All in my head?

A blank page. Every blog post starts with a blank page & then I have to figure out what the story of the week was. Sometimes there isn't a story & it is just some rambling. Regular readers might be of the opinion it is always just some rambling.

The last week of April, first week of May did have a story, two in fact. One of an ankle that just wouldn't play ball. Another of a seismic duel between two gladiators (almost) in the condition of their lives.

Would using a hacksaw be easier?

Monday morning, inspired by the marathon, surely it was time for a long run? My ankle had other ideas, the pain down the side of it up towards my knee was not particularly fun. I opted for ice instead & the hope that it wasn't too serious.
Our Endure 24 team met up for the first time on the Monday evening. Gary had suggested The Oyster Shed on the Thames & we gathered to discuss just how we would approach the 24 hour event in June. Paul had been prolific in his preparation, a Risk Manager by day, he'd produced a full kit list & a couple of prospective running orders. The conversation flowed & I set about adding timing into our running order. I appear to be leading us off & due to run four laps, 20 miles within 24 hours, could be fun! Everyone wanted to run during the night, I appear to have the 1am shift.
With the kit list agreed over less than agreeable Cauliflower steaks for our vegetarians within the team everyone was soon checking Amazon to acquire their entire camping range! I've managed to get at least Fergie signed up for a slow saunter around the local parkrun before the event starts, hopefully more of the team will fancy it on the day itself.

A challenge is made

With the weather due to be poor with a bank holiday on the horizon we'd made the call alongside the National Trust to hold back on launching the summer parkrun course at the Forest. I was due to Run Direct for the course change over, so after some discussion within the team Paul started his first stint early by taking the reins.
This meant that I could run the course, which I was looking forward to as James was down from Burnley for the weekend & would be touristing, my sister Clare was also across from America & had been persuaded to haul herself out of bed for 9am to see what all the parkrun malarkey was all about.
Karl from the core team was also due to run, having done his couple of weeks as a RD. By coincidence we'd seen in the results that we'd both previously run a best of 27:40 round the winter course. A throwaway remark about a showdown turned into something rather silly as I posted a promo photo (Karl photoshopped an axe into my hands on one of my delightful running photos) on our Facebook page & it became one of the most popular things we'd done since launching! The question is, would I actually manage to run beforehand?



Taking on a Mountain

By Wednesday I'd decided that my ankle wasn't too bad & that most of the road to Berlin will be paved with minor niggles, there are times when I'd have to just grin & bear it. If I was to catch up with my plan, then finding 10 miles was on the agenda. I chose instead to return with a tough 8 miler.
The loop from Stansted to Manuden to Rickling & back is a route I've travelled on plenty of occasions. It includes the aforementioned Mount Manuden, a delightful 30-40 metre rise over half a kilometre that leaves you grasping for air, only to follow an all too brief downhill with another 2km of slow climb.
My performance was unremarkable but satisfactory. According to Strava it was my slowest over the route, not something that was of much concern to me as I was just happy to get out.

Post run the ankle pain moved right into the ankle joint! After all of the build up through the week for the Showdown, I wasn't sure I could run. The ankle appeared to be fine when running & painful when walking. By Friday evening whether I would run was still in the balance. Ice treatment on the Friday evening & even Saturday morning was effectively numbing the issue. I was going to have to take one of the team in order to deliver on a promise, can't be letting folks down after hyping it all week!

The Showdown

You know you have good friends when not only do they head down to try out your parkrun, but they're also happy to volunteer. With that in mind James got a delightful 6am wake up call as we headed to the forest still for crazy o'clock to setup the course & make Paul's first week of Run Directorship easy. Clare was also going to volunteer post run, sorting out our finisher tokens & my brother in law Dan was going to don the hi viz, combining marshalling with photography.
During the course setup we'd put together a mock up aid station at 3km for Karl & I. Gin & chocolate milk for me, cider for Karl, sausage rolls for us both. I decided to take the table down, just in case the temptation for a mid run tipple was too much!

Not many parkrun events have aid stations....

Quite how I'd run was open for debate. 2014 was a great year for me, with my 5k time getting down to 23:08. In theory if I was at my best I should beat Karl, who's lifetime best was a 25:51.
In reality I'm at the start of a new training cycle & not doing any speed work yet, where as Karl is in good form, focusing on pace having generally covered longer distances in the past. The fastest I'd completed a parkrun in this year was a 26:23 round Gladstone in February, other than the last km of my previous attempt around the forest & the back end of the Flitch 10k, I hadn't achieved anything of note in terms of pace.

The entire core team was on hand for the Showdown

The parkrun started with a completely new challenge, how to hurdle a mini as a car had decided to make it's way through our road closure at precisely parkrun o'clock! As we made our way onto the plain Karl was already stretching out a lead on me. He'd tactically started near the front of the field to get away nicely. Never mind, I could catch up on the downhill hopefully. Had I successfully negotiated the U turn perhaps I would have. Instead I found myself on the floor at a funny angle with no idea how I'd got there & more concern that I was in the way of other runners than my own well being! The U turn isn't even factored into our risk assessment, it should be simple but it turns out that Adam the leader of the pack at the time had also taken a tumble (and picked up far more grazes than me). I've no idea how I fell, don't recall ever falling beforehand in 5 years of running. Pay more attention to my footing I guess as the surface is a bit interesting at times around the course.
The impact of the fall was taken on my right ankle, just what I needed a whole 100% of my ankle allocation being dodgy. At this point I gave serious consideration to calling it a day, giving myself a few moments to see if there was damage by running lightly. Thankfully everything appeared in order so I continued down the hill, knowing that Mr Kisala already had an unassailable lead on me. I still pushed myself round the course to the best of my current ability, the first three kilometres were just over the five minute mark & I was pleasantly surprised with my pace. I passed Dan for the first time at 2.5km & commented that I was Flipping losing (or words to that effect) & then quickly apologised to those around me for the profanity, I'm an Event Director now, can't be dropping the odd F bomb whilst running!!!

Everything tightened up for the fourth kilometre, course wise this is where the run should it at it's easiest, yet I keep on slowing down! I've a long history of slow 4th kilometres. The theory that I conserve energy for a final last push appeared to lack credibility when I realised I had bugger all left in the tank! Thankfully Paul had produced a master stroke in this first week as RD by placing super marshal Andrea in the final position. Her enthusiasm is infectious. After some encouragement & a high five I was on my way, attempting to finish as strongly as possible, hauling myself towards the finish line.

We've established that I'm not a photogenic runner

I crossed the line in 25:29, my fastest time all year & though thoroughly beaten by Karl (who ran a lifetime best mid 24), I was very satisfied with my performance, although knackered by the end. I just wanted to collapse in a heap for a moment, but being an Event Director means that you're always on duty when at your own event so I was soon clapping in runners, helping to manage the funnel & chatting with various participants & volunteers.

The Eat

Friday night with James visiting from Burnley way we sampled Aldi's Wagyu Beef burgers for the first time. Excellent quality, especially when accompanied by good burger cheese & added to a Brioche bun.

These were rather decent

Saturday continued to be a busy day. In the afternoon Clare & Dan headed over following their parkrun adventure, accompanied by Mum & Steve with Aunty Jill to follow. I fired up the BBQ for the first time this year & laid on a range of burgers, German sausages, Parma ham wrapped asparagus, home made slaw. I also tried some honey nut cornflake coated chicken thighs & drumsticks. They were decent for a first attempt, room for further experimentation & improvement. Mum also brought her trademark pavlova along for desert, I had certainly recovered from the 5km by the end of lunch.
No sooner had the family left that James returned from the West Ham vs Burnley game & Burak arrived. We're heading off to Japan at the end of the year & we spent some time walking through the itinerary, looking at various accommodation options for our stops in Tokyo, Kyoto & Osaka. Burak also brought with him a triumvirate of deserts from The Pudding Stop in St Albans. He'd waxed lyrically about their offerings previously. I've not always been partial to treacle slice or ginger loaf, but these were perfection. With the waffle house also in town, if you have a sweet tooth it appears St Albans is the place to be!

The Long Run

After all of the copious calorie consumption the preceding day, there was a definite need to get some miles hammered out on Sunday morning. On drawing the curtains I realised that would not be a pleasant experience, cats & dogs would be an accurate description of the rain. I parked the running idea & instead hauled myself into Stortford to get a haircut & zoom round the supermarket before chauffeuring of Clare & Dan to Heathrow. They'd be the bank holiday after all for the long run.
The haircut was a bizarre experience, the first time my hair has been featured on someone's instagram feed. I've never found a regular barber, just gone wherever has taken my fancy. This was the third time in a row I'd been to CB's in Stortford, they'd done a good job previously. This time was the best of all three & the young lady cutting my hair was in awe of the naturalness of my quiff that she wanted a photo for her portfolio! After a bit of taming with some product I was able to leave the chair, for once my ridiculously thick hair had a purpose & in Johnny Bravo I had another potential fancy dress option!
Before Clare departed back to the US she took my Garmin with her. Over the course of the BBQ she'd mentioned how:
a) She wanted a Garmin
b) I hadn't got her a birthday present yet.
We also established that
c) My laptop was knackered
d) New Garmin's transfer runs by bluetooth.
With some blue sky thinking & high level solutioning from our innovation facility (the sofas in the lounge) the solution was obvious, Clare should take my Garmin 210 off my hands & I should buy a new watch. A perfect solution to the problem faced! I was in theory running in the morning so needed to pick something up that day. A phone call to Sweatshop in Hatfield established they had the 220 in stock (I wasn't going to go overboard with the 620). I called in after dropping the Americans off at T2 & it was good that I did as the long run was indeed going to happen on the Sunday & Emily was heading over to Stansted to meet me once I got home.

New Gadge!

I quickly got the new watch on charge as soon as I was home & with Emily en route I started to get ready. The run seemed unlikely though as a rain apocalypse happened, flooding the street & overloading our guttering. If earlier it was cats & dogs then this was the rest of the zoo joining them. Thankfully it was a very brief passing storm & by the time we headed out the sunshine was back.
My plan called for 12 miles, Emily's 10, so I decided we'd head out to Manuden & see how our various injuries would behave before making the call on which way we should return.

Rain rain go away....

My choice included attempting Mount Manuden for the second time in a week. At this point our conversation stopped until we'd made it up the hill. A car following us up wasn't overly helpful! I must remembered, especially with a summer of training coming up what routes have shelter, we were exposed to the baking sunshine for a few kilometres here as the track wound its way towards Rickling.
Once at Rickling we headed back South, running along the main road until the Ugley Checkers pub where we took a left & enjoyed a nice long down hill under the M11. From there it was into Elsenham & as we were both feeling reasonable we took the longer route back to Stansted on the main road rather than through Ugley. Our pace dropped off from about 12km, something I attribute to a lack of long runs on my part.
Entering Stansted from Elsenham meant that we had a climb to get back to my house, I explained the logic of Chapel Hill over Brewery Lane & we hauled ourselves uphill. 17.5 kilometres clocked, if Emily had run a lap of our road she'd have clocked just over the 11 mile mark on her Garmin.
No sooner than we'd finished my run was already on Strava, the new gadget working straight away.
Emily was quick to head back post run as Paul was readying a Sunday dinner so I got myself a chocolate milk & spent some time on the foam roller before sorting out some food & enjoying a much deserved bath.

Post run gurning competition

The Conclusion

For a week that almost didn't start, this was one of the most successful I've had all year. The parkrun performance was probably beyond my expectations. The recovery from the groin strain continues & there were no adverse effects following this foray into speed work.
I was also really happy with the long run. The past year I've changed a lot in my running & embracing the idea of running with friends has been a definite benefit. Both Emily & I had been procrastinating about whether to run or not & by heading out together it helped motivate both of us to get running. Starting to get miles into the legs & deciding to put minor injury niggles to the back of my mind can only be a good thing. I have to accept that I will pick up minor issues & I need to assess what will & won't genuinely stop me running.