The old dog bares his teeth!

Well well well. Let me talk you through my day. Was supposed to be up at 6 this morning to get ready to leave at 7 as was supposed to be taking the students to an educational visit to Bristol Zoo, workbooks to complete and everything. Actually woke at 0650 out of routine as I had set my alarm wrong. One huge rush later I was on my way to meet the students in the pouring rain. By the time the coach was half way to Bristol I had made the executive decision that a day in the zoo was not going to work so after a bit of sweet talking the students were happy as they had £17 in their pockets that would have gone on entry and the driver was persuaded to take us to Cribbs causeway for some retail therapy instead. It was clearly the right decision as we were all soaked through just walking the 150 metres from the bus park to 'The Mall' (there words not mine.) So first things first me and my two colleagues decided it was time to find a cafe and have a pot of tea and a slice of cake which actually turned into a beautiful warm scone, clotted cream and strawberry jam. At 10AM it was pure decadence I know :-) Anyway it was at this point that my little voice started saying 'you will be home earlier than usual maybe you shouldn't have a rest day after all?' After a walk around the shops and the identification of the new Tim Burgess, The Streets and Neil Young autobiographys and Stone Roses: War and Peace book to add to my list for Santa it was time for a Nandos for lunch. Halloumi cheese and portobello mushroom pitta with spicy rice and side salad consumed with pleasure and I was certain I was going out when I got home. However then I had the two hour coach journey back to contend with which, as I am sure you will appreciate, was extremely tiring so was not really feeling it when I got home. I am too old, ugly and experienced to let that stop me though, I knew it was just a case f get home, don't sit down, get changed, get out and have a plod safe in the knowledge that by the time I got home from 6 miles tea would nearly be ready. Yes my life revolves around food, really whose doesn't? I was not execting much from the run though, 6 miles and I would be back within an hour was all I could be sure of and with that I was out of the door. And that was it I just ran without concern for pace as I find myself doing more and more. When the garmin beeped for mile three though I glanced at the time and thought ooh I must be going at a fair (for me) pace and before I knew it the 6 miles were over and I had actually done 6.2 as I knew I was shifting (again for me) and wanted to measure my 10k time. Well it turns out I came in at 49.11 minutes with each mile progressively faster. Wasn't even that hard, yes I worked harder than I have been but it has given me a huge boost as I start look forward to December and the start of my VLM plan and what will be my first speed work since last summer. If I can get within 5 mins of my 10k pb with minimal effort off absolutely no speed work at all maybe just maybe there really is life in the old dog yet?

Is it too early?

Is it too early to talk about plans for 2014 that is? Saying that I am only writing this as I just realised it is only quarter to eight which may be a little too early for bed. Not much mind... Anyway most of my plans are in place for 2014 but first I feel I should fill everyone in on what has been happening in the last month or two and what I have on the agenda for the rest of 2013. The base training has obviously served me well since the wheels fell off on the Pennines back in April and am now back up to around 50 miles a week which meant that last week I reached one of my initial targets for the year which was to break the 1500 mile barrier. That is the 4th year in a row I have made it to 1500 and the quickest by two weeks so the race is on now to try and break 2000 for the first time. With the plan as it stands it is possible but could well see me scratching around for miles on New Years Eve. So what are the plans, well currently I am preparing for the triple Sospan MT10 in November which could be a really tough 30 miles, especially if the weather doesn't play game. Of course 30 miles is always hard but will be even harder when I begin my third 10 mile lap when everyone else is completing their first and only lap. Not quite sure why I said I would do it now but once you have put it out there you are committed isn't it. I am looking forward to it anyway but will be nice next year to actually do an official ultra for the first time. After that 30 miler I will have a 3 week 'break' before beginning an 18 week P&D training plan for VLM. This is where my plans for next year, which regular readers (oxymoron?) will realise, have begun to change. I was signed up to do the Multi Stage Severn Challenge at the end of May/start of June but after much procrastination and deliberation have realised I have to do the right thing and leave it for another time. Mrs T is taking the youngest to Manchester for three days to see One Direction at the same time and although I could probably find places for the elder two to stay I can't leave my daughter in the middle of her GCSEs, well I oculd but ownt. Not really a hard decision to make? Anyway with the Severn Challenge off I have also scrapped the plan to do a double VLM, which was to be part of the training, and just give everything I have got to try and get a PB instead. Sub 3.20 is the goal. There we are I have put it out there again :-) Think is possible, especially if I continue the good work on the healthy eating front which has seen me lose 11lb since the end of August which is what I put on post injury and then some. My lightest in about two years I think and I hope to lose another stone. After VLM I am fully signed up to Ultra Running Limited's 'The Joust 24HR' as a solo participant so that will clearly be my main focus after London, need to try and find a 12 hour/50 mile event at some stage around end of June or start of July ideally. Any ideas please let me know (waits for Mrs S to make a Scotland suggestion). Am also planning to do a little more on the bike over the Summer and have already tentatively arranged two or three Summer days in the Lakes with my brother, brother in law, families and others. V'rap, El Bee put the kettle on x Apart from that am intent on doing the Likeys Beacons Ultra next November and then it will be 2015 and....... Will start/continue to shake the charity bucket too, would love to reach £5000 for the year. So what are your plans?

Hardly Chris Vroom

Been a week or two, maybe longer, since I wrote anything so bear with me if I ramble but do be aware that this is very much a cycling blog and may well end up with me asking more questions than telling you what has been happening but I will try to begin with telling you what has been happening with my training. Firstly I ran 165 miles in June which should convince me that everything is in proper working order now, still doing all the runs at 70%WHR and below but with my plans as they are I don't think I have a lot of reason to go much faster although I am going to introduce a weekly tempo run or interval session by the end of the month. The major excitement of the last few weeks has been regards my work joining the Cycle 2 Work scheme. My colleagues in my office thought it was hysterical how excited I became when I received the email about the scheme, more excited than their children at Christmas by all accounts. So I had a peruse of what was on offer and within the range set and after road testing it plumped for the Cannondale Caad 8 Tiagra with dual purpose pedals (I will buy some shoes v.soon but am currently using the flats) and specialized puncture resistant tyres. Here is a link if you want a peek: http://www.cyclesolutions.co.uk/p56418/cannondale-caad8-tiagra-2013-road-bike Since putting a photo in the gallery on Fetch I have been confused by a couple of comments. One I was asked was what heat it is packing on the back? I don't know? The spec is above, you tell me? and then explain what it means please :-) is a technical discipline in lots of ways and I need educating. Also there were a few comments about the reflectors, hadn't really noticed them myself, is it uncool to have them or something? Anyway as soon as I knew when the bike would be ready I entered yesterdays Pedal for Parkinson's 55 miler that was starting less than 2 miles from my front door and having covered only 38 miles on the bike before the event was not sure how it would go, as I didn't know over half the route and it was a tad warm. I think it went ok. Was actually only 50 miles because Pembrey Forest is still waterlogged :-0 but I completed it in 3hrs 40 mins with around 750 metres of ascent and descent, can you see the profile from this link? http://www.fetcheveryone.com/routes-view.php?id=1409133&subtab=elevation The most positive part of the ride for me was actually the ascents, I found them relatively easy and was passing a lot of people and not being passed myself. Could this be just because I am fitter than the average bear? What I don't understand is why so many people were passing me on the downhills, not the winding ones, where I may have been guilty of riding on my brakes a little, but the long straight downhills? Would you be in the highest gear on these and giving it all or freewheeling? I can't recall what was happening now just that people were passing me by as if I was going backwards. Anyway I enjoyed and the clotted cream and raspberry pavlova double scoop ice cream at the end was to die for, as was the copious amount of ice cold cider I drank for the rest of the day watching Murray own Djokovic and Chris Froome being abandoned by Team Sky. Funniest part of the ride for me though was quite early on after getting to the top of one of the aforementioned ascents feeling quite fresh and passing a lot of the riders who had stopped at the top to take a breather. As I headed down a winding descent safe in the knowledge there was no-one behind me I was joking to myself that I should be called Chris Vroom just as I rounded a bend in a relatively high gear to be faced immediately by a steep ascent. Suffice to say I was too late changing gears and stopped dead so then had to resume from a standing start on one of the steepest ascents of the day, lots of people passed me then. Will teach me for showing off :-) So I like the bike but as I said to my BIL last night I am still a runner, I have to be with the races I have entered and am happy to be, but I can sort of see how the bike takes over for some people. I would normally have a rest day on a Monday but was so easy to get on the bike and do a quick(ish) recovery ride of 12 miles earlier. I know it is a new toy but it seems easier to motivate myself for the bike, I certainly don't recall even when I only had the MTB thinking I really don't fancy this as I do sometimes with running. That said I fully intend to get 50 miles in on two feet this week, is just that I will probably do 100 on the bike too. I'm going to finish by saying how much it makes me laugh that people are now moaning about it being too hot to run. Although I do feel for those completing endurance events you just have to slow down and stay hydrated don't you? Is all about perceived effort isn't it? If for instance you have an interval session lined up yes you may be a fair bit slower than the norm for the same effort but you are still making that effort, you don't go out and try even harder to go your normal pace do you? At least I wouldn't......

Why I do what I do...

I feel very enriched at this moment in my life and this is down in no small part to the returns I get from my running and my job. Of course my family are in the equation too but you don't need me to tell you the pleasure that can be derived from having a wonderful partner, children, siblings and parents. I am however going to tell you how the other things in my life make it worth getting up everyday and doing them. There is so much more pleasure to be gained from running than the usual keeping fit and healthy (although clearly it is a big part of it) that some non runners see as the only possible benefit. I have been hearing on the Sky Sports news loop that the Olympics has apparently not had the affect on sports participation numbers that was hoped and in the last 6 months apparently numbers have fallen. Well that is not the impression I get when I am out? Not sure how they went about this survey but I wasn't asked and I'm pretty sure a lot of the runners, riders and people (boys and girls) playing football that I saw when I was out for a post chinese and cider plod this morning were not involved in the equation either. A lot of these people I'm sure aren't a part of any clubs but are still out there doing it and brightening my day up. Taking this morning's run as an example I bumped into a friend that I wouldn't have as a friend if it wasn't for running and who was encouraging two people running with her to keep pushing. It was hard out there too, they were running into a very strong headwind, they were smiling though, I don't know if it was because they were (I think) nearing the end of the run, whether it was at the madness of it all or just because they were enjoying themselves. It may have been a combination of all these factors, either way it made me happy, it still is. A little further along my route I spent about 5 minutes running past oncoming cyclists, many of them very young, heads down and grinding it out into the same headwind, think it must have been a charity ride or something similar. Yes some of the riders were struggling, it is no surprise I have cycled into the wind on the coastal path myself, it is bloody hard. Despite their struggle there were still lots of smiles and hellos to be had and I am pretty sure though, however tough they may have found it they will have made it to their turning point and then enjoyed the glory of having the wind behind them on the way back. This makes me happy too as does the thought that maybe just maybe one or two of them will have enjoyed themselves so much that they will do something similar again next weekend and maybe take a few mates with them. All of these people, along with the dog walkers, walkers, other runners and riders, people on scooters etc etc are just part of the reason I do what I do, you don't get to meet these people with your bum parked on the sofa do you? The talk of these people lead me on to another reason I do what I do, I have gained so many friends from my running adventures, some I have met once or twice, some I know well, some I know enough to say hello to as they pass me by, some I have never met, but all of which I class as a friend. Hopefully I will get to meet every last one properly one day. Maybe they would actually quite like to meet me too, maybe they have never thought about it, I don't care, they are why I do what I do. Also without these people I wouldn't have had found the inspiration that comes from the likes of Rosie Swales Pope, Andrew Murray, Mimi Anderson and today's inspiration Richard Whitehead. Read more about his challenge and support him here: http://richardwhiteheadrunsbritain.com/ All amazing individuals doing amazing feats. It doesn't matter whether they are doing it for themselves, for charity or for both, they inspire me and are why I do what I do. Away from running I will admit to being a little under whelmed with my job until the last week or so, it is partly the time of year and the constant battle with the students to get coursework finished and revise for exams and I guess partly to do the growing restrictions on time. I am basically getting 30 minutes to an hour less a week to teach the same things as when I started 6 years ago. Now don't get me wrong, I am not moaning, I realise it is the same whatever line of work you are in, it is a sign of the times. It just gets me down a bit, I have always been against teaching people to solely pass exams, I think I have more to offer, but it seemed there was not much room to do much else. However I have just completed a couple of weeks in work that make it all worthwhile and have allowed me to realise exactly why I do what I do. My tutor group have just completed their 2nd year and have left for a Summer of fun before starting the next stage of their lives, whether it be university, work or travelling. They have been a good group on the whole, yes I have had to shout a lot but we have had some laughs along the way too. Some of these students I have taught for three years and guided on to the vocational pathway after they struggled with their AS exams. Good kids! Now it would be easy to imagine some of the amazing presents I have been given by this group, and they were amazing, would be enough to make me want to continue doing what I do but the messages I have recieved both in person and in thank you cards mean so much more. It is clear that many of them see me not just as someone who has helped them pass their course but just as much, if not more, someone who has helped shape them as a person. I am not going to share individual messages as some of them may read this blog, and I don't want to embarrass anyone, but it is sufficient to say that some of the messages fill me with immense pride. They are special people and I feel quite secure in the knowledge that our future is in their hands. Please do not buy into this 'kids today' viewpoint pedalled by the mass media. Total bullshit. They are why I do what I do....

5k @ Marathon Pace

Another bootiful sunny day here in the Wales. Felt a bit tired cycling to work and back today, achy quads. Was the first 5k race of the local Fusion series tonight so what better way to get 6 mile or so in the bank than to haver a trot around there and throw some pennies in the coffers of the 2nd ;-) best race organiser in Llanelli. After parkrun on Saturday I promised myself I would be a little more sensible and decided to go at marathon pack WHR. I don't actually think I would ever do a marathon by WHR but is a good guide to where you are. Anyways it was lovely to be involved in a race again and see so many friendly faces and I ended coming in averaging 155 bpm which is just below 75% whr which I think is about marathon pace having read the literature. Time was just over 25 minutes or 8.05mm pace which would bring me in at just outside my marathon PB. Not sure I could actually run 26.2 miles at that pace right now although it was extremely comfortable but seems about right for where I think I am right now. Was slowing down though, a definite positive split, but I expected that with a slight head wind for the second half of the race. All interesting stuff though as far as I'm concerned, hopefully I will be free in a month for the next race in the series and see what progress has been made then before the Cardiff half plan begins. Dairy Milk with Oreo, no guilt.

How very dare she?

Laura had a good tidy up yesterday and left a pile of running shoes out for me asking which ones could be binned, if they could be binned they would already be binned right? To be fair I did once throw one boot out of a pair of £100+ boots of hers away so I should be grateful for small mercys right? Anyway back to the shoes, two of the four pairs Laura was enquiring about have never been used, Inov8 Road x33s which are more minimal than anything I have ever run in and which I won in a competition a while back and have never got round to using. There were also a pair of Inov8 Roclite trail shoes with about 150 miles in and an old, but barely used, pair of Mizuno Wave Hood trail shoes. I am sure they will both be used again in the future, will be doing at least one trail race this year and a few off road ultras next year are planned.... My return keeps gathering momentum, disregarding the (as I was rightly informed) STOOPID interval session I did last week. Ran Llyn Llech Owain Parkrun for the third time Saturday and came in at 23.43 with some left in the tank. Don't think I had an extra minute a mile in the tank which would be PB pace but a little so was quite happy, was better than I expected put it that way. Had a nice run with Sospans on Sunday morning at around 75% WHR then, nearly 7 miles so edging the mileage back up slowly. Today has been scorchio here in South Wales so knew todays run home between 60-70% WHR wouldn't be breakiing any records but again was not unhappy with 6.18 miles in just under an hour. Decided than that I would start to break the aforementioned Inov8 Roads in tonight with a lap of the field to warm up, a core circuit session, and then a lap of the field to warm down. Unfortunately the bus was an hour late getting Rob for youth club so I scrapped the circuits :-) and just did two laps in them, felt good. Will get up at an ungodly hour in the morning and do the circuits, no really I will... Plans for the rest of the week go something like this, club run tomorrow night between 60-70% WHR (note to self to not attach myself to leading pack) gentle jog to and from the first of the local 5k series on Thursday, run that at no more than 75% WHR, run home from work Friday and then 8 miles on my own Sunday morning as most of the club are off to do the Castles relay, both at 60-70% WHR. Throw in a couple of core and strength sessions and some mile son Veera and will be another strong week to tick off. Hope the sun is shining for you :-)

Life is like a box of chocolates...

Yesterday was positive, today not so great, an excuse for a bit of Bowie though, the next day... Had a bit of a reaction in the leg this morning, first time since started running again, clearly down to yesterdays intervals. Is nothing serious but a little ache that hasn't been there for many weeks, around 6 I would hazard a guess at. Who knows if this may become problematic? Not me but for now I predict short term yes long term no. Ok I wont be running today and will have to scratch flat out speed work for at least another 4 weeks but I actually think the reaction is just because the leg is not used to the full range of motion and pounding thast intervals bring, the doctor said it could be a stiff for a while and it has been when fully extended. So no speed work for 4 weeks and then introduce it a lot more slowly and build up to eyeball popping intervals, easy (I hope) Plan for today now includes a couple of hours on Veera and an afternoon and evening on the sauce with friends from work and outgoing students. Previous experience suggests this will be good fun, we will stay with the students until they start to become silly and then go our separate ways and be even sillier :-) Will hopefully get some gentle hangover busting miles in tomorrow, maybe running but if not will have to be on Veera again. Have a meeting with the powers that be at Bobby Moore Fund on Friday as they want to discuss a few ideas I have, is very exciting I must say. Don't worry though it doesn't involve me doing anything crazy, promise....