Fit it in Friday

Friday is always a bit of a rush,

Get up at 5

Have breakfast

Go for a Dogjog

Make sure I have everything for work

Drive to Ripon

Go to the pool

Swim a mile 

Start my rest day (24 hours rest starts here)

Then normal work.

After work I went to the dentist 

Eat tea

Prepare for tomorrow's run, which I am really looking forward to. A recce for March's challenge, the Hardmoors 55

And now a sit down watching telly, bed in an hour or so and it all starts again

I have maintained my Runstreak too 

2015 round up

I'm 

My plan for 2015  was to become an Ironman at Ironman UK after failing at Ironman Wales in September 2014 and to run 100 miles in 24 hours for Ripon Lions.

The first self inflicted challenge was Janathon, a challenge to run or do some form of exercise everyday of January, I have been doing this since 2011, on day 2 of Janathon 2015 I decided to add a Runstreak (run at least a mile a day) to my 100 mile challenge and throw the Ironman in too. I set myself a target to raise £1000.

So Even though I had terrible sciatica I managed to run everyday of January. 

  

My first event was the St Wilfrids  Muddy Boots 10km. I did it to see how my back would cope, I got round in a reasonable time and was not in too much discomfort, bonus.

February also was when I finally got a physio appointment for my back and I embarked on a new regime of stretching.

March saw us moving house at short notice, it impacted slightly on training but I managed to maintain my Runstreak, March was also the month of the Stokesley Duathlon, a good event for practising transitions, it is mainly flat but there is one incline on the bike course.

In April, we biked loads, the weather was always wet and windy, Billy took this pick of me struggling up towards Lofthouse from Masham. But Ironman UK  bike course has a couple of bumps in it so hills, no matter how much I hate them were the order of the day

Also in April we started acclimatising for open water swimming, We had entered Loch Lo Man Middle Distance and the water in Loch Lomond was not going to be warm, I fact hats gloves and bootees were compulsory and therefore we needed to practise swimming in them.

In May we went to Pennington Flash and met some other prospective Ironmen for a single lap recce of the bike course, as usual the weather was rubbish for most of the ride but we finished in sunshine. The route was not as tough as I had expected but I still needed to work on my hills.

The Loch Loman Tri in May was on a dreadful day, strong winds, rain and low temperatures, the swim was short end as it was only about 11 degrees, the bike ride was very hilly and the run was flattish, it was a tough day but enjoyable.

In June Billy and I were still working on hills, I was very proud of myself for making it up the Buttertubs from the Muker side. It was on one of the rare nice days weather wise.

I did my first fell race, the Roseberry Romp, on a lovely sunny evening, this pic was me just emerging onto the top of Roseberry Topping.

I also got a last minute place for the Swaledale Marathon, it's about 25 miles of hilly trail. I really enjoyed it.

I started to use Tailwind nutrition. It works well for me.

At the beginning of July Ripon Runners ran their third annual run from Ripon Cathedral to York Minster. I wasn't going to do it as it was getting close to Ironman UK, then I decided to do it anyway, here we are regrouping before a mass run to the Minster. In the centre is Jill, she had been on some of my training rides as she too was going to be an Ironman.

19 July 2015, torrential rain and strong wind made me glad that I had trained in such rubbish weather all year. It took me over 15 hours but now I can call myself an Ironman

And so can Jill, we both did it, all that training paying off.

So Jill had a party, it was an Oscars night, and she presented me with this made of roses.

Ah! Holiday. Waterproofs were on everyday for our 8 day stay on the aisle of Skye.

We walked miles everyday and ran at least 1 mile a day regardless of the weather, we even went swimming at the local pool one day.

Back off holiday and August was spent doing some swimming and cycling in preparation for Vitruvian Middle Distance at the end of the month, but lots of my training was spent at Studley Royal and Fountains Abbey, running laps to replicate the route at Equinox24. Sometimes I would run Parkrun first at which I got faster and bagged myself a PB, before running laps, which I would celebrate with icecream.

After completing Vitruvian in a great time for me, I got my Ironman tattoo on the inside of my wrist.

From now on no more biking or swimming until after Equinox24. I doubled up my runs and built up to over 70 miles a week, now I was training mainly on my own. Billy was completing his training and competing at Ironman Wales the week before Equinox24. I couldn't be there to support him but Team Twinkle were there supporting him for me.

Finally the day arrived. Over a year since we planned it Chris I'Anson and I were ready to go for 100 miles. The weather was unseasonably warm for September. Billy was supporting me and keeping me fed and watered. We set off at Midday on Saturday 19 Sept

He even ran 40 km of it with me through the darkest section of the night.

But morning came and I was back on my own with a very welcome bacon butty I had only a few 10 km laps to go.

At 11:38:22 on 20 Sept I finished 100.9 miles (16 laps)

In October I did the Round Ripon Ultra 35 miles of trail in a great time, it seemed easy compared to the Equinox a fortnight before.

A week later I finally went under 4 1/4 hours for a marathon at the Yorkshire marathon

And then a little personal target. I accompanied Caroline to Bridlington for her first half marathon. It was my birthday and I wanted to get rid of my half marathon PB of 2 hours 12 seconds.

I did that. Great birthday pressing to myself.

In November I stared the month with the Guy Fawkes 10 mile hilly road race. I ran it well, still not getting under 1 1/2 hours for 10 miles though, oh well got to leave something for 2016.

I also entered the Turbonovember4 challenge to turbo everyday for at least 30 minutes plus some longer sessions. It got me back on the bike.

I completed the Hardmors Goathland Marathon the following week and then I also did the Wensleydale wedge in really dreadful weather.

Also in November I joined a swimming class and a Pilates class.

In December Billy and I did the Frostbite 30, a 35 mile trail run around Nidderdale. Last year I did this with Sciatica and it took 9 hours, I wanted to do better this year. Again the weather had been dreadful with high river levels and strong winds, but we got through it in just under 8 hours, it was tough.

Coming off Guisecliffe

Gouthwaite Dam

So the weather has been dreadful most of this year, the ground is saturated and my trainers are starting to rot, we are now on the 6 th Storm of the winter in not many more weeks.

I'm already starting to train for next year's challenges and in a brief break in the weather I met old friends and new on the North York Moors this week for a lovely day on the Cleveland Way.

  

And so to totals for the year, This is a nice summary of my Strava activities courtesy of Veloviewer.

This is a summary of my Runstreak 

My running free account

Totals don't match on Garmin, running free or strava, must be thechnical gremlins somewhere.

My events 2015

A runstreak

St Wilfrids's Muddy Boots 10 km trail

Stokesley Duathlon

Loch Lo Man middle distance Triathlon

Roseberry Topping fell race

HDSRL league races

Otley 10 mile new pb

Swaledale Marathon

Ironman Uk 15:38:32

Vitruvian new Middle distance PB 

Equinox 24 100.9 miles in 23:38

Yorkshire Marathon

Bridlington half marathon new HM PB 1:54

Guy Fawkes 10 

Goathland Marathon

Wensleydale Wedge new PB 

Frostbite 30

My fundraising page for Ripon Lions on the LocalGiving site closes on 01/01/16

Oops! Broken promise

Time to round off the week.

This week has been a toughie again, My target was to run 70 miles as well as keeping up bike and swim training.
#Monday I did started with a bike ride 51 miles with 2812 ft of elevation, followed with a brick run of 1.7 miles. in the evening I did a 1 mile open water swim.

#Tuesday I ran 15.5 miles, I did this on the loop near my house of just over 5 miles giving over 800 ft of elevation.

#Wednesday I couldn't sleep so went out at 03:45 for a 2 mile run, then went and did the 5 mile loop just after breakfast.

#Thursday I rode my bike along the service road to try and improve my inconsistent pedaling,33.6 miles with just under 800 ft of elevation and followed it with a 1,7 mile brick run. in the evening I ran around Ripon racecourse lake 1.2 miles, before swimming a very weedy 1 mile lap and running around the lake again.

#Friday is rest day Yey! Runstreak doesn't rest though, so an early 1.7 miles sorted that, then a session on the roller and some strength and conditioning done, meant that I could rest.

#Saturday as you may have read in my previous post was a warm up run to Park run, Parkrun (PB 25:49) a jog to the car then four times around a lovely mainly off road 5.6 mile route, 22.3 miles in 4:27:22 with 4350 ft of elevation.

#Sunday Today was tough, tired legs, sore achilles and toes made the planned 15 miles tough. I used the 5 mile route which is predominantly tarmac. On the first lap my left achilles thought it would join my right achilles in being a pain and the toes on my left foot felt cramped, so with the advantage of lap running I went home and swapped trainers, what a difference. I managed to slowly run the next one and a half laps when my right achilles became a nuisance and my stride was slowing and getting shorter. I plodded onwards promising myself that if I got to the bottom of Roughly Bank then I would walk up it. As I approached the incline my legs finally clicked into run mode, not fast but running. This is why I have worked so hard to run even whist tired, to create almost a default setting. Since my legs were now doing as expected I did not walk up Roughly Bank. Promise broken. So today I covered 15.4 miles in 3:13:28.
So did I make my target? You bet I did 73.2 miles of running with an average pace of 11:48 and 7139 ft of elevation in 14.7 hours as well as 2 miles of open water swimming and 85.29 miles of cycling.

235 days of Runstreak completed.

Next week will hopefully be less tough as Saturday is Vitruvian, a middle distance triathlon, so I will be on taper from now till then. Less volume more intensity

Another long day of running including a Parkrun PB

I've had quite a week of running this week, I did my first night run and I've maintained my runstreak. I decided, as last week to run at Studley Royal and Fountains Abbey. I sat last night and worked out a route similar to the route at Equinox24 then asked if anyone wanted to join me. I had only one taker. I think two things were possibly putting people off, lots of runners don't like laps and the other thing was the planned pace of 10-11 minute mile pace. But anyway Hayley was up for it.
This morning I got up and walked the dog to warm my constant aching muscles and bones then drove to Ripon and parked at the car park at Studley Royal before jogging and doing dynamic stretches to the start of the 76th Parkrun at Fountains Abbey http://www.parkrun.org.uk/fountainsabbey/

That was a mile worth of warm up. There was not much time for socialising as we were called to the start, as usual I went towards the back, Hayley joined me and after a few messages we were off. I didn't have any plans only to run hard, as the laps later would be steady. Its important to mix up the training, and if I want to run fast I run best in company. I got a PB last week of 26:21 but after a hard week of training I was thinking that I would not be quick this week. I set off weaving though the crowds and saying hi to friends as I passed. I am not a parkrun regular because Saturday has been long bike day for so long, but I got a feel that I was doing OK, I pushed myself hard and entered the second lap slowly gaining and overtaking people, as I approached the end I didn't have a sprint finish, I was done in. I stopped my watch, 26:01. Wow! PB, hopefully with 25 on the front as I had not stopped my watch immediately.
Hayley was talking to Dawn and we persuaded her to join us for a lap. she agreed to see how it went. We walked up to the visitor center and then jogged to Studley to my car to get water and fuel, another .87 of a mile.

We set off, up the grass hill to the St Mary's Church, out of the gate, past the visitor center and onto Howe Hill where we turned off across the fields with a great view of the Abbey,



Through the cows, the farm and up through the wood to the stone arch, through to to the deer field, down into Studley and over 5 of the bridges, up to Sam,s Seat, down to the entrance, up the main drive down the car exit road to the car park and to the car. Lap 1 complete, 5.6 miles done. Dawn decided to leave it at that but Hayley was happy to carry on. Hayley and I got more water and I refilled my Tailwind http://www.tailwindnutrition.co.uk/ then we walked/jogged Dawn back to the visitor center and ran our second lap, at the car we refueled and dehydrated and set off on the third lap, Hayley started to be bothered by an old injury and decided to make this her last lap. Good decision listening to her body rather than her head as she really wanted to do the four laps but its not worth risking injury and she had run 20 miles today. At the car she decided to go to the cafe to wait whilst I slogged out the final lap, it was tough but I managed and finally made it back to the car for a well deserved ice cream.
Really glad that Hayley and Dawn chose to accompany me today, they helped me get it done.
The 4 laps totaled 22.36 miles which including fuel stops took 4 hours 42 minutes and 52 seconds. I Checked my phone and had a message from Parkrun, Yey! a PB 25:49, position 97 and 2nd in my age cat.
Total running today
1.01 mile W/U 12:21
3.07 mile Parkrun 25:49
0.87 mile C/D
22.36 mile 4 lap run 4:42:52

Total run miles 27.31 time 5:31:10
Didn't take any pics today so they are all old ones.

Everything is not going swimmingly

How to fit everything in was today's issue, there was no racecourse swim because Ripon Races were on, so we decided to go to Ellerton, that would mean no run swim run.

So I ran down the lane and back this morning, 1.6 miles for runstreak 169. Then I cycled 14 miles to work it was nice, only a slight breeze, and after work I cycled home by now the breeze was a head wind. 

We went to Ellerton and the wind was getting stronger bug the water seemed reasonably calm, bug it wasn't. Once in the water was chillier than of late and the water was quite rough, the second side of the triangle was awfull, swimming directly into the waves, I kept getting my breathing and sighting wrong and getting a nose and mouthful of water. On the second lap my goggles started to leak, I struggled on to the buoy but the wasted was really rough, so I headed to the shallows to sort my goggles. I set off again and the water seemed even more rough. If was aweful, I was remembering the IMWales swim, which I failed at. At one point I had to stop, compose myself and carry on in my ineffective breaststroke. The swim to the next buoy was not too bad as long as Ai only breathed to the right as the water also pushed me to the right! I managed to get round the buoy, common sense said stop, enough is enough, but I listened to that voice in Wales, No! I had to conquer this. So I set off for a third lap as I reached the buoy I was struggling to remain calm, yet again the water seemed even rougher, I set of at an angle from the buoy aiming towards the shore. If all else failed I could get out and walk around the lake back to the car park." Sit Up negative thoughts" I just had to keep going forwards, which I did, I swam along the shore so I could put my feet down if I was feeling overwhelmed, which I did, twice, soon there was no shore I had commit and to head to the buoy. I set of in crawl, then heads up crawl and eventually my useless breaststroke, I thought I'd never make it, I felt very alone. But at last I reached the buoy and headed for the last buoy and then the jetty. Where I felt very relieved to eventually beable to stand up on solid ground.

0.96 of a mike I had managed to swim, it was cold hard work, more mentally actually. But I have to face up to the fact that with the winds we have had all year, it's likely to be windy and rough at Pennington Flash on 19 July. I need to get a grip.

Today's miles

Swim 0.96 miles

Cycle 28 miles

Run 1.6 miles 

Walk, none recordable 

Pinch Punch First of Juneathon

Ok, so no pinching or punching today, no cycling either. The wind here is very strong with stronger gusts, so I start my Juneathon 2015 with a fail, Or do I?

Of course not, I walked the dog a mile and a half before 7 am and realising the severity of the wind, chose to drive to work rather than cycle. 

The oilseed rape fields were the only bright thing this morning.

So, change of plan. The wind was even worse by the time I finished work and bits of tree were scattered on the roads. Cycling was definitely not happening tonight. But Ironman UK is only 48 days away and the weather won't stop it, so my plan was changed to running to the pool, swim and run back. 

I ran a longer route to the pool to make up for not cycling (sort of) the wind was howling and the road strewn with leaves and small branches, there were times when I was running but not moving forwards and times when it felt as if a giant hand was shoving me in the back. I got to the pool soaked to the skin. It was odd taking wet clothes off to put dry ones on to go in the pool, I picked a quiet lane and just swam, most of the other swimmers let me pass as I caught them up, I was to fast for this lane really but not fast enough for the other one, which already had 8 swimmers in it. I swam 72 lengths but my Garmin only registered 71 oddly. Putting soggy cold running kit on was very unpleasant and the weather seemed to have deteriorated further for my run home, which I went the direct route, wet swim kit is surprisingly heavy in a back pack.

It's still windy, hope it calms down soon.

Day 1 totals

Walk    1.5   miles

Cycle   0     miles

Run     4.4  miles 

Swim  1.1  miles

Runstreak which started on day one Janathon 2015 #152

#Janathon day 17, not gonna let it slip away now

This week my training plan was to do Parkrun to create a benchmark of where my running is at, then again every 6 weeks, do it again to measure progress. The weather had different plans. As forcast last night it rained loads on frozen ground and this morning that froze. The parkrun organisers made the decision to cancel for safety reasons. I thought they would. The dog walk this morning was a bit tricky in places.

http://www.parkrun.org.uk/fountainsabbey/  is great, it's 5km like all the others, but it is in the grounds of a World Heritage site. http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/fountains-abbey/ The 2 lap course takes you around the Abbey twice and the beautiful water gardens. Afterwards lots of runners meet at the visitor centre for coffee.  So it is a shame that the weather caused it to be cancelled today. I think I might do it next week. (Weather permitting)

I still had a timed 5 km to do, so this afternoon I set off for Studley Royal, with the intention of running to the church as a warm up, then running home as the timed 5 km.  I set off and everything was going to plan, well for the first mile anyway, as I headed off road onto the public footpath every step was hard, sticky, slippy mud and puddles made going forwards difficult. I stated to formulates new plan, run up to the church as the original plan, then run down the drive to the cattle grid, then back to the church and back down to the cattle grid, that should be about 5 km. 

as I was running up to the church the first time, the cars coming towards me had their lights on and I realised how much the light was fading. The deer were by the road and cars were stopping to look, I had to run around the cars. I got to the gate by the church and waited for my heartrate to drop a bit before running as hard as I could the mile down to the cattle grid before turning and heading back up the deer started crossing and I worried they d stampede but the split whilst I ran past and I heard the rest of them crossing behind me, multiple hooves pattering on the tarmac. 

I pushed hard to the gate before running hard back down, the deer were now all across the road, it was getting dark and I was racing the light. I reached the cattle grid and my watch hadn't buzzed to mark 5 km so I turned and ran 100 m or so up the drive and back, it didn't buzz so I thought it wasn't working and set off over the cattle grids towards home, then it buzzed. I then walked a bit, it was properly dark now, I was glad I had a fantastic head torch, in a drawer at home, but because there was little or no light pollution my night vision was quite good. I set off down the muddy footpath through the fields and was surprised that I was still managing to run at a reasonable pace except where it was really slippery, it was sleeting now, but I was soon back at the road and heading for town and the lights. 

Running in the dark off road works as good training for Equinox24 in September.

I'm really happy to have run my 5km in under 30 minutes, it's the best that I have run since my back went in November. 

17 runs, streaked.