Catching Up & The Ibiza Diaries

Following the boozy weekend it was more of a standard week of running prior to a week on holiday. Morning or Lunch time runs and the odd day where I do both to increase the endurance, it’s got to that time of year again where the torch is coming out in the mornings, and hi vis, reflective kit is on point. 

Steady 24 mile week to maintain a steady mileage and then an early night on the Sunday in preparation for a 2am start on the Monday to get to Manchester airport for our 7:20am flight to

Ibiza. It was great to get some sun, some warmth and after some lunch when we arrived and an afternoon spent in the pool I decided to get a quick 3 miles in prior to dinner. I went with a strategy of travelling in my running shoes, which was very comfortable and took two pairs of shorts and two vests to rotate with a quick wash in the sink post each run. 

Running down the coast from Es Cana and past the Hippie Market towards Santa Eulalia there is then a great track by the road back into Es Cana. I had taken my roll up rucsac in my hand to grab some beers, gin and tonic and some snacks for in the room. So I made my way round the little supermarket slowly dripping as I started to perspire!

Played a couple of times on the treadmill to push my pace a bit but I really don’t like them, just find I get incredibly hot and sweaty so reverted back to the roads. I tried 7am but it was still very dark, 8am seemed to be a good time, quiet, a few runners out, and the sun rising. I think this is the anti Ibizan experience really? You are meant to go to bed as the sun is rising after a night of partying, not be watching the sun rise whilst taking a run! 

I am positively sure as well that I regularly saw a tall, athletic, topless man running in some kind of sports flip flop!!

Anyway 28 miles for a holiday week I think is not so bad, took advantage of the weather and we returned to super mild October weather. 

24 miles plus a cycle commute the following week, including a Sunday run from Croston to Harrock Hill, two ascents and back to make 15 miles. It’s probably the nearest hill in the flatlands surrounding my house but makes for a good long run with some height gain as a quick hit.

Last week was a good week of mileage with 38 miles total, good mix of pace through the week, a double run day and a 7.5 mile run with 7.5 minute miles on Friday afternoon and another 16 miles over the weekend with another Harrock Hill run, one that almost resulted in an unceremonious slip onto my face!!

Raised my first £150 as well, thank you to those that have sponsored so far.

Lower Volume & Beer

Following the 48 mile week I was ready for a week of more moderate miles, an easy recovery run started the week off then an opportunity to try out my new road shoes. My other two pairs are getting quite worn on the soles and are losing the springiness, so I was pleased to give my New Balance Fresh Foam 680 v7 a try, I’ve had to pairs of the v6 version of this shoe and they have been great. Review on sportshoes indicated they are quite small on the sizing so went half a size up and they are a perfect fit, felt great from the off and after the exertion of the previous week, provided some springy comfort. 

A Wednesday and a great idea to do mile reps, after a ten minute warm up, 4 x 7-7:30 pace I hit the first one too fast at 6:55 and the second one hurt at 7:24! The last two felt more even at 7:05 and 7:09 and then a cool down to make a good 7 mile run in under an hour. 

Had a couple of rest days due to a couple of busy days and then tested the 10 mile tempo pace on the Saturday morning in 1:25, perfect 8:30/mile pacing! This made 25 miles for the week plus some walking to aid recovery and get the family out in the fresh air.

Saturday I was listening to the Runpod podcast with Jenni Falkener and her interview with Hugh Brasher, all the talk of the London Marathon, and pointing out that registration was open for the 2023 marathon already, I took the inspiration to enter for the back to April London Marathon. This also made me think I should do some podcast recommendations, more to come. 

Last week started with a cycle commute on Tuesday, it’s 16 miles each way and was a thoroughly nice ride into work, followed by an apocalyptic rain and wind fest on the way home! It was great training to build that base fitness. 

An easy 4 miles the following morning on slightly aching legs and then a higher effort 7.5 miles the next day trying to hold under 8 min mile pace (7:50 average pace). I have been taking advantage of the recover app included with Strava membership that focusses on preventative strength and conditioning exercises to avoid injury, trying to squeeze 3 of these in a week. Morning 4.5 miles on Friday in preparation for a weekend away in Snowdonia with the lads.

We stayed above the Old Stag in Llangernyw in an air bnb that was a really good base, plenty of space for the six of us. Friday night involved Curry, beer, more beer, some polish vodka and something called a tatanka. Needless to say I was feeling the effects of a late night with much lubrication when I woke up at 7:00 on Saturday, Anthony and I had roughly arranged to go for a run, but I appeared to be the only one up and about, I thought about getting some more sleep but then I thought better of it, donned the running kit and hit the road. 

It was straight away uphill, not what I really needed! and it kept going, and going, a bit of flat and then more hill, then Anthony running in the other direction. He must have just beat me out and had just turned for home after still not reaching the top of the hill! We decided to try and make it, topped out over the hill and followed our noses to a right turn, quick check of the phone more running, lots of chat and a weakening fuzziness and we made it back to the start 7.5 miles (a bit more for Anthony) completed. Time for breakfast, coffee and knocking up a mean packed lunch to hit the hills.

I couldn’t locate my Snowdonia OS17 map and Amazon let me down with a Harvey’s map so resorted to printing a screen shot of my planned route, bargaining on the others having a map, a fairly safe assumption. We had a plan to leave from the Ogwen Valley, head up Pen Yr Ole Wen via the east ridge with some steady walking and some easy scrambling. It was mild, not much of a wind and the ground was good going, we made good progress with a few minor grumbles of middle age, lack of fitness and some beer induced difficulties! About 2,000ft of initial ascent got the blood pumping and the sweat flowing and after reaching the summit of Pen Yr Ole Wen we traversed the ridge to Carnedd Dafydd and stopped at the shelter for lunch in the sun. We continued progress over good terrain to Carnedd Llewelyn and descended to the ridge and the path out to the valley, a great day out with 9.5 miles of good walking, 3,000ft of ascent and three of the Welsh 3,000ft peaks bagged. 23 miles of running for the week plus the walking. Back to running good miles this week.

Pushing On

Following on from my completion of 1000 miles of running in 2021 and in an effort to motivate one of my friends I entered the St Annes 10 Miles Road Race - a road race I hear you say!! Well it's been a heck of a long time since I ran one of those, potentially the London Marathon 2008. 

30th January, and after roping Sam in after my friend changed his mind, we rocked up to the start line at the YMCA,  a crisp January morning for running ten miles. After registration and a coffee stop, we warmed up down the promenade and nervously discussed our race strategies and goal times. I planned to go out at eight minute mile pace and see how I felt at half way, if I could finish inside 90 mins, as close as possible to 80 mins I would be really chuffed, Sam was going to do something similar and follow my lead. 

My strategy didn’t last long, got carried away with the starting rush and before I knew it, ticked off the first mile in just over 7 minutes, this felt okay and I kept one eye on the road and one eye on my heart rate all the way to Lytham, I turned at 36:06 feeling good, straight into the head wind! Passed Sam coming in the other direction looking good, then bumped into my friend Paul who had come out to cheer me on, this spurred me on, my heart rate was peaking by now and I was starting to fade, head down and just get there. Crossed the line in 1:13:14 I was made up, result! I was slowly making it back to being a runner.

W/c 19th September - Running 48 miles, Walking 13 miles

A good solid week, and my biggest this year I think. I’ve been concentrating on building volume with the 1000 mile challenge and completed this on 4th September, I had already decided in January I wanted to hit 1500 though. I’ve enjoyed early morning runs for the last two years, out around six and I can get some decent mileage in before breakfast and the family being awake, Chuck in the odd quick lunch time run and the mileage keeps ticking over. I’ve also been trying to mix things up with speed work and I’m starting to incorporate more of this into my runs, as well as strength and mobility work to encourage injury avoidance, gets tougher over 40 you know!! The morning sun rises have made it all worthwhile this week. 

Sunday I had a great morning out with Sam from Brinscall, good steady pace up Great Hill before dropping down to the Belmont road. I was trying out some new shoes, Adidas Terrex Agravic TR, bargain buy from Sportshoes, some good traction running downhill across the rough ground and instantly comfortable. We pushed on through Tockholes plantation and up to the Royal before circling round and over by Darwen Tower with great autumnal views across Lancashire. A swing out across the moor and back via Lions Den to drop through the plantation again and onward to Roddlesworh. Definitely feeling the fatigue by now, especially the strides I’d added to my run on Saturday morning! 

We finished through the nature reserve, a top 14 miles of running, company and chat, and making some plans. Plan for a lower volume this week and a recovery run at the most Monday. 

Don't forget to sponsor me Karl Mayor is fundraising for EPIC KIDZ (justgiving.com) or link in the side bar

Well it has been a long time

It seems an age ago that I ran those 68 odd miles and 27,000ft of ascent round the beautiful Lake District fells. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge, I’ve become a dad, had a few different jobs and generally not done a lot of running!! There’s been some cycling, but I was a shadow of my former self.

It’s been a tough couple of years hasn’t it? Home schooling, home working, covid, lock downs and let’s not talk about the state of the country! I needed some motivation.

I started back on the road to fitness in January 2021, I didn’t really have much in mind other than to lose weight and get fit again, walking and running. It was tough, at 17st 10lb I was a lump! But slowly, slowly it started to feel easier, the miles started getting easier and the weight started to drop off. Then OUCH!! a Piriformis injury took me out of action for six weeks, bloody painful, but kept walking and kept motivated. By mid year I was working towards 1000 miles of running and 1000 miles of walking. Some focus and planning got me there by the end of the year. A ten mile race at the end of January 2022 would be the real test.

To be continued…../

Something Different and more to come

I will get round to doing a full write up of this event. For the moment it was the annual Pathfinder March in Cambridgeshire on the 25th June - 46 miles but flat compared to what I am used to so a different challenge, walked this with some friends I know through work but am tempted to return for a run attempt.