Monday 19 December 2011

first b2b2b run Week 3

Hi again,

So it is my third week of training for my ultra and I thought I hit it off with my love to hate interval training. This time it was harder and different to any interval training I have ever done before as the hard intervals lasted 10 minutes and boy those 10 minute hurt and seem to last forever. However I am glad I did it and that I finished it as it will help me in the long run.....
I followed this up the very next day by a long distance run along the Thames Path. I was nervous about this run as I didn't know the route and it would be the longest run I have done so far. It was the best supported training run I have ever done as my wife decided to meet me at various points on the course with our 10 month old boy in her arms that kept me happy and to be honest that was the one thing that kept me going at times. The scenery along the Thames was lovely but the muddy, slippery and wet ground plus 20 gates to open and shut made it very hard to get into rhythm but I made it to the turning point and back in a decent time. However the way back was hard as each time I had to stop for these blimming gates my legs hurt and my rhythm was gone. Looking back at it now I take great strength from this run as I overcame emotions and pains I had not experienced before but I know without the encouragement of my fantastic wife and son I couldn't have done it.

The next day I planned to do a 100 minute run but only managed 80 minutes as my legs, body and mind felt tired due to the running from the two previous days and the fact of working all night and not sleeping before running (Silly you say well you are not the first to say that). The ground was again so slippery in places that I am seriously considering to audition for "Bambi On Ice" if that show exist and if it doesn't I shall write it myself  including the choreography......

Thursday I rested as I was encouraged to do so from my wife and two very good friends @marktownson and @timcnicholls. I did not want to but seeing that I am a loose cannon at times who easily gets carried away I decided it would be for the best to listen to the people I trust....

Today I had a good 60 minute run with @timcnicholls around the lovely town of wantage and grove. It was early ish, wet but mild and gave us the chance for a good natter, very important I find.

So I guess I won't have time to run again this week so my totals for this weeks training are:
Activities: 4 (Running only)
Time spent running: 347 minutes (5 hours and 47 minutes)
Distance covered: 61.96km (38.5miles)

Well I will run and blog again next week but until then I would like to Thank you for reading my blog and wish you all a very Happy Christmas may you celebrate it in which ever way you want without any trouble or upsets and lots of happiness.

Here are some pictures from my run last week I the first is of the snow I ran in and the second shows the great view I had up on the Ridgeway. I shall put more pictures up in future.




If you would like to raise money for the Amber Phillpott Trust and other charities supported by Yeah Baby and to see me finish my Ultramarathon, then please come to the YeahBaby event in Abingdon Oxfordshire on the 14.07.2012 for a  free day of music, stalls, face painting etc...

Saturday 17 December 2011

The snow the fall the 2nd week

Thank you for continuing to read my blogs I know they are not funny but they help to spread the word about the charity I am doing this challenge for and that it is an epic challenge for me and my family.
 So what did I do this week well I did 4 runs and 1 "strength" walk (walking with Fabian (my son) in his backpack on my back). I covered a total of 56.31km (34.98 miles) with my runs and walk this week.

I started the week with interval training and mis counted as I did 5 not 4 intervals. It was a good training and I remembered that I love to hate interval training. Following this I did a short strength walk to test my joints and legs (all was good).
Tuesday and Wednesday I rested, well from running anyway as I worked 2 busy  12.5 hour shifts and that is not resting.................
Thursday I did my first long run in the blistering cold with some heavy winds. I never knew how much wind can move you from side to side... It was slippy, slidy and so cold but the views were amazing and my legs just kept moving. This was my longest ever recorded run according to runkeeper:-)
Friday my b2b run was tough as it was colder than Thursday, I ran through snow, mud, icy patches, unavoidable puddles and even fell as my legs were not as nimble as I thought they would be after 12km.....

Saturday I hoped to run 45 minutes at HM (Half Marathon) pace but sadly the black ice stopped me from doing so but instead I gave a performance of bambi on ice slipping and sliding about.....

That was all I had time for this week as it does take a lot of time away from your family. However I have met new Twitter friends which is nice as it is great support and motivation as well as help to spread the word and raise awareness. Thank you to all my Facebook and Twitter friends especially to @grahamblundell @timcnicholls @marktownson for their offers to support me on the day and even run parts of it with me and the biggest thanks obviously again has to go to my wife and kids for supporting me in this challenge.

Thank you for reading and feel free to share this blog with your friends #spreadtheword

If you would like to raise money for the Amber Phillpott Trust and other charities supported by YeahBaby and to see me finish my Ultramarathon, then please come to the YeahBaby event in Abingdon Oxfordshire on the 14.07.2012 for a  free day of music, stalls, face painting etc...

Sunday 11 December 2011

First B2B (back to back) long runs.....

So today was the day after yesterday and it was just the dawn of my first hurdle of my ultramarathon training. I barely recovered from my "adventure" run yesterday and got myself ready for my next longish run early this morning. I was not sure what I was doing or if it is a sensible idea but I followed the training plan @PIERTOWN has done for me. So out I went looking and feeling like someone that couldn't walk as my legs were stiff and ached all over but had to keep going as I promised to pick up @timcnicholls for a run this morning. My pain decreased the longer I ran and so did my GPS function on my mobile so couldn't track my progress but thankfully I had Tim with me and his device worked just perfectly. Apart from that it was a straight forward and very enjoyable run and despite being slow  Tim did stick with me making the run so much more enjoyable.Runkeeper stats
After the race I made sure I stretched and re-hydrated properly so I recovered quickly and am looking forward to my next run.
If you would like to raise money for the Amber Phillpott Trust and other charities supported by Yeah Baby and to see me finish my Ultramarathon, then please come to the YeahBaby event in Abingdon Oxfordshire on the 14.07.2012 for a  free day of music, stalls, face painting etc...

Saturday 10 December 2011

My first training run

Today in the freezing cold I ran my first training run of 20km and it was interesting to say the least......
I ran up a lovely muddy "southern bump" (hill) sliding on the chalk and mud to then run on the lovely Ridgeway trying to avoid big puddles and stray dogs trying to un-balance me. I had a few slides, trips and slips on some mud  before getting to grips with the terrain. I kept running and wheezing, as it was so cold, on and on until I got lost and had to use the sat nav in my phone a few times before asking a friendly dog walker for directions. She told me that I wouldn't make it to my destination "as it is far too dark" and she was right as I couldn't see much despite using the torch on my clever phone, which really is not good  when running down a muddy totally unfamiliar trail.....
At least I knew I was running to a village and that Catherine (my wife) would pick me up from my finishing point. This is where it all went wrong as I told her the wrong place and mid conversation my phone just died..... So what to do, well just stop strangers on a dark and cold street in my running gear, obviously, and ask if they had a charger or HTC phone and if I could put my SIM into their phone to call my wife and their response was amazing. They tried everything to help me but it was pointless until we went to the pub and the landlord charged my phone so I could call Catherine to be picked up and she did:-)
Thank you to the lovely people in East Ilsley who helped me sooo much and especially the landlord. However the biggest thank you is to my lovely wife and my kids for supporting me so much and picking me up in the pitch black.....

What a run to start my ultramarathon training and all again tomorrow.....




How it all begins.....

Well blogging is more difficult than I thought where/how do you start?
Explaining the name of my run will do :A Mind Boggling Extreme Run stands for AMBER the girl after which the below charity is named.
I guess I should also brifly talk about myself first so you know who I am and why I do what I do. So my name is Flo, I  am a married father of two and work fulltime as a nurse.Apart from that I occassionally volunteer at our local children hospice and run as often as I can. Running gave me a lot of pleasure before but now I run for a reason as I run to raise awareness for charities. Everytime it has to be more challenging than my last challenge and this challenge is the hardest even I could imagine an ultramarathon distance by ny self no official race no support apart from my brilliant family especially my wife....

AMBER is short for the Amber Phillpott Trust Background and  this is what it is all about:

Amber Phillpott was born on September 5th 2009 as second daughter to James Phillpott and
Fleur Tinson. Initially she appeared to be a normal, happy and very intelligent child but in
October 2010 she suffered a minor stroke which led to admission to the children’s oncology
ward in the John Radcliffe children’s hospital. There she was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid
Leukaemia (AML) which led to chemotherapy treatment. Initially she responded well and
was allowed home for a few days at Christmas with a short remission. By the New Year her
condition had worsened and her only chance was to have a bone marrow transplant. The most
likely source was her elder sister but there was only a 25% chance of a match. Throughout
all of this time her parents were with her, day and night. In February 2011 the John Radcliffe
ran out of treatment options but there was an experimental drug available in Bristol so
she was transferred there together with her parents. The drug treatment did not work and
she developed a leukemic mass in her brain and was given no chance of survival but was
transferred back to Oxford where she died five days later in the arms of her parents.

The Amber Phillpott Trust – www.amberphillpott.com

The Amber Phillpott Trust has been inspired by the tragic death of Amber Rose Phillpott
who died at just 18 months old from Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML). It is evident from
the statistics that not enough is known about this rare form of leukaemia and therefore the
Amber Phillpott Trust will focus exclusively on AML. The two main objectives both of equal
importance are listed below.

First, to provide financial assistance to any chosen initiative working:-
a) to develop better treatments for AML
b) to find a cure.
c) in support of AML research.

Second, to raise awareness of AML and The Trust in order to:-
a) develop funding sources
b) identify future initiatives to fund.

The Trust will focus on AML in children as this particular type of leukaemia affects
approximately 80 children a year in the UK with the current survival rate of 1 in 6, compared
with 9 out of 10 for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL). However, the Trust will also
consider providing financial support to projects working in the area of adult AML due to
similarities with childhood AML.

* Source of statistics http://leukaemialymphomaresearch.org.uk/

These parents are amzing and do so much for charity already and have now set up their own charity (awaiting final confirmation) so I want to help them to achieve their goal to help as many kids and family in need. By raising as much money and awareness as possible so please share my blogs with your fiends as they might benefit from this charity or want to donate.


So that is how it all begun