Ski Legs ... and an unexpected PB :o)

Last week took more out of me than I thought, and until Thursday my legs felt like lead pipes and all my runs were sluggish and laborious. Most days, I had trouble cracking 10mm pace even on net downhill miles. But (crosses fingers firmly) I think normal service is being restored and my shin has been fine.

I ran well on Thursday afternoon. On Friday I didn't run at all, but swam just over a mile (of which more later). Then on Saturday we had one of the main events in our racing calendar. The Fetch West Midlands Mile.

Fetch Mile events are organised all over the country, and this is the third one we've had in the West Midlands. They're fun, family-friendly events, designed to get groups of local runners who might otherwise only "meet" online together to run short track races (focusing on the mile) and then have refreshments and a chat. Leon organises the running aspect of the event and I co-ordinate the catering - which mainly means that I provide a table and plates for the gorgeous cakes that people bring with them.

After the kids' 400m race, in which participants ranged from Leon's 13-year-old son (who strolled home almost half a lap ahead of the next runner, in 73 seconds) to baby Oliver being pushed in his buggy by his mum Clare, we had four separate mile races based on anticipated time. I lined up in the third race, for 7mm-8mm runners. Although I wasn't confident of my ability to run a mile in less than 8 minutes on the day, my previous track mile times (7.39, 7.31 and 7.23) suggested that this was appropriate, and I thought it would help if I had people to chase. Besides, I was planning to run with my 10-year-old daughter in the slower-than-8mm race.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I found myself out at the front right from the start and working very hard indeed. I heard Leon counting "thirty-one, thirty-two" as I went through half-way, and knew that I would be struggling to break 7 minutes but had a good prospect of a PB.

I finished still at the front, in 7.05, only three seconds ahead of the next runner. Had it been a 1,700m race, I would probably have been fourth.

Several of the children (including baby Oliver, with his dad pushing the buggy this time) joined in the last mile race. I toddled round with my daughter Annabel, who, like me, enjoys physical activity but is not a natural athlete, and she ran all the way in 10.52, a good PB for her.

We finished with a series of 100m races. I surpassed myself in suckiness. 21.39s by my Garmin. I should hate 100m, but what's to hate about a race that's over that quickly?

The cakefest back at the house was possibly the most lavish ever. In the style of a Biblical miracle, I provided some hot pizza and sausages and was left with so much cake that we'll be bringing some with us if there is another 10 Marathons in 10 Days Challenge training weekend.

Yes, we haven't lost sight of our target event for 2009!

Training this week:

Running: 40.79 miles total. 39.79 miles at an average pace of 10.02mm, and 1 mile raced at 7.05mm.
Longest run: 10.09 miles, at 10.43mm pace.
Cross-training: Swimming, total 3.14 miles.
Niggles: Crocked my right arm on Friday carrying big sheets of cardboard to the recycling bin after the doorstep collection had failed to uplift it.
Sofa-spud days: None.

Ah, yes, the swimming. At the beginning of the month, I noticed that the Fetch Swimming League was limited to people who had recorded at least a mile a month of swimming in their training log, and set myself a mini-target of logging enough swimming in January to keep me on the league for the whole of 2009 even if I didn't swim another stroke all year. That's 12 miles of swimming. Did I mention that I hate swimming and take more than an hour to swim a mile? I'm nearly there, though. One more hour ploughing up and down the smelly pool is all I need to do.

Next week I shall run more than I did this week. And so will Leon :o)

Did you miss us?

While the other 10 Marathons in 10 Days Challenge participants have been getting stuck into notching up training miles, Leon and I took a slightly different approach. We went altitude-training.

Our holiday in Zermatt last week had been booked almost a year before, and the benefits of a week in the best ski resort in the world (probably) at the quietest time of the season (definitely) far outweighed the risk of putting ourselves out of the 10 Marathons in 10 Days Challenge with a skiing injury.

We chose well. The weather was perfect all week, though very cold. We went skiing for 5-7 hours a day, six days in a row, without any aches and pains or fatigue. We had three days of lessons with an excellent young instructor who taught me to carve and Leon to do show-off tricks. He made us work hard. In a class of three, there was nowhere to hide.

We also ran most days, either around the roads in Zermatt (at an altitude of 1620m) or on the hillside tracks. Yesterday morning before leaving we did an 11-mile run on snow-covered trails with 755m of ascent and descent.

And I swam a total of three-and-a-half miles in the chlorine-free hotel pool.

Needless to say, we thoroughly enjoyed attending to what more dedicated athletes might call "nutrition and hydration". You can't exercise at altitude (the pistes go up to over 3800m) on a diet of green leaves and green tea, and when in Switzerland it would be rude not to partake liberally of the excellent breads, cheeses, meats, and cakes. I'm sure our recovery was accelerated by hefty doses of sugar and saturated fat, and I intend to use the same strategy between marathons in May.

Now we need to translate that skiing-endurance into running-endurance. I need my shin to stay healed. We need to increase our training mileage and Leon, at least, needs to do some faster sessions. In particular, we need to start doing some longer runs. That 11-miler was our longest run so far this year.

This evening, after a day of putting the house in order, we went out for an 8-mile run. It was unpromising. I had to work hard for an average pace of 10.24mm. But at least nothing hurt :o)

Weekly Summary

Time to start these again!

If I count from 1st January, last week was only a 4-day week.

Total mileage: 38.24 miles
My runs: 17.34 miles, average pace 10.12mm
Little runs with the children: 8.77 miles
Run/walking with rucksack: 4.13 miles
Cross-training: None.
Niggles: Developed sacro-iliac backache on Thursday. It was quite painful initially, but has eased off and is now only the vaguest discomfort around my right sacro-iliac joint.

This week, I plan to do about 40 miles of running, and some swimming and cycling, leading up to a rest-day on Saturday when we travel ... did I mention that we're going skiing?

;o)

Unfortunately, the timing of our holiday means that we'll miss the introductory weekend for the Ten Marathons in Ten Days Challenge. We hope that all those who are there have a great time.

Oops!

Has it really been almost 4 weeks since we updated our blog?

Lazy rascals!

Actually ... we really have been lazy rascals. Our training in the second half of December was negligible and I ended the year with a total of 1,516 running-miles in my log. We did, however, have a lovely "non-Christmas" family holiday in the Middle of Scenic Nowhere which allowed us to introduce ourselves to the Howgills and to become inspired by local fell-runner Hugh Symonds's peak-bagging exploits in 1990.

We also managed a cold but cheerful 10 miles on Corn Du, Pen-y-Fan and Cribyn on 28th December. Leon has the photographs ... LEON!!!

Leon started running again on 30th December, and promptly ground to a halt on 1st January when he came down with a virus that was marauding around the household. He's better now, but still looking a little speckly, so common sense suggests that he shouldn't run today.

My training began on 1st January, with a couple of one-mile runs with the children and then 6 miles on my own. Given that my weight has crept up a few pounds and I was wearing three layers of clothes plus buff and gloves, I was happy with an average pace of 10.11mm for very easy running. And my shin was painfree :-)

We'll have another enforced break from running next week as we're going to Zermatt. We could make time to run there, but that would be such a waste of a skiing holiday so we're unlikely to run much unless the weather is so bad that we're forced on to the hotel treadmill.

We went to Zermatt last January, and did go running a couple of times to get up close to the Matterhorn and take some pictures. I believe I have the best-ever running-shoes for snow and ice - the Inov-8 Mudclaw 340, an orienteering shoe which has little metal posts in some of the forefoot studs. Sadly, it's no longer made. It's better even than attaching Magic Spikers to trail-shoes.

And after that, it'll be five weeks until our first marathon of the year - Draycote Water. Before my shin started to act up, I was hoping to try to scrape a PB. I've revised my objective for the race to "learn to laugh in the face of boredom". It's a well-organised race, but a supremely dull course - 4.75-mile laps around a reservoir on a gently-undulating tarmac road. Last year, Leon and I stopped at 21 miles because we couldn't be bothered going round again. We can't have that sort of attitude when our target event for 2009 involves running the same marathon every day for ten consecutive days.

Happy New Year, everyone :o) xxx