31. The One Where I Found Myself Singing Along to One Direction

13 September 2015

So I stayed down in Eastbourne last night in order to be able to back-to-back my training without paying an absolute fortune to Southern Railway.  I was really good and went to sleep nice and early ... only to be woken up about midnight.  I couldn't get back to sleep for anything - my knee was hurting a fair bit (which was strange because it had been okay when I went to bed!) and I decided that my compression clothes were uncomfortable.  I changed into normal PJs and immediately got straight back to sleep - phew!

However, when I woke up, my knee wasn't a lot better ... it was irritable, and it wasn't that keen on me bending it.  It is the same pain that I feel when running downhill, so I figured I'd just annoyed it with all my downhills the day before, and that it would calm down after a bit.  I carb'd up with a bit of Oatso Simple instant porridge with a few added raisins (so healthy, so nutritious ...!  But it was my only option given that I was leaving at 07:00 and nothing was open).  Since I was leaving so early, I didn't have much choice but to eat it pretty much immediately before I left, but I figured that was far less risky than having nothing at all - I am not going to bonk again if I can help it!

The morning was absolutely gorgeous!  I started off by Eastbourne Pier just as the sun was rising behind it.  There was almost no-one on the streets but, unlike London and even Brighton, it was clean as a whistle on the boardwalk; you would never have been able to tell that the SteamPunk festival had been going on.  Reflecting on this, I headed out of town and back up to Beachy Head.  Going up there, I was absolutely fine - I was so happy because I actually felt better than yesterday, despite my long day yesterday.  Wooop woop!  Howeverrrrrrr .... as soon as I hit the downhill a sharp pain shot through my knee.  I hrmphed a little and thought about it and tried again.  It was still painful, but lessened, so I thought I'd just keep going for a bit and see what happened.

I covered exactly the same route as yesterday - over Beachy Head, through Birling Gap, and over the Seven Sisters to Cuckmere Haven.  Unlike yesterday, however, it was sooooo quiet!  I was literally the only one on the route at that time (unsurprisingly, since it was 07:00 on a Sunday morning, but there were no dog-walkers or anything).  It was absolutely stunning up there by myself; I really felt like I was lost in the run and in my music that I had playing.  I was brought to myself sharply, however, as suddenly this super-catchy toon came on and, since I was all by myself, I started to sing along even though I wasn't sure what it was.  Imagine my horror when the chorus came through and it was Midnight Memory by One Direction.  The shame.  The horror.  I quickly checked that no-one had heard (no, but a couple of seagulls were giving me a very superior look) and kept on going.

I'd noticed that the tide was out and I was thinking when I got to Cuckmere that I might just wade across the stream if I could, and head up Cuckold Mere again.  I really like that hill (coming eastwards anyway!) and I thought it would make a nice change.  However, my knee was really beginning to hurt by this point, so I decided to abandon that plan and head back the way I'd come - not least because I had a bit of a fear that the tide would come in and I'd be stuck on the Cuckold Mere side!  It was about then that it all started to go a bit wrong ....

I think that from favoring my right knee, I was running weirdly on my left foot.  I've never had blisters before, but the most enormous set of them suddenly sprung up all across my left toes, making it really hard to run normally.  I kept going - a blister is only a blister! - but my knee was getting worse and worse and I'm sure that partly it was that my stride was uneven because of the blisters.  When I got back to Birling Gap I stopped to eat a wrap and had a look at it, and it was massively swollen - it looked like someone had inflated it!  I really didn't know what to do ... I had no idea whether I should keep going and just ignore it or whether I should just get back to Eastbourne and stop there.  I pondered on this over Beachy Head and in the end came to the conclusion that I should stop, because if I wreck it in the event, it's actually fine because it can just rest after it.  However, if I wreck it now, I might not ever get to the event!!  I was really disappointed because the day started off so well (let's not talk about One Direction.  Although I did once sit next to Harry Styles at breakfast and he is HAWWWWWWT in person, even with his manbun and his skinny jeans, so let's just focus on that rather than that they are the chosen favorite band of eight-year-olds).

I ended up doing 26km overall anyway, and I really believe that if my knee hadn't gone I would've been absolutely fine to do the full 42km.  Knee aside, I felt fine - my muscles weren't stiff and my joints were working fine, and I was even managing to enjoy it.  So even though I cut it short I guess it was okay.  Kinda.

I think I did make the right decision though because I took my trainers off on the train, and when I went to put them back on again my right foot had swollen up so much I couldn't get the trainer back on it!  I've slathered the entire leg with Voltarol gel and it's gone down a fair amount now, so with a bit of luck and a fair wind behind it, it'll be fine for next weekend.  All fingers and toes crossed pleaaaase ...

30. The One With SteamPunks and a Vulcan

12 September 2015

Guess where I am ... again?!  Here's a clue:

Yup, down on the South Coast again.  This is my last big weekend of training before I begin to taper off a bit, which is both exciting and absolutely terrifying.

Today I had a run on the schedule which is designed to mimic, as closely as possible, the event conditions.  Cornwall is like super-far from London!  It costs about £150 to get down there by train and it takes forever either on the train or driving, so I can't actually get down there to train.  However, the course maps are online, and Day 1, which can be found here, is 27.5 miles (or 44km to me) with 2,152ft / 655m of elevation.  Rightio then - I figured a few times over the South Downs Way would be as close as I could get to that.  I decided to stay down in Eastbourne so that I could repeat the same run tomorrow, since Day 2 is really really similar, and it meant that I could do a back to back to get the real, ya know, authentic experience.  God help me.

So down I came this morning on the earliest train from Victoria and, after dropping my bag off at the hotel, I set off.  I had thought it would take me about eight hours so I was figuring on being back for about 18:00.  The way to the South Downs Way is now super-familiar, but one thing was definitely new ... a SteamPunk festival on the waterfront!  I've never seen SteamPunks before but let me tell you, they are SO COOL!  According to the mighty Google SteamPunk

"refers to a subgenre of science fiction and sometimes fantasy that incorporates technology and aesthetic designs inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery"

Okaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy ... that's not what I would have picked up; basically it's people wearing awesome black and purple Victoriana kit with what look to me like flying goggles.  And top hats.  With these awesome stalls with handmade goods ranging from fudge to backpacks.  It is SO cool and everyone was so friendly!  Happily it will be there tomorrow too, cos I was on a bit of a mission today so I didn't get to stop.

So anyway, it was up the hill and onto Beachy Head.  Eastbourne is pretty sheltered, so it wasn't til I got up to the top of the first bit of Beachy Head that I realised that there was the headwind from hell ... seriously!  I've heard people moan about headwinds before and thought "Yeah yeah whatevs" from my nice sheltered built-up London home, thinking they'd be like the small blusters on the track ... holy moly, til you've experienced a headwind on the cliff tops you haven't experienced anything at all!  Running into it was honestly like having a tyre attached to my back and having to drag it along; it was crazy.  There were times when I felt like I was running on the spot, it was madness.  MADNESS I tell you!  On the other hand, it definitely made running downhill easier on my body cos I didn't have to worry about leaning back; I was practically horizontal trying to reduce the wind drag on my body and actually go forwards which was a winner.  Eventually I managed to get to Birling Gap (my favorite psychological break) and then I carried on a up the first sister before I stopped for my first break.

I had some interesting food choices with me today ... namely, mini-wraps with peanut butter (again) and raisins (not again) and apple (definitely not again).  I decided to get involved in a peanut butter and apple one and immediately applauded myself on this choice!  In fact, I couldn't really taste the apple but the wrap was a million times better than bread because it was loads lighter.  Having had that, I got up (just about, since the wind was getting worse!) and carried on.  Last week I'd stopped at about the same point and returned because I was doing a shorter run, so I hadn't seen the rest of the Seven Sisters for ages and it was nice to see them again!  I'd forgotten how steep they were though and that came as a bit of a shock.  However, I find this the easiest bit of the run and there were loads of people about so it made it really interesting, and it didn't feel like much time at all before I was on the last Sister and heading down to Cuckmere Haven.  I tell ya what, that is one GORGEOUS beach from this angle - I hadn't seen it before this way, because I'd only ever done this part heading east.  It was well worth the pain of getting up the last Sister, look at this!

Isn't it beautiful?  Running down into it was lovely, although you have to go the long way round and come up behind it because the last Sister is far too steep to run down.  This was no bad thing though because it means you get to see Cuckmere Haven from every angle which is lovely.  For some bizarre reason (namely, that someone else was doing it) I decided that instead of going back around, I'd climb up the steep part ... ummm, don't think I'll be doing that again tomorrow!  I was terrified!!!  It's so steep that I was almost on my hands and knees, and not because I was leaning forward either!!  I did at least get back up the hill quickly though haha ... winning ...?!

My trip back across the Sisters was notable mainly for the tailwind ... you know how you can never feel a tailwind; it's all about the headwind?  Well this one was literally blowing me up the hill, together with everyone else who was out.  It was IN.SANE ... there I was, walking up the hill, and suddenly a gust woudl come and just lift me a few paces forward.  This was an excellent bonus!  I also met a lovely Belgian couple, Paul and Tone, who were massively into running which made the next lil bit loads easier as I had them to chat to.  Paul was 69 and had been a member of his running club for 54 years!  54!  He had loads of tips for me which was awesome, including bending my knees on the downhill more to save my poor quads (a tip I'd gotten from George earlier in the week and had thought I was employing, but plainly not).  I tried my best after that and it was helpful, even though I thought I'd been doing it anyway.

I stopped at Birling Gap for another wrap, then headed back over Beachy Head.  I think I must've been on drugs the first time I did this because it didn't feel like it was that far.  Believe me, it really really feels like far now!  Once I'd done it, it was a quick stop at the kiosk at the bottom to grab a bit more water and then straight back over.  Great.  Loved that ... NOT.  Especially as over the previous 10 kilometres I'd forgotten how bad that head wind was ... but it was interesting at least.  I vaguely noticed that there were a lot of people out, but I didn't really think much of it - I just figured it was a nice Saturday afternoon and that was that.  The nice news was that I ran into Paul and Tone again!  They were so nice, and I love a bit of human contact on these training runs because it is a bit lonely running for six or seven hours with just my iPhone for company ... so that was super-nice.  I decided to go straight past Birling Gap this time and continue on because I knew I wouldn't be going much further before I turned around and that meant it was pointless stopping twice.

 In the event, however, that was a bit of a mistake because I only got another three kilometres when I suddenly ran out of water!  I thought I'd have a bit of warning from my hydration pack (maybe being harder to suck water or something) but nothing at all - literally I had water one moment and the next I didn't!  That was a bit of a wake-up call to make sure I had enough in future, but it was a hot day and I only had to go another 1km anyway so I turned around right away and headed back to Birling Gap.  Not having water for 3km made me realise how often I reach for my hydration pipe - A LOT.  Once I got to Birling Gap therefore, I grabbed another full 1.5ltrs of water, even though I only had another 7km or so to go.  I also inhaled a cookie and had a nice rest because there was the most massive queue in the cafe there - jeez!  Everyone seemed to have descended on it which I thought was a bit strange because the last few times I've been there it's been pretty empty and that was on hotter days.

However, it soon became clear as to why ... I pootled up and over the next hill and, at the bottom was an absolute raft of people with cameras, all pointing out to sea.  I had no idea what was happening, but since I am not English and therefore have no issues in questioning people, I selected a friendly looking lady with her daughter and asked what was happening.  She told me that "the Vulcan was doing a fly-by" which left me none the wiser, so I looked back out to sea.  She giggled wildly and said "No, look up!  Into the sky!" which I did and ... it was amazing!  This triangular plane (painted in very fetching cow print) (which is possibly camo, but looks much  more like a very sartorial cow) was heading straight for me.  My new buddy explained that this was the Vulcan's last flight before she retired, and therefore it was kind of a big deal.  I couldn't get a good picture on my iPhone but the event was covered here.  I also had a great chat with her and her daughter - turns out they are big airshow fans and were very sadly at Shoreham a couple of weeks ago.  They'd come out today to banish some of the Shoreham memories, so it was an emotional time for them, but they were loving it.

I left them to it and began to toil up Beachy Head for the last time today.  That is one BIG HILL.  It was alleviated by the Vulcan coming overhead a bunch more times which was lovely - I felt so lucky to be part of it, even if I hadn't known a thing about it and it was just coincidence!

I had my final pitstop at the top of Beachy Head, just before the descent into Eastbourne.  I scarfed my last wrap and headed down the hill ... luckily wind-aided again as I was knackered by this point.  I don't know why but the final 3km into Eastbourne town kills me every time ... maybe it's because it's a shallow hill and it's on tarmac, so my trail shoes don't love it?  I dunno, but I know I hate it!  I managed to sort of run down the hill, but as soon as I got to the flat I employed my tactic from last week and fartleked my way through town.  It was a relief to hit the hotel ... exactly 43km and 739m / 2,424 ft after I left it!  I was so pleased with how that worked out because it's a little shorter, but also a little steeper, than Day 1 of the ACC.  So now I know what it's like!  I managed it in 06:52 which I was pleased with as I'd time-budgetted eight hours for it, so now I know I can manage in sub-07:00 ... this week at least ...!  My goal is still eight hours for the event so we'll see how I get on.

I'm doing it all again tomorrow, so I hit the local Italian for a tagliatelle bolognese which was just the ticket. I'm now wrapped up in my compression kit watching ET (but luckily it finishes later than my bedtime so I'll miss the sad bit as I am emotional enough already today after such a long run!).  I can't wait to be asleep!

26. The One Where I Chased Brian for 24KM

6 September 2015

So the one thing about ultra training ... it's kinda lonely.  There are very few people who feel like getting up and running long runs with you - of all my friends, about half are sporty, but none is into ultra apart from one, and he's so much better than I am that it isn't really possible to train with him at all.  In addition, training plays havoc with your social life, because a hangover is 100% incompatible with getting up early and running, and post-run all you can think about is a bath, food, and mindless TV.

So imagine how happy I was to meet a running bud on the train to Eastbourne this weekend!  Brian came up to me and asked if I knew how to get start of the South Downs from the station, because he'd never been there before.  He was visiting from the US, was training for a marathon, and wanted a long run that had good views to make his buddies jealous!  He had about 15 or 16 miles to do, which was perfect because I had about 25km to do, so we decided to buddy up and see how it went.  Actually - it went perfectly!  We didn't run together exactly, more kept in contact and met up across the course, because he was faster than me overall but I was much better trained on the hills, since he comes from Charlotte NC which he told me is pretty flat.  It was so nice to see his red shirt bobbing ahead of me now and again though, or to have him come up behind me.  It was also nice to have someone to talk about all this crazy stuff with - he is planning on doing 52 marathons over the next little while (one in every state, plus an extra bonus marathon in his home state), so we had a lot to chat about which was nice.  We did get a few funny looks on the train though ...!

For the run itself, I was back down on the South Downs, but I wanted to do Eastbourne to the Seven Sisters and back again.  I was planning on doing about 25km and I got close at 24.3.  It was hard though - I'd forgotten how high Beachy Head is!  The last time I did a similar run was the very first one that I ever did and I was so much faster this time though!  I was so happy about that because sometimes with this training I only seem to get slower, so it was a nice boost to think that at least I've managed to get a bit faster!  I basically did 20km in about the same time as I did 17km the first time, which was a fabulous lift.  Hurrah!

I'm glad I have the South Downs, because I went to a party on Friday night (and drank a bottle of wine, which is why I didn't train on Saturday ... oops!  I was bored of having no social life!).  Anyway, at this party I was speaking to a buddy who'd just done the same part of the South West Coast Path which I have to do on the third day.  She is a massively experienced ultra runner and endurance athlete (think running 84 miles over Hadrian's Wall, swimming the Channel, cycling to Istanbul ...) and she said it was super super hard!  EEEEK!  She said it was the terrain that made it so difficult, so I'm pleased that the South Downs should at least give me some experience of what it's like, although I can't get it to be as hard as the actual terrain will be.  But at least I'm trying!

The South Downs are also so absolutely stunning that they do take your mind off the run, so I'm also hoping that that will be the same on the actual ACC.  I've heard amazing things about the Cornish Coast, so fingers crossed!!!!

1. The One Where It All Began

18 July 2015

My "friend" (her status is currently vulnerable) sent me a link to the Atlantic Coast Challenge a good few months ago as a joke.  At the time I goggled incredulously at the screen and binned the email before it could contaminate my lovely unhealthy inbox, but I wasn't able to stop thinking about it.  In fact, I bored people rigid for a good couple of months dithering about whether I might be interested in doing it.  It was like I was possessed by this race that I wasn't even interested in doing.

After going to Geneva for the weekend to watch friends racing the European Triathlon Union championships, however, I was entirely inspired.  The age groupers racing the champs are amazing and they manage to fit in all the challenges of training around work and socialising, and I realised that if they could do it, there was a fighting - albeit probably losing - chance that I could also fit in training and actually do this thing.  The final test, however, was to do a cliff-top run and see how I coped.  After a fair amount of googling from the comfort of my sofa, I decided that Seaford to Eastbourne was just the ticket - about 21km along the coast over the Cuckold Mere, the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head.  No matter that the furthest I've run this year was two 10 kilometre races over two of the flattest courses known to mankind (and they almost finished me off), I decided that this was the perfect distance and terrain for a test training run.

Getting to Seaford from London was at least super-easy - fast train to Brighton and then a slower train over to Seaford.  I scarfed a Pret porridge on the train down to fuel up, and arrived in Seaford about 09:00.  I was ready to run at 09:30, having popped to Morrisons for a nutritious Bounty Bar to take with me and - more crucially - found a loo.  Seaford is super-cute, like a totally cliche'd British seaside town, complete with brightly colored huts and a broad promenade.  However, it's a very very short way along the promenade before Cuckold Mere pops up, so by the time I'd stopped for a quick pic it was time to go straight up my first hill.  I'd already decided that my strategy was to jog as far up the hills as far as I could, then walk the rest, and run the flats and downhills.  That way I could try and conserve some energy, since I really didn't know how fast or far I could go.

  

The strategy worked well - helped out by fairly constant stops for photos, since the scenery was absolutely stunning.  It's the most gorgeous piece of coast, and I was so lucky to have an absolutely stunning summer's day to do it on as well.  I trotted over Cuckold Mere in fairly good time, and hit the pebbliest of pebble beaches at the bottom - I love pebble beaches but this was definitely an anklebreaker to run on!


There was also a stretch of water leading down to the sea with no massively obvious bridge over it, so with a bit of good old Kiwi ingenuity my shoes came off and I waded over the stream.  It was not what you would call warm, this being Britain and all - but it was definitely refreshing!!

Once I'd navigated that, it was back to the boulders pebbles and then straight up the first of the Seven Sisters.

The Seven Sisters were AMAZING.  They're so steep but they're rolling up and down so just as I felt that I couldn't go up any more, I'd hit the top and then have a lovely run down.  I could use the momentum from the downhill to trot up the first bit of the next hill, then slowed to a walk to repeat the same pattern again.  It seemed like hardly any time before I got to Birling Gap, a teeny tiny little village nestled at the foot of Beachy Head, the highest cliff I had to climb at all.  This has a lovely cafe, which was the perfect pitstop for some new water and another loo break.  After that, it was up Beachy Head!

Beachy Head is even lovelier than the rest of the Seven Sisters, partly because it's higher (I did not necessarily appreciate that at the time) and partly because you have the view back across the Seven Sisters to appreciate as you go.  I was going a little more slowly by now, but I loved it up there and my Bounty Bar soon revived me.

After even more photos, I ran down the other side and found myself in Eastbourne, which felt unexpectedly quick.  Eastbourne is like something out of a Miss Marple - so genteel.  I am not sure I fitted in, what with my sweatsoaked hair and porn star breathing (Eastbourne is flat, so I ran rather than walked the last part), but I styled it out and headed to the station in time to get my train back to Seaford for lunch.

Seaford has some cute cafes and what I felt as though I really needed in my life was a celebratory burger and fries.  Luckily I found a lovely hippie cafe which had the very thing which I ate while congratulating myself wildly ... not only on finishing the run, but also on managing to enjoy it!  The consequence of all this was that I decided to sign up for sure, so the enjoyment might have been a bit of a pyrrhic victory!