29th July: Relay

The first three madathons I had signed-up for in Feb to April but had to bail on were organised by a company by the monicker of Endurance Life. Since then I've been checking in on their events schedule via the book of face, and out of the blue, something interesting popped-up.

With Britain going nuts for the impending Olympics, the torch relay has begun visiting village after village in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The torch relay itself is something that was specifically started by the Nazi party for propaganda purposes for the 1936 Berlin Olympics to show-off the supreme physical specimen of the Aryan Race… Only for the mighty Jesse Owens to slap the lousy Austrian painter back in to his rightful place. 76 years later this is thankfully all that is a hang-over from those Berlin games. Nowadays the torch relay has metamorphasised from a true relay as it was the last time in Britain for the '48 games to a largely corporate farce. The torch itself is carried by people for no more than 300m at a time - the vast majority of the torch bearers being employees nominated by the main sponsors of the games, celebrity bell-ends trying for quick bit of free and easy publicity and those like Lakshmi Mittal, the richest man living in Britain who 'bought' the ability to carry the torch for his stroll of a few hundred metres. After its mile long parade in the place where the torch is visiting it is packed back in to its sponsored bus and driven off surrounded by its entourage of corporate sponsor provided BMW's and copious amounts of police to protect them from god-knows-what to the next town to repeat until the end of the day where the party remains for the night in some hotel.

Well the people behind Endurance Life saw this going-on as it passed by them in Devon not long after the relay's start from Land's End and felt that the 'relay' was not in effect a 'relay', just a tour of sponsor's logos from town to town. With their knowledge of the running community they had a Baldrick-esque 'cunning plan' of running the same route as the torch, passing a baton from person to person continuously through day and night, whatever the weather, from the start in Land's End to finish at the Olympic stadium in Stratford… A Real Relay.

Some ingenious use of plumbers pipe and a Yellow Brick GPS unit formed the baton so its whereabouts could be continuously tracked via the internet and 10 days after the Olympic torch started its motorised procession from Land's End, the Real Relay commenced jogging off on its 8,000 mile journey in aid of the CHICKS charity. Every person running a leg is supposed to donate at least £10 to them to raise money to help CHICKS with their giving underprivileged children from the cities a chance to get out in the countryside for a break.

The relay itself was broken down in to stages of around 10 miles each, chunk by chunk being released through the website and by grace and good fortune I was at my computer at the right time to bag the Tadley to Basingstoke leg when these local stages were released.

The day arrived and I persuaded LSS to be my photographer and chauffeur to get me to the start and take the pics.

We hopped in the car and headed across country to Tadley and the car park of the Broomsquire pub. Just as we were 100m from the pub I got a call from Stuart March, the runner of the previous leg to whom I was to take the baton from, asking where I was as they had arrived. 10 seconds later we were in the car park and out we jumped and LSS was on hand to photograph the handover as without any warm-up I took the baton, donned my camelback and off I trotted eastward.

Handover from Stuart March @ The Broomsquire in Tadley: Stage 557-558

When I hit Silchester I made a bee-line for Calleva Atrebatum the abandoned Roman town and splashed my way through the mud and puddles along the road that has been traversed for 2,000 years since they rocked-up on our shores and for a further millennium before hand by Ancient Britons who had already made the site their home when the marauding Italians stumbled across them and concurred with their choice of location for a town.

Jogging through the middle of the Roman town I exited via the east gate and turned south, following the town's walls till they swung away from the road as I continued towards Bramley.

The view south along the town's walls

The country lane towards Bramley was a pleasant one, with any monotony being relieved by having the 'Blades' Aerobatic team rehearsing a display for the Farnborough Airshow directly overhead at low altitude.

Southwards through the edge of Bramley and on to the Vyne National Trust property. Just past the main gate for that I was able to take a turn for a cross country route through the edge of Basing Forest and out through Carpenter's Down and in to Popley, the first part of the Basingstoke sprawl. From this point on it was purely residential street running B.O.R.I.N.G. until I hit the station. After that it was a jog through the shopping centre, then the last climb past the 'Wote Street Willy' to the top-of-the-town handover to Martin.

Here's the lift of the route from Runkeeper with all the vital statistics:

There was a photographer from the Basingstoke Gazette waiting to take a photo of the handover for a small piece on it. The Olympic torch relay had been through the centre of Basingstoke just 3 days before and had been handed over outside the Willis Museum, the spot where we had coincidentally chosen to stage our handover.

Here's some other pictures of the run en-route:

The baton: Never, never, never give up!

Not at all staged for the camera!

The adoring throng of enraptured onlookers!

25th May: Blues Brother

The last couple of months have been immense in their frustration. Work has been mental; seeing me pull 7 day weeks and 12-14 hour days at times as well as a couple of nights as well. This meant an enforced period of no training through fatigue, as a man needs to rest and chill when he can, but this also afforded me the excuse/ justification of resting Bernard... This now means my stamina and fitness levels have dropped noticeably.

Unlike typical builders, Si and myself do not live down the pub/ greasy spoon/ Maccy D's for a couple of hours when lunch comes around, in fact lunch is a luxury for us. We just tend to work all the way through the day from start to finish merely powered by the occasional cuppa (milk no sugar) so weight gain has not been too bad despite the lack of exercise, but then again the nature of what we do is physical so we are continually on the go and not sitting in some office on a wheeled chair as most people spend their lives.

A while ago I entered our village's running race. Each year Hook has a fun run, a 6 & a 10 mile race which despite living here for over a decade I only ran for the first time last year. This year I entered thinking I would have had around 5 madathons under my belt by the time it came around so fitness would be good and I could improve on the marker time I laid down last year, again not a brilliant time coming a little after recovering from a bad groin/ hip extensor tear. Unfortunately as you know, this ideal training scenario was not to be, so rather than being a mere walk in the park with my body tuned to the 26.2 miles I went in to the 10 miler having not run a step since December. I had also entered the race under an alias for fancy dress purposes... I was down as Elwood Blues.

Realising I would be lumbering around rather than running, this did give me a good excuse for a crap time by sporting fancy dress. Needless to say my time was absolutely pants, coming in at just 95 minutes, nearly 15 slower than last year. The positives though were the cheers and comments I got or making the effort to run in fancy dress, the only person to do so in the 10 miler, honestly some of these runners take themselves too seriously!

By the time I crossed the line I was breathing out of my arse, but I made it and Bernard had not really grumbled so at least that was a big plus :) although I did find out the next day that I was suffering from shin-splints again for the first time in years. It took my body a good 3 days to return to normal, climbing the stairs being rather fun over these days!

As I walked home clutching my finishers medal, which looks rather like a 'Jim'll Fix It' badge, I bumped into Pini and Vics. Pini did not realise I was running because of Bernard so was surprised to see me, especially in a suit, tie and hat. As we walked along, Vics told me that she measures Pini's success in a race by the number of people in costume who finish before he does. Apparently his last race, the Reading half marathon was his best showing yet, only being beaten across the finish line by two bananas and a jar of marmite :)

With no time for training to the level required I'll have to bail on the South Downs Marathon I have a place in. It is great after this 10 miler to know that I can finally run, but there's still a nagging doubt at the back of the mind that I shouldn't really be pushing it too hard just yet, and a madathon like the South Downs which is probably a 4/5 difficulty with the heat probably is not the best place to start.

Well here's some shots of a fat bloke making an attempt at running:

22nd February: Darkness

Went out this evening for a spot of night riding, one that did not involve the Hoff in any way, shape or form.


This time it was Kelv, Walshy and myself seeing as Stubo cried-off with man-flu and Mart couldn't find his lights. Following this route we meandered our way through the local area.


En route we startled one of these in a ditch and I had the bizarre experience of nearly running over a suicidal mouse which ran across from the opposite side of the road in front of me in perfect time to be squished under my front wheel. Fortunately for the squeaky fella I managed to scrub-off enough speed to just miss his tail as he scuttled past.


Today was the first time I have been out cycling recreationally in the darkness, as before this evening it has always been to get from A to B - for example on Monday night I cycled 20 miles to drop-off my mothers birthday card, so it is not a case of being lacking in previous time on the road in darkness. At least the next time I should be more familiar with the route and not nearly stack into a ditch on a hairpin bend as I did tonight!


Here's some shots of Walshy and Kelv in action:

19th February: Longing

With the weather turning for the better this has stopped us Brits obsessing over it, (well until the next bout of cold/ hot climes as my friend Craig has summed-up on his blog) and to get on with our normal lives once more. Although this has caused the tabloid press to work harder for their corn now there's no 'cold weather snow  shocker' stories to fill space.

Bernard has been less grief this week, although this weekend should have been all about the marathon down in South Devon. Gutted I could not be there exerting myself, so the countdown to the next one starts now: 5 weeks! God I hope all will be hunky-dory ready for the big day on the Sussex coast.

My new wheels for my MTB have turned-up so I've put them on with a new 8 speed cassette to speed-up the overall ride and hopefully push myself harder and faster on my rides... The bike I ride is a right hotch-potch as I have built it from scratch, with bits being updated as I go along. With these wheels it is nearly at completion for a general road and off-road set-up. Just a new flat-bar, seat post and bar-ends to go.

So as a consequence, training has seen more cycling and swimming this week - bit boring really innit!

My footy team had a cup semi final, which unfortunately did not go as we had all hoped! From 20 minutes on they were truly chasing the game having gone 3 goals down... The 15 minutes before and after the break were bossed by us and the score was pulled back to 3-2, but shortly after a deflected shot looped over our keeper to put the opposition 2 goals to the good again. With just the result that matters in a cup tie, we had no choice but to risk everything in attacking and unfortunately paid the price... Ending up on the receiving end of a shellacking. At least a pants-drop was avoided by keeping the score below 10: The final score at 8-2.

First half defensive action at 0-3

Half time team 'talk'

Proper Sunday league here: As you can see there is underway an inspirational team-talk by a leader of men with all in rapt attention ;) and is that the goalie having a crafty half-time ciggy?

Ball crossed in from the right about to be driven in to the bottom right corner to make it 1-3

Penalty to make it 2-3... Shame this was as good as it got :(

16th February: Patton

Saw this quote t'other day from the American general George S Patton. I have to say I agree with it as most things in life are mind over matter - mostly in my case I don't mind and it don't matter.


"Now if you are going to win any battle you have to do one thing. You have to make the mind run the body. Never let the body tell the mind what to do. The body will always give up. It is always tired in the morning, noon, and night. But the body is never tired if the mind is not tired."


- George S. Patton, U.S. Army General, 1912 Olympian

12th February: Baltic

I received an email this week from the organisers of the first 'official' marathon to which I had entered. It is happening next weekend down in Devon and for sure I will not be there to run it... Oh well, shit happens! At least they have scheduled another event in May for the Coastal Trail Series. This one is over on the Flete estate, so at least I can 'recoup' the lost marathon for this month by undertaking a second one in May as I had only intended on running the Trailblaze course along the Thames Path.

The frustration about the injury is now at its height as a consequence. As such, with the pain getting less and less I gave the elliptical a try. The good news was I could manage it without the pain becoming unbearable, so in the next couple of weeks I should be able to start on that and put in the hours, getting my body accustomed to moving for anything up to a 4 hour stretch, but without the rigours of impact on the body before I can get out and pound the roads.

Hopefully the injury is now going to be less of an all-consuming problem and more of an inconvenience. I reckon that from now on I reckon I should give it a name in order to refer to it in an easily manageable and easily dismissed notion... Brushing it off as if it were an irritating person who hangs round like a bad smell, like an office work colleague whose proximity you have to endure day in and day out through no form of choice but necessity... From this point forth my heel injury shall be named Bernard.

Whilst cycling on my way to swimming in the sub-zero temperatures I passed Pini who was out for a run. Seeing as we were off in opposite directions I fired-off an email to discover how things are with him - crazy I know seeing as he lives across the road (and I mean that literally). And to fill him in on how Bernard was and my recovery... Pini replied with the following about his recent exploits and what I should be doing in my recovery/ training for the marathons and what to expect:

"You need to be fully fit for a marathon, and to get the miles in the legs for a good month-6 weeks. It's the 18 miles onwards that gets tough and that seems to surprise new marathon runners. I ran my 4th, nr Gloucester, on Jan 22 - hence avoiding the pub. All was fine until 18 miles when I started fading, then I really struggled at 23 miles and the last 3 miles felt like 10. I think I got the food intake a little wrong, and as it was windy and the course was undulating, my pace was a little erratic. So mara #1&3 went well, but #2&4 were tougher. Good experience though. I spoke to an ultra runner - there was an ultra mara at the same event - he was on his 110th mara. Another was on his 210th!"

The temperatures round here have been struggling to get above freezing, so the rides to and from swimming have been fun. The snow that has fallen has not really stuck around so after the slush drained away the roads have been pretty cyclable even with road tyres.

Swimming has been progressing. I managed to do the 20 lengths straight through without stopping so I am now concentrating on doing that every time. After finishing the lengths, I have attempted to do the proper breathing whilst swimming, but have been unable to crack-it yet without nearly drowning myself. I have always had trouble with the breathing around water and put this down to the fact I cannot breath through my nose (an hereditory problem on my dad's side), although it has all got me a pondering and I have thought of a different way to breath so as to keep my head down in the water when I swim rather than continually thrashing from side to side... Still I'm wanting to get the distance cracked before working on technique and speed.

Sunday saw an early(ish) start for a bit of a 'randonnée' with Kelv - who is keen to start cycling to keep fit having managed to get a good bike through the government 'Cycle to Work' scheme, Mart and Mike. Mart is a very experienced cyclist and Mike enjoys being out and about. We headed off out in to the countryside from Kelv's following this route. It was all about just taking it easy and doing the miles without racing the clock with the plan of ending up at the George in Odiham, where we duly decamped upon finishing for a sit around the fire, a hot cuppa and a sausage and bacon sanger for those that desired.

Here's some shots of the guys in action and some of the scenery around South Warnborough way!

Mart & Mike

Kelv showing us how its done.

The civilised post-ride warm-down - or warm-up after being out in that cold!

5th February: Toy Story

My new toy arrived this week but I have not been able to have a good play with it as by the time I managed to get a chance to use it, the weather had turned too Baltic to go out and do anything at -6C after dark at the end of the week and then the snow came. Taking a leaf out of Pini's book I have acquired a GPS watch to track my runs and monitor my fitness and training. Up till now I have been using the Runkeeper app on my iPhone to record my runs. I think that Runkeeper is a cracking  website and fitness tracking product, however the tracking on my iPhone is absolute pants.

According to the iPhone's sensors, if I cycle in to Basingstoke I will have done either less than a mile or more than 70 as the GPRS does not seem to work with anything resembling accuracy and it plots a route on straight lines from the waypoints it randomly selects, so according to the recorded route I have zig-zagged here and there between points several miles apart. As a consequence I have tended to enter the routes manually and reconciled them with the time from that recorded by the iPhone. The other problem with the Runkeeper - and any other GPRS enabled app on the phone, it saps the battery of life very quickly, to the point I doubt whether it would be able to last a full marathon.

What I have gone for is a Garmin Forerunner 405CX which doesn't seem too chunky. I've changed the strap on it for the fabric velcro one already for greater comfort and ease of use, plus I think it looks better that way. Hopefully this will give me far greater accuracy in recording routes, and the added benefit is Runkeeper accepts data from Garmin GPS devices, so my training can be downloaded straight in to Runkeeper.

As mentioned, this week has been pretty flat for getting out and swimming or cycling with the weather although I did manage to get out and do the 'Lasham Loop' again and without punctures this time. Whilst it was pretty chilly, this time I wore a beanie and an extra top so my head and core remained warm, although there's not much you can do to keep your feet warm!

Having said that, in the swimming i managed to get through 10 laps before a minute's rest... Once I build-up to managing a straight-through 20 lap swim then I can work on my breathing & technique. The way I see it, as soon as I am sure of comfortably swimming the 400m needed for a sprint, then I will refine how I do it, even if this is against the perceived wisdom and coaching from those at Fleet Triathlon club!