"The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure but to avoid pain."
Aristotle

So what’s been happenin’?

Well training’s still ongoing and despite the odd body niggle here and there we’re not letting up with the monthly mileage.

40 – 50 seems to be what we’ve settled in to and generally sticking to my usual route with the occasional trail hunt in the UK.

We’ve ventured out on a couple of occasions taking in the lovely North Devon coast trails which seem to be nothing more than endless hills. Not a bad thing for me I guess because, as you know hills are the nemesis I need to overcome physically better and mentally stronger.
Physically, I know I have the tools to do the job but when I look up at the summits I just think “urgh!!” and that’s not a great mindset to adopt especially on steep inclines. I love the down part but jeez, the up are proper naff.

Running the Croyde to Woolacombe Bay trails recently with the dogs ended up being a bit more of a self-inflicted challenge rather than a usual training session.

Woolacombe on the North Devon coast holds what’s considered to be one of the toughest Park runs in the UK. In essence for those of you that aren’t familiar, Park Run are National UK events held all over the UK for all abilities on a Saturday morning at 09:00. They’re all 5k but they’re a great way to meet people and you can take it as seriously as you personally want but what draws in the competitors is the sharing of a common goal – to get to the end.

My normal pace is around 21-22 mins unaided by dog-power and without weight (although I’ve not done that for well over a year). Sadly for me, the rules for any Park Run are only one dog per person so it kinda kills it for us. That said, we did a bit of a sneaky one in Woolacombe.

We set off running from Croyde out along the coastal trail right along the steep sheer drop cliff tops towards Woolacombe. The hounds needed to stay tethered to me because the dangerous drops and farm stock that roam about freely could distract them and upset the sheep, cows, reindeer etc.

You’d think that having the hounds would be superb for the horrific ups but sods law, they never seem to pull when ascending and then go mental on the flat or downhills. In this particular morning they went crazy mental traversing the downward slopes more so than normal. Bloomin’ scares the crap outta me to be honest.

I’m not 100% knowledgeable with the terrain over “Baggy Point” and the trails are only a couple of feet from bonkers drop offs. Being pulled at speeds my brain can’t compute with 11kg of weigh on your back is petrifying to say the least.

The four miles over the cliffs, albeit with amazing scenery was exhausting, challenging and exciting all at the same time.

Traipsing along the Woolacombe beach we saw a large congregation of runners then penny dropped… Ah ha! The notorious Woolacombe Park Run!!

We headed off to see what all the fuss was about and tagged on the back in an unofficial capacity. I figured, hey let’s do it. What with not going for a chipped time, being run in a public area and free it’s sort of OK and at least we’ll have done it.

The route takes you from the start line along a fairly short trail decent before dropping onto the sandy beach. It’s then just over a mile of soft sand before a monster sandy incline off the beach and onto a sandyish trail through the dunes. There’s a sweeping bend before another long incline trail back towards the finish line.

I’m not gonna say it was easy because it absolutely wasn’t. in fact it was a killer!! Leg burn would be an understatement and legs were on fire by the time we got to the finish. Unofficially I clocked it at 28 mins for the 5k and although we’d already done 4 miles I seriously don’t think I could do it quicker. If you’re a Park Runner, it’s a great one to do and strike off the PR bucket list but not so sure I’d rush to do it again.

With a quick 5 min recovery we set off to retrace the 4 miles back to Croyde. Unfortunately, those pesky labs were none the worse for wear 7 miles in and it was another repeat crazy performance of slogging the inclines and adrenaline fuelled lightning sprints on the flats and downs before getting back to the van. Besides the buzz you get from completing any decent run, all I managed to get in addition to it was a sore throat from shouting for the hounds to slow the hell down.

Still, it was a great way to get them tired and give me to get some crackin’ time in the water of Croyde Bay surfin’ whilst they slept it off.

Training overall though is going OK. I’d taken a couple of weeks’ vacation recently and with nothing better to do we ran pretty much every day. The trails along the seafront were fairly chilled out but spent a lot of time letting the dogs have a bit of fun time too (they’d do anything as long as there’s a ball involved). Where they get their energy from never ceases to amaze me. I can be hangin’ outta my hoop when I get home and they look at me as if to say “so when we going then?”.  Still, can’t complain, they’re fantastic running partners and I’m sure that as the colder, darker and more lonely desolate training runs come in as the winter start they’ll be far more enjoyable than when I was doing them along last year.

I used to post the training routes here but tbh, who cares?!? You guys know my thoughts on BS’ing anything run related. After all, you’re only kidding yourself if ya do.  So, keeping with the accountability program and being responsible for my motivation I’m just gonna post the accountability sheet.

I’m a huge advocate of these. They motivate, drive and force me to commit to something especially where there’s a final goal in mind.

Mostly, the reason I do this because, as you can all imagine, at the end of a long day at work all we ever really want to do is chill and relax rather than look out at the stinking rain, sleet, snow, wind etc and do a run, am I right?

To combat that negativity, at the beginning of the day I colour in the day with a highlight pen on my paper copy and then in my head I’m committed coz let’s face it, you can’t rub it out once it’s there in green.

Sure it’s a little OCD but it works for me AND it’s a great feeling when you get back afterwards and plonk the distance in over the top of the coloured field. Try it, it really works!

So, those niggles I mentioned. I have to remind myself that I’ve been running with excessive weight now for well over a year. As you know, I swore when I started the whole weigh thing that no matter what the distance, I’d always carry the pack and once I reached a weight I’d not lighten it. The thought of getting used to it again far outweighs (no pun intended) the pain of getting used to it again.

As a result, I’ve had a wee bit of knee ache and excessive back ache during sessions.

Now I’m not sure if it the trainers are coming to end of life or if it my body telling me to ease the hell up but for the first time ever, I felt I needed a chiropractor. They’re just minor things but you never know how they can build up and before long find yourself unable to train.

Chiro appointment with the local based Pure Balance was amazing! Had a really thorough detailed and totally professional hour long examination and everything Nicola found made perfect sense.

The last half hour was spent putting right the wrongs.

I’ve used Chiropractors before and was expecting the usual, deep breath exhale and snap techniques to put things right BUT long term I’ve always found that the repairs were short lived and within a day or two I’d be back to square one again.
Not the case with Pure Balance. Their focus centres around long term pain relief and damage repair without the Snap & Crack approach. I can’t begin to list the zillion things that Nicola wrong but they’ve been there so long I’ve just learned to live with them as being “normal” and after 30 mins of gentle, no cracking subtle tweaks I came out feeling like I had a new body. Sure I have some simple easy exercises to do to maintain the repairs but hey, I can these during the day and whilst out running since they only last a minute or so.

My run that evening was weird. Having zero backache right from the start was strange to say the least and the 12 miles actually felt pretty relaxing.

Another niggle I mentioned to Nicola was my toes. Since returning to the trails after the Jungle I’ve been experiencing a noticeable pressure on the ends of my toes. I wear a half size bigger training shoe and all was good right up until I lost my big toenails after the Amazon. Now I’m no expert here but surely your feet can’t grow another half size overnight can they? I almost feel that I should be a whole size bigger but I’ve never heard of anyone going a full size upwards and I don’t want to buy a decent pair of Salomon’s only to find I get blisters etc. I Mentioned this and apparently a collapsed foot bridge will make your feet slightly longer (makes sense but I didn’t know that kinda stuff existed). Exercises to correct and rebuild the bridge seem pretty straight forward so no grief there.

Speaking of shoes. I finally invested in a different quality trail shoe (still a half size up). Historically I’ve always worn the ASIC Gel Sonoma 3 because they never need to be “worn in” and coped well in the winter months on reasonably muddy trails here in the UK. I’d love to say they were superb in the Jungle but I don’t think anything could prepare for terrain that horrific. Sure they held together but the grip wasn’t man enough and returning next year I want / need a very deep tread and although these have a reasonable grip, I need something mimicking a tractor tyre.

I’ve started diversifying and currently using the Salomon Speedcross 4. I’m pleased to say that they’re proving to be a good choice despite the expensive price tag.

So far I’ve run with them wet through and they vent water quickly, haven’t caused blisters, really comfortable and have a slightly wider toe. What I particularly like, and I’m not so sure everyone would agree, but I really like the Salomon Quicklace system. In essence, no more traditional laces but a locking system that pulls a high strength paracord style string tight and then auto locks in place. To release, simply squeeze the release clasp and the cord loosens. It’ll be interesting to see how they fair in the really wet months that are just around the corner.

So that’s where we are today overall with Amazon 2020 training?

Still plugging away, still banging in the miles and still carrying 11kg.What I love seeing during my sessions is people out running and I’m always in awe no matter what their ability. It’s a shame that most of them vanish during those cold, wet & desolate winter months coz it’s a great motivator when others are out and about doing the do. 

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