Stortford 10, Hulking Up & Feeling the heat

One race, one hulkamanic, one session of tempos in the heat. A very productive week & one of lower mileage, which was probably needed. I also got to watch some excellent films on running & meet the team behind Like The Wind.

Gym

After not managing to stretch or roll following the very long run on Sunday I resolved to get myself out the front door & to the gym early on Monday morning to at least cycle & get some life into the legs. For reasons that continue to defy logic I drove to Dunmow, fearing the change of visiting Stansted!

Half an hour on the bike at an easy pace over random gradings followed by a few leg presses was all I fancied doing. I had no desire to push myself, using the session solely for recovery purposes, turning the legs over rather than working them. For some reason on my drive west later in the day I felt a Burger King was a good idea. Instantly regrettable, absolutely junk. If I'm going to have a burger I should at least make it a good one!

No Hills

As I was based in Cheltenham for a couple of days for work I'd packed some kit with me, the intention being to get in a hill session on Tuesday morning. My hotel appeared to be halfway up a long hill into town & appeared to offer a great opportunity (if hill climbs can be called that). I clambered out of bed & realised that this would not be happening. The calves & achilles were both a bit tender, with running group planned for Wednesday evening I'd be better served by some rest.

Instead I headed into the town & found a great breakfast spot, Boston Tea Party, indulging in the Marathon milkshake with some Chorizo Hash. Alongside the sports pages, sunshine & a nice breeze I couldn't think of a better start to the day.

On my way out of town I noticed a Caribbean restaurant & hoped that work would wrap up at a decent time to allow for a visit on my way back to the hotel. Finishing earlier would also remove the need to just eat with teaspoons, a skill I had to acquire with my takeaway curry the night before!!!!

Fortunately the work went well, we worked at a very steady pace but cashed in with a decent finish. The jerk chicken was excellent, although heat wise it became the gift that kept on giving! I was half tempted to order a pint of milk on room service!

Tempo session in the heat

Wednesday was disgusting. I was required in London so dumped the hire car & attempted to commute by rail into town from Cheltenham. A mere 4.5 hours after leaving my hotel I'd achieved this, also treating my colleagues to my artistic interpretation of office casual man in a wet t-shirt competition!

By the time I got home I was thoroughly bored of the hottest day in a generation. After the evening commute home & walk up the hill in Stansted I was once again soaked through & fed up. I was due to join up with my running group for some tempo work at half seven & with under an hour at home I hoped to at least stop sweating for a moment before heading out the door. I struck gold with a Vimto freeze pop from the freezer. I was tempted to see how many others were left in the freezer & attach them to myself!
If I needed convincing that this was a foolish thing to do, sweating my way through our warm up stretches appeared to be the confirmation I needed! My attendance at the coaching sessions is sporadic, midweek is usually when I'm living the Travelodge lifestyle somewhere on the M3. Every time I do get there it feels like a worthwhile experience though. Josie puts us through some drills & then we look into repetitions of various distances & effort. I was determined to get some speedwork in, even if the Flitch offered shade but no real respite from the heat, albeit we were in the shade.
Wednesday's challenge involved 5 x 200m, each with some rest in between rather than an easy paced recovery. There were three of us, including Glen who has been ever present at parkrun since I shamelessly plugged it at my first session. Now he's the one who evangelises parkrun to anyone that joins us, runners that pass, random strangers! With there being three we took it in turns to run the 200m, tagging in the person waiting so that they could start & you could recover.
I was covering the 200m in around 40 seconds, although the last stint was suggested at 33 seconds by the Garmin, a time I'm struggling to qualify. The other runners were affording me about 2 minutes of rest maximum between these tempos. I felt decent, making more use of my arms without losing rhythm & running tall. Josie was happy with my form, picking up on my improved arm work & commenting that I was staying more vertical.
After putting everything into the last 200m, Josie enquired if I wanted to carry on as beforehand I was keen. However once we'd been given the target of completing 5 I'd focused all of my energy on just that. I politely declined & jogged back before we started a mile of warm down.
I find these sessions very rewarding, there is a social aspect in running with other people & being invested in their progress. It is also the first time since becoming a runner in 2010 that I've had any focus on technique & any changes are focused on improving what I already do rather than stripping everything back to basics. Next time I'm there (missing next week due to the Yateley 10k) I might take a camera & gorilla pod with me, I've never seen a video of me running, finish line videos don't really show the whole story & I'm intrigued.

Like the Wind: Trails in Motion

I've been a fan of Like the Wind since the launched last year. I was growing bored of the tired, constantly recycled rhetoric that was served up by normal running magazines. Every quarter they'd be a 10k plan, the same stretches, a kit review, 50 pages of adverts & it was very rare that the magazine would last once the holiday it was bought for was over. Every time I bought one I knew going in what it would deliver, it was simply a distraction to get me through a journey.
LTW offered something different. Stories written by runners, beautiful illustrations, interviews, poems, normal photos, not the same old generic posed running models that no one really is & no one should aspire to. I've every copy of LTW at home, if anything I'm guilty of not reading them enough. It's too easy to get distracted by technology & not switch off & simply read an article or two. Perhaps I'm just savouring them, dipping in and out to truly appreciate the articles. I mentioned in a recent blog post how one article had moved me to tears, issue #5 had a great piece by Kevin Betts on why he ran. Nothing in Runner's World or Men's Running or AN Other Running Magazine had ever stirred my emotions. Yet LTW makes you think. Read, think & appreciate.
Since launching they've also had a few extra curricular events dotted around London. Some of these I was unable to make, some I avoided, reluctant to be a socially awkward loner staring awkwardly into my drink. I've learnt a lot over the past year & though the fear of being socially awkward hasn't quite left me, the confidence gained through parkrun has at least pushed it away from the surface.
When the Trails in Motion event was announced I was happy to see that the date worked for me & booked a ticket. Paul & Emily would also be coming along so if need be we could all be socially awkward together! A brief & expensive visit to the London Marathon shop for some trail shorts, followed by a feeding at Nandos later & we had arrived at the venue.
There was time for a drink beforehand as the LTW team were setting up. The agenda for the evening was fairly simple: short films, an interval, then a longer film. I was sceptical how well I'd cope with this given the heat & my ability to snooze during films! I won't go through every film, some were good, some I found to be very arty product placement. Most had a message I could understand though, others inspired. Why We Run featuring Bernd Heinrich had me ordering his book the day after to get to know more about his back to nature philosophy. Before the interval we were introduced to James Poole, straight off the plane after the Western States 100. The silver belt buckle appealed to our sense of run bling, though I'm not sure I could manage the effort to attain it!
After the interval we were treated to our feature film, Finding Traction, the story behind Nikki Kimball's pursuit of the Men's record on Vermont's Long Trail. Kudos to Kimball, she didn't appear to take any editorial control of the film, which showcased every emotion, often in quick succession. Over the course of nearly an hour we were taken on Kimball's journey both through the event & her running career itself. Kimball tries to be a role model girls & raise funds for a local running collective in Vermont. Instead she's a role model for anyone that finds her story, showing what is possible. Her efforts to use depression as a force for good was something that struck a chord with me, appreciating it might never escape you.
After the films we had an opportunity to chat with other attendees, I said hello (albeit briefly) to Andy from Windsor who's also heading to Berlin. We also spent a few minutes talking firstly to Simon from LTW & were then joined by Julie. It was interesting to hear how much of their time & life they'd put into the magazine, the first edition was literally funds originally set aside for a new kitchen! Their passion for running & LTW shone through & after a throw away comment when interviewing James earlier Simon had planted a seed for an article I've offered to write for them, The Culture of parkrun. I confessed that my usual bullshit heavy writing style might need to be refined for actual publication, though Simon was happy to suggest even more BS, as long as it's not libellous! So that's the next challenge, actually write something of merit on parkrun, it's culture & the part it has played in my life.

An exceedingly bad photo of the LTW event

Inspired by the evening, an idea was formed amongst the three of us. Endure 24 is already pencilled in for 2016, but it is an event that we don't get to run together. The only time we're together as a team is when we eat, or drink. So what if there was a running event that combined all three? The Medoc Marathon is precisely that & immediately a number of the guys were interested. So we might as well accept that's going to happen.....

parkrun - Hulking Up

I’d tried to keep my fancy dress outfit under wraps, providing only the subtlest of hints through the week on our social media channels & in the run report. When we were in the planning stages of parkrun I’d looked for potential dates for fancy dress. For a while we’d toyed with the idea of a Rik Mayall appreciation day in June to mark a year from his passing. Potentially this was a bit too niche, so we parked the idea, instead naming our stopwatches Richie & Eddie.

One date in the calendar stood out, July 4^th, American Independence Day. We could let our imaginations run wild & with the day being just over 3 months since the start of the event there was a fair chance that a community would already be starting to establish itself & that folks would buy into the idea.

Aware that not everyone would fully participate, we suggested dressing in red, white or blue as other options. The National Trust café had bought into the idea, laying on a couple of American specials for the day, both Mac & Cheese & Chcocolate Brownies were on offer.

I’d used a bit of subterfuge to lead people off the scent of what I was going to be wearing, turning up to the forest in what some folks presumed was fancy dress. That might be a sad inditement of my own sense of fashion as I consider the Zubaz pants (trosuers to you English folk) to be normal clothes. Sure they might not normally leave the house, but they are awesome lounging gear as the folk in BA’s T5 lounge will find out when Burak & I are rocking them ahead of our BC flight to Tokyo in December.

Setup was going well, the plan for me to ride around on one of the NT’s bikes & assist with the northern section of our route worked nicely, though I’d picked their least capable bike once more. I’d even been enjoying the riding around enough to start looking at a bike for myself. The new role in MK offers a cycle to work scheme & if I end up living reasonably close then it is certainly an option in a very bike friendly city.

One benefit of being on the bike is that it is easy to get up to the front gate from one of our setup areas & welcome our car parking volunteers. We had an additional setup volunteer arrive & as she drove the mile route on the estate route to the parkrun HQ I decided to take a short cut via the boardwalk & meet her there.

We’d had some rain overnight, the boardwalk itself is wooden & we spend our winter briefings warning runners to be careful. My ride out earlier in the morning had been incident free, on the ride back I’d been struggling with getting any of the gears to work, changing all the way back down to 1^st in order to get them to engage. I’d noticed my back wheel slide out a bit & told myself to slow down & concentrate, which I duty did.

Barely 20 seconds later I was on the floor. Not only was I on the floor, the bike appeared to be also on the floor & on top of my legs. Despite slowing down I’d been caught by the lack of grip on the damp boardwalk at one of the subtle turns. The bike had decided it wasn’t a fan of staying upright, sliding out & sending me to the floor on my side. A bit dazed & confused, I sat up, noticing a few things straight away. Firstly, there was a bike on top of me. Secondly, my left shoulder was painful & something was potentially wrong as my arm was at its least painful just hanging there. My right arm was covered in the mud & dirt that adorns the boardwalk surface. I gave my left shoulder a feel, nothing appeared to have popped out & I had some movement. I tried calling Karl the on duty Run Director as I probably needed a hand to get the bike back. Of course the lack of signal in the forest caused an issue here.

Ouch

One option was to wait for our runners to appear, but that could be 15 or so minutes. So after a minute to compose myself I managed to get vertical again & for a moment attempted to ride the bike back to base. The handlebars were misaligned so that thankfully wasn’t going to happen. Instead I had about 400m to walk the bike back, park it at our HQ & disappear for a moment to swear!

I had about half an hour spare to assess whether I could or should run. Luckily there were plenty of folks around who could help with setting up the start & finish area for us so once I’d given them guidance I wandered off, still assessing my shoulder for movement, confident by this stage that it was just pain rather than anything more urgent. We made for an interesting core team that day, me now slightly dazed following a crash, Karl setting a new RD record by being out on the town until half two & Paul back after a few weeks away so was feeling his way back in. Between us we could just about manage, maybe we just needed some more energy.

With that in mind I decided that running or not, the least I could do was get changed into my fancy dress. I don’t know where the idea came from to dress up as Hulk Hogan. I’d had the Mega Powers t-shirt since before my Wrestlemania trip in 2013, in fact I have the contrast of it as well so one idea originally was for Burak to marshal & me the Macho Man to my Hulkster. So I had one bit of the costume, now it was time to assemble the rest. My yellow Sub Sports leggings were an option, but I didn’t fancy wearing thermals in July so picked up some football socks instead. Knee pads, red shorts & sweatbands were also acquired, as was the bandana & moustache (which didn’t make it to the forest). The final item was a pair of cheap yellow shades. I washed off the mud & got changed, tried to get some more feeling into my shoulders, they’d be some posing to do!

Hadn't thought this one through.....

I was thinking that being Hulk Hogan might be a bit niche, turns out less so following his time as a reality TV star in the past few years. The outfit was well received, even minus the moustache, although both Alec & I were usurped by Elvis striding into view as the briefing began. Around a dozen had gone for fancy dress, a decent majority of the rest of the field were at least wearing red, white, blue or a combination of the three. We declared Elvis the men’s winner, Wonder Woman the women’s & eased Karl through his run briefing!

Alec & I had a plan. Run easy, take photos with marshals, run like buffoons in general! We achieved this, though I was aware from early on that I’d done something to my ankle during the bike crash. There was a nagging pain & at a kilometre I was close to calling it a day or waiting for the tail to catch me. Instead I got into my gimmick & remembered all of those that had taken their vitamins or said their prayers to support the Hulkster, it might be slow but I was getting this 5k done!

Forest Shenanigans

The ever challenging forest meant that the ankle never fully settled, but Alec & I larked our way around, posing with every marshal & enjoying the experience. I nudged him on the line with a cheeky speed up, but only so that I could pose my way through the funnel!

I’m glad we tried the fancy dress theme, sure not a huge number embraced it but with every time we try one of these things it will build to the next occasion, with more people buying in to the idea. As Event Director I’ve realised that the best way for people to join in is for them to see me & the team enjoy it. I was happy to act the buffoon & dress up as Hulk Hogan, if I’m willing to do the silly stuff then the fear factor is reduced for everyone else.

Mac & Cheese for the injured & the hungover ones.

After results processing in the pub (such a hardship) I made it home & got some ice onto my shoulders & ankle. I was pleasantly surprised & relieved that the damage didn’t appear too great. My ankle had sustained bruising, most likely hitting part of the bike on my way down. The right shoulder was grazed & actually a bit more painful than I’d first thought. With a couple of hours to chill out I was able to get myself cleaned up & was starting to feel a bit less tender by the time I headed into Stortford for a much need trip to the barbers.

Shoulder was good enough to bring out the poses!

Stortford 10

This was a race that has eluded me for years. Usually it has either clashed with a birthday or with a cricket game. This year, with my team struggling for numbers & an earlier start time of 10am I opted to enter. Through the close relationship Bishop’s Stortford Running Club have with our parkrun event I have slowly become a member by osmosis. I’m not a fully paid up member of the club, nor do I don the green & gold (currently) but now with my ED hat on it is hard not to be recognised at local events. Perhaps the high percentage of BSRC within both my RD team & the extended core team of Volunteer Coordinators are slowly making my joining of the club a formality!

Pre Run fuel

Being recognised is no bad thing though, since starting the parkrun I’ve grown into the role, finding myself becoming more comfortable, confident & almost friendlier (ok, less cynical maybe). It was great to pass the 45 minutes before the start chatting to various people from the parkrun, certainly beating my old racing strategy of keeping myself to myself. The rain had arrived & appeared to be settling for the day, despite forecasts to the contrary later in the morning.
The race began with some persistent rain, though BSRC chairman Phil had assured us sunshine would greet us upon our return. I had a reasonable plan, aim for a 1:30:00, although a constant pace of 5:35/km would be interest as my long runs to this point have been far slower. I'd taken a brief (very) look at the kind of pace needed to jeopardise my 10 mile PB, but felt that at 5:16 throughout it was unlikely I'd push a 1:25, especially on a course I'd been advised was not suited to a PB attempt. 
Alec and I lined up alongside each other, he had run a 1:23 at Stebbing back in November so I wasn't expecting to see much of him until the finish line. Strangely I started better as we lapped Stortford Rugby Club to break up the field before heading out onto farm roads and trails. Soon Alec was past and I didn't think anything more of it. My first couple of clicks were really promising, both at that crazy pace for a 1:25 that I wasn't really interested in.

Just two representing Team Um Bongo for this one

After a good start I had one of those moments I knew would come during a marathon cycle but needed to get through. As we entered the third kilometre we met a farm track that was really tacky following the rainfall. I'd followed the guidance to wear road shoes & realistically the rain came down after I'd left home so there wasn't much I could do about it. To compound the mud issue I was very quickly alerted to two very unhappy Achilles and calves. I was barely into the race and felt horrendous, surely it would be sensible to step to one side, turn back and write off the race. I wanted to quit, my pace was getting slower at an alarming rate and I had no interest. It was raining, I felt injured & grumpy. 
A brief conversation focused me a bit more as one of the BSRC ladies commented that she loved the Um Bongo vest. My retort that I wasn't loving run quite so much was instantly rebuffed, I was reminded that many were still on the sofa. Sure they didn't feel injured though did they? The words rang true though & I'm experienced enough to know that my Achilles will normally calm themselves in time. All I needed was a break from this energy sapping mud that was no doubt a contributing factor to my pain and general malaise.
Thankfully some tarmac soon appeared and I used the gravel that ran down the sides and middle to loosen off all of the mud. With some firm footing I was able to expel the demons of the mud and made my way through the next couple of kilometres with relative ease, albeit my interest level and motivation remained on the low side. This felt like a race without purpose and I'm at my best when motivated, this was a journey into running apathy. 
Thankfully just after 5km the young lady from BSRC had caught up with me and as I wasn't in a muddy depression I said hello and realised I recognised her from parkrun. I asked her what time she was aiming for as we had been closely matched at parkrun, she responded that it could be anything between 1:30-40, which was where I was heading. A chap ahead mentioned he'd be happy with a sub 1:40, I told him he'd be ecstatic as he was easily on for a mid 1:30!
We got chatting, for once I remembered to introduce myself & we settled into a decent pace. The time started to fly by & with good conversation I was distracted from my apathy & various niggles. The run actually became enjoyable, as most runs with company are. We were both at different points of our training, but with a marathon in my future & one in Denise's recent past we had plenty to talk about. Just after 5 miles an Um Bongo vest ran through us, Alec had stopped for a break & was now trying to make up time. He chose not to run with us, but didn't make it any more than 20 metres away from us, even when we walked the steep hill through the woods at 6 miles.
Our rhythm continued to be good & soon we were through 7 miles & just a parkrun away from completing. It's a cheap psychological trick, but breaking the race down into manageable chunks is a good way to concentrate & lift the spirits. We passed Team Scofield & Amy one last time on their water station, the enthusiasm giving a nice boost. At the 8th mile Denise said she wanted to walk & for me to run on. With Alec still just ahead I thanked Denise for the company & carried on.
Alec was my first target. His pace had me perplexed as he's been faster than me over 5k & 10k for at least a year. Since running past us at 5 miles he'd not pulled away as I'd expected him to. I reeled him in with relative ease over a couple of hundred metres & as just two kilometres separated us from the finish line I mentioned that a sub 1:30 was still possible, 11 minutes to complete 2km was more than feasible.
I decided to go through the gears, this is far earlier in a finish than I normally would but I wanted to see if Alec would join me, the challenge potentially shaking him from his apparent funk. As my pace got faster it was clear that I was going alone on this one so I got my head down & decided to try & finish strong. A penultimate kilometre in 5:03 was pleasing & I carried this form to the end of the race. As we entered the rugby club I was pleasantly surprised with my pace & Simon from the parkrun core team was on hand to give me a cheer, though he probably now regrets offering me a high 5. A word of warning to all, I'm an exuberant high fiver! Offer your hand at your own risk!
With the final corner approaching there was a chap all in blue just ahead of me, I kicked & managed to catch him. What I hadn't expected was him to reply & dig in himself! I had no choice but to try & get even more of a sprint out & got the placing, releasing a visceral groan once past the finish. A brief hand shake to say thanks for the sprint & I got myself some water & a t-shirt.

A strong finish!

Alec was soon through, about 30 seconds behind me as he'd maintained his race pace but missing out on a sub 1:30 with a 1:30:01. I waited by the line to cheer in Denise as she finished with a 1:31. We caught up after the run & thanked each other for being run buddies. My own time was something I was very happy with, 1:29:26 officially, the last kilometre measured at 4:53. After saying a few more goodbyes & checking in with others in my core team I was heading back to the car, I had a cricket game to get to.

Smiles as Alec works out the race shirt!

Cricket

We had 9 players. Traditionally cricket is an eleven a side game, though this year more so than any other people we've found ourselves numerically challenged. When the opposition mentioned they were also short, the desire to get a game in after 7 weeks of not playing was sufficient that we agreed the fixture.

A quack for me

We were bowled out for 27, taking 25 overs to score them. The opposition then knocked the runs off in three overs. With some off the field issues as well it was the most embarrassing game I've played in. 

Eat

I'd already lined up a G&T in advance of Sunday's exploits. After a chastening day (well 2 hours) at the cricket this got upgraded to a large one! Accompanied by some strawberries & clotted cream they were at least a way to draw a line under an unhappy afternoon.

A nice end to the week

 The Conclusion

A good week for running. Very satisfied with the Stortford 10 mile result, pacing an a minute a mile faster than my intended marathon pace. After a check up at the physio I'm pleased to be told that no damage was sustained in the bike incident, just bruising.

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.