Summer Rain

Saturday 11th July, 2009

One of the frustrating things about Brussels is the erratic weather. The climate changes at a pace more rapid than any other city I have lived in or visited.

You can be sitting in a pavement cafe, sipping coffee in the sunshine and within a matter of minutes black clouds will have gathered, prompting a ferocious torrent of rain.

The Belgian sky. In JULY:















This morning: I dressed for my run - it was sunny - but no sooner had I donned my running shoes the rain started. In the end I went out and ran for about half an hour in the rain. Pretty unpleasant. Retired to the gym. Oh, and my Nike+ Sportsband seems to have given up the ghost too. Not. A. Good. Day.

There's an interesting article on geeky-blog Wired about running barefoot and how it's supposed to be better for you:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/07/barefoot/

Running On A Hangover

Thursday June 18, 2009

A lovely evening and too many drinks in my local, Bistros des Restos, saw me spend most of Thursday feeling pretty out of it. But a gorgeous day in Brussels had me hankering for a run.















Most people don't recommend running with a hangover because alcohol has a dehydrating effect, and when you feel hungover, what you're actually experiencing is intense dehydration. Not good for running.

I tried to overcome this by drinking A LOT of water during the day, and setting off. Felt terrible, uncoordinated and clumsy but pushed on for almost five miles - you can see the massive, hangover-induced dip in the middle, here:













Ran: 4.9 miles

Time: 44 mins 59 seconds

Pace per mile: 9 mins, ten seconds

Calories: 515

Ate: A LOT: Museli, tomato salad, steak frites, ice cream sundae, thai green curry

Edinburgh Marathon Take Two - Ninja Turtles

Monday 1 June, 2009

And so to my second running of the Edinburgh marathon.










And *news flash* I have decided that I like the city and the course and the atmosphere so much that I will run it ever year. But only as part of a relay team!

One year ago, having dinner to celebrate my completion of the marathon, my university friends and I dreamt up a plan to run the Edinburgh Marathon Relay dressed as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Fast-forward 12 months and we were faced with the prospect of running the race as part of a very green and very silly-looking quartet...














The 'Hairy Haggis' Team Relay - its official name - splits the marathon's 26.2 miles between four runners and is designed to make race running more fun and more accessible.

Leg One is 8.1 miles, from the course start to Musselburgh, Leg Two is 5.4 miles, to Port Seton Links, Leg Three is 8.0 miles, up to Gosford House and back and the final leg is 4.7 miles and runs from Port Seton Links to the finish at Musselburgh Race Course.

Having entered, we devoted our entire weekend to to costume making and running. We carbo-loaded by eating pizza - in true Ninja Turtle style - and fashioned costumes from Peacock's Size 20 T-shirts... On the morning of the race we donned lime green footless tights and a lot of green body paint.

I was up for the first leg. At the start I was reminded of my longer run a year ago and what a massive achievement it was. I don't think that really sunk in at the time.

The start of the race is beautiful and goes down past the Parliament building, out toward the Edinburgh coast and along through the beach resort of Portobello.

The heat was really draining, even for just eight miles, temperatures were as high as 22 degrees Celsius with hardly any breeze. Ten people were taken to hospital and 160 were treated for heat-related illness on the scene, according to local newspaper The Scotsman.


I finished my eight miles in 1 hr 14 mins. The others notched up great times too, giving us a total time of 04 hours, 09 mins and 14 seconds. Only slightly faster than my solo effort a year earlier.

1st Leg (Me, Leonardo): 1h 14m 28s (01:14:28)

2nd Leg (Caz, Donatello): 55m 55s (02:10:23)

3rd Leg (Anna, Raphael): 1h 19m 11s (03:29:34)

4th Leg (Miller, Michelangelo): 39m 40s (04:09:14)


Well done team! See you next year.



We raised over £700 for Medecins Sans Frontieres

To donate!! Click here:
www.justgiving.com/ninjasgo

The Edinburgh Marathon - 26.2 miles

Sunday 25th May - D-DAY

And so it's over. I can't really believe it. But I do have the medal, scars and achey muscles to prove that I did run 26.2 miles on Sunday.

The start was fantastic. I'd walked to the pens with my friends and I felt really excited. The first few miles are through the centre of Edinburgh, down past the now-iconic parliament building with a fabulous view of Arthur's Seat - the peak of a group of hills which sit in Holyrood Park on Edinburgh's fringe.

The route then winds out of the city centre towards seaside resort Portobello and down the coast through a number of small towns before reaching the beautiful Gosford House where it turns back on itself for the last eight miles or so, to finish at Musselburgh Race Course.

At the half marathon stage in a town called Prestonpans I felt pretty good. I'd paced myself properly and I was running well.

The going got tough somewhere between miles 16 and 17. I ate 2 paracetamol, anticipating the pain to come.

That was wise. I started to feel the burn around mile 19. It was getting hotter, I was tired and my legs were aching. But I knew I had less than ten miles to go.

From mile 21 onward it's pretty much a blur -- I can't really remember much other than really, really wanting to get to the end and not allowing myself to stop running. All around me people were walking, stooping over and vomming in the road. My legs felt as heavy as lead.

As the Musselborough Racecourse came into view I picked up a little bit. The crowds thickened, knowing that soon I'd be able to stop. Crossing the line felt funny. I stopped moving and my legs turned to jelly. It didn't seem real. I'd finished in 4 hours 10 minutes, a time that made me very very happy.

My legs have been stiff for the past few days and I've got a little bit of rubbing around where my sports top was, but all in a escaped relatively unscathed.

A man dressed as spiderman broke his own world record, for the fastest costumed Marathon, finishing in an incredible 02:49:50.

Ran: 26.2 miles

Time: 4 hours, 10 minutes, 21 seconds

Ate: A lot of jelly babies, one disgusting gel, 2 paracetamol

Drank: Ridiculous amounts of water and lucozade sport

Felt: Hideous for 2 full days afterwards

Finally: A huge huge thank you to all my friends and family who came to watch, I really wouldn't have made it round without you there, you were incredible.

Hydration

Wednesday 30th April

Much has been written about the holy grail of hydration and of its importance to runners.

Most of it is useless, incomprehensible and fails to give clear guidelines.

After my lack of hydration in Richmond on Saturday I resolved to get to the bottom of the hydration-saga.

This little gem from the UK Government’s Food Standards Agency:

“It’s important to make sure you drink enough fluid when you’re training and when you’re running the race, but it’s also important not to drink too much. If you get dehydrated or if you drink too much, this can affect your performance and be bad for your health.”

Errr, thanks, that’s really helpful. It gets better:

“To perform at your best in the race it’s a good idea to listen to your body and drink whenever you feel thirsty. If you don’t feel thirsty, there’s no need to drink. And remember, you don’t need to drink at every water stop.”

So I need to drink exactly the right amount? Not too little but not too much? Ok thanks, that's great.

Better advice is found elsewhere:

It's important to begin the run properly hydrated. That means drinking at least 2 litres a day in the weeks leading up to the race and then 500ml of fluid two hours before the run and another 150ml of fluid just before you start.

Studies have shown that the average person loses 500ml - 1.5 litres of fluid per hour of exercise.

Replenising this is important, since a mere 4% drop in hydration levels leads to a 25% drop in performance.

Most people recommend taking 125-250ml of water or sports drinnk every 15-20 mins. That seems like a lot to me. Which is probably why I felt so dreadful on Saturday.

For a three hour run, that means you'd need around three litres of water. You'd probably also need to "do a Paula."

After a long run you should drink 500ml - 1.5 litres more, monitoring the colour of your urine as a guide to when you've had enough.

You're looking for the colour of pale straw apparently. Good luck!