Why would you waste your time chatting on Twitter – you could be running?!?’ At this he had a bit of a point I could be running instead of tweeting but at the same time the Twitter community offers lots of advice, support and ongoing shits and giggles. I get to (hopefully) inspire others to get out the door or offer advice based on my experience and in return I get the same.

His counter argument was that I should join a running club, thereby giving and receiving support in the real world. That being around other runners would inspire me to break back into better times, better finishes, avoid injuries and generally be a better human being or something.

We simply couldn’t agree and by the end of the conversation I was actually angry and we haven’t spoken since. But does he have a point? Would I be better dumping Twitter and blogging in favour of joining a running group? If I did though experiences like seeing @abradypus at the Country to Capital at mile 24 just wouldn’t happen. Randomly being stopped by runners in the street who recognise your picture from your blog or Twitter feed wouldn’t happen. And being recognised at ParkRun for your Vibram-clad monkey feet wouldn’t happen.

This conversation has been rattling around in my head for a few days now – I’m hoping it goes away soon.

400km30days #running

January 22, 2014

endurance, fun, London, running, trainers, training, Twitter, ultraboy, ultraboyruns

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The next 30 days are going to be an attempt to complete at least 400km of positive running. Today is day 1.

#Race (No)Review: Dartford 10

January 19, 2014

Racing, running, suunto ambit 2, time, trainers, training, Twitter, ultraboy, ultraboyruns

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5.30am and an email arrives – the Dartford 10 miler is cancelled, 3 years I’ve been trying to run this, once I pulled out because of an injury and now twice it has been canceled and I haven’t been available for the re-scheduled date. The good news is that the race organiser made the right decision, the River Darent had broken it’s banks and the water, several days later, hadn’t drained.

Instead I did a very hilly 10 miles in a pretty healthy 1hr 17minutes. So no medal but a really positive run and I got to test my Salomon hydration belt, nice and easy to use and very comfy – though it gave me a seriously sweaty back.

I hope everyone else had a lovely sunny January run.

#RunChat about the rising cost of running shoes

January 19, 2014

endurance, kit, marketing, retail, running, shopping, trainers, training, Twitter, ultraboy, ultraboyruns

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‘Anymore than about £70 and you’re paying for the label and the current seasons colour’ I was told this by a trusted running friend and this got me thinking. I’ll add the caveat that this was said in 2010 and therefore adjusted for inflation and other factors lets say £75 in 2014 money. Now to prove his point the first edition of the Adidas Adios Boost which was in Sweatshop for about £110 dropped to £75 in the winter sale…

Hmmm. Are we being duped into buying over priced running shoes? Unusually for this blog I’ve been doing some research – I’ll admit I’ve not gone very far with said research but its a start, but this posting is mainly about my own experiences in attempting to find the best pair of running shoes for my feet and just how much am I willing to overpay.

Let’s start with (some of) my current crop of running shoes, how much I paid for them and more importantly did I consider that good value for money.

Newton Distance
Paid: £99.00 (per pair)
Normally: £125.00
Retailer: Sweatband
This was my first foray into the world of lugs and Newtons and I remember the first time I put them in the shop and thinking, that my feet had found a new home that they would never want to leave. Newton Running are a pretty specialist maker of shoes with a core band of supporters but have been growing in popularity, the problem with niche shoe makers is that their product tends to be expensive and these were no exception, even at the £99.00 I paid (per pair, I ended up buying several pairs) they were pricey. I found them excellent on dry roads but on wet surfaces they can be hard going and trail should be a no go for these road shoes, so they had a limited use, however, the first pair managed more than 700 kilometres, performed reasonably at the Bewl Water Marathon and the Snowdonia Marathon, neither of which would have trails suited to these shoes, but the wide toe box meant that (due to injury) I had to wear them. So in that sense they were excellent value and even now after 700 kilometres I still sometimes do a few commuting kilometres in them. All Newtons are built to a very high standard and clearly made with excellent materials and more than enough consideration is given to the design – they are shoes designed to stand out in every single way. They are also my shoe to lounge around the house in, I simply find them comfy and therefore they are worth the money I paid out, but could I recommend them at the full price? In this instance I could, the Newton Distance is a well put together shoe from a specialist maker, they won’t turn you into Steve Cram or Scott Jurek but they will provide excellence over the lifetime of the shoe. I’ll be buying more of these soon.
Value: 8/10

Newton MV2
Paid: £50.00
Normally: £99.00
Retailer: Newton Running
I went back to Newton when I was looking for a replacement for my Adidas Adios 2 and I hadn’t wanted to upgrade to the Boost edition as they it was still such new technology that I wanted to give it a season before I tried them (plus at £109 I thought they were too expensive). Newton did a deal for their sprint edition model, the MV2, low profile, same quality materials as other Newtons and a decent set of reviews. When they arrived they were lightweight, compact, filled with lightweight producing technology and they felt as fast as lightning. But they came with a caveat and that was that they would not endure – some of the reviews suggested that the MV2 had a lifespan of about 200km and upon receiving them I could see why – the upper feels flimsy and after my happiness with the distance these were quite a disappointment. Now what I will say is they are fast shoes, they feel amazing but are they are £100.00 worth of running shoe? No not even close, my original Adidas Adios cost £75.00 and I ran over 700 kilometres in them, raced nearly a dozen times in them and they never once failed me – these feel like they are a 5km shoe but that couldn’t do that too many times in a week, just incase you were asking too much of them, I’ll be honest even at £50.00 these feel a little bit expensive but I still love them and we do to running together. Interestingly my experience with the MV2 will not dissuade me from trying other Newtons, but perhaps I’m best sticking with the Distance (a pretty fast shoe in itself).
Value: 4/10

Hoka One One Mafate 2
Paid: £62.50
Normally: £120.00
Retailer: Snow & Rock
Pro: Quality build, good ride, good endurance
Con: Blistered on 100mile ultra at five miles in after getting soaked but user error, been excellent since
Distance: 300km (so far)
Value: 9/10

Hoka Stinson Evo
Paid: £125.00
Normally: £125.00
Retailer: Pete Bland Sports
Pro: Build quality, ride quality, endurance, excellent road to trail ability, offer less fatigue on your knees.
Con: Expensive but worth it, my feet came away from last ultra in pretty good condition thanks to these.
Distance: 300km (so far)
Value: 9/10, for me a near perfect shoe.

Salomon Sense Ultra
Paid: £75.00
Normally: £125.00
Retailer: Sportshoes.com
Pro: Build and ride quality, decent transition from road to trail but definitely a trail shoe
Con: Slightly too exposed to the elements, not a great fit only feet but that’s only my feet 🙂
Distance: 35km (so far)
Value: 6/10, at £75 these feel well priced but much more than this and they feel expensive

Merrell Barefoot
Paid: £50.00
Normally: £75.00
Retailer: Blacks Outdoor
Pro: Lightweight, well made, Vibram sole, multi-purpose footwear, well designed alternative to VFFs
Con: Not suited to heavy trail but handy for road to light trail
Distance: 300km (so far)
Value: 7/10, reliable and fun shoes that can have any number of applications but as a specific first choice running shoe they aren’t quite there. Having said that I always take a pair with me as a backup during ultra marathons

Adidas Adios 2
Paid: £80.00
Normally: £80.00
Retailer: Sweatshop
Pro: Lightweight, fast, well designed, reliable, have endured well
Con: Not as good as the original Adios
Distance: 1250km (over three pairs)
Value: 9/10, even though I’m not as keen on v2 these are an unbelievably good shoe that I use in training as well as racing.

Adidas Ace 3
Paid: £35.00
Normally: £75.00
Retailer: Runners Need
Pro: Lightweight, bright, reliable, comfortable ride
Con: Not as good as the Boston or the Adios
Distance: 100km (so far)
Value: 6/10 at £35.00 you can’t argue that these make a nice change from the Adios or my other lightweight running shoes but at £75.00 they don’t feel as though they have enough under the hood and I’m not sure I would trust them over a marathon distance.

Vibram Fivefingers Komodo
Paid: £135.00 Normally: £135.00 Retailer: Vibram
Pro: Unique, challenges your own perceptions, build quality, good for endurance, showstopper
Con: Get twigs trapped between your toes, getting your feet caught on the visually impaired aids on the road, they hurt like hell if you accidentally heel strike
Distance: 900km (original pair)
Value: 9/10 near faultless until they finally gave in, second pair just as good – very expensive but worth every single penny as I saw my times tumbling in Vibrams and my distances increase.

Vibram Fivefingers Speed LS
Paid: £88.00
Normally: £110.00
Retailer: Field and Trek
Pro: Unique, build quality, showstopper
Con: uncomfortable
Distance: 40km
Value: 3/10 I can’t wear these for running, so I wear them as a work shoe – never understood how my Komodo were so perfect and these so nightmarish. Blisters, discomfort – the lot came with these. Sad as they are beautifully understated shoes.

Skora Phase
Paid: £42.00
Normally: £75.00
Retailer: Sports Pursuit
Pro: Nice lacing system, beautiful to look at, nice comfortable ride, suitably barefoot, niche running shoes, well built
Con: Not so great as a big distance shoe – lovely sprint shoe though
Distance: 150km (so far)
Value: 8/10 I wear these both as running shoes and day to day shoes as I bought the black ones. Comfortable, inexpensive and nice to sprint in. Well worth £42.00, probably not worth £75.00

The reality is that I remain unconvinced that paying big money for big shoes means you’ll get any better results on the road, the track or the trail. What it does mean is that you’ve spent a lot of money on a pair of shoes. I tend to buy expensive shoes not because they are expensive but because they have a specific fit for me. The Hoka One One for example I own because they have a wide toe box and have helped to reduce the impact of blisters on my feet during ultras. But I’ve made mistakes – I was lured into the Salomon S-Lab Ultra shoes because of the name and now I own a pair of shoes that might occasionally get a 10km trail run rather than the ultras they were supposed to race in. Shoes like the Skora Phase were inexpensive enough and with good enough reviews to warrant taking a punt on something new and actually I really like them and when they pop up in sales I will certainly buy some more. I recall @Cat_Simpson_ saying that she never bought the current seasons shoes as she wanted to let the reviews come out (and presumably see the flaws) before buying. This is very much approach I’ve always adopted also and hence why I rarely pay full price for any shoe and if I do it really has got something special in its box of magic tricks.

But there does appear to be a trend to convincing us, through expensive marketing, about new technology in shoes and how much it will improve our running. Do you remember Nike Shox for example – lauded as the next big thing in training shoes or the the recent bandwagon for barefoot running or technology that springs us forward and returns energy to our bodies? And what do the manufacturers want? They want us to buy them, more often, in more colours – get rid of those old favourites that have been hiding in your cupboard for years because they believe, that you will believe that there is a Usain Bolt inside of you – and that can be brought out with your new runners. Hmph!

As runners we all know that finding a shoe that fits and works is invaluable regardless of the cost, brand, shape or size but there is an ever creeping group of marketeers who are convinced we will pay over £100 for knitted footwear or shoes with springs. Hmmmm, the only shoe I’d pay stupid money for are ones with jet rockets concealed in the soles.

The following articles offer some interesting insights – though of course it isn’t all to be agreed with and neither offer conclusive evidence as to whether we are being over charged by sports companies keen to take advantage of runners as the sport becomes ever more fashionable, but they do offer food for thought.

http://www.scpod.org/foot-health/2013-latest-news/news-archive/expensive-vs-cheap-running-shoes/

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/6968891/Why-expensive-trainers-could-be-worse-than-useless.html

Mike O’Neill, podiatric surgeon and spokesman for the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists said “it is not the cost of the trainers that is important but the suitability of the trainers.

How very true!

But we all go into a shop with a closed mind, I know for example that I won’t event try Asics on because my experience of trying them on is that they don’t feel comfortable and I don’t really like New Balance as a brand for the shoes – and I really haven’t tried even a small portion of the options they have available. Plus I know that if my shoes don’t come in some ludicrous colour then I’m not spending my money on them – I will not wear white trainers!!! Therefore, no matter the research or what we are told is probably best for us we all have a pre-determined picture of the shoes we are going to buy (hence why I ended up with a pair of Salomon I’m not that keen on – but love looking at).

The article from The Telegraph goes further and asks about the value of having shoes at all! Well for me I need some running shoes, mainly to stop myself form getting dog poo between my toes – yuck but you catch my meaning. So are we overpaying for shoes? Yes, marketing machines have seen a niche and are exploiting runners, but at the same time we are keen to be exploited with the aim to establish that new PB. How many of us could really go barefoot or buy that pair of Crane or Hi-Tec running shoes that according to Mike O’Neill are no worse than their expensive cousins. The cycle continues and until we are ready to admit we enjoy being conned and having the major manufacturers tell us what is good for us then we can never start down the real road to running glory.

Happy Sunday running guys

@mia79gbr thanks very much for the inspiration #Runchat

January 18, 2014

endurance, kit, Racing, running, Twitter

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A posting inspired by Sarah over at dreaming of footpaths I decided to try and put all my race T-Shirts and my winners race hoody on all in one go too. 28 running shirts later and I looked like a blue version of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters! I hope my fellow runners fancy a go too, ps… I could barely breathe – thanks Sarah 🙂

Coaching and Clubs: a #running dilemma

January 16, 2014

London, running, teamwork, time, training, Twitter, ultra, ultraboy

8 Comments

Four ultra marathons, four marathons, about a dozen half marathons, loads of 10km, a few random distances and a couple of outdoor swims – that in a nutshell is the last few years of my life. I’ve pound the ground at every opportunity, I’ve run up hills, down hills, across fields and forded streams, there has been no race too long, tall or difficult. I’ve tried them all, but even I recognise I’ve hit a bit of a wall.

What type of training do you do?
Well @hitmanharris describes my training as ‘running’. He went on further to say that if I wrote down my training plan on an A3 bit of paper I’d basically just write ‘RUN’ in big letters. I’ve never really thought about disciplined training and plans but actually that all sounds a bit too much like running by numbers – no matter how tailored to you it is. I tend to get up in the morning and decide I fancy 15miles or decide I fancy a fast 5km. There’s not a lot of rhyme or reason, I try and mix my running up by doing some fast, some slow, some bigger distances, trail, road, hills and flats. I’ve added in Pilates and swimming over the last year or so but the truth is that I’ve seen myself plateau since I started ultra running and trouble is I’m finding giving up the smaller distances really hard to do – already in the first eight weeks of 2014 I will hopefully complete 2 ultra marathons, 2 ten mile races and possible even a duathlon, that’s a lot and hard to train for because your preparation needs to be for the ultra but then I turn up to the shorter races and want to give it my all but I’m then not performing well enough to race decent times.

At this point last year I was still running a reasonably good 3.30 – 3.45hr marathon distance but a broken foot and a shedload of ultra training and this time has being slowly eroded to the point where I think I’m more like a 4.00hr marathoner. And the trouble extends further to the point that when I go back and do speedier running all I find is disappointment as I can’t quite get in under 20 minutes over 5km ( I don’t think ParkRuns count as I’ve usually just ridden 15km to get there – uphill). I’ve also got my desire to do my first triathlon this year and I still can’t do more than about 50metres freestyle before I need to revert to breaststroke. I see trouble ahead.

Twitter
I’ve been extensively watching the timelines of all the runners I follow on Twitter and have noticed there are a lot of runners who use coaching or have joined a club and the conversation is almost universally that this has helped them overcome issues of levelling out, overcome the mental block of not being able to focus on a couple of specific goals, not being able to give up all the bad food that gets consumed and adopting a healthier lifestyle in eating as well as exercise.

Joining In
I know I would benefit from the social and training support offered by a club or by the knowledge of runners who have been there and done that. I used to run with the London Social Runners for about 6 months until I found that each week I got caught up nursing home one of the really slow runners and becoming resentful of that, so I stopped going and convinced myself that group running simply wasn’t for me. However, because I can’t find a way out of my spate of injuries, my lack of direction and a bit of a lack of enthusiasm I think I need to do something. But what? I’m also confident that actually I could offer something to less experienced runners – for good or ill I’ve got a lot of experience now and I’ve adopted some good practices as well as some bad ones, I should be sharing this experience more.

Problems
I have two problems, the first is that I don’t think I would be committed enough with one to one coaching, I’d lie and cheat, I’d run when I was supposed to rest, I’d race short when I was supposed to run long, etc. And effectively I’d just be cheating myself, wasting their time and mine – I need someone who I have to look in the eye very week and say ‘yep I did as I was told’. Suffering from guilt so easily makes it better for me to have to face someone and the public humiliation of being in a group and not being competitive because you’ve not done your training horrifies me.

However, there is the second problem which is that I travel on average four hours a day, usually a bit more and getting to a club is almost impossible. If I join a Central London one I’d be regularly left waiting around because of my works finishing time, plus not getting home until really quite late and then I’d need to travel into the city at the weekend, which is very rarely practical. If I join a club nearer to home (and there are a lot of them) I’d never get there in the evenings and my racing habit generally means I’m not available most weekends.

A change of job and location would enable me to join a club closer to home and reducing my commute time is one of my aims for 2014 but until then I can’t see a solution to help me break through the glass ceiling I seem to have reached. I’d be very interested in hearing about the coaching and club experiences of other runners and the benefits they felt and also how runners feel about one to one coaching over club running.

Happy running

#TwitterChallenge how do I get myself into this stuff? @4pairsofwellies

January 16, 2014

fear, fun, London, suunto ambit 2, Twitter, ultraboy

1 Comment

My train journey in a morning is usually split between sleeping, playing on Twitter, replying to emails, working and even occasionally blogging or playing Words with Friends ( usually being beaten by @follystone ). However, this morning I happened to be tweeting the usual rubbish when I got caught up in a storm of my making. I mistakenly suggested that the way to be positive was to do something silly and my silliness was that we should walk 600metres into a public place and pretend to be a Gorilla/Ape/Monkey. Sara @4pairsofwellies seemed to agree that this was a good idea and that I should do it, so arriving at Charing Cross I switched on the Suunto, headed and out and 600metres later found myself at Trafalgar Square, under Nelson’s Column making ape like noises and wandering around going ‘oOO, oOO’.

Sometimes Twitter can you please advise me against my own stupidity or my efforts to make other people feel #Positive

I’ll point out that photographic evidence was submitted to Sara, but as I have a secret identity to protect (being a superhero an’ all) all you get is the second of the photographs which was taken next to the Big Blue Cock – rather apt I thought.

A big blue cock, next to a man pretending to be an ape, dressed in a big blue hoody – whatever next

—UltraBoyRuns

Saving the world one run at a time

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Day 13 / 03.02.1l4 / 400km30days

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I got into a #running argument, I didn’t cry

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Coaching and Clubs: a #running dilemma

#TwitterChallenge how do I get myself into this stuff? @4pairsofwellies