Horses, The Opportunistic Dog and The Stars

 OK so this week was a little different as I started my training with an unscheduled 1.5 hours road run on Monday evening. My legs felt amazing carrying me with ease at greater pace than I had anticipated for the 1.5 hours and no pains or aches the day after either even my knees held up and I even managed to run downhill with some pace for the first time in weeks.
So this was a great start and I felt full of energy when undertaking my long run. I started my run not sure where to go so I contemplated a pure road run but I just could not resist my beloved ridgeways  and had to go up on it.
Here I met a lot of horses and for once I have no reason to rant about them being ignorant, rude or even bullish, no not this time, this time all horses and their riders were friendly and displayed some common courtesay by riding on the opposite side to me instead of aiming for me as I have come to expect by now. This was topped by all horse riders being really friendly, suppoertive and greeting me even this guy whilst training.

So anyway I kept on running and felt great I made it to sparsholt firs's radio mast (which will most likely be my starting point on the 14.07.12) and decided to turn around here I met The opportunistic Dog who decided to disobey his owners and follow me but not becasue he liked or disliked me but for his chance to keep jumping up at my food bag to see what he could get (opportunistic dog). Well sorry mate that is my food and it greatly needed as I shall learn later on .....
Anyway I was told by the dog owners that there is a lovely footpath down the way they emerged from and as it was leading in my direction and I felt a sense of adventure I ran that "lovely" path down to the nearest village as it looked rather scenic.

Well it was scenic but so steep in places that I had to use metal gates to stop me falling tumbling running down the hill and the path was extremly narrow and had all sorts of holes everywhere. I was sure that one wrong step would be a disaster and could cause me a serious injury..... It was not a "lovely path" but it was amazing and I loved every single bit of it.
I knew I stil had a long way to go and this picture tells you a story of how I felt when I realised that I had no water left and therefore did not fancy the remainder of my 2 slices of brown bread as my mouth was far too dry..........

This presented itself as  a challenge to me should I take a shortcut home or stop at a shop to get drinks and food? Either are sensible choices so I did neither but ran another 4 miles being thirsty and hungry until I got home and to make things better I kept on pushing as I did not think that seeing Stars in front of my eyes whilst running is a good excuse to slow down or stop. When I got home I felt really dehydrated and nauseaus so decided to down a lot of water quickly (really stupid thing to do as you dilute the elctrolytes you have left even further). I then had a battle to keep the precious water down which only got easier after eating some lovely left over roast chicken that my lovely wife Catherine cooked the day before.
Once I uploaded my run to twitter and facebook I got a lot of virtual pads on my back for the distance I ran and for my avg pace that did please me to be honest . However when other runners read about my nutritional intake well lets just say things changed and I got a virtual whiping about the lack of food I took with me and ate....
They were right to do so and I am grateful for it as I still have a lot to learn about how and what to eat whilst undertaking long distance runs. So after listening to some advice I went out and bought a variety of suggested items and researched the subject and possible suppliers websites more. Here is my selection

After my long runs I completed my 2 nights and finished the week of with one 1 hour interval training and a quick 3 miler. I also managed to fit in some strength walks and my daily challenges all stats below in the Stats Zone.

Well thank you for reading my blog I have no more news about the registration staus of The Amber Philpott Trust but as  soon as I do so will you. Please feel free to comment, read and share my blog. Any support to raise funds and awareness for this new and wonderful charity is much appreciated.
Thank you

Flo


Stats Zone:

Runs this week:4

Distance covered: 43.7 miles (70.328km)

Running time:  6:04hours

Distance run this month so far: 133.4miles (214.686 km)
Strength walks:3
Distance covered: 6.97miles (11.217km)
Daily challenges:
Situps (#situathon): 425

Press ups #pressupchallenge :  315

Plank #plankaday: 13:15 minutes

If you would like to raise money for the Amber Phillpott Trust and other charities supported by @Yeah Babyconcert 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... and soon I will be able to create my sponsorship website so watch this space

The big bad wolf and some good news

 This week I felt like I was part of a childrens story when running on the Ridgeways. As it blew a hooly up there I felt like a little pig and the wind played the part of the big bad wolf that was trying to huff and puff until I fall down.....
Well I did not fall down, I moved right and left at the whim of the big bad wolf wind and it managed to slow me down significantly on my 10miles home. Despite all that I managed to run 20 miles in just over 3 hours and I felt good. My knees held up as well as I only felt a little niggle which disappeared swiftly and I managed to work my two night shifts without a problem. After my last night I decided to go for a swift 10 mile run without a rest, which is not advisable I know but seeing that I worked 3 days followed by 2 nights, today was my only chance to go for a run and again it felt good to be out there enjoying the wonderful sunshine and multi terrain course I chose. I passed a lot of friendly walkers, runners, cyclists, a cute horse (see below) and a pretty church. When I cam home I was greeted by two very excited treasures called Evie and Fabian and by the wonderful smell of the Sunday roast my lovely wife was cooking for me us (possibly the best recovery food out there:-))

GOOD NEWS
The Amber Philpott Trust is now officially a registered charity just awaiting their registration number. Once they have that you will be able to support them by donating via my fundraising website so please continue to read my blogs and watch this space....

Stats:

Runs this week:2

Distance covered: 30.04 miles (48.344km)

Running time:  4:36 hours

Distance this month so far: 97.25 miles (156.508 km)

Press ups since last blog:  271 #pressupchallenge

Plank time since last blog: 15:35 minutes

If you would like to raise money for the Amber Phillpott Trust and other charities supported by @Yeah Babyconcert 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... and soon I will be able to create my sponsorship website so watch this space