Tuesday 8th November 2011

Well the alarm went off at 5am but I didn't.  I went on.  Sleeping.  Overslept by 2.5 hours and got up too late to go for a run before starting work. Oh well, they do say you should listen to your body and mine was clearly saying "shhhhh go back to sleeeeeeeep".  So I did.

I'm working from home today and I threw in some core work and some press-ups each time I went to put the kettle on so that ticked up my stats a little.

This evening I went out for a run, slightly longer than I would have done this morning but a good one all the same.  I went a different route and made one fundamental miscalculation.  Several of the steep uphill sections coincided with the road running past or through dense, dark woodland.  Now I'm not easily spooked but I get really creeped out by woods at night time.  Especially when they sound like they are crawling with wildlife like they were tonight!!  The upshot of this was that I not only ran up the hills but I ran faster than I did anywhere else on the route!!  So not perfect and I'm paying for it slightly now with sore thighs and calves.

Of course the irony of me getting spooked in the dark is that I was almost certainly the most scary thing there, as this picture proves!

On the bright side I've levelled up!!  Since starting my training I have now run over 100 miles and burned over 10,000 calories from running alone.

JUST THE FACTS!!
Weight: 81.2 Kg

Today 
Distance 7.98 miles
Time  1:19:02
Kcal  957
Elevation 196 ft
Press-ups 60
Swimming 0 m
Sauna  0 mins

Total
Distance 105.51 miles
Time  18:33:04
Kcal  10901
Elevation 3732 ft
Press-ups 220
Swimming 4750 m
Sauna  1:30 mins

CHARITY HURTS!!
Sore thighs tonight, particularly the left.  Also some pain still in my calves (both).  Other than that I feel pretty good!  My toes are holding up nicely and no blisters so far.

FUNDRAISING

I'm up to £311 on my sponsorship page (www.virginmoneygiving.com/pitymyfeet) and the ad click revenue from here is up to £94.04!!  Thank you to everyone who clicks the ads. 

Every click brings in a little money so if you just click a few ads a day it will all mount up through my training and every penny goes to Mencap.

DONATE

Please remember that I'm inflicting all this pain and misery on myself for a cause greater than just having a good story to tell over a beer. I hope to raise over £9,500 for MENCAP; an amazing charity who help those born with learning difficulties to live a normal life and to enjoy the same opportunities and choices that the rest of us take for granted.

Be an awesome human being today and click on the link below and help make someone's life better.

Thank you.  You really ARE awesome.
www.virginmoneygiving.com/pitymyfeet

Monday 7th November 2011

Eeesh - I didn't enjoy the 5am alarm this morning!  I was very tired and docile and didn't make it out of the door until 6am.  Cursing myself for being slow and thinking that had I intended to leave at 6am I'd have set the alarm for 5:30 and got an extra half hour's sleep!!

Anyway, I did get out the door and that's what counts.  I left in pitch darkness and got back in daylight having run 6.4 miles through a dawn which seemed to arrive from nowhere.  It was a beautiful morning, clear skies with a sharp ground frost and some patchy fog to run through.  I was running under trees, in thick fog and darkness and a car came towards me on high beam... the car passed just at the moment that I broke from the trees, and out of the fog, and into daylight!  Very odd but the sudden appearance of dawn gave me a boost.  And it allowed me to remove my head torch which is always psychologically uplifting!  I wished I'd taken my camera because once the daylight had arrived there were many beautiful moments.

As for the running - smooth and easy but COLD!!!  I need a better hat (my snoopy beanie just isn't warm enough and doesn't cover my ears!).  I also need some warmer gloves and something to keep my neck warm.  Don't say a snood because I'd rather be cold.  Generally I was freezing the whole way around although it was worse when I walked up the hills and my HR dropped a little.

Later in the day I treated myself to a cool 50 lengths in the pool and a hot 15 minutes in the steam room!

JUST THE FACTS!!
Weight: 81.2 Kg

Today 
Distance 6.42 miles
Time  1:05:07
Kcal  658
Elevation 369 ft
Press-ups 80
Swimming 1250 m
Sauna  15 mins

Total
Distance 97.53 miles
Time  17:14:02
Kcal  9944
Elevation 3536 ft
Press-ups 160
Swimming 4750 m
Sauna  1:30 mins

CHARITY HURTS!!
OK.... so it might not sound like the worst thing that could happen to me but anyone who has cut (no.... sliced!!) their thumb on a can lid will know how much it hurts.  I don't care if it only looks like a scratch it bled like mad and it's right on the bendy bit of my thumb which means it hurts even more than if it were somewhere else.  Apart from that, well sore calves again and a bit of back ache after yesterday's core workout.  Oh and an ugly spot on my nose which hurts my vanity.

FUNDRAISING

I'm up to £296 on my sponsorship page (www.virginmoneygiving.com/pitymyfeet) and the ad click revenue from here is up to £82.94!!  Thank you to everyone who clicks the ads.  Every click brings in a little money so if you just click a few ads a day it will all mount up through my training and every penny goes to Mencap.

DONATE

Please remember that I'm inflicting all this pain and misery on myself for a cause greater than just having a good story to tell over a beer. I hope to raise over £9,500 for MENCAP; an amazing charity who help those born with learning difficulties to live a normal life and to enjoy the same opportunities and choices that the rest of us take for granted.

Be an awesome human being today and click on the link below and help make someone's life better.

Thank you.  You really ARE awesome.
www.virginmoneygiving.com/pitymyfeet

Sunday 6th November 2011

Very tired today!  I think the effects of some interrupted sleep, a 19 mile training run, and some heavy partying at the Katy Perry concert had taken it's toll by morning.  Also I ate a hotel fry-up to start the day even though I know that they always make me feel heavy and sluggish.  So most of the day I have been a sedentary lump, but I did manage a trip to the gym.

I did 20 minutes on a cross-trainer (one of those things with the arms that move in and out as your feet make a running motion without ever leaving the pads).  That was good and it got me sweating and took my HR to about 130 which is decent fat burning territory.  Then I did some stretches and some core work.  Wobbling about once more on the space hopper.  I used a new device for me that I can't find the words to describe.  Essentially it is two vertical ropes attached to weights and what I did was grab one of the ropes and rotate my torso in such a way as to lift the weight and work some muscles in my stomach.  I'm not sure what good it did my stomach but it made me feel good to play with some new kit!

I spent 20 minutes in the steam room today and felt a little benefit from previous sessions as I was able to stay in there the extra five minutes more than previously.

Finished the evening off with 4 lots of 20 press-ups (to work off that fry-up and the sherry trifle I had for tea!!). 

Back to running in the morning.  Alarm set for 5am.  Gulp!

JUST THE FACTS!!
Weight: 81.2 Kg

Today 
Distance 0 miles
Time  0:00:00
Kcal  0
Elevation 0 ft
Press-ups 80
Swimming 0 m
Sauna  20 mins

Total
Distance 91.11 miles
Time  16:08:55
Kcal  9286
Elevation 3167 ft
Press-ups 160
Swimming 3500 m
Sauna  1:15 mins

CHARITY HURTS!!
Nothing really hurts today surprisingly after the long run yesterday!  Those ice baths are working miracles.  However I am really tired and slightly grouchy.  Does that count as an injury?  I guess so.  I've pulled a muscle in my "positive mental attitude"!!  Oh and I have a headache but I think that's just because it's Monday tomorrow.

FUNDRAISING

I'm up to £296 on my sponsorship page (www.virginmoneygiving.com/pitymyfeet) and the ad click revenue from here is up to £77.21!!  Thank you to everyone who clicks the ads.  Every click brings in a little money so if you just click a few ads a day it will all mount up through my training and every penny goes to Mencap.

DONATE

Please remember that I'm inflicting all this pain and misery on myself for a cause greater than just having a good story to tell over a beer. I hope to raise over £9,500 for MENCAP; an amazing charity who help those born with learning difficulties to live a normal life and to enjoy the same opportunities and choices that the rest of us take for granted.

Be an awesome human being today and click on the link below and help make someone's life better.

Thank you.  You really ARE awesome.
www.virginmoneygiving.com/pitymyfeet

Saturday 5th November 2011

Up at 5am and out of the door at 6.  Feeling exhausted and nauseas having force fed myself a bowl of Fruit and Fibre at 5:30.  I never normally eat until I've been up for hours but I figured I might need a little sugar in my blood.

I was tooled up for the run with my Snoopy buff, my head torch, and my swish new bottle carrying belt.  I need to get used to running with a belt (and soon I'll add a pack to the mix - but not yet).  I
want to see where it rubs me on long runs so that when I get to the desert I can tape all the problem areas and hopefully avoid the skin breaking.  Anyway, today it rubbed me around the fat bit of my waste  (which hopefully won't be there anymore come April!).  But it didn't rub me much and by far the bigger problem is still the strap of my HR monitor which leaves me with a near permanent red line around my torso.

So I headed out down the lanes.  Very quiet this morning.  The odd cat standing sentinel in the hedgerows but no menacing cows, horses or badgers.  I have a vague fear of badgers.  I think they have sharp teeth.  Do they bite?  I hope not.  I'd really hate to be bitten by a badger I bet it would hurt like the devil.

The sun came up at about mile 5 and I could put the head torch away and watch the dawn.  There was a spell where I could hear both the chattering of birds saying "wakey wakey" and the hooting of owls saying "nite nite".

I ran a long route to the canal at Ellesmere then went off road for a little way to work the stabilisers a bit more than normal.  It was a good run although I had to add a demoralising extra bit at the end to bring it up to 19 miles.  Even though I ran right past my door I couldn't bare to finish at 18.6 miles when I had intended to run 19.  Is that a bad sign or a good one?

Finished with an ice bath, some ibuprofen, and a lovely hot cup of tea :)

Tonight I intend two hours of cross training with Grace.  We'll be dancing our butts off at a Katy Perry concert!

JUST THE FACTS!!
Weight: 81.2 Kg

Today 
Distance 19 miles
Time  3:27:57
Kcal  2042
Elevation 681 ft
Press-ups 0
Swimming 0 m
Sauna  0 mins

Total
Distance 91.11 miles
Time  16:08:55
Kcal  9286
Elevation 3167 ft
Press-ups 80
Swimming 3500 m
Sauna  55 mins

CHARITY HURTS!!
Sore today!!! My toes are killing me and I had to attack them with scissors after my bath to take off as much nail as I could.  Lots of pain in my right thigh during the up-hills (hence the ibuprofen). 
Very sore skin erm... anyway, let's just say that wherever clothing rubs skin I have rubbed a little too much skin.  Nurse!  Time for my savlon rub....  ;)

FUNDRAISING

Thank you to everyone who has sponsored me so far.  My current total is £286 on the Virgin Money Giving site and my Adsense revenue is now an amazing £70.29 - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!  Please keep clicking on the ads and supporting the sponsors because every click helps raise more money for Mencap.

DONATE

Please remember that I'm inflicting all this pain and misery on myself for a cause greater than just having a good story to tell over a beer. I hope to raise over £9,500 for MENCAP; an amazing
charity who help those born with learning difficulties to live a normal life and to enjoy the same opportunities and choices that the rest of us take for granted.

Be an awesome human being today and click on the link below and help make someone's life better.

Thank you.  You really ARE awesome.
www.virginmoneygiving.com/pitymyfeet

Friday 4th November 2011

Back to it - yay! Today was a bit of an endurance challenge in itself. I got home from Germany at 1am and it was about 2am before I was able to switch off and fall to sleep. I greeted the alarm at 6am with easily contained joy. In fact I momentarily changed my mind about the whole thing and decided I'd rather not do the MDS after all. That lasted for five blissful minutes of "snooze"; then the alarm went off again and my mojo had returned. I was in the gym coffee shop for 7:45 to prepare for an 8am meeting then it was time for my official gym induction.

All the eqiupment there is highly swish but obviously it's not appropriate to look impressed (or even happy) in any gym so I concentrated instead on moody looks, knowing nods of the head and, of course, flexing my calf muscles (the only muscular definition I have - you should see them, they're lush).

The induction didn't take long then I was left to hammer out a quick 5K on the treadmill. It was a good little stretch actually, set at an incline of 2% to simulate wind resistance. Can that really work? I read it in a magazine once but it seems implausible because I barely noticed the incline but I certainly notice the wind.

Anyway after that I destroyed my credibility by doing some core works on a giant blue space hopper. Mark (the trainer) made it look so easy! I made it look like an out take from Mr Bean.

And finally, office work done for the day I prepared for an evening runout. On with the chemicals: Ibuprofen Gel; Vicks; Deep Heat; and Vaseline. A note for anyone who might follow. Given the delicate areas that you need to rub the vaseline into you should never, REPEAT NEVER, get Deep Heat on your fingers before doing it. Burn?!?? I swear I'd have been visible from space in the infra red.

Once that fire was out I put in a cool 6.4 miles in the dark. I pretty much enjoyed every single second of it! No scary stasis horses this time but I did get buzzed by a bat! It flew so close to my face I thought it was going to go in my mouth (that would have been totally Ozzy!!!). It flew around me a couple of times checking me out but then flew off. Or disappeared back into whatever parallel universe they apparate out of each evening.

After the run I iced my legs in the bath for a while then turned the hot tap on and chilled with a coffee in there for a while. Lovely! I'm getting used to the iced baths. No trauma, just frozen limbs!

JUST THE FACTS!!
Weight: 81.2 Kg

Today
Distance 9.53 miles
Time 1:37:59
Kcal 1043
Elevation 279 ft
Press-ups 0
Swimming 0 m
Sauna 0 mins

Total
Distance 72.11 miles
Time 12:40:57
Kcal 7244
Elevation 2484 ft
Press-ups 80
Swimming 3500 m
Sauna 55 mins

CHARITY HURTS!!

I'm like a walking health lottery. Lower legs are fine today but my left hip hurts! I wonder what's next? My ears?

FUNDRAISING

Thank you to everyone who has sponsored me so far. My current total is £256 on the Virgin Money Giving site and my Adsense revenue is now an amazing £61.12 - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!

Please keep clicking on the ads and supporting the sponsors because every click helps raise more money for Mencap.

DONATE
Please remember that I'm inflicting all this pain and misery on myself for a cause greater than just having a good story to tell over a beer. I hope to raise over £9,500 for MENCAP; an amazing charity who help those born with learning difficulties to live a normal life and to enjoy the same opportunities and choices that the rest of us take for granted.

Be an awesome human being today and click on the link below and help make someone's life better. Thank you. You really ARE awesome.

www.virginmoneygiving.com/pitymyfeet

Thursday 3rd November 2011

No training today.  It's not that I'm doing anything so sensible as deliberately resting my tired joints and muscles.  Instead this is an enforced day off because of work.  I am working all day and travelling all evening and won't be home until nearly 1am so no chance to do anything.  It's making me a little grumpy!

Anyway, I figured that today in my blog I'd tell you about a book I read to get me in the mood for the MDS.  It's called "Carved by God, Cursed by the Devil" by a guy called Ted Archer.  If you're interested check it out in the widget box that should appear next to this page (if I can work out how to paste HTML into here).

The book is basically a diary of one guy's experience running the MDS.  The author is a pretty good runner and finished 16th overall (damn... I've given away the ending... like when I told someone that in the Sixth Sense the twist is that... no wait... I won't make that mistake again!).  So his experience of the race will be different from mine!  Nonetheless it's a fascinating insight into some of the challenges I'll face.  Both physical AND mental.  His description of the delirium after the long stage was very well written and gave a real sense of the confusion and mental fog that descended on him. 

Also the oddly anti-climactic finish where he and many other runners were simply too drained to feel any happiness or relief that the event was over.  All told it seemed a very honest description.

As ever thank you to everyone who's clicked the ads on here.  It's adding up nicely now and every penny of the Ad revenue goes to Mencap so you're helping a lot with every click :)

JUST THE FACTS!!
Weight: 81.2 Kg

Today 
Distance 0 miles
Time  0:00:00
Kcal  0
Elevation 0 ft
Press-ups 0
Swimming 0 m
Sauna  0 mins

Total
Distance 62.58 miles
Time  11:02:58
Kcal  6201
Elevation 2205 ft
Press-ups 80
Swimming 3500 m
Sauna  55 mins

CHARITY HURTS!!
I'm exhausted and my left leg hurts everywhere below the knee.  Other than that I'm great!!!

FUNDRAISING

Thank you to everyone who has sponsored me so far.  My current total is £190 on the Virgin Money Giving site and my Adsense revenue is now a wonderful £39.84 - THANK YOU!!!!  Please keep clicking on the ads and supporting the sponsors because every click helps raise more money for Mencap.

DONATE

Please remember that I'm inflicting all this pain and misery on myself for a cause greater than just having a good story to tell over a beer. I hope to raise over £9,500 for MENCAP; an amazing charity who help those born with learning difficulties to live a normal life and to enjoy the same opportunities and choices that the rest of us take for granted.

Be an awesome human being today and click on the link below and help make someone's life better.

Thank you.  You really ARE awesome.
www.virginmoneygiving.com/pitymyfeet

Wednesday 2nd November 2011

Hello from Hannover, Germany!  I had a few beers last night and am suffering for it today.  Not that many beers really but cutting out (OK down) on alcohol is important for my fitness and today I see exactly why!

So to punish myself I started this day like this:
http://www.youtube.com/user/sixpackshortcuts?v=bkD9LwDBWW0
Try it, it's ruinous!!  I made it to 100.  Eventually!  I followed it up with some plank work with alternate leg raises.  Then, sweating like a pig I had a shower and went to breakfast!

After work I headed out for an early evening trot around Hannover.  I ran downtown to the Hauptbanhoff and then turned left to head down to the Machsee (a large lake near the football stadium).  It was a lovely run around the lake on lit cinder paths.  Completely flat and smooth I held a steady pace and HR. 

At one quiet point the track runs alongside the main rail line and as I ran past it a huge freight train rolled past.  It was strangely exhilerating and confusing to have the noise of wheels on tracks both ahead of me, next to me, and behind me all at once.  As if surrounded by trains.

Rounding the bottom of the lake at 4.5 miles I was heading back to complete a 6 miler.  Until.  Until I lost my mind momentarily and tried to find a shortcut.  A short cut that turned a 1.5 mile trot back to the hotel into a 6.5 mile fight for survival! 

Looking at the GPS data now I can see that I actually turned away from the hotel and ran for a mile or more before gradually correcting my course.  I eventually found my way back to the Novotel only be spotting a road sign for the zoo and following that.  Once I was at the zoo I knew how to get home from there!  Looking on the bright side I now know that I can run 11 miles without water or  nutrition!!

JUST THE FACTS!!
Weight: 81.2 Kg

Today 
Distance 11.22 miles
Time  1:57:18
Kcal  1285
Elevation 0 ft
Press-ups 10
Swimming 0 m
Sauna  0 mins

Total
Distance 62.58 miles
Time  11:02:58
Kcal  6201
Elevation 2205 ft
Press-ups 80
Swimming 3500 m
Sauna  55 mins

CHARITY HURTS!!

Despite the swimming my neck and shoulder are feeling much better.  Lower right leg is the thing that's giving me the most gip! Damn you weak Petronus Brevis!!  A small amount of knee pain on my long run but much less than I deserve!

FUNDRAISING

Thank you to everyone who has sponsored me so far.  My current total is £190 on the Virgin Money Giving site and my Adsense revenue is now a wonderful £33.99 - THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!  Please keep clicking on the ads and supporting the sponsors because every click helps raise more money for Mencap.

DONATE

Please remember that I'm inflicting all this pain and misery on myself for a cause greater than just having a good story to tell over a beer. I hope to raise over £9,500 for MENCAP; an amazing charity who help those born with learning difficulties to live a normal life and to enjoy the same opportunities and choices that the rest of us take for granted.

Be an awesome human being today and click on the link below and help make someone's life better.

Thank you.  You really ARE awesome.
www.virginmoneygiving.com/pitymyfeet