Ellis's 50 Miler

Date: 5 May 2013
Location: Hertford, UK
Distance: 50 Miles

This was  a half century road route through the beautiful countryside and picturesque villages of Hertfordshire. With a good balance of open flats and gentle hills this was a perfect route for seeing how my cycle training had progressed.  With 12 weeks before the Ironman, the thought of timed event was too good to turn down.  This gave me the chance to test my fuelling and pace strategy in a controlled environment.

As an added bonus, the organisers had added a timed hill climb challenge right at the end of the ride.  So, after slogging it out for 49 miles, I was told to slow down to a crawl and cross the timing mat to start the hill climb.  This was brutal, not only was I not in the right gear, the hill was ludicrously steep.  My legs were on fire as I stood up on the pedals and attempted to smile to the supporters as I crept up the hill.  I am happy with my overall position, and my race plan worked a treat.

All said and done, this was a fantastic event, for a great cause.  Luckily, my legs were in good form the following day, and no rear end pain.  The comedy moment of the day was seeing hundreds of grown men in brightly coloured Lycra complaining about having a sore arse.

Every Seconds Counts - Hertford 10K Race

Time: 0900 hrs

Date: 14 April 2013

Location: County Hall, Hertford, UK

Reason: Run Hard, Finish Faster.

Early yesterday morning I decided I would give the Hertford 10K another shot.  The sun had risen early and the birds were singing.  This was a good day to put on my 'race face' and re-run the course that gave me a PB two years previous.

The problem I had was that I had been suffering from 'man flu' and I had only managed to get my time down to 43 mins for a 10K.  I had to shave off 3 mins, but felt confident that my race pace would give me a good chance on coming close.  All the signs were good, all I had to do was save a little bit of energy for the finish which is up a killer hill.

Race HQ

We were led down to the start by the Marshals and after an initial warm up I placed myself right on the start line knowing that there was a bottleneck about 200 metres into the race.  The horn sounded and I was off!!!

The first kilometre was done and dusted in under 4 mins and the field had started to spread out.  There was a little traffic at the start as a team of runners who obviously overestimated their own ability blocked the path and held us up before getting swallowed by the front runners.  The key now was to keep up the pace knowing there were some long inclines over the next few kilometres.

The first 5 km was hellish as my body was moaning at me to stop as it was not ready for this sort of punishment.  Breathing was heavy, mouth was dry and my legs felt like lead.  Looking at the Garmin though gave me the boost I needed as I was on schedule.  I was averaging 3:50 min/km. After what seemed an age, I passed the 7 km marker and was passed by a club runner.  Undeterred, I latched onto the back of him and effectively drafted for a couple of kilometres before he disappeared into the distance.  I had 1 km left and 2 hills.

That last kilometre was pure pain, I was giving it everything and after the first hill I was still on target.  Just needed to turn the corner and run up the last hill to the finish.  I have been up worse hills, but this is a pure energy sapping beast as the incline increases half way up.  I was determined not to give up and I was not having fun at this point, it was me or the hill.  Having most of the supporters for the race lined up on the hill makes a big difference as I kept going and crested the hill to the finish and County Hall.

 

County Hall

They say "every second counts".  Don't I know it, I missed out on my PB by 15 seconds. Gutted!!!

I know that if I was to do a road 10K which is flat I would smash my PB, but this race is like my nemesis.  It is multi-terrain, and has hills, mud (if you are lucky).  I want to beat the course and show I can smash the hill.  Maybe next year?

New Supercharged Shoe From VIVOBAREFOOT

Barefoot Trail Runners - Have you seen any?

Having spent most of my free time, either training or looking after the kids, I have had little time to have a look at what is happening in the Barefoot running arena.  The weather recently has been pretty shitty lately, and as a result my beloved VFF Trek Sports are coming to end of life.  The soles are still perfect, but the uppers now have holes in.
Unless the weather and the temperature improves, I will have to buy another pair of minimal running shoes.  Here in lies the dilemma.  There is just too much choice.  Do I go with VFF again, or should I try another brand like Salomon who do a Ultra shoe?  I will be starting my trail running again in earnest in the next week or so now the evenings are getting brighter, so I need a good shoe to use whilst the ground is still frozen, or boggy.

This brings me nicely onto a thought that has been going through my head for a while.

Have you ever seen a barefoot trail runner?

I certainly haven't!  Yes, I will go out and run around the farmers fields and woods, but I have never seen anyone else do this, especially the self proclaimed barefoot experts. (Note to self - buy portable first aid kit)

Before

After

I have watched countless videos and read many books on barefoot running and they all seem to be aimed towards running on asphalt, or smooth trials.  Sorry, here in Blighty our roads cut up your feet due to neglect, and the trails are not smooth (see above).

So if you see me running the trails in shoes, please don't berate me, just look at the surface I am running on wish me 'happy trails'.

I believe that barefoot running has its benefits and I will still pursue this life style choice.  Here is a good video from Vivobarefoot outlining the benefits for kids.

VIVOBAREFOOT KIDS - Barefoot is Best from VIVOBAREFOOT on Vimeo.

Good Times, Bad Times

I am conscious that I haven't posted for a while so I thought I would give a review of the last month.  February has been a mixed bag with highs and lows.  I will start with the lows as it is always good to end on a high.

Lows:

Snow, snow and more damn snow!!  The first week or so saw the usual snowfall that grinds this country to a halt.  With school and nursery being closed, I traded training for sledging with the kids.  Although this sounds good on paper, after a few days, I got bored and wanted to head out and train.  Unfortunately, the snow turned to ice and it became so dangerous that I had to turn in the towel.

Injury - Somehow, somewhere, I managed to get a foot injury.  Officially it is called Extendor Tendinitis.  I call it TOF (Top of Foot).  This is an inflammation of the tendon between the toes and the shin.  This has been niggling me for a couple of weeks and I have been receiving Ultra-sound treatment for the last two weeks from the Physio.  It is gradually getting better, but with the amount of training I am doing this could be a long journey.

Highs:

The biggest high of the month has been completing the Leadership in Running Fitness (LiRF) course at the Olympic Training Ground in East London.  This was a full on course with the aim of giving us the skills needed to setup and manage a running group.  I am now a qualified, licensed running leader representing UK Athletics and RunEngland.  This is a major step forward in my running career, and I can now work on giving something back and help others into running.

Other bonuses have been in the training arena.  My swimming pace has been steady, but I have been working on my technique and I have made some improvements.  Not much in the way of speed, but overall pace has increased.  

On a different note, running has been steady, but I managed to get out for a night run with the Huntmeister again.  Now it is customary for him to get us lost on the night runs, and this was no different.  What was meant to a 10KM run turned out to be close to 10 miles.  The best thing about it was that we didn't care.   No pressures, no time constraints, just plain old running bliss in the dark with the headtorches.

If there was a soundtrack for this month it would be Led Zeppelins' - Good Times, Bad Times

TOF Injury

Looking back over the last 12 weeks of training, I am surprised I have survived the punishment my body has taken.  If I am not swimming, I'm on the turbo trainer and /or running.  It has been a constant slog and I have 24 more hellish weeks to go before Ironman UK.

Surprisingly, I have developed my first injury in 2 years.  I know it as Top of Foot (TOF) injury, but I am reliably informed that the proper term is Extensor Tendonitis. 

The Extensor Digitorum muscle-extensor tendonitis

 I have no idea how this happened, but I noticed it a couple of weeks back when I finished a 10 miler in the cold.  The top of my foot opposite the arch felt like I had been walking with really tight laces.  I knew this wouldn't be the cause as I had been running in my Vibrams, and they fit like a glove.

As a man, I chose to ignore the pain, and after a day of so, it had disappeared.  That was until yesterday.  Again an early start in the cold and wet for a quick 10 miles before the kids got up, and like clockwork the pain came back.  This morning the pain seemed more pronounced with a slight tingling when I walk.  Luckily for me, all I had training wise was a 45 min session at the pool.  On the down side, it had snowed during the night, so every step was like 'Dancing on Ice' (Google it, but don't bother watching it).

Now the causes for TOF are:

1. Overuse.
2. Badly fitting shoes, or shoes that are laced far too tightly.
3. Change in training methods, hill running.
4. Running on icy or slippery surfaces.

Well looking at the above, the only one I can rule out is the 'badly fitting shoes'.  Not sure how I can overuse my foot.  I have had it since birth and use it for mobility, and still need it.  

Hill running? Well yes.  I like to get some hills in when running.  

Icy/slippery conditions?  It's winter and bloody cold.

So what have I learnt from all of this? 

I have come to the conclusion that if I do not move, my foot will repair itself and all will be well.  Beyond that, long term...I am a bloke so I will ignore the pain, and take tablets until I visit the Physio at the end of the month, then have some ultra-sound treatment on it.

Time to relax

With the Ultra a long distant memory, I have spent the last few weeks training hard, sometimes twice a day. Although I am only week eleven of the Ironman training regime, it feels like I am stuck on a runaway train. Day after day, I get up and exercise, eat, then sleep.  If you then add all school runs, after school clubs, and work it becomes quite a busy schedule.

Today is different (sort of). Mrs W2B had booked us into a spa retreat with afternoon tea. On arrival we both agreed that we would hit the gym for an hour. I headed straight for the bikes as I needed to get a good session in before the weekend, and had already planned my session down to the minute.  The wife found this to be very anal, and it showed I was getting old and boring.  Well they shouldn't put a gym in a spa if you are meant to relax.

The real relaxation started after a quick dip in the plunge pool.  Just sitting back and reading the second book from IronHolgs, mood music and tea.  Such a nice way to waste a day away.  They say "that all good things must come to an end", that end will be the M25, which Chris Rea described as the ` Road to Hell `.  An hour of that motorway and I will be back where I started, only smelling a lot sweeter.