What's that in miles?

Kilometres. Ask me what the main cultural challenge has been since I’ve been running in Australia and it’s kilometres. Endless calculations that start with ‘well a 5k is 3.1 miles and a 4 minute k gives you a 20 minute parkrun which is about 6:30 a mile, and I’ve run 8k in the last 40 minutes so that must be, er, 5, no, yes, about 5 miles which is about 8 minutes per k, that can’t be right. 8 minutes per mile. Ace. Wait.’ By this point I’ve run another k and have to start again.

But the cultural challenges of the metric system are nothing, nothing compared to the climactic challenges of running Down Under.

When it’s cold you can always put on another layer. If it’s raining you can just get wet, or put on another layer. But when it’s already 30 degrees at 8am and the sun wants to aggressively cook your insides for some reason and there’s not a lick of shade and you’re a pasty white Englishman who’s spent the last decade living in Scotland, you suddenly realise that there aren’t enough layers to take off before you’re calculating km splits in the back of a police van because running in the nude is apparently not allowed in city centre parklands.

Yes, I’ve moved to Australia and it’s bloody brilliant. Melbourne, where the Crew Chief and I have settled is a runner’s playground and once you’ve navigated the massive road system and waited a million years for your traffic light to change there are endless trails, footpaths, parks, beaches, rivers and roads to explore.

I’ve become a morning person out of necessity – it’s too hot to run at lunchtime and my long-held favourite after-work training slot is often the hottest part of the day – so I’m out at 6.30am two or three times a week and am practically a regular at my local parkrun (I've been five times), which starts at 8am. I’ve also revived something of my University schedule and been running after 9pm some nights to try to beat the heat, with massive bats overhead, possums scurrying into bushes underfoot and the city skyline lit up in the middle distance.

28 degrees at the start line, 30 at the finish line. An arduous 23 minutes in between.

The problem will be when I need to run longer distances, because there just aren’t that many cool hours in the day at the moment. And that time is coming.

Yup I’ve registered for another marathon. After graciously bowing out of Yorkshire this year on the grounds that I, well, left the hemisphere in which it was being held, I’ve been scouting around for another. Actually Ben did the scouting for me and now here we are – planning for the 2016 Great Ocean Road Marathon. Yikes.

Except inexplicably the Great Ocean Road Marathon is 45km, not 42.2km like you could quite reasonably imagine. Strung out on a piece of extraordinary southern coastline – next stop Antarctica – I guess the GOR organisers have limited options for logical start and finish points so 45km it is. There’s a timing mat at 42.2 so you do get a proper marathon time, but the rules are clear; if you cross the 42.2km line but not the 45km line, you get a DNF for the whole race and no times at all. Those last couple of kms are basically non-negotiable and you’ve technically got to finish an ultra to qualify as having finished the marathon. Brutal.

I’m telling you. Kilometres. Not to be trusted.

Happy running

Dave

Miles: apparently 765, Kilometres: 1,231, races: 3, parkruns: 11

Mojo

I've had a strange week in running shoes since I last posted. I'm struggling to get back into the rhythm of regular training after Alloa, for several reasons. The blisters have been problematic and are healing very slowly, and both ankles are a little weak too. My muscles are just tired. What I've learnt is that a massive race effort takes a huge amount out of you, and your training schedule afterwards should reflect that...

Anyway, I've been ever so slightly distracted this last week and a half, so I've not had much time or focus for big miles. I've had things to do, people to see, a fiancée to lavish love and affection on. I did manage to get a nice slow 10-miler in on Sunday morning, a hearty out-and-back along the canal, and also produced a 20:44 parkrun on Saturday. That was a highlight - a few months ago that time would have been a 5k PB, but now I can achieve that kind of time on a recovery week. Though I was beaten by a 14 year old. By four minutes. Sigh.

All this has put my running mojo in a constant state of flux. When not running, I'm inclined not to run. When running regularly, it seems unthinkable to skip a session. My mojo's got to be in shape before I can do anything.

So what has picked up my enthusiasm to lace up the running shoes and update the slightly neglected blog? Two things; this video:



I love absolutely everything about every second of that video. It's heroic and amazing and inspiring. I aspire to have just a fraction as much heart and guts as this woman.

The second mojo pick-me-up is the fact that this evening's run has tipped me over the 300 mile mark for the year so far (since January 3rd). Three hundred miles. That's the length of England. What's more, that means I'm on track for totalling over 1,200 miles in 2011 - 350 more than last year. People ask why I'm so obsessed with logging my mileage - the answer is, for moments like this.

Happy running

Dave

2011 to date - miles: 301.46, parkruns: 4, races: 2, miles biked: 12.85

Back on track

Exciting things have happened for my running this week. First, following the saga of ruining all of my toes, I decided it was high time I bought some new running shoes. As always, I insist on having new shoes properly fitted by someone who knows at least a thing or two about running. The bloke who sold me my shoes was actually studying podiatry at University, and as you'd expect, he was pretty clued-up on his feet facts. After trying half a dozen pairs on the treadmill I went for the new version of my outgoing shoes, replacing my Saucony Omni 8s with the creatively-named Omni 9s. 

The only difference I can see is that whilst the 8s inexplicably had glitter in the side panels, the 9s are slightly less, er, sparkly. I also learnt that my running shop of choice (Snowlines/Footworks Edinburgh) will take your old running shoes and send them off to sports projects in developing countries, as long as they're still good for a minimum of 100 miles. Since my 8s have done 550, I reckon they're still usable for another 100-150 miles, and I'll be happy to see them sent somewhere useful - much better than gathering dust at the back of a cupboard.

Omni 8s, below, and the shiny (but not sparkly) new Omni 9s, above

Second, I've had a great mileage week. I'm completely back on track in terms of my planned mileage, logging 33.4 in the past seven days, christening my new shoes pretty thoroughly. I recorded these in 6 outings (2, 3.1, 3.5, 5, 7.2 and 12.6 miles), rather than my targeted 5, which isn't ideal, but the total is all good.

Third, my weekend runs have been superb. Yesterday's parkrun was my fastest ever and first sub-20 minute 5k, recording 19:51.6 on my watch for an official time of 19:53. I crossed the line with a little bit too much self-congratulation, cheering myself in a rather over-the-top fist-pumping display. Particularly awkward as I went to parkrun on my own and didn't actually know anybody else there... But regardless of my various embarrassing behaviours the conclusion is the same; I've reached my goal and run 5k in under 20 minutes. Like all sufferers of wandering-goal syndrome, this means I now have a new goal of sub-19:30. Where will this end!? Olympic gold, probably.

My long run this morning was great too - 12.6 miles around Edinburgh taking in Arthur's Seat, which accounted for most of the 968 feet of climbing (and descent). I went out intending to take it very easy, probably around 9 minutes/mile, but ended up feeling fantastic and on a mission. By the time I got home I had averaged 8:02, including one mile at a rather brisk 7:31. This is great news for the Alloa Half Marathon, one month today, which I had previously thought would be quite a slow one. With this massive hill training at a good clip in the bag, I might get closer to my 1:37:03 PB than I thought...

Last, some other exciting things are happening (more detail to follow), which if they come through will make my race calendar much more exciting. Stay tuned.

Happy running.

Dave

2011 to date - miles: 169.86, parkruns: 3, races: 0 

How I ruined more or less all of my toes

Good news! On Thursday, on a whim, I called my GP's surgery to ask whether my X-ray results were available. I only had the scan on Monday, and everyone had insisted it would take 7-10 days before they would have any news for me, but I thought I'd give them a call on the off-chance and it paid off. The result - 'normal'. One word.

'Does this mean I don't have pleuirsy?' ... 'You have pleuritic symptoms.' Right.

Annoyed at the inefficacy of the health service, whose crowning achievement in treating me was an instruction to take a lot of painkillers and wait until I was better, I did what I always do when I need to let off some steam and do some thinking. I went for a run.

Yeah, yeah, I should have been resting and relaxing and waiting until I got better, but that just doesn't seem to work for me. I took four days off running and whilst the pain in my chest was fairly constant, I was getting grumpy, lethargic and cramp because I wasn't running. So I went for a run. There's still a little pain in my chest, but to be honest, otherwise I feel fantastic.

A short outing on Friday night after work, then a well overdue return to parkrun on Saturday morning. Then another run on Saturday afternoon. And a long run this morning (Sunday). OK, might have overdone it slightly.

There are two main indicators that I ran too much in too short a time this weekend - first, my calves are tight and tough, and second, I've ruined most of my toes. This is because, on a whim, I decided that yesterday's parkrun was going to be my first 'barefoot' race. Barefoot in inverted commas, because I ran in my Vibram FiveFinger shoes, which look like this:

My Vibram FiveFingers, which evoke an interesting range of responses, from fear and distrust to a weird state of near-arousal...

I went for the Vibrams over my normal road shoes because the Sauconys I usually run in are on their last legs - after 551 miles they're ready to be replaced, and there's so little cushioning left in them that I may as well be running barefoot anyway. So I thought I'd use the Vibrams, guarantee myself a new, barefoot PB, and I ended up having a fantastic race.

I ran much of the course on the soft grass verges rather than the tarmac, and apart from the pain of stepping on a few broken sea shells which had washed up on Cramond promenade, I had a great race. Conscious of the dodgy state of my respiratory system, I wasn't gunning for a particular or fast time, but when I glanced at my watch at the 2km mark I was amazed to see it showing just over 8 minutes. Feeling on top of the world, I pushed on and overtook a ton of people, much more aware of the optimum racing line as I was looking for the soft verges to run on. I finished in 20:34, just 5 seconds off my shoe-wearing PB, looking rather like this:

Photo credit (and with apologies to!) Ron Russell. I'm not on the grass because I'm just about to enter the finish 'chute'.

As you can see from the photo, the barefoot experience doesn't seem to be improving my running style - I'm still a heavy heel striker. When I got home and peeled off the Vibrams, I discovered the full horror caused by my indiscipline: two major blisters on the underside of both big toes. I lanced them, then patched my feet up as best I could, but really I was just wildly delighted with the endorphin hit that I've been missing this week.

Since my barefoot parkrun I've run 12 miles in my knackered Sauconys, and the blisters have got much worse, as well as having been joined by new ones on both little toes as well. The worst one, under the big toe of my left foot, has been drained four times already. Meanwhile, the pain in my calves is a bit of a disaster, and there's an interesting complaint coming from my hip. I can barely walk.

I am a runner again.

Dave

2011 to date - miles: 136.46, parkruns: 2, races: 0 

Parkrun

I am too cheap and ill-disciplined to join a proper athletics club. I'm not good at speedwork and track sessions and hill reps and I generally begrudge anything that replaces a nice long run in the countryside. This is why the Edinburgh Hash House Harriers suits me as a club, with no pressure to attend training sessions and very little pressure to do anything when you do show up (except to drink beer...).

However, the Hash is perhaps a little too far away from actual running for my liking. Sometimes I really do want to know how far I've run, and how fast, and have some friendly competition. And now I've got it, because I've discovered parkrun. Parkrun is a national organisation offering free, weekly races, on professionally measured courses where every competitor's time is digitally recorded. All you have to do to get involved is register online and print off your personalised barcode. Mine looks like this (though not actually, because I've scrambled it - can't have you lot turning up to races and skewing my stats...):

I showed up on Cramond promenade for my local parkrun just after 9am on Saturday morning, and was bowled over both by the wind and the sheer number of people warming up for the race. A quick briefing for the first timers and then we're off with very little drama. We battled against a monster headwind for 2.5k, heading east towards Granton, before turning around and coasting back on the same tailwind for the rest of the course. This isn't really a race - it's supposed to be an opportunity to measure your progress and chase your own PB.

This doesn't stop me racing. I have a 5k Christmas fun run coming up on December 5th (more detail to follow), which I'm taking excessively seriously and so I've been working on this distance rather more than usual. I settle into a brisk pace against the wind, astounded at the range of ages and abilities of the people around me. An 11 year-old stays consistently ahead of me - every time I catch up with him he brings on another enormous surge. At one point he stops to tie his shoelaces, then gets up and sprints to catch up to his pack. Unbelievable. Behind me a rather older chap with an impressive moustache seems to be chasing me. I just about stay ahead. After the turnaround I'm passing whole families, mothers jogging with buggies and older men and women. This is an extremely inclusive event.

Just crossing the finish line, man with impressive moustache behind.
Linds took this photo, when she was very cold...

I make it to the finish line, a few seconds behind the incredible 11 year-old, but a few seconds ahead of the impressive moustache. A marshall makes a note on a tablet PC as I cross the line and I'm handed another barcode. I present both my own barcode and this finish-time one to a marshall with a scanner and a laptop. An hour later very detailed results for the whole race are posted online, and my personal data emailed to me.

"Your time was 20:43. You finished in 29th place and were the 28th gent out of a field of 178 parkrunners and you came 2nd in your age category SM20-24.

You achieved an age-graded score of 62.27%. You have earned 73 points for this run, giving a total of 73 points in this year's Edinburgh points competition."

This is really impressive stuff. With 178 people finishing the 5k course, this is a really good-sized field for this kind of event - a proper community feel. I finished in 20:43 and 29th overall, and this suits me fine, as parkrun tracks how much you're improving online so it would be nonsense to try too hard on the first go...

If you need a bit of motivation or just want to run a perfectly-measured course, consider having a crack at your local parkrun - you've got literally nothing to lose.

Happy running!

Dave