Harder, Better, Faster, Longer

To set the mood, grab every torch in your house, shine them from above your head & pretend you're Kanye West at Glastonbury.....

A week that saw me run harder than I have for a long time. A race experience that couldn't have gone better, or faster. Then I finished the week by running even longer than previously. Whether stronger can also be shoehorned into this awful intro I'm not sure, although it probably applies to both my mental & physical state at the moment.

Yateley 10k

The Yateley 10k had been on my radar for June. Working down in Hampshire for a day or two a week was starting to hurt my training & I was looking for races or organised runs to give me something to do with my evenings. I’d missed the cut off for the June race & joined my colleague Kendra at her track night with Bracknell Forest Runners instead. We’d agreed to run the next one & it was part of a whole list of events I’d been given to consider.

After registering I persuaded Sean that a trip out of South London for an evening 10k was a good idea, to which he agreed & signed up as well. He wasn’t really sure what his plan for the race was, so when I mentioned targeting 50 & he could pace me if he fancied, he did indeed fancy an easy (ish) run for him.

Sean is responsible for my introduction to parkrun back in 2010 & as a result surely accountable for everything else that has followed! We’ve rarely run together though. He’s considerably faster than me so the only times I can recall were for his & Emily’s parkrun celebration last year & some sprints in Battersea Park many years ago. There was also an occasion at Gunpowder parkrun where we ran together for a moment, only for me to overtake him & claim my only finish ahead of him (he was having a bad day, we both got beasted by brother John with all of his youthful exuberance anyway).

Evening running is something I struggle to get on with. Being on the road at 6am & I’m fine. Trying to run after a day of work is something I have to adapt to. My performance is usually hampered by what I’ve consumed during the day, so if I know I’m running I have to make a mental note to lay off the fizzy drinks, eat with a bit more thought in general. I’m certainly eating better, avoiding stodge at lunch (& in general) has left me feeling less sluggish. Not opting for a Coke during the day is more difficult as it’s my only source of caffeine, I might have to develop a taste for coffee instead. Not a problem for Sean who sticks too fingers up to WADA & downs a double Espresso before a run, no wonder he was so chatty!

I picked Sean up from Fleet station & made the simple drive to Yateley, forgetting to make a note of where the hire car of the week had been parked! I can tell how I feel about a race by what my nerves are like. At the Stort 10 three days previously I’d almost forgotten to make a toilet visit beforehand. On this occasion I was queuing repeatedly, checking kit constantly, feeling phantom stones in my shoes, finding non existent injuries, high pitched hellos, chatting away at speed. I’d managed to avoid the warm up by queuing for one of the bouncy castlesque porta loos so Sean & I had a brief run around the school field. 

The nerves made sense, this race & my performance mattered to me, it was a key indicator to how my pace was looking for a PB attempt at Pride in August.

I was also trying something new. I’d been paced previously & found that having my own Garmin meant that I’d still be double checking. On this occasion I wanted to place all my trust in Sean, handing over my Garmin to him. I was running naked (no tech, not no clothes, no one needs that) & my instruction was to not tell me splits, just whether we were over or under target. This made Sean a little bit uncomfortable, but I didn’t need the numbers in my head, the over thinker in me would only consume energy.  Not only did he have my watch, he’d banned me from running with a bottle, telling me it was time to ditch the comfort blanket. I’ve run a few times recently without it, but not at pace or for this distance.

He already had my tech, now Sean wanted to throw my bottle into the tennis courts

The target was 50:00, a simple 5:00/km pace. I felt this would be a push as my best parkrun performance this year is a 24:58. My HBO time was a pleasing mid 52, but I didn’t know how realistic the target was. I’d also told Sean that my PB was 48:20 (4:50/km) & that this could be a secondary aim if my pace was surprisingly good.

My mind was clear, all I had to do was run fast. Observing a narrow first couple of hundred metres I tried to take an outside line & knew that Sean would catch up with me if he couldn't weave through.

The race itself was painful. I’d rested up on Monday & Tuesday. Combined with some physio work on the Tuesday evening to loosen up my calves I found myself in pain from about 1500m into the race! The uphill start was a killer for both Achilles. I should perhaps have asked Sean for his perspective of pacing me, I get the impression I was like the whiny kid that doesn't want to eat his greens!

The pain only abated once we’d got the nice downhill after 3km done. Sean telling me to enjoy the downhill didn't really help as it hurt! Once both Achilles calmed down it was time to get some numb feet for a few km. This can be a regular occurrence for me & normally flexing the toes for a bit will clear it up. Conscious that we were under target I started to think this might be a bigger issue & that the numbness was a sure sign I was just about to faceplant, the pace must be overcooking me.

Sean was performing his role perfectly, letting me know if we were over or under, telling me to focus on his heels if I flagged behind slightly. At one point I asked him what target we were under, he told me the first one but not the margin. I was told off for thanking marshals, he’d be doing that on my behalf to conserve my energy!!

At 8km the course started to climb again, not significantly but enough for me to tighten up a bit. By now I was convinced that I was turning a shade of purple, the silver lining being that the finish was in a school field so an air ambulance would be able to come & get me easily! It wasn’t until we got past the final climb in the tenth kilometre that Sean revealed a sub 49 was on the cards. Hopefully this was the espresso going to his head as I swear in my slightly weary mind I swear I heard him say sub 49……..

My usual sprint finish was not really going to happen, everything hurt, that finish line could not come soon enough. Sean carried on talking to me right to the end, urging me to be strong, drive my arms, preferably not collapse etc. That race clock definitely looked wrong as I passed it, how unfortunate that it would fail, or be counting slowly or something.

Little did I know that until I tightened up at 8km when the course started to ramp up again that he’d told a little white lie. We were on target to challenge my PB for the majority of the run. As I came to a very abrupt halt upon crossing the line Sean was there to prop me up, kind of handy as my legs were all kinds of funky for a moment. A quick check of the Garmin gave some unexpected news:

Watch time: 48:53, chip time: 48:52

One of us was feeling it a bit more than the other.....

Medal & water claimed & we wandered back towards the final turn to wait for Kendra & Callum to finish. I think shock might be an appropriate word. I couldn't quite comprehend the result & even after a high five to Callum & catching them at the end of the finish funnel a few minutes later Kendra commented that I had a beaming smile. I have no idea if this was the case, it might have just been that I had no real control over my face following the exertions of the run!

Needing some support to stand

We grabbed our kit, said hellos, & goodbyes to folks, took photos & started wandering in the direction of where we thought the soccer mom mobile I’d been given for the week was parked. It was later than expected & Sean wanted to head back into London rather than eat so I dropped him at the station & headed into Fleet to search for food. A chippy came into view & before my weary mind could work out whether that was a wise idea I’d parked up & was wandering in. A detour on the way home for some ice (2kg of sweetcorn!) & I was soon back at the hotel. The food was tepid, a bit grim, but in many ways exactly what I needed!

Yateley performance

Club

Over the course of Thursday & Friday the inevitable happened. I've joked about becoming a Bishop's Stortford Running Club member by osmosis over the past few months. Nearly half of the parkrun core team are members, Paul has be working on me since the day he joined as a Run Director, though as club vice chair he kind of has to! Hatfield Forest sees a huge level of participation at the parkrun from BSRC & the friendships I've already formed were reeling me in. 
After the Stortford 10 I'd been approached for some feedback given my work with parkrun & casually mentioned I'd happily assist with future events in any capacity. It seemed logical that given I enjoy the time I spend with Stortford, my intention to return regularly after my move to MK & my offer of help that the next step would be to fill in the forms & hand over some cash. 
The decision is also a selfish one. Given my current form & with Berlin 11 weeks away I want to cash in, make sure the best possible Chris is on the start line on Sept 27th. I'm really happy with my training, but feel some incremental gains can be made. I've always believed that surrounding yourself with better people leads you to improvement, that's why I'm keen to ask advice. I might not always take it on board, but knowing what and why others have done something helps me. So be it intervals, tempo runs, company on long runs, I know that joining BSRC will only make me better, I'm already better for the time I've spent with the guys so far.

Run Commute

The tube was out of action for the day as I headed into town on the train. I’d ditched the hire car as originally I had London meetings scheduled. My best option was to run back from Westminster to Liverpool St & in my mind the most logical route along South Bank seemed like a good idea.

Within 10 minutes as I was realising the folly of my decision making. Progress was near impossible, sunshine, tourists & added to the usual mix, commuters were making even the wide passes of South Bank impossible. I took a right through a food court & found myself running in parallel, only to be thwarted by road works.

The entire run was a farce, all I succeeded in doing was claiming some commuters not paying attention & taking my blood pressure to levels that probably weren't wise. These were junk miles. I didn't want to be running, the strike had forced my hand when what I really needed was rest.

The Downside

Friday wasn't a particularly fun day. Having ridden the high of my Yateley performance all the way through Thursday I hadn't quite considered the trough that would follow the peak. Perhaps it was because the peak was particularly high. Kendra had mentioned my smile was beaming when we wandered to the finish area to congratulate Callum. I'd put this down to being so knackered that I had no control over my face! Apparently not though as Thursday was a breeze, I felt good throughout the day (excluding the run commute). The confidence from the performance left me feeling exceedingly positive. 
Quite what had happened by Friday morning I'm not sure. Maybe I slept badly, I certainly woke up cranky! My mood wasn't improved by heading into work without breakfast. Perhaps it was an impending deadline at work. Whatever it was I needed to try and lift myself, throwing John Grant's GMF as I walked to the station. I've found myself drawn to the wit and humour he brings to music & Greatest Mother F seemingly lists all of my traits. The song is meant to celebrate these supposed weaknesses and one rather cathartic, introspective instagram post later and I was feeling a bit better. By the time I'd made it into the office my friends had lifted my spirits. My Yateley finishing photo providing the inspiration for a comparison to a leek & some Rambo Photoshop work from Len! If I smiled when running I'd provide no humour for my friends!!!
The thing I took away from Friday, once I'd got my work done and had a chance to relax is that I need to find a way to keep the over thinking to environments where it helps me, such as work, parkrun planning etc. Of course if I could switch it off that easily I'd have done so by now! Those Mindfulness books (yes I even overthought that enough to buy two) need to stop gathering dust!

parkrun

It appears that our event at Hatfield Forest is going through the terrible teens phase. I've seen other local events struggle for volunteers as they progress out of the initial honeymoon period. It doesn't help that as a single lap event in a forest we are quite heavy on our roster. I'm quite envious right now of events such as Black Park, when I visited the briefing was simple, no marshals, follow the signs! 

Saturday’s roster saw over half of our roles covered by the core team. Originally I was due to run & target a course PB. Once I realised that the 20 miler the day after was the true priority I dropped the run & added myself to the roster, covering off 6 different roles: Setup, Volunteer Co-Ordinator (mentoring a new core team member), Marshal, Photographer, Barcode Scanning & Close Down. Our team had papered over the cracks in our roster.

I had the monthly Sweatshop announcement to do & then I was on the bike to my marshal point. Yes, back on the bike, wisely or not it made sense & I took it easy, I couldn't afford another fall. 

Ready to marshal & encourage

Taking photos from my early in the course marshal point I was soon able to ride back, collecting signs & at the finish line with plenty of time to test out the scanners.

First timer’s briefing is still my favourite volunteering role, I really enjoy welcoming people to parkrun for the first time, as well as saying hello to tourists. I’m also enjoying barcode scanning role. I like to add the personal touch, reading names off of the barcodes as the runners come in & congratulate runners on their performances. It gives me a chance to chat to our participants that some roles don’t always allow for, a chance to get to get to know more people.

Refreshingly we had a whole army of volunteers for close down & were packed away for 10:15, a new record for us for around 45 minutes. I’ve updated our technical maps in the past fortnight & to see the operation be so slick was very pleasing. If only results were so easy! Our usual pub location was closed, Karl left the stopwatches & scanners in the forest & we had to head into Stortford for another pub with wi-fi. Processing seemed to be easy, not too much correction was required, a nice easy demo to Simon from our core team. The moment we went to confirm we hit IT issues & a quick check with my fellow EDs told me there was a central IT issue.

We parked the results & I headed across to Chelmsford, this time to successfully meet up with Monty for his birthday (I’d made a trip on Friday night, neglecting to check the location was the same, it wasn’t they were in London!). The beer festival was a great choice in the sunshine & Monty was on good form. I was able to sample a couple of halves & a selection box of food from the Japanese stand (predictable). After a few hours of being fried in the sunshine I needed to get some shade & rehydrate.

Beer fest sunshine

I’d tuned back into the Ashes for the drive home & the limp Australians didn’t even have the courtesy to wait until I’d parked & turned on the TV before crumbling to defeat. As I have day 5 tickets for Lords I’d appreciate some rain at some point as it appears neither team are keen on applying themselves! The evening was stupidly warm & I didn’t fancy eating, 20 miles in the morning meant that I had to, throwing together some pasta, veg, halloumi & pancetta.

All that was left for the day was a bath to convince my body it was time to sleep, sorting out my running kit & to set the alarm for 0430.

Long Run

As expected, I wasn’t overly amenable to the half four in the morning alarm call. My plan was simple. Get out the front door for 0500, run 20 miles to get me back home for around half eight, half an hour to an hour to sort myself out, then onto London for Hyper Japan.

The whole premise behind an autumn marathon was that the summer would afford me more time to train, an opportunity for longer days & sunrise runs. If the sun did rise on Sunday it certainly wasn’t in Essex as I peeked through the curtains to a wall of grey. This didn’t help to persuade me out the door, the boot sequence seemed to be stuck in procrastination mode. Not really having a route planned wasn’t helping. Opening up Like the Wind #5 & finding an article called Sabotage by Mirka Markkula probably didn’t help in terms of getting me out the door either. Reading it might have brought tears (LTW has a worryingly high ratio of tear jerking stories), but it also brought focus. A lot has changed for me in the past year & there is always a tendency to regress to my old self, be it self-defence or fear of failure. This quote at the end sums up precisely the attitude needed & any self-doubt of whether I could run 20 miles was parked.

Simon had mentioned running through to Stortford, Spellbrook & then some country lanes whilst at parkrun on Saturday. Without a recce beforehand I checked his Strava for the route, it was agreeable with my distance goal, as long as I didn’t get lost.

It was half five before I got out the front door & headed south. I fancied a different route into Stortford so took on the long climb into Birchanger that would bring me out at the eastern side of town.

As I made my way out of Birchanger I noticed a Bridleway sign. Perhaps this was the route to Hatfield Forest I’d been trying to find. One way to find out I guessed so turned away from my almost planned route. Crossing over the M11 & then under the A120 appeared to confirm this was indeed what I was looking for. To my surprise there was a cycle track running parallel to the old A120, something I’d been blissfully unaware in all of my journeys along the road.

Soon I was in the forest & lost for the first time during the run. It would be a myth that I know the forest well. I know a few 5km runs around the forest very well & the routes needed to get to parts of these routes. The rest of the 1,000 or so acres is all guess work. I was trying to feel my way through the forest in order to get to the start area for parkrun, deciding that a freedom run of 5km would be a nice addition to my route.

I felt I was heading south but that was more instinct than any kind of applied knowledge, it turns out that a lot of the forest appears the same when you’re scrambling around trying to find something. At one point I thought I’d found the ride between 1.5 – 2km on our summer route, only to find a gate at the end. I was getting frustrated, lost & now I might be at a dead end. I went through the gate, turned to my left & noticed something, the bridge from our summer course. 

No longer lost I made my way along the estate road & to the start / finish area. After my first gel I was beginning the summer course. This was the first time I was trying the forest in road shoes & I was pleasantly surprised at the traction I had, even with the rainfall over the morning. We advise runners that trail shoes are the best, but I had no problems on this occasion, albeit at a far slower pace than I’d normally try to navigate around the course.

Another gel taken on & I was finding my way out of the forest, using a route much more familiar to the eastern edge of the forest. From there I was turning west onto the Flitch Way & hoping to find my way into Bishop’s Stortford. This would be easier said than done as I had no clue where the Flitch ended or the alternative routes. With 10 miles clocked I felt fantastic & decided it was time to turn on the iPod.

The Flitch was perfect foil for me, flat & straight, I was able to open the legs up a little bit after the cross country around the forest. I just had to be wary around dogs, one seemed very keen to run with me so I waited for the owner to get them to obey before running once more. As I passed over a road leading to Hallingbury the route seemed to get a great deal narrower & then to an abrupt halt. There was a bridge but it lead to nowhere & appeared not safe for human consumption. For some reason I tried to ease myself down the drop off to my left, which on damp ground & in road shoes was silly, although I made it through unscathed. I followed the field & found myself at the M11 / A120 roundabout, not really an ideal running route, even at 7am! I looped back on myself, heading down the Hallingbury Road, realising the Flitch was a dead end & in search of an alternative.

A footpath soon appeared & as it was pointing to the west I decided to wing it & see where it would take me. A kilometre or so of farm fields was entertaining, though I got the impression I was lost once more. I still had the option to turn back & head through to Birchanger, but part of me wanted to find the right route. As I climbed the left hand side of a large field I could see the M11 running parallel to my right. There appeared to be no bridges, I knew there must be a route across but how far south would I have to run?

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted what might be a tunnel. Aware that having broken my glasses at Yateley my eyes might be deceiving me, I decided to take the conveniently positioned right turn through the field to get closer. Was this the nirvana I sought or a mirage resulting from an overdose on High 5 energy gels?

As it came further into view it certainly appeared to be a portal back to the promised land west of the M11. I had to work to get there though, running through an unkempt area of foliage. I’m not going to lie, there was a bit of excitement once I was sure this tunnel was indeed real! I paused for a photo & then made my way further west, where someone had kindly actually bothered to sign post the route! Farm fields changed to a golf course, but as I didn’t have a Pringle sweater to hand I carried on, finding tarmac for the first time in a while.

There really was light at the end of this

I had no idea where in Stortford I was, but a suspicion that I was close to the BSRC clubhouse. I was now into the final 10k, knowing that I’d want to be crossing the A120 back towards Stansted with around 4km left to go. Returning to pavement & tarmac certainly helped my rhythm, despite being out beyond my usual half marathon comfort zone I found my pace getting better.

After enjoying a downhill of Beldams Lane I decided to head towards the town centre, running through it & onto Rye Street for a nice loop to take me towards home. My fuelling had been decent, the first two High 5 gels had been added to with Nakd Cola Raisins at 19km, one further gel at 23km (ish) & a packet of the Honey Stinger pink lemonade chews in the 27^th kilometre. These were more agreeable earlier on in previous runs, something I should take into account for future long runs. I had plenty more options available should I find myself in trouble as I crossed the A120 & into the 30^th kilometre of a run for the first time.

Distance wise it looked like I would be slightly over, by virtue of my getting lost adventures, so I’d be taking the main road all the way home, without deviation. One thing that has made my running infinitely better was the move to Stansted back in 2011. Sitting on top of a hill, there is no way I can avoid them. This has its advantages, but on this occasion it meant that I had three moderate climbs separating me from home. The first took me past the Birchanger turning & as it flattened I reminded myself of what lay ahead.

After the second there was at least a nice downhill & my legs felt decent enough to stretch out a bit. I had just over a kilometre to go & attacked the final hill. All that lay ahead of me now was a flat, arrow straight pavement before the final approach to home. I let the legs go, they’d done their job now, what, if anything was left. With the last corner navigated my watched did its usual attention seeking routine at the end of a kilometre, 5:37 pace. I afforded myself a smile & some anglo saxon words, easing off as the house came into view.

32.11km, 3:19:34 @ 6:13/km pace.

Breakdown of the run

First 10k – 1:03:33 @ 6:21/km

Second 10k – 1:01:45 @ 6:10/km

Third 10k – 1:01:11 @ 6:07/km

Could I have run further? Probably, but I had run to a goal & that had been achieved. I had fuel left in the tank, something that was very reassuring. Upon finishing I was acutely aware that the increase in mileage had added some aches & pains that were not normally present. Both hamstrings were tight, something I’ve only ever experienced during lap 5 at Endure, so I’m pretty certain this is fatigue related.

Taking the running shoes off was hard work, supported by the kitchen units as I famed lack of flexibility plummeted to new depths! I was quick to source water & a glass of milk, poor planning on my part meant none of the chocolate variety was available! I took a photo. It’s not the prettiest photo, I'm dripping with sweat, but I'm happy, elated in fact. Just because I believed in myself beforehand didn't mean the performance itself wasn't a surprise.

This is a smile, honest.

After some time on the foam roller it was time to try & get myself into London for Hyper Japan. We’d already put back our meeting time by half an hour based on the length of my run & in the end it was a rush to even make it out the door, without breakfast, that would surely be a sensible idea…..

Quotes of the Run

“The Bridge, f*** yes!” – Realising I was no longer lost within Hatfield Forest

Bit of a fist pump – Finding my way into the tunnel underneath the M11

“Just two hills left” – Approaching Stansted, 31^st km

“You sick f***” – A 32^nd km clocked at 5:37 as I ran down my road towards home (not at my most articulate)

Hyper Japan

I’d always somehow missed previous incarnations of Hyper Japan. This time it was “bigger & better” than ever having moved to the o2. With a trip to Japan less than six months away Burak & I were keen to visit. After my 3 hour plus run I was looking to consume every bit of sushi on offer!

In an attempt to be sensible I decided to drive down to Redbridge & take the tube in, feeling that spending a day drinking when already in a massive calorie deficit might not be a good idea. The half hour drive was already causing runger, an emergency Orange Lucozade & White Chocolate KitKat purchase was required before I hopped (well limped like the giant cockroach in Men in Black) onto a train. Only after inhaling the chocolate in record time did I realise I had a Nakd bar in my pocked, for this specific purpose!!!

Once at the o2 the underwhelming nature of Hyper Japan began. Despite having tickets we had to queue to swap these to wristbands & the operation was not entirely slick. The exhibition itself was spread out over a few areas & didn’t feel that special. There were plenty of stalls, but apart from the gaming section nothing appeared to have a theme. The food court was a let-down, half a dozen stalls at best & a sushi van elsewhere offering Maki rolls.

Only a bit of sushi

After a few expensive sweet purchases, a trek to a retro gaming lounge (that really wasn’t worth it), a Kirin & a wander around the Nintendo exhibit we’d had enough, opting for Five Guys for some fuel. Maybe my expectations were too high, it just felt like a slightly disparate jumble sale at times though. The only thing it did do was confirm we’ll be spending a lot of Yen on KitKats! Rum & Raisin was particularly good!

Expecting to bring about this much back from the Japan trip

Mario touched us inappropriately!

The Conclusion

I don’t think I could have asked for a better week in terms of performance. The pace shown at eley still perplexes me slightly given the dearth of speed work I've done of late. I'm already signed up to return in August & the aim is to target 48:00 alongside Kendra & potentially Cindy from BFR. Sean is meant to be pacing us, though at the time of writing he hasn't got an entry. Now that I know the route I'm confident I can squeeze a bit more performance out, looking at my stats, I didn't cash in enough on the downhill 4th km. 

I've also dared to dream ahead of the Pride 10k in August. On a far flatter course than Yateley I'm going to target a 47:00. I believe I can better my PB. I'm going to try & stretch what is possible even further. Last year's Pride performance saw a 1:50 improvement, so I'm going to test myself with an ambitious target for this specific race. Even if I fall short, it has potentially to be a big PB. Yateley has shown me to trust how you are running.

As for the long run, I really enjoyed it. Enjoyment isn't usually a term associated with running for over three hours, but I came home smiling. I ran smiling as well. I got lost, I smiled, I got lost again, I smiled. I found some tarmac, I smiled some more. Even after a very good 18 mile run a fortnight previously I'd prepared myself for coming unstuck, potentially hitting the wall. Instead I found myself running stronger & faster as the run went on.

Physically I feel pretty good a few days removed, mentally I know what I'm capable of. A repeat performance would give me 70 minutes to finish the remaining 10k in Berlin. With a potential three 20 milers left in my training plan Given how well this run & the rest of my training has gone, it is tempting to set a new target for the marathon. You might think after the bold Pride 10k idea I'd agree, but for the marathon I want to be sensible.

More importantly, I don't want to cross the line feeling disappointed. I could change my goal to a sub 4:15 or 4:10. Who knows, I might even cross the line with that kind of time. That isn't the aim though. I chose a sub 4:30 target from day one of the plan & I'm not going to deviate. This goal needs to be achievable & if I divert my attention to something faster I run the risk of failure. The ultimate achievement is to finish, by setting a realistic time target I have every opportunity to be crossing the line with a smile.

Olympic Bracknell, hangovers & a really long run

A week that had a clear lesson, if you don't give yourself the opportunity to succeed, then you will indeed fail. Two very good runs, one abomination that was all my own fault.

Hold dinner, I'm off to the gym

Some cancelled plans left me with a free evening on Tuesday. I'm still uncertain at what point life changed to the point where I saw this as an opportunity to hit the gym. Surely I should embrace some sofa time!?! Instead I got home, changed & out the door. To my surprise, the gym was far less busy at half eight in the evening than at half six in the morning, plenty of space for me to keep myself to myself & in theory not cause embarrassment!
I started on the sit down bike, moved through to some leg pushes, a couple of different abductor machines & then took on my nemesis once more. I don't know what it is about the elliptical, but I can't find a rhythm. I suspect this could very well be down to me, so just got through ten sweaty, stop & start minutes I called it a day. After 30 pull downs (a nice increase on last week) I returned to the sit down bike to cool down. Just my second visit but I was able to do more either in terms of repetitions or weight. I even remembered a towel this time, which was handy as the hard work brought the sweat on!
The gym visit was followed up with a burger, a deserved reward! There was something quite satisfying about finishing work & then doing some exercise. I struggle to get on with evening running, but varying to gym work was quite enjoyable. The best news was that my calves weren't ruined the day after. So either they've adapted to the workout, I've stopped doing something wrong, or I avoided the machine that must have been responsible!

More kit arrives

My Wiggle order landed in the porch. Ah yes, the reminder that I'd worked late the previous week & had internet access. I'd replenished my High 5 gel stocks. Having got on with them for years, they are a good staple of my distance running. I was also going to trial some new products, chews & waffles from Honey Stinger (I'd picked up one waffle when in San Fran & got on with it), plus some new gels from Torq. I think I should now have enough to get me through to Berlin & probably into the spring!

Plenty of gels to get me to Berlin

Track Session

My varying work schedule has the potential to play havoc with my the run plan. Not only this, being away with work leads you towards eating out, big breakfasts, snacking in the car, tours looking for Wimpy restaurants etc. Having recently started the running group on Wednesdays, I realised that I had a problem of my own causing by having meetings 100 miles away on two separate days. Sure, I could commute to both, but my recent experiences of the M25 had left the prospect of more motorway time less than appetising.
I'd contacted some running friends & colleagues to see if there were any races, groups I could join in with or tracks I could make use of. There was even the prospect of doing a freedom parkrun. I'd seen an event, the Yateley 10k that would have fit nicely, but work got in the way & by the time I got round to entering the event was full. Evidentially I need to be less ponderous! I mentioned my quandary to my colleague Kendra & she provided a solution. Her club, Bracknell Forest Runners have Wednesday night track sessions & I'd be more than welcome to join them.
After navigating my way through a few meetings on Wednesday I found myself at the track will plenty of time & caught up with Kendra who introduced me to her son & various club colleagues. The plan was fairly simple: one lap at a comfortable 6 out of 10 pace, one lap challenge (8/10) & one at a suicidal pace (11/10). After one recovery lap it would be time to start again, will a goal of 3 good quality reps rather than 4 that didn't hurt.

Pretty consistent reps

The entire session was fun. Tough, brutal, lung busting fun! My previous experiences of running on a track were at the Olympic stadiums of London & Helsinki, plus avoiding the track whilst being the fat kid at school. It's fair to say a municipal track doesn't quite have the same bounce as a freshly laid 2012 track, but the surface was still responsive & I felt quick. The suicidal laps were clocked at 1:35, 1:44 & 1:41. The 1:35 equates to a 3:58/km pace, something that very satisfying at my current fitness levels.

The track was rather resplendent in sunshine

After an embarrassingly inflexible post run stretch & cool down I thanked Kendra & co for inviting me down & headed back to the Linton Travel Tavern for some food. The on site Harvester was still serving & I demolished a well deserved rack of ribs with aplomb!

It's not big or clever

Three late nights in a row. After the track session I'd been given a list of midweek races local to Bracknell that would fit nicely with my work schedule. The track fun had also inspired me, so I spent the evening & then some more writing up my previous blog & entering races!
Thursday was spent in briefings as we'd got to our year end at work & were then off into London to celebrate. It turns out that being on boat whilst drinking can lead to confusion. You can wonder if you've been drinking too much or perhaps feel you need to drink more to cope as the boat bobs up & down in the Thames! The bar staff were suggesting doubles to start the evening, I felt at half five this wasn't the best course of action & stuck to single G&T's for the majority of the evening.

On a boat!

After some food we took part on the mock gambling tables & to my surprise I started to get quite good (or quite lucky) at Blackjack, eventually winning a 4th prize in the overall chip count. This meant I now have a cool bag for Endure, not sure the beers that accompanied it will make it though!

Recovery after Thursday's boozy evening

The third & latest night involved the cricket at The Oval. Though we're struggling to raise a team for matches of cricket, getting the guys together to watch some T20 was really rather easy. Eight of us got down to The Oval on Friday evening to see Essex finally win a game, defeating Surrey.

LMS Social

The game wasn't played in the best of spirits, Surrey had an extra fielder which isn't really within the spirit of the game. Sure the fielder might have been a very confused squirrel, but it covered the ground quicker than most & had more control than Jade Dernbach.

Cricketeering

One of our guys lives close to the ground & had been given the task of finding us some post cricket sustenance. The usual option would be a curry house, but Dave had mentioned there were some good Eritrean restaurants close to his home. The food really was excellent. Large platters lined with pancakes, onto which various curries were heaped on top. Then more pancakes were provided, which were used as cutlery to scoop up the curry. In front of us we had a choice of prawn, mushroom, lentils, chick pea, lamb, beef & chicken, all packed with flavour. One had a bit too much flavour for young John as he picked up what he thought was a slice of cucumber from the salad. One trip to the bar for a glass of milk later & we'd established as he wiped his tears away that it was more than likely a chilli!

Eritirean platter

As great as the meal was, walking out of the restaurant just after 11 meant that I was logistically challenged when faced with getting home. I was still well south of the river so needed to rely on a taxi & then thankfully a well behaved Victoria Line to get me up to Tottenham Hale & the last train northbound. Getting to bed just before half one, surely that was a good idea?

The last train out of London

parkrun gets funky, Chris gets a hangover

My ever sadistic body clock opted for a 0531 wake up call, beating my alarm to the job by 4 minutes. In a potential foreshadowing of what was to follow for the rest of the day, I tried to reclaim these minutes with a micro snooze before throwing myself under the shower in an attempt to awaken my senses. I had a realisation that the combination of no sleep & alcohol the night before had left me in quite a tender state.
I still had plenty to print out for our special event course so quickly put together a cup of tea & tried to encourage some productivity from myself. I also needed to get to the forest as I had the keys on me (still can't get over how cool it is to have keys to an entire forest)! The day was going to be a busy one, we had a new special, untested live route to setup & nurse the runners around. On top of this we had our first ever club takeover event scheduled, with Bishop's Stortford Running Club ready to paint the forest in green & gold. On top of this we had 150+ horses to content with & a lack of parking as a result.
I arrived at the forest in a state I really wanted to remain in for the majority of the day. Slightly sheepish & with sunglasses firmly locked over my eyes. The sunshine was already far too bright & the rest of the team were more than aware that I might be a bit fragile. We got the kit out & split into two teams to setup the course, with me quickly realising that the pile of signs due for repair in my garage would be really quite handy!
Once the course was setup we had planned to walk our marshals direct to their positions & had got the NT's permission to use some of their hire bikes to ensure we could get back to the start line in time. This got a bit too close for comfort when one of our car parking marshals left our Run Director at the main gate directing traffic & our marshal guides (and the bikes) locked away in the hub! I asked Alec to help out at the front gate as he'd arrived early ahead of his 50th run & after Sam diligently stuck on the on site speed limit we were able to unlock just before half past & start walking our marshals to position.
This meant that not only was I hungover, but I would also be riding a bike, something I've never been good at & haven't done in years. I was anticipating the incident form submission as I road around the forest, dropping off marshals & then making a fast (well for me) break back to the start / finish area. It's not like I could even sheep off to the back of the briefing as I had a presentation to make. As I arrived back I also realised I was meant to be delivering the first timers briefing given it was a new course. Mark, one of our regular volunteers was down to shadow & as I still needed to get myself ready to run I just gave him the advice to wing it & assure the runners they'd not get lost!
As our runners assembled for the briefing we were joined by Phil of BSRC at the front as he introduced the club. He started addressing the club & I noticed my name in his notes, what followed took me completely by surprise as he told all of those in front of us that they were only here down to my work & that he would appreciate a round of applause for me. It was a very touching moment as the runners duly obliged & I was quite glad to have the shades on! I was taken aback by the response & humbled. I just wanted to run locally, it's nice that others get to share the experience.
Once Phil & RD Sam had said their pieces the megaphone was handed to me, where I welcomed Alec to the 50 shirt club. In just over a year he's not only found parkrun, but embraced it, racing to 50 appearances. I brought Alec up to the front & handed him my 50 shirt as a loan for the day, proud of his achievement & allowing him to bask in the glory for a moment. With the changes to t-shirt distribution within parkrun, the chance to publicly acknowledge milestones is harder, but I've got a couple of ideas seen at other events that I think could work.

Honoring Alec's entry into the 50 club

As for the parkrun performance itself? Flipping horrendous would be the most appropriate term to describe it. I'd given myself such a handicap with the lack of sleep & drinking, this was a pure punishment run, legs barely working, arms without rhythm, head & lungs not really that interested. The special event route provided a definite PB (for the event) potential. It is the flattest route we've setup in the forest & from 2.5km onwards it is flat & grassy. Had I not spent the week abusing my liver & depriving myself of sleep I could have returned a good result. Sometimes you get the result you deserve.

parkrun presents: Chase the Event Director!!!!

Karl had also been burning the midnight oil (due to a house move, not drinking) & ran in easy as well. As Sam was getting on fine with his army of BSRC volunteers, we headed to the NT cafe & picked up some massive slices of Rocky Road, also discussing plans for our American event on July 4th with the cafe staff, who are also going to put on some special snacks for the day.
I was starting to feel a bit more human & made my way around our finishers to pick up feedback on the course, which was universally well received. We don't have an agreement with the NT to use this route regularly, but given how it kept our runners away from the road, it might have potential to be used in the future. It did look absolutely stunning in the sunshine as well. From about 3.5km you turn into a wide plain that is currently covered in buttercups, sure every parkrun is special, but there are some views you just can't find elsewhere.

ED has cake, all is well again

We even managed to get packed up in record time, presenting us with a slight issue when arriving at the pub for results processing. It was 10:57, was that too early for a pint? And on second thoughts, why the hell did I even want a pint? The answer to both questions; probably but it was after eleven once the pint had settled & I probably didn't, but draught Erdinger is hard to turn down.
The rest of the afternoon was close to a write off. I don't recall doing anything productive & decided that a nap on the recliner was the best course of action.

Took some signs home for repair, Roo needed to inspect them

Another night on the town

Do I never learn? A third night out in a row, a potential fourth very late night. Vicky, Harlow's ED had arranged for drinks & a meal in Braintree for her birthday. My original plan was to stay over at my mum's (an arrangement I'll probably have to get use to in the short term once the house is sold). I had even arranged for a long run in the morning with Paul.
After my useless parkrun effort & the loss of a long run last weekend I knew it was important to get through the 16 miles planned for Sunday morning. With that in mind I made a sensible decision, they'd be no drinking, just mocktails & diet Coke for me!
We had a great evening, joined by a lot of the Great Notley core team & their supreme leader (and my parkrun mentor) Len. The guys were all on form & Vicky appeared to be enjoying herself, although there were a few occasions where we lost her to giggles momentarily!
I tried a French dip burger after realising I hadn't had a proper meal all day. The concept is a good one, you either pour gravy over the burger or dip in. The execution wasn't perfect, might be one for me to play around with at home.

Mega quiff can't hide even behind the largest Sundae at TGIs

We all went our separate ways at around 10, affording me a decent night's of sleep. My running kit was already out for the morning.

The Long Run

I woke up hungry. This was not overly unexpected as on reflection I'd only had one decent meal on Saturday & hadn't really snacked either. Thankfully I was up with plenty of time to spare so quickly rustled up some scrambled eggs on some buttered brioche to give me some fuel for the run.
The plan was a simple one, once I'd driven over to Rayne I'd be joining Paul & his regular Sunday morning club. They have a 10 mile route that is a bit of an out & back on the Flitch Way. Once we'd completed this we would then run on, finding another 6 miles to complete the route. For Paul, this would be an easy run, well within his capacity both in terms of distance & pace. For me, the pace of 10 minute miles, just over 6.00/km was manageable, the distance would be another step up.
I'd packed three High 5 gels, a packed of Stinger chews & a packed of Nakd cola raisins. This should have been sufficient for the day. The heat was a bit more than expected so I borrowed Emily's running belt, allowing me to carry an extra 400ml of water, just in case.
As with previous long runs after a parkrun, both Achilles took a few kilometres to ease off & that was followed by a complete numbing of my left foot. Thankfully we had a tarmac section as we lapped Felsted so that by 10k I was into a rhythm & shaken off all of these annoyances. Running in a group afforded the opportunity to chat with some of the Braintree Athletics Club guys, sharing run & race stories as you'd expect. Once we were back on the Flitch, the BAC guys headed off at their own pace, Paul & I stuck to the target.
My first experience of the Honey Stinger chews was good. They give the impression of being very sticky and / or chewy, but they were easy to handle, no residue & melted in the mouth. So a tick in the box for the chews & I found myself able to get through a packet slowly, although could easily scoff them a lot quicker if I needed to. As we made our way back towards Braintree I opted for a gel at 8 miles. Wiggle had some special edition Mojito flavoured High 5's, so I'd added a box to my cart. The flavour wasn't too funky, perfectly acceptable, although sadly missing in alcohol content!
We were soon passing Rayne station, resplendent in the sunshine & packed with Sunday morning cake & coffee enthusiasts on the old platform. It would have been great to stop & join them, but we still had 6 more miles to cover, so continued on the Flitch. Paul ensured he checked on me at regular intervals, offering the chance to chop the route should I feel the distance wasn't something I was capable of. For the most part I felt good, having shaken off the annoyances from earlier in the run. Anything past half marathon distance is going to be tough, but I didn't feel my performance drop off too much & even made it up the hill between Braintree & Rayne as we returned. I kept answering in the affirmative, we'd be completing 16 miles / 26 kilometres, only an inadvertent face plant would be stopping me!
This presented a slight issue as we made our way into Rayne & near to Paul & Emily's house with 25km on the watch. Anyone who's a runner will have at one point ran just past their house & looped back in order to clock a distance. On Sunday Paul & I ran progressively smaller loops, the final one including a lap of a van before finishing. I even managed to stride out a bit at the end, which told me the tank was not on empty.
26.1km in 2:40:01 as I stopped the Garmin. My target was 16 miles in 160 minutes & by running in km I covered an extra fifth of a mile. It had been an every increasingly warm morning, the kind of day when you really want to be running in a singlet. As I'd wanted a summer training plan & the daylight it affords, I can't be moaning about heat! As long as I plan accordingly everything will be just fine.

Paul looked just fine, I looked like I'd been dragged through a car wash backwards

After gulping down a couple of pints of water, a nuun Cherry Limeade concoction & some treacle tart, it was time to say my goodbyes & head across to my mum's to say hello (and make use of a shower). Running alongside friends is always enjoyable & having someone who can run alongside you & be completely at ease with what you are trying to achieve can work wonders for your training. Paul has paced me in the past & is an expert in reading reactions, knowing when to push, encourage & tone it down where required. Here is job wasn't so much pacing, there was a natural degradation in the last 5k of the run, his goal was to get me to my distance target.

The Eat

Hangry. A term to describe the combination of anger & hungriness.
Running long is hard work. You should really look after yourself after a long run to help the body recover. Wolfing down a packet of crisps at your mum's house & then wandering round a couple of towns doing errands is not really in any guide to recovery. I'd started the day hungry, burnt a huge number of calories & by mid afternoon was feeling rather ravenous.
I had a plan, I wanted a Ploughmans. I figured that calling into the new cheese shop in Dunmow would tick that box, but couldn't check their website as I'd left the house without my phones in the morning so was off the grid. My back up plan was Waitrose in Stortford & it is always good to have a fall back as the shop was indeed shut in a very sleepy Dunmow on a Sunday afternoon.
So my runger had to put up with a detour into another town. After a quick visit to the deli I had a whole selection of cheeses & was soon home constructing the Ploughmans.
As much as I wanted to just devour everything that was on the plate, the sheer richness of the cheese meant that I had to take my time, appreciating all of the variations. The truffle infused brie was so rich that I think it gave me hallucinations into Monday!

English Blue, Ewes, goats, cheddar, something else I can't recall, brie with truffles. Cheesegasm.....

I was that full afterwards that even though I was in calorie deficit by a long way, I really didn't fancy eating anything substantial during the evening. Instead I spent the evening building up the piles of crap I'd need for Endure, it's like I'm almost prepared! After a well deserved bath it was time to sign off for the week.

The Conclusion

Two excellent performances, one truly terrible one. The hangover run was all my own fault, I had low expectations & met them. At the same time, enjoying a night out is no bad thing so I'm not going to chastise myself too much for it. If I'd have run faster then all it probably would have done is compromise the long run on Sunday.
The track session was a lot of fun, I find the challenge of speed work something that really pushes me. As for the long run, plenty to be happy about there. Another notch up in distance & the pacing remained pretty strong throughout. At this stage in the training, with 14 or so weeks to go, I've very happy & content with my approach. I feel healthy & I also feel like I'm improving.

Change is painful

Another week passed on the road to Berlin. There is no real narrative to the past week, let's run straight into the ramblings.

Time to reflect

After the highs of the bank holiday weekend (now known only as triple bling weekend) there was bound to be a bit of a low, or at least a brief malaise. On Tuesday I found myself working from home & following the buzz of the previous days work up feeling like there was a bit of a vacuum, a bit melancholic. At some point over the course of the morning I picked up the latest copy of Run Like The Wind & thumbed a few articles. One stood out to me. Kevin Betts (@52marathonman) had written about why he runs. Without spoiling the article the reasons were very similar to one of my reasons.
The article consumed me & by the end of it I was tearing up, part in awe of it's simple but effective message & part in an act of remembrance, the day before would have been Dad's birthday. And so began a weird morning & one that truth be told I was glad to be at home for. The tears weren't that of sorrow, I didn't feel remotely depressed, just reflective. It was nice to remember, have a quite moment. Sometimes life runs at such a speed that you forget, lose track of all manner of things. To have the opportunity for some reflection, even if it was randomly interrupted by Roo or Topper wanting to assist me as I walked. The sight of Topper struggling around with his almighty gut has an element of dark humour about it. Quite what benefit the drugs are having isn't obvious, but when he forces open a door with his gargantuan arse you can't help but smile. Personality wise he's chirpier than ever, he's just very physically limited.
Another interruption I had on the day was mid afternoon when a courier arrived to drop off my order from Nakd. My previous post had mentioned various changes I wanted to make, this was the next step, arm myself with the ability to fend off the temptation for a mid afternoon sugar rush. Emily had referred me & also told me that the cola raisins were really rather special. Fifty pounds later & I appear to have a three month supply of various things. Given my experiments with Haribo on longer runs, the raisins are a definite option, I can't get by a marathon solely on gels, it would shred my stomach.

Lot's of Nakd goodness

A debut

On Thursday morning I decided it was time for finally use my gym membership card in anger. This meant it was time to set the alarm for half five once more & get out the door at a decent time. As it was my first visit I chose to drive across to Dunmow rather than try the Stansted facility, so was stepping into the gym at around half six.
My hope was that it would be empty, alas no, surprisingly (for me) well attended at this hour! I clambered onto an elliptical trainer, everyone else seemed to be on one so it seemed like a good idea. Thankfully the other users were in their own bubbles or too polite to laugh as my first couple of minutes resembled bambi using one! I just couldn't figure out how it worked. I could see from others what I should be doing, but couldn't get my body's action to replicate. After a couple of minutes of fumbling around I realised that it took a cycling style motion rather than stepping & I was on my way.
10 minutes on the elliptical then it was onto some of the weight machines for some resistance training. The whole point of the gym work was to get some alternative cross training in & build up the rest of my legs to take the pressure off of my calves, keep that in mind for later. I did various leg lifts & then returned to cardio with 10 on the sit down bike, finishing off the session with some pull downs.
On the whole I was pretty pleased with the session. Sure I looked like a complete newbie by checking out the instructions on various machines, forgot a towel etc, but it wasn't as mind numbingly boring as it could have been. I got back home & straight onto the foam roller. I rewarded myself with some scrambled eggs on brioche toast (had lots left over from the BBQ).

Coach Topper taking me through post gym rolling

Chaperone Duties

On Thursday evening I found myself in Shoreditch with my brother & cousin. At my Grandma's 100th a few weeks previously we'd discussed meeting up for an evening. Quite how we settled on London's hipster district I'm not sure but the guys did well to accommodate an old man for the evening. It was good fun to catch up with them, they'd wanted to get me out in order to be my wingmen, although I was more concerned with enjoying a beer & grabbing some decent food!

Hipster petrol station pop up, complete with hipster beer

It was an evening to be thankful & appreciating the support of family & friends in trying to rebuild my life. It's crazy that we don't spend more time together & we shared plenty of stories. We found out that John had an interesting take on family history in his youth & I was happy to tell them more about our Grandpa who they were too young to know. When you're little brother wants to impart dating tips to you, you suddenly realise that, A - he's not the kid you used to take along to the cricket any more & B - he's definitely not the kid you used to take along to the cricket any more! We finished the evening in Patty & Bun, devouring some burgers & the rather awesome chicken fries before going our separate ways at Liverpool St.

Ouch

Friday morning was painful. Both calves felt like they'd been mangled. They felt horrendous, walking was an issue to begin with. I needed recovery time and that is precisely what I didn't have. I was working twice over the course of Friday & had all of my running gear packed as I'd be heading straight out of London on Saturday morning to make it back to Hatfield Forest for Sam's parkrun Run Director debut.
Throughout the day I kept disappearing into stairwells to stretch out my calves, taking every opportunity to get some life back into them. Thankfully no one ever interrupted me mid heel lift! I checked out of the first working day & into a hotel, straight into a bath, another tactic to try & ease the legs. Some Nick Helm on iPlayer raised the spirits, even if laughter didn't appear to have any painkilling properties.
I applied a liberal amount of Natural Hero rub to both calves (a good addition to my work wash bag) & tried to convince myself that half five in the afternoon was a normal time to attempt to sleep. Alas I'm out of practice at these overnighters at the moment & I managed all of 90 minutes, followed by another 45 of trying to get back to sleep. There was nothing for it, I got up, snacked on hotel biscuits & watched the cricket highlights instead.
Working day number two went reassuringly well. I'd set myself a target of finishing before 4am in order to make getting to Hatfield Forest in time for parkrun. I was only assisting in an insurance policy fashion, on hand to assist should my colleagues run into any issues. In the end I was out by 2 & setting the alarm a bit earlier than planned.

parkrunday

My wakeup preceded the 0605 alarm & I was surprisingly with it. I jumped out of bed, noticed the calves still weren't perfect & got myself showered, no one needs the scent of an IT person or my massive bed hair at a parkrun! I checked out & walked into glorious sunshine alongside the Thames. I was on my way, which was giving me an earworm from Scotland's finest twin duo. A quick Spotify search & The Proclaimers were accompanying me to the tube. I had a mere tube, train & taxi trifecta to overcome in order to get to parkrun. The first ran smoothly, the second was bang on time & a taxi was easily negotiated from Stansted Airport & the driver even offered to drive me into the estate, though the walk was perfectly fine with me in the warm sunshine.

Phase 3 of the journey begins!

I'd made it with plenty of time to spare & was in an awesome mood, enjoying the finer parts of the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack as the best view in parkrun, our winter finish alongside the lake came into view.
Sam appeared to be enjoying himself in his first go at Run Directing, readying himself for the technical volunteers as Paul walked our marshals through their roles. Our goal this week was to keep lost marshal numbers to zero! Although unbeknown to me there was a bit of a pre run panic & one of our volunteer co-ordinators ran out to a marshal point to ensure we had the cover required, sacrificing a run as a result. I was on megaphone holding duty as Sam briefed the masses, remembering that I should really get my Garmin ready & then realising he'd be saying 3, 2 & 1 quite quickly so skirted round the side of the start so that I didn't find myself at the back of the field.
I had no plan of note for the run. I had two conflicting factors to accommodate, a combined 4.5 hours of sleep & a buoyant performance at the HBO 10k the week previously that suggested my pace was returning. I decided that I'd try & hold a pace for as long as possible, expecting that the wheels would come off from 3km, leading to a painful & slow final kilometre or two. I fully expected this to be a crash & burn parkrun, despite this I had chosen to embrace it, going out at a moderate pace would teach me nothing.
Having snuck round to establish a decent starting position I found myself getting into a decent rhythm straight away, thanking one of our many awesome & smiling marshals as I headed off of the estate road. The track is deceiving, it feels solid, but has so much loose stone on top that it can be quite unpleasant to run on. I found myself trying to get onto the grass instead in order for a more comfortable run. Much like my first run of the winter route, this was a bizarre experience, I'm used to completing the route along a couple of other people, not hundreds.
We were soon into the first ride & through 1km in 5:05. It was around this time that one of our regulars, Bekah from Stortford Running sneezed herself into view. We shared HBO stories & seemed to hit a natural pace between us. She was also expecting to crash & burn a bit so having someone to run alongside with similar intentions made for an easier run. I got told off for adding my own ED adaptations to the route, adding distance as I varied my route through the ride.
Just before 2km my suspicions were confirmed as all of our runners cut a nice corner, more cricket flags needed there to emphasise the true course! I clocked a 5:03 for the second kilometre & noted that this pace was suicide pace, at least when I hit the wall at 3km it would be spectacular. After crossing a bridge I appeared to try my hardest to twist an ankle in our ever increasingly deep ditch & then negotiated our rabbit hole assault course before turning into Half Way Ride.
This is the toughest point of the run. Constant drainage ditches to cross & very lush underfoot conditions mean this is a calf killer. Thankfully the benefit of being the ED is that I know the course pretty well. As soon as the ditches approached I decided I would be better off for rhythm if I took the non ditch route to the right hand side of the ride. Even though this wound around trees I didn't feel I lost anything & after my attempt to mess with my own ankle earlier in the runner this certainly felt like a better option.

Thumbs up, haven't worked out why yet

Once the cattle gate had been negotiated it was time to enjoy over a kilometre of downhill or flat running. I don't know if by this stage I was talking to anyone but myself, telling myself to enjoy the downhill & cash in. That difficult third kilometre had cost me 5:18 & I still didn't feel like I was toast so it was time to carry on. The return to more even footing allowed me to get the pace back down & by this stage I felt it must have been a matter of time before the sleep deprivation kicked in. As we crossed Elgin's I was struggling to spot the 4km marker, it appears that despite setting the course up explicitly some of our participants had parked across the course! This was something I can address with good comms in coming weeks & throwing an extra volunteer onto parking, I'm soon realising that the only way to be properly off duty is to be at another event!
I crossed the estate road & started climbing up hill. It's not really a massive hill, but in the context of our flat course, it certainly bites a bit. I was cursing whoever added the uphill to the course! In reality you're climbing gently for all of 200 metres, it is just the placement, as you clock 4.5km that annoys.
Onto the flat & with the finish coming into view I still had Bekah alongside me. We were both expecting the wheels to have come off by now, instead it was time to go through the gears. I asked her how many ahead she felt we could overtake, my own guess was 5. Bekah didn't want to name a number & given my history of managing a groin strain I really should have just coasted in. Instead I carried on pushing, I felt good enough & with all of 200m remaining I could collapse on the grass if required!
I crossed the line with 24:58 & I think my prediction of overtaking 5 within the closing stages might have even been correct! I exchanged a high five with Bekah & thanked her for the pacing & within seconds found myself back in ED mode & it appeared our scanners were having issues. At first we moved them back as I thought it was a queuing issue. Then realising that the queue was due to the sunshine I urged the scanners to move into the shade, red lasers & direct sunlight are not a good combination. It didn't take long for the queues to subside & with another lesson learnt it was time to relax a bit & chat to fellow runners.
After close down & an awesome NT sausage roll we walked the proposed special event route that is due on the 6th. The course really is rather nice & there is a danger that it could prove to be very popular. For now though it was a one time only option & after making notes of the various sign locations & risks it was off to the pub for results processing.

It's hard not to find an appealing route around the forest

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The rest of Saturday I tried to avoid falling asleep. I didn't feel a nap would benefit me, hoping to drag things out for an early night instead. I opted for two barrels of sugar to keep me awake, orange Lucozade straight after parkrun & a can of Mountain Dew that had been an option on the overnighter.
It was tempting to have a very lazy day in front of the test match on the TV, but remembered that my hair was starting to resemble Kim Jong Un on the sides & it was time to get it tamed. I'd gone into work the previous evening with a bed hair mohawk after all! After the excellent work done last time I headed into Stortford & let Chloe at CB's sort it all out.

Massive bed hair! I also appear to have one gargantuan sized hand.....

Once the hair issue was resolved the evening took care of itself & I got to sleep very early, no bad thing with my longest run to date planned for the morning.

Plan B

Sunday had plans a plenty. We'd offered the chance to run our special route to our regulars as an open event so I had to be at the forest for 0900. My intention was to then run home, clocking 16 miles in total. Once showered I'd be out to the cricket at Chelmsford.
Of course the first draft of a plan never makes it into reality & with no one else within our core team available, I drove to the forest, already formulating my new long run plan. I could just carry on running various different parkrun routes around the forest (G, summer, winter, summer reverse, winter reverse), that would meet my mileage requirements & present a nice challenge.
I was joined at the Forest by Chris, Jason & Mark, we set off in some rather grim drizzle. The feedback for the course was predictably positive, it is going to have to hurl down a monsoon or something for this route to not be popular with our runners! After a lap of Route G I ditched my jacket as the drizzle was stopping & the humidity was taking over. Mark joined me for my second lap, Route A (summer). We were also joined by an ever increasing amount of rain. As we started to close the course it was clear that the weather had set in.
I'm comfortable enough with my training plan & smart enough to know that there are going to be days like this. There was little to achieve in continuing to run further laps in increasingly crap conditions. With another 90 minutes of running still due all I was guaranteeing myself was a cold, soggy feet, nasty nipples from the rain, general grumpiness. I didn't see nay benefit so as we finished the second lap I decided to call it a day. 10km in trail conditions banked & I can find another long run on another day. One concern was that my socks appears to be soaked through, suggesting the seal skinz had failed me.

The rainfall was doing nothing for the mega quiff

My decision was immediately vindicated when the rain hammered it down the moment I started driving home. The abysmal weather was also snubbing out the idea of going to watch the cricket. Even if the rainfall were to lift, the viewing experience would be a cold & grim experience.
I found myself in a grumpy mood for the rest of the day. No long run, no day at the cricket. A replacement of the test match on TV, a pile of ironing & some xbox didn't really have the same appeal. Despite my rain affected deposition I at least didn't resort to snacking, instead occupying myself with ironing just about every shirt in the pile! In fact it was nearly 9pm by the time I realised that cooking a proper meal might be a good idea, rustling up a steak to at least end the day on a high.

Steaky steak time!

The Conclusion

A hit & miss week. I hadn't achieved the long run I wanted, but had managed to defy current form & lack of sleep to return my fastest parkrun since September. In truth I have no idea where my best pace is at the moment. I'm acutely aware that I shouldn't do too much speed work as my body doesn't react well to it. When I do there is a need to stretch out the groin, calves & achilles as they feel the load more than anything else.
I'd have liked to get the long run in, but there is one more weekend before Endure 24 & I should be able to get the miles clocked. I adapted a 22 week plan over 26 weeks so there is plenty of slack in there & with the past weekend being the last in May I know that there is nearly four months until Berlin.
I was also pleased to finally make it to the gym, even if I now have mangled calves as a result. I can't get through this marathon on running alone (well I could, but my chances of success would be reduced) & embracing some cross training feels like the right call. I'm almost looking forward to having a Monday evening free so that I can subject myself to a spinning class having been warned that it may well rob me of whatever dignity I have left.
I feel like I'm in a good place mentally at the moment. This update started on a bit of a down, this was merely due to be listing things in their natural chronological order. I was touched by the friends old & new that reached out to me to check in & make sure I was ok, almost to a point of being embarrassed by highlighting my melancholy in the first place. Not only was it a time to reflect on the past, but also on the present & the awesome people in my life. Taking stock occasionally is no bad thing.