Not really going to plan...

Sunday... A time to reflect on the week that has been. Last week's camping trip included a couple of decent walks in the New Forest and in Milford-on-Sea. These walks also featured pub lunches. I'm not sure if it was better to walk off the pub lunches or not to have had them at all... probably the former... in any case a large amount of food was consumed and even though I dislike leaving food on a plate I was beaten on two occasions by my meals. It felt good to don walking boots and a rucksack and set off into the forest, walking, not running, for enjoyment, not as training. I even climbed a tree!

I managed to rouse myself early enough to get to the pool on Monday morning for my swim-latte ritual. I'm getting better at front crawl, by which I mean I'm more comfortable with it but my technique is probably appalling, but the pool was crowded and I couldn't get into a real flow. I left feeling less energised than usual.

My PT is on holiday this week so I had to put myself through a gym work out. Tuesday featured half an hour on the stationary bike, a treadmill intervals session and about 45 minutes of weights work. This was probably not wise in view of the fact I had the Woodland 5 on Wednesday but it was sort of a case of now or never... most of my training has to happen during the week at the moment due to other weekend commitments.

Source : http://finchcoasters.org.uk/woodland5-july-photos/

I took Thursday and Friday as proper rest days (Thursday was cinema, Friday was theatre night) and I planned my long run of 14 miles on Saturday morning before heading north of the M25 for a housewarming bash. It didn't go all that well. I stuck to my usual breakfast an hour before setting out but I felt heavy and lethargic so cut it short at 10 miles. I'm behind on my training plan but still, 10 miles. I was probably dehydrated so lesson learnt there. I also tried a new brand of gel from a range I'll be reviewing in a couple of weeks. It was orange. I don't know why I keep trying orange gels, I just don't like them. Sigh.

So good bits and bad bits this week. I'm ending on a high though as I'm going shopping for new trainers with Anita-the-crazy this morning and I can't promise I won't be spending some money...

How do you deal with the times your training doesn't go to plan?

Event Review : Woodland 5

Last night I took part in what may have been my most local race to date. The Woodland 5 is organised by Finch Coasters running club, who are based near Wokingham, and consists of 5ish miles around the Crowthorne Woods (near Broadmoor) which were burnt a couple of year ago. This is literally 1.5 miles from my front door.

Is that a Tough Mudder headband I see? Source: http://finchcoasters.org.uk/woodland5-july-results/

As you know I like a little local midweek race and so I couldn't pass on the opportunity to take part. This is another series held in May, June and July. The entry fee is £7.50 for one race or £19 for all three which I see as excellent value. These are no frills races; you won't get a medal or souvenir (although there are prizes for fastest senior and veteran man and woman) but it is very well organised with plenty of parking, fantastic marshalls and results out within 24 hours. It's timed but manually rather than chip. The little girls walking over to each finisher and handing out cups of water to save us staggering to the water station after the finish were very sweet. I believe there's a limit of 300 places per race but only around 150 took part this month.

Oddly I didn't see any FinchCoasters vests but I did see plenty of Reading Road Runners, Sandhurst Joggers, Datchet Dashers and Bracknell Forest Runners. In fact I was in the minority NOT wearing a club vest, this is very much a race by clubs for clubs although I certainly didn't feel out of place, it is open to everyone, after all. I did wear my TNLAR shirt and got a shout out from one of the lady marshalls who had also taken part, which was really lovely.

I've nabbed the route map and elevation outline from the club website. As you can see it's sort of two laps. Starting at the far left of the line at the bottom we follow undulating woodland trail for two miles before being funnelled through a very narrow overgrow path and over a further half mile a hill. It looked more like a wall to me and you have to tackle this twice! I walked it but there were plenty who managed to keep running. I doff my cap to them. I actually enjoyed the laps because you don't pass the finish point, a nice mental trick.

As I've said the marshals were fantastic but so were the other runners. It was a very companionable race, and not just between fellow club runners. I played tag with a girl in black most of the way round, encouraging each other and just after the second time up The Hill when I was in danger of not getting started again I felt a light touch on my back and a gentleman encouraging me to keep going, which I duly did. There were lots of shouts of "well done" as people over took each other and hunting out of others at the finish to thank them for encouragement or to congratulate them on their performance.

I don't often run trail these days nor much in the way of hills but I was thrilled to cover the course in 53:38. There's that strength training paying off! I would certainly consider doing all 3 next year, especially if I'm in training.

Running rucksack

Quite often during my marathon training I went out on long runs of up to 18 miles with no water whatsoever. Yes, I know, very silly. But I don't like carrying a water bottle and I wasn't prepared enough to place bottles in strategic places en route so I either went without or dived into a pub to scare the barmaid. I have a camelback bladder that I use in my full size rucksack when I go hiking but the cover it originally came in is only designed to attach to a rucksack rather then to be worn as one so when I found this little running pack at the Trailblazer event a while ago I was very happy..

It is the Camelbak Aurora, last season (but still available at Amazon or on eBay) usually £55 but on sale at the event for £27.50 - a bargain! There were several different packs on offer but I was drawn to this one for its combination of non-pink colour, slimline design but impressive capacity; 2 litres of water and 3 litres storage.

The women's specific straps are slightly padded, adjustable and have a nifty velcro strap with which to tidy away the excess so it's not wafting around all over the place. It has a sternum strap and a loop into which you can tuck the bite valve for easy access. The flap that hides the bladder opening also has a good sized zipped pocket with key clip and mesh dividers. Just below that is a mesh pocket that can be tightened to close with straps and another zipped pocket with more internal mesh compartments and loops along the bottom into which I imagine you can tuck various bits of clothing you're not in the process of wearing.

I've used this twice on runs of 11 and 12 miles and found it to be really comfortable once I got the straps right. It does rub on one part of my collar bone but that's a fault with my body rather than the pack and I'm trying to work out a solution. I used it to carry my iPod, phone, keys, tissues, map and a couple of gels and there was plenty of space. You could easily stash a light base layer in there. It's a little too small to use on a work commute unless I had left a change of clothes at the office the night before (I reckon I could get my travel towel and toiletries in there somehow) but excellent for longer runs when you want a few more things with you.

Italian Spiced Chickpea Burgers

I was pointed to this recipe from Total Greek Yogurt by PTMollie. You can find the original here but I've adapted it slightly for my own taste below. These do make 4 very good sized burgers and they're freezable too. I must confess to having eaten them 3 times in the past week, rather than freezing them, as they're just that good!

I reckon you could also make these into falafel sized bites to go in pitta or with salads. Now there's a thought...

Italian Chickpea Burgers

Ingredients

For the burgers - makes 4 large

4 tbsp greek yogurt
75g breadcrumbs (I used frozen)
2 x 400g cans chickpeas, drained well
25g bunch basil

1 tbsp green pesto
3 tbsp tomato puree

2 cloves garlic, crushed
Pinch chilli flakes, optional

To serve:
125g greek yogurt

Fresh mint, chopped

Salt and pepper
10-12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
4 rolls or gaps, split in half, lightly toasted
Salad leaves

Method

1. Put the breadcrumbs, chickpeas, basil, reserving a large sprig, tomato paste, yoghurt, garlic and chilli, if using in a food processor. Whizz well until everything is well chopped and coarse. Season and whizz again. Shape into 4 large patties (you can .
2. Spray a large frying pan with oil and heat to a medium heat. Add the patties and cook for 5 minutes each side until deep golden and piping hot.
3. In another pan heat a little oil and fry the onion and tomato for a few minutes until softened.
4. Meanwhile, mix the mint, salt and pepper into the yogurt. Set aside.
5. Add a few salad leaves to each bread roll, add a burger, then top with the yogurt dressing and tomato/onion mix.

Enjoy!

Half way through already

I took a bit of a step back from my weekly training updates after I completed my Charity Challenge as I wasn't sure how interesting summaries of my weeks would be after that point. The results of my reader survey (still not to late to register your opinions and requests - just click here) suggest you kinda liked those and since I'm certainly still spending a large portion of my time outside of work exercising I thought I'd start bringing them back alongside the event and kit reviews.

I'm actually 9 weeks into a 19 week training plan for my second marathon, Bournemouth in October, which I signed up to under the influence of peer pressure and post-marathon euphoria. It doesn't feel like I'm 9 weeks in; it's been a slow build up and interwoven with long weekends away, house moves and so on. If I think too much about the fact I'll be running a marathon in 10 weeks time I get a bit scared, so I just think about the next week's worth of sessions, pull on my trainers and get on with it. I think it's helping that I have a good amount of residual fitness from the Spring. I'm feeling fitter than I've ever felt and the events I've taken part in for fun recently i.e. run without a time in mind, have helped to renew my enjoyment of running.

As usual I seem to have signed myself up to many other things including two triathlons prior to the marathon (more about that next week when I will be accepting comments on the levels of my stupidity) so I'm not just running. In addition I have two long weekends and a study weekend to work around - aye aye aye! Now I'm in full flow a week's worth of training sessions look a bit like this:

• 1 x  strength/gym/PT 
• 1 x swim focusing on front crawl
• 1 x bike (hoping to increase to two)
• 3 x run (1 track/speed, 1 tempo, 1 long)

I tend to do my swims in the morning, before work and have developed a habit of dropping in to Waitrose on my way to work to pick up a free skinny latte with my MyWaitrose card as a bit of a treat. This week I swam on Monday (600m), struggled through an 8 mile run on Tuesday, had a PT session (treadmill intervals and weights) followed by 30 minutes on the stationary bike on Wednesday, self-inflicted a half marathon on myself yesterday and have squeezed in a home work out of press ups and so on before I set off for a weekend of camping in the New Forest (no training, just a few walks, a few halves of ale and campfire food - can't wait!).

New vs Old (6 months old)

I went out in a pair of new (but same) trainers last night and gave a running rucksack I got recently a second try. I'll do a full review on that soon.

I think I'm finding training in the summer easier. Although there's the heat to contend with the lighter evenings means my long runs don't need to be confined to the weekends and I have confidence to explore a little more. Getting up on a dark morning, finding motivation to go out in the dark after work and battling with rain, snow and winds on well trodden routes was not enjoyable. What's the general opinion - do you prefer summer or winter training?

Achy Breaky Legs

I was reporting a particularly hard run to a friend the other night and mentioned my achy legs, to which they responded "achy breaky legs?" and I thought "ooo I could write that version"... so I did just for a bit of fun... and this is how it turned out.

This goes out to all you runners who always find just one more race.

Event Review : National Lottery Anniversary Run

Aw now come on, who wouldn’t want to run in the Olympic Park and finish in the Stadium where Mo Farah and Ussain Bolt ran? Thousands of people shared in my excitement and jammed the website in the effort to get one of around 12,500 places in this event. My mum and I were lucky enough to get in without going through the ballot system and had been looking forward to running around the newly named Queen Elizabeth Park, with some trepidation given the recent weather, for months.

The Orbit. You can see the park looks a bit industrial.

Our packs arrived about a week and a half in advance containing our technical t-shirts (size small but men's cut, so we were swimming in them), numbers, info packs and spectator wrist bands. We were both in the green wave which meant we didn't have to stress about where to seat my dad and whether one or other of us would be able to get into the seating area post-run. The information packs were quite informative and any questions were answered via twitter. For anyone not a runner looking for a time, the twitter feed could have been quite nerve-provoking, as there were a lot of re-tweets of people reporting training runs and expected times. Good for them but for those looking to enjoy the experience as a run not a race it could have left them worrying that they'd signed up to something beyond their capabilities. In the end there was a great mix of abilities and the atmosphere was one of excitement and friendliness.

That is Chris Hoy... honest!

Sunday came around and was gloriously overcast. Perfect running conditions. Our route to the park was mercifully easy being able to hop on the Jubilee line from North Greenwich. Once off the tube there were plenty of marshalls on hand to direct us and the security we'd been warned about was a cursory bag check. Toilets were plentiful, concessions stands provided sustenance for spectators and getting a seat in the stadium was straightforward. The marshalls could have been briefed slightly better on the layout of the stadium as we were sent the long way round to the start but we got there in the end. There was a warm up, which we missed but generally the start area was organised well and we were underway only a couple of minutes later than expected. Runners were set off in waves according to ability (we were in the third of four waves, green) by the great Chris Hoy, of whom I managed to take a snap on the way through.

Couldn't resist taking a snap of this.

The route took us around the park, much of which is under development so not much to look at, doubling back on itself in a few places which allowed us to high five runners coming the other way. There were a few inclines but nothing to be concerned about. A couple of points early on where the route narrowed and caused bottlenecks that brought us to a momentary halt but that said it didn't affect the atmosphere and it was still a great run. There were loos en route, as well as a well stocked water station and a mist shower.

It was hot but the atmosphere was electric.

The miles ticked by quite quickly and soon we were running through the tunnel under the stadium to the sounds of Chariots of Fire anticipating the moment we emerged onto the track where so many great athletes had run before. I'll never forget that moment. The sun finally broke through the cloud and I had to hold myself back so as not to sprint off and leave mum. We managed to spot my dad in the stands and we held hands as we ran over the finish line to the sounds of string quartet Bond playing on stage... truly incredible, unforgettable experience, and a real achievement for my mum with a brand new PB.

Unforgettable experience

It was crowded on the other side of the finish line but that was to be expected. We moved, slowly, back under the stadium to collect our goody bags containing a hefty medal, water, pistachios, biscuits, crisps, heel balm and foil blanket. Finding dad afterwards was easy thanks to the colour zoning and numbered blocks. We could have stayed and listened to more bands but decided to meander homewards, our route back towards the tube again lined with marshalls. The tube wasn't particularly crowded despite the volume of people and so all in all it was a very enjoyable experience, which I felt was worth the entry fee.

We did it! We was there!

Pros: easy to get to, good entertainment, amazing finish, decent goody bag and hefty medal, loads of loos
Cons: no female cut shirts, warm up not repeated for people not in the first wave, route a little dull and narrow in places, not all marshalls briefed sufficiently.

Obviously this won't be held in quite the same circumstances again but I would consider entering again if it were, and running for a time. It was an incredible experience and I'm still getting goosebumps thinking about running on the track now...

Did you take part? What did you think of the organisation and the route? Did you run for a time or for fun?