not danny macaskill

trainers bad. two wheels good. knee pain has moved to tight knot of hamstring, giving shooting pains down leg upon running impact. to keep my mood high and mind off running, i'm lucky that i've bikes as my friends. thighs still ache from hill climbs but it's a good pain and lungs still burn from chasing speedsters. so, there's still fun to be had and a little bit of cross training can't be bad.

in the mean time, i'm keeping my feet up and concentrating on tea drinking and leg stretching. if you've got a 90seconds to spare you can see my non bike skillz and why pedaling is a brilliant running substitute. clicky here, oh, and a cracking proclaimers tune-the whw'ers choice.

not running

i'm avoiding all pavements at the moment, even a road ride is too close to them. time for knobbly tyres and friends with annual leave to burn. a whole day of local trails.

sunshine and dappled singletrack, keeping the mind off the knee. the only real niggles were running across busy roads. keep on spinning and everything's ok.

...i love riding. i love my bike. our trails were dry. we had lunch out. we beat the rain and rode swoops and dips for 50 miles. but i can't stop worrying about my bloody knee, which only seems to hurt when walking or running.

wk17 'the plan' round up

a niggling knee has gradually got more niggley. some 22m short of the target but i'm trying to 'listen' to my body. looking back at my post run scribbles it seems that i've had a few recurring issues that due to having the brain of a goldfish, i've forgotten after each run. the list of my complaints starts a 3 weeks ago. soles of feet feel bruised, legs very tired, right knee painful, hamstrings very tight, finished feeling very dehydrated... the list goes on.

jane has played good coach/bad coach. some resolutions have been made and some new shoes bought. next week will see less feet miles, some more pedaling and lots of stretching.

not the edale skyline

but a gentle trail run followed by some easy pedaling and a lot of stretching. not the sunday i'd planned for but hopefully one that will mean proper running can continue soon. still, a lovely day of sunshine.

less is more

last week i popped into an antique shop with my mum. i left with a beautiful art deco china tea cup. upon purchasing said cup, the proprietor stated that his teenage daughter had also recently started collecting delicate tea cups. he then went on to suggest that i too had the same motivations. i questioned what he meant. it would appear that i have jumped on a lady gaga tea drinking bandwagon! completely unwittingly i hasten to add.

i tried to explain that i've always enjoyed a good cuppa. and that i've been slurping pint mugs of milky builders tea for years but have recently discovered less is more. there is nothing quite as refreshing as a lady grey, no milk, a slice a of lemon, sipped from a fine bone china cup, with the correct pinky pointing.

of course, the size of the accompanying cakes have not shrunk at all.

wk16 'the plan' round up

the week where life got in the way. i had to swap shifts to allow me to do the hpm, which meant this week became a 62.5hr marathon. of my two days off one was spent traveling to family celebrating mum's birthday (clay pigeon shooting, which more importantly, i won). another evening spent in sheffield supporting rich at the film festival. a great night but a late one.

i felt a deep, lingering tiredness all week and only managed to scrape 36m together. i realsie now that instead of trying to stick to 'the plan' i should have tweaked it to a more realistic schedule. which would have probably made me feel less of flabby fair weather jogger.

anyway.....new week. time to crack on.

wk15 'the plan' round up

blimey, wk15, that's half way though 'the plan'. feeling a lot more positive about the big one. the hpm worked out to be the perfect training race for me. proper night running and actually finished feeling strong. other pluses were kit and eating all worked really well.

high peak marathon

i've been awake now for 37ish hours, sleep seems a long way off. i'm on a high. yesterday feels a life time ago and today, well today, or is that yesterday? i suppose it it doesn't matter actually.

meeting team mates for the first time just hours before go, only adds to race anxiety. knowing that only 2 of them are from the original team and that the forth is also a 'random', twists that nervous knot even tighter. 42 night time hill miles-anything can happen.

for us it was a simple tale. 4 ladies with a sense of adventure and a lot of determination. running through the night is a good way to get to know folks. my new friends were perfect companions. easy chat and random thoughts. slow and steady and no complaints. some of us hurt and we all had lows. but everyone was looked after.

cocooned in our headlamp glows our night was uneventful. a clear sky and low wind. just keep one foot in front of the other. we could be anywhere. a game of 'worst job' top trumps. coat hanger factory worker was trumped by maggot farm.

lights off and a gray dawn. even a detour at bleaklow didn't raise voices, just solutions and laughter. keep on shuffling. another tea stop and all that's left is a half marathon for breakfast. the sun peaks through the clag but doesn't win. it doesn't matter anymore. we're on the home straight.

the original members can relax. all their training and recce's have paid off. us randoms can breath a sign of relief, we've not let the side down. never has the word marathon been used so loosely. but we took the challenge head on. 13rhs and 41min later, we're still laughing and make promises to meet for future fun. maybe during the day and maybe not so far.

the high peak marathon is the best value race you can enter. and you're guaranteed to meet some jolly nice folk too.

erm.....

this time tomorrow, (hopefully!!) we'll be on the home straight and heading back to eadle. the 3 strangers i've yet to meet will (hopefully!!) be friends and i'll have completed my weekly mileage in one fell swoop-pun intended!

it's been a strange week with no running. what with work and going from snotty, to nauseous and realising what a massive challenge is coming up. i've just concentrated on resting and eating.

the weather forecasts are contrasting. i'm going expecting the worst and am happy to carry too much. i'm glad that i've only known for week that i'm doing this event. don't think i could have coped with the nerves for any longer!!!