Drugs, booze, hotel rooms, David Mitchell and some last minute stress

I don't mean to sound overly dramatic, but I didn't blog yesterday because I felt AWFUL.

Monday night I went to bed at about 9pm, and woke up at about 9am Tues. My nose was bunged up and I still had that "ache behind the eyes" feeling. Good job I raided Boots at the airport:

Drugs.....

Still the room here is lovely with a very comfy bed and I was pleased to spend some quality time there.

Bed........

I spent pretty much all of Tuesday doing NOTHING. I had my breakfast, came back to my room, had a little sleep, got woken up by housekeeping, went back to room, had another little sleep. In between this I sent some whinging emails to Gobi who has been very good at humouring me in my pathetic girl-flu state, and I have watched several series of Peep Show on my laptop from my sick bed with a bin full of snotty tissues next to me. Watching Peep Show always cheers me up. :)

Trying to be positive, I remember talking to one of the 100 Marathon club blokes at Connemara who was saying he did his Marathon PB at the tail end of a cold because it had forced him to relax so for little me that just really wants to get round there is definitely hope.

It got to about 5pm yesterday and I realised despite taking on a lot of water during the day I'd completely missed having any lunch (to be fair the breakfast at 10.00 was fairly massive so no matter really). I went down to the bar to get something. Plenty of nice food in the bar, went for fish since I'm next to a fairly whopping great puddle full of it leaping about and since I am in Ireland:

Driiiiink!!

I'm not sure if it was the bug, the fact I hadn't had lunch or the fact that I don't usually drink at all (I do like Irish Guinness though and I thought a pint with my food would be nice...) but as I got up to sign for my bill I felt decidedly weird. Before you all laugh at what a lightweight I am, I'm fairly sure I wasn't pissed on one pint of the black stuff, but I got to the downstairs lift and had to lean against it. As I got out I almost felt like I was going to pass out, walking along the corridoor to the room thinking "please let me make it - this will be embarassing if I flake out in the corridoor" and "I really don't need this NOW". I made it to my room and I lay down on the bed for 5 mins burning up - sweating but it seemed to solve the issue. A bit scary though. When I got up I felt quite a lot better.

Of course all this sleeping in the day meant it took me a while to drop off but another solid 8 hours sleep and this morning I woke up minus the aforementioned "ache behind the eyes". I am still snotty but I can deal with that. Views like this soothe the eyes:

The view eating my lunch

Tonight was the race briefing at the hotel I am staying at. Or at least most of the participants thought so. However an hour waiting around and then  a quick call to the race organizer, it turned out that the numbers were to be collected in Moville, 4 miles up the road from the Hotel. "Did you not get the email I sent last week?" Errr. That will be a resounding NO?

I got talking to 3 Irish chaps doing the same challenge, however when they offered to give me a lift to Moville they seemed nice enough but I sort of didn't feel comfortable with it (It's one thing sharing a taxi with a slightly camp hotel worker). Thankfully a nice man named Geoff also doing the Quad, his wife and their two daughters took pity on me and we whizzed up to get the info. Geoff did the Longford Marathon on Sunday (was my PB course for a long time) and now he's doing 4x4 - he runs 2:45 marathons. Aaaargh I *am* going to be last. Do I care? No not really.

So here I am. This is it. And I have a bright red nose for all the photos. :)

I am not a number.

Taper madness and travelling

Ok so I feel like I am coming down with a cold. Not going to bang on about it, but just let me get it off my chest:

I NEVER EVER get colds and then come the most important "thing" ever.... atchoooo! Gah! I knew I should of bloody booted Mark out of the car last week when he started sneezing and slobbering like something out of Ghostbusters. Mark if you are reading this I blame YOU! :) I've got First Defence going up my nose at regular intervals. Still, it is over 48h until I actually have to run so I suppose we'll see. There is nothing to stop me spending two whole days in bed now if I wanted to. Perhaps I just need a decent nights sleep of over 6 hours. Perhaps it is taper madness. I bloody hope so. Arrrgh! Rant over.

I had a rubbish nights sleep last night, so opted not to do my final run around Penn early AM but wait until I got over the water. It appears that Wolverhampton is shit (who knew). Usually when I need to get the train somewhere, it is very easy to hop on a bus that runs every 10 mins and stops at the stop 100 yards from my flat. 10 mins later I am at the train station, and all the London bound trains start at Wolves going via Birmingham Airport. However on a Bank Holiday there appears to be one single bus that goes around the whole of the city, so they run few and far between, with the 10 minute journey taking... 40 mins!!! Thankfully Zoe said she could give me a lift if I was in need so I took her up on her kind offer.

The trip to the airport was fairly uneventful, and so was the whole check in process etc despite it being a Ryanair flight. If it all goes wrong at Serco I may go contracting and offer to sort out Ryanair's IT:

Just switch it off and switch it back on again

This always makes me smile. So I'm a geek but I don't care. It also appears their check in screens run on XP. :-0

Walking around the departures bit and having had a good look in the electrical shops, I may have to have a visit to the Apple shop in either Birmingham or Cribbs causeway when I get home. I might just have promised myself an Ipad if I get through this OK.

Due to the miserable weather, we had some crazy fun with turbulence taking off and landing, but mostly the flight was OK. There was the usual rush and stampede of little old ladies to get on the plane first due free seating and thankfully I managed to sit next to someone fairly inoffensive - I'm sure he also thought very highly of me. Be warned if you fly in to Derry, it is a weird landing. The plane comes in over green fields, and you think "Oh I will probably see the airport in a sec" and then a load of water appears, to the point where you are getting lower and lower (I saw the whites of the eyes of some ducks) and look like you are going to land in it. Then at the last possible second you see the tarmac. I guess these plane drivers must know what they are doing before they get given the keys right?

The taxi rank in Derry is also slightly chaotic. It is a bank holiday in NI, but 20 miles down the road where I am in Co Donnegal it isn't, either way it lead to taxi shortages at the airport. To cut a long story short I ended up sharing a taxi with some random bloke who was going in to Derry city, and then we carried on to where I am staying. The result being: 1) we both got cheaper fares 2) I got a guided tour of Derry having the city walls etc pointed out to me 3) the bloke I shared the taxi with works at the hotel I'm staying in so I have made a sort of friend.

Pretty much as soon as I got in, I got changed and went out for a run. My hotel is on the banks of Lough Foyle, so I did a loop of the golf course, and then headed uphill to run along a quite high up road that runs parallel with the shore line. I felt ok, I think the word of the day is "jittery". I did get the most amazing view. One side of the Lough was sunny, but you could see exactly where there was a massive raincloud - so you kind of had a half and half picture of rain on one side and sunshine on the other. This was where I turned around, so I had the raincloud catching me up on the way back and a view of a really lovely rainbow. Typically I had no camera on me, but it will be in my head for a while. I should really get a running phone with a camera as I see a lot of things that would look great as a blown up photo on the wall. Amazing I hope it is some sort of good luck sign.

Lough Foyle Rainbow pic from Google. Similar to what I  saw today. 

I'm knackered and going to bed early. Night.

One week to go until Marathon #4 - a Muff filled Sunday morning

Next Sunday I will have done the Muff Marathon. *snigger*

Doesn't everyone?

The route is here:

http://www.extremenorthevents.com/images/uploads/documents/2012-Quadrathon-Day-4.pdf

And here is the course profile

Quad day 4 course gradients - first and second half 

So it looks a bit flatter than the first 3 days. Sub 3.50 and a London Marathon "Good for age" place then?

An easy 8 yesterday and an easy 7 today. Seemed strange to be finished running by 10.30am. Thankfully I have had running around getting bits and pieces to keep my occupied. I've got an easy 4 to do tomorrow morning before I get on the plane and that is it until the first Marathon on Thursday. Can't remember the last time I had two rest days in a row. Seriously!

In between writing this I am doing bits of packing. I think I've got everything. I know Ireland isn't exactly a foreign country but I don't need to be stressing about trying to find bits and pieces when I'm out there.

Contents of suitcase include:

25 GU gels, Ibuprofen, Antihistamines, Insect repellant, lots of Nuun tablets, massive amounts of vaseline, various t shirts / vests - will see what the forecast is before I sport a vest. Long sleeved tops, shorts, clothes to wear in the evening if I can be bothered / feel alive enough to attempt to socialize. I have 4 pairs of trainers so I can wear a new dry pair each day. Swimming costume as I think that it will be nice to lounge around in the hotel pool after I'm finished. I keep thinking I've forgotten stuff. Aaaargh OCD!

Not sure what else to say really. I sort of feel like I'm on the edge of a life changing moment. I suppose I am.

When I get back there are a few things I need to do. After this week's funeral etc and with more thoughts turning towards my Auntie as the Quad approaches I definitely think life is too short and people only regret things that they DIDN'T do or say. I don't think it is going to be a completely new me but perhaps a slightly more confident one. All good intentions. We will see if it happens or I go all chicken like I usually do.

I will blog when I get out there. A squillion billion photos will probably appear of FB. :)

Much love everyone. Thank you for all the support it really means a lot to me so keep it comin'  xx

One week to go to MARATHON #3 !!!!

You can guess what is coming next :)

Next Saturday I will be running here:

http://www.extremenorthevents.com/images/uploads/documents/2012-Quadrathon-Day-3.pdf

And this is the course profile (gradients):

Quad day 3 course gradients - first and second half 

I think it is safe to say that I will be pleased to get past the 18 mile mark.

This evening I have been out for a curry in Birmingham with my "Curry Husband" P, my lovely friend M (his actual other half) and little E. This title of curry husband and wife has been bestowed upon us because we spookily always end up choosing the same insanely hot things off of the menu. Today was no exception, having basically some whole chillies in a token coating, the same chilli laden main course, and almost fighting over the "red stuff" they have with the popadoms. (Secret ingredient = crack? The red stuff has scary addictive properties).

I would also say intelligence, kindness, wit and chocolatey stuff are fairly key 

This prompted me to think about food when marathon running.

So we've already decided that eating crap when training for a Marathon is not the way to go, though I guess one can get away with a little more cake than normal. However what to do in the days before a marathon, and for an event like this what to do during / after? After 2 Ultramarathons, 6 Marathons and 10+ 20 mile races (plus numerous training runs) I should have some sort of strategy by now.

Firstly I suppose I'm fairly lucky in the fact I have a cast iron gut, although I do live in fear of the first time it gets upset when running. I don't think I would quite be eating tonight’s uber hot meal before a big event, but I'm happy enough that most restaurants wherever I am staying will have something suitably pasta-like or potato-ey to give me a decent carb meal. I used to get paranoid and actually take little boxes of my own pasta to races, but I really can't be arsed with those games now. I can usually find something. The way I understand it is not to eat loads more leading up to a long distance event, but just change the proportions to include a lot more low GI quality carbs. So that is what I try and do. However never underestimate the chilling out powers of some nice chocolate the night before a race.

For a long time now, I have made a point of drinking a lot of water. I don't drink tea or coffee, not for health reasons but because I don't like either of them. Never have. I always have a 1.5 L bottle with me, and try and fill it up / drink the contents twice a day, so I get through about 3 L per day, plus admittedly when times are tough I do have a bit of a Diet Coke habit. Some might say this is too much liquid, but I feel OK on it, and also if I lose track and don't drink as much I can feel a difference in myself. Although I'm not teetotal, I rarely actually drink because I don't like the dehydrating effect.

So during the run, what then? Well some people go for jelly babies, some for bananas, jam sandwiches etc but I tend to stick with carbohydrate gels, the current favourites being GU. Vanilla + Caffiene because it tastes nice, and a Lemon and Lime GU because it has a bit of a sharper twang to cut the sweetness. During Marathons I tend to take one every 5 miles. They are a bit of an acquired taste, I don't quite understand quite why people get all squeamish about swallowing them. HTFU. I've had worse culinary experiences but each to their own and they do upset a lot of peoples tummies so I can see some reasons to avoid.

Recently there have been times when I've been getting leg cramps in bed, and bizarrely a very twitchy eyelid. Over the summer I sweat quite a lot (noticeable in the heat, and I probably do it just as much in the rain but can't tell). So I did some research and wondered if it was my salt levels (yes sometimes when the sweat dries I'm left with a salt coating. Nice). So I tend to add a Nuun tablet to my drinking water. Placebo effect it may be, but I don't get cramps when I do this on a regular basis.

I can't say I've ever hit the wall in a Marathon or Ultra (the wall is where your body basically runs out of carbs - stored as glycogen and the result is you are supposed to feel like you are running through treacle) and I hope that it is a combination of being hydrated/fuelled to start off with, regular water/gels on the run that has got me through like this. Sometimes I take on Powerade/Gatorade/Lucozade if they are available, but I've got round without. If all else fails, full fat coke does a good sports drink job. I think its true what they say about not trying new things on race day, but if it's a choice between crashing out and trying something new I'll take the risk.

So what about afterwards? Well I try and eat something straight away and keep hydrated. Ideally I would say "chicken sandwich" would be my post race choice but these are very rarely around, so I tend to have a milkshake and possibly a bag of crisps which are usually a bit more available. I've seen and read stuff about milk being good for recovery, and when I get back from a long run tend to have a glass of purple top (1%) from the fridge. I think the crisps are partly a salt thing and partly because after 5 x sickly sweet gels I want something savoury/salty!

So I hope this all works over 4 days. It seemed to when I've done back to back weekends of long runs. I will just have to adjust accordingly if I hit any problems.

One week to go to MARATHON #2 !!!!

So then, this time next week I will be contemplating the fact I've done 2 marathons back to back. I think this should be achievable relatively easily. I've done a Half and Marathon on consecutive days at Disney. That was for the sheer nuttiness of the place and the medal bling. Earlier on in the year I did the Rhayader 20 on a Saturday in March, and the Ashby 20 on the Sunday (free hoodie and packed lunch after Ashby would have been rude not to) . So back to back Marathons, even hilly ones should be OK on paper. That is how my brain deals with that one.

Next Friday I will be running here:

http://www.extremenorthevents.com/images/uploads/documents/2012-Quadrathon-Day-2.pdf


And this is the course profile (gradients):

Quad day 2 course gradients - first and second half

So a bit of an uphill start and a bit of a pimple at 17 miles, other than that hopefully I'll be feeling OK.

Today’s topic for obsession: The WEATHER

I used to say to people "You know it's amazing the amount of hours I've spent out running, and the amount of times I've got soaked to the skin I can still count on one hand". That was until springtime this year. Now I haven't just run out of fingers and toes but I’ve actually lost count (although I do log the weather conditions for each run so if I wanted to I could probably tell you.) It seems now, pretty much every time I think about going out of the door it starts to rain. So I wait a bit, it brightens up, I go out and then it pisses down on me anyway. One particularly vile run saw me walking back up the stairs at work with my trainers squelching and water actually running out of my shorts down my legs.

During the Quad training I've tried to go out at a number of different times of day / conditions. There is obviously a slim chance that some of the event days might be in a 30 degree heat wave so I've been out in the midday sun in the small heat waves that we have had. I've been out when it has been blowing a gale and I've been out when it has been chucking it down so much that water is flowing down hills like a river, with popped up drain covers sprouting fountains of water everywhere.

I think overall I prefer cloud + a little drizzle, hopefully anything extreme won't be a problem.

I did learn a valuable lesson in the Lake District a few months ago. I was up at V's for a weekend of cow watching, ice cream eating and dog cuddling and had to go out for a long run. So off I went in the pouring rain, for a 15 miler, but as I came back up the road to hers soaked to the skin I felt a pain at well - no other way of describing it, the lower part of my back / top of my arse crack. Because I'd stuffed a load of crap in the back pocket of my shorts, and they had got weighed down with the water some of my seams had rubbed a huge patch of skin raw through my them.  Getting in the shower - well I actually almost fainted with the stinging and doing a long run the next day would have been tricky – thank goodness it was a rest day because sitting down was actually fairly difficult.  A few weeks later at the physio the scars were still there - he had to question whether I had been leading a more interesting social life than I let on.

What to do then? Well every runner’s friend, VASELINE. As it happens one of my anti blister strategies is to Vaseline my feet before a run. That with a combination of Nike Triaxes and very thin socks means I never get any foot blisters. So rest assured I will be Vaseline-ing any bits where I believe seams will rub if the forecast looks dodgy. Grim but true. I'm not going through that pain again!

What more do you need. More on GU at a later date

I've started looking at the forecast for the area around Londonderry and at the moment it looks fairly cool and showery, but that only goes up until next Tuesday. I think it is safe to say I will be checking again. Several times a day.

Today saw an easy lunchtime 9 miler which was very nice, despite getting rained on again. Took in the hilly Ashton Court grounds, and the turnaround point was the middle of the Clifton Suspension bridge. I thought on the way back “this will be the last run in Bristol for a while”. That is how everything feels. “This will be the last time I do X before  the Quad”, “This is the last time I will see person Y before the Quad” .Feels strange winding down, even stranger that I consider a 4 day block of 10/9/8/7 to be a wind down - all distances that I used to consider a long run. How life changes!

One week to go to MARATHON #1 !!!!

I couldn't think of any pun, witty or otherwise for the title, so  unfortunately I've resorted to FACT!

One weeks time I will be contemplating how my first Marathon of the 4 went. I do seem to swing from moments of extreme confidence to feeling I ought to say my goodbyes in case I collapse on an Irish road and get nibbled to death by sheep.

Next Thursday I will be running here:

http://www.extremenorthevents.com/images/uploads/documents/2012-Quadrathon-Day-1.pdf

And this is the course profile (gradients):

Quad day 1 course gradients - first and second half

Yeah...... so I never said they would be FLAT, did I?

This morning I went to H's husbands funeral. I don't think a detailed description is really appropriate for this blog but I will say two things:

1. I hope when I go, people will be fighting for space - no seats left and we were pretty much standing squashed around the edges of the chapel (that is a GOOD thing!) I hope she gets some comfort from how popular he was.

2. Go and hug a loved one NOW and appreciate them because things can change so quickly. Being in a Premier Inn in Bristol and no teleporter to Cambridge I don't have that luxury, and frankly I could really do with a hug today. I could hug the man on reception but I fear he may like it too much.

Anyway, the subject of hills.

The first 3 days of the Quad are quite hilly. With that in mind, the slightly sadistic side of me has been winning the battle recently, I've been throwing in some quite hilly bits on my long runs, particularly the bits at the end of a 20 where say I've done 10 with the girls and then 10 on my own - I try and find a few ups and down in that last 10 so I'm running the ups and downs tired.

I think there are 2 races that are responsible for curing any "hill fear" that I did have. Mentally I hope I've got the hill battle won.

1. The Rhayader 20 - a lovely Welsh race usually in March. You start off in the town, and fairly soon are running up a 5 mile climb. It starts off gradual but miles 3-5 are quite steep and you end up quite high up - a noticeable temperature difference at the top.  On this first epic climb, depressingly there is a false summit - you think you've got to the top at about 4 miles in, and then you realize there is another mile to go. Then eventually.... hooray, not a mirage but at the actual summit there is an ambulance(!) and a drinks station. Following this  there is a massive downhill (which sounds easy but it it can wreck your quads if you're not careful) where the people in front of you look like little ants snaking round the hairpin road bends. The rest is undulating - so if you can finish the following 15 miles and still feel OK you haven't done too bad. Below is a photo of me doing my normal cheezy photo arms in air pose about 2/3 of the way up the first climb - note I am still running!

One woman Mexican wave on a Welsh hillside

2. The Connemara Ultramarathon. Quite frankly if I can get up something called "The Hell of the West" after 37.5 miles of running, all other hills are pancakes in comparison. I found this "flypast" on Google Maps which is quite cool http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3fHzFs7rAc and also this one from someone's car http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQeIoWl6bpY&feature=related .Happy days.

So we will see what Ireland has to throw at me in the hill department next week

Bite Watch -  the swelling practically non existent, I still look my legs are covered in some huge weird love bites. Classy.

Lovely 10 miler tonight, didn't get out of work till late (not that I really minded), got back to the hotel and again robo-Nat just kind of took over. I ended up going down to the Portway and under the bridge and back for a change. Can safely say 10 miles doesn't seem very long any more - an evening spin or a lunchtime jog-ette. Cool!!! :)

Bite watch - Performance enhancing bites?

So having googled last night what to put on insect bites and having seen some fairly horrific pictures flash before my eyes, I opted to use Ibuprofen gel on them. This seems to have done the trick as far as the swelling goes. Been taking antihistamines and will probably do so for another couple of days.

I am pleased to report my legs are almost back to their normal levels of yukkiness, thank goodness for that!

However the previously raised areas are now bright red/purple, I had much fun tonight rolling up my shorts leg at the club and watching people gasp in horror.

I am so happy it hasn't stopped me from running. I had to do some effort tonight, 8 mile progressive. For the running uninitiated this is where you basically start off with a slow mile and crank up the pace a bit after every mile in fairly even intervals, then last mile slow again so you are not going from flat out to a complete halt.

The boring splits (minute miles)

10.34
10.07
9.42
9.08
8.38
8.09
7.22
10.20

Where on earth 7.22 came from at the end I have no idea - I thought that 7.40 ish was the best I could hope for, but as the last fast mile came I felt good and I gave it some welly. Perhaps the bites have improved me in a Peter Parker style-ee.

I figured that with the wind down for the Quad and the event itself, my opportunities to "go nuts" will be limited for a while so I might as well enjoy a bit of speed. And I do enjoy running fast now. (Thank you Gobster)

I realise I might have sounded slightly pathetic last night - of course I'm grateful that I am healthy going in to the event, but I've trained so hard and feel like I'm running so well I just don't want anything to wreck it now. Rather than dreading the event at the moment I actually feel quite excited  :-D