tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71709334926564279812024-03-05T17:37:16.901+00:00In The Long Run..Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-70920488288114412142016-08-23T20:21:00.001+01:002016-08-23T20:21:52.570+01:00Arch to Arc Jersey August 2016<div class="MsoNormal">
7am Saturday 30<sup>th</sup> July<o:p></o:p></div>
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So its finally here.. Stood at the start of my latest
challenge about to run 11 miles, swim 21 miles and cycle 260 miles – from
Jersey to Paris in France. The challenge was called Arch to Arc – we didn’t
have a Marble Arch here in Jersey so a specially constructed Jersey Hospice
Arch was our start point, with the Arch de Triomphe in Paris the destination. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the Jersey Hospice Arch</td></tr>
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The decision to set off had finally been made two days
before, the original window was due to be 2<sup>nd</sup> to 6<sup>th</sup>
August but the long range weather forecast had scuppered that plan, and today
was identified as the best day of the lot so the whole thing was brought
forward a couple of days. Cue frantic emails and telephone calls to get crew,
ferry reservations and days off work in place and all was good to go.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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The challenge was in aid of Jersey Hospice Care; a charity
particularly close to my heart, and the subject of many of my fundraising
ventures previously. I had been approached initially to look at doing the
challenge by Andy Truscott as a relay in aid of Hospice back in September of
2015, I liked the idea, but felt that for me to be able to ask people for money
I needed to up the ante and suggested that he and I do the challenge head to
head. The concept of Arch to Arc Jersey was born.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I have never been a swimmer in the full sense of the word; I
went through a phase of surfing for a few years and loved the sea, but as for
swimming in the pool for long periods of time, it just wasn’t my bag. Give me
wide open cliff paths, with sweeping panoramas, open roads on my bike and the
opportunity to chat to other people if the going got tough. Swimming seemed too
"in the head" and didn’t satisfy my need for external stimuli when
doing endurance challenges. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So happy at the start!</td></tr>
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We had set the date of the challenge as provisionally August
2016, which seemed a long time away in Sep 2015. I was cycling a lot at this
time, and really enjoying it, I started to do a bit of swimming in the local
pool as well just to get a feel for where I was at. Where I was at was the
swimming stroke of an epileptic octopus to be honest. I bumped into a few
people I knew from running at the pool, each of us being as surprised as the
other to find them/me cheating on our first love of running. I started to chat
a little about the challenge, and as I swam away imagined them seeing my stroke
and thinking "Not a chance sunshine.." I was finding it hard going, I
knew the key to being able to swim the distance of 14 miles as the crow flies
in the open sea (but more like 18-20 with tidal variation) was efficiency and
conservation of energy. A conversation with someone I had met one evening in
the lanes proved a pivotal moment, Alastair a friend of a friend at the time
suggested taking lessons as he had found this to help his stroke and
efficiency. I booked lessons for the start of 2016 as I knew I really needed to
address this deficiency.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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I opted to go with Leigh, a local swimming instructor, partly
as I already knew her through her husband and partly on reputation as being
able to bring out the best in any stroke no matter how dire! We started a 6
week course of lessons, and after the first session I knew where I was going
wrong and Leigh had put in methods of correction, after week 3 I was starting
to glide in the water rather than flounder and I started to believe this might
be a goer.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Super Crew!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Captain Euros!</td></tr>
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I was now into February, I was looking at around 6 months to
go, I had been swimming and cycling and a bit of running, I was fit and feeling
OK, I knew it was the next few months where I had to step it up and get some
endurance in the upper body. I knew the 11-mile run was going to be achievable,
and I knew I wasn’t too far away from being able to complete the cycle; the
swim was the monkey on my back. It was too cold still to be in the sea, so I
decided to start doing some longer sessions in the pool to get used to the
demands of long distance/time swimming. I approached and planned it in the way
I approached running training, with a few shorter swims in the week, and then
building the longer swims over the months culminating in 6 hours hopefully by
the time June came around.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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I started with the goal of one hour in the pool, which was
achieved soon enough; I then built to two and then three. Pool swimming is
tough in many ways – firstly the boredom, the pool where I swam a lot of my big
sessions has a big clock so that every time I breathed I could see the minute
hand slowly creeping round.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another is
the ridicule factor. Once one is swimming over an hour or so the factor of
energy and feeding arises: Picture me arriving at the pool, swimming for an
hour and then getting out and consuming a Mars Bar, then getting back in
swimming another hour and doing the same – the lifeguard looking at me and
thinking I am insane, or just extremely intent on getting good value for money.
Another factor of lane swimming is the other people in the lanes, broken down
into: <o:p></o:p></div>
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-The Alpha Male Swimmer – slightly aggressive and bald or balding
and in late 40's or 50's – impressively fast and fluid in the water the Alpha
Male owns the fast lane. Woe betide you if you get in his lane and aren’t as
fast! He will swim way too close and do tumble turns taking care to splash
water just so you know who’s boss! Mostly found at lunch times, either solo or
in packs.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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-The Oblivious Sunday Driver Swimmer – In the wrong lane for
their speed, this person is the equivalent of the cyclist in front of the car
when you're trying to get to work or somewhere important. This is where I can
empathise with the Alpha Male swimmer as the oblivious swimmer isn’t aware of
the lane rules, not sticking to the follow direction, swimming breastroke in
the fast lane, pulling out in front of you, you get the idea.<o:p></o:p></div>
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-The Alpha Female Swimmer – See Alpha male swimmer – Powerful,
scary and a little aggressive, Alpha female is the counterpart of the Alpha
male but more scary for some reason.<o:p></o:p></div>
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-The “I paid my entry fee so me and my child can doggy paddle
in the lanes at lunch time if we want to!” swimmer – particularly abundant
during school holidays at lunch times – the time when most office workers hit
the lanes to get their daily swim session. The delightful offspring of these
swimmers will often venture into the lanes with the parent encouraging them,
whilst we swim our arms off trying to get our allotted mileage in before we
have to get changed, get lunch and get back to our desk all within an hour.
These can lead to all sorts of confrontations between normally retiring shy
sorts but the added time pressure upping the ante and making maniacs of all. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Of course not all people using the lanes are like the above
– a lot of good friends use the lanes and put some hard work in in the above
conditions which I decided to view as additional mental endurance training. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So contending with all these issues plus just getting the
hours in saw me through the early spring, I built the hours and by early March
had done 3 hours and was feeling ok. A bit of a bug and a trip to New York put
a 2 week hole in my schedule and set me behind, but once back and recovered I
hit a good 10 week run and got in a groove. Another issue was trying to balance
the ratio of sessions, trying to run, swim and bike each week was a lot of
sessions, averaging 9 -10 sessions a week, and between 7-10 hours a week meant
I had to be quite creative with time – double sessions, lunchtime swims became
the norm and I threw myself into the routine, enjoying the training and slowly
getting fitter and stronger. Being my first serious block of multi discipline
training I enjoyed the fact that I could swim, then cycle and run the following
day and treat it as active recovery – I definitely notice a lot less niggles as
a result of this training and more strength in the core and upper body, which
compared to running training was negligible unless doing weights. <o:p></o:p></div>
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May saw me take part in Aix en Provence Ironman 70.3, a race
I thought would serve as a good intermediate goal to keep me motivated through
the winter. I travelled down with a few guys from Jersey Triathlon Club and
thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie with the guys, quite a few of whom I had
never met before. The swim was cancelled on the day of the race, but the race
went well and I felt happy about the time I did it in. On the way back to
Jersey we did a quick ascent of Mont Ventoux the day after the race – a
legendary Tour De France mountain climb and as we were so close it would have
been a crime not to do so! <o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mont Ventoux Summit</td></tr>
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Mid May and eight or nine weeks to go – the sea swimming
begins in earnest and the real challenge specific training starts to ramp up - My
first sea swims proper see me spending ridiculous amounts of time at St Catherine’s
bay at weekends, so much so that I make a new friend, Colin, the guy who sells
the sea shells in aid of the RNLI every day come rain or shine. As I was mostly
swimming alone it was nice to know he was there and knew I was out and what I
was doing. Over this period I was doing 3, 4, 5 hour swims and it seemed that
every Sunday I was going up to St Caths and spending most of my Sunday there,
and for the first few weeks in particular the weather was always terrible. I
found this really hard mentally, I would find I was getting very tense in the week
of the lead up to each swim as each time I was adding an hour each time on and
pushing the boundary of what I could do in terms of time and distance, and
walking a tightrope between success and failure. </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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During this period we also moved house, which really took
its toll on my training in a lot of ways, the house is a doer upper and we had
builders in at the same time we were moving which meant it was very stressful.
I don’t think we realised how much stuff we had either and everything was all
over the place for so long, which added to the feeling of unsettlement. As is
life though we got through this and I got back to training and started to put
the finishing touches to my last 6 weeks – the plan was to do a 50, 75 and 100
mile cycle with the 6 hour swim and the 100 mile cycle being about 2 weeks
before the challenge. I completed the cycles and completed a 5.25 hour swim and
a 100 mile cycle back to back just to prove to myself mentally I could do both.
So from a training perspective I was pretty much good to go, I was disappointed
I hadn’t managed a 6 hour swim but I had eaten too much on the 6 hour attempt
and had to cut short due to feeling sick!<o:p></o:p></div>
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So with 2 weeks to go I was quite relieved. After a
prolonged period of training, moving house and mentally preparing the day of
reckoning was drawing near. I had my life back a little and it meant I could
recover, do things around the house and sort the logistics of the challenge, as
well as fundraising, which was the main point of the challenge.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The logistics of the challenge were a bit of a pain; we were
at the mercy of the tide, which meant that ferry’s and hotels, employers and
potential crew couldn’t be made ready as we didn’t know exactly when we could
go, the best we could do being a vague window of somewhere between the 2<sup>nd</sup>
and 6<sup>th</sup> August. Luckily Condor ferries were very understanding in
terms of the travel arrangements and gave us a discount and pulled out the
stops in making sure we got on the ferry we needed for the challenge when we
knew when were going. For a control freak like me this was one of the harder
things to deal with, the uncertainty of when we would be doing it and affected
how I was seeing it in my minds eye to a degree. I also had very understanding
friends who dropped everything to help out along the way – Euros Williams who
skippered the boat kindly lent to us by his employer South Pier Marine, Karl
Moss, Michael and Leigh Chaytor who were on the boat, and Karl and Michael
paddled a dinghy with the shortest paddles in the world all the way to France
nearly as we had no kayak and I was struggling to stay on course. Karl also
came in the car once I got to France and navigated me across France with my
better half Nicola Gott also. I was also really lucky that my boss Prem was so
understanding with the vague timings I gave him about the window and then when
I told him we were going a few days earlier and that I needed that day off for
half day as well as the following 3 days of the following week he didn’t bat an
eyelid. <o:p></o:p></div>
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So I was off on the run. Andy and I shook hands and set off
after a speech from the guys at Jersey Hospice and a klaxon, which I am sure
the people in the nice flats above the lower peoples park appreciated at 7am on
a Saturday morning. I hadn’t done much run training, focussing mainly on the
swim and to a lesser degree the bike. I had a goal of getting to St Catherines
having not worked hard, so I settled into a really easy pace, Andy was just
behind me for the first mile or so which unsettled me a little as I was banking
on putting a little time into him on the run to offset the one hour time
penalty I had taken for wearing a wetsuit on the swim. The wetsuit was
necessary as I was pretty sure I couldn’t stand 8-10 hours in the sea in my
speedos, so I felt the time penalty adequate to offset any advantages the
wetsuit may give in terms of buoyancy etc. The run went quite well, I got to St
Catherine’s having enjoyed the run and feeling relaxed, it took me 1 hour 45
mins and that was the first leg done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the run</td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Andy arrived in about 20 or so minutes later – a lot quicker
than I anticipated being honest and it did play with my mind a little as I had
thought there would be more of a difference. It was here I realised that I had
been outplayed mentally a little, as I had perhaps naively thought Andy would
struggle on the run, it not being his strongest discipline. I had a little walk
and got my head straight, and managed to get my focus back on the completion of
the challenge first and foremost rather than worrying about winning – I still
had to swim to France by the way!!!</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Run Finish</span></div>
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So 10:50 am comes, I am in my wetsuit, and baby oiled to the
nines to make sure no rubbage from the suit on my neck or other bits occurred.
I had been take round to the Beau Coup beach by our skipper Euros and I jumped
in the from the boat to swim to shore to start the race where everyone was
waiting for us to go. Another shake of the hands, a few photos, another klaxon
and off we were. Andy seemed really up for the swim, running into the water and
getting up to a good speed straight off the line. I was a little more reserved,
I knew I would lose time to him on this and was almost reticent to get going –
and my body language in subsequent video footage confirm this. The tide was
optimal though and the wind was behind us, the conditions were smooth and made
for good going. In the first 2 hours I recall looking at my Garmin watch and
having swum 6 miles or so, which I had never done as quickly training, which
made me feel good. I knew the tide was carrying me, I also knew that I would be
swimming more than 14 miles as the crow flies as 4 hours into the swim the tide
would change and start to push up rather than across. I kept my head down, fed
every hour and tapped out a steady rhythm and felt really good. I was taking on
Torq carb drink topped up with hot water and it was doing the trick. As I had
never practised feeding on the swim it was a work in progress, it was difficult
to get near the boat to get the drink, and to then tread water and try and get
the drink down me as quick as possible, but not unmanageable. At one point I
had some paracetamol, which the first lot ended up in the sea as I missed my
mouth completely trying to throw them in, hold my drink and balance! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv9uhKPM7sEiGMnyl-vaFqc4yQnT1KXNKwBwoQd3wc33JcuhFeRucqK7fIllXKnZT9QSMAwicYWveS0OejCW0H_BjRMfZp1wLeJJ1ETd6uHl3y0RYGF4KNpaBzQbZeycRMoGwDxS5j_BCD/s1600/DSC02789.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv9uhKPM7sEiGMnyl-vaFqc4yQnT1KXNKwBwoQd3wc33JcuhFeRucqK7fIllXKnZT9QSMAwicYWveS0OejCW0H_BjRMfZp1wLeJJ1ETd6uHl3y0RYGF4KNpaBzQbZeycRMoGwDxS5j_BCD/s400/DSC02789.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Just before the swim start</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Mentally for the first 4 or 5 hours I was in a really good
place. Energy wise I was feeling good, the miles were ticking by, however I was
inclined to swim off course a little due to no kayak in the water with me. This
was when Michael and Karl did their hero act of pulling out the dinghy and
paddling alongside me so I had a reference point to guide me. I was a bit of a
diva at points I think, as I was so focussed on conserving energy and needing
them to keep me on course and sometimes I would drift off course for them to
call me back on. It was hard and in retrospect a kayaker would have been a nice
to have I think. Around the 7 hour mark Andy’s boat came back past us having
safely delivered him to France, I could see the French coast by now and seeing
them coming the other way gave me the false hope that I was closer than I was.
Euros had said we were still in visual contact with the boat a few hours
earlier so I took this to mean that the coast was closer now than it actually
was. I didn’t know at this point either that Andy had set a new record for
swimming Jersey to France, which is amazing off the back off a run. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFYYSaC6EMH88FJdbzlzwHDsERqi49k9B2brK3O6iSuqnAoFZr4WAdPSwp9RSK0yCmnKcfqE0MP-lVZC0XNZ_spuRsNaMEVjys2l-U5u7IPk7MD_FrxGRonPRqXo22QsoXjmUTeyo5xhFg/s1600/DSC02816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFYYSaC6EMH88FJdbzlzwHDsERqi49k9B2brK3O6iSuqnAoFZr4WAdPSwp9RSK0yCmnKcfqE0MP-lVZC0XNZ_spuRsNaMEVjys2l-U5u7IPk7MD_FrxGRonPRqXo22QsoXjmUTeyo5xhFg/s400/DSC02816.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mid Swim</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So I got over the fact eventually that I wasn’t as close as
I thought. I knew I was going to get there, it was just a question of when, I
think at that point I had 2 hours to go, the coast was so close but it just
wasn’t getting close enough to get out!! I had my head down, didn’t feed and
just kept on stroking, stroking, stroking, with my waterproof mp3 playing rock
power songs motivating me! I had the bit between my teeth and my crew behind me
willing me on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had heard Andy had been
stung by a jellyfish on the way in, and I had my own experience with one coming
my way and hitting me my wetsuited arm, it was the size of a football and I was
thankful of the neoprene protection!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqr9ETm_A1nEXpln5vjjKl6hOuMjjF1jC9mM-pwTARP_nDrjD0wG4q1KNIP3E9AxX-Ln_dvV3HBkhBSmq9wk_RCb3bZhWa7w7xNddiN596pWVnpJbXC-NZoiESTbSr2Q0cS5DTBbUgFgpM/s1600/IMG_4072.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqr9ETm_A1nEXpln5vjjKl6hOuMjjF1jC9mM-pwTARP_nDrjD0wG4q1KNIP3E9AxX-Ln_dvV3HBkhBSmq9wk_RCb3bZhWa7w7xNddiN596pWVnpJbXC-NZoiESTbSr2Q0cS5DTBbUgFgpM/s400/IMG_4072.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new Jersey to France Dinghy Paddling Record Holders</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At around 9pm French time I pushed through the tide and
finally saw the beach proper. Nicola was waiting on the beach for me, and the
moment the sea turned into beach was amazing, I had made it! The sun had come
out, Port Bail was a beautiful long sandy beach and it was an idyllic evening.
As soon as I could stand I did, savouring the feel of terra firma again, I turned
around to the guys in the boat and threw my arms up and thanked them all – I
was so happy, I knew that I could now complete this challenge barring anything
catastrophic happening!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7-Ps9I1K5GzL09ShK8olOsjJgSZ01T57BuEjCgPy6S6BA-sqM7iXXb-4xhZY3MZZoi5BoNs1E1Tg8O1qZLw30b-bBFoSF5JkF_kD4phW28ZkIG2szLKW-_wEexixhYUK_LZiW8GBXgQBz/s1600/014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7-Ps9I1K5GzL09ShK8olOsjJgSZ01T57BuEjCgPy6S6BA-sqM7iXXb-4xhZY3MZZoi5BoNs1E1Tg8O1qZLw30b-bBFoSF5JkF_kD4phW28ZkIG2szLKW-_wEexixhYUK_LZiW8GBXgQBz/s400/014.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the beach at Port Bail</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I got further up the beach Nicola greeted my and hugged
and kissed me, this was the best feeling in the world, I had used the fact that
I was swimming towards her as motivation and to see her there on the beach was
great. There was also some fella there with a camera taking photos, which I
though a little odd but I was so over the moon I made my way up the beach with
Nicola bringing each other up to speed on the day so far. A French couple from
one of the houses on the beach came out as they had seen someone in the sea and
thought they were drowning! After they checked I was OK and we explained what
was happening, they kindly invited us in for a shower and drink, which had I
not been pushing on to Paris would have kindly accepted. We instead promised to
drop by another time when we were in the area.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgguckqWvaezInkAHcOgW9txGwXEos88lgsSmUf5kfkKOiWp-hQTYlmuZs4HIeO844d_nRYfq04MmF7LMaG-TuszuR6eLtS3UsD0b_84-JrN09wmIN_fYN3jFxFmrO_x_DzBSVEc0gRKhzy/s1600/015.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgguckqWvaezInkAHcOgW9txGwXEos88lgsSmUf5kfkKOiWp-hQTYlmuZs4HIeO844d_nRYfq04MmF7LMaG-TuszuR6eLtS3UsD0b_84-JrN09wmIN_fYN3jFxFmrO_x_DzBSVEc0gRKhzy/s400/015.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Welcomed by Nicola xx</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Walking up the beach and to the car, my mind switched to the
task ahead: 220 miles (or so I thought at the time!) on the bike to get to the
Arch De Triomphe. I was feeling good after the swim and we made our way to the
car. Nicola told me the news about Andy’s new Jersey to France swim record
which blew me away, I knew that he was about 3 hours ahead of me at this point,
and I was keen to get going. I made my way to the car and started to sort my
gear, getting out of wetsuit, and putting my bike together all the while my
French photographer friend taking pics, and me thinking “Don’t just stand
there, help me!!” It later transpired that the man was a photographer from the
local Port Bail press and had been made aware of our arrival by the mayor of
Port Bail who promptly arrived to welcome me formally to France. This in turn
was made possible by Catherine at the French Consulate in Jersey whom I had
contacted as I was unsure about passport control at arrival in France. To be
welcomed like that was great, we had a few pics and I ate some food and got my
act together, getting ready to set out.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjQsmfyQzEQAkXvFrt-V0dq1fygtGqjJ-tbp8H1gSVu_vcPKemX_IDHFTb8UMeBNRua8Ac2xRvqGI51AcuPn6XnLynJXpNaKKvQ6DScayze4pmSW-pglCZ5ke0CBsdJjL1hSV81EJxAJ69/s1600/021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjQsmfyQzEQAkXvFrt-V0dq1fygtGqjJ-tbp8H1gSVu_vcPKemX_IDHFTb8UMeBNRua8Ac2xRvqGI51AcuPn6XnLynJXpNaKKvQ6DScayze4pmSW-pglCZ5ke0CBsdJjL1hSV81EJxAJ69/s400/021.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mayoral Welcome</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At this point Nicola told me she had been chatting
to Andy’s crew as they had been travelling over together on the ferry. It
transpired that one of the crew members had told Nicola he was there to
cycle with Andy “..as and when he wanted me”. This was disconcerting news, we
had previously discussed the matter of support riders and as a conclusion of
this conversations, I had mistakenly believed that we would both be completing
the cycle section solo and unsupported in any capacity.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I set off from Port Bail, having set my Google Maps route up
in my Garmin GPS. After 30 mins I realised the route was not fit for purpose
with the track of the route not sitting on top of the road, in fact sitting in
the middle of nowhere. I went off track and ended up down some country lanes
rather than the lovely, flat, smooth road I had been on and quickly got lost.
After an hour or so my first phone call to the bike crew. “Where are you?” We
quickly realised I was on the wrong road and I managed to correct. The matter
of the two of us meeting up was another consideration, eventually we met after
a couple of hours, we discarded the route on my GPS, invented another on and
set a few ground rules; any decision points in the road they were to wait for
me as I was unable to think just do, we would decide on a town to rendezvous
and not change the plan and stay in contact.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was dark by now, however the road had been flat and the
road good going. I felt energised and cracked on, the plan worked the guys
deciding on the route and stopping regularly. The terrain started to get hilly
after 40 miles or so; long straight-Roman roads, going up and then down and
repeating ad nauseaum. So much for the “nice, flat” route Google Maps had sold
me I thought. I pedalled through the early hours seeing a barn owl in the
middle of the road at one point. I thought I had hallucinated this as it was so
dramatic but I later confirmed that Nicola had seen it as well. At about 4 in
the morning when I met the guys I declared the hills were killing me and
flopped down in front of the car headlights in true dramatic diva fashion. The
decision was taken to rest, we found a little side track, parked my bike
outside the car and I feel asleep in the front of the Nissan Juke for a couple
of hours to uneasy dreams about my bike being stolen (half of me hoping it had
been when I woke!)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I awakened and was hot, sweaty, stiff and stinky. 3 people
and a whole load of gear in a relatively small car creates quite a bit of
condensation it turns out, so I decided to change clothes to try and feel human
(and smell less!) It was starting to break dawn and I was so stiff, the thought
of getting on the bike again and more of those horrible hills wasn’t great but
I knew I had a job to and an Andy to catch. I set off and the guys left me in
search of coffee and croissants. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I negotiated the first 15 miles of the day, and the hills
whilst still there didn’t seem so bad now the sun was up, I could see them and
anticipate them at least, and I felt surprisingly strong. The guys were there
with pastries as promised – no coffee but it was Sunday in rural France! The
mood was good, the sun was coming out, the night had been conquered and we had
nothing but the road ahead, and lots of hills! I set off for the next town and
began to mull over the Andy support rider situation – was Rhys riding with him?
Had we not agreed that there would be no support? Had I known I would have
definitely had someone with me, knowing how hard the night had been to
negotiate alone, having to think, navigate and look out for traffic and stay
alert. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I reached the next town and Karl and Nicola were sat outside
a nice café like they were on holidays. There was coffee, the sun was out and I
was warming up. At another table was a man, I said Bonjour to him, but it
turned out he was from Essex and was cycling around Europe for a year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was foam rolling on the pavement here,
chatting to him but my back was hurting. The cycle of Ibuprofen and codeine
started here to try and offset the pain. After chatting to Brian from Essex a
little more I headed up the hill with the knowledge that this hill was long and
horrible but after that it was pretty nice for a while. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDhOcVn2-0CMwLjIiIVQcByAc2trp-QrEn_4tetwFQnKyOPsH-pb2EbJ9CFCK5bQQKlPWu5ZkHYXblicpcNwHs49FjUKjpRfFHYQ-pAH7x5cpy_g7V0wwnkUqGl57IoGly4Edrd7Av6uV2/s1600/IMG_9127.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDhOcVn2-0CMwLjIiIVQcByAc2trp-QrEn_4tetwFQnKyOPsH-pb2EbJ9CFCK5bQQKlPWu5ZkHYXblicpcNwHs49FjUKjpRfFHYQ-pAH7x5cpy_g7V0wwnkUqGl57IoGly4Edrd7Av6uV2/s400/IMG_9127.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A bit of down time</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I thanked Brian for the heads up, the hill was indeed
terrible but after this I made good time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The road opened up and I was able to get some good miles under the belt,
I made a stop every 20 miles or so, saw Karl and Nicola’s smiley faces who kept
me topped up with food and drink and were giving me updates on how I was
closing in on Andy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had the bit
between my teeth by this point; I had been awake since 7am the previous day, it
was about midday but I felt great. I had made up 3 or so hours deficit and felt
that with about 70 or so miles to go I could snatch this from the jaws of
defeat. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For most of the day I had been following a road called the N12,
a seemingly innocuous road when it started, nice, flat and fast, however as the
miles went on and the closer I got to Paris the more like dual carriageway and
then motorway it became. At about 4 pm I met with the guys and we had to make a
safety call; 30 hours of minimal sleep, a pushbike, a limited hard shoulder and
fast French drivers are a terrible combination. I was gutted as it was evident
I was ahead of Andy at this point. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The route was renegotiated going through more indirect but
safer roads, the scenery definitely got a lot better, but I was really digging
deep. I was not capable of thinking or logic by this point, I was following the
guys with them stopping and waiting for me at any points that required decisions.
I found this part the hardest of the whole 2 days – it was getting hot, my
clothes were caked in salt and I was starting to get tired. I knew I had 30
miles or so to go and I was in pain with my back and had developed severely
chapped buttocks, which made me wince in pain each time I sat, or repositioned
on the saddle. A couple of times as we got closer to Paris I lost sight of the
guys and took what I thought was a wrong turn. I called them and they duly came
back to me and I had a bit of a melt down. I was on the edge of my endurance and
didn’t know where I was going. They were great, they knew I was struggling and
placated me; they guided me through the outskirts of Paris, with both me and
them jumping red lights and annoying a few Parisiennes just to stick together.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKHLcSA5XCTJZMRUQh3YIZc4IxePBzKYML5AV5OP5-KODmcV7xijB05jZbkLYq0zhckYNcz_pgM1Unpy8N9GBL8GEK4F6m4uBIF9zqFPecIFsWkrOOEoW6J2FPD4oXrZXplLiRCHGVW4NX/s1600/IMG_9148.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKHLcSA5XCTJZMRUQh3YIZc4IxePBzKYML5AV5OP5-KODmcV7xijB05jZbkLYq0zhckYNcz_pgM1Unpy8N9GBL8GEK4F6m4uBIF9zqFPecIFsWkrOOEoW6J2FPD4oXrZXplLiRCHGVW4NX/s400/IMG_9148.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Action Shot</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At about ten or 15 miles to go, the inevitable happened. At
a set of traffic lights I had rested on the back of Nicolas car to avoid taking
my foot out of my pedal cleats. The light goes green, Nicola pulls away and
sideways I go! One bleeding knee and amused French family behind me later and
we are on the final push for the Arc De Triomphe. The end was in sight, and I
was reinvigorated, we headed in through Versailles and made our way to the centre
of Paris. Once the Arc was in sight I was off, riding up the cobbled street
towards it on to the Champs Elysse roundabout. I shot straight across the
traffic to get on to the Arc de Triomphe and stop the watch at 34 hours and 41
minutes. I was aware that Andy had got in to Paris about 10 minutes or so
before me, I looked for him but he was nowhere to be seen, Nicola and Karl had
gone to find parking so I was alone - a little anti climactic as I wanted to
share the moment with them. I walked around the Arch de Triomphe, full of
tourists unaware of the challenge I had just completed. A policeman came to me
and asked me to move on, as cycles were not allowed on the Arc. I explained to
him what I had just done and he said that “my friend” had just been here and
that he was across the way. I started to move along not really knowing how I
would get back across that crazy roundabout! I waited and another police car
came along and told me to move on. I asked them if they could take a picture of
me, which they duly obliged, after I explained again the journey I had
completed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Nearly There!!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivOVsL-01lkf_Ba7RSwOfFJ-ad1q1eKtlViGvsJvRcff1H6bKhVY2igCzgpZNZwIEyzazulKczDqte5l_qsb0r5Xv-yx2NEdxRYm8ohsKo8G21-femqPz61h0c7iekd8xQz5IQQy0ml_XV/s1600/Arch+to+Arc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivOVsL-01lkf_Ba7RSwOfFJ-ad1q1eKtlViGvsJvRcff1H6bKhVY2igCzgpZNZwIEyzazulKczDqte5l_qsb0r5Xv-yx2NEdxRYm8ohsKo8G21-femqPz61h0c7iekd8xQz5IQQy0ml_XV/s400/Arch+to+Arc.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Made It!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I negotiated the crazy roundabout by hook or by crook and
found the safety of a park bench; I sat down and waited for Nicola and Karl to
return. I reflected on the weekend and the goings on, not really taking in what
I had done, fatigue kicked in and I started to feel unwell. Nicola and Karl
then showed up and we took some selfies and celebrated our success. We were all
tired and had lived a lifetime but we were happy and relieved we had got there.
I was still thinking about the support rider Andy had had, had he relied on him
when the going got tough, had he even rode with him at all? I knew we would all
soon meet up and I didn’t want to cause a scene by asking him about it; at the
end of the day I had completed the challenge, but I knew that I had done this
all on my own, I dwelled on the prospect of him having had someone to ride with
and the potential benefits this would have had had I done the same.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At that point we saw Andy and Russ and Rhys, his support
crew. Andy came over and greeted me, I had mixed emotions, we had completed the
challenge, I was so happy about this. I also felt unwell, and was struggling to
not be sick. It was decided we would go to a café near the Arc for a beer and
food. I ordered a beer and a milkshake but I was struggling, I barely touched
the beer and milkshake and chatted with the guys. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Upon finishing the meal at about 11pm ish, Russ kindly took
my bike in their van so that we could create some room in the car for us to
make the 6-hour journey back to St Malo that night. We were booked on the
8:00am ferry back to Jersey the following and had to get going soon. No one was
in a state to drive, having all been awake for so long. We set off, loaded the
SatNav and headed back to St Malo, both Nicola and Karl putting in big shifts
to get us the 6 hours back to the ferry terminal, and me trying to assist by
navigating where needed, particularly coming out of Paris and an early morning
petrol stop in the middle of nowhere. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
6am arrives and we arrive at the ferry terminal and duly
grab an hours sleep, we had made the ferry, just to check in and get to our
seats and we could all stand down and grab some sleep. Condor ferries had been
kind enough to upgrade us to the club class, so we were able to sleep, and
catch our breath.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back to Jersey and time to disembark the ferry, the 3 of us
getting back into our vehicle, with Russ and Rhys waiting for Andy in the
terminal carpark to fulfil his media obligations. Sleep was the biggest draw
for me not really being able to string a legible sentence together at this
point. We arrived home and it was so nice to be back in my own bed. Reflecting
on the last few days – I had left St Helier 7am on Saturday morning, and here I
was 9:30am Monday morning, lying in bed having lived a whole lifetime in
between those 2 days! Lots to process and lots to be happy about. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the ferry.. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve always felt that the key to completing these types of
challenges is mostly in the mind, and I think most people would agree; I would
also go further to say that having a really clear idea of why your doing it,
and having an emotional connection to completing it really goes some way to
ensuring success. I have done a couple of these types of things, and each time
I was fundraising for Jersey Hospice Care, which in itself is a great
motivation. I have always had a lot of support from friends during these
challenges, notably the Marathon Des Sables, and Round The Rock x 7, both in
terms of donations to the charity and giving up their time to help me, by
crewing me or helping me fundraise, which adds another layer of motivation to
complete the challenge, as it becomes about making sure their efforts aren’t in
vain also. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After Round the Rock x7 I struggled a lot. The event took
place in August 2014 almost 2 years to the day I set off on this latest
challenge. Recovery afterwards was difficult – running 236 miles in 7 days
meant that I was tired and my body did not know what to do. I didn’t take
enough time to recover thinking I was bullet proof, and started to train for a
marathon about a month or so later. For quite a long time I was in a battle
against my mental reserves and physical limitations – I needed rest for both
but I wasn’t listening. I got slower, I found it hard to be motivated, but was
afraid not to train as I didn’t know what I would do if I didn’t run. I was
entered in the 2015 Marathon Des Sables so knew this was my intermediate next
goal. I completed the marathon I had been training for in October 2014 but it
was nowhere near my personal best, and I felt awful the whole way around. So
began a cycle of intense pressure placed on myself, trying to push through the
dip and come out the other side, constantly comparing my paces, times and
sessions against the same a few months previously and slowly destroying my
enjoyment and desire to continue running. Winter came and went and I trained,
and got ready for MDS 2015, but not really having the edge I had when getting
ready for MDS 2013. I did a warm up race in February – The Pilgrims Challenge,
which I had done in 2013 also, and my mind-set was completely different to then
– complete rather than compete. I didn’t know it then but I was fatigued
mentally and physically still, I just thought I needed to keep pushing but what
I really needed to do was stop and let everything catch up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On to Marathon Des Sable 2015 and I knew in my heart of
hearts that I wasn’t up for it. I trained hard, but wasn’t anywhere near as
excited or in anticipation as 2013. I remember going to Gatwick to meet the
other guys I knew, and sitting the night before and discussing the impending
race, and not really feeling any buzz. We shipped out to Morrocco, I completed
day 1, had an OK day, day 2 was hard going but I got through it and then day 3
wore away any resistance had. By the end of that day I had had enough, and the
unthinkable came into my mind in the last few miles of that hellishly hot day –
“Why not quit? – You don’t need this, you know tomorrow is the long day and it
will be twice as bad as today – You know what’s coming and it ain’t good!” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By the time I had got back to the finish line and the camp I
was 80% sure I was going to quit, I was tired, hot, hungry and fed up, like a
neglected dog. I went to the admin tent to find out the logistics of getting
back to civilisation and to see if it was viable, I slept on it over night and
the following morning, just as everyone else in my tent was getting ready to
run 60 miles in the desert I decided to call it a day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was not envious of them at all and to this
day know it was the right call. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So in the 2 years since then it has been a real up and down experience;
I have struggled with being identified as a runner, when in actuality that
title left me at the finish line of Round The Rock 2015 when I ran my last real
miles in anger. I then went through a real identity crisis of not knowing who I
was and where I fit in the world - I was no longer “Paul the Ultra Runner” –
running made me unhappy on so many levels, remembering the times I failed,
remembering the times I succeeded and knowing I might not get back to that, and
seeing other people I knew succeed where I was struggling. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As with any journey though, I arrived at a place where it
began to not hurt so much, I got really into cycling and started to cycle with
the local cycle club Equipe Flame Rouge and learnt there was life after
running. I liked the challenge of learning to cycle, having had a VO2 max test
with Tony Williams and realising I was the cycling equivalent of Eddie The Eagle.
I was set up with a winter plan over the winter of 2015-16 and I trained away
in my garage listening to bad European and 80’s Thrash metal and slowly got
stronger and left a Paul shaped sweat mark on the garage floor of our rented
house. I had no self-pressure, no expectations and was enjoying making
progress. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The completion of this latest challenge has been real
catharsis and has meant that life now feels like an empty canvas again, much
like at the outset of this midlife crisis back in April 2011 when I ran the
London marathon and got into this whole mess. As life would have it a holiday
was scheduled a week later at Club La Santa in Lanzarote, and this was a great full
stop to the months of preparation that went into the challenge as well as the
challenge itself and a great way to enjoy and celebrate it for Nicola and I. I
trained hard in Lanzarote, cycling, running and swimming perhaps with an eye to
completing a triathlon or two before the year is out, but mostly enjoying the
process rather than having to tick boxes or achieve mileages or time in water,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/j5PrN8znR5g/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/j5PrN8znR5g?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
A little film about the challenge</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><br /></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The toll the swimming training had taken on our weekends was
evident and I now look forward to diverting the energy used for it to tending
to our jungle like garden. I have set a challenge of a nice lawn that the boys
can play football on by next summer. This might be one challenge that might be
more than I can manage – you cant control mother nature. More posts on this in
the Spring on my new gardening blog – Extreme Ultra Gardening with Paul. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-28280273288862496042015-02-25T21:40:00.002+00:002015-02-25T21:42:53.600+00:00The Run Up To The Marathon Des Sables<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So just over 5 weeks till the MDS and compared to <a href="http://paulinthelongrun.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-date-with-destiny.html" target="_blank">2 years ago</a> when I was getting ready to do the 28th MDS I am a lot more cool calm and collected this time round. I recall a 2 year lead in to training for that race and sourcing, comparing gear, losing weight, worrying about which shoes, rucksack and sleeping bag to take and whether Ultimate Extreme Foods were better than Expedition Foods, should I take poles? Trail vs Road Shoes? How long should my back to backs be? Definitely this time I am more calmer and have just started to think about the food I will be taking and piecing together the kit.<br />
I think the biggest reason is that I have done the race before, I now know what to expect which removes a lot of the variables and uncertainties. I learnt a lot of lessons that first MDS and I know that heading back I will be able to apply of that learning to this race.<br />
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Leading up to MdS 2 years ago I did the XNRG Pilgrims Challenge, which I completed a few weeks ago for the second time. A great ultra over 33 miles on Day 1 starting in Farnham along the North Downs and then back the following day. A great event, well organised by the XNRG crew and one I thoroughly recommend to tune up for the MDS. I had a look at my Garmin traces from the <a href="http://paulinthelongrun.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-end-of-love-affair.html" target="_blank">2013 Pilgrims</a> that I did and the main difference in me as a runner then and now was glaringly obvious: I would go out way too quick to start, blow up half way through and suffer to the end. This worked out pretty well that weekend, my first 15 miles were done at an avg of between 7:30 and 8 min miles, and after that the pace rapidly declined.. Going back for this years edition a month or so ago I was keen to see if my more consistent approach that I have been favouring in training would result in me matching the overall time in the race I recorded 2 years ago and if indeed I came out of it more comfortably. Over the last few months a big part of my training has been Heart Rate Training, focussing on doing a large proportion of my training in the Aerobic Zone, which meant initially slow runs under the magic number of 146 bpm. Initially it was frustrating but over time my body has definitely become more efficient the result being that my pace has gone up whilst still under the threshold of 146 which has been pleasing to see.<br />
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Over the last 4 weeks or so I introduced more tempo, and hill training and have started to feel quite strong by all accounts, which has not been the case for a while. The Pilgrims was a great way to validate this method of training, the conditions were cold, muddy with a bit of snow, and day one went quite well with me finishing about 20 mins slower than last time but feeling a lot more comfortable and having run a lot more of the way rather than blast through then hang on. Day two was a struggle and I found it hard to even get out of my sleeping bag in the morning as it had been so cold overnight in the hall we slept in with all the other competitors. However get up I did and I finished the day after a considerable grind of 33 miles, but finish I did and although a bit slower than the previous time I did day 2 a couple of years ago there were positives to take away in respect of feeling stronger in the body and perhaps feeling I could have gone a little harder. And I kept reminding myself I have bigger goals this year to fulfil. I enjoyed the Pilgrims Challenge, it was great to catch up again with my fellow MDS'ers Gordon, Susie and Shaun, to meet some new friends, Mick and Jane and for my amazing other half Nicola to complete her first multi day ultra in amazing shape.<br />
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Alongside the MDS my main focus this year is going to be the Dragons Back Race, which is in late June.<br />
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I know this could well be the hardest thing I have ever attempted, 200 miles along the mountainous spine of Wales in 5 days, self navigating and taking in all of the Welsh 3000's in the first day, so I have been training with both this and MdS in mind. I know that the biggest part of these races is to be 100% committed mentally, however with the Dragons Back I am worried that not being near any major mountains here in Jersey may prove to be a major disadvantage when I hit the mountains of Wales. I have strategies in place which I hope will enable me to be as prepared as I can be to tackle the challenge, however the worry is there, lots to address, so I will be doing a mountain running course in March to address the navigational side of things, with a couple of recces of the Snowdonia Park in May to get a feel for the terrain as well as numerous hill rep sessions planned here in Jersey.<br />
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Lots to look forward to then, with my immediate focus now being the MDS. There are a few people from Jersey doing it this year as well as a few people from the 2013 edition going back for more so will be a great way to catch up with them. My plan is to go as minimalist as possible this time, with more emphasis on food and calories than equipment as this is where I felt the most feelgood factor could come from. I have started to compile the spreadsheet with weights of everything and it is looking like my WAA ultra bag (<a href="http://paulinthelongrun.blogspot.com/2013/04/mds-kit-what-worked-and-what-didnt.html" target="_blank">different to the Raidlight Olmo used last time - which I burnt!!</a>) will be coming in at this stage around the 6.5KG weight when dry. This is the first pack but I do intend to be ruthless on equipment taken: No spare clothes, no camera, no slippers, no vastly inflated medical kit with the only luxury being my iPod nano and an auxiliary charger to ensure I have tunes the whole week should I need them. I intend to take more calories this time however, with either Mountain House or Expedition Foods getting my custom and I will be opting to take more in the way of desserts and more substantial breakfasts I think in place of the flapjack bars I took last time (some of which got nibbled at by night time visitors!) This last matter of food will be the thing I take most time over I think and I will ensure that there are plenty of varieties of foods and snacks to enjoy this time as I really struggled towards the end of the week with the same tastes.<br />
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My main goal for MDS is to complete it having felt like I have given it a good go and to also enjoy it; Last time I went out hard the first two days and crashed and burnt day 3 and 4 and blew my goals out of the water, in my opinion (and as demonstrated to me by numerous friends doing the MDS this way) the key to doing respectably in the MDS is in day 4 the long day, if you can get through the first 3 days well but without having given too much, if you have energy to do a good long day left then this is where positions can be made up. This is why a lot of my training has been focused on long slow distance as this was the big thing that struck me in this race is that consistency comes out top - apart form obviously the top elite runners! So thats the plan, training has gone well and I feel good about the strategy, another big goal for me for MDS is to be able to complete it and be able to recover quickly so that I can get back into training quickly for the Dragons Back which is in late June, about 2.5 months after MDS. I am currently training for both races, having started to now put in long hill sessions to get used to the climbing I will be doing in Wales with tempo, intervals and long runs as well. I have been training with a rucksack since November having been running home from work 3 or so nights a week with my WAA Rucksack loaded with all my work things, I actually weighted the bag the other night and it comes in around the 4KG mark which is a good start. I am spending atlas one day of my weekend on a long run with the WAA sack weighted up and running long as well.<br />
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In my last <a href="http://paulinthelongrun.blogspot.com/2014/11/rtrx7-aftermath-or-toll-7-ultra.html" target="_blank">post</a> I discussed the after effects of my last big challenge - 7 Ultra Marathons in 7 Days which took place in August last year here in Jersey. I thought then that I had recovered but I can say that it has probably taken me more like 5 to 6 months to recover. I took part in the Druids Challenge in November which was another XNRG organised event over 3 days along the Ridgeway in the South of England. I had an OK first day, and abysmal second day but everything seemed to fall into place for the third day and I ran really well, just like I would want to if I sat down and mapped it out in my mind before the race began. Proof that recovery from major events does indeed take a long time. I can honestly say that I didn't realise how long the effects of the 7 Ultras in 7 days would linger, tiredness and lethargy being the main symptoms, plus losing fitness and speed despite training. I discussed this back in October with a friend Graeme who had done the 145 mile Grand Union Canal Race in summer of last year and he had likened the few months after to running with an elastic band attached to him pulling him back. I can honestly empathise with that feeling!<br />
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So flicking back to something I mentioned earlier in this post: Commitment. A conversation I have had a few times and also heard is whether when you are a runner you run because you enjoy it or because you get to a point that being a runner is such a big part of who you are and your routine that you wouldn't know what to do if you didn't do it. I definitely experience both parts of the spectrum on this score, but mostly sit in the middle with the weekly routine being comforting and the goal of having something to train for a motivating factor that provides me with a great focus and meaning in my life. There are times when I hate the runs or just want to get them done, or don't want to do a particular session (like the other night where it was raining and I ran home from work dropped off my rucksack and then proceeded to do everything I could but step out the door to go do my hill session!) but I still get out there and do it 99% of the time as I know each session counts and makes up the confidence of starting a race knowing you have prepared for it to the best of your ability. Right now I have the Dragons Back as my "carrot" that I dangle and think about as I am doing my sessions, so the 15 loops I did of the tallest hill in Jersey (which is 330ft!) I was thinking about getting that magical 4,700 feet of elevation over ten miles which would equate to roughly a third of the first day of the DB. Its what I need to do to get ready so I have to bypass the actual monotony of doing that hill 15 times every 2 weeks and focus on the hopeful benefits it will give me when I am in the Welsh mountains.<br />
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Another aspect of commitment/motivation I have mulled over during my recent running years has been that of the reasons why I am doing things. I noted that a lot of people who are doing the MDS this year for the first time are nervous about it as it is the unknown and there is a significant time and financial investment which probably makes them feel as if there is a lot riding on this little trip to the desert. I remember feeling this way myself in the lead up to the 2013 edition and felt that it was the biggest thing I had ever done in my life. As I previously stated I am a lot more relaxed about this years edition as I know what to expect, how to train, what I need to take and not take so 85% of it is a known quantity this time round. Of course none of this means anything without the correct reasons to do this race. It is extreme and we run 140 - 150 miles in a week across the desert self supported in temps of up to 56 Deg C, so there needs to be a fundamental urge to want to complete this and to be willing to suffer to do so, otherwise as some people do, we would just fall at the first sign of hardship and call it a day. Looking back on all of the big challenges I have done where I have succeeded I had clear reasons why I was doing it: This meant that when the chips were down there was no room to quit as I was clear why I was there and why I was willing to suffer. I look back at the times where I didn't succeed in completing the challenges I set out to do and the opposite was true in most cases, I hadn't tapped in to the right motives for doing what I was doing so when times got hard and I was presented with an escape route I took it. Obviously other factors can and did come into play in some of those instances: GI Problems, getting lost, general wear and tear from a really hard years racing to name but a few. But I really believe that getting the head right and knowing why you are doing something and being willing to suffer for it will go a long way to ensuring you have the tools to complete any challenge you set out to do. I have good friends who have done some truly amazing challenges: UTMB, The Spine, running 100 miles on a track and the main denominator with them all is that they fundamentally enjoy it and are clear on why they are doing it. I have definitely taken leaves out of books from a lot of the people around me who run and just have a blast doing it as this has to be the main reason to want to run close to 50 miles a week and put yourself through these often ruinous challenges.<br />
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For now the focus is on getting the last bit of training for the MDS, 5 weeks on Friday we will be setting off from Gatwick to Morrocco, plenty of time still to put the icing on the cake and get some quality in before the 30th Marathon Des Sables kicks off. Apparently there are some surprises planned, which will be interesting to see, some have speculated that Patrick Bauer would like to re position the MDS as "The toughest footrace on earth" by throwing in some real curveballs but these rumours did surface a couple of years ago also so we will see.. Until then its head down, get the money in the bank, stay injury free and get to the start in 5 weeks or so healthy!<br />
<br />
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<br />Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-58526279644149821572014-11-04T22:01:00.000+00:002014-11-04T22:01:35.227+00:00RtRx7 The Aftermath - Or The Toll 7 Ultra Marathons Took On My Body 3 Months Later.. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTrIwjsJRSip39-ZrZTZYu3dPfjlBg0hWWF2YqlsDXpRC3goOoonnEWa2vBk3nYyr4oFMhFumYqSPRHz3wHSoypjs-_2bsyMeX375VN6m_z8ZOu2c8i4n7Wixx-b0P55thFZJzsZQJK8fG/s1600/Team+Awesome+Original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTrIwjsJRSip39-ZrZTZYu3dPfjlBg0hWWF2YqlsDXpRC3goOoonnEWa2vBk3nYyr4oFMhFumYqSPRHz3wHSoypjs-_2bsyMeX375VN6m_z8ZOu2c8i4n7Wixx-b0P55thFZJzsZQJK8fG/s1600/Team+Awesome+Original.jpg" height="305" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It’s just
under 3 months after I ran 336 miles in one week, did 7 ultra marathons in 7
days and completed one of the most significant events in my life so far. Upon
finishing the week my body broke down as soon as I crossed the finish line it felt,
everything that had held together through the week suddenly sighed a sigh of
relief and let go. I was limping on badly mangled toes and feet, with the skin
of my feet after 3 days of finishing going really dry and blistering and all of
my toenails bar one dropping off over the forthcoming weeks. But I did it!
Rtrx7 was a success! After conceiving the idea a couple of years previously but
being too scared to even utter the words out loud it was an amazing feeling to
have attempted something original that no one else had done and said couldn’t
be done and to have pulled it off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">The
challenge itself was to run 7 times around the island of Jersey in 7 days; 48
miles each day taking in coastal path, beach, road and cliffs which equated to
about 4000ft of elevation each day. Someone I knew had already done 7 marathons
in 7 days here in Jersey so this was the only way to up the ante. Little did I
know what I was attempting! I knew it would be hard but I rationalised it that
having done the Marathon Des Sables a year or so earlier I would have a lot of
advantages compared to that; I would be able to be supported, I could fuel
adequately, I could sleep in my own bed and it was going to be a lot cooler
than the Sahara Desert.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So in the
early part of 2014, plans came together and bit by bit the challenge became a
reality, with the ultimate reality being when I lined up on the start of the
2014 Greenlight: Round The Rock ultra-marathon on Aug 2<sup>nd</sup>. This was
day one for me, and when everyone else had finished their stint, I would have
to go home, recover and get up again and do it all over.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I won’t go
into too much detail here about the challenge itself as I am hoping to sell the
rights for the story to an award winning novelist or film maker and get Keanu
Reeves to play me in the film. Suffice to say the week was hard, took me places
I had never been in terms of despair and joy and is a definite cornerstone and
reference point in my life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The day
after I had finished I woke up and was a little stiff and slightly hung over
after a few glasses of champagne after a big do to celebrate completing it as
well as the live televised lottery draw for the local charity I was raising
money for – Jersey Hospice Care. It was a lovely feeling to know that I
wouldn’t have to circumnavigate the island again that with the most testing
thing I had to do being interviewed by a local radio station at 9am and to not
say any swears inadvertently!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">So what toll
did the challenge take on me? My feet and toes were in a bad way, for about 3
weeks afterwards I had really bad dry skin on my feet and it was flaking off
all over the show. I lost all my toenails bar one or two and had lots of
callouses at various pressure points on my feet. Physically in an injury sense
I was OK, going into the week I had a bit of a groin issue that I was a little
worried about but this didn’t really become too much of a problem which I was
thankful for. Injury was one of my biggest worries for the week as it was
something that I couldn’t account for or foresee if it did occur but for 336
miles I came out of the week quite lightly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">3 months
down the line I can now see that I was quite run down by the week after it was
over. I took a couple of weeks off running after rtrx7 but was quite keen to
get back into some form of exercise quite quickly as believe it or not I
started to put weight on after the challenge quite quickly. I ran for 90 hours
over the week and burnt and estimated 35,000 calories and was nowhere near
replacing these but seemed to not have any adverse weight loss, which was good.
During the MDS I lost a lot of weight quickly and people commented how
emaciated I looked at the end of the week, so I expected something similar for
RtRx7. I think my body was in shock to be honest and wasn’t sure what was going
on, almost as if it went into survival mode and wanted to then hang on to any
calories that I put into it. It is something that has continued over the last
couple of months with my weight going up and normal training not being enough
to sustain my usual running weight, which has been a little troublesome; being
lighter = going faster and my initial goal after RtRx7 was to run the Jersey
Marathon in early October. I started to speed train at the track and do shorter
more intense runs a few weeks later, reasoning that shorter runs would be good
for the body. The first track session I did was “interesting” to say the least
and I struggled, on a superficial level I felt recovered I think but under the
surface I was needing to rest or at least exercise at a much lower intensity. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Through
September I built the training with Jersey as my goal. It was good to have a
goal after the euphoria of completing RtRx7, it was a massive part of 2014 and
as happens after these things there was a come down, which I expected to a degree
having done things like this before. I was mostly pleased to have done it, but
it was taking time to process the week. It was intense; 90 hours of running
which when coupled with recovery, eating and sleeping didn’t leave much time
for reflection or leisure time. For the first week or so afterwards I was
dreaming I was running around the island and would wake up tired as if I had
done the actual run! Processing the week was an ongoing thing and one I
enjoyed, lots of photos were taken, lots of messages sent in support through
the week and lots of positive take aways in general, I would say now I have
processed it all and it is almost as if it never happened, just like being back
in work on a Monday morning after being away in Barbados for 2 weeks previously
and by lunch time it being as if you had never been away. The memories are
there, but almost as if it was someone else living it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A big issue
for me over the 3 months since has been tiredness: I remember googling how to
recover from something like this and there weren’t many search results that
gave any meaningful advice as there are few documented precedents. There are
the usual rules of one days recovery for every mile you have ran, which would
have meant me not running til the following July, by which time had the weight
gain continued I would have been a wallowing blob sitting there unable to see
my feet and having to be lifted to the loo by a crane! I was back in work a
week later and I was going to bed at 10pm most nights and getting up at 8am to try
and recuperate, I became obsessed with sleep; how much I could get, how to make
it up if I couldn’t get my ten hours that night and when I could snooze over
the weekend. I have always like sleep to be fair but it took on an extra sense
of urgency and at the time I didn’t realise how much toll the challenge had
taken me, only now with the benefit of hindsight can I see it. I met a friend
of mine Graeme a few weeks ago who had completed the Grand Union Canal Race
back at the start of the summer, which is a 145 mile race along the Grand Union
Canal. He was in a similar boat to me and said that it took him 3 months to get
over it fully, likening running during that time to having an elastic band
attached and someone holding on to it whilst trying to run, a feeling I
completely empathised with. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I think it
is natural for us runners to want to do what we do best and to be in full
training and not to be tapering or recovering. I for one only paid lip service
to recovery runs, recovery periods, periodization and proper tapering, taking
them only when I started to feel jaded rather than being proactive. In the last
couple of weeks however I have started to read a book about the 80/20 training
principle which in short is a training method where 80 % of training done is
performed at sub lactic thresholds and the other 20% is done above as this is
the optimal ratio to get the benefits of training, the result being that when
an athlete comes to do the 20% aspect they are more rested to hit it hard. The
80% enables the athlete to increase volume of training and therefore strength
without stressing the body. I have enjoyed this book immensely and have adopted
the principle wholeheartedly, having worked out my optimal zones and now
training within them. It is early days but I feel more rested and relaxed after
the sub lactic runs and have been burning off a lot of the weight from RtRx7 as
a consequence of the training zones I have been working in. I think that had I
been aware of this method I would have definitely adopted this post RtRx7 as it
would have enabled me to train at a low intensity and maintain fitness but not
push too hard in the initial stages of getting back to full training. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Next for me
is the XNRG Druids Challenge this weekend; average of 29 miles per day for 3
days this will be a great test to see just how far down the recovery road I am.
The goal is to get out and enjoy the weekend primarily and hopefully get a good
solid performance in as well. Training in earnest will begin soon for the 2015
Marathon Des Sables in April, and I have secured a place for the race of all
races The Dragons Back which takes place in June 2015. Lots to train for and
lots to look forward to over the coming year!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The
fundraising and challenge is completed for RtRx7 for those of you who missed it
I put together a little video of the week to show what went into it, available
here: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /><object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/v1n_4ec6fiE/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/v1n_4ec6fiE?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/v/v1n_4ec6fiE?version=3&f=user_uploads&c=google-webdrive-0&app=youtube_gdata" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helv;">The challenge would not have happened without the support of
the following companies: Marks and Spencer Jersey, Clink Hostels, BNP Paribas
Jersey and Mymemory.co.uk. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helv;">The people who helped me with the organisation of both the
fundraising and through the week were many: big thanks to Karl Moss, Ben
Garland, David Stokes, Bruno Francisco, Rod Bryans, Euros Williams, Steve
Hayes, Peter Wright, Simon Lester, Shane Hugill, Simon Mackenzie, Robbie
Campbell, James Hope, Dave Double, Will Evans, Anna Goncalves, Shaun Maloret,
Sam Horsfall, Neil Ginnis, Trisha and Darren from Yoga Matters, Piers De
Gruchy, Bryce Alford, Cameron Purcell, Brendan Roberts, Sam Wade, Mark Nicol, Lee
De St Croix, Jemma Jelley, Neil Walker, Thomas Robertson, John McGovern and the
one person who held the whole operation together Nicola Gott – without her I
could not have got through the week, she was there to take me to the start
every morning at 6:30am and to drop me home every night, sometimes at 10:15pm,
some might say she had a harder week than me and I would be inclined to agree!!
I have tried to name everyone there so hopefully I have got everyone..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-bidi-font-family: Helv;">Finally I would like to say that I hit the target of £15,000.00
raised for Jersey Hospice Care due to the massive generosity of everyone who
donated and big donations from Clink Hostels who gave £2000.00 to the cause and
my place of work BNP Paribas who donated £2,200.00. I would like to thank them
both as well as everyone else who donated and showed their support.</span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-72481903464534175752014-10-03T10:06:00.001+01:002014-10-03T10:06:31.609+01:00Post Round The Rock x 7Its just over 2 months ago I set off to run 7 times around the island of Jersey in 7 days - 48 miles per day, 336 miles in a week. I initially dreamed up this challenge because 7 marathons in 7 days had been done here and I wanted to up the ante.<br />
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It was a crazy crazy week, with some real ups and downs taking me to the limits of my endurance and what I thought I was capable of. 2 months later the overwhelming feeling I have from the week is the way it brought so many of us together, people came to support me, crew for me, run with me and it really fed into a massive positive experience for me and I hope for all involved.<br />
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I remember setting off on the Saturday on the first day which was the actual Greenlight: Round the Rock Ultra which is in its 4th year here in Jersey, I had 7 days ahead of me but it just hadn't really registered with me at that point how much work I had ahead of me. I think part of my way of coping with the challenge was to not register how much lay ahead of me and to just take it bit by bit, which was a strategy I seemed to employ for most of the week and served me well. By day 3 things got hard, I was tired by the Monday and just under a 100 miles of running had started to take its toll on me. I had 236 miles to go was feeling like I still had a mountain to climb, but I got through that day by just putting one foot in front of the other and 24 hours later I was nearly half way through the challenge and looking at the week through a completely different filter.<br />
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The big take away for me from the week was the lesson of sticking at something, things do get better, bad times do pass and if you persist you will succeed, a lesson for life perhaps as well as ultra running?<br />
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I did a little video of the week here which sums up a lot of what went on that week and the experiences of such a massive life event for me.<br />
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I am currently trying to get the whole thing down on paper as I would like to document this challenge fully so watch this space!<br />
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At the moment I am recovering, I misjudged the effect the challenge would have on me, 336 miles in a week is a long way and I thought I could come back to training after 2 weeks off running and get back into the groove quickly. I am due to be running a marathon on Sunday which I am in 2 minds whether to do as I am not fully recovered and I know this in my heart of hearts.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit_okrzq4CC9JyWuTZqRF6SPjMOsSNeo2UlINBpVV9sVI5eRslH2GyRH9ojaW0fn4EOx-REHw_90DqKdInN7BMSuaFALhBblPOFt36ZWoP3tUXnRYXyykbFZNYuwT26KY0U4d3Mf8JxFtD/s1600/Bui2y_LCMAAqWGN.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit_okrzq4CC9JyWuTZqRF6SPjMOsSNeo2UlINBpVV9sVI5eRslH2GyRH9ojaW0fn4EOx-REHw_90DqKdInN7BMSuaFALhBblPOFt36ZWoP3tUXnRYXyykbFZNYuwT26KY0U4d3Mf8JxFtD/s1600/Bui2y_LCMAAqWGN.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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I was trying to find precedents for this type of challenge and the effect it has on the body and how much recovery is needed and it seems there is not a lot out there unfortunately. I am listening to my body though and trying to rest and address any issues as they arise, having had a hip flexor problem for a while I have been strengthening my flutes which has been a revelation, I feel more balanced in my stride and other issues that stemmed from the hip flexor problem seem to have subsided which is great news.<br />
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So next up for me is the <a href="http://www.marathondessables.com/en/" target="_blank">Marathon Des Sables</a> in April 2015. I have entered the <a href="http://www.xnrg.co.uk/events/details/druid-challenge-ridgeway-multistage-ultra-2014.aspx" target="_blank">XNRG Druids challenge</a> in November this year to get ready and I am working towards this as a nice finish to the year. I know that I have endurance in my legs so my goal now is to make sure I am fresh for the race and that I can enjoy it. I also had the amazing news that I have been accepted to compete in the <a href="http://www.dragonsbackrace.com/" target="_blank">Dragons Back</a> race in June next year, this race is an iconic legendary race that has only been held twice before. It is 200 miles across the mountainous spine of Wales and being Welsh myself I cannot wait to take part! I know there is a lot of preparation to do between now and then but I am up for the challenge 100% and look forward to standing on the start line in June.<br />
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Lots to look forward to, lots to be happy with hopefully 2014 has been as good for you and 2015 looks as exciting!<br />
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<br />Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-59086548207567915852014-06-21T14:47:00.002+01:002014-06-29T15:33:21.983+01:00Endurancelife Classic Quarter June 2014<br />
After the dramas of Transvulcania I decided that the only way to put the ghosts of my DNF to rest was to quit ultra-running altogether and take up scuba diving instead. Well that was my initial thought anyway, but then common sense prevailed, I realised I had about 14 pairs of running shoes, multiple rucksacks and buffs to work my way through before I could even consider retiring from running!!<br />
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So on to the internet I go.. The criteria – a 40 mile ish ultra in June and hilly. The Endurancelife Classic Quarter seemed to fit the bill and after a little research, soul searching and deliberation I pushed the button and entered the race. I had about 3 weeks at this point until the race but felt happy I was mostly ready to go as if nothing else Transvulcania had been a great training run.<br />
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Upon further investigation the race appeared to be very similar to the terrain on the cliff paths here in Jersey, rocky paths, steps here and there, beautiful views, I was very much looking forward to taking part in the race and having taken part in a couple of Endurancelife races I knew that it would be a challenge. <br />
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Training for the race consisted mainly of preserving the shape I was in from Transvulcania – which meant a couple of longer weekend runs, hill sessions and some strength session just to keep ticking over. More importantly was my mental approach; after another DNF I have to admit my confidence was low, and I was doubting my ability to stick at it when the going got tough. I saw the CQ as a way to redeem myself in a way and to prove that I can still run ultra-marathons. The flip side of this being if I DNFed at this race then perhaps the truth was that the ultra-distance stuff wasn’t for me after all. So no pressure really, perhaps more of a moment of truth or clarity!<br />
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June 6th I set off from Jersey Airport once again in search of adventure and endeavour. Over the last few years I have done this journey on so many occasions – finish work on the Friday, hotfoot it to the airport, fly to in this case Bristol but also many other UK destinations, drive to where you need to be that night, get up at an ungodly hour next day, run an ultra-marathon, spend the Sat night recuperating, drive back to the airport on Sunday fly back to Jersey and back in work for Monday morning as if you were never away! These weekends sound quite intense but I do kind of enjoy them it almost adds to the challenge in a way. This time I was to drive from Bristol airport to Penzance which the Sat Nav informed me would take 3 hours or so. I was due to be on a shuttle bus at 4am from Lands’ End to the race start so I figured sleep might not be in abundance that evening. I accepted this as part of the race and when I arrived at Penzance, checked into a lovely B&B, got my race gear sorted and tried to get some shut eye.<br />
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3am – the alarm goes off after 4 hours of sleep. I feel ok though, although it is dark outside and there has been rain overnight. I make my porridge, get my race kit on and stumble out bleary eyed to drive to Lands’ End to make the shuttle bus. I get there about 4am and line up to get my race number and get on the bus. Its dark, it’s windy and its cold and once again I am stood at the wrong end of 40 odd miles thinking “What am I doing here??” We get on the bus a wonky old double decker and I get chatting to a few guys a bit of small talk here and there and we settle in for the journey to Lizard Point – the start line. After a while I am struggling to get warm as all the windows are open on the bus. So I close a couple of the windows and all of a sudden everything goes blurry. “It’s my hay fever playing up” I tell myself but No! The bus is filling up with smoke from the engine and slowly we are being asphyxiated.. So the windows are opened again and the bus sputters on not being able to make the smooth transition from 2nd to 3rd gear and emitting the pungent smell of gasoline. The irony was not lost on me; here we are some extremely fit people about to do an ultra-marathon being transported to the start on a bus that was a mobile gas chamber!!</div>
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Anyway we finally make it and by now the sun had come up – Glad to be alive I stepped off the bus and made my way down a pathway to the start. It was a beautiful view there and felt very peaceful. There were about 200 or so runners and everyone seemed friendly, we had the race briefing then at 6:30am we were off. I was towards the front and saw the front pack head off quite quickly, I knew for me the goal was to complete this race and not blow myself up or do anything silly that may jeopardise me finishing. So I settled into a rhythm and adopted a complete rather than compete mind-set and vowed to be in the moment and do the best I can do at each moment. <br />
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This was my first experience of Cornish coastline and I really thought it was beautiful. It was indeed very similar in terrain to Jersey which was great, I had been advised to wear my trusty Inov-8’s by a local guy Tom whom I have become acquainted with through the power of running related social media and as the climbs got a bit rockier and slippier I silently thanked him for this advice. I was in fact hoping to see him at some point along the way as he had messaged me to say he was doing the relay race. <br />
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So I was ticking off the miles, I was feeling pretty good and got to half way pretty pain free. I usually have issues with my hip flexor or knee which necessitates an Ibuprofen which I believe is the cause of my GI issues during races’ but I had decided that I wouldn’t use these during the race favouring keeping the hip mobile with various exercises if it played up and K-taping the bejesus out of my knee! About 25 miles or so we hit the town of Penzance and the terrain turned into concrete promenade and quite flat. I was starting to feel fatigued at this point but it was a strange sensation as the body felt great muscularly but I felt weary, a sensation I wasn’t really used to as my body is usually the first to go! After clearing Penzance the climbing started in earnest; I had been warned there were a few nasty little climbs in the last third of the race and it didn’t disappoint! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM2F8yr61_9x1II4nYTIdgTAsokTlOSm4Kb16QrQFEvICOLhVmX1FXQnEx_0zYja2aNllNPBn6BuZlrYWohEZeF6vG6oF-8H1C3hvWqF5fSxqqTRhMqcTwgCgyMNMeAOXKiDoH5GzZgbbf/s1600/porthcurno_coast_path_0750.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM2F8yr61_9x1II4nYTIdgTAsokTlOSm4Kb16QrQFEvICOLhVmX1FXQnEx_0zYja2aNllNPBn6BuZlrYWohEZeF6vG6oF-8H1C3hvWqF5fSxqqTRhMqcTwgCgyMNMeAOXKiDoH5GzZgbbf/s1600/porthcurno_coast_path_0750.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgegZAfOGYM-9xDZNO1MYdn28wfUS7fvXn1ciOm7P4Y9afAlrEyYJFM2xoHLV_Oyw4EgiFjzwo2vNZbCgkYuBwd0UAAfMvAJmpWd4GxDf2M-mUlvyIJBtpza-1FmOk8xjv4tKhSbU32loc/s1600/CQ+7.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgegZAfOGYM-9xDZNO1MYdn28wfUS7fvXn1ciOm7P4Y9afAlrEyYJFM2xoHLV_Oyw4EgiFjzwo2vNZbCgkYuBwd0UAAfMvAJmpWd4GxDf2M-mUlvyIJBtpza-1FmOk8xjv4tKhSbU32loc/s1600/CQ+7.PNG" height="400" width="263" /></a><br />
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This was where it started to get difficult; I was really feeling fatigued and started to alternate walking with running. It was hot and the climbs were hard going, but I kept going. I was kind of glad in a way that the going had got tough as I was so committed to finishing this race that I wanted to suffer for it in a way, just to prove I still had the edge. I was being overtaken by a lot of people and I wasn’t bothered to be honest, there was a relay race also out on the course both 4 men and 2 men and I wasn’t sure who was racing what so I just got on with getting the job done and completing this race. People running in football tops and board shorts came past me and all the while I was getting closer and closer to the finish. I recall getting to about the 39 mile mark and the climb up to the Mynach Theatre from the beach being particularly hard going. There was luckily a checkpoint at the top of this and I am not ashamed to say I collapsed on the nice soft grass and took it easy for at least 20 mins.. I overheard that one of the racers was heading to the shop at the theatre and I asked him if he wouldn’t mind getting me a can of coke as I thought the sugar rush might help, he came back and said that the coke was on him, a real heart-warming moment when I was suffering! J<br />
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So it was now time to finish the race off. I set off from the checkpoint knowing I had 4.7 miles to go, but also knowing it would be fairly up and down. I set off and tried to run but the body was having none of it! I power walked and with relentless forward progress being my mantra. I was finding it hard and it was hot but I was committed!<br />
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About another mile or so in and in my own little world I was aware that someone was walking behind me. I turned and we exchanged a few words “I hope you don’t mind me following you I just find it easier to follow peoples feet!” said Helen. We got chatting and she had injured her knee which meant that she was struggling to go downhill, we walked and chatted and whiled away the miles – it had got cloudy now and a little cold, typical changeable Cornish weather I am led to believe and it was quite nice to have the cool for a little while. The end was in sight now and I was pleased as well as enjoying having met someone to chat to on the way to take me out of my head and enjoy the last part. I hadn’t really done much socialising in Ultras for quite some time, I was always looking to compete or do my best time so had always been quite serious at races. I recall the first Ultra I did – Round the Rock – and meeting people along the way and chatting to them and finding out where they were from and why they were racing and this struck me as being as great a reason to do races as racing itself! I had lost touch with that somewhere along the way I think, the competitor in me had taken over and whilst I did enjoy competition perhaps the real enjoyment in this type of race was to be found in the connecting with other people who have similar interests and outlooks? I think the truth is somewhere in-between but for this race this was a great experience and really helped me.<br />
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The finish line – 44 miles (44.7 to be exact!) and we were there! Helen and I crossed the line and I was broken but really pleased to have finished the race. Getting the T shirt and medal from this race was quite poignant for me as I fought hard that day and came through the other side. There had been times at races when the T Shirt is given out before the race starts where I will never be able to wear that T shirt due to not finishing the race, too many times that had happened so I savoured this one! I said goodbye to Helen and wished her well with her injury and went to the bar and although tempted to get the cold pint of lager I had been fantasising about since seeing someone drinking one in a beer garden in Penzance I thought better of it and got a pint of orange juice and lemonade and sat at the bar texting the people who had wished me well for the race that I had done it.<br />
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It was now time to pick my car up from the car park and drive home to the B&B. I got back showered and chilled out for a bit then hit the town on Penzance. I had fish and chips and a large chocolate sundae and then headed back to the B&B for an early night. Rock n Roll!!<br />
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So what do I take away from this race? It wasn’t a result in the classic terms in that I placed well or set a PB, but I feel like I learnt how to suffer again and reconnected with the reasons why I run Ultra Marathons again. This really couldn’t have come at a better time for me as I have the biggest challenge of my life coming up in about 6 or so weeks; Round The Rock x 7 (or RTRx7). I will be running 7 times around the island of Jersey in 7 days equating to 336 miles over the course of a week starting on the 2nd of august with the Round The Rock Ultra Marathon and I will then be back next morning at the start line to repeat the run again, and again and again for 7 days straight. The route will be mostly off road along the cliff paths so will be challenging terrain taking in around 3,500 ft elevation each day. I am attempting RtRx7 as it has never been done before. Last year I did the Marathon des Sables which was the equivalent of 6 marathons in 6 days across the Sahara desert and so this year I wanted to do another challenge. I thought something close to home would be good, and as 7 marathons in 7 days has been already done here I decided to up the ante and have a go at this challenge.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.justgiving.com/rtrx7">www.justgiving.com/rtrx7</a></td></tr>
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I am doing this challenge to raise money for Jersey Hospice Care. As most Jersey folk are aware Hospice is a great local charity that has touched everyone here in some way. I think the work they do is amazing and so valuable and wanted to try and do something to support that. I ran the MdS last year in memory of Natalie Moss, a friend of mine who sadly passed away in 2012. She spent the last 6 weeks of her life at Hospice and the care she received was second to none. Thanks to the support of so many of my friends and local people here in Jersey I raised just under £15,000 last year for Jersey Hospice. I would love to try and exceed this total with this challenge but initially I have set my total to £15,000. Last year I initially set out to raise £5,000 and raised almost triple that, so I really hope that this challenge captures people’s imaginations as much as the MdS and encourages them to dig deep!<br />
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To get to my target of £15,000.00 I have set up a just giving page up ready to take donations: <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/RtRx7">http://www.justgiving.com/RtRx7</a> and I will also be planning separate fundraising events along the way to both publicise the challenge, to raise funds and to have a bit of fun. I am also looking for people to accompany me on legs of the challenge also so any aspiring runners are more than welcome to join me for short or longer parts of the day.<br />
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With 6 weeks to go it has become very very real now and I am nervous but confident that I will give everything I can to complete the challenge. Training for this is a bit of an unknown quantity really, how does one train for 7 lots of 48 miles?? I am trusting in the fact that I am fit and able to do the distance of 48 miles and focussing on boosting confidence and belief by thinking about all the concerns I have about the challenge and trying to address them; Recovery, willingness to suffer, belief, potential injuries and GI problems to name a few. On the recovery front I am fortunate in that I recover well and quickly and by body will put up with a lot of punishment. Training for the MDS taught me the importance of good recovery strategies and I understand what I need to do and when to optimise my recovery to feel good for the following day. The willingness to suffer comes from having a reason to push on when all other markers and signs are saying that it is best to call it a day; I have my reasons why I am doing this and I believe as I train I am solidifying these so that when the chips are down these will keep me going. Injuries are a variable that I just can’t control but hope that the gods of running will smile on me!<br />
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The week just gone has seen me run 10 miles a day along the same route for a week, which sounds like a simple undertaking, but in fact has taken it out of me! I went through a bit of a dip on the Weds but then seemed to have had ups and downs as the week has gone on. With working and life going on it has been a great indicator of what to expect (x5!) each day so a very valuable exercise all in all. My speed through the week has declined slightly but I am happy with the recovery element of the week as well as dealing with the monotony of running the same route each day. I plan a rest day for the Saturday then a six hour run on the Sunday then back into normal training for the following week. Another idea I have is to walk the entire hilly north coast of the island just so that should the wheels fall off on any of the days I know how long this section would take me.<br />
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All in all with 6 weeks to go I feel as confident as one can about this challenge. There are lots of variables that I can’t account for but I feel that compared to the MDS for example where I did the equivalent of 6 marathons in 6 days and carried all my own food, slept on a bit of foam each night and couldn’t just jump in the sea at the end of each day there are a lot of up sides that make this completely viable. I just hope that someone reminds me of this on day 4 when I am sitting in a pile of my own vomit and tears and my legs have given up working on me!! <br />
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So if you feel compelled to donate to this challenge, please visit my justgiving page: <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/RtRx7">http://www.justgiving.com/RtRx7</a> and also any words of encouragement/abuse or offers to run with me if you happen to be in Jersey over the week of 2nd Aug can be directed to <a href="mailto:paulburrows2000@yahoo.com">paulburrows2000@yahoo.com</a><br />
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More on the training and prep as it happens.<br />
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Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-12035702675402047182014-06-21T14:30:00.000+01:002014-06-21T14:30:39.653+01:00Transvulcania – The Directors Cut<br /><br />Omens and superstition… I never really used to go in much for these but over the last few years I have really begun to take them seriously. Take for example Magpies; when I see one on its own (which seems to be an alarming amount at the moment as I live next to a field that seems to be the designated Magpie hangout for my town!) I have to salute and say “Good morning Mr Magpie sir” as if the course of my day now depends on it! If I see two I am happy in the knowledge that all will be ok. If I see one then two? This is where it gets tricky… Does one supersede the other or do both apply, or do they get added up?? Who knows..<br /><br />So on to the beginning of my tale: We arrive at the airport my friend Simon, his wife Sam and I to begin our journey to La Isla Bonita (La Palma) to be told straight away by the kindly EasyJet staff that the check in had closed for our flight and that if we wanted to fly we would have to send the bags by mail. Awesome start to our journey, taking in Jersey to Gatwick, Gatwick to Gran Canaria and Gran Canaria the following day to La Palma. I thought at this point we might have fallen at the first hurdle, but we were able to negotiate a deal with British Airways (gawd bless them!) whereby one of us flew with them to Gatwick and checked all our bags in paid the excess, so off Sam went whilst Simon and I dashed to make the Easyjet flight and joined the commoners..<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<br /><br />La Palma: Called La Isla Bonita due to its amazing scenery and stunning views. We circled the island on the approach to the runway and I got a glimpse for the first time of those massive climbs that we would be encountering a few days later when we lined up at the start of Transvulcania Ultra Marathon – 73kms up pure up and then pure down – no inbetween! I was nervous and kind of looking forward to lining up to take on the race, the fact that Kilian Jornet, Sage Canaday, Timothy Olson, Anna Frost, Emelie Forsberg to name but a few would also be taking part meant that this was going to be a special race. It has been commented before but there really are few other sports where you can line up along side the best in the world in the same race and same course and I love ultra running because of this!<br /><br />We arrived in La Palma early Thursday morning and found our apartments in Tazacorte which conveniently enough was where the vertical kilometer course was that afternoon. For the uninitiated the vertical KM is a race where people try and run up a hill a kilometer in height as quick as they can. After unpacking and getting sorted we scoped out the start line where the Salomon banner was, the red carpet was out and the vertical KM course looked very steep indeed!<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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The main draw of the vertical KM for me (and many other judging by the cheers for them) was Kilian Jornet and Emelie Forsberg and predictably they ran later in their respective classes. It was a great afternoon watching all the runners though, some quick, some struggled a little and I recall Simon and I saying at one point “We should have entered this!” conveniently forgetting that we had to do a 73km lap of the highest points of the island in a couple of days!! The vertical KM kicked off Transvulcania for me, a real celebration of running, brave heroic people running up the mountain, running celebrities milling around, I was like an excitable school girl! I managed to get a photo with Timmy Olson and had a little chat with him, and then a bit later at the awards ceremony for the vertical KM I saw my chance and got my picture taken with the one and only Kilian Jornet! Standing next to him I saw how he was as good as he is and how I am as average as I am.. He is quite a small chap and carries virtually nothing up the mountain, whereas I stagger up carrying my lanky limbs and inferior VO2 Max.. Kilian finished 3rd in the vertical KM by the way, with what appeared to be 2 local guys taking first and second place. Emelie did not podium but looked like she was enjoying the run as she came past.<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<br /><br />The following day was race registration, hop in a car, pick up another of our party – Bruno – from the airport and then make our way to the registration point in Los Cancajos on the other side of the island. I had arranged to meet a couple of my friends from MDS –Gordon and Guy – that morning who had arrived the previous night and were doing the Ultra so was a great vibe altogether. We made our way over to registration picked up timing chips and race numbers then made our way back to Tazacorte. I decided to then grab a few hours siesta as sleep would be short in demand that night. Our nearest shuttle bus to the start was leaving at 3am on Sat morning which meant getting up at 1:30am to get sorted and drive to that town. An ungodly hour to be awake! I awoke in the evening had a big pasta meal, hung around a bit and not really knowing what to do with myself and nerves starting to kick in went back to bed to try and get somewhere near an accumulative night’s sleep in there somewhere.<br /><br /><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<img alt="t6" class="size-full wp-image-13415 alignright" height="398" src="http://www.i-run.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/t6.jpg" style="display: inline; float: right; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 18px 18px; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="325" />1:30am – the alarm goes off, I stumble around trying not to wake my roommate for the night Bruno who was doing the marathon and so didn’t have to be up til 6am! Silently cursing him and wishing I had entered the marathon instead, I took all my stuff in to the bathroom, got dressed for action and made some porridge. Simon and I sat there in silence, perhaps a mix of tiredness, trauma at being awake that early and trepidation at what lay ahead. We got in the car, drove to Los Lianos (or so we thought..) and then realized after 30 minutes of driving that we were on the wrong road. So a near 2:30am sleep deprived exchange of short words, a quick U turn all the way back to where we had started and finally we hit Los Lianos a full 30 minutes after the shuttle bus was due to leave. There were people stumbling around town so it was obviously kicking out time in the clubs and we managed to get directions in my limited knowledge of Spanish to the bus station. We got there and thankfully there was still a coach there! We ditched the car, thanked our lucky stars and proceeded the journey to the start line at Fuencaliente.</div>
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I must say at this point when I stepped out of the front door of our wonderful apartment in Tazacorte the weather was most agreeable; probably about 10 degrees Celcius and a perfect balmy summers evening. Upon stepping off the coach at the start line we were met with the whirling cauldrons of hell!! It was windy, and I was dressed inappropriately to say the least. No jacket, my X-Bionic Fennec top that had served me so well in the MDS some arm warmers a buff and a hat were the extent of the clothing I had on my upper body. I was cold, tired and a bit stressed after the getting lost experience earlier but walking down to the start line was pretty amazing, it is definitely everything you see in the photos and more. A great atmosphere and luckily as we dropped down to by the lighthouse the wind subsided somewhat and I warmed up.<br /><span style="display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin-right: 18px; max-width: 100%; width: auto;"><img alt="Burrows irun blog" class="size-full wp-image-13577 alignleft" height="435" src="http://www.i-run.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Burrows-irun-blog.jpg" style="display: inline; float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 18px 18px 0px; max-width: 100%; width: auto;" width="325" /></span>At 6am we were off, the start of Transvulcania 2014! 45 miles, 14000ft of elevation to come, & I was a little underwhelmed if I am honest.. We started to climb from the start, & joined a long line of 1,500 or so runners & walkers making their way up the mountain. I clocked my first mile at 23 minutes & really hope this wasn’t going to be the shape of things to come! It was chaotic at the start but as the first few miles played out there seemed to be some equilibrium & I was feeling ok with the climbing. I had trained hard on the hills in Jersey & whilst I could never replicate the elevation of La Palma I felt that I had done enough to feel reasonably confident. I had a strategy in mind for the race; as much as one can for a race that one hasn’t done before! It was to climb for the first 13m, the middle bit looked “easy” on the profile so this was where I would make my time up then I would glide home downhill on the third part. So part one was going ok, it was dark and windy and the black dust was clinging to me as I had worked up a bit of a sweat, but I was in a rhythm, running where I could and keeping it real. About 2 or so hours into the race the sun started to come up & I remember coming into the first major checkpoint of the race. Surprisingly there were loads of people there & it gave me shivers down my spine as people were cheering & really making us feel like heroes.</div>
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On and on the climbing went.. I was feeling ok though, I was pushing hard but I felt within my limits. By around 11am it had started to get warm but I was enjoying the scenery and playing the little mental games I do when running ultras, ticking off the miles, ¼ of the way through, 1/3 of the way through etc etc.. I recall getting to the El Pilar refuge which to me signified the end of the first third of the race and there was a few miles here of nice up and down running and I felt so good. I was on top of my nutrition, my hydration was good and I was even I daresay enjoying the race.. Coming out of El Pilar and this was the second major checkpoint and again lots of people were around and this lifted me. I was running a lot around this time, even the inclines and making good time. I had had a few bits of food from the checkpoint; some water melon which was amazing and a power bar type thing which I tried a bit of, it wasn’t great and I left the rest of it in my rucksack. I was running along ticking the miles off, and looking forward to a bit more running rather than climbing..<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<br /><br />So the climb to the highest point – Le Rocque De Los Muchachos; This is where the race began to get interesting. I think about 21 miles into the race I started to get a few little aches and pains and the various underlying issues I had been managing for the last few months – my hip flexor and my knee – started to play up a little. I decided to take an Ibuprofen just to try and delay the breakdown I could feel was on the horizon. The Ibuprofen kicked in and everything was ok for a bit. Then the heat started to bother me, I was really starting to feel the sun, I was also hungry, so at the 27 mile or so mark I decided to sample one of the cheese and salami rolls that had been laid on at the checkpoint there. I ate it and pressed on, the push for the highest point was on, up to 2,400metres and then it was all downhill – literally as it appeared on the course elevation! By now I was having to stop every now and then just to have a little stretch and I could feel that the climbing had taken it out of me, I was truly at my limits and I just wanted the relentless climbing to be over. This is where things went wrong for me; the cheese and salami roll wasn’t welcome in my stomach but rather than doing the decent thing and just getting rid of it, my body started to complain.. I felt weak, my stomach started flipping over, I felt nauseous and a little bit sorry for myself and I knew which was this was going to go.. I started to slow down dramatically, I could see the top of the climb but it seemed every corner I turned it didn’t seem to get nearer, the sun was really bothering me by now, I had to seek out shade and rest every 100 meters or so as my body was in full rebellion. I was that guy that everyone was going past with his head in his hands and every one of them asking “Are you OK?” or words to that effect in Spanish or French.. I knew the game was up in my heart of hearts, but I also knew that I had to get to the highest point to be able to drop out – purgatory!! I carried on with my rest every 100 meters tactic savoring every bit of shade I could find. Eventually my body had had enough of the cheese roll and told it “Your names not down so you’re not coming in!” I was sick and so now I was completely devoid of energy.. The further I got to the top the more people were sitting by the side, one guy looked in worse bother than me and some medic from the top had come down as it looked like he had injured himself. I continue the odyssey to the top.. I got there eventually and after nearly 12 hours I decided to quit. It was a tough decision as I had been building towards this all year, but I knew I had nothing left to carry on. So for the second time in a race I posted a DNF<br /><br />Upon getting to the top and before definitively deciding to quit I sat down for a good 15 or so minutes and had a good think about it. I spoke to a friend on the phone who tried to talk me round and I really soul searched. I know it was the right decision at the time as I was spent. I had nothing left, had gone so close to my limits before being sick and then that left me no reserves to finish the job really. I was informed by Simon and Bruno (who both did really well in their respective races; the ultra and the marathon) that the rest of the course had been completely downhill and I wonder if had I know that whether I would have pushed on and seen how I felt. Second guessing, however, is no good and is a recipe for sending one mad I believe. I do think about Transvulcania and I have a tinge of something, not sure what it is at the moment, but it has made me think hard about what I want from running. Over the last couple of years I have improved so much as a runner and I think I have changed in my approach to running from enjoying it primarily to competing and getting results and being concerned with times and paces and all the other units of measurement us OCD runners like to concern ourselves with. I love to train, and I love to race but lately I suspect I might have been racing for the wrong reasons. I recall doing Transvulcania and being so focused on finishing the race, ticking off the miles, playing the little distance games I play in my mind and getting the medal that I forgot to be in the actual moment and enjoy the race for what it is – one with breathtaking scenery and amazing challenges. I would be pushed to say that I enjoyed much of the race, purely for my own reasons and this worries me significantly.<br /><br />The rest of the week I had in La Palma was spent relaxing in the sun and recovering from the race. I was so tired after the event and slept a lot. I did however want to have a crack at the vertical kilometer course and so on the Tuesday Simon and I set off and had a go at it. It was steep but really enjoyable with some amazing views of Tazacorte Bay. I also had the bonus of getting on the same Strava segment leaderboard page as Anna Frost the female winner of Transvulcania for 2014 – she was well quicker than me I hasten to add but I will take these small victories!<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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<br /><br />So back to life and back to reality – In August I am due to run Round the Rock 7 times in 7 days in aid of Jersey Hospice Care. I was worried after Transvulcania – “Have I gone soft?” “Have I lost my edge?” “Have I lost the ability to endure suffering to complete a race?” These were all questions that I faced as I recovered from Transvulcania.<br /><br />My response? Get on the internet and book another race! Get back on the horse! The criteria? A 40 mile or so Ultra, In the UK, around early June – The Endurancelife Classic Quarter fitted the bill perfectly! Race report for that to follow!<br /><br />Back to the initial subject of Omens and my logical mind knows that the whole Magpie thing is rubbish really, and I am trying to train myself to not buy into the whole superstition thing as life is complicated enough right? The omens weren’t so good for Transvulcania however, but even so I have taken away a lot of valuable lessons from that race as I have from every race I have done. Running has been such a journey for me; I remember setting out to start training for my first marathon on 1st January 2011 and the journey since then has been amazing; my life has changed beyond recognition and I have found a niche where before I felt I did not really fit. I guess I went through a period of steep improvement for a few years, thinking at one point I was invincible and could do anything! My times got quicker, my distances got longer and my limits expanded. I’m now I am on the other side of that with the gains being seconds and the concern being more about how well I am placing rather than how much I give and actually maybe enjoying it. Transvulcania was a big awakening for me and since then I have done a lot of thinking about my motives for running, about what I enjoy, what I will go through to finish a race, what motivates me to finish a race and to do well. So onwards and upwards – Classic Quarter race report to follow soon.Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-89696295169845623682014-06-21T14:27:00.002+01:002014-06-21T14:27:53.116+01:00Transvulcania 2014 Build UpSo I am here finally! It is the first major race of the year for me, and after a bit of a mission of a journey to get here, spanning 24 hours, 3 flights and quite a bit of waiting around I am here on the La Isla Bonita to be part of the toughest Sky Running race, Transvulcania.<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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I am staying in Tazacorte which is a lovely little town on the coast and hosted the vertical mile race yesterday. An amazing event where runners run up the hill pictured above and is actually a Kilometre up in the sky. I and my friend Simon sat about a ¼ of the way up the mountain and saw people running up with ungodly speed, and was lucky enough to see Kilian Jornet and Emelie Forsberg doing the business. Kilian came third in the event but I suspect he is saving himself for the main event on Saturday!!<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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There are a lot of runners based here in Tazacorte; lots of tell tale Salomon trail shoes and backpacks around yesterday! We saw Timothy Olson and Kilian around the town which was pretty amazing, almost a little star struck!!<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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As I write this I have less than 24 hours til the start of Transvulcania, when we arrive on the plane I got to see the mountains I would be climbing first hand and close up and they are big!! For those of you who aren’t aware the race is around 15,000 feet of climbing covering 73 kms along the volcanic rim of the island. Its an epic race and this year sees a really strong lineup taking part in both the male and female race; Kilian Jornet (winner 2013) Timothy Olson, Sage Canaday, Emelie Forsberg (2013 winner of ladies race) Anna Frost (Winner 2012) are all here so it promises to be a spectacle to watch as well as to be part of !<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 18px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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Today sees us going to the expo to pick up race numbers and soak up the vibe. I hope to meet up with a few friends I know today also who are over for the race, although with 1,500+ people taking part in the race, meeting up by chance might be a bit of a tall order!! Once done with the expo, relaxation this afternoon, eating plenty of food and then some shut eye as we have to be at the shuttle bus pick up at 3am in the morning for a 6am start at the light house!! Not sure sleep will matter once I am at the start line however, heres hoping!!<h4 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
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A full race report will follow!!Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-10060442030997765732014-06-21T14:18:00.001+01:002014-06-21T14:18:21.402+01:00Running In The Now<br /><br />Over the last few months I have been getting back into Bikram Yoga. I originally started doing this at the start of 2013 to help me to acclimatise to the heat for the Marathon Des Sables but quickly discovered the multitude of other benefits it gave me. I think the biggest thing was how after a big weekends mileage I could go to Bikram on a Monday and effectively wipe the slate clean with regards to the niggles and aches I would experience after some weekends where I would run 20+ miles on each day. It quickly became a big part of my pre MDS build up and as it was winter I looked forward to being in the warm as well as “getting my benefits” as my teacher Trisha says. Another aspect of the yoga practice that I enjoyed was the mental side; it enabled/enables me to take time out and focus on the here and now and push all other concerns to the side for the 90 mins I am in the room. Getting to grips with the nuances of the poses engages both mind and body and even once au fait with them there is the challenge of pushing yourself to your furthest stretches and poses. I remember doing 4 days in a row over the long weekend last Easter and feeling like I had had a mental holiday by the end of it.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.i-run.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Running-In-The-Now-Paul-Burrows.jpg" /><br /><br />So over the last few months I have been enjoying getting the benefits of yoga; looking back over last year I was in better shape injury wise when I was doing yoga and I sincerely feel that it has played a part recently in keeping me stretched, supple (er) and hopefully injury free. Since starting back to it in January I have made a mental shift as last year I was using it specifically to get ready for the desert and I now see it as a complementary session to my week of training. I think in the lead up to MDS I was almost “hard-core” in my approach to it; trying to get near the hottest part of the room, trying to push myself as hard as possible and almost being as competitive as I can be with my running sometimes. This year I have taken a step back and I now enjoy it so much more, I feel I have adopted the attitude to try and do as well as I can in each moment and to accept each session for what it is rather than thinking about the last session and how well I did a particular pose or even how badly I did one. This now means that sometimes I might be tired and not really up for the session but I suspend preconceptions and up til now I have always had good sessions..<br /><br />So what has this to do with running?? Well over the last year or so I have been thinking a lot about living in the now a concept that was explored in “The Power of Now” a great book that I heartily recommend to people who worry about the future J. I read this book and it changed my perception of life and really encouraged me to start living in the now, not to dwell on the past and not to worry too much about the future. I won’t go into the full idea here suffice to say it’s an interesting read if nothing else. So lately I have been thinking a lot about my running and training, competitiveness and state of mind whilst running. In previous posts I have explored various concepts taking in competitiveness, injury, confidence, race strategy, motivation and I feel that having gone through a bit of a dare I say it “a downer” over the winter I have completed quite a rollercoaster journey over the last year. The result of this being that over the last few months I have done a lot of thinking and really re-connected with the reasons why I love to run, and subsequently have begun to enjoy training even more. In turn I have adopted good mental strategies to ensure I remain in the now when running and not distracted by how much it hurts, what the other runners are doing, my pace or where I am in position to other runners in a race for example and so I still feel competitive but it is a more healthy form in my opinion where I am trying to the best that I can do in every moment rather than comparing myself to external markers that I have no real control over. It is very liberating and for me now feels like the way I will get the most out of myself whilst still actually enjoying the sport. This draws a lot of parallels with the practice of yoga and I feel the running and yoga complement each other.<br /><br />Next up for me is Transvulcania and training has been slowly ramping up for this. The race itself takes in over 14000 feet of elevation so the big thing for me on the training agenda has been hill work. A week or so ago I went out in Jersey with fellow Trans V entrant Simon and another running friend Lee to try and recreate at least 7000 feet of elevation here in Jersey. Jersey has got some great hills but 7000ft of elevation would call for some ingenuity! We mulled over a route which was roughly 6 to 7 miles over the tougher sections of the northern cliffpaths here and meant doing the steeper hills a few times and doing loops of the route. In the end the elevation came up to about 4,800 feet over 4 hours and 16 miles which was quite pleasing. It was a tough outing but it was good to have the company of others who were suffering and enjoying it in equal measure.<br /><br />Transvulcania is looking like an amazing race. I have read up on it extensively, been watching YouTube videos of the previous races and now it’s just over a month away am looking forward to getting on the start line. Word is that the line-up of world class athletes taking part is most competitive field yet with the names of Sage Canaday, Killian Jornet, Emelie Forsberg, Timmy Olson and some great UK runners including Ricky Lightfoot and Robbie Britton taking part so should be a great event to do some star spotting. I am considering going to the front of the start line and eyeballing everyone mouthing “you’re going down” to everyone who looks at me. I will then proceed to 5:30 min mile off the start line for 100metres just to say I led the race for 10 secs before crashing in a blaze of glory, pulling a hamstring and spending the rest of the day in abject misery. J<br /><br />And back to reality. Transvulcania is my first major race of the year, in fact so far my only scheduled ultra “race“ of the year. In August I plan to run Round the Rock x 7 which is 7 times around the island of Jersey in 7 days totalling around 330 miles of running for the week. Day one will see me taking part in Round the Rock the race, then when everyone else is able to head to the bar after their race is done I will be getting ready for day 2 which will see me heading around Jersey in the opposite direction to day one just to keep it interesting. I have decided to do this to raise funds for Jersey Hospice Care a local charity here that has touched or will touch the lives of nearly everyone who lives here with the fantastic work they do in the community for people suffering from cancer and motor neurone disease. I had a friend Natalie who was diagnosed with a brain tumour who spent the last 6 weeks of her life there in 2012 and they were amazing. I did the Marathon des Sables last year for Jersey Hospice and raised just under £15,000.00 I would love to try and beat this target but any amount raised would be awesome.<br /><br />The big factor with the challenge is the sheer mileage that I will cover; anyone who has read my blogs know I have a bit of a dodgy knee and this is my biggest worry. I have been training well however, and the knee has become less and less of an issue as I have got stronger and I have iced it at every opportunity which has seemed to assist with the recovery. Another big factor is the mental aspect of getting up every day to run 48 miles. I am hoping that my new mind-set of living in the now will help with this, break it down into small steps, take it day by day and do my best in each moment being the order of the week!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.i-run.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Running-In-The-Now-Paul-Burrows-1.jpg" /><br /><br />I have now got the basis of a plan coming together re logistics; I have a few faithful friends who are willing to follow me around the island each day catering to my every whim like a pampered diva (only blue M&M’s, Crystal champagne, sandwiches with the crusts cut off – you get the idea!!) which is a big part of whether I will complete this challenge. Being able to eat and fuel during the day and not having to carry masses of food, moral support as I go round and having access to medical supplies and other things will be vital to set myself up for each following day and stay on the road. I am now in the process of organising events locally to both raise the profile of the challenge and also to raise funds, at the moment I have a few runs in the local M&S on a treadmill scheduled, a film quiz night and some work based events such as cake sales etc.<br /><br />With the onset of British Summer time (!) and the clocks going forward I intend to be spending as much of my week on the trails as possible, I really love this time of year; the winter is nearly done, the weather starts to improve, the nights get longer and hopefully 6 months of summer to look forward to. Good times and hopefully lots to come!<br /><br />The Marathon des Sables is just about to kick off and I remember myself this time last year just how nervous I was, but up for it at the same time. I am so jealous of the guys heading out there and particularly to the guys heading out there from Jersey: Cameron Purcell, James Manners, Neil Battrick, Jon Boleat, Simon Todd and James Carnegie I hope you have a good race and most of all enjoy the unique experience the race has to offer!<br /><br />Happy running all!<br /><br />All feedback greatly received – please contact me at paulburrows2000@yahoo.comPaul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-22379833582130898272014-02-13T20:38:00.001+00:002014-02-13T20:38:41.490+00:00In The Swing.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful Jersey In The Spring.. Bring It On!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It’s a great time of the winter when the six nations rugby
has started, the nights start to get a little lighter and getting out to do
those runs seems to get that little bit easier.. It’s been an epic winter
weather wise, even here in sunny Jersey, with gale force winds, flooded
streets, cold mornings and muddy trails. Of course the allure for me to trail
running in the winter is precisely the muddy trails and cold mornings, the
feeling of being out in all weathers running, welcoming the rising sun when
most people are tucked up in their warm beds is a good one, and whilst January
was certainly not a record mileage month there has been some nice runs.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I remember this time last year being so motivated as I had
the Marathon des Sables on the horizon in April and so I was training hard and
with a focus that I have struggled to find so far this year. I might even
venture to say I “have lost my mojo…” somewhat! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But this isn’t another post about soul searching, navel
gazing or self-pity. This is a post about hope, the arrival of a new time, the
phoenix rising from the ashes!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am glad to say that fitness and motivation are coming back
in equal measures, I had a quiet January building mileage slowly and doing plenty
of Kettle bell training to complement the running. After last year there were
few red flags; Lower back pain, shoulders slumping forward in the latter part
of races and also problems with my hip flexors as well as the long standing
issue with my knee/VMO. So at the start this year I decided I wanted to do more
to condition my body correctly so as to build a solid base to be able to handle
the races and challenges I have ahead of me this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have really grown to love Kettle bell training and now see
it as an important corner stone of my training regime. I think the amount of
different exercises that can be done with such a simple piece of equipment is
amazing and the amount of technique it takes to master the exercises is a big
draw, particularly the dynamic exercises. I particularly like the fact that in
a 30 minute session I can cover 20 or so different exercise and work on
strength, work every muscle in the body and also work on an aerobic level as
well. So for me it really ticks the boxes and I am starting to see real gains
in my running, particularly in running form, running up hills and general
endurance. I am excited to see how much this can help me and will be reporting
through the year on this.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I recently went to see a specialist about my dodgy knee as I
had been carrying it for a few months and felt the off season a good time to
try and address it. The specialist examined it and referred me for an MRI scan
to see what was going on inside. Once done and the results were in I went back
to see him and initially he gave me the sobering news that I would need to rest
and do no impact related activity for the rest of 2014 due to bone bruising and
some cartilage damage on the inside section of my knee. I was absolutely
blindsided by this to be honest. We talked a little and I told him of my plans
for 2014 and he decided to re-examine the knee. He said that the symptoms had
receded since the last time he had seen me and that he would still recommend
that I take 3 months instead of a year.. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had some serious thinking to do.. At the start of this
year I had set myself definite goals; Transvulcania in May, South Downs Way 100
in June and then I was planning to do the grand challenge of 7 x Round the Rock
in 7 Days – totalling 336 miles in a week running around the island of Jersey,
as well as a few other things here and there. All of a sudden this was all in
jeopardy and I had to really think about what was important. Could I take 3
months off and maintain fitness? Could I take 3 months off and be motivated
enough to then return to running? (My biggest fear!) When could I take 3 months
off?? So I met with Coach Bruno and we discussed the forthcoming year; luckily
my knee isn’t dehabilitating and I really want to do transvulcania so I decided
to pull out from the SDW100 and carry on with the other plans. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once I had decided this the emphasis had to be on trying to
protect the knee as much as possible to enable some kind of recovery whilst
also training. A fine line to walk and initially in early Jan a difficult
balance to get, it seemed as soon as it was confirmed that there was something
wrong with the knee that it hurt more and I seemed to get all sorts of niggles alongside
it. It seemed to get worse and I was pretty despondent about the year ahead but
I think that now I have turned a corner, fitness is coming back, strength work
is kicking in which should enhance my running form and take strain off my knee,
and I am using orthotics to try and alter my gait slightly as I have a fallen
arch on the injured side (a strong contender for why I have a dodgy knee I
believe!) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So on to February and it is time to start the hard work for
Transvulcania, I am sure most of you who read this are aware of this race and
the amount of climbing involved so I won’t go into the detail, needless to say
I will be doing a lot of hill training over the forthcoming months. It is nice
to have that booked and ready to go and I am looking forward to being part of
another iconic race. After the uncertainty, lack of motivation and direction in
January it is great to be feeling that pull towards a race and a goal again –
good for the mind and soul! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After Transvulcania, in August I will be doing 7 round the
rocks in 7 days (RtRx7) around my home island of Jersey. The first day (2</span><sup style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nd</sup><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
August) is the day of the 48 mile Round The Rock Ultra here and then when
everyone else will be sat in the bar contemplating a job well done, I will be
recovering and getting ready to go out the next day and run it the next day,
and then the next etc etc in alternating directions around the island to keep
it interesting. I am attempting to this challenge on behalf of Jersey Hospice
Care and hope to raise some good money for an amazing local charity that has a
profound reach within our community. I have plenty of fundraising events
planned on the back of this also so should be a good money spinner all in all!</span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will be posting more about RtRx7 as it draws
closer.. I will be looking for people to accompany me on the route for parts of
it or a full day, so if a holiday to Jersey is on the agenda, hit me up! I have
already secured a key sponsor, Marks and Spencer here in Jersey who have always
been so supportive with my charity events are helping me to publicise the event
through the week I will be running. I will be running instore on a treadmill
about 3 weeks before and I believe even some plucky members of staff from the
store want to come and join me for parts of the route!</span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So after a slow January and a slightly quicker February I
anticipate a focussed March, with lighter nights, more volume in training and
more fitness reclaimed. Just over 2 months til Transvulcania and I am really
looking forward to being part of the race and having got over the logistical
nightmare of booking flights and accommodation I now look forward to lining up
on the start line with some of the world’s best ultra-runners (Timothy Olson
already confirmed to be racing!) and around 1,500 of us mere mortals who do it
just for fun. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Feedback:</b> How have
you been keeping motivation up during this winter? Are you a winter or summer
runner? What trail shoes have you been using to keep upright in the slippy
conditions? Any other adverse weather tips you wish to share? Get involved!!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-85729756047528757882014-02-02T10:17:00.001+00:002014-02-02T10:17:22.463+00:00PB Human Gear Test Laboratory - Hoka One One Mafate <div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hoka One One.</span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now there's a
controversial sentence in the world of running if ever I heard one. I like many
first saw these and was not impressed. They look awful! But over time I have
seen a few people sporting them at races and a friend of mine Leanne had bought
a pair and reported that they were "extremely comfortable." This
piqued my interest and so I started to read a few reviews here and there just
to get the general feel for whether these are just a fad or whether there is
something in the ultra cushioned, low heel drop, slightly wider than normal
shoe approach.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After reading a few
reviews and coming close a few times to pushing the button on a brand new Hoka
purchase I finally got lucky on Ebay and managed to get a pair that had been
worn only a couple of times in my size. I felt this much more sensible than
blowing £120 on a pair, trying them once and then consigning them to my ever
growing "Shoes I dont really like" collection. I managed to get this
lovely pair for the princely sum of £48 and they came with velcro already sown
on them should I decide I wish to use them for Marathon Des Sable 2015 -
result!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So on to the review..<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjikM92OnEFNljM0sDmZJctpeK6Mx7tCS0sdmaIr_1hU-WPgR5sixTOUdcQ19bYPcrB-ynZlX4JeABtbUBDwCaY6G7lhrt5AsLTDXFbBrisUsZS3zsmWam66BJ-IIK9t2nn9cOTsbAN2yPJ/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjikM92OnEFNljM0sDmZJctpeK6Mx7tCS0sdmaIr_1hU-WPgR5sixTOUdcQ19bYPcrB-ynZlX4JeABtbUBDwCaY6G7lhrt5AsLTDXFbBrisUsZS3zsmWam66BJ-IIK9t2nn9cOTsbAN2yPJ/s400/photo+2.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg36aUtZYNTnFfAIuESvEgBXLqmnZIeUI8P8ifko01fRIrpkMDjILh6EnHex1Ljoo0zaof764nzCMhUQmIouVrqu_amAovuiyFuxx4ofU7BUiLGGGrvXDKeXyyRf5w_iLUfmD9qbZhZQ0zu/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg36aUtZYNTnFfAIuESvEgBXLqmnZIeUI8P8ifko01fRIrpkMDjILh6EnHex1Ljoo0zaof764nzCMhUQmIouVrqu_amAovuiyFuxx4ofU7BUiLGGGrvXDKeXyyRf5w_iLUfmD9qbZhZQ0zu/s400/photo+1.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heres a photo of the shoes, as you can see they are rather big! And also rather bright. I have a friend who I run with who is afraid of the colour yellow so I am looking forward to the next time we run together ;-)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><u>The Hype - </u></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As stated on The Endurance Store Website: "There are many shoes on the market designed to promote a
'natural/barefoot' running style, and often this goes hand in hand with a
'minimalist' construction, offering very little (if any) underfoot
cushioning. Here is a shoe that promotes a natural running style that
has been designed with a considerable amount of cushioning under the
foot.This oversized approach ensures a natural stride whether on smooth
road surfaces or the most uneven trails. The shoe is lightweight, with a
good grip, and a wide platform designed for stability. The close lacing
system further enhances stability and support and they offer
outstanding impact absorption and a very comfortable underfoot feel. The
sole features a rockering profile to provide a smooth, energy efficient
stride, propelling you forward with each and every strike of the foot.
In our view this is an extremely comfortable, lightweight shoe that in
particular excels on the descents. The Mafate shoes would be ideally
suited for almost any long distance event."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Initial Thoughts<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My initial thoughts as
stated are that whilst they look awful, I had read enough to want to give these
a go. I put them on and they felt so cushioned as to be expected. I had a
little run round the garden and even though they are tall compared to
conventional trainers the extra width meant that they felt stable. One of the
reasons I wanted to try these were due to a knee niggle that I have been
carrying for the last few months; I figured that if the extra cushioning could
protect me a little on longer runs this would be a great pay-off. I went out on
a trail run to really put these through their paces, deciding to jump straight
in and go for a 19 mile run on cliff paths, a few hills and technical sections.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In use<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m a bit of a gear
junkie (aren’t all us runners?) and once I buy something I am keen to use it
straight away, hence why I jumped straight in at the deep end with quite a long
run on new running shoes (potential schoolboy error??) . I was really pleased
with how they felt though and having read previous reviews I definitely
concurred with the overall feeling of how the cushioning really makes the ride
on the trails very smooth. All of a sudden I was able to step straight on big
rocks rather than run round them and not feel a thing compared to wearing a
pair of Inov-8’s for example. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I definitely was really
tuned in to how they felt and was enjoying the ride and the cushioned feeling.
Another thing you will read in reviews is how the shoe, being wider is still
stable despite the increased height. I found this to be true in most cases,
however I did feel the potential to turn an ankle here and there, something
which I tend not to experience in thinner soled shoes. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was evident that the
connection with the ground was lost a little but I guess this is the tradeoff
with the comfort. Even though the shoe is a substantial size the shoe is so
light which is quite deceptive.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a while on the
trail I noticed that my front left toe was rubbing against something in the toe
box, like a seam of some description. I powered on and through the run the
rubbing got quite bad. I just zipped up the man suit and got on with it but my
poor toe took quite a battering!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I got to the end of the
run and my legs definitely felt fresher than in some conventional trail shoes.
I do generally over pronate and I felt that the Hokas didn’t really offer me
much in the way of support and had maybe put some strain on aforementioned knee
injury. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></span></u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As previously disclose I didn’t like the look of these, but on a
practical level after reading reviews I felt that they could be useful in some
scenarios; particularly in training and longer races. I think the cushioned
ride is awesome and I loved being able to stomp down a rocky path with no real
thought to what was in my way. I did feel that there could be more support in
the shoe, but I think that is down to my whack biomechanics and fallen arches
so will be experimenting with an orthotic in the future to see whether this
will help.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although the day I went out wasn’t a particularly wet day I felt the
grip was good with no real issues going up or down hill and I felt I could
trust the soles. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I really feel that Hokas have a role to play in ones arsenal of trail
shoes. For those that run ultras I think on a course where it is less technical
these could really serve a purpose and help to preserve leg freshness for
longer which is great news. I don’t see myself using these in the heart of
winter on slippy slidy cliffpath routes, but envisage come Spring these will be
getting a fair bit of use.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-29692343327061158492014-01-13T21:28:00.000+00:002014-01-13T21:28:09.608+00:00A Blank Canvas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white;">So here we are a new year and a new base building period for the forthcoming calendar of races. I, like many others I suspect, took the time over Christmas to rest and recuperate both mentally and physically from running and to let little niggles heal and get straight for 2014. I also suspect like many others I might have put a few pounds on over the festive period, which was initially a little startling and was something I wasn’t too happy about. Various discussions with my coach, girlfriend (who runs as well) and other runners have settled my mind about this and I have actually come to view it as a positive as my coach likened it to running with a weight vest which in turn should strengthen the muscles and as the weight comes off (hopefully) the strength will stay, making a stronger, faster, leaner Paul! Or something like that anyway!</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Further to my last post, which saw me at the end of 2013 pondering “Has my fire really gone out?” I am pleased to report that my fire is on its way back.. It may not be burning like the inferno that it has whilst at the peak of my powers, but there is a little spark and due to the rest and time away from running I am feeling “the love” coming back, which is great news indeed! I spent alot of December not really being sure of what was going on, I was in a very unfamiliar place; not really wanting to run, lacking motivation, feeling despondent and this permeated to the very fabric of my character. I think over the last 2 years I have very much become “Paul The Runner” and I suspect that alot of people identify me as such also, which is great when things are going well and I am on form, but actually not having run much through December I suddenly realised I had nothing to talk about!This was quite disconcerting and led me to think about getting a little more balance in my life.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">So onto 2014 and taking the theme of balance I have decided that this year I will race less, train more and live more life in between. I have a race roughly every 3 months this year rather than every 6 weeks (on average) last year and I am looking forward to the next 5 months training leading up to my first race Transvulcania in May. After that is the SDW 100 that will be a test as I am yet to complete the 100 mile distance and then Round the Rock Ultra here in Jersey (with maybe a little charity based twist – watch this space for more news on this). These races will be interspersed with a few trail races and shorter distance “fun” races and hopefully a few trips to run in awesome places around the UK.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Another thought that I have been toying with over the winter is addressing the issues that cropped up strength wise over the latter part of the year for me particularly hip flexor strength, core strength and a dodgy knee. I am taking the relative down time as a chance to sort my knee and to do some weights to address any weaknesses or imbalances I may have. I have discovered the joy of kettle bells and have purchased a few various weights off Amazon and a few evenings a week you will find me doing a KB workout of lengths varying from 15 to 45 mins with plenty of vids available on Youtube. I have been enjoying the new challenge of kettle bells to be honest, learning the technique and the variety is really fun and most of the exercise are either very leg dominant or engage the whole body so even after a few weeks I am noticing gains in strength in classically weak areas for long distance runners. I have been running and then coming home and adding on a little 15 minute session which is plenty enough time to do 10 or so different exercises.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Now we are into January proper the training again starts in earnest and I have noticed the relative loss in fitness after a rest period. Sessions that I would sail through normally have turned into heartbreakers leaving me a gasping broken mess, but that’s the other side of resting and I know the fitness will come back, the weight will shift and I will hopefully jump to the next level. I love the feeling of 2014 being a blank canvas waiting for me to make my mark and I look forward to getting in the groove, working hard and creating more good experiences similar to last year.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">I would be interested to hear about how readers of this blog have been training through the winter, what have you been doing to be faster, stronger and better this year? What hopes do you have for 2014 in terms of races? What did 2013 throw up for you in terms of issues that you hope to address in 2014?</span></div>
Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-43756263461652564462013-12-08T22:25:00.001+00:002013-12-08T22:26:52.682+00:00Has My Fire Really Gone Out?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I sit here after a great weekend away in Dorset and competing in the Dorset CTS Ultra for the second time and racing on that amazingly beautiful yet brutal coastline for the fourth time. Its been a tiring but great weekend away, ten of us from Jersey took part in the varous distance race offered by Endurancelife from 10km right through to the Ultra and it was great to see everyone who took part enjoy their experiences.<br />
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I would love this post to be about how I have continued on this amazing trajectory of improvement in my running journey, how I ran the Ultra and improved on my time and race positioning from last year ( as was my goal as I lined up on Saturday morning at 8:15 at the bottom of Lulworth Hill Climb). However this post is more a cautionary tale I guess.. If you have read any of my posts from this year you will be aware of the year I have had in terms of running, I did the maths earlier today and the races I have done go something like this:<br />
<br />
XNRG Pilgrims Challenge - 2 day x 34 miles each day<br />
Marathon Des Sables - 5 days - 150 ish miles<br />
ITEX Run/Walk - 48 miles<br />
Run Jersey Trail Half Marathon <br />
Round The Rock Ultra - 48 Miles<br />
Cotswolds Way 100 miler (62 miles as DNF'ed)<br />
Jersey Marathon Relay (7 mile leg)<br />
Rowbothams Round Rotherham (50 miles)<br />
Spartans Jersey Half Marathon<br />
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and the icing on the cake the Dorset Ultra - 34 miles 6,600 ft of ascent and a whole lot of pain! So my motivation was to come back to measure how I had done over the last year and whether I had improved and whether I could take on the Jurassic coast and find it easier (even a little?) than last December - a great yardstick in my opinion.<br />
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After Round Rotherham I had been quite conservative in terms of training, coach Bruno favouring intensity over distance, but I felt I had had alot of quality sessions bringing in plyometrics and some strength work on top. I have had a lingering knee problem since June time which I have been managing but not been able to shake as well as hip flexor problems and other assorted niggles.. Familiar to all who run regularly I am sure.. <br />
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So lining up at the start I felt good; physically stronger, confident after some good results and lots of lessons learnt over the year. I stood at the front ready to go feeling that I belonged at the front and ready to do my best that day. The countdown began 10-9-8... And then we were off. Straight away a nice 350 feet climb to get the legs and lungs ticking over, my intention being to run to the top as if to set out my intention for the race. I got 3/4 of the way up was with another 4 or 5 people and we made our way to the top - first climb done and on to the first descent and to the bottom of the next 524 feet climb.. So this continued on, me talking to myself in my head "Relax, climb consistently, run your own race" (my running mantra) and just trying to get the initial few climbs done without using too much energy as I knew there was plenty to come through the coming 34 miles.<br />
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By the time I was 8 or 9 miles in to the run I was in 6th place, in a rhythm of sorts and feeling ok.. All going well until a little blip where I wasn't sure where to go as it wasn't very clearly signposted. I went off round a field and took about 8 people with me, we went about half a mile along this route without seeing any more signposting and slowly the others turned back to retrace their steps. 3 of us committed to this route and miraculously found our way back on to the course albeit a bit further down the standings - I was informed I was now in 22nd place coming the through the start line again to make our foray into the West side of the course taking in some truly massive climbs.<br />
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So things were going well, I was in the groove, I had dealt with a potential disaster well both by finding the course again and not letting it get to me too much. I felt good physically and was getting the climbs done, recovering well and chasing back the places I had lost. By checkpoint 2 I was told that I was between 10th and 15th place so I felt it was going ok..<br />
This was when things started to go a little pear shaped.. I recall coming out of CP2 and straight into what must have been the 7th or 8th big climb of the day, it had been really quite warm earlier so I had taken my gloves off and stashed them in my rucksack, it was now getting cold however and I knew the gloves were wet so I had to put up with cold hands; the hands got colder, my persistent knee problem got worse and my hip flexor started to hurt quite badly as it usually does in the later stages of ultras.. I was climbing and then running but it felt like the running along the flat was getting tough all of a sudden, so I was cold, tired both physically and mentally, and in a bit of pain.<br />
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The voices in my head then started; you will know these voices if you have ever done a half marathon, marathon or ultra marathon; "You've had a great year this year Paul, you don't need to prove yourself by completing the ultra distance, why don't you when you get to the finish line of the marathon call it a day there? You'll still get a marathon time, its close enough 30 miles anyway and you can have a nice cup of tea, get warm and take the weight off those poor tired legs of yours.." as well as "look at all the races you've run this year, all the miles you've run, just call it a day.." Now I had never allowed the voices to be this clear before, to be fair my body was starting to seize up, and the thought of a cuppa was really alluring.. This was at about 23 miles, I knew I still had another 6 miles or so til I finished even the marathon route, but the way the ultra works is you have to go through the marathon finish and then do the initial 10km loop again, and I knew what was waiting for me out there and I knew I couldn't face it again that day!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What Lay In Store For Me Out There..</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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So I got the last few miles done and I did actually feel a little better by the time I got to the finish of the marathon I was actually contemplating carrying on, by this time the ultra course had combined with the half marathon course and I started to edge out of the 1/2 marathon pack towards the start of the second 10km loop when someone said to me "Its this way mate", thinking I was a half marathon runner and due to finish, so with my will of iron I capitulated and went through the finish and dropped the race at the marathon distance.<br />
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Now I must state here that I had mulled this decision to drop over in my head whilst running and was completely ok with it; I remember doing the same race last year, exactly the same scenario, having to run through the marathon finish and do the 10km loop to finish the ultra and there was no voices and no question of me not finishing. So what changed? This is a question I was asking myself yesterday and discussing over a few beers last night with some of the guys I was away with, and I think it comes down to this;<br />
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<b><u>I have done alot of races this year! </u></b></div>
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I know this may not sound like rocket science, but I think back to last year and I was so hungry and focused on just getting the job done regardless of what pain I had to go through and I think of the races I have done this year and my focus has become more on not whether I will finish but how well will I do. I think essentially I am running more with my ego at times than my heart, and I have started to expect more of myself in terms of times, results etc which puts pressure on a little and can to a certain extent take away the intrinsic enjoyment of running. I have done 10 races of any consequence this year meaning 10 times this year I have had to get mentally ready and to apply my will focus and motivation to run the race. Even the shorter distance stuff has been high intensity meaning that I gave 100% and left it all out there each time. I think back to last year and remember getting a little over running at a certain point in the year, taking some time off for a couple of weeks and getting back to it and that did the trick. This year has been a busy year with an average of a race every 6 weeks or so and whilst I have loved it, looking back I now see that slowly the quality of my performances have been getting diluted. Between Aug and December I did a 100 miler, a 50 miler a month later, a half marathon 2 weeks after that which yielded a new PB of 1:26:32 and then I did the Dorset ultra. So thats quite a workload. Coach Bruno says that ideally an athlete should race every 6 months, and I think now looking back on this year I can see the logic. We discussed this yesterday also and have struck a deal where I will stick to racing once every 3 months to enable a bit more quality out of next year (hopefully!)<br />
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I have discussed motivation and positive self talk alot over the last few posts I have written as these are the lessons I have come up against particularly in the last 6 months, I think expectation (both from myself and from others) positive self talk, and motivation have been things that I have thought in great detail about, read about and have helped me discover alot more about myself as a person as well as a runner this year; I think my goal will be to go back to basics a little more next year, race less, save the peaks for the races that matter, do more quality session rather than quantity and reconnect with my love for running so that when the dark times hit as they did yesterday I have an arsenal of reasons why I should keep going rather than why I should stop. I sincerely hope that the main reason for not finishing the ultra yesterday is just down to a collective dwindling of motivation and willingness to endure pain due to the busy schedule and will be fixed by a lengthy period of rest rather than a change of state of mind in me that means I may not have the motivation inside me to endure anymore. Time will tell on that score I am sure, but nonetheless I have 2 weeks now of no weight bearing exercise at all, perhaps a little swimming and maybe some yoga to keep a routine going of some description. Then providing my knee is better I hope to have a couple of weeks of un regimented running to allow for some flexibility and to not be fulfilling a program, I might even... GASP... run without my Garmin now and again maybe??<br />
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So onto next year.. 2014, what do I want from next year? I was in the lottery for Western States but was not one of the lucky ones to be pulled out of the hat in the lottery yesterday, so my year is looking like this right now:<br />
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Feb - XNRG Pilgrims Challenge<br />
May - Transvulcania<br />
June - SDW 100<br />
Aug - Round The Rock<br />
After that who knows...?<br />
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I have signed up for the 2015 edition of the Marathon Des Sables so focus will naturally switch to that in the latter part of the year, with plenty of sand bashing, running with a rucksack, Bikram yoga and all the other lovely MDS prep that goes along with the race.<br />
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This might be the last post for me of 2013, so thanks for reading my blog on what has been an amazing year of self discovery and endeavour for me.. I hope 2013 has been as good for you and that 2014 fills you with as much hope and anticipation as it does me.<br />
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More as and when it happens<br />
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<br />Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-45600842007169941322013-11-18T21:44:00.001+00:002013-11-18T21:44:39.761+00:002013 miles in 2013<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_1_1384503272999_2049">A week or so ago I passed a nice little landmark
– 2013 miles ran in the year 2013. It was a goal I aspired to last year
but didn’t make it falling short by some 400 miles in the end! It’s a
pleasing landmark in a few ways really: Over the last 3 years I have been
running “competitively” and I have been tracking my mileage over those
years by way of a very complex spreadsheet that has grown the more I have
run and got more fascinated by data. The 2013 version is a 19 sheet Excel
Monster with training log, food log, lessons learnt from races log, split
calculator, results graphs and any other type of running related data you
care to mention. Its been great to see my weekly/monthly and yearly mileage/elevation
and pace grow year on year and I think my ability and strength has grown
as a side product of it. To be fit and healthy enough to have run that
amount of miles is a blessing and I am grateful for this every day.</span><span id="yui_3_13_0_1_1384503272999_2049"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_1_1384503272999_2055">I guess one of my primary motivators to run
is data – I am a data geek! The thrill I get from comparing speed work-outs
from this time last year to this year and seeing that I have increased
¼ minute per mile is second only to high I get from that perfect run you
get now and again, when body, heart, mind and legs all work in synch, you
smash the uphills, glide down the downhills and picture yourself as Killian
owning the Matterhorn or some such other appropriate mountainous landmark.
This doesn’t happen every run – for every one of these types of runs
there are a few where I am blowing out of my ears, running style resembling
a carthorse, energy deficient and trying to hang on to the pack for dear
life! But back to data, another part of my data pleasure is inputting the
miles into my training log and seeing the miles tot up week after week,
I like nothing more than updating my weekends runs after a hard weekend
of back to back runs. I have found data so useful in my journey over the
last 3 years, I remember after running my first marathon – London in 2011
and having used no Garmin I had no idea how I had paced myself and so the
new dawn arrived.. I bought a Garmin, got used to the paces that I ran
at and generally started training to a plan based on split times, predicted
paces, tempo paces, cruisey run paces etc etc – time became my friend!
</span></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_1_1384503272999_2058">I think over this last year I have gone beyond
time and started to run alot more on feel. I have however started
to use Heart Rate data more and keep to an eye on pace during tempo runs,
but feel that I have got to know how I feel and place more importance on
running the best I can at any given moment; whether that be attacking the
hill in the best way, descending well, recovering well and taking advantage
off the hill and on the flat or whatever it may be as long as at the end
of the session or race I can walk away knowing I gave the best for most
of it I am happy. I have found running on feel liberating and its nice
to not be glancing at the watch every few mins trying to stay on a pace
schedule particularly during longer races, I always found pace predictions
or aspirations could quite easily turn into a stick to beat yourself with
if you don’t hit the splits and can be disheartening which is no good
to anyone! Its good to have a plan however but its also good to be flexible
should the wheels fall off.. And they will fall off sometimes!</span><span id="yui_3_13_0_1_1384503272999_2058"> </span></span></span></div>
<div id="yui_3_13_0_1_1384503272999_2060">
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<div id="yui_3_13_0_1_1384503272999_2060">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_1_1384503272999_2059">Another pleasant side effect of focusing
on running the best I can at any given moment is that I have begun to stop
focussing on others during races; positions and rivalries are all external
factors that I can’t control, and I recall a few scenarios this year where
I was set on placing and had a bad day, then getting overtaken by some
one gliding past and my head dropping even further to make an average day
a bit of a nightmare as the negativity crept in. I think now that I am
a little easier on myself, if it isn’t a good day then it isn’t a good
day, but the great thing with Ultras is that things can turn around in
a matter of miles so to always be in the game its important to always have
a positive frame of mind and high spirits. In the races I have done this
year I have seen apparently “slower starters” build through races and
finish strongly at the higher end of the field, I’ve seen runners go out
strong and fast and finish well, and I have also unfortunately seen people
go out strong and blow up in spectacular style or even have to retire,
the lesson of this being that nothing is set in stone at the start; anything
can happen to me and to others in an ultra so being affected by the goings
on around me is a fools errand and it is better to focus on the things
I can control and doing the best I can at any given time.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_1_1384503272999_2059"> </span></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_1_1384503272999_2061">In an earlier post I posted a photo of me
where there was slightly more of me about 4 or 5 years ago. I think since
then I have changed beyond recognition both physically and as a person.
Running is my niche, before that I felt like I was a square peg in a round
hole in general in life, always something missing which I desperately tried
to fill by throwing myself into activities, eating lots of food and anything
else I felt would help me unveil exactly where I fitted in this life..
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another Blast From The Past! :-)</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_1_1384503272999_2064">The big catalyst for my change I guess was entering
the MDS, before that I had done the London marathon and I kind of liked
running, I liked the health gains and I definitely liked the weight management
side of it, however I hadn’t discovered the “being at one with nature”
hippy type stuff yet, or even the thrill of being able run 50 miles under
your own power.. But all this was to come, after entering the MDS, my first
ultra marathon followed, set here in Jersey “Round The Rock” in 2011
was my baptism of fire into this murky underworld, then ultra after ultra
followed and slowly my life became entangled with the biggest fixation
so far of my time on this planet.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_1_1384503272999_2067">2013 has been a massive year for me – 6 ultras
completed so far with another one to go – my first Marathon Des Sables,
my first 100 miler, my first DNF (did not finish in aforementioned 100
miler!) my first (joint) win in a race (technically not a race – the ITEX
48 miler here in Jersey- but I’m having it anyway! There were about 40
or so runners taking part and lots of walkers) and a few podium places
in various shorter distance races. I am lucky enough to now be coached
by Bruno Francisco - a great runner himself - I have found I have developed
exponentially since we started working together. Each session now has a
goal and each week is specific to where I am in the race calendar – taper,
recovery, race, building phase so I feel alot more reassured in my build
up to a race that I have done all the right work at the right time, another
vital part of the race day confidence jigsaw. Not to mention the camaraderie
that has developed here in Jersey over the last year, there is a real scene
here now and this is shown by the willingness of perfectly normal, sane
people to show up in dodgy car parks on the north coast of Jersey at ungodly
hours to run obscene cliffpaths in sometimes obscene, sometimes sublime
conditions.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Having just taken part in (17th Nov) the Jersey half marathon the weekend just gone, it wasn't really the plan to do any road based races this year as I have been all
about the ultra trail races. I was nice to have a change of tempo, to do a shorter race and the chance to measure where I am on the road against
my previous time on the same course this time last year. My PB going into the race was 1:27:39 and I managed to knock a minute off that in the end. I was so pleased with this having done no road running or speed work to speak of this year. I sincerely believe the strength and miles in my legs have transpired to give me the ability to maintain higher speed over a longer distance, a real pleasing side effect for sure. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_1_1384503272999_2091">Next up after that is The Endurancelife CTS
Dorset Ultra on December 7th. I did the marathon version of this in 2011
and the Ultra last year so its a bit of a regular race in the diary in
one way or another. Another great chance to measure where I am this year
compared to last year on the brutal climbs of the Dorset coastline, a great
benchmark, and also it is great to be going over with another 9 Jersey
runners to take part in various distances ranging from the 10km, the half
marathon and the 34 mile ultra. It promises to be a great weekend of running
and the start of a great tradition of Ultra Team Jersey runners going over
to compete in races in the UK.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_1_1384503272999_2091">So out of the people who read this blog I am really interested to know people's motivations for getting up and doing the training, doing races, doing ultras, are there any other "data geeks" out there? Please feel free to comment. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_1_1384503272999_2091">More to come after the Dorset Ultra </span></span></span>
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Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-48018155666829760952013-10-23T22:22:00.001+01:002013-10-24T07:24:47.864+01:00Rowbothams Round Rotherham 50 Mile Race<div id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5693">
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5694">Round Rotherham.. Not the most inspiring sounding of races perhaps, and indeed when I first heard about this race a couple of years ago I wasn’t really tempted, but I also had heard that this was a qualifier race for the Western States 100, so a few months ago after a chat with my mate Leanne Rive a plan was put in place: We would do Round Rotherham a month after our first 100 miler to then get into the lottery for the 2014 Western States 100 miler in the US...</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5696">After my DNF at the Costwolds a month ago, alot of soul searching took place, mostly mulling over why my stomach issues occurred, why my head wasn’t maybe as in the game as it could have been and how I move forward with the multitude of lessons learnt. After the 61 miles in the Cotswolds one of my key objectives for October was to recover and walk the fine line of staying fit for Round Rotherham. I think over the 3 weeks leading up to the Rotherham race I did about 60 miles, but felt really good for it to be honest; legs felt rested, mind felt up for the challenge and as race day approached I had an “excess” of energy which felt good.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5697">So on the Friday afternoon fellow Ultra Team Jersey members, Leanne Rive, Lee De St Croix and I made our way from sunny Jersey to Liverpool on an Easyjet flight, and picked up our hire car from the airport to make the trip across to Rotherham. We hit the rush hour traffic which meant the trip across to Rotherham felt more traumatic than the race even, but we eventually made it to our destination checked in and tried to locate the obligatory supermarket for the mass panic buying of items for the next day that we would not use in a million years!</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5697"> </span><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5699">Luckily for us there was an Aldi directly across the road, so we filed across to this grotto of running related delight and proceeded to pick up necessary items for the following day including; fruit scones, baby food (?), baby food rice pudding, Clementines, Grapes and cycling arm warmers. I contemplated buying a car battery charger and a very warm looking onesie (I love a bargain me!!) but due to Easyjet’s generous hand luggage allowance couldn’t fit it in to my hand luggage.. </span></span></span>:( </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Panic Buying In Aldi...(!)</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The next task was to get fuelled up for tomorrows race, luckily there was a pub across from the hotel as well, by this time some friends of mine from the MDS, Gordon and Tom, had joined us so we had a meal and a catch up there before each retiring to our rooms to get our gear ready, say our prayers, or whatever else people get up to the night before a race.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tom, Me and Gordon</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5702">The next morning I woke up at 5:15 am well rested and ready to go. Over the last couple of years I have developed a bomb proof preparation routine for races away from home with checklists coming out of my ears so that i don’t forget anything. So I was feeling pretty smug in the knowledge that I had everything I needed that day to perform to the best of my ability.. “New UTJ Tshirt – check, base layer – check....” until I put on my trail shoes that I was going to wear.. A few weeks ago I had been to see a podiatrist about orthotic insoles and had take the generic insoles out, I hadn’t used the trainers since then and so when I put them on my foot was slopping around in the shoe and it wasn’t the usual snug fit I was used to.. Disaster!! I hadn’t brought the insoles with me!! Luckily for me my MDS colleague Gordon had brought a spare pair of shoes so I was able to borrow a pair of his size 8 insoles for my size 12 shoes! I could feel the ridge of the end of the insole right underneath my toes, but being the soldier I am I took a deep breath and “On with the show!!”</span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5703">So to the start of the race.. We arrived at the college on Manvers Way after seeing a few of the 6am starters making their way up the road as we were driving. The atmosphere seemed relaxed and friendly, Leanne had been put in touch with a few runners from Portsmouth, Martin, Mark and Mitch amongst others who we all said hi to and had a quick chat with. I also chatted with Kirsty Harvey wife of another MDS friend Graeme who was tackling her first ultra while Graeme was speaking at the MDS expo shamelessly plugging his new book on the MDS. ;) (Which incidentally is available at all good online book sellers starting with “A” and is entitled “Running The Highway to Hell: The 28th Marathon Des Sables”) We were called outside around 6:50 and we all lined up outside the sports centre, I with a little trepidation because of the insoles situation, the previous stomach issues I have had and general nerves due to the prospect of the unknown.</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Start Line - Just Before the Off!</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">However we were soon off and running and I had decided that today I would take it relatively easy.. Off I went at 8:15 min mile pace, feeling like I wasn’t particularly pushing hard but I still seemed to be overtaking people. I had really learnt from the lesson of going out quick at Round The Rock but also wanted to go out with intent in this race so went with it. Over the first ten miles we weaved our way through industrial estates, housing estates, via canals and some scenic parts and I settled into my pace. People were quite chatty along the way and I had a few brief conversations with people and settled into the day. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5710">CP1(Grange) was soon upon me and I took this opportunity for a quick comfort break. I now felt ready to take on the world and celebrated by having a lemon curd sandwich at the checkpoint (not had one of these since I was 13!!) I had previously been running with a couple of guys who had gone on whilst I was in the loo, so it was just me against the world, I fired up my Ipod, got my Garmin GPSmap 78 out of my rucksack and got going again. As a quick aside this was the first time I had used the handheld GPS and I wasn’t completely sure how to use it but it was a lifesaver in this race, potentially there were many places where I could have gone wrong but the piece of mind this gave me to be able to check I was on the right track was amazing, a definite mandatory item for future races where getting lost is a possibility.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5705">Onward to CP2 (Treeton) and I recall spending quite a bit of this with my ipod in and getting the miles done. The thing with this course and it was something I anticipated before the start is that the course is relatively flat so therefore even alot of the hills are runnable, which means a distinct lack of walk breaks which I am used to during ultras and allow the body a chance to do something different for a little while. I found during this leg and then from CP2 to CP3 (Harthill) that I maintained a decent pace and at the 26 mile stage I had been running for around 4 hours. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5705"> </span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5707">This was when the game began to change.. I was feeling really good up until the 26 mile mark and even text my girlfriend Patrycja to tell her how good I was feeling at this point! I think at around 28 miles I started to have a bit of a low patch, my hip flexors were starting to feel it a little (a point for development I think!) and I was starting to run out of energy. Luckily enough I arrived at the 30 mile checkpoint and was greeted with warm soup, a cup of tea and paste sandwiches! (not had these since I was a kid either!) I got a bit of food into me, had a good ole stretch and was on my way again. I shuffled off down the road and within 20 mins or so the food kicked in and I was back on easy street for a while. I had a really good patch around this time and recall overtaking a few people who appeared to be suffering, I bumped in one of the Portsmouth runners Martin Bacon for a bit and we ran together for a while, passing the time chatting about this and that. Martin had taken part in the Spartathlon a few weeks ago but had to pull out due to Achilles problems and still wasn’t right so was doing the best he could. I remember being at about 43 miles and I just had to walk again so on went Martin and I plodded on for a little, experiencing another loss of energy and finding another runner to chat to for a bit who was having a bit of a tough day. I remembered I had a pack of Skittles in my rucksack which I devoured and gave me enough energy to get me to the final checkpoint. Just 3 miles to go now and I knew I could just shuffle through this, dodgy feet, insoles, hip flexors and all, so i got my head down and got the job done.</span></span></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The sun decided to show its face at this point, and actually the whole day was pretty good weather wise. We had been promised torrential rain and mud, and in fact it could be described as humid at some points and the mud was not as bad as I had anticipated. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5711">I turned the corner into the sports centre where we had started and I saw the flags indicating the finish. My main goal was now to finish under 9 hours. I crossed the line in 8 hours 55 and in what I was told at the time was 31st place. I found out later that I was in fact 29th overall so I was pleased with a top 30 place. Not sure how many started but there were 236 finishers and I think alot of the people who finished above me were local runners who were familiar with the course. Leanne was next to cross the line in 9 hours 16 mins and Lee crossed the line in 9 hours 21, so a good day all in all for Ultra Team Jersey. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5713">So in summary I really enjoyed the Round Rotherham 50, it was my 10th Ultra so far and my 6th Ultra this year. The entry fee was £15 and for that we got a commemorative T Shirt, a sew on patch, a certificate of completion, a meal at the end of shepherds pie and rice pudding as well as the food along the way at the checkpoints, where else do you get value like that nowadays? I found the race to be really well organised and the people running each checkpoint were helpful and encouraging. One of the things that struck me was the friendliness of the local runners taking part; they were really helpful in pointing you in the right direction along the course as well as the odd words of encouragement along the way which really helped when the going got tough!</span></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lee, Leanne and Myself at the finish line after a tough but satisfying day..</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5713">That day also happened to be my birthday so we made full use of the pub across the road that evening to have a few drinks and a hearty meal. We met up with the Portsmouth guys as well and had a nice fun evening :-) </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5713">Overall</span></span></span> <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5715">I was pleased with my performance in the race, I feel I gave my best in most of the</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5715">race, and I managed to avoid any stomach problems which were beginning to become a theme in my previous races. My body took a bit of a battering in this race, mainly due to dodgy insoles and the sheer amount of running, so I feel some hip flexor strengthening is in order for the winter months! I never did use any of the items bought in Aldi so if anyone needs any baby food please drop me an email :-)</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5715">I would recommend the race to anyone and I would be happy to go back and do it again. I remember reading a few blogs about the race before I took part and all who talked about the race did so in an affectionate manner, I can see why and am now one of the converted.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span id="yui_3_13_0_rc_1_1_1382424734122_5715">So I have a couple more races this year, in 4 weeks the Jersey half marathon, and then to finish off the year the Endurancelife CTS Dorset Ultra. </span></span></span> </div>
Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-6223319061554913022013-09-27T16:13:00.001+01:002013-09-27T16:14:17.221+01:00You Couldnt Make This Up! - The Cotswolds Way 100 and my first DNF<br />
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The weekend just gone (21st Sep 2013) saw me take part in my first 100 mile race, the Cotswolds Way 100. The race totalling over 102 miles starts in Chipping Camden and finishes in the city of Bath, taking in beautiful villages, stunning vistas and some pretty tough terrain.<br />
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I had earmarked the CW100 as my 100 mile debut from the early part of this year, it ticked the boxes: 4 UTMB points, not heavily oversubscribed so able to enter a bit later on in the year, and a "manageable" (or so I perceived!!) amount of elevation for a 100 miler - 10,000ft or so.<br />
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So since the MDS in April this year my roadmap has been to get fighting fit for 100 miles.. Training has gone well, some good races over the past few months and I was ready to go! Ultra Team Jersey consisting of Leanne Rive, Bryce Alford, Robbie Campbell, Neil Leonard, Simon Lester and myself made our way to Bath on the Friday eagerly anticipating the following days race. <br />
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Saturday morning arrived and I was up nice and early to hit Waitrose in Bath to get the necessary food bits for the day ahead. I was feeling nervous, excited, and just wanting to get on with the race. Kick off was at 12pm so the morning was spent getting gear ready and then making our connection to the coach for the start line in Chipping Camden.<br />
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We arrived at the carpark around the 9am mark and our support crew of Lenny and Simon were there smiling and full of anticipation of being our bitches for the next 24+ hours :-) They followed us up in the car and we boarded the coach with 20 or so other runners mad enough to take on the CW100.<br />
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This is where the story deviates from your standard race report.. Leanne, Robbie and I are sat on the coach gladly lost in our thoughts mentally getting ready in our own ways for the day ahead.. Myself and Leanne had not done a 100 mile race so were nervous and trying to reassure each other "it would be ok..." This is when my phone rang.. "Paul we've got a bit of a problem, the car has broken down on the M4, can you get the coach to come and pick up Bryce as we are probably going to have to get the RAC out to fix the car and he wont make the race if the coach cant get him.." Simon relaying the good news about our support vehicle for the next 24 hours plus Bryce's lift to the start line.. I asked the Cotswolds running rep if it was possible to stop and pick them up and he explained that legally they werent able to pick up people on the hard shoulder of a motorway.. I rang Simon back and explained this to him.. It was looking like poor old Bryce would probably not be able to start the race, to which the 3 of us on the coach were gutted about, knowing how much he had put into getting ready to do it.. As well as being gutted about Bryce we also had the issue that all of our drop bag related items were in that car, all food, spare clothes, and all the other necessary items needed for the race!<br />
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At this point I decided to just accept the situation, I could do nothing about it really, i just hoped that the checkpoints had enough food to keep us going and that the gels and limited equipment I had in my running pack would be sufficient.. This is when the coach broke down! Clutch problems.. By now I just had to laugh.. And I think we all felt this way, "What will be will be!" 1/2 an hour later the backup coach arrived and me got to the start town of Chipping Camden at aroun the 11:30am mark, the decision being made to delay the start to 12:30 or as soon as all coach dwellers were registered and briefed.<br />
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Chipping Camden was a beautiful town, built of the Georgian stone that is so frequent in this part of the country. We duly registered, got our race numbers and proceeded to get drop bags (with limited resources!) ready. Then some good news! The guys had been able to get a lift back to Lennys car in bath with all of our drop bag stuff so they would be joining us at some point in the race and also Bryce would be able to start the race, however he might a be a little late...<br />
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And so we were off.. Making our way through some of the most picturesque countryside and towns that I had been lucky to see in races. My whole ethos for this race was "no expectations and no thinking before 50 miles at least!" I set off from Chipping Camden and trotted at a really comfortable pace, concentrating on making my way to the next checkpoint only and not letting my mind think too much about the big picture.. this strategy really worked for me and I am amazed that the mind can almost trick oneself into running 100 miles! I was lucky enough to get chatting to a couple of guys on the way, initially a chap who I had met at the MDS which was a great distraction; reminiscing about the time in the desert and talking about how we had found it etc, conversations you cant really have with people unless they had been there that year. Around the 3 mile mark I had gate crashed a group of 3 guys 2 northern Irish guys and another guy Simon (the eventual winner no less!) I ended up running most of my race with the 2 Northern Irish guys Ricky and Ronnie and really enjoyed their company.<br />
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The first 12 miles to the first checkpoint were pretty uneventful, settling into the race, trying not to overcook it too quickly and chatting to the people I had met. We ascended some hills which on reflection and viewing the GPS trace from my Garmin were pretty steep, HR felt good though and I hiked up these hills with ease which was a great confidence booster. Some of the descents were a little steep and I was a little concerned that my quads started to burn so soon on in the race!<br />
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Upon reaching CP1 our support guys Simon and Lenny were there, awesome to see them and they were able to give us the update that Robbie was doing well and that Bryce was plugging away to reverse his one hour deficit on starting late. I was so excited at seeing them that I forgot to fill up my water bottles (school boy error!) and trotted off catching up Ricky and Ronnie and getting back into the groove.. Simon had shot off and was not to be seen again. The course was marked by the Cotswolds Way Acorn markers and was sufficient in most case particularly in the daylight and although we potentially took a few wrong turns people behind us called us before we went too far down the wrong turns..<br />
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On to CP2 and again no real issues, great to see the guys and fill up with water. I had run out about 2 miles previously and it was a warm balmy day and I was sweating quite a bit so once at the checkpoint I drank a fair bit of water and Coke to counter balance. We were warned about a hornets nest about 3 miles down the road after the "Indian restaurant" we did not really have a clue where this was but was alerted to the location when a guy about 20 metres started hopping around and hitting the hornets with his map after being stung. We took a small diversion around that bit through an adjacent field, so thanks hornet boy for the heads up! :-)<br />
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By the time we reached CP3 it was dark. The headtorches were on and I was feeling good enjoying the night running on the trails, hiking up the hills and then running the downhills and flats. I stocked up on checkpoint food, had a gel and some Ibuprofen and felt invincible! We made good time from this point on to about 42 miles which is where the fog came in and things started to go a little pear shaped..<br />
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Because of the marking of the Cotswold Way acorn markings being our main guide there were some navigational decisions to be at various points around the course, particularly when the night arrived, The mist also came in and made the route hard to pick up when going across open ground. We got lost on numerous occasions and for me this is when the rot started to set in. Between CP3 and 4 we lost alot of time and I started to feel like my stomach wasnt doing so well, a recurring theme for me in long distance races. I ended up being sick and it actually helped, I felt like I had got rid of whatever was upsetting my stomach and carried on.. At one point we were a tantalising few miles away from CP4, hopelessly lost on a different pathway than the Cotswolds Way trying to apply logic and reason to a map where we werent particularly sure where we were. By some miracle we found the check point and were able to take stock; 54 miles into the race, the halfway point! Get some food in (a chilli that had been made, which I though was ropey but I think might have been down to my stomach situation) change into long sleeves, fill up with water, drink some coke and then get on our way. At the CP I saw Bryce who had decided to call it a day.. Unfortunately the hour he had to catch up had meant that he had run alone for alot of the first part of his race, which meant a few navigational errors and to be fair after the day he had had already I think he had just had enough!<br />
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So on we went.. Off into the night to try and break the back of this! Feeling good, and having seen some friendly faces I really felt ok considering.. We decided to keep a closer eye on the map to anticipate any directional issues, but again we ended up taking a few wrong turns.. For me this was the most disheartening thing and I felt my energy levels drop as well as my stomach not feeling too great again.. I felt the nausea creep in again and I was sick whilst trying to take 2 Immodium.. I sorted myself out and took some more Immodium and then marched on. I was really struggling by now, my legs felt like jelly and the hills seemed to get much steeper. Funnily enough looking back on the Garmin trace the hills were not really that steep but I guess the mind played tricks on me a little. I remember thinking "I cant do anymore hills!" and I think thats when I began to doubt if I was going to make this. I was halfway between the 2 checkpoints so I carried on thinking if I could get to the next CP I could sleep or just try and sort my act out a bit then crack on, but I was sick for the third time and I knew it was over.. I was aware I was holding the lads I was with back but I was also not confident in my ability to navigate alone. I decided to call it a day.. I thought I would be gutted at my first DNF, but as soon as I had spoken on the phone to Simon and I knew they were coming to get me in the car I felt nothing but relief.. I had no doubt I had the heart, and I had felt so good up til 42 miles or so and had indeed gone 61 miles in total, the longest I had ever gone! So alot of positives really..<br />
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I sat at a bus stop in my foil blanket in some chocolate box house filled village and waited for the support guys: About 15 mins later Leanne came through and I told her the news, she was looking strong, she was with another guy and they seemed to be trotting along well, I was glad to see she was with someone as I think doing that alone would be really hard going..<br />
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The guys came to get me and that was it my race was over.. I got a couple of hours kip in the back of Lennys car and felt almost human again. We were at CP5 at about 5am and seeing people coming in I knew I had made the right decision. Some people had spent 5 hours or so making it from CP4 to CP5 a distance of 10 miles or so, mainly due to navigational errors. I think if I had decided to keep going I would have become a crying wreck...<br />
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The rest of that day was spent tracking the runners we had out on the course: Robbie Campbell finished in joint 4th place in a time of 21 hours..... Leanne came in in 29 hours..... I hung out at the finish line for a few hours and saw some of the finishers. out of 59 starters only 25 finished which certainly tells its own story. I got to sleep about 4 pm that evening for a couple of hours which was amazing then went for some nice basic grub and a couple of beers with Simon and Adrian Colwill a fellow runner/Spine Challenger Competitor who I had met over the weekend.<br />
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<u><b>So what do I take away from this race? </b></u><br />
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Firstly the amount of support I/we received. I had my phone with me on the trail and I was regularly getting texts from people back in Jersey. It was amazingly motivating and people were texting me at 3 in the morning, so thanks for that everyone who did. There was also alot of activity on Twitter and Facebook due to Phil Taylor and Simon MacKenzie who, whilst unable to take part, were just as involved as us out there on the trail! Simon Lester and Neil Leonard were also amazing - they were our support crew for 29 whole hours and had to cater to the needs of 4 prima dona runners who were all spaced out over the course, my overriding mental picture of the weekend is of the two of them sat in one of the most notorious dogging carparks on the Cotswolds Way eating their Pie and Chips for their tea like an old married couple wondering why all the other cars were flashing their headlights at them :-) Thanks Simon and Lenny for your support, seeing your friendly faces and getting your encouragement at each CP was so motivating, I owe you both!<br />
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I was happy with the first 40 -50 miles, I feel like I have raised the distance bar psychologically and I was pleased with the way I got my head around the concept of running 100 miles (i.e. blank emptiness and complete denial!) Ronnie and I were talking along the way saying "I aint even thinking about this race til after the 50 mile mark!" and I think to stand a chance you have to go this way. I think the old saying about run the first third with your legs, the second this with your mind and the last with your heart certainly applies here: I witnessed first hand alot of people showing massive heart at the finish line and it was inspiring to see. Touching on the psychological aspect I was also happy with my approach to the race itself, after Round The Rock I have done alot of work on running my own race, not being concerned what others are up to in the race having little expectations and doing the best that I can do in each moment. I felt this paid off massively and I felt relaxed, positive and focussed for the parts of the race where I was in good nick stomach wise.<br />
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The biggest area of development for me now would be the nutritional aspect: I think being sick 3 times sabotaged my race, and I am unsure how this happened. I stuck to Torq gels and flapjacks for the race with the odd Pepperami which felt good. Due to it being hot right up til the 11pm mark though I did drink alot of water and I subsequently ran out of water frequently. As a result I recall getting into the CP's and quickly drinking alot of water quickly and some coke as well. I wonder if this played a part in my stomach upset. I think over this winter I intend to develop a watertight nutrition plan so that I know what works and when. Hopefully this will be a major part in the jigsaw and I can start to get the results I want.<br />
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Overall I would recommend the race. I felt that there were a few teething problems but the race was in it inaugural year so I think this has a potential to be a real classic. The only gripe I had were the markings; I think it is stressful enough running 100 miles without having to worry overtly about navigation. I appreciate we cant be hand held through the whole course and also that the fog was a little exceptional and probably unexpected. I will be back though at some point to conquer this race!<br />
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So next up is Round Rotherham 50 miler on October 19th - my 39th birthday as well, what greater way to celebrate than to run an ultra? Round Rotherham is a Western States 100 Qualifier race so am hoping to get an entry in for that for next June - you got to be in to win it (or at least take part!) right? <br />
<br />Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-69334241199292248772013-08-26T23:37:00.000+01:002013-08-26T23:37:57.942+01:00Been A While...Its been a little while since my last post. I think like alot of people who have done the MDS this year after the excitement and the focus of that and all the preparation that went into that nothing else I have done this year seems exciting enough to write about!<br />
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That's not to say of course that nothing has been happening on the running front this year, on the contrary: I mentioned entering the Spine Race (Britains Toughest Foot Race!) in my post MDS writeup, a 270 mile race along the Pennine Way in 7 days at the start of January 2014. So this kind of set the scene for the type of running I intended to do this year.<br />
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Starting with a great run out at the South Downs a few weeks after the MDS, my friend Simon McKenzie and I went over and ran from Worthing to Eastbourne which was about 40 miles. This was my first time on the Downs and I really enjoyed it, encouraging me to enter the South Downs Way 100 miler in June of 2014! So far there are 6 of us going across from Jersey so will not only be a great race to be a part of but will also be great to share with some of my good running friends here.<br />
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In June I ran the Yorkshire 3 Peaks with fellow MDS veteran Graeme Harvey, the 3 Peaks starting in Horton in Yorkshire takes in the 3 peaks of Pen Y Ghent, Ingleborough and Whernside. We were lucky and the weather was amazing that day, a real good first experience of the Pennine Way for me.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At The Top Of Whernside</td></tr>
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Later on in June I took part in the annual ITEX walk which is a 48 mile walk around Jersey, a friend Phil and I ran this as we both had ultra races coming up and saw this as a great sharpener for those. We ended up being the first to cross the line which although most of the 1000 entered walked there were probably 40 or so people who chose to run. The conditions were very un June like with rain, winds and generally quite a miserable day. I felt for the walkers, some of whom spent 18 hours plus out there in that!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Phil Taylor and I (Notice How Pleased I Look To Finish!)</td></tr>
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The main focus of my summer was the Round The Rock Ultra Marathon which is in its 3rd year here in Jersey and was my first ultra back in 2011. I love the race, I know the cliffpaths well and so this year I decided to try and make it a focus to try and further improve on last years time of 8 hours 25 for the 48 miles. I think over the last 6 months I feel I have made great leaps forward in my running both physically and mentally having looked at the lessons learnt from the MDS and trying to apply them to my training. I also have been working with local coach Bruno Francisco for nearly 3 months which has given me a real shake up in the training sessions that I am doing and providing a point for each session.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me During Round The Rock</td></tr>
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I therefore was looking at Round the Rock as "The" race to try and take all I have learnt and to try and hit the next level (whatever that may be!!).. The race itself turned out to be a massive learning curve regarding mental preparation, my expectations of myself and also responding to external stimuli in races:<br />
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<u><b>Mental Preparation</b></u><br />
Having done the MDS I recognised a few key areas where I could have improved: The biggest being was "Belief," I think in my heart of hearts I didn't truly believe that I could achieve the goals I had set for myself despite having high expectations of myself. Over the last few months I have been thinking alot about this and analysing my thoughts when the going gets tough during a run to try and head off any negative self talk before it jeopardizes my state of mind completely. Previously as soon as I started to feel fatigue I would envisage in my mind the slippery slope to decline so would be in a negative state for the rest of the run, when in actuality fatigue can be helped by eating food or stretching or whatever the situation calls for at the time. I think this was quite liberating for me and it has helped to keep my performance at a sustained level for longer which I hope will equal quicker times and less physical decline over distance. I have recently been reading alot about the power of positive thought particularly a really interesting blog by ultra runner Stuart Mills, which seemed to answer alot of the question I had about the mental side of running, I think the preparation side of things is a key part but also being able to maintain a positive frame of mind whilst running by deflecting the gremlins in my head telling me its all going wrong or whatever message of doom it might be..<br />
Stuart has talked at length about maintaining positivity and I think the key message I got from his blog as well as other sources is that preparation, visualisation and having strategies to deal with the problems that may arise during a long distance run are key to this. I wont go on too much about these as these are things I have learnt from other people, suffice to say that they can be very powerful aids.<br />
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<u><b>Expectations</b></u><br />
I think with this being my 3rd Round The Rock I was starting to focus on trying to get a better result in both time and race position than perhaps my previous outings. I felt a definite shift in my mental attitude from "Will I finish?" to "How well will I finish?" which was nice as it meant that my confidence as a runner has developed, however I think this then led me to have slightly unrealistic expectations; I think the key lesson I learnt was to always have expectations that I can control, e.g. time based rather than external e.g. a position in race. The main thing being that you cannot control who turns up to a race, who has a good day and who ultimately places better or worse than you and focussing on this is a surefire recipe for breeding negativity as invariably races done really go to the plan you set!<br />
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<b><u>Responding to External Stimuli</u></b><br />
This feeds on from the expectations point previously; being aware of what other people and being affected by them overtaking you for example is another surefire way of breeding negativity. I recall during the race being overtaken by somebody and me then proceeding to berate myself as I wasnt dancing up the steps as quickly or as well as he was. I think this then fed into my state of mind and I think as negativity increased performance, energy, desire and general enjoyment decreased.<br />
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I therefore think that in answer to the points raised above I have been thinking about, reading about and actively trying to implement changes so that leading into my next race I hope to be a lot mentally tougher having applied the lessons I learnt from Round The Rock. I placed 10th overall in the race in a time of 8 hours which a year ago I would have taken with both hands, however I was 1/2 an hour slower than my predicted/goal time but I took so much away from the race. I think the expectation I have of myself is high, I expect myself to perform higher and to push my boundaries and I believe this is one of the big things that has got me from being a 17 stone non runner 4 1/2 years ago to the point that I am now.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This Was Me In 2009...</td></tr>
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So next up now is the Cotswolds Way 100 Mile Race on Sep 21st. It is just over 4 weeks to go and another opportunity for me to push my boundaries. I have never run this distance before and whilst training has been going well I am unsure what to expect. Well I guess it will probably hurt, but apart from that?? So I go into this race with no expectations which is a nice way to be, I would like to complete the race within the 30 hour time limit and that is all the pressure I have. I am looking forward to this race though, I have trained well and feel strong and as ready as I can be for the distance. Running 100 miles under your own steam is an amazing thing to have done, particularly along the Cotswolds Way which is meant to be beautiful, and I think finally doing the 100 mile distance will be an interesting experience.. <br />
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I was in the Peak District over the weekend just gone and was training there for 2 days with a couple of guys from the MDS, Paul Minns and Adam Prentice and over the 2 days managed 55 miles with 9000ft of elevation. The Peak District is a beautiful place and the routes on both days whilst challenging and hilly were great. I take this into the Cotswolds as well as the Round The Rock race as a great platform. During my time in The Peak District I decided to downgrade my entry into The Spine Race to "The Spine Challenger" as I feel the full race might be slightly beyond my capabilities. The mountains are unpredictable places, as I witnessed last weekend even in the middle of summer.. I think good navigational skills, awareness of the route and general mountain craft are essential to complete the Spine Race, and whilst these are all things I intend to work on and have been working on I feel that the Challenger will give me a great insight into the race.<br />
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So whats left for 2013? After the Cotswolds Way 100 I will be doing the Round Rotherham 50 race, which is a Western States Qualifier, and then in December I go back to Dorset to do the Endurancelife CTS Dorset Ultra. This will be the third year I will go back to do it and after taking a wrong turn last year and placing 11th I have some unfinished business!!<br />
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Good luck to my friends Simon McKenzie and Shane Hugill who are taking part in The Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc TDS next Thursday!!Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-2069212332210256342013-06-11T19:31:00.001+01:002013-06-11T22:52:30.046+01:00Back In The Groove... (Kind of)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have been back from the MDS for 8 weeks now and one thing I can truly say is that it has certainly left its mark on me! I remember the last couple of days in the desert just wanting the whole thing to be over, but as soon as the race had finished my initial thought was "I could have done better.."<br />
I have my sights firmly set on coming back in 2015 and I hope that by having learnt so much in my first outing I can come back stronger, faster and more prepared to hopefully achieve the things I wanted to in my first attempt.<br />
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So what have I been upto in the last 8 weeks or so? Well, here in Jersey I have turned into somewhat of a local celebrity! I had a great interview with the local newspaper and also an appearance on the local news and a local kids TV show "Puffins Plaice" The local media appearances have helped to boost my fundraising attempts and I am now over the £13,000 mark raised for Jersey Hospice Care.<br />
Initially I was very tired and lethargic after getting back from Morocco, and for about 3 weeks I could not stop eating with sugary snacks and stuff that generally wasnt very good for me being what my body craved. This seems to have calmed down now thank god, as I would have been rolling around my next race otherwise!<br />
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I think after the focus of the last years building to the MDS upon completing it I was in a bit of an in-between place for a week or so. I had set myself goals for after the MDS but nothing major so it was important for me to get a few things set up to give me that reassuring goal to be heading towards. So... I am confirmed on the <a href="http://thespinerace.com/" target="_blank">Spine Race</a> in January, entitled "Britains most brutal race" it is a 270 mile in 7 days jaunt across the Pennine Way in the middle of winter! I must admit to being very tentative about this race as I have read blogs of people who have taken part in the race, which will be in its third year this year and it seems brutal, as promised! To get me ready however I have set up training weekends over the coming year every 6 weeks to 2 months apart in various mountainous areas in the UK to try and get experience of the mountains, navigation, hill climbing and the route. I view this is essential to be in with a shot of being both safe in the mountains and to give the event my best shot. My first experience of the Pennine Way being a few weekends ago with one of my MDS buddies Graeme. We did the Yorkshire 3 Peaks Challenge which is a 26 mile route taking in 3 Mountains - Pen Y Ghent, Whernside & Ingleborough. I have to say it was beautiful up there, we were blessed with an amazing day, the weather was amazing and the scenery stunning. A great introduction to the Pennine Way, although I figure it might be a little colder when I am back there in January! <br />
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I have recovered well after the MDS, with a few long challenging runs having been done. I did 40 miles of the South Downs way back at the start of May which again was another part of the country I have not visited and was another great day out with one of my Jersey running buddies Simon. It felt nice to get a long run like that under the belt and it confirmed that the recovery was going well, plus I implemented alot of the lessons I learnt at the MDS about nutrition and pacing. <br />
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I now feel I have hit a new level with my running, and have been training well for my next race, Jersey's Round The Rock Ultra Marathon being held here on July 3rd. I have been working with a local endurance coach here Bruno who has been giving me great advice about periodisation and differing levels of intensity of training which I think is a big aspect of my training where I can improve. I am really looking forward to RtR this year, this being the 3rd year I have run it. I hope to break the 7hr 30 mark this year, last year I completed it in 8 hours 25 and the previous year in 9 hours 25 (my first ultra!) I see RtR as a real bench mark to see how I have prgoressed over the previous year and I count myself so lucky to have this Ultra Marathon on my front doorstep in Jersey. For those of you not from Jersey, we are lucky to have some of the most amazing coastal paths, beaches and trails that you could wish for, I highly recommend the Round The Rock Ultra, a truly friendly, small, challenging ultra!<br />
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This year will then see me take part in my first 100 miler - The Cotswolds 100 in September. I am using Round The Rock as a stepping stone in terms of training, my goal being to complete the 100 miler and nothing more! I have discovered alot about running with no expectations in the last 4 or so months and find I enjoy the race alot better if I have multiple goals within a race, the goals are achievable so that i dont start to beat myself up too much if it all goes a bit wrong on the day, and that primarily I do enjoy the day, finish the race, and then worry about the other goals! <br />
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And I think this sums up the allure of Ultra Running for me - mind over matter on the day. There are so many variables in a long race that can affect your day both negatively and positively, and lately I have started to think alot about how I react when things start to go wrong in a race and really try to be mindful of this so that I dont beat myself up too much and get too downhearted. A classic example of this for me was during the 3rd day of the MDS, when I saw alot of people going past me and the voice in my head was saying "You've Blown This!" I think having been in the top 200 the previous 2 days and having finished fairly well both I was waiting for the crash rather than having confidence to believe that I could still do well even if I did have a hiccup on day 3. I got in at the end of that stage, not even bothering to check the stage result, which as it turned wasnt as bad as I feared and then made the decision to take it really easy on the long day as I doubted in my ability to get through. If only I had gone and checked out the facts by seeing the results I could have then made a better decision based in reality rather than what I thought was going on. This then altered my race and I lost quite a bit of time on the long day. I now see this as one of the most valuable lessons I have learnt and it has meant that I am now actively trying to "big myself up" on the long runs when the familiar demons start to chatter away! It seems to be working so far and I have been finishing longer runs alot more strongly due to my revised in run nutrition plan and just nipping negative thoughts in the bud before they are able to take a hold over me.<br />
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So overall the MDS was a massive learning experience, and has been a catalyst for me to try and get the very best out of myself for the upcoming races I have planned. I am looking forward to the running trips I have planned over the coming months; Snowdon with the guys from my tent in the MDS in July, The Peak District with Paul from the MDS in August, The Snowdon Marathon in October and then who knows what in the latter part of the year. Lots to look forward to and I am sure the running in the UK will do nothing but improve my running and also increase my love of it.<br />
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Call for comments - I am really interested to know the reasons you guys run? What is the allure of running for you? Whether it be ultra, road, trail, 10k or round the block! What do you get out of running?<br />
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Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-11856064082430552092013-04-21T13:46:00.001+01:002013-04-21T18:57:57.802+01:00Marathon Des Sables Kit - What Worked and What Didn't<br />
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To get to the start line of the Marathon Des Sables took a lot of preparation. Both in terms of training and the equipment I used for the week. In the months leading up to the race I made so many decisions about equipment, then went back on those decisions then re visited them again with limited knowledge really about some of the equipment I eventually chose to take to the desert. It was effectively a leap of faith heading out to Morocco with the equipment and having now completed the MDS I now have a much better idea of the things I would take, the training I would do and the strategy I would adopt to give a good showing if I was to do it again.<br />
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So what worked and what didn't for me? Equipment choice for the MDS and indeed any race is a deeply personal thing, what works for some may not work for others and vice versa so these opinions are based on my own personal opinions and experiences :)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me At The Finish Line :)</td></tr>
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Marathon Des Sables Equipment List:</div>
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<b><u>Raidlight Olmo 20L + 4L Front Pack (new version)</u></b> - So the rucksack choice of many competitors, I really felt that the Olmo was the one for me before the MDS. It had elements of Salomon design in it and seemed well thought out. Alas it was not to be! The waist strap was terrible giving no hip support if you needed to take the strain off the shoulders. I found the front pack to be cumbersome, on the first day I put the bottles in the holders on the front pack which meant I had a solid weight banging into me for the duration of the first 23 miles. I had to tie a bit of elastic around me to keep the pack from banging! Day 2 I opted for the bottles in the shoulder holders which meant that I couldnt tie the chest strap as it obscured the race number! I then employed aforementioned bit of elastic as a makeshift chest strap which I had to pull over my head in a convoluted manner, which as you can imagine was great fun on the long day when I didnt know my a55 from my elbow! To add insult to injury on the long day Marco Olmo passed me and even he (the man who the pack was designed for!) wasnt wearing it, choosing to opt for the official WAA MDS pack. If I was to go back (watch this space..) I would opt for the MDS backpack in a heart beat.. </div>
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<b><u>Raidlight Combi Duvet Sleeping Bag</u></b> - In our tent we were pretty down on Raidlight stuff I must admit. But the combo duvet really did come up trumps for me. Paired with the silk liner below on the cooler nights it was plenty warm enough and was great without the liner for most nights. I love the zips that allow you to place the arms outside the bag as well as the functionality of being able to convert it into a puffa jacket - Awesome bit of kit that packs down well.</div>
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<u><b>Eurohike Silk Liner</b></u>- Great bit of kit that weighed next to nothing yet brought the temp rating of my sleeping bag up considerably. Essential in my opinion.</div>
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<b><u>Mammut Inflatable Pillow</u></b> - I am used to camping and that and the thing that always ensures a good nights sleep for me is a pillow. This pillow was great. It doesnt replace a real pillow (obviously!) but it was a good second. I was filling my rucksack with my clothes and using this and it was pretty comfy. One night I thought I was being smart by taking my food out and using only clothes, had a great nights sleep until the morning when I awoke to find a desert creature of some description had been eating my food! So squashed food it was for the rest of the week..</div>
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<b><u>2 x Salomon Triangular Bottles 640ml</u></b> - I have used these bottles all winter in training, they are triangular in shape and this stops them rocking about in holsters. Fitted well in the Olmo holster and were perfectly reliable. Only downside was that the water would get hot quickly. If I was to go again I would look at insulating them in some way. These were the lightest set of bottle I owned compared to Camelbak Podium and Raidlight bottles.</div>
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<b><u>Montane Marathon Jacket - </u></b>This is a great jacket that I had owned for a while before. Super light and is windproof and waterproof to a certain degree. I didnt need to use it so often whilst I was there but good to have in the bag. Packs down to almost nothing.</div>
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<b><u>Inov 8 Mistlite Trousers -</u></b> I bought these as a last minute purchase. I think they are 120g and great for wearing at night. I made the mistake of wearing them in the day and it was like wearing a bin bag! But very light and again packed down small.</div>
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<b><u>Petzl Tikka 2 Head Torch </u></b>- Was a little unsure about choice of head torch. Had this and an LED Lenser kindly given to me by a fellow MDS er Stuart. I went with the Petzl purely because I had used it in the winter a few times and it worked well. I used it alot in the evening and on the long stage and it was perfectly adequate. It wasnt the brightest out there, I recall seeing some guy at 3am in the morning on the long stage who looked like he had a car headlight strapped to his head, but it did the business.</div>
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<b><u>Sundog Goggles - </u></b>I didnt use these so not sure how good they were :)</div>
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<b><u>Sandisk Sansa Clip MP3 Player - </u></b>This was one of my luxury items. It cost me £20 from ebay and could be expanded with a Micro SD card. Weighs 20grams and so was a no brainer. The battery lasted well, got 12 hours out of it which was awesome.</div>
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<b><u>Swiss Army Knife Mini -</u></b> Essential bit of kit. Got so may uses over the week; cutting tape, opening packs, cutting bottles up to cook and wash stuff in, cutting straps back, the list goes on. Really good scissors and blade, awesome!</div>
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<b><u>Suunto Ambit GPS Watch - </u></b>This was a great bit of kit - GPS on 1 min intervals and it lasted me the whole week. Perfect for the desert as there werent too many turns and twists which meant the one min interval worked well. I tend to rely on GPS and as pleased this lasted the distance. Its a great watch, giving lots of information apart from the usual Pace, distance etc it gives the temperature, ascent, descent and doubles as a compass.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On The Last Day.. When The Wheels Fell Off!</td></tr>
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<b><u>Kodak Playsport Video Camera - </u></b>Another luxury item, but I really wanted to document my time out there in the desert. This worked so well, took amazing quality footage for the price and size and the battery lasted the whole week with sparing use. I am so glad I took this and used it to film video logs every day, banter from the tent and other bits and pieces. The results of which can be found here: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7OjoHyoTZ0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7OjoHyoTZ0</a></div>
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<b><u>Nuun Tablets (Electrolytes) -</u></b> I had to mention these.. I took a couple of these a day along with the salt tablets so kept dehydration mostly at bay. However I dont think I will ever be able to stomach these again. The mixture of one of these with lukewarm water turns my stomach even now! :)</div>
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<b><u>Tyvek Suit - </u></b>I think if I go out again I will just take one of these. I had one before technical checks and decided to opt for the montane jacket and inov8 pants. The tyvek suit is awesome though, keeps you warm but alos seems breathable. I was lucky enough to borrow one off one of my tent mates Guy during the rest day and wore it when it was boiling hot and it worked well. Very light weight as well.</div>
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<b><u>Esbit Titanium Stove -</u></b> Cooking on the stove was one of the things I hadnt practiced before I came out to the desert. These stoves were awesome to be fair. Hard to light if it was windy (but our resident fire expert Guy took care of making sure the fire was always in the right place - cheers Guy!!) but did the job and boiled the water. We all would cook up at the same time so found that in actuality we could have probably got away with one or 2 stoves between us all. We started to run low on tablets towards the end even though we had alot between us, but I think alot of people were getting rid of things like that by the end of the week to reduce weight so prob wouldnt have been too much of a problem.</div>
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<b><u>Varga Titanium Mug - </u></b>Bit of a bargain buy this. I got it from the US Ebay for about £15 cheaper than the UK price. No way I was going to pay £35 for a mug! It was a great bit of kit. I got the 400ml version which boiled enough water to cook a meal which was mostly all I needed it for. I put stuff in it when in the rucksack and it was so light I barely knew it was there. At some point in the week I tried to use it as a foam roller which made it warp into a slightly oval shape..</div>
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<b><u>Salomon Exo Wings Twin Skin Shorts -</u></b> I love Salomon stuff full stop, and these shorts were great. I wore these all week and they didnt rub, chafe or give any gip at all. I like the support that they give and I washed them when I got back and they are as good as new.. </div>
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<b><u>X-Bionic Fennec Cycle Shirt</u></b> - Alot of hype surrounding these shirts and they are expensive. However the fennec was the shirt of choice for alot of UK desert runners this season.. In my opionion the shirt worked well. I didnt feel the heat really until the temp started to get a bit silly and hit 54 deg C on day 4.. Highly recommended. I got the fennec cycle shirt as it was on offer on Start Fitness at the time for £60 which was a big saving on the rrp. The cycle shirt is essentially the same with a little zip at the front and pockets on the back.</div>
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<b><u>Salomon XA+ Desert Hat -</u></b> Another Salomon item that did the job well. I had used the hat a bit previously and the side curtainy bit attaches via velcro. It kept me well protected from the sun and kept the back of my neck protected. </div>
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<b><u>Balega Running Socks - </u></b>These were a bit of a late addition to my kit list at the recommendation of my running guru friend Craig. I tried them a few times before and they worked well out there in the desert. I didnt get any real blisters except a few hotspots which I addressed as I went. I was really lucky with my lack of blisters as the horror pictures you see on the internet of peoples feet during the MDS do actually happen. I saw alot of people hobbling around particularly towards the end of the week and how they lined up to complete the days running I dont know! Alot of courage and a good mix of Ibuprofen I imagine!</div>
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<b><u>Hilly Mono Skin Running Socks -</u></b> When I did get blisters/hotspots they occurred when I wore these socks. These worked well in training but seemed to make my feet sweat profusely out there and then rub after a while. </div>
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<b><u>Compressport Calf Guards -</u></b> I wore these on every day and they worked well. I know that the jury is out on calf guards and the science but they work for me! I didnt have any calf issues at all over the whole week, in fact I was surprised to report no major niggles/strains/aches or DOMS the whole week! I came armed with Ibuprofen and Paracetamol but only had to use a dose of each the whole week. </div>
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<b><u>Raidlight (Red) Sand Gaiters -</u></b> These worked well and kept sand out for the whole week. The gaiters are probably the most important bit of kit as they keep the sand out and therefore feet hopefully blister free. I did scuff them on rocks on the first day and had to gaffa tape them up but they did the business.</div>
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<b><u>Raidlight Buff - </u></b>Indispensable bit of kit this.. I think there are 12 different ways you can use a buff, I think I used mine as a beanie, a night cap, a sand mask, an eye mask at night a neck cooler and a snot rag! Awesome!</div>
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<b><u>Tifosi Ventoux Sunglasses -</u></b> bit of a gamble on these, I was advised to get reactor sunglasses as it gets windy at night and the lenses are good to protect the eyes from sand etc. These sunnies were amazing. Great in the day, perhaps not quite clear enough for night time use but they protected my eyes in the day and were virtually bomb proof! I gave them a run under the tap when I got home and a clean and they look as good as new after a week of abuse..<br />
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<b><u>Saucony Mirage Trainers -</u></b> Road shoes with a medial support in. Very light and a great trainer for me on the road and track previously. I sent them away to have velcro sowed on to them and they served me well. I bought them a size up but I dont feel I suffered from swollen feet excessively during the week.<br />
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<b><u>Food:</u></b> This was a much discussed issue on the MDS Page. We had a minimum calorific value requirement of 2000 calories per day and I spent alot of time deciding what to take. I decided to opt for the Ma Baker Flapjack Bars for breakfast which weighed in at 90g for just under 400 calories. I opted for the Expedition Foods Dehydrated meals for evening meal which tasted ok to be fair. I had a variety of flavours which all tasted like real food! I opted for Hammer Perpetuem Solids and Hammer Gels for my in race nutrition. The Solids were great for the first few days but after that I found them hard to digest and swallow as they are quite chalky. I find Perpetuem is a great source of energy normally in my day to day endurance training and racing just didnt work out so well in the desert. Hammer gels were good, these are my gel of choice usually and gave me a kick when needed. I opted for nuts and wine gums for treats and a Pepperami. These all worked well and I felt I had enough calories, well up until the night that I had the "visitor" in the tent anyway!! Luckily some of the guys in the tent were getting rid of food to cut down weight which meant I could replace the food that had been touched! Otherwise it could have been a hungry remaining Marathon Des Sables for me!<br />
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Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-49672400775136951452013-04-19T20:56:00.000+01:002013-04-19T21:40:44.000+01:00Back Home..<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I am sat down writing this trying to process the most intense, insane, painful, joyful week of my life. I am unsure how to try and document what happened in the 2013 Marathon des Sables but will start by breaking it down day by day and see how it goes as this might be a useful resource for anyone wishing to give it a crack.<br />
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<b><u>Gatwick - Morocco</u></b><br />
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We flew out on the Thursday and the sight of all the fellow MDS'ers at the South Terminal of Gatwick confirmed that this pipe dream that I had been obsessing about for nigh on 2 years was definitely happening! I bumped into a few people that I had met over the last few months at various races including some of my future tent mates for the week, Sally, Gordon and Tom.<br />
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The flight was pretty uneventful and we arrived in Ouzarzarte airport mid afternoon. The vibe was great, 300 UK runners all open to the event and open to each other, it reminded of my younger days when I travelled alot and everyone I met seemed so receptive and open to interaction, which was so refreshing.<br />
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The next morning we made our way to the desert, a 5.5 hour bus and 20 mins military truck journey to our campsite and home for the next 9 days or so... It was really sobering to see the campsite and I couldn't quite believe that this was happening! We settled into our tent a Berber tent with no sides.. The wind then rose up that afternoon and even a little bit of rain fell which certainly concerned me and I am sure my fellow tent mates. We sat in stunned silence contemplating the rainy windy week ahead. There was a mini sand storm and thankfully the weather then calmed down - a great introduction to desert life, four seasons in one day almost!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunset On The First Night</td></tr>
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<b><u>Day 2</u></b> in the desert saw us going through the technical checks to show we had the necessary amount of calories, mandatory equipment and the like to do the race. We gave up our large suitcases full of our luxury items and suddenly my world shrank to the size of a 20L Raidlight rucksack, with one spare T shirt for the week, one spare pair of socks and plenty of dehydrated food, nuts and in retrospect not enough sweets! The evening came and we encountered our first speech given by Patrick Bauer. For this first speech he seemed quite restrained and this was another "pinch myself" moment to check that this was actually happening.<br />
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<b><u>Day 1 of running</u></b> saw us encountering our first 23 miles of desert terrain. Historically the 1st day was shorter and used to help the competitors acclimate to the heat and get used to desert racing. No such luck this time around and we were straight in at the sharp end! I spoke to someone on the way who had said that this was the toughest 1st day he had encountered and he had done it 3 times previously.. I attacked the first 18 miles thinking this was like 23 miles back home on my nice running routes in Jersey.. How wrong was I? I got to the final stretch; a long plain that seemed to go on and on and up and up in equal measure until we hit the top of the climb and there she was.. The finish line! Right out in the middle of a plain and a good couple of miles to get to it. Got there I did though and finished the first day pleased to get it under my belt and having not dug too deep at this point. The only real issue to come of the day was the rucksack I was using, the Raidlight Olmo 20 + 4 as reviewed in these hallowed pages previously was looking like it was not going to be up to the job - more about this later..<br />
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Day 2 of running - I awoke this morning feeling rested and recovered which was a great feeling. On todays menu of the weeks buffet of running was 18 miles up 3 Jebels (which are mountains) culminating in the Jebel Al Otfah, described to me by one of my fellow Brits as a "bit of a bugger." I set off at good pace and made good time to the first climb, got in single file with the rest of the runners and started to ascend, and ascend, and ascend.. Every corner seemed to be another climb but the summit came and soon enough we were descending on some beautiful technical rocky trail that soon took us into CP1. I loaded up on water and feeling good I headed off to the next climb a nice sandy, duney effort this time which promptly drained my legs. The views however were amazing and we were negotiating some really gnarly spines up there.. Upon ascent I hit a plain and started the run into CP2 and then the final climb of the day the mighty Jebel al Otfah, a true monster compared to the other climbs and I believe it claimed a few early DNF's from the race due to the severity.<br />
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Day 3 of running - I woke this day slightly out of sorts. A windy night had meant the tent collapsed a couple of times and I had not slept so well. Our email messages had been delivered to the tent and an admin cock up had meant that my emails were not there. I watched everyone reading their messages nearly in tears as I thought no one had emailed me! Luckily ten mins later someone from another tent came and gave me my messages they had been delivered to their tent by mistake. This set the tone for my day and although the 3rd day was primarily flat the heat was starting to rise and I was quite mindful of the 48 mile long day following this day. Flat didnt mean easy terrain however, 23 miles of salt plains and sandy sections with the odd climb, little wind and rising temperatures. I set out at a good clip to start with but upon hitting the salt lakes after CP1 I started to feel the last few days in my legs.. I soldiered on and started to engage a run/walk strategy as I didnt want to dig too deep before the 48 miler the following day. I encountered the flat plains again, the like of which seemed to become my nemesis over the week, I found the long flat distance difficult as they seemed to go on and on and distance became very distorted so what seemed like a short distance away never seemed to get closer which played havoc with my mindset particularly on this day.. I got to the finish nonetheless and set about recovering and getting my head right for the big day tomorrow.<br />
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Day 4 of running - The big one!! I made the call based on the previous days performance that to set out conservatively was going to be the right tactic for this day. I think the previous day had rattled me a bit and I was not willing to risk the chance of not completing the long day. I cant really describe the feeling of having 48 miles ahead of you having already 64 miles the 3 days previously. I really tried to focus on breaking down the distance into checkpoints and maintaining a brisk pace, which seemed to work ok. In 7 hours my tent mate Gordon and I had hit the half way mark and had endured temperatures of upto 54 degrees Celsius which didn't seem so hot at the time. Mid way through the afternoon we were lucky enough to see the top 50 come through, an awesome experience and the closest I got to Mohamed Al Hansal the eventual overall winner all week!! As the sun went down the cooler climes came and I felt inspired to run. I covered 12 miles in some manic hyperactive fit whilst grinning manically and gurning like a raver at Spike Island. I think the culmination of extreme heat, lots of salt tablets, too many sugary snacks and way too much thrash metal on my ipod took its toll, I lost the plot and remember seeing our photographer Kirsten after checkpoint 4 and proclaiming that I "felt amazing!!" I didnt feel so amazing about and hour and a half later when I needed to go to the loo and was promptly sick at the same time.. Good memories that. I made it to the next check point which was the last one and I had to sleep off the nausea. I was resigned to sleeping through the night and resuming my odyssey the following morning, however a trio of scouse lads rocked into my tent proceeded to talk very loud and awake me from my slumber. I hooked up with these guys and made the last 10km deathmarch back to the finish with them on a perpetual incline and a magic finish line that never actually seemed to get any closer.. I eventually finished this day at 3:30am a broken, shadow of the confident Paul that set out on day one..<br />
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Day 5 - Rest Day. After getting in at 3:30am from the long day I woke at 5:30am to the sun shining in my face and it already feeling quite warm. This was the rest day and we had been promised at 4:30pm we would receive a can of Coca Cola. I counted down the hours til that little beauty came and savoured every last mouthful of it.. The rest of the day we hung out ate dehdrated meals, fantasised about proper food, compared war stories about the long day and waited for some of our other tent mates to arrive back. It was a very hot day and being in the tent was quite tough as it is black and seemed to attract the heat.. (not sure why?) It did cool down by the evening though and it was time to bury the trauma of the long day and start to look ahead to the last stage - The marathon stage.<br />
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Day 6 of running - marathon day! This was the day that we had all been looking forward to the last proper stage of this years race. It was 26 miles and the heat had risen even more so. I decided to go out hard on this stage as I wanted to try and right the loss of time on the long day - basically a death or glory strategy with high risk or high reward. I am sure you can guess what happened next? I ran like a gazelle across the Sahara desert making mince meat of those dunes, skipping gaily through the best that North Africa had to throw at me...... For 6 miles I did anyway! I got to CP1 and took on water and was feeling uncharacteristically thirsty. I necked the bottle threw some more over me and nonchalantly hit the road to the second check point. It was around mid way through this section that the proverbial wheels started to fall off and I realised I was horrendously dehydrated (perhaps the fact that I hadn't wee'd for nearly 2 days wasnt enough of a giveaway? Call me crazy!!??) and I was caked in salt which is a dead give away. I started to drink the water I had to try and undo the damage caused and promptly ran out of water with about a mile and a half to CP2. This was the first time this had happened and being so thirsty was a little scary. I toughed it out though got to the CP and took all the water on offer which by this point was luke warm!! After making it through this CP we hit a dune section and I was deteriorating quicky, vision was going blurry and I just couldnt seem to find respite from the sun. I slowed to a shuffle and traipsed through the dunes a sad forlorn figure determined to make it to the end and to fight out whatever way I had to to get there. I found every hill the biggest challenge and as well as feeling dehydrated I was nauseous which meant I was running low on energy. I finally made it to the last checkpoint and took 20 minutes to get my act together. I managed to get some jelly beans off a very kind person which seemed to perk me up and fortify me for the last leg of the journey. Along the way I met a great American guy Russell who was struggling as much as me and we walked the last 10km together. We got over the finish line and I received my medal and hug from Patrick Bauer. I must say that he truly engaged me when I spoke to him, that day he gave out 1000 medals and hugs and I bet every person who crossed that line would say the same.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The main man and I!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Medal</td></tr>
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I must say that the race was amazing and anyone thinking of doing it should grab the opportunity with both hands, its not just about the race; the camaraderie, the opportunity to truly push ones limits, the experience of running in the Sahara and the sense of achievement after having actually gone through all the above make up the whole package.<br />
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I would dearly like to thank everyone who messaged me during the MDS. This alone was a major contributor to my completing the race. It was so tough out there both physically and mentally. I came within sight of my limits many times but I also really enjoyed it at the same time. The people I met out there will hopefully be people I will have in my life for a long long time and this was a big part of the experience for me. My tent mates were awesome and also the other guys I either knew previously or met at various stages of the race.<br />
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So what next for me? Well As soon as I crossed the line at the MDS my initial though was "I could have done better.." So I have made tentative enquiries about going back next year to Morocco. I have registered interest for 2015 as well. Prior to the finish there was no way I was going back but the race has a magical quality. I am also on the waiting list for The Spine Race which is billed as "Britains most brutal race" which takes in approx 260 miles across the Pennine Way in January. I am really conscious of getting another challenge on the cards as I want to maintain momentum and to be honest the MDS has redoubled my love for running! I will be doing Round the Rock here in Jersey on Aug 3rd and I will be doing my first 100 miler across the Cotswolds in September. So lots going on, the adventure has really only just began I feel..<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Welcome Home Committee!</td></tr>
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On the fundraising side I have hit and exceeded the £12,000.00 mark which is amazing. The day before I went out to the desert I received a £1000 donation from Le Gallais and Luce a local solicitors firm as well as numerous very generous donations from friends and some people I have never met. If you would like to donate my just giving page is <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/Paulsdesertrun">www.justgiving.com/Paulsdesertrun</a>. I ran the MDS in aid of Jersey Hospice Care and in memory of Natalie Moss a dear friend of mine who sadly passed away about a year ago and spent the last 6 weeks of her life in Jersey Hospice. I thought about Natalie a lot whilst doing the race and toasted her with my friend Pete when I crossed the finish line. I had a really touching message from one of my friends saying that there was a beautiful young lady who was taken too soon looking down on me amazed and proud of what I was doing in her memory. I kept on turning this line over and over in my head as I went through the long stage at night, the scenery and stars being so beautiful that night that I could half believe that she was watching..<br />
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I really want to document the kit list and what worked well for me and what didn't, I will have a crack at this over this weekend. I intend to sleep and eat and sleep and eat a bit more this weekend.<br />
I have put together a short video of my experiences in Morocco (click on movie below), I feel it gives a good taste of what we went through out there. Enjoy!<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/K7OjoHyoTZ0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-50327245277160498922013-04-03T08:11:00.000+01:002013-04-03T14:02:22.505+01:00Off To The Desert..<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: blue; font-family: inherit;">This afternoon I fly out from Jersey to London and will meet up with a few of the Brits taking part in the MDS. Tomorrow morning we all check in for our flight to Morocco, so all the scenes I have been anticipating and playing in my head will start to happen.. Picture 300 runners all checking in at Gatwick race backpacks giving them away as to their destination.. A lot of us have been in touch either through the Facebook MDS group or having actually met at the various ultra races we have been doing to get ready for the challenge we shall be starting on Sunday, so I am very excited about meeting people I have been chatting to as well as making new acquaintances..</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: blue; font-family: inherit;">The training is done, the packing is 99% done and all thats left is to get there and give this thing my best shot. I have one agenda and that is to walk away from the race knowing I have given my absolute best, I hope that my best is enough for me to complete the race. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: blue; font-family: inherit;">Someone kindly posted this picture yesterday, which is the town near to which the first day starts (Merzouga). Not sure if this is the scale of the dunes we will be encountering we will see, but it seems quite high!!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: blue; font-family: inherit;">The weather forecast at the race start appears to be a little on the low side.. I dont really believe in forecasts myself so will wait to see what the temp and conditions are when we get there:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2DJFFnLNMvQuKLD9-Dda-5-OOsDX4xYGsOgoaq8n3MtOJ4PWRp-o5C8eBkhFQvJELYzPZ_wKtAy8XelbygGY7gJKdRPBGKkI5nlKXqKuJDgzC17DjbMmnGMeGoK3ZYri3iNX3EwTrL4K0/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-04-03+at+07.36.24.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2DJFFnLNMvQuKLD9-Dda-5-OOsDX4xYGsOgoaq8n3MtOJ4PWRp-o5C8eBkhFQvJELYzPZ_wKtAy8XelbygGY7gJKdRPBGKkI5nlKXqKuJDgzC17DjbMmnGMeGoK3ZYri3iNX3EwTrL4K0/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-04-03+at+07.36.24.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; line-height: 17px; text-align: left;">I have the details of how you can contact me in the desert should you wish. My race number is 624 and all messages must state my full name Paul Burrows and race number or they won't get through to me. You can send me messages from 06 to 12 April 2013</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue;">Go to the website and follow the instructions: </span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/.http://www.marathondessables.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">.</span><span style="color: black;">http://www.marathondessables.com/</span><br /> </a></span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Find the section "write to competitors" (which will probably not be live until the weekend)</span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Only messages with surname, first name and race ID number will be transferred.</span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">After 12 april, this email service will no longer be operational.</span></span><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">Please don't send attachments (e.g. photos). This will cancel the message. Messages will be given to competitors in the bivouac every day. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">Please feel free to message me, this will be a massive boost to receive these, and will be greatly appreciated :)</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: blue;">So this is probably my last blog post before I head off.. Thanks for the support from everyone; The people who helped me with the fundraising (Karl Moss, Ben Garland, Nicola Gott, Bryce Alford, Jo Alford, Pete Wright, David Stokes, John Parker @ Mymemory.co.uk) The local businesses that have supported me (Sportsbug Jersey, Mymemory.co.uk,</span><span style="color: blue;"> BNP Paribas Jersey, Bean Around The World, Cafe Jacs, Tonic Skin and Beauty, Craig Meredith at Fit2Function Jersey & Leanne Rive Personal Training) And the people who I have run with over this crazily long and cold winter (Peter Wright, Phil Taylor, Lee De St Croix, Simon McKenzie, Leanne Rive, Bryce Alford and Jodi Fowler </span></span><span style="color: blue;">particularly, but also all the guys at Jersey Spartans with who I ran circles around a track very fast 2 night a week in the dead of winter!! :) </span></span><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: blue; font-family: inherit;">It's starting to sound like an Oscar speech but I believe it is important to acknowledge the fact that all aspects of this challenge, the training, fundraising and general day to day have been made a lot easier by the support of my friends and the understanding of my non running friends (thanks guys!) when I haven't been able to come out for a night on the town because I was running the next day or just not been able to see much of them.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: blue; font-family: inherit;">I am running the Marathon Des Sables in memory of Natalie Moss, a very dear friend and wife of my close friend Karl who sadly passed away just over a year ago. She was taken from us way too soon and all of us who knew her think of her every day. Natalie knew I was doing this race and she had seen a couple of the documentaries on the MDS, so she knew what I was in for! I often think of her courage and grace when she was going through her illness, she has inspired so many of us and really brought the friends she left behind close together. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: blue; font-family: inherit;">Our Friend Natalie - Sadly Missed xxx</span></td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: #f3f3f3; color: blue; font-family: inherit;">The fundraising has been going really well for Jersey Hospice Care which is where Natalie spent her last 6 weeks. If you havent yet donated please visit <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/Paulsdesertrun"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.justgiving.com/Paulsdesertrun</span></a> and donate, no matter what the amount. We have just hit £9,450 and would be awesome to hit £10,000 this week with the ultimate target being £12000.</span><br />
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Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-56181893859263889712013-03-28T20:21:00.001+00:002013-03-28T20:21:39.327+00:00A Date With Destiny..
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The preparation and the anticipation is about to come to fruition.. This
is the last 9 days or so before I finally step on to the start line for the
Marathon des Sable – the focus of my life it seems for the last 2 years and the
end result to which I have been training for, talking about, and obsessing
about!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDp52kzgfLl-I_rdPY2pEq8J22JQGUpuANJE_x_thgJ7RllB0jDr4lkNvnW4J8GiY_dkaECGtysr9eW6sIEJ4zsXLooTd1drBb8sL1cdvM9c0rlQ_ZCpxud4xbZNkbIt_WB3qvQa7kjfcv/s1600/Road+Sign.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDp52kzgfLl-I_rdPY2pEq8J22JQGUpuANJE_x_thgJ7RllB0jDr4lkNvnW4J8GiY_dkaECGtysr9eW6sIEJ4zsXLooTd1drBb8sL1cdvM9c0rlQ_ZCpxud4xbZNkbIt_WB3qvQa7kjfcv/s320/Road+Sign.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I cant actually believe that in just over a week I will be lining up on
the start line in the Moroccan Sahara contemplating the 150 miles ahead of me,
AC/DC‘s “Highway to Hell” blaring out over loudspeakers, helicopters circling
above and the sand underfoot. I feel prepared mainly; I know I have trained
well for this, perhaps more than for any other race or indeed anything I have ever
done! Over the last few weeks a lot more people locally are aware that I am
doing the race, I have been in local magazines and on local radio which has had
a positive knock on to the fundraising I have been doing for Jersey Hospice
Care. I guess I am concerned now about things that I have no direct control
over: What if the heat is too much? What if I get injured? What if I am not
tough enough to get through the inevitable hard times? What if I can’t manage
to carry my pack on the long day? What if I get too many blisters and have to
quit? I think these are quite a lot of my main concerns as I don’t want to go
out there and not succeed. I hope the training and racing I have done over the
last 2 years has given me the strength and reserves of courage to carry me
through when it gets hard going. I know for sure that a lot of my fellow MDS
competitors will have very similar thoughts as we have all invested alot of
time, energy and money at great personal expense; deferring nights out, time
with friends, time with family and using up valuable holiday through the year
to do crazy races just to get used to the type of hardship we will encounter in
the desert. I have faced a number of challenges over the last couple of years
particularly and have always been nervous about whether I will pass the test,
and each time I have come through; my first marathon, my first ultra marathon,
my first multi day ultra marathon and a lot more challenges on the way, so I
would hope that by now I could draw that confidence and be assured of success..
But the doubt is still there </span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Arial; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I am sure though
that once on the start line and in the groove the game of ticking off the miles
and bargaining with ones psyche will start and all will fall into place mile by
mile..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/W7svqfVu468?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Achilles heel that I possess (as some of my fellow running friends
will attest to) is that I often in races go out far too fast and peak far too
soon and go down in a blaze of glory, whilst the people I passed at the
beginning tread my limp body into the trail and use me as a point of reference
for the “slow and steady wins the day” saying.. I also tend to set time or
position goals in races and these often become a stick to beat myself with, as
I heard it so eloquently described in an article the other day. My big
challenge in the MDS is to ensure that I go out consistently and try to
maintain a good average pace without redlining it, particularly in the first
few days. I hope this is something that I can achieve as I believe this is the
key to a good performance over a multi day race.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the last week or so I have been taking it a little easier, favouring
the longer taper for this race, which should see me get to Morocco rested,
injury and niggle free, and more importantly psychologically rested to give the
race my best. I think that the training over the last few months has been
necessary and had definitely made me feel well prepared for the MDS, but as
alluded to in my previous post I have found going out in the cold and wind
progressively harder both mentally and physically the closer I have got to the
race. I accept this as a natural side effect of training to high levels to
achieve the goals I set myself and also trust in the fact that “rest is best”
and within the next 9 days my body should spring back to life!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">After the fundraiser on Saturday where Nicola Gott and I ran 21 miles on
a treadmill each and raised £1,248 between us for Jersey Hospice I haven’t
actually run due to other things getting in the way.. My body is in shock a
little I think at the moment and doesn’t quite know what to do with this sudden
period of inactivity. I am eating a similar amount to when I was in peak
training and feeling sluggish and a little like a fish out of water currently..
I plan to do a few runs over the weekend as well as 4 or 5 days of intensive
Bikram Yoga to try and get all the heat acclimatisation I can in before the off
on Weds..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">One of the things now I am most concerned about is the b</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">ugs that seem to
be flying around everyone I know.. As anyone who has ever done an endurance
event of any length will attest, as soon as you start to taper after all the
training you do inevitably some kind of bug strikes, be it a cold, cough or
flu.. I have been stocking up on veggies, fruit, and vitamins and being mindful
of people with colds and bugs around me, which so far has been doing the trick.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I sat down last night and started to pack the things into my rucksack
that I will be taking with me. I have been compiling a spreadsheet of all the
items I intend to take with weights so that I have a rough estimate of how
heavy the pack will be that I will run with. Bearing in mind that I have to
carry my food and anything else I need for the week, I have had to be quite
ruthless. I am trying to strike the balance between comfort and lightweight
which has meant that the a few decisions have to be made and I think as is
natural for us humans we tend to err on the side of caution, particularly as
far as how much food to take to a situation we have no real reference points to
and situations like that.. I am planning to take flapjack bars for breakfast
and the dehydrated astronaut foods for dinner, with various in race nutrition
planned also. This works out at around the 2,300 calorie per day mark which is
possibly a little on the low side, but I have been reliably informed that you
don’t get hungry in the desert and so i am going to trust in this advice and
try and travel as light as possible to promote a quicker running pace. I spent
a couple of hours the other night unpacking the meals out of their foil bagging
and decanting them into freezer bags, thereby saving a whopping 70grams of
weight once I was done! It has really got down to the point where 20 grams here
and there makes a collective difference and can mean the difference between me
galloping through the desert like a Gazelle or lurching through the desert like
a drunken fool..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/p_regressive/radio-interview" target="_blank">My BBC Radio Jersey Interview</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This long weekend will see me finishing up packing the rucksack,
minimising the weight in any conceivable way that I can. Rock n roll eh? Easter
break with a pair of weighing scales and dehydrated foods!!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdjj9XFx1Wx35Np-EKASRsb5o4tACDziWHW_3BNlIXMvhh5H-jOitg0fpaCML6XoVBL4KyJ7PwOEwg4NkEDCcNwR_z2i40Pbhm1vGBeeDTfiC8xoVCVWGrmpNYK_NWm3oHfVCUnTkDswjG/s1600/Screen+Shot+2013-03-28+at+20.18.24.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdjj9XFx1Wx35Np-EKASRsb5o4tACDziWHW_3BNlIXMvhh5H-jOitg0fpaCML6XoVBL4KyJ7PwOEwg4NkEDCcNwR_z2i40Pbhm1vGBeeDTfiC8xoVCVWGrmpNYK_NWm3oHfVCUnTkDswjG/s320/Screen+Shot+2013-03-28+at+20.18.24.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Fundraising has gone through the roof with the new total equalling £9364 so I have reset my target to £12,000.00 for Jersey Hospice Care. To donate please visit <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/Paulsdesertrun" target="_blank">here.</a></span></div>
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Happy Easter All!</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The last month has been a case of getting the miles done. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I think so far
this year I have run 580 miles which is well beyond my corresponding mileage of this time last year. It has been tough, both mentally dealing with the cold
and the routine of training in some capacity every day of the week and also
physically. The demands that such a regime places on the body and mind are not
really something that is immediately obvious (at least in my case) however I
have found that over the last 2 months I have had little time for little else
than anything MDS related. The effects of these demands definitely came to a
head for me the last weekend, I did my 2 back to back long days of 20 miles and
14 miles and by the end had had enough of running full stop! I think mentally I
was tired of running in the cold and into headwinds, physically the niggles I
had in my body seemed numerous and I was generally quite fed up. I also think
that the lifestyle changes that I have made gradually over the last 6 months or
so to the point that I no longer go out on a Sat night, am mindful of the next
training session, no longer see much of my very understanding and awesome
friends and the general tiredness of hard training weeks have meant that I just
wanted time out from it all. Luckily it snowed here in Jersey on Monday just
gone which mean that running was not really on the agenda, which further meant
that I had 3 guilt free days without running. I attended a Bikram Yoga class
towards the middle of the week and then decided to run again on the Thursday
with full pack weight and for the first time in a few weeks felt really up for
the run having taken time out.. Which kind of proves the whole “rest is best”
theory and has given me a new lease of life mentally leading into the last big mileage
weekend of my MDS regime. I now feel back on track after a little hiccup and ready for the next week or so of tough training before the taper..<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I went to visit my GP for the obligatory ECG which we need to present upon the start of the race, along with a signed medical form to say you are fit to race. I had a ver low resting heart rate, perfect blood pressure, but the ECG did throw up some irregularities which meant I have been referred to a Cardiologist this coming week for a cursory check of my readings. I have read a little about this and it seems alot of the UK competitors are getting the same irregularities as it is a by product of endurance sports such as ultra running, so I hope to get the all clear in the next few days!! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">So this weekend see a few of us running 27 miles on Saturday and then I
will be doing another long one with a pack on Sunday.. After this I will then
be switching my focus to more frequent runs with weight as well as interspersing
these session with lots of Bikram yoga to hopefully acclimate to the heat.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With just under 3 weeks to go the massive list of equipment I have
had to gather for this race has all but come together. I took the snow nights
as an opportunity to sit down and weigh the stuff I will be taking and to put a
handle on what is essential and what is a luxury to take with me. This was
pretty eye opening and led to a few tough decisions, so it looks like a lot of
compromises on photographic/video equipment, MP3 players, spare T shirts,
sleeping pads and other items I had initially factored into taking.. The jury
is still out on these choices, but I am currently erring on the ruthless side
with minimalism winning the day. I imagine when faced with the reality of
lasting in the desert for a week with only one t-shirt, one spare pair of pants
and other delightful dilemmas some of these decisions might be revisited!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I was lucky enough to be featured in this months Gallery Magazine which
is a local lifestyle magazine here in Jersey. I had a photography shoot with
local photographer Danny Evans and I was really pleased with the results. It
was slightly surreal and lots of attempts were taken to get the pic of me
running towards the camera but Danny was great, really made me feel at ease in
such an alien environment for me, and the article has really raised the profile
of the fundraising I am doing for local charity Jersey Hospice Care.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I had set the initial target of £5000 for Hospice which I hit back in
December. I then re-evaluated this and re set the target to £8000. I am
currently on just over £7000 with a couple of event to go before I head off.
Next week end should you be venturing past Marks and Spencers in St Helier you
will encounter me running on a treadmill with my colleague Nicola Gott who is
doing the London Marathon and also raising money for Jersey Hospice Care. We
plan to run for 8 hours between us whilst also trying to collect funds in
buckets, so please be sure to pop by and say hi!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">As mentioned I am raising funds for Jersey Hospice Care and am running
the Marathon des Sables in memory of Natalie Moss a friend of mine who sadly
passed away just over a year ago and was in the care of Jersey Hospice during
the last 6 weeks of her illness. They are amazing its as simple as that. If you
can see your way to donating please hop over to <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/Paulsdesertrun">www.justgiving.com/Paulsdesertrun</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Many thanks – More to follow soon!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-42440046264197516982013-03-01T07:56:00.000+00:002013-03-01T07:56:33.741+00:00The Business End Of The Regime..Well the weeks are ticking down and ticking down, only 5 weeks til we fly to Morocco on the adventure of a lifetime. After almost 2 years of preparation I cant believe it is here to be honest.<br />
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The last month or so has been intense. Life has centred mainly around training with my week involving some variation on the theme of running, yoga or strength work interspersed with organising all the finer details to arrive at the start line prepared. My training plan has looked something like this:<br />
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Mon - Bikram Yoga<br />
Tues - Run with weight (avg 10 miles with 5-6KG pack)<br />
Wed - Run at Lunch Time (8 miles) Run at Night Time (8 miles)<br />
Thur - Running Club Hill Session (avg 8 miles<br />
Fri - Strength/ Core Session<br />
Sat - Long Run - (avg 20 miles)<br />
Sun - Long Run (avg 14 miles)<br />
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This has changed slightly depending on what has been going on, 2 weeks or so ago a few of us did a 45 mile training run around the island of Jersey which was a great day out and fell just on one of the sunniest days so far this winter, which was a great morale booster, and was a great confidence booster for running the long day on the MDS which ranges between 50 and 60 miles.<br />
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One of the biggest factors I have found difficult with training has been getting motivated to get out there in the cold. I think I am not alone in this as it seems to be a recurring conversation with other runners at the moment, I am almost looking forward to the 40 deg heat of the Sahara at this point, although I am sure a day under the searing sun will have me begging for snowy cliff paths and boggy trails with windy beach runs that make me want to cry!! I think it is natural to lose motivation as the pure mileage has been high over the last few weeks, with every session being key whether the goal be to acclimatise to the heat (Bikram) build endurance, run with weight or hill work. This weekend sees me hitting my peak in terms of training with a 3 day odyssey planned: 26 miles on Sat, 26 miles on Sun and 26 miles on Monday afternoon. I think once this is done whilst I will still be logging miles I will gradually take the intensity and mileage down as the goal is now to get to the start line healthy and injury free. </div>
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Equipment wise the last few weeks have been active: I received my shoes back from the cobbler with the velcro attached yesterday which means I am able to attach the sand gaiters to them and so form a seal which will prevent sand from getting in to them and prevent chafing and blisters. I also took delivery of my evening meals yesterday: the finest that Expedition Foods has to offer in dehydrated foods... Once you add water and let them stand they do look actually begin to look like food and taste ok (based on the Chicken Tikka one I tried a few weeks ago) if a little bland, but a bit of salt and pepper will solve that I am sure.. My rucksack weight is currently looking like just under 7KG on paper although a real life pack hasnt happened yet and I am sure other items will sneak in and bump the weight up. I have tried to be ruthless using lightweight items where I can, only taking essentials and it looks like I will be wearing the same clothes for the whole week! I just hope my tent mates have decided to do the same otherwise I might be quarantined!</div>
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I have decided on most of my clothing with the following T Shirt which is Under Armour Heat Gear and I had printed up to thank the local companies that have supported me in my buildup in some way or another: www.mymemory.co.uk, Sportsbug Jersey, BNP Paribas Jersey, Fit 2 Function Jersey, Tonic Body & Skin Therapy, Bean Around the World Coffee Shop and Leanne Rive Personal Training.</div>
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Fundraising has seen me break the £6000 barrier, which is awesome. I have a goal of reaching £8000 raised for Jersey Hospice Care before I leave in 5 weeks with some events planned to hopefully get me there. I have been canvassing most people I know for donations so am sure people will be glad to see the back of me by the time I get on that plane!! :-) If you are in any doubt as to how to donate please visit: <a href="http://www.justgiving.com/Paulsdesertrun">www.justgiving.com/Paulsdesertrun</a> all donations no matter how small are welcome, and to just know that people are supporting me gives me amazing motivation during those long, hard, cold training runs!</div>
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This was quite an interesting picture that I came across on the net which gives you an idea of some of the things we have to carry as well as some of the decisions us MDS runners have been faced with over the last few weeks: </div>
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We were given our race numbers a few weeks ago, I am number 624.. Once we are out there the MDS website <a href="http://www.darbaroud.com/en/">http://www.darbaroud.com/en/</a> provides real time updates of how we are doing, photos of the days racing and vitally you are able to send messages to the competitors through the website. It goes without saying how important that will be for morale so if you have a few spare minutes between the 5th and 15th April please drop me a line..</div>
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More to follow over the next few weeks.. </div>
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Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-83536274769815809672013-02-04T22:47:00.000+00:002013-02-06T22:25:27.348+00:00The End Of A Love Affair....So over the weekend a very important relationship for me ended..<br />
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We had been together for nigh on 2 years now, shared some good times, bad times, awful times and amazing times. We had travelled around the country together taking in the various sights that good ole Blighty has to offer and spent alot of one on one time just soaking up the view and connecting with nature..<br />
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We met across a crowded Ebay auction about 2 years ago, when I saw them I knew they were the right trail shoes for me.. Inov-8 Roclite 295's oh how you have served me well.. In the last 2 years I have run nearly 600 miles in those bad boys; from my first trail race, to my first trail marathon, my first ultra marathon and my first multi day ultra marathon. I have to say they never let me down, I have always felt confident running in whatever conditions Mother Nature has thrown at me, and I think I have experienced her greatest hits! From the slippery clay of the Jurassic Coast, to the slippery mud of the Jersey North Coast, to the Slippery Clayey mud of the North Downs (see the theme here???) and so on and so forth..<br />
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Anyway I would like to bid them a fond farewell, I hope you will join me in raising a glass to my faithful, battered, muddy Inov-8's.. I will be consigning them to the bin this evening.. By the way I have replaced them with a much younger, sexier model who is sure to give me many ups and downs over the coming years!! :-)<br />
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The weekend just gone I participated in the XNRG Pilgrims Challenge 2 Day Ultra on the North Downs Way in Surrey. My mate Pete and I flew over on Friday night and were lucky enough to spend a night in a travel lodge in Aldershot. Saturday morning I awoke after a great nights sleep and we set off to the start line, not really knowing what to expect, but having the vague idea that the course would be less extreme than the Dorset Ultra weighing in at about 3000ft of elevation as opposed to nearly double that in Dorset.<br />
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I was set to start at 10am, but it was so cold I asked if I could switch to the 9am start to get going.. We started and the day was beautiful, cold, sunny and perfect for a 33 mile run.. Apart from the mud! Right from the off I paired up with a couple of guys who ran way beyond my ability levels, and one of who had a GPS map of the route on his IPhone and seemed to know the way, there were alot of points along the initial part of the route where the signage was not obvious so I thought it prudent to stick with them. We blasted off at a crazy pace running all the hills and completely turning my carefully thought out race strategy (drawn on the back of a fag packet!!) out the window.. By 15 miles I had said goodbye to my fast friends, taken a few wrong turns and set about the painful task of living with the damage I had inflicted by committing the cardinal sin - <u style="font-weight: bold;">Going out too fast!</u> The rest of the race passed uneventfully, if a little painfully with beautiful scenery and some very muddy pathways along the way. The XNRG crew at the check points were all very friendly and supportive and were a welcome sight after a couple of hours on my own listening to my cheeky girls play mix on my IPod.. The checkpoint food was also spot on, with a selection of fine cheeses, pretzels, sausage rolls and other culinary delights. I finished the day in 5 hours 20 mins with no real wrong turns and a lesson learnt about the need to control pace at the start of a 2 day event. I had a massage right at the end of the race which set me up for the next day and kept the aches and pains at bay. The field was a very strong one, with the winner for day one coming in at just over 4 hours and breaking the course record.<br />
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That night was spent listening to ultra endurance athlete Andy Mouncey doing a presentation on Ultra marathon running and his career which was very entertaining, and was good to see him manning checkpoint 2 on Sunday morning giving words of encouragement to all people moving through. The big highlight of the Sat evening for me (apart from the delicious Pasta Bolognese) was when the last 3 guys in from the race arrived in 12 hours later after starting at about 8am and the whole room erupted in a standing ovation for them.. This sent shivers down my spine and summed up one of the things I love most about ultra running.. One of the 3 had a bottle of Stella in her water bottle carrier, I think she had earnt that!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Presidential Suite For Me!!</td></tr>
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Onto day 2 and after a restless nights sleep in a school gymnasium with 200 other smelly endurance athletes the lights came on at 6am and up we got. 8am start for the race today, and the course was the reverse of the previous day taking 33 miles of the beautiful North Downs back to Farnham which psychologically was home for the day.. Pete and I had a flight to catch at 7pm which added a nice little bit of motivation to make it snappy so off we went. The legs were stiff to start and I decided on keeping a steady pace initially so that I could ease into the day and not blow up too early on. This plan went out the window when I took a wrong turn about 10 miles in, and added an extra mile or so plus an extra hill to my race. I trudged back up that hill a broken man after galloping down it like a leaping gazelle.. I joined the race and the North Downs Way once more and set about trying to reclaim some of the time I had lost. I did hit a few bad patches periodically and thought that it was going to be a long day indeed, but after bumping into a few people and chatting a bit along the way I found my spirits lifting and hitting a nice flat section where I got into a good rhythm and ticking of a good few miles which made everything look a lot better.<br />
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A bit further down the track I bumped into 3 runners around the 20 mile mark who were obviously preparing for the MDS and had done both days of the Pilgrims with the rucksacks they would be using in Morocco plus approximate weight. This was where I learnt my second valuable lesson of the weekend: <u><b>Its good to run with other people!</b></u> I stuck with the guys I met, Tom, Damian and Therese and really hit it off with them, we had a good couple of hours together and the banter was great and really kept my spirits up through the latter part of a very tough couple of days. I look forward to this type of camaraderie in the desert, particularly touching base again with all the people I met over the weekend who will be doing the MDS: Joey, Warwick, Sally, Gordon, Pete, Susie, Rory, Ian, Stuart, Kate and alot of other people who I chatted to along the way, at meal times, ran with and said hello to.<br />
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In summary the Pilgrims was a great event, well organised and great value for the entry fee. There were alot of MDS 2013 competitors there which was great to put face to names and to exchange information. I would not hesitate to recommend the event and will probably venture back there myself next year. Lots of lessons learnt for the MDS as well as a great confidence boost ahead of the big one.<br />
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More to follow soon!<br />
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<span style="background-color: #b8b8d8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I will be running in aid of Jersey Hospice care and in memory of my friend Natalie Moss - if you would like to donate please visit </span><a href="http://www.justgiving.com/paulsdesertrun" style="background-color: #b8b8d8; border: 0px; color: yellow; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">my just giving page here</a><br />
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<br />Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7170933492656427981.post-25676352063458268692013-01-29T18:16:00.002+00:002013-01-29T18:22:20.112+00:0010 Weeks To Go.......<br />
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<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1359482062321_2037" style="font-family: Arial;">First segment of “Hard as Nails” training completed!! It was a tough 3 weeks taking in around 210 miles on road and scenic Jersey coastal and cliff paths culminating in a 3 day back to back session averaging 20 miles per day for the 3 days. Happily I completed the 3 days well, and felt good after each day, and managed to run each day at a decent pace, so all on track and looking good at the moment.</span></div>
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<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1359482062321_2039" style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #454545;">I took the opportunity over the week after the tough training to take it easy and to let my body recover and repair, scaling down the mileage to a still respectable 48 miles for the week but maintaining a lower intensity and less frequency. I visited a local masseur Samantha Wade at Tonic Body and Skincare </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tonic-Body-Skin-Therapy/188076961225589?fref=ts" target="_blank"><span style="color: #454545;">(</span><span style="color: magenta;">Click here</span><span style="color: #454545;">)</span></a><span style="color: #454545;"> who massaged my legs back to normal and I even had a lie in at the weekend just gone which was much appreciated. It wasn’t all self pampering though and I was out for a nice Sunday 15 mile run the weekend just gone with my friend Simon McKenzie where the sun came out and it almost felt like spring! (Apart from the woolly hats, gloves, puddles and wet feet!)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">So everything feels like it has now settled down, little niggles that were starting to appear have been tended to and I am now tapering for the XNRG Pilgrims Challenge Ultra Race. This takes place on Sat 3rd and Sun 4th Feb and is 33 miles on each day over the North Downs in England. This is a very popular race amongst people training for the MDS and I expect to meet quite a few people from the UK who are travelling to Morocco in April over the weekend. I think I am looking forward to this as much as the race. The forecast for the race is sunny on the Saturday with rain on the Sunday which I will take as last year it snowed on the Sunday and apparently the going was pretty tough. This will be the last race I do before the MDS so will be nice to gauge where I am and to identify any tweaks to my training regime.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Next weekend also sees us moving into single figures with the amount of time left before I go to Morocco. 9 weeks! Basically right now everything is about the MDS: Training, equipment choice, mental preparation, massages, nutrition, fund raising, thinking about MDS, writing about MDS and talking about it :-) I can imagine people who know me & who don’t run might be a little MDS’ed out to be honest. I am not particularly nervous at this point, more excited, although there have been a few reports of people getting injuries who were due to take part in 2013 which is a little unsettling. It’s the delicate balance of training and putting stress on the body to improve vs. not putting too much on the body so that it cant cope.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I got a great quote off Canadian ultra runner Jason Loutitt when I contacted him a few weeks ago which kind of sums up the balancing act of rest vs. training and also testifies to his abilities as a runner: </span><span style="color: red; font-family: Arial;">"The more you cross that 'too tough' barrier in training, the easier the race will be and the better the result guaranteed... But to do that and not get injured is everything so you have to really know your body. If you don't have good body awareness take subtle training like Pilates. If all good and you can kill yourself in training, stay on top of recovery in all aspects – nutrition, massage etc. Give ‘em sh1t out there!"</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"> I didn’t realise this at the time but he had about 10 hours or so previously come second in a 100 mile race called the H.U.R.T. 100 miler in Hawaii so was pretty awesome of him to come back with advice at all, let alone so quickly after a race!</span> </div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #454545;">As I have previously covered in this blog one of the big factors of prep for the MDS is equipment, particularly the clothes you wear, the shoes you wear and the rucksack you carry. I have pretty much decided on the clothing and recently took order of some shiny new Salomon gear courtesy of Craig Meredith at Fit 2 Function here in Jersey (</span><a href="http://www.runjersey.co.uk/#/fit2function/4550093265" target="_blank"><span style="color: magenta;">click here</span></a></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">) who is a specialist local supplier of Salomon and Inov-8 trail running shoes, accessories, clothing and hydration packs</span><span style="font-family: Arial;"><b> </b></span><span style="font-family: Arial;">amongst other things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">I have decided on my footwear (99% anyway..!!) and have opted for the Salomon Crossmax Guidance Trail shoe which is a road to trail shoe. It has great support; great grip and is very cushioned so on the surface appears to fit the requirements I have for MDS. I tried them over the weekend on the cliff paths in very boggy, sludgy wet conditions and the grip was second to none. I found them to be very comfortable and I really felt the medial support post in them and as someone who pronates i feel that the support will come in to play quite heavily in the latter stages of a stage or a race. I will test them further this weekend at the Pilgrims and then decide more fully after this. Once I have decided on the vital shoe choice, I need to get them off to a cobbler where I need Velcro sewn around the whole shoe in order to be able to attach the sand gaiters that will keep the sand out of my shoes/socks and protect my feet from blisters (hopefully!) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #454545;">Other equipment I have been testing includes the Power Traveller Explorer Solar Power Charger, which was kindly provided to me by the guys at </span><a href="http://www.mymemory.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="color: magenta;">www.mymemory.co.uk</span></a></span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial;">. An amazing bit of kit which is a battery that can be charged by a solar panel, which is handy as I hear there is a lot of sun in the Sahara! I am in the process of testing this to see how many charges I can get out of the battery, how quickly the solar panel charges the battery and general reliability of the item.</span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span id="yui_3_7_2_1_1359482062321_2044" style="color: #454545; font-family: Arial;">Once the Pilgrims is done, it looks like another 3 weeks of intensive training is on the cards within which I hope to introduce some weight to replicate running with a more heavily laden rucksack, a bit of running on sand and also a bit of Bikram yoga to get used to heat and also maintain flexibility. On Feb 16th a few of us are going to run round the island of Jersey (48 miles) as there are a number of us taking part in long distance events over the coming months (Simon McKenzie – Thames Path 100 and South Downs 100, Phil Taylor – Endurancelife CTS Ultra Sussex, Leanne Rive – Connemara Road Ultra, Matt Cuthbert South Downs 100) So alot of races for Jersey runners coming up in the next few months with alot more on the horizon in 2013 for those of us hoping for UTMB qualification for next year. But that is another story.... Happy training!</span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: #b8b8d8; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px;">I will be running in aid of Jersey Hospice care and in memory of my friend Natalie Moss - if you would like to donate please visit </span><a href="http://www.justgiving.com/paulsdesertrun" style="background-color: #b8b8d8; border: 0px; color: yellow; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Trebuchet, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">my just giving page here</a></div>
Paul Burrowshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01758860232247000875noreply@blogger.com1