Bad blogger

Haven't been a good blogger lately, unfortunately the non-digital world has taken over my time!

Still, I am continuing my quest for the next challenge. Debating triathlons and contemplating the next ultramarathon!

I've also buggered my neck! Obsolutely no idea how but it kills! Had to visit the chiroprator to get cracked back into place, a strange experience to say the least!!

Anyway I hopefully won't be out of action for long! Bring on the trails in the sunshine! My vibrams are calling!

Eat and run.........an ultra

It's been a few days since my ultramarathon, so I thought I'd let you in on a few insights I've learn......the hard way.
As I prepared for my first ultra I read many blogs, articles and asked the opinions of others. This in mind I bought a few supplies ready to take on the hills of the peak district.

As you see I thought carbs, carbs and more carbs! Actually this thought process turned out to be on the nose,  however what I did not for see was the amount which is supplied by the runs organisers. As I ran I refuelled more with the food on offer than the stuff I bought beforehand.  However, Jelly babies!! Never ate as many jelly babies in my life! They gave me the boosts I needed at times of low blood sugar and when I felt down.

Some of my running mates!!!

Other than the jelly babies,  I only ate one of the "mule" bars and the rest I'm slowly going through as part of my recovery snacks!

So far recovery is going well. I'm starting to be able to walk about now without moaning in pain at every step and I'm feeling more myself. So the prognosis looks good. I'll be up and running again in no time.

Trans Pennine Ultra

For the past few weeks, people have been asking the same questions about me running the 100km trans pennine ultramarathon.......mostly "why??!" and "you do know that you can get a bus??!" Mostly I've been replying,  "why not?" or "I want to see if I can do it" 

Well after around 6 months of stressing and not doing as much training as I'd like to have done, yesterday was finally the day of my very first ultramarathon!

The first 20km was, even though I say so myself, a breeze! I've recently run a local half marathon in a fairly good time and therefore I thought I'd take it easy and not use up all my energy in the first 5th of a very long slog. At this moment I found my first running buddies, 2 phd students from Manchester and we ran to the first rest stop where we refueled quickly and set off again towards the countryside and the route set out for us. The route consisted of a fairly large urban section and finished off with a steep climb out of Manchester and out towards the villages of the Pennines.  

As the saying goes, "What goes up, must come down" after the climb out of Manchester came the steep drop down towards the 2nd rest stop at the 28km mark where my support team was waiting for me with supplies. As we crested the hill it became obvious to me that it was far too steep for me to run down at a fast pace. My new running pals went on ahead as I took it easy on the slope, as they were nearly 10 years younger than me I soon lost sight of them and I carried on with my first of many sections of this ultra which I would take on alone! I arrived at the only rest stop where supporters were allowed to attend before the halfway point to find my girlfriend, my mate and his girlfriend had donned homemade support tee shirts and were doing a fantastic job at cheering, not just me but all the runners. I took this opportunity to fuel up again and have a cup of tea! As I wouldn't see them for a while, I bid my mate farewell and gave my girlfriend a kiss and a cuddle!

I left the rest stop and started the long 28 or so km towards the half way point at Penistone. The route took me along a fantastic part of the Pennines!  Lakes and reservoirs towered by cliffs and large hills/small mountains. It was a spectacular view and it was the most enjoyable part of the whole ultramarathon! As I was running, I did start to detect an issue on my quad just above my left knee! This coupled with my right calf cramping up I stopped off at the next rest stop where I spoke with one of the medics staffing it. She treated my leg with an ibuprofen gel and a ibuprofen tablet. With my leg mending I started refuelling from the rest stop,  an amazing choice of pick n mix with a huge selection of cakes and other tasty treats. Off I went up into the hills again.

The last rest stop before the half way point was at the end of a long sweeping hill, luckily for me it was all down hill! I had a few guys running behind me but ahead I hadn't seen anyone for about an hour! My spirts were still high and my moral was good and I was happy and able to run all the way to the next rest stop.

The next 8km was a dull slog through an old train route. It was like running down a tunnel of trees which gave you no idea of where you were or how far you had gone! This was where my first doubts started to set in. However I brushed them away and managed to hit the half way point without issure.

Another 5km and the halfway point of Penistone came into view! My support team was there with open arms! The food on offer was pretty good, I went for a jacket potato with pasta in a tomato sauce! Lovely carb on carb! Just what I needed! What I also needed was a massage...........thank god for the massage tent!

With my belly full and my legs refreshed I said goodbye to the "Team Bones" Support team and left on the longest slog before I saw them again, a full 30.5km without seeing them...............I should have seen what was to come coming a mile off! How was I to know that the next 30km was going to be some of the most soul destroying moments of my life!!! I was going to be hitting the wall almost constantly in 15km........but for the moment, I felt great!

And so it went on..............there was a fantastic bit at the beginning where the route took us through a wood where I bumped into 2 very large horses. Had a bit of a chat with the riders who were quite impressed with what I was doing! On I went and I entered the hell that was the route from the rest stop between 66km and 74. Some kind hearted scummy kids had ripped off some of the route arrows! So at times you had to take a guess at the route, lets just say that I may have been one of the only ones who did not get lost on the route.  

Arriving at the Wombwell rest stop my spirits were shot! There was still 11km before the next rest where I would see some friendly faces! I grabbed some more food, a drink and only half noticed the 3 guys dressed in Buff sponsored outfits and bottles of water strapped to their chests......little did I know that in 10km one of them would be pace running me back to my support team!
The route to Wentworth house, which was the last rest stop, was one long straight nightmare made up of an old train line turned cycle path! As I was going my girlfriend text me to see how I was going. I told her the truth that this section was hard and demoralising! Most of the last 10 or so miles was stop start walk jog and I was hurting bad! I don't normally run with music but I felt the need to distract myself from the pain in my legs so I was in a painful zone listening to music when one of the guys in the buff outfits came right up to me and yelled "Hi ya" in my ear and scared the shit out of me!!!
Turned out they were marshals of the run and were there to support us if needed. And boy did I need it! They stayed with me a little but I let them go ahead, 3  miles away from Wentworth house I got a huge boost of moral...........my team had tracked me down and they pulled along side of me and my girlfriend gave me a much needed hug, I'm not ashamed to say that as they bid me fairwell I very nearly burst in to tears. With the boost they had given me I had gone through the wall of pain that was holding me back and I was even able to catch the buff guys up the road, my team had gone ahead and were now screaming support from the roadside. I was just around the corner when I saw the entrance to the house,  which had a very long driveway, my girlfriend was waiting for me and ran with me to the rest stop!
I arrived to find my dad had turned up to support me from there instead of the end of the race! With emotions running high I knew I needed to rest so I sat with a cuppa and a sandwich and had a "normal" chat with my dad and my team! I needed all of them to get me through the next 12.5km

Off I went alone, another runner came from behind and so I had a little company for a bit. This didn't last however as he was in worse shape than me so I went a head and didn't see him again till the end, when he was in a wheelchair!! So then, Sheffield. After the countryside and having to run across 2 ploughed fields (not easy after 88km) I hit the urban trail again.

The last of the route went through some housing estates and a golf course. The light was going and the route arrows were becoming harder and harder to see! As I was passing meadowhall the route entered the canal towpath. I'm used to this sort of route as I live near the grand union canal but my god it felt long!!!!
Finally the Don Valley Stadium, and the finish line was in sight..........so they send the route all the way round the other side! Grrrrr!!!

Now, as my team tells me. A few people didn't run in, but I thought...........why the hell not! I started running, I was going to finish the same way!
At around 22:30 on the 22nd of June I finished the 100km Manchester to Sheffield Trans Pennine Challenge.

St Albans Half Marathon

Last weekend my mates and I took part in the St Albans half marathon! A very nice route was given to us, all on road but the route took us through residential areas and out into the sticks........and past the m1!

I was expecting it to be just a bit of training route for my ultramarathon next week,  however because I was running it with my mates.......I got caught up in the race and went a bit run happy!

The route surprised me a little, wasn't expecting hills because St Albans is quite flat! As I was running my training route now as a race I thought sod it and opened up down the hills! Now I don't know about the rest of you but I'm not a big fan of seeing a mile marker every single mile!!! I do sort of like to be surprised at how far I've gone!

And so after 1:51:31 I streaked past the finish line and a guy who appeared yo be a having a nasty moment or trying to gurn his way past the finish line!

Anyway, this time next week I will be running my Ultramarathon........wish me luck!!

The final countdown

2 weeks from now, I will probably be a broken man!

2 weeks from now I will be either finished with or still struggling to complete my first ultramarathon!

I am running from Manchester to Sheffield along the trans pennine raising money for cancer research uk.

My training has been going pretty well and I'm really starting to look forward to the challenge ahead of me!

So at 6:45 in 2 weeks time I will be donning my vibram spyridons and starting the 66 mile slog!

If anyone reading this would like to donate: www.justgiving.com/runbarefootdave

After I have finished this challenge of the fool, I will be on here to update the world (or the few of you that read this) on how things went!!

Wish me luck!

Monsoon running

Decided to do a pre-ultra run to my mates house and back. Would have been a good 30 round trip by my estimates........best made plans rarely go right huh!

As I was leaving, the heavens opened.......and never closed again! I know there was point where you just can't get wetter, I'm just not sure I've ever experianced it running!!!!!!
My route was simple enough, aim for my mates house and hit the canal towpath till I reach it. Unfortunately building work was to put a spanner in my plan, I was diverted to Tring and had to run up a big ass hill I had not expected. I blitzed it though, guess I'm fitter than I thought.

To keep me hydrated and energised I trial ran an idea of mine, fill my camel bac with a concotion of 2 litres of squash with 1 Tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of salt. The result was lucozade sport for a fraction of the price! This kept me going along with chocolate brownie made by my mates girl friend and the thought "surely this rain can't get worse"...............how wrong can I be??!

Around the 15 mile mark, the slight opening within the heavens cracked open fully, and a downpour like no other hit me in the face! It was at this point when I started brushing up against the "wall" all runners hit. It was also around this point I doubted my commitment to finish the full route. So when I slammed face first into the wall around mile 17 I decided that once I made it to my mates, I would be calling it a day.
However the were still 3 mile between me and a cuppa tea, so I literally talked myself into carrying on. If anyone else was around they would have seen a guy soaked to the skin, a camel bac under his jacket (giving me a hump quasimodo would have been proud of), wearing "those wierd toe shoe things" and yelling to himself to run!! What a sight I must have looked!!

Finally after just under the 4 hour mark, I arrived at my friends flat, looked down at my garmin watch and was surprised to see I'd run just under 20 miles! My estimsted run route was off by a good ten miles if I'd continued! Cursed rain!

Moral of this story? Make sure you are suitably well stocked to run a homemade ultra! And don't run a homemade ultra in monsoon conditions!!!!!

Looong time no blog!

Been a while since I clicked on my blogger app, I thought I'd let you know what's been happening!!

Even though no blogs have passed through this fair app to say otherwise, I am still running........and thanks to some training I'm doing it efficiently!
When I got my first pair of Five Fingers, a course was offered to me. For a price a more efficient, evolutionary style of running was within my grasp! However like a fool I said maybe! So after claiming some PPI back and having some money to burn I thought, what the hell?

What you do is run relaxed and a more upright natural posture using an almost pilates approach with your core. Relax your legs and using little steps and many of them help you almost glide across the floor! Relaxing your arms and back, letting the "counter rotating" of your body power your legs.

Its kinda hard to describe the physics of it on here, you'll have to trust me!

http://www.ten-point.co.uk/

Five Fingers? Cold feet? Sorted!!

While running in Vibram Five fingers is liberating and feels better than running in trainers.......you do get cold toes!

Found a solution though!!

Angora sole inserts!

They stay warm even when wet!!!!

Problem sorted!!!

Yesterdays run!

Yesterday we had some random lovely sun shine! So decided to go for a nice long run!

Went up to the Ashridge Monument and commenced my normal run (pausing for a little photo opp!

As you can see, fantastic weather for a run! Went all the way down to invinghoe beacon but instead of turning around and heading back, I felt pretty good to attempt the 16 mile round trip of the Ashridge boundary trail.

Map in hand and the wonder of the trail markers left by the lovely people of the national trust I headed off towards the hills. 

However as with all best made plans, things went wrong! I must have missed a marker or something, ended up running a couple of miles in the wrong direction!!! Mood heading downward I followed my map back towards the trail. Saw loads of deer on the way and found myself back at the monument, figured that someone up there didn't want me to do the full 16 miles so I stuck with completing a nice 8.72 mile route.

Satisfaction achieved!!

Five Fingers down!!!!!!!!!

My poor Vibram Five fingers took a beating last weekend entering the Hellrunner, hell down south!

My personal damage healed pretty quickly. Its only taken a few days for my calves to recover and my left foot is fine now!

However..............my vibrams............have ripped!!!!
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
2 Months they've lasted! Gutted!

Ok as you see the tear isn't too bad! However its still bad! I love my shoes!!

God bless my textiles lessons in my middle school days! I can sew, they fore the damage has been sorted!

Time will tell, going for a run after work tomorrow. Hopefully the sewing will hold, watch this space!