Training Week 9

To make up for the disappointment that I know you all suffered when last weeks post was a day late I have resolved to make it up to you all by posting a day early this week. Enjoy...

So another week under the belt. The new weights programme is a killer but despite the added aches and pains there have still been a few PBs so feeling strong and almost ready to go, which is handy seeing as there's only five weeks left before the first marathon!

Thankfully this weekend I'm home visiting the family and the change of scenery is helping to break up the monotony of the long weekend runs. It's amazing how different running is up here. Here's a couple of things I noticed on my 14 miler this morning.

1. Fresh air! Lung nectar!
2. Everyone, and I mean everyone says good morning! Living in London it's hard not to be suspicious!
3. There's open space up here! In fact some of the roads are so open that it made me realize how bad my eyesight is! I managed to mistake a bin for a cyclist leaning against a lamp post and a kid on a scooter for an old man with a very bad limp :-)

Unfortunately I also need to make a revision to the list of "modes of transport that shouldn't be called modes of transport because they're slower than me running"that I made while running a few weeks back. It turns out that fat kids on scooters are in fact faster than me. Marginally, but yes, faster none the less! I gave him a good race, definitely had him looking over his shoulder a couple of times but alas gravity lent a helping hand and he got away from me on the down hill.

Before I move on to complete part deux of my marathon fact file I'd like to take a moment to warn all of you who spend time in and around the Canary Wharf area. Last Saturday I met Euan in Canary Wharf to head down to The Gun to watch the Scotland/Ireland rugby match. On the way we came across a dead pigeon. As you know I've had more than a few "run ins" with pigeons over the last few weeks while training so it seemed strange to see yet another dead pigeon. However, this is where things get a little spooky! On the way back from the pub (and I will admit this was after a few Guinesses (or is it Guini?)) the pigeon had moved! Putting two and two together (and possibly getting three hunder and seventy nine) I can only assume that there's some kind of zombie pigeon epidemic slowly working it's way through the capital! Stay alert out there people!

Anyway...on to more important matters...

27th May - Edinburgh Marathon
A marathon that I'm very much looking forward too, mainly because it's a great excuse to visit Seb & Ellie. I ran Edinburgh last year and it seems like a great PB course, with the exception of the Scottish weather. As usual, every season in one day but winter decided to wait for the last eight miles so that it could make life just a little more difficult to finish the last of three marathons in three weeks. Even the winner had to stop for a rest! Let's hope for better weather this time around!

Fun fact about Edinburgh, it has the same nickname as my Dad, Auld Reekie!

3rd June - Pilatrail des Trois Dents (France)
Thankfully I obtained a more respectable D at GCSE French so this one should be pas de problème. Bonnet de douche? Oui! Au contraire? Mange tout, mange tout! Apres moi la deluge, plume de ma tante et allemagne dix points! Mon dieu! Del Boy has taught me well!

10th June - South Downs Marathon
No idea where this is but I've heard there are lots of chalk hills! Oh dear! I do however know that there is exactly 5728ft of climbing involved! Oh dear oh dear! To put that in perspective for you, that's 954.66666667 fathoms, 5,558.4030564 fods, 17,184 hands (non-equine), 0.36161855841 UK leagues, 3,335 Royal Egyptian cubit or 74824.045715 Vietnamese Dong! Glad we set that one straight!

17th June - Maraisthon Marathon (France)
Oui! De nouveau à la France :-S

Some fun facts about France...

1. There is a Victor Hugo street in every town in France. Fair enough I guess!
2. It's illegal to name a pig Napoleon in France. Just common sense really!
3. On French radio between 8am to 8pm, music must be by French artists. If it wasn't a law I'm sure they'd do it anyway, best music in the world!
4. In 1386, a pig was hung in France for the murder of a child. Naughty piggy wiggy!
5. The ministry of health once tried to promote milk as the national drink of France. Hmmm, not sure why that didn't work! The French do love their lait!

24th June - Big Five Marathon (South Africa)
Without a doubt the icing on the cake. Not only the last of the ten marathons but by far the most enjoyable and probably the biggest challenge. I've heard that this one is harder than Comrads - the notorious 88 km race in South Africa. A marathon that's tougher than a double marathon, hmmmm, should be interesting, especially with nine marathons in the legs already! However, according to the official website "In return for The Big Five Marathon’s toughness, you get truly magnificent scenery and the chance to run with zebras, giraffes and antelopes and through the territory of a pack of lions". Can't wait!

Training Week 8

I know! I know! This weeks blog is a day late, but fear not, here is your weekly dose of marathon excitement ;-)


So, week 8 is under the belt and all in all a pretty good weeks training with five runs from 6 to 20 miles and five gym sessions. Starting to feel strong, if slightly beaten up.


I've been mulling over the idea of purchasing a GPS running watch for a while now but realized this week that I have my own inbuilt GPS. I have developed the uncanny ability to tell exactly how far I've run based upon which particularly body part is hurting. I call it APS (Aches Positioning System).


0-1 mile: Arch of right foot hurts.
1-2 miles: Left foot goes numb.
2-5 miles: Left knee creaks.
5-10 miles: Right hip attempts to escape from socket.
10-15 miles: Shooting pains in arms that feels like I'm being tasered (Note: I've never actually been tasered but I can only assume from what I've seen on TV - screaming, rolling around on the floor, etc - that it's a similar level of pain ;-)
15 miles+: All of the above :-)


However, perhaps the most important event of Week 8 wasn't the training but the fact that I've finally booked the last marathon. I thought that this might be a good opportunity to share a few fun facts about each of the races. However, to avoid over excitement (and because it's well past bed time on a school night) I've decided to split it over two weeks, so here's Part 1 for your reading pleasure...

22nd April - London Marathon: 1,250 portable toilets! 100lbs of petroleum jelly! 200 bottles of baby oil! With stats like that it's not hard to understand why London is one of the biggest and best marathons in the world! For those who want to come and watch on the day there are 81 pubs on the route so plenty of places to park yourself ready to hand out those all important pints of beer...I mean fuel!

29th April - Shakespeare Marathon (Stratford-upon-Avon) - Named after some dead writer bloke who I think was competing against some monkeys locked in a room with typewriters, or something like that...Much ado about nothing if you ask me!

6th May - Three Forts Marathon (West Sussex) - known as "The Tough One", over 27 miles (an extra 0.8 miles of pain) with 3,450ft of climbing! 

13th May - Halstead Marathon (Essex) - I couldn't find any fun facts about Halstead, but Essex is easy pickings! Essex has the largest village and the smallest town in Britain! People in Essex are 38% more likely to be hit by falling aeroplane parts than anywhere else in Britain! In 1983 17 items were stolen from NASAs space shuttle while it was at Standsted airport, with a further 53 items from the jumbo jet carrying it...and finally UK bra companies sell 25% more D to G cup bras to Essex than anywhere else in the UK. Fascinating stuff I'm sure you'll agree ;-)

20th May - Brathay Windermere Marathon (Lake District) - The largest lake in England and one of the most challenging courses in Europe. It would seem that The Lakes are trying to do everything bigger and better these days with a 10 marathons in 10 days challenge on offer. Now they're just trying to show me up!

Part deux to follow next week...


Grand total now stands at an amazing £2,772.50! Thank you again for your continued support!


http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=FrazerCampbell_10_in_10&faId=163391&isTeam=false

Training Week 7

Well that's the half way point of training already and a pretty rubbish week all round. Things started well enough with another 10k PB on Monday. Unfortunately I had to pretty much moved into the office for the rest of the week to get everything done ahead of some big end of week deadlines. To make matters worse that was followed by a dodgy Burrito on the way home and a case of what I can only assume was el foodo poisono (food poisoning for those of you who don't speak fluent Spanish).

I managed to make to back into the gym on Saturday evening and was weak as a kitten, which did not bode well for the planned 20 miler today! Anyway, you don't get anywhere in life by making excuses so we went ahead as planned.

Start: Walked up to the start line for the London marathon, the plan being to run the exact marathon route. Mild and light drizzle, perfect Scottish running weather!

Mile 1: Feeling good.

Mile 2: Feeling OK. Running into the wind which is starting to pick up but only another mile and a bit and it'll be behind me. Run past a crowd of people outside a youth centre. Turns out they're looking at the remains of a pigeon who decided to take it's life by putting it's head into an extractor fan. I guess there wasn't much good on TV at the time! I know it's a long shot but I hope it's the pigeon that hit me a few weeks ago! Probably from the guilt of what it had done I would imagine! From behind it looked like him. Gray with white bits, wings, tail!. Spitting image really!

Mile 3: Want to stop! Bit of help comes with the first turn and some downhill running. Spot the first runner as stupid as me to be out in this weather. Turns out it's just a guy running home from the offie with a six pack of beer. Now that's a man with a plan!

Mile 4: Left thigh strain. Wind decides to change direction and get colder so another 8 miles or so of running into it.

Mile 5: Not a happy chappy! Hair and eyebrows have reached saturation point so water is not just running straight down my face. Damn you receding hairline!!!

Mile 6: Nearly run over by a cyclist. Good job I have cat like reflexes (note continuation of feline theme). 

Mile 7: Run right past my flat. Very tempted to call it a day as the rain is getting heavier and the rain stronger. Manage to resist and push on.

Mile 8: Overtake an old lady cycling while trying to pour herself a hot drink from her thermos. Decide that you shouldn't be allowed to call something a "mode of transport" if I can overtake it feeling like this. Also decide to take my mind of the running by coming up with other "modes of transport" that could be at risk.
1) Stakeboards
2) Scooters
3) Mobility scooters and motorized wheelchairs
4) Those silly shoes that kids used to wear a few years back with the wheels in the bottom (and no I'm not just including then because I'm a little bitter that I didn't get a pair - OK well maybe just a little bit!)
5) Dogs. Pass plenty of them. Not sure anyone's ever tried to classify them as a mode of transport but still...ad them to the list!
6) Anything that uses a road in central London
7) Rickshaws (may be covered by 6 but I'm struggling)
8) Ford KAs

Mile 9: Can't believe it took me a mile to come up with a list that poor! Are those hail stones?

Mile 10: Yes! Yes they are! Hail! Seriously? Halfway round what I like to call Hell's loop. It's a two mile stretch round Surrey Quays which does a very, very slow 180 degree turn. After running it for a while everything starts to look the same and you have no clue how far round you are. My bet is that Hell is like Surrey Quays! Not the place, well maybe a little, but more just like one big long run that goes on forever and you have no idea how far you've gone or how far you've got left to go.

Mile 11: Decided to add the Underground to the Mile 8 list as I pass Bermondsey station. How it takes that long to get from Canada Water to Bermondsey on the Jubilee line I will never know! Yet another British engineering marvel! They've even made it feel like it's going fast!

Mile 12: Turning to cross Tower Bridge, time to run the tourist gauntlet! Wind turns again, must like my face!

Mile 13: A combination of a few pounds dropped over the last couple of weeks and the sheer weight of water in my trackie b's is starting to pose regular decency issues! Start to worry that there's enough water in my clothes for me to drown in them!

Mile 14: Wrong turn #1 - down into Wapping. On the bright side found a pub that I like but couldn't remember where it was!

Mile 15: Down onto the river at last, always makes for a nicer run...but wait...if I'm running towards Canary Wharf ...then I'm heading East...which means that the river should be...on...my RIGHT HAND SIDE! Wrong turn #2! The half mile river run in the opposite direction wasn't quite as much fun!

Mile 16: Yesterday's gym session taking it's toll. Struggling to hold my arms in running position, keep falling down to my sides which, even I have to admit, makes for a very comical running style! Too tired to care! 

Mile 17 - 20: Cold! Wet! Miserable! Tired! Hungry! Cold, again! Got a brain freeze from the wind and rain! Oh and did I mention wet? I did? Well did I tell you that I was actually wrinkled like I'd been in the bath too long!

Finish: Try to purchase a chocolate bar and Lucozade from the newsagents before getting the DRL back to Greenwich. Hands are so numb that I can't get into my pocket. I wish I was someone else watching me try to operate the card machine! Three attempts to mash the right buttons on the key pad!

Yet another MASSIVE thank you to everyone for your continuing support and kind donations. The grand total now stands at £2,585.00 which puts us over half way to the £5,000.00 target that I set under a month ago. People's generosity really has been overwhelming!

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserPage.action?userUrl=FrazerCampbell_10_in_10&faId=163391&isTeam=false


"Pain is temporary. It may last for a minute, or an hour, or a day, or even a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take it's place. If I quit however, it will last forever!" - Eric Thomas


"Success is getting up one more time than you've been knocked down!" - Anon