“I've taken my bumps and bruises, but you've got to be willing to get knocked down and pick yourself up. You can't get discouraged. You can't lose sight of what your goals are.”

Jermain O’Neil

My Great South Run didn’t actually happen. Although I was entered despite not being a huge fan of races for the masses, I’d decided that I’d take part primarily to support a close friend and help get him over the finish line. In essence for me it’d have been another training session. As it turned out, my mate decided he really wasn’t in the right place to take it on so decided that, rather than battle the crowds, travel to the event etc I’d just carry on with my usual training plan and save the grief.

We’ve had a couple of varied routes in the last few weeks. The first one took us out of a town in the dark so decided that we’d head off to the Wickham village.
Despite thinking the distance was further, we’d only covered three miles so stomped on through  and headed off towards the next village (Waltham Chase).

Unfortunately the route was all roadside tracks and very little trails but hey, when it’s pitch black there’s not a whole lot to look at anyway. On a positive, compared to my usual routes this one had plenty of hills so all good for the training variance. On a negative, I still need to learn to ease up when ascending hills. The problem I have is that my legs seem to tic tock no matter what and that’s not how to run the ups (not that i'm anywhere near expert level when it comes to hills).

A couple of times I found the tank a little empty at the peaks which in turn brought on inevitable heaving. Not cool or glamorous in any way but at least nobody could see me hurling in the dark. What it does mean is that I'm still pretty clueless when it comes to climbs and the lesson Learned has to be to ease the pace, conserve energy (and stomach contents)and cover the gorund more efficiently.

Aside the training I’ve been a little plagued with what seemed to be a bit of a head cold. We all know the feeling. Wee bit tired, sore throat and general lethargy. The only piece of advice that resounds and given by a Sports Science Dr goes like this. If you’re unwell from the neck down you need to have a break, from the neck up it’s OK to get out there and do your thing. So, a head cold being the neck up primarily made it a “good to go” and although sessions have always been 10+ milers in distance at the stupid pace they’ve not been plain sailing especially when feeling urgh.

All said and done, I couldn’t shake off what progressively became more of a chest cold and spluttering along wheezing like an old train was not beneficial for any training so eventually conceded to taking a whole week off for the first time in nearly 2 years.

I’d like to say I really missed being out there but the reality was that I think I needed the rest because I genuinely didn’t regret it.

The first session back from naffsville was a bit slower than our usual but managed a comfortable 11 miles at almost a min longer per so obviously the head cold had played it’s part in general ability. It’s not all bad though. I need to be slowing down anyway and it was a great awareness into what going back to a realistic pace feels like albeit still way too fast for what’s coming my way inevitably.

The darker and colder days here in the UK are still taking some getting used to. Wrapping up and stepping out in the rain, wind and lower temperatures can be a challenge in itself but that’s the nature of the beast. Getting home caked in mud isn’t so bad but having to make sure the pups are washed off can add another 30 mins to a run where I’d much rather be hitting the shower, eating and chilling out.

All said and done, the night running hasn’t gone without incident. Our longer sessions have had me on my butt more than once. Dark, muddy & by nature, slippery trails at an insane pace are always going to end up in one place – the floor!
The main problem I have is that although I cover distance fairly quickly these days, I don’t lift my feet as much as I should. Running gurus will tell you that heel to bum is the right way to run but I’ve never done it and I’m not even so sure it’s the right way for extreme distance running and therefore tend not to.
As a result, my feet don’t lift as clear of the floor as they possibly should and on said trails with hidden tree root, deep puddles, rocks,logs etc I’ve had a few inevitable trips. Fortunately I’ve always landed properly (if there’s such a thing) and although being caked in mud  and other things, the most humiliating part is when the hounds look down at me as if to say, errrr, and what was that all about???

I’m hoping that as we start our slower pace training that’s looming towards the end of the year these incidents will become more rare as they were last year but i guess we'll just have to wait and see.

During recovery week from the chest cold we’ve had a couple of longer runs at a minute slower per mile pace. It wasn’t intentional but felt right but even so, I still need to be adding another two minutes on top of that pace too and right now it’ll seem like walking pace. The frustrating part of a 10 min mile pace is that longer distances seem to take for ever and for the most part I just want to get out there and get the job done. If I had a pound for every time I’ve said to the dogs “let’s just get this done!” I’d be one very wealthy bloke (and yep, I do talk a LOT to the dogs on a solo run).

From a kit perspective all’s still good. No pack issues, Salomon’s are still amazing and although we’re now donning winter wear from last year we’re doing OK. Heading out in horrible weather ill-prepared is a recipe for failure. Sometimes I think I go out a bit over-dressed but at least I have the option to de-layer and store in my pack but generally I think I have it right most of the time.

That said, there’s evidence that over heating / running too hot can contribute to heat acclimatising and I can assure you, in the Jungle, the heat is always there so none of what I’m doing is detrimental at the end of the day.

Summary for the last month doesn’t paint a pretty picture.
Not being 100% for a week and then having a recovery week has seriously impacted my stats & goals which in turn have played a part of my mental strength and focus too.

October only had us cover 107 miles and that’s the lowest it’s been for over a year. On a positive, for me, it makes me more determined to make sure I get back to the usual 250 as soon as possible but that's just the kinda person I am.

To help meet goals, I set myself a Strava goal of 2,000 miles in a year and although my personal records to date sit at 1,948, my Strava (which missed some of my imported data) is still only at 1,752 for the year and at the end of the day, that’s the one that counts so best get crackin'!.

So, 250 miles to do in 2 months. Realistically it should be achievable if all goes well and we should do it but with the festive period just around the corner who knows how it’ll play out.

Once again, I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who’s supported me with messages, waving, chatting en route and generally just being there to encourage me. It absolutely makes all the difference to my drive and mindset. I can’t begin to imagine how much harder these journeys would be if I were alone and unsupported.

If you have friends and family doing crazy stuff, give them a pat on the back occasionally. I promise you, it means more to them than they’ll probably say.

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