The other side of the fence.

This last weekend I travelled up to Nottingham to support at the outlaw iron distance tri. Mr H came with me, Henry had to stay at home because he wasn't well (I forgot him).

We got there Saturday and I registered for the 1500m swim just in time. Raced into my wetsuit,(that was the extent of my speedwork that day) then I swam. It was nice, the lake at Holme Pierpoint is lovely to swim in. I posted 40 minutes, no great shakes but then I had no aim or goal but to get a swim in.

Then met Matt & Sarah and had a beer before heading to the campsite to put the tent up.
We will gloss over that.

Passed the evening with a pub tea and a chat to the camping pirates. Then early bed. I was worried about the loos being so far away but I needn't have been. I was so cold my organs stopped working and no urine was actually produced. Bingo!

Up at 5am Sunday to try to persuade Mr H out of bed and get down to the start to see the athletes off at 6. It was a brilliant sight with the sun coming up and made me nostalgic. That was me last year getting in the lake so excited I could pee myself....actually I did, 3 times :D. We then took up position by the bike mount point to cheer and give abuse as necessary. This we did reserving our biggest shouts for pirates, and my friend Jen. Was great to see Matt come out when he did, he looked like he would have a great day. We waited until the last person went through then back to camp for brekkie and a shower before heading off to pirate feed station.

Feed station was great, I loved it when I managed to actually get the bottle to the person and I helped a few fill their aero bottles. Everyone was really cheerful and grateful, and I know how they felt which made doing it feel good.

After a few hours me and mr h went off to a Marshall point and basically just cheered people through for a few more hours. About 4 we could head back to the lake to support the run.

We met Ditchy and Aitch on the far side and spent a while cheering there, saw Matt looking good, and various other pirates. Gave Cake some beer :)
We then went back round to the grandstand to find Sarah and the kids so we could support Matt and Jen finishing.

Anyway long story short we cheered from there til the end. My now working bladder almost caused me to miss Matts finish, but I didn't :-) and we were able to pack the tent up and be back to see Jenny finish.......awesome!!! Felt so pleased to be able to support people having been supported by so many people myself.

The journey home was uneventful but I don't know how Mr H stated awake. I'm quite glad he did though cos I've got things booked that couldn't do dead :D

Next year I intend to compete in the outlaw, and thank every volunteer I see.

Coming down.....

Well, I think it's not only important to document races but also how you feel afterwards, I can read this back in the future when I am having a goldfish moment and reassure myself that it's normal :)

I was a bit sore on Monday obv, but not as sore as Tuesday! Tuesday I was having trouble walking as my right foot hurt so much. It seemed to me that it was piriformis related as the pain went up behind my knee and at points into my back. Did a swim and a lot of stretching at my desk and actually I think this did help as things felt easier on Wednesday.

Wednesday I swam and with some good advice from a friend, think I finally got the bit about not lifting your head too far out of the water to breathe......yay!!! Seeing as I will have to go easy on the running for a bit I shall concentrate on banging this lesson home and you never know I might become a better swimmer :-/

Anyway that aside when I woke on Thursday it was painful to put my foot on the floor. Yeah, seems to be PF, so all the stetching and crap that goes with that is what I must concentrate on. I was also very tired and this has continued. I was struggling to stay awake on the tube this morning despite a good 8 hours sleep, but I am putting this down to my body saying 'yeah alright I don't mind running 50 miles at the weekend but for gods sake can I have a rest before you make me go back to work? pleeeaaassseeee!'

And it struck me today that this weekend I am going to Nottingham to support friends competing in the Outlaw and I have booked Monday off, but when I do a race on Sunday I rarely take any time off......today that seems a bit cockeyed ;D

I think I am telling myself via this blog to just flipping take some time out to recover!!!!!! I am probably breakable though I dont like to say it.

And last, Henry will be accompanying me to the Outlaw, he needs to see what goes on in an Ironman so he is prepared for next year. He has refused to camp though, and is insisting on a hotel. thinks he's a fucking celebrity or something. Ha, I can swear in this blog, I am NOT a role model.

This is me at the Outlaw last year, just to stay on theme.

In erratum

When I got home last night, it was to a stony silence from my friend Henry. After much cajoling he finally admitted what was wrong.

'I loved your blog he said, I loved that you wrote about me'

'okaaaay, but?'

'but you got it wrong, you didn't rescue me from the road, Mark did. You were excited that he had found me and said you had just the pocket for me'

So this blog is to set the record straight. Mark rescued Henry, I then adopted him.

There, thats better isn't it. History will not be wrong.

YES I CAN!!!!!!

But before I tell you about the Kent 50, I need to introduce you to Henry. He is my running companion. (in a plastic spider running companion sort of way)

We met on day one of the 10 in 10, he was just lying in the road and I rescued him. We agreed that he should accompany me on the rest of the marathons. My shorts have a special pocket for him so it was a bit like fate. He travelled with me quietly being my good luck charm until 10 day when he wasn't feeling very well (I lost him).

We were reunited last week when I wondered what on earth was poking into my bum when I put my running shorts on :) He said he wouldn't hold it against me and that yes, he quite fancied the Kent 50 too.

A tiny bit about Henry, he is named for Henry II, who he admires for being a proper king, and the first Plantagenet king. This period of history is of particular interest to him. He likes running (spiders are good at it) but not girl spiders, as they tend to eat you (I thinks he's gay) He also glows in the dark, which he finds quite embarrassing and him less than keen to go to evening social arrangements.

Anyway, Kent 50 (actually 52.4 miles) in 10 hours 24 minutes.

I am massively pleased with this as it was a bit of a foray into the unknown. My longest ultra to date was 40 miles and I think it was 2008. The course was not new to me as I have completed the moonlight challenge twice before which is 5 laps (kent 50 is 8 laps) but it was nice to see it in the daytime.

I knew I had plenty of miles in my legs, so I guess this was just an attempt to put that together with a strategy to get me through 50. And I guess I must have come up with that cos it worked. Basically I had some water and a gel at the end of 5 laps and then a bit of mars bar at the end of 6 laps then paracetamol, ibuprofen, water and proper coke at the end of 7.

Only one bad lap and that was 7 (see drug count above) with hindsight I needed to take something earlier it would have made that lap less awful. But I kept to my 25/5 plan for 7 laps and then on 8 it was run to the mile marker and then walk for 5 minutes. My first mara split was 4.45 so I obviously slowed up on the second half but I guess you expect that.

Anyway, I take a lot of confidence from that and don't think that 100 is out of my reach.
I do have a sore foot today.

Can I?

Run the Kent 50 this weekend?

I don't know. I ran 40 miles once, about 3 years ago I think. I was a lot less experienced then, so I am hoping that yes I can.

Why am I doing it? Well next year I am entered for the first ever Thames Path 100 miler. It has been an ambition of mine for some time to run a hundred miles as a one off.

But why? Just to see if I can really. I'm not doing it for charity, I wont be doing it in memory of anyone......in fact I was thinking about this earlier. My Nan would've hated the fact that I run and do tri, she would only imagine all the ways I could hurt myself doing it. My Dad, would've been entirely unimpressed unless I was actually going to win something and my Mum, well I have actually no idea what her thoughts would be. So, not in memory of anyone then.

It's just for me :) I suppose I hope that the people around me are a bit impressed with the things I do, but ultimately it doesn't matter.

How selfish do I sound? I don't mind, you can tell me.

Anyway, I'll let you know on Monday if I could or not.