What goes up...must come down but preferably not shouting wheeeeeeee!!

Well yesterday was the official first run of my 14Run charity campaign the Helsby Four villages Half Marathon.

My day started with a leisurely 7.30am wake up call and a feeling of nice relaxed calm and no sense of back pain or stiffness which was a good sign as I often can wake up with back issues, but thankfully this situation is improving since re-joining the gym and working on my back and core more.

Quick shower and a bit of porridge and a cup of coffee and my pre run fueling was pretty much done.

The time came to finally start putting my compression gear on for underneath my shorts and vest.This sometimes literally requires rolling the stuff on as it is often tight fitting and can make you feel like you've just been vacuum packed, but it is a nice feeling as you feel secure and your muscles are nicely packed in their garments and good to go for the race.

Next came my transport and lift for the day from a fellow runner local to Southport , I'll call him Mr M for the sake of the blog.
9am and we were off on our way to Helsby in Cheshire, nice journey overall with a bit of a diversion due to a motorway closure along the way, but we got there nicely in time and got parked up.

I few quick hello's to fellow runners mainly from Liverpool Running Club and Knowsley Harriers to name a few, and then it was baggage check and toilet time.
There was a fair queue to get the baggage stored but it was all sorted eventually and then a couple of chats with more fellow runners and we were prompted to make our way to the start line.
It appears that the start line is practically right in the middle of the car park, so lining up was interesting but we eventually set off after the sound of the air horn and we were on our way.

This is a road race as such so the going is pretty much nice and smooth all the way around, and the weather was excellent and kind to us as it didn't rain and we were blessed with the odd bit of sun.

The miles passed and the scenery was nice all the way around as it was mainly country roads/lanes and open fields and passing various farms etc.
As you would expect in the country there were hills or gradual slopes as we runners like to call them when we are trying to convince ourselves that no extra effort will be required to get up them :) this is where the what goes up must come down comes in, after about 10.5 miles of little ups and downs but mainly ups came the final hill as such and then a steep downhill for about 300-400 yards followed by a little up again and then a nice long 2 mile or so gradual downhill.

The downhill was a lifesaver as I used it as an excuse to just throw caution to the wind and fly down the hill as quick as I could, if I hadn't been amongst several hundred other runners on that stretch and I hadn't actually been a rather shy adult individual I probably would of been shouting Wheeeeee!! as I went.

By now on the last mile of my run I was on for a new PB a personal best time as we call it so I was very happy and rather ecstatic as I thought the hills overall would of sapped all my energy and I wasn't expecting a good time, but thankfully my legs held on and felt good to go for a nice little sprint to the finish line....and a new PB of 1hr 43 min 05 secs over 3 minutes of my previous PB :))

Next was the goodie bag collection and a medal and a surprise a nice selection of Gingerbread men which was a treat as food was definitely required.

Some more quick hello's and well done's to other runners many who had also achieved PB's on the day as well and then it was back to the starting area to a huge queue for our bags.....but I won't gripe about that one on here.

After a long wait we were finally off back home to Southport again courtesy of Mr M and another diversion due to an incident on the motorway which was playing havoc over the whole area, but as it involved someones death not a lot of complaining could be done really.

So there you have it run #1 0f 14 done and dusted and a new PB to boot and training has already recommenced as I ran a new PB on the treadmill in the gym today for a 5k run 21 min 50 secs, so it's looking good for the next run which will be the Southport Mad Dog 10k on February 9th.....

When the going gets tough....the crafty ones stop for Chocolate and Lucozade :)

And you thought this running lark meant we starve ourselves..ha ha think again.
There is method in our madness or maybe just mine but since I started running I have burned so many calories on my individual runs it's a challenge to be able to replenish them all in a suitable way and in a reasonable period of time, hence my weight loss over my running career so far.

As my training starts to hit full flow and goes into the realm of middle and long distance training runs i.e. regular 10k middle distance runs and minimum half marathon long runs on my days off, the crucial element of actually eating enough of the good stuff i.e. carbs..oh carbs the thing all the idiotic fad diet people convince you you should not be eating and "oh..no, you shouldn't be eating bread or potatoes ..and pasta..oh my gosh no" do us all a favour and kick them where it hurts and tell them to go and screw someone else's diet and life up.

Carbs are a necessity when running if you want to eat a fairly normal healthy diet without going down the extremely difficult palio diet route of eating meats and fat in abundance and minimal carbs..think Atkins diet.. and still a fad and you would be almost there.

You don't have to carb load as such i.e. eat loads of carbs for days before a run, unless you are at least going to be running a half marathon because your not likely to deplete your energy stores in your muscles, and an energy drink along the way is usually enough if you've had a decent meal a couple of hours before your run.

But if like me you don't always eat a lot or even enough, forgetting to eat enough carbs the night before or even early on in the training day is a mistake you'll often discover when you get to 10k or so and sometimes start to wonder where the magic spring in your legs has gone, and if your doing a half or more you may well start to struggle.I often take a sports gel along with me to give me a boost if my legs feel a bit lacking in the energy or enthusiasm stakes but towards the end of my longer runs feeling hungry is a sure sign that I did not prepare properly or indeed eat enough pre run and no amount of gels is going to make that feeling go away, and running past all those frickin KFC adverts on every frickin bus stop doesn't help either, and Chinese take-a-ways and Fish'n'Chip shops etc that I always seem to run past just when I am at my hungriest and weakest..arghh!!

So what about the Chocolate and Lucozade??.. well that's my dirty little secret for my long runs, as I'm dragging my tired legs along and they are telling me "just take me home you masochist" I can convince myself and them that a little `Pit stop` at the local garage while still 3 or 4 miles out from the end of my run is a great and magical long run saving idea!

If your tough enough you will merely pick a light snack of the shelf and a bottle of water or healthy drink and continue on within minutes and consume as you go,but if you want to get as many miles as you can in and achieve a new longest distance for yourself this important `pit stop` will allow you to refuel some desperately needed energy,preferably a sugar and glucose based snack and drink (sorry girls, you thought I was going to give you an excuse to consume a chocolate bar) Boost bars are good especially the Glucose labelled one, Mars bars preferable snack size or half a duo and Milky way if you want a light equivalent, and drink wise go with the Lucozade sport (still) or Powerade or even Gatorade if you can find it.
If you are like me on my last run it was a full Mars bar swilled down with a little Lucozade and the rest saved for the last 3-4 miles of the run as I struggle on.I personally use the magic pit stop as a chance to stretch out my back at the same time and after a few minutes I am good to go!!

So life's not all bad and healthy as we run, we can have some of life's pleasures while out on a run and manage to justify them as well, just don't get home and repeat the same and call it recovery fuelling....that's just being a pig...strictly magic Yazoo's only allowed for that one ;)....

Wohoo..2014 is finally here and the running campaign has officially started :)

Well it is finally here, 2014 has finally arrived and after months of planning and painstaking setting up of donation pages, facebook pages and this blog I can finally declare the 14Runs charity running campaign for 2014 officially launched and my training well and truly started.

I've posted my donation page links on my facebook page, my dedicated 14Runs facebook page and on my favourite running forum on facebook also.

If you have missed them from my initial blog here they are again:

Donations to Caring for Life:
http://www.justgiving.com/14Runs     

Donations to Mind:
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/14Runs

My first run is at Helsby and is a Half Marathon road race consisting of 13.1 miles of country roads so hopefully a nice scenic one.
This particular race was called off last year due to extreme weather and an abundance of snow and ice which is never good in the eyes of health&safety with regards to runners possibly getting serious injuries due to slips and falls so it was a good decision.

I think I can say I'm looking forward to it, but I'm not looking forward to a possible very cold run in exposed countryside area's, I've never been a fan of the cold and am a terrible winter trainer as the first sign of rain or poor weather and I just rollover in bed and have a few more hours of rest and recovery as I've come to call it :)

I've had a nice 13.1 mile training run tonight and felt pretty well throughout most of it so I think I am ready for Helsby, I'll do a few more 13.1 training runs in the meantime to get my legs completely comfortable again with the distance though as it is always good to be able to run it comfortably.

I've also discovered I've dropped to my lightest weight in 25 years over the last month so I have to ensure that although being light is good for a long distance runner, it is also vital to eat the right kind of food and enough of it to cover my training, running and recovery in order to ensure my progress continues and I don't risk injury due to lack of nutrition.

Anyway onwards and upwards or forwards in my case,and one foot in front of the other as Dean Karnazes says....