A Weekend of Endurance and More Adventures in Chessington
| I had already booked to visit London this weekend to attend the Running and Endurance Show, which was conveniently located at Sandown Park (OK, that’s Surrey, I know) and just a couple of bus rides from my Mum, closer still to my Dad in Walton. Unfortunately, some less than good family news resulted in my having to rebook coaches and jump down south a day earlier than originally planned, however always on the bright side, I managed to at least turn this in to an opportunity to visit my fabulous octogenarian (you’d never guess) uncle in Leigh-on-Sea. |  The return to Leigh-on-Sea |
As such, I kicked Friday off by revisiting a run route I’d discovered in the summer to plod out an ‘easy’ 6 miler through Belfair’s Wood, to Hadleigh and then back along the cliff top. It struck me just how different a landscape can look in different seasons, something you don’t always notice so much as the months glide past gradually on a ‘home’ path, or appreciate fully when your ‘holiday’ routes tend to happen at the same times of year. In this instance I decided it would be wisest to avoid a visit to the ruins of Hadleigh Castle as recent heavy rain made it likely that the clay earth in that area would be soaked, sticky and claggy. I didn’t fancy slipping and sliding down the hill on the other side back towards the Thames Estuary! It wouldn’t be much of an ‘easy’ run in that case! It certainly wasn’t a fast one, but it didn’t need to be as I had managed to re-jig the plan for the first seven days of the new twenty three week schedule to squeeze my first tempo run in before leaving Manchester. What with Circumstances Unexpected and it being ‘only’ week one, it would have been easy to sack a few sessions off but I was determined to start off on the right foot (‘scuse the pun!). This was also the first early morning run I’d ever undertaken without so much as even a cup of coffee (I’m normally totally averse to leaving the house without breakfast) but I was very pleasantly surprised that I didn’t feel particularly low energy as a result; an interesting experiment.
The Running and Endurance show took place on Saturday and Sunday, though I had decided that one day would be more than enough to look round all the stands and see the seminars I was interested in. I was particularly looking forward to a talk by Ira Rainey about the story behind his book Fat Man to Green Man, a tale of discovering fitness later in life from a firm foundation as a dedicated beer drinker! I’ve been interacting with Ira through the UKRunChat Twitter discussions for a while now and so I was keen to put a face to a name! As it turned out, I could have happily whiled away another full day at the show, especially if it had been practical to join in with the Sunday races, however I did manage to get a lot out of even the one day. I started with a visit to the wonderfully generous Clif Bar stand. I’ve recently tried (and enjoyed!) their energy gels having won a Manchester Marathon associated completion online but I’d not trialled their other products. Upon discovering that their energy bars and sweets are all vegan, I shamelessly descended on the spread of samples like a one-woman locust plague. Hmm. Do I prefer the Peanut Butter or the Chocolate Chip bar? I’ll just have to try one more of each to be sure! But wait! What about the Blueberry Crisp!? If I’m honest, I must have consumed the equivalent of at least three bars before lunch but it’s not often a vegan can take full advantage of such samples so I consider it a simple case of karmic rebalancing! Aside from the tasters, they were offering free one to one nutrition advice sessions with a member of their team, Joel Enoch. He spent a good fifteen minutes with me discussing my current diet and suggesting some things to consider with regards to improving my protein absorption. It turns out the amount your body can actually process per 100g of the stuff varies per hour and from one source to the next. Simply stuffing X amount of it in your gob per day may not be quite enough. I’m hoping I can make some tweaks to my gobbling habits and who knows, I may even gain some weight finally!
 Never photographed the back of your own leg!? | The other major discovery I made was thanks to the KT Taping team who kindly used me as one of several eager guinea pigs during their taping demo seminar. I’d encountered the theory of taping before but never tried it, mostly as I’d (thankfully) not found the need but also as I wouldn’t have known what to do with it! Although the initial volunteer request specified those with sports injuries, I dived in anyway as my calves were genuinely tight thanks to the accumulative effect of a few too many hours stuffed on coaches and trains along with the slow, muddy 6 mile trail on Friday so it was at least semi-genuine! I have found the supportive tape feels much like wearing compression socks and it’s very comfortable. One thing I didn’t know was that it can stay on for days and it’s still going strong, 26 run and 45 cycled miles later along with 3 dips in the pool! Now that’s sticking power! It’s still really comfy too so I shall have to invest in some tape I think, especially as the miles pick up! |
Whilst these were the highlights, other things I enjoyed at the show included Mark Kleanthous’ talk on running ultra distance. I’ve certainly picked up some hints and tips that I’ll use during my first marathon plus distance at the Trailblaster 12 in 2015. Incidentally, this will be another race by Cannonball Events, who also had a stand; it was a pleasant if unexpected surprise to bump into John (also a Salford Harrier!) almost as soon as I walked through the door! Picking up some new Brooks, I’m trying the Defyance (sp.) this time, at about half price was also a bit of a bonus!
 A Chessington Adventure with Ira!  The wettest section; not as dry as it looks on the satellite! I had a rough idea of a vaguely 5k route (Ira’s minimum to ‘qualify’ for his current runstreak) but I hadn’t taken the darkness into account and recalled as we set off that my plan involved running up a road with no pavement. Hmm; maybe not the best idea. As we got to the turning at Malden Rushett however, we discovered the road was closed to traffic, so despite the lack of streetlights and head torches we braved it and plunged into the darkness of the country lane ahead of us, chatting about everything and nothing all at the same time. I was, of course keeping my eyes peeled and it wasn’t long before it was time to cut right along the back of Chessington World of Adventures and up towards Winey Hill. I’d hoped to take Ira through Sixty Acre Wood but decided that using the drive up to the back of the theme park might be a more sensible compromise as it would be less hazardous underfoot in the dark. This all went to plan and we found (the remains of!) the stile I was looking for to get us out round the back of the hill. We also found that the path had become so flooded that it was almost a running stream. Well whatchagonnado? | A couple of days before the show, Ira had asked the UKRunChat community if anyone knew any running routes round Chessington, where he was staying overnight for the show. As I was staying with my mum in Chessington, we’d briefly discussed the possibility of meeting for a run before deciding that with Ira’s commitment to the show and my early Sunday morning travel plans it would be impractical. “Maybe Next Time”. Now I know as well as the next runner that ‘Maybe Next Time’ means ‘Probably Never Going To Happen’ and felt so inspired by the show that I was keen to get up and make the most of being in the area to enjoy a rare, if not totally new route, even if it was likely to be dark and soggy. After leaving the show on Saturday evening, I worked out that I’d have time for about an hours’ worth of running if I started early enough and had all my stuff packed the night before so I could dash through the door, into the bath and bounce back out on to the rail replacement bus at twenty to eight. As long as he was back in time for the hotel cooked breakfast (gotta sort those priorities!) Ira was up for it and so I headed out into the rainy darkness at quarter past six on Sunday morning to take a slow 1 mile warm up down the Leatherhead Road and meet Ira outside the Monkey Puzzle. (There did actually used to be a monkey puzzle tree there but I think it’s long gone)  Obligatory showing off run-selfie with Ira! |
Clearly, neither of us were expecting a nice sterile road run so in we jumped and ‘ran’ (read waded!) a slow, muddy few hundred meters in the shin-high mud. Well, it came up to my shins, Ira’s a bit taller and seemed to find a drier patch sooner so perhaps he got off more lightly. With that little adventure behind us, we hopped up to the crest of Winey Hill and took in the view out across London in the distance to the North before carefully slip-slide-running down the other side and popping out back on the Leatherhead road a bit further down. This was the point at which I had placed a disclaimer that I might head back depending on time but it turned out that despite our slow progress though the swap we had the minutes spare for another couple of miles so I suggested carrying on away from the hotel. We took a route round past Chessington North rail station and then cut across Church Fields Recreation Ground (behind my old primary school!) and out onto Garrison Lane (passing Chessington South station) before I directed Ira back onto the Leatherhead road again as I turned round and headed back to quickly scrub the mud out of my toenails! (And yes, I do currently have all my own!)
 | I didn’t have a cooked breakfast to run home for, having instead prepared a packed version to enjoy on the bus, but the run, however slow and muddy, gave me a real lift to the start of the day. It was with a spring in my step that I battled my way across town in a far better mood than I’m sure I would have if I’d not found a way to squeeze it in. It really never fails to amaze me just how good you feel for the rest of the day when it starts with a run! I even discovered that you’re never too old to draw in the condensation on bus windows, especially whilst munching on bran flakes, much to the confusion of the other passengers navigating the disruptions of the London Transport system! I later discovered that in my late night/early morning run preparations I’d overlooked putting the insoles back in my trail shoes having left them to dry out after Belfair’s Wood. Strangely, I’d not noticed at all during the run but I think that might have had something to do (in combination with the aquatic expectations placed upon them) with the lovely pink blister I became aware of on my left foot whilst jogging between rail replacement buses! At least the shoes dried quicker for it! |
Aside from the mood boost, the other benefit of having clocked a few miles in the morning with Ira was that I didn’t have to subject myself to the scheduled 11 miler when I got home that evening. With 7 miles in the bank already, I felt it was acceptable to do a gentle 6 mile ‘top up’. Not quite the same as 11 miles in one go but from what some speakers were saying during their seminars, running twice a day can have other benefits in terms of endurance training anyway. After two buses, two tubes and 5 hours immobile on a coach, 6 miles certainly seemed a lot more palatable (especially with new shoes to test!) than 11 and I managed them with no troubles (even from the blister!), so ending my first week of training roughly on plan, give or take a tweak. What with quite a lot of unexpected stuff to deal with, I’m pretty pleased with that. Maybe it serves more purpose as a mental boost than a physical conditioning achievement but they can be equally, if not more important! Fingers crossed I can manage the same for week 2, which promises to be just as hectic. Watch this space!
Week One; the Theory and the Practice!
