One Last Peak & a Torq Wrench...

As far as weeks go, this was an emotional one running wise. It saw the last of the long training runs, it saw kit malfunctions, stomach malfunctions, lots of the Compton hills, lots of quad pain, and lots of the emotional roller coaster that comes from prospective parenthood... All of this had to be fitted around my full time job, looking after a constantly sleepy/feeling sick missus, the return of Doctor Who to BBC1, and other social events... I'll be glad when this marathon lark is over so that I can have a proper rest... Oh, hang on, I can't... I almost forgot that I have two 10K races, a half marathon, & a sprint triathlon booked in for May... Sometimes I just don't help myself.

As usual, Monday was a rest day. Not as usual, I did just that. I rested. Completely. No running and no swimming. Not even a quick paddle with floats. Niente. And I was still knackered. So knackered in fact that in the evening, when I put my headphones on to listen to a Doctor Who audio adventure, I didn't make it to the end and fell asleep...

Shame on me for thinking of saying yes to Chamonix. 

Also on the Monday, I received an e-mail from energy gel manufacturer Torq Fitness who said "Thank you for applying to be part of the TORQ Trail Team 2013. Trying to pick from hundreds of talented runners wasn't an easy job - so our sincere congratulations to you for making the selection! We are delighted to confirm that you have been selected to attend the London assessment day this coming Saturday 30 March." WOW! How good is that? The chance to join a professional racing team for a year, to train with them, have access to their professional set-up, free kit and race entries - who would be fool enough to say "no" to the chance of winning that??? Well, me... Since applying to become part of their team, my circumstances have changed somewhat, so, if I was successful in getting through the assessment day, I wouldn't really have been too happy to leave my pregnant wife behind whilst I was running around Chamonix etc. and, therefore, I am going to had to decline their invitation. Bugger. (Don't worry, I'll ensure that she never forgets what I sacrificed for the sake of her & our unborn child. I'll remind her constantly...)

At my weekly Tuesday lunchtime coached swim session I told myself that I wasn't going to work too hard and tire myself out. Whilst I want to work as hard as I can to make myself as fit as possible, I don't want to have no energy left when it comes to running, which is, after all, my main pre-occupation. At the end of the day, I started swimming to make me a better runner, not the other way around... I know that I've been struggling with my training of late, but, to tell the truth, I am the wrong side of forty, and I'm now on week 15 of an 18 week training schedule. If the training schedule hadn't made a mess of me then I'd have thought that I'd not been trying hard enough. I always knew that training harder, putting in the speed work, and getting out of my comfort zone, wasn't going to be easy. But, thankfully, after this week, the mileage and levels of intensity start to drop and the taper down towards London begins...
The Whitehall Athletics Track was cold in the evening. Perishing cold. With a freezing headwind blowing across the top bend. Lovely. After a few 'warm up' laps of the track, we moved in to the core of the nights schedule - 6x1200m at 10K pace with 400m jogged recovery. Ooh, don't I just love the lactic burn in my legs..? Err, no. I held it together quite well, logging reps of 4:13/4:18/4:20/4:21/4:20/4:17 along the way which surprised me a. because of the consistency, and b. because I managed, after starting out too fast and tiring in the middle, to bring things back up to speed at the end.

The following day I took full advantage of my employers flexi-time system by starting work early, taking a long lunch break in order to fit in a long run, then working later than usual in order to make up the missing time. This would then allow me to take off-spring number three out for a meal in the evening to celebrate her impending 19th birthday.

Compton Dando by WJ Muller (c)Tate Gallery

The previous evening JaykeeBoy had told me that he was working in Keynsham for the day, so we arranged to meet up and run together. A late inclusion was fellow club runner/speed merchant, MattyEll who joined us as a chance to squeeze in another run. And so it was that three lycra clad runners ran a somewhat hilly 11 miles around the hills of Compton Dando and special-guest venue Hunstrete, in very cold conditions. We only really noticed the bitingly cold wind as we crested the numerous hills, or choked on the odd snow flurry, but when we had finished all exposed areas of flesh were on the rather wind-burnt side of red raw.

Thursday came and, like the proverbial Weeble, I had a little bit of a wobble... I got into work early as I intended to run for 14 miles in my lunchbreak. Unfortunately, circumstances caused me to get stuck in the office longer than I intended and, consequently, I didn't get out for a run as early as I had wished. "Never mind", I thought, "I'll just do as much as I can..." I headed out on the same route as the previous day, with the intention of adding in another 3 mile loop of Compton Dando & Hunstrete. However, after roughly 5 miles I looked at my Garmin 205 GPS which said that I had only run 1 mile - in 25 minutes... Then it went blank. I managed to get it working again (press all the buttons at the same time to reset the system) but I could no longer trust it. Something will have to be done to address this situation before I head to London...To ensure that I was assured of the distance run, I cut out the extra 3 mile loop and stuck doggedly to the previous days route. With roughly 3 miles of the run left to go, another problem came to the fore - the pain in my right quadriceps flared up. By the time I got to Keynsham Leisure Centre at the end of the run it had tightened up significantly. So much so that tackling the stairs to and from the changing rooms was quite a painful experience. The answer? Swallow some Ibuprofen with coffee and rest. I also took the decision not to run on Friday...

I did some exercise on Good Friday though. I swam in the morning and traipsed around shops in the afternoon, test driving prams... Luckily I don't think I'll be needing the 'L plates' this time around...

Hicks Gate: a non-magical roundabout

As there was Hanham Horror type things for me and MrsC to do on Saturday afternoon, and most of Sunday, it was decided upon that my final pre-London long run should be done on the Saturday morning. A warm looking sun type thing shone in the sky when I drew back my curtains in order to help wake up the slumbering MrsC the next morning. Unfortunately it was only warm looking inside the house. It was perishing freezing outside. Minus two apparently...  As the rapidly expanding MrsC is no longer up to cycling along with me during my long runs, I gave her a set of directions, along with a list of stopping places, and she drove around the route to provide water stops and moral support. I ran from our house in Kingswood, through Hanham, and down to  Hicks Gate. From there I climbed all the way up through Keynsham, before meeting MrsC at the 7 mile mark, before I dropped down to Publow. From there I passed through Woollard, where I once again met MrsC, and took a circuitous route to Compton Dando, where Mrs C was once again waiting with refreshment. From there it was a steep climb up Fairy Hill followed by an undulating road through Chewton Keynsham, to Keynsham itself. Once back in Keynsham I followed the back road to Saltford, then dropped down onto the Bristol-Bath Railway Path, ran through Bitton, and finished, finally, 19.5 miles after I had left home, at Warmley Station, where MrsC was waiting to take me home...
After some much needed rest, recuperation, coffee, and incinerated hot cross buns, the afternoon was spent, in my role as a Lead Marshall, walking around a third of the Conham Valley, marking out the course for the following days Hanham Horror race. (Fact of the week: The lock at Hanham was the first to open when the Avon was made navigable in 1727. It is also the first lock of over 100 on the Kennet & Avon Canal that connected the region with London and beyond in the early 1800s.)



Drawing a Vale over Conham...

Lionel Ritchie sang about being 'easy like Sunday morning...' It's alright for some... I seriously cannot remember the last time that I had an easy Sunday morning. For me, this Sunday was no different from any other. MrsC and I was up early, in the car, and heading back out to the Conham Valley whilst the early morning sun was struggling to find any semblance of warmth. The temperature was minus four degrees as I began to around run my section of the course, putting out directional arrows and 'caution runners' signs. When we were done we headed to the Race HQ for a quick cup of coffee and for me to gather the troops before they went out to their marshalling points. I followed them out to the course, ran another loop to ensure everyone was okay and in the right place etc. then headed back around again in order to watch/support the runners coming through. A friend of mine, Dan, staggered past, aiming expletives at me because I'd talked him into running, complaining about blistered feet, so I jogged 1/4 of a mile with him, before stopping to chat to other Marshalls. I saw him after the race and, although he had butchered/blistered feet, he promised that one day soon he would join BRR. After I'd finished my third loop I was now behind the last runner. The Marshalls cleared their position as soon as the last runner passed them, leaving me to 'sweep up' behind them collecting in marker tape, missed signs, stray rubbish etc. By the time I was finished and ready to return to the Race HQ, my Garmin was telling me that I'd managed, over the course of the morning, managed to run over 13 miles!
After cake and beer at Race HQ the rest of the day truly was a rest. And, with a taper in training, as mileage and intensity of runs begin to recede in the run up to London, rest and recovery is something that I fully intend to make the most of.

Weekly totals:

Run miles: 63.7

Swim lengths/metres: 86/2150m
Sit-ups: 640
Press-ups: 320
Sleeping Beauties: 1