Bruise

As requested by my mawkish friend, my bruised leg.

Post op and training plan

So its been 5 days since the op and recovery is going well. I've gone from immobility to walking OK. My right thigh is one big bruise in a range a beautiful colours and I have stitches in a place that needed a particularly steady hand from the surgeon (I'm glad I didn't think too much about that before hand).

I have to walk a little everyday before my stitches are removed on the 27th and then I might go for an easy swim and cycle at Centre Parks over New Year. I will return to gentle training on the 9th if everything goes to plan but I am aware that the docs did say 4 to 6 weeks. I'm not sure why. If my stitches are out and the wound has healed, what harm can running do. Especially as they are encouraging me to walk everyday to improve circulation.

Anyway, I am having to concentrate really hard on my eating. Its so hard. There is a giant tin of Quality Street on the side, loads of cheese in the fridge and Panettone in the cupboard. I must be strong.

I'm staying focused by doing my ironman training plan. I have a book called "Be Iron Fit" by Don Fink which seems really good. There is three training programs, Competitive, Intermediate and Just Finish. I've gone for the middle one, Intermediate, as it seems reasonable for me.

The first 10 weeks (Base) averages out as 8.5 hours a week, the 2nd 10 weeks (Build) averages as 11.5 and the final 10 weeks (Peak) is 13 hours. It looks doable on paper, probably different in reality.

The power of t'internet

Hurray for the power of the Internet and common sense. A fairly meaningless victory in the grand scheme of things but the thought of Cowell being a bit miffed is very funny.

Operation

Well, that's that. All done in a day. The ugly varicose vein has been stripped out and I'm all bandaged up and full of opiates.

I have to say, Chelsea and Westminster hospital is excellent. Exactly how you want a hospital to be; well organised, clean, new, uncluttered and very friendly staff.

I now have 2 weeks in compression tights, then stitches removed followed by 2 more weeks in the tights. Then it should all be better. I did get a variety of answers to my "when can I run" question. 3 weeks was the best answer and 6 the worst. I guess I just play it by ear.

Killing in the name of

I don't normally publish non-exercise stuff on my blog but I would love this to happen and if I can get anyone else to buy a copy, it would be worth it.

LET'S GET RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE TO THE CHRISTMAS NO.1 SPOT THEN!

Are you getting fed up about the possibility of ANOTHER X-Factor Christmas No.1? ...us too...so we're going to do something about it!

We are all buying a download of 'KILLING IN THE NAME' by RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE right NOW! until the end of Saturday 19th December (23:59pm).

Q: So how do we do this then?
A: Take your pick(s) of the digital providers below. It should take you to the page where you can purchase your copy of KILLING IN THE NAME. in most cases it's track#2 but check before you click!

Q: But there's other websites now offering RAGE for Xmas links?
A: Yes, but these links right here were created by the creators of the whole campaign themselves. They are not 'affiliate' links so therefore nobody gets any sort of 'commission'. You don't need to go anywhere else.

Q: When do i buy 'Killing In The Name'?
A: NOW until Saturday 19th December at 23:59pm

** DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT 10 TIMES OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT...IT'LL JUST GET ANNULLED FROM THE CHART **

Prices as of Saturday 12th December. If any change within the week i'll adapt the link. DON'T PAY LESS THAN 0.40p !! It won't count.

Direct linking approved by the Official Charts Company.

iTUNES - 99p - track #2 (click on 'view in itunes' on the right)
http://bit.ly/ratm-itunes

PLAY.COM - 70p - it's the only track on the page
http://bit.ly/ratm-play

AMAZON.CO.UK - *DONT USE*7DIGITAL - £1.19P - track #2
http://bit.ly/ratm-7digital

HMV.COM - 79p (careful - this is track #1)
http://bit.ly/ratm-hmv

TUNETRIBE - 49P - track #2 - LIVE version (yes it counts)
http://bit.ly/ratm-tunetribe

TESCO DIGITAL - 67p - track #2
http://bit.ly/ratm-tesco

WE7 - £1.07p - track #2
http://bit.ly/ratm-we7

Point of destruction

Well, it seems that I ran myself into the ground last weekend. I felt achy and tired after the run and of course my knee was hurt but I didn't think it was anything out of the ordinary after such a tough run.

However, by Wednesday, when all the usual aches and pains had gone, I was left with a very sore right knee and a very bad back. I found out how bad on Thursday night. I went to a Christmas party and forgot my wallet on the table when I left at the end of the evening. I got to the bus stop before I realised so made my way back. I was now late for the baby sitter so ran back to the restaurant. After 30 seconds of running I pulled up with stunning pain shooting through both my knee and back.

The knee pain subsided but the back didn't. I had trouble sleeping that night and I can still feel twinges in both areas. I guess it was the 2 ltrs of water in the Camelbak that did some of the damage.

So it looks like no running until after Christmas (I have a small operation on Wednesday to have a vein removed from my leg) so I'm done for the year. My 2009 stats are complete. Not happy about that but I guess I finished on a high with the marathon.

What have I done?

Congratulations
Your entry into the IRONMAN UK 2010. has now been confirmed. Your can view your confirmed entry form, by following the link below.

Well, its done. I have committed to nearly 8 months of training and then 15 hours of struggle. I can't quite believe it. I can't picture myself standing in a wet suit at the edge of a lake in Bolton.

I have to say, it was tough getting to sleep last night. The swim part still scares me. I was sitting watching my daughter at her swim club and it dawned on me that every kid at the club is a better swimmer then me.

Goals for the next two months
1. Try not to gain weight over Christmas
2. Learn to swim (I have booked swim lessons at swimfortri.com)
3. Try to establish a weekly routine with all three disciplines

New Blog

A friend of mine, Ed, has started a blog that some of you might find interesting.

http://fromfittofatandbackagain.blogspot.com/

He did the Etape this year but due to illness, has had to take some time out of training. He should be up and running again and will be training for the Marmotte in 2010. I wish him well.

However, feel free to flame him as the main picture on his site is him beating me up a hill. I can only retalliate with this picture of me cycling up a small hill in Wales with Ed walking in the background. Ha!

Marathon number 7 or Ultra number 1

What the hell was I doing. Some time back in late summer, I was feeling over confident about life and decided to enter a autumn/winter marathon. I was coming off the back of my Etape success and decided that a normal marathon wasn't challenging enough so went for a hilly, cross country event in Wales.

With my teacher training course, my running build-up had been patchy and I was shocked by how quick the race came around. On my drive to Wales on a wet and windy Friday night, I wondered what the hell I was thinking.

I arrived at my B&B at 10pm and went straight to bed. I got up a 6am, had my porridge and set off to the race. I was fairly casual about my gear compared with how I have been at previous marathons even though I had to carry lots more than usual - water, space blanket, whistle, first aid, gels and phone.

The other contestants where the usual set of skinny, tight wearing 'outdoors' people with buffs i.e not me. I always wonder why XC runners mostly wear tights but road runners mostly wear shorts. I did have my own buff for the first time as it was given away free with Cycling Plus this week which was a bit of luck.

It was cold and windy but not raining. It wasn't due to rain until the late afternoon but I still put on my raincoat as it was chilly. An announcement was made that because of flooding (it had been raining for 3 days solid), the course would take a detour and as a result, was now 28 miles. It was no longer a marathon but technically an ultra.

We set off at 9am and it was straight over a dune and on to the beach. It was wet but not too soft so progress was good. Then it was off the beach and through some fields to the first hill. It was big and everyone was walking. A couple tried to run for a bit but they weren't going any faster than the walkers.

After a short plateau at the top we came down the other side along a wooden path. It was slippy and I didn't feel very stable and it wasn't long before I fell on my back-side. I was ok, just a dirty knee and a thorn in my hand.

I reached the first checkpoint and used the dibber. The next 6 miles were fine. I had fallen into a good rhythm and was with a group of about 10 other runners. We climbed the second big hill before check point 2. I had another gel, some jelly babies and a biscuit. It was then over some really tough sand dunes before reaching the coast again at mile 11.5.

The beach was a killer. You could see for over a mile and the wind was right in your face. You could see about 30 runners all shuffling against the wind trying to get to the same point and no one looked like they were making any progress.

I eventually got to the end of the beach and felt ok, especially as I had passed quite a few people. However, feeling ok was short lived as we climbed 300 feet through a forest to get over the peninsular.

The war of attrition then began. The rain started, the wind got stronger and it was just putting one foot in front of the other for mile after mile. All I was focusing on was getting to mile 20. That felt like a real breakthrough. The terrain remained tough with lots of water, deep mud and rocks. Because my legs were getting tired, I was finding it increasingly hard to navigate over the rocks without walking which slowed me down.

We reached the last checkpoint at mile 21 but I knew we had 7 miles and a really big hill to go. It was at this point that my right knee started to hurt. Just a twinge at first but mile after miles, it got worse and worse. Up hills were ok, running on the flat was fine for about 3 or 4 minutes at a time but down hills were painful. I tried to take my 4th gel here but was nearly sick so didn't bother.

We got to the final hill and it was big. A thin stream of people were making their way to the top and into a cloud (yes, it was that big). We trudged up laughing at our pain. It went on and on. Once we got to the top, it was bleak. Visibility was bad and the rain was heavy.

After another 20 minutes of this, I finally saw the finish. It was down a very steep slope which made me want to cry. Whilst others skipped down in glee (or slid) knowing it was about to be over, I had to gingerly make it down using one leg. If I put any weight on my right leg my knee screamed at me.

I eventually made it home practically hoping over the line. I forgot to stop my watch and I can't find the result printout so I'm not totally sure of my time but it was around 5:50. It doesn't sound great but it was an extreme course. 30 minutes later, as I drove away, there were still people coming off the hill so I wasn't last. Hooray.

Food
Breakfast - Porridge, toast, coffee, High5 4:1 drink, water
Gels - SiS at 4 miles, 10 miles, 15 miles and half at 21 miles
Other - Biscuit and handful of jelly babies
Hydration - I carried and drank 1.5 litres of water, 1 bottle of Gatorade (yuk)
Hydration - 3 cups of water on route
After - For Goodness Shake and Burger King

Stats
Distance: 28 miles (45km)

Time: 5:50:00 ???
Elevation Gain: 3900 feet (1188 meters)
Weather: Nasty
Winner: 3:44:4
11st Female: 4:03:34
Me: 5:53:38
I finished 113th out of 169

Other Photos at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/simonlewis/sets/72157622943129638/

Predictions for Saturday...

...crap.

I can't believe I am running a marathon on Saturday. This Saturday. And not just a flat, tarmac, 26.2 miles. No, an extremely hilly, rocky, difficult and hardcore event. Just look at the picture! 42k on that.

OK, so most of my longer runs have gone alright but I just haven't run enough Monday to Friday. I've averaged about 3 runs a week and never got to over 35 miles in 7 days. I didn't manage the hill workouts I wanted to do and my eating has been appalling.

I have an excuse. Learning to be a teacher is bloody hard. I know others out there who managed to do an ironman, blog every day, teach and be a super ICT consultant are probably laughing but its taken its toll. After getting the kids to bed by nine, I then have to work so running has been very hard to fit in.

This has made me question the whole ironman thing a little but I think I just need to get more organised.

Anyway, my excuses are down in black and white. I have no goal for Saturday other than to finish. I would love not to be last but I think this is the most realistic chance I have ever had. This event does attract a lot of skinny, mad fell runner types which I just cannot compete with and I think the field will only be around 100 strong (99 strong, 1 less so).

Its also set to be cold and wet. Joy. Why am I doing this?

Picture of the Gower Peninsular courtesy of MyGeo web site.