Moving up with the miles

I did it. I managed two 60 mile weeks. Really stoked about this. I was diligent with foam rolling, stretching, and massaging my feet as aches and pains have appeared with the increase. My feet are my main concern. They’ve both had odd pains throughout. Yesterday  I managed to have a few minutes where I didn’t have to chase kids, the wife had a friend over who also had kids so they were all fairly occupied outside of me. I took advantage and soaked my feet in ice water which helped significantly. It’s alwsys been said it’s the things you do outside of running that make you faster. Being on top of all this stuff is allowing me to increase my mileage.

This week will be tough. The wife is out for a funeral and also for a wedding so mornings will be compromised. I’m not sure if it’s good or bad. It may be a good thing to take an easier week and then ramp it up again next week to 60-70 miles. I’m tempted though to shoot for another 60 mile week, I have been enjoying running so much lately as well as the time management around life that it’s  hard to say no. I find it such an achievement to do what I do around a family. If I end up injured though all this positivity will go away which is a very bad thing.

Speaking of positivity I read a really interesting article recently which really really rings so true in a lot of ways for me. There are people in my life that would understand why I do what I do more if they read the article however I doubt they will. Here’s  link:

Extreme Athleticism Is The New Mid-Life Crisis

And on we go. One more week and it’s back to school for the kids, hopefully more opportunities  to run,  and also more work for me. It will be busy but I enjoy that.

Mileage, France

The miles keep coming. Things are going seemingly really well in my running world. The early mornings are flowing smoothly, even at 415am. I’m staying positive and happy, not grumpy, despite the reduced sleep. Grumpiness around the kids is the toughest one as patience needs to be on top, I struggled with that in the winter.

Busted out the Chariot at the request of the little guy. I won't turn down a "Daddy can we go for a run?" So we ran 3-4 miles to the playground, then 3-4 miles back! Worked out really well and we were both happy. I also attempted two kids in the Chariot but it obviously was too cramped and also damn heavy. If I was to get a double it would likely be too heavy for hilly terrain. Figured it would be fun to experiment at least.

Kind of fell off routine a bit a couple weekends ago. Saturday after a long busy day at work the wife decided to have people over for “a drink.”  Everyone, even the kids, were up until 11pm, a late night for me especially when I get up at 4. Yes it was fun, but I’m not one to drink much anymore mainly because I’ll be up with the kids in the morning. So, needless to say I was exhausted all day Sunday as were the kids, they “slept in” maybe a hour. Of course we had to attend another social function in the afternoon, I was wrecked, the kids were wrecked, the wife had the hair of the dog to keep going, despite sleeping all morning. I fell apart in the hot sun around 3pm. Rough afternoon but we all survived.

Back to running! No one here in the UK is really interested in it so once again I’ll puke it out on here! Hitting consistent 50 mile weeks has been good. I’m feeling fairly injury free (fairly = yes the piriformis hamstring thing is still there) but I think I’ve adapted to the distance which is perfect. Right where I want to be. I may dabble with a little increase in the coming weeks, maybe 55-60 miles, but the tough thing will be early mornings as usual. Once September hits I’ll hopefully have a bit of extra time to pad the mileage without compromising sleep, ideally up to 60-70 mile weeks. These would set me up well for Autumn 100 in October. All I’d add would be a couple runs of 15 - 20 miles each week which I’d run during the day.

I’ll be back working during the week in September but can work as much as I want. Once October hits I’ll likely work 6 days a week but through September I’m hoping to take two weekdays off so I can get two long runs in. That’s the plan for now.

This past week we were fortunate enough to spend in Graveson, Provence, France with another family at their mum and dad's house. Our friend Marianne is half French and her Mum Nicole (French) and Dad Peter (British) were gracious enough to have us stay with them while Marianne and her husband and kids were there. Very nice people, I applaud them for allowing two families to takeover their home! 

The area reminded me of the Central Valley in California with tons of agriculture and a rural feel. Fun fact: France is the only country in the world that is capable of being self sufficient feeding itself! Temps were in the 90's and mildly humid, the sun was really intense though. Most of the time we lounged around the pool but did go to the beach on the Mediterranean one day, toured a castle, ate out a few times. 

I had to break my plant based eating habit (I'm not a vegan, I eat a plant based whole foods diet) as the seafood was insanely good! I tried sea snails which were good, just not all that flavorful, and had awesome shrimp, mussels, and squid in salads. I held fast at not having anything from the cheese plate that was "dessert" after lunch and dinner which was tough! However when we ordered pizza I gave in. Emmental cheese with artichoke hearts, olives, and asparagus! I did my brother and sister proud too by having wine with every meal. Our late lunches at home were mostly fresh vegetables, fruit, and bread. It was hot out so a hot meal was a rarity. Oh, and we always had Spanish gazpacho, a cold tomato soup, which was awesomely refreshing! Remember I live in the UK and the food here is extremely boring, it's easy to stick to a clean diet, however in general all the eating was really healthy and fresh while in France.

Another fun thing was Peter, our host, had an awesome espresso machine. I was offered double espressos pretty much all day long! Damn were they good! I'm pretty sure all I drank was espresso, wine, and beer for the majority of our stay! 

I was kind of expecting a low mileage week in France but did manage to get out running a few times. Right next to where we were staying was a small foothill type mountainous area called the Montagnette. Unfortunately it was closed from June through September due to fire danger. I was kind of bummed but still found some nice running around the outskirts of the Montagnette and town. It's always fun to run somewhere new no matter what the medium. Overall it was a tiring week of time in the sun and staying up later than normal, not really happy to be home honestly because it was awesome! 

And like that it's officially summer for the kids in the UK. They only have a 6 week break from school and finished this past Friday. Maybe fun for them but this makes my life more difficult. I stop working during the week and only work Saturdays so I'm broke. I also have to entertain two kids all day long. And the toughest part for me personally, and selfishly I guess, is that running becomes much more difficult.

For the next 6 weeks, other than a short stint in the South of France, I'll mostly be tied to two children 5-6 days a week from 6am to 8pm. I say "mostly" because I've got Jeet Kune Do and Muay Thai a couple nights a week and Sunday my wife is around. Do the math. Outside of that time I've got about 10 hours to sleep and run. 

I've become pretty good at maximizing the time I've got though on Saturdays. I can wake up at 4-430am and run 10 plus miles. Then I've got about a 15-20 minute commute from where I park my car to my job which if I run I can sneak in 3 miles (6 total to and from work). Then most days I'll get an hour lunch break where I can easily get in 5-7 miles. That's a pretty solid day of running! It takes some planning, mainly I need a ton of food at work to eat all day, and a fair amount of coffee, but it makes for a good day. It's far easier for me to motivate at work than when I'm tired at home. I just get grumpy and just want to sit on my ass. 

Been hitting 50 mile weeks which seems to be the threshold where I really need to be careful with injury. It also seems to be where the benefits to ultramarathon distance races begin. It becomes a balancing act of sleep and miles for me. I want more miles but without enough sleep I won't recover. I'd love to have guaranteed 8 plus hours of sleep a night and the time to run 60 plus miles per week but that's not feasible. For example last night I ended up sleeping with my son for whatever reason while he kicked me all night. This also thwarted my 430am wake up and run for today! Nothing is consistent, I can't plan for anything. 

Another tough thing to manage with limited time is running pace. If I've got a limited amount of time to run and a mileage number stuck in my head it's likely I'll run faster than I should be. More miles with more speed is a recipe for injury. Too much too soon is the number one way people get injured. It's not your fucking shoes! Sorry, I work at a running store and everyone wants to blame shoes when it's usually their training. Going easy, easier than normal, annoyingly easy is the key to adding more miles. However with limited time it becomes difficult. 

A good thing to look forward to is when school does start in September I'll have possibly two nearly full days to run. Great for two long runs a week. If I hold the reigns back now, stay healthy, and slowly build miles these two days should set me up nicely for Autumn 100 in October. (100 mile race outside of London). 

Planning and mainly patience is the key. 

Been ramping my mileage up which has been fun. Focusing on going easier most days then adding in intervals one or two days. It's hard to go abnormally easy but very beneficial. The tough part is that it takes longer and with a limited amount of time to train balancing everything is hard. I need to be careful though as I increase, injury lurks! Shin splints start to build, feet hurt, my piriformis gets sore. Just need to be mindful of these things and deal with them, foam roll, stretch. Also I need to not be afraid to take an easier week and reduce mileage. Rest is where you get stronger and recover from the stress. I'm fully convinced though to be "fast" at the ultra distance all you need is real easy high mileage. Good luck with 80-100 mile weeks with a family who doesn't run though! I can only hope for the time! 

Wyre Forest Half Marathon went down this past weekend. It went better than I thought it would. Increasing mileage and having a race in the same week aren't conducive to racing well. I ran 15 miles Friday for instance, that isn't resting to race well! 

Anyway, it was really hot, and has been here for quite some time. People are bitchin' and moaning about it, it's hilarious, you can't please the British! Really hot being low 80's, however due to the northerly latitude the sun is a bit more intense than you'd expect. It's hot but I'm loving it! Far better than the shit ass winters here! 

I bumped into a guy named Paul, a running acquaintance. He's fast and has won the race before, but is coming off of an injury so is taking it as it comes, he says there's some fast people here today. There always seems to be a few randoms that show up! I'm just planning on running my own race since I'm not very well rested. The course is bone dry and many people are in road shoes versus trail shoes. I've got my Altra Lone Peak trail shoes. 

We are off and I'm in the front 5-6 person lead pack. A couple miles into it two guys from out of town are off the front, they're the guys Paul mentioned. They are 6 foot plus, rail thin, obviously younger, and likely very fast. Oh well, I'm running my race. I settle in to 4th, close behind 3rd. Paul eases off and is behind me, that's the last I see of him. There's one guy hanging on behind but he's suffering, I can hear it. I'm not worried. 

The race drudges on through the hot sun, despite being in a dense forest the race is actually very exposed and hot. Every water station I dump water on my head to cool my body off which makes a surprising difference in how I feel. The guy in third finally submits and I pass him, he's walking a small hill. I use this opportunity and a high I'm riding to push the pace a bit. I can't see the fast guys anymore. 

I motor on while the guy behind holds about 30 seconds or so back. For the first time in a long time I'm very conscious of my breathing. My legs hurt but my breathing is easy yet steady. I think about it a bit, why do I want to slow down? It's because my legs hurt, not because I'm working too hard. I begin to really focus on this in order to keep going and hold off any possible guys catching up. The pain can be pushed through, it won't slow me down, but as soon as I cross into a higher heart rate my body will slow me. I'm guessing this sensation late in the race is due to the longer, slower running I've been doing. I can push it harder towards the end. Whatever the reason it's pretty cool. I'm confident I've got third in the bag, not only third though but also first veteran (age 40-45). 

The final 2 miles are rolling and I press the small uphills going out of my comfort zone.  I'm all alone and onto the final 200 meters, a nasty hill, all 200 meters, right into the finish. I stay at an even pace and roll across in third. 

My family is there which is fun. We hang out for a while and they leave before awards as the wife can't take the heat! Besides her dad and his girlfriend are in the area so they are off to visit. I mill about for the awards and get £20, a plaque, and a bottle of cider. 

Overall a decent effort. I was happy with it. Life has been challenging lately and being among my tribe helps tremendously.  At home I researched the top guys, guess their mile PR? 4:08 and 4:18! Yep. Fast dudes! Their finishing time wasn't anything crazy, I've finished faster, I think they eased off and strolled it in. Either way both were nice guys and congrats to them. Unfortunately my friend Paul rolled his ankle and hobbled in, felt bad for him as he's already coming back from an injury. He'll be back soon enough. 

So what's next? Possibly the Worcester City Half Marathon, which my job is a small sponsor for. It's in September, is a fast road course, and has decent prize money, £400 for first! Maybe I'm dreaming riding this high from yesterday, but it would be fun to focus on it and see what happens. You never know! 

On with increasing miles and balancing life and running! 

I'm rolling along. Running seems to be going well. I'm happy and enjoying it. My piriformis issue is still there but mild. In all reality I should get seen to fix it which I'll likely do soon. A couple recent canal photos below.

Looking to the future I see time opening up when the little guy goes to preschool full time in September. As always fingers are crossed the kids will slowly start to sleep in more giving me more time in the morning, my preferred time to run. I see what needs to be done but just am not allowed the time. Running comes second to my family. A perfect example is yesterday my wife asked "have you been running?" She had no idea I'd knocked out 30 miles already this week! Out of sight out of mind, just how I like it! 

Next race is likely to be the Wyre Forest Half Marathon which I think is in 10 days. It came up quicker than I expected. I ran the course the other day, I took the day off for our anniversary but the wife worked, so I went for a run. Temperatures have been in the low 80's and the course was bone dry. That can all change but usually it's a hot race. I don't mind either way as long as it's not like the mud fest the other winter half marathon I ran out there was! That was horrible! 

Hoping for 15 road miles today but I feel I'm being roped into going to friggin' church at school. A. I'm not a believer B. I avoid social scenes around school like the plague C. It's all school mums there All, f those are red flags! 

Western Glen Rosa Horseshoe

Had a little bit of a scare Friday morning. For whatever reason my old big toe JKD injury flared. The night before I could hardly walk on it. In the morning it was just as painful. I wasn't going to let it screw up my run though. I had planned a few hours running around the higher peaks on Arran. The one opportunity I get to be in the mountains. I packed up as usual and once moving around it fortunately was fine! Whew. That would've ruined my day!

                             

I ran down to the nearest bus stop in Kildonan, got on board, and headed to Brodick. I had minimal gear, the basics for an ultramarathon I normally am required to carry. Once off the bus at the ferry terminal I ran off towards Glen Rosa. The huge U shaped valley pretty much splits all the higher peaks or Corbetts. Corbetts are anything between 2500 and 3999 feet in height. Anything over 4000 feet is considered a Munro. On the way I made a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up more food and some extra water. I knew I didn't have enough and I'm not sure if the water here needs to be filtered, likely not, but I wasn't going to take that chance! Off I went through the rest of town and on to Glen Rosa.

road to Glen Rosa, Goat Fell in the mist

The "track," as they call it here, starts off a wide gravel road and continues to slowly get narrower. Nice running but the more difficult the terrain the lower quality the track.  They don't consistently do trail work like in the US so it's more like following a route versus a trail. Once I left the main track I was forced to hike due to the steepness of the terrain. They don't do switchbacks here, it usually goes straight up. 

Beginning of Glen Rosa

The views up Glen Rosa are spectacular. The end of the glacial valley surrounded by rugged peaks. Creeks drain down from all over to form Glen Rosa Water, the main creek that leaves the valley to sea.

Looking up Glen Rosa at Cir Mhor

I was doing the Western Glen Rosa Horseshoe. A ridge run that, as the name says, forms a horseshoe around the Glen including a run down the Glen itself. I'd previously ran the Eastern version and was nearly snowed out. The top of Goat Fell, the highest point on the island, was covered in rime ice, and the Glen was half full of snow. It was anything but safe but I made it happen. Ideally I would've liked to have connected both sides today but I didn't have the time or the water. 

Looking at the high peaks you'd think it would take forever but it went rather quick, especially going straight up. Initially breaking off from Glen Rosa Water (the main creek) I followed a drainage of cascading waterfalls straight up. A faint track came and went alongside the creek which was full of granite slabs making it look like a huge water slide. The water looked a murky golden color from the tainted rock slabs, likely stained by the runoff of all the peat bogs. Eventually I came to a ford. Seeing it marked on the map I was expecting a flat watercrossing with a few rocks to hop across. What I got was a 30 foot deep gorge with pretty much vertical rock walls with a steep narrow trail in and out. Pretty cool and very unexpected. The odd rolling terrain hides many features here and until I was at its edge I had no idea! 

hidden gorge, trail on the left

Once I gained the main ridge the terrain was basically low brush and grass surrounded by boulder fields, no more boggy patches. All shapes and sizes of granite were strewn about and the track was decomposed granite. It was very similar to the a Sierra Nevada, just much less maintained other than old man made slab staircases randomly constructed. Some sections required class 3+ scrambling and climbing which made for slow going. Not much of the "high country" was runnable. Going up it was a power hike and the flat sections were short and few. 

hard to believe behind me are a bunch of Corbetts, looking South West

decomposing granite track, this was a 17% grade

Holy Isle in the haze, the low valley is Glen Rosa

gaining the ridge, I eventually followed along all of that

As I worked my way around I considered what I was doing, and as much fun as it was, it wasn't the same alone. Running I'm perfectly happy alone. Out power hiking and picking my way through boulders I'd probably have had more fun with a friend. I likely missed a few ideal cliff top viewpoints and even avoided a couple more technical sections just to be safe since I was alone. It gets extremely exposed in a few spots, even recommending rock protection and roped climbing for the faint of heart. 

panorama

The sun was hot despite being obscured by clouds and remnants of fog, mist filled in the distant bays. From one direction it's sheer cliffs pouring into Glen Rosa, the other it's open rolling hills into valleys filled with lochs and creeks. Very surreal, inhospitable, and likely a nightmare to travel through. Despite looking like an easy walk, underfoot can be inconsistent hidden bogs and grass. Far off in distance you could see the ocean and Holy Isle beyond Brodick in the sea-haze. 

looking back at the ridge line

looking at A'chir, Cir Mhor behind it

I worked my way through the technical ridges, then ducked down a saddle back into Glen Rosa where a more runnable track was. It was nice to run gradually downhill alongside the beginnings of Glen Rosa Water. The valley is deceivingly long with Glen Rosa Water growing in size the further you get, varying from open and flat to a deeply carved out gorge.

much steeper than it  looks, the track went down through the rocks

looking back at the ridge line

down into Glen Rosa, the left ridge line leads to Goat Fell

Looking up at Goat Fell I regretted not continuing on however got over it once I realized I was out of water and I had still another 5 miles until Brodick just by taking the easy way out! The further down I got the wider the track became and more hikers were seen. 

down Glen Rosa

Soon I was back on pavement and working my way to the bus station at the ferry terminal. I was in a rush as I knew if I missed the bus I'd be stuck for a couple hours. I raced through Brodick in time, I had twenty minutes! So, I ran to the grocery store to get some food and water. Blueberries, watermelon, and a couscous curry concoction. It was so nice to have fresh fruit! I bumped into a couple of Minnesotans I had met the day prior. This was a whole story in it's own as they had known a close friend of mine, Britta, basically all her life! It was great to see them before they caught the ferry as day day before the even smaller world connection hadn't been made.

At the bus stop it arrived and I got on. I turned my phone on to let the wife know where I was at, turns out she'd come to town with the kids! I jumped to get off the bus before it left and headed to the other end of town to meet them. Overall a really fun run, but as I mentioned, I think I'd have preferred to do it with someone since it had all the more non-runnable sections. 

The photos turned out ok. The light wasn't that great and all the selfies I took looked gray, I think my lens was dirty. I didn't mention the corbett names because they're in Gaelic and also with kids going nuts I didn't have the patience to! Sorry! This goes for the large format photos too. 

A lot of the steepness and distance is hard to grasp. Below is the Strava data. If you look at it on my Strava page you can change the map settings and see the profiles and obviously a more in depth map. 

I'm back after a hiatus I guess.

                     

And I'm truckin' along. Been running more for a while which has been enjoyable, mostly because the weather has been warmer and the days longer. Super easy miles with no pressure to start. My piriformis seems alright but I'm continuing with the strength routine just in case. I've also added some other prehab exercises as preventative maintenance as well. Something we all should be doing but never do! I officially dropped out of any ultras this past spring and kind of started from scratch. The only ultra I have planned is Autumn 100 in October outside of London. It's nothing special but will get me in the Western States lottery again so the goal will be to finish.

overlooking Whiting Bay and Holy Isle                     

After a few weeks of easy miles I incorporated some informal speed work which has taken effect as I'm comfortably running faster now. I actually ran a 5:09 mile a couple weeks ago! My best being 4:50 from high school. Piriformis is ok so far with the different stresses. I'm slowly becoming less concerned about it but that worry will return as I increase my mileage.

Glenashdale Falls trail

I think my current focus is to get faster. A sub 5 minute mile would be super cool at the age of 41! I think with specific speed work I can do it. Other than that probably the Wyre Forest Half Marathon in July and I'd like to do a shorter ultra before fall but we shall see. I really enjoy the community around these races but unfortunately with family it's difficult to be a part of it other than racing.

Runnng has been very enjoyable lately. Likely due to the longer days, you just can't beat running very early in the morning before everyone is awake. It's so peaceful and meditative. 

                                    

   

We're currently in Scotland as I type this visiting my wife's family. I've gotten in a couple really good runs so far and am hoping for more before we leave on Saturday. The terrain is very hilly and the scenery very nice. I'm hoping for a day in the bigger mountains here too. I feel at home out away from it all. It makes me really happy. All the photos are from mainly running. I'd caption them like in the past but my iPad app won't allow me to. 

The selfie above I laugh at. I'm not a selfie person but always wanted to get a fun photo of myself running but hate stopping! Yep. I did it. Set up my phone with the timer and ran back and forth! I feel stupid for doing it. All so people can look at me running. Ha ha ha! 

       

    

A big bonus was my parents were touring Scotland and fortunately were able to stop by my mother in law's house for a super short visit.  I hadn't seen them since last summer, sure wish we lived in the US and closer to family. Even with cool places nearby where we live, travel is difficult with little kids, and family has seemed to take priority as I've gotten older. 

So anyway. I'm back. Hopefully blogging more. Running. I fucking love it. No one will take it from me.