25:25:25 more back to back running

Not even running 100x25 back to back milers will get you in there

So that was pretty difficult.

But I also loved the ridiculousness of running 25 miles, then going to work. And no-one knows what you have just done.

I sat there at my desk inhaling food, giggling to myself at just having run slightly under a marathon and then coming to work as if nothing had happened.

However, having to then get up the next day and run 25 miles again. And then get up the next day and run 25 miles again I wasn't giggling to myself. Particularly in the howling rain on top of Hampstead Heath day 3 at round mile 11. Oh I was not laughing then.

Day 1 was positively fun. The previous week I'd been struggling a little with left knee issues, which had been affecting my whole left leg. My hip hurt. My calf ached, My ankle was stiff. I decided to go see a sports massuer who told me how to tape my knee to give it some support. This worked a treat for me. I don't know if it was psychological or physical, but I don't care. It's a helpful "plan B" option if my knee wants out in the desert.

Anyway day 1. Great knee, great weather, great route, great company (better half). Absolutely loved running down the canal to the Limehouse basin then back up along the Thames. Brought back London marathon memories! Felt good. It took 4 and a half hours - which is way too quick for marathon des sasbles but just felt right on the day.

Day 2 was a different matter. I didn't tape my knee up and it whinged at me all the way round. I also ran (apologies now East Londoners) what I call the grim route. Anywhere around Olympics site/Stratford/Lea Valley/Capital Ring heading East. *Shudder*. Even Victoria Park. The better half also took delight in telling me we had run on top of one of London's main sewer channels. How nice!

I think I don't like running around there as it's always grey weather when I do, and I'm always in that no mans' land territory of half way through a long run.

Anyway I was in a bad place unfortunately and because of my knee I had to walk the last 10k home. The relief though! of getting home was worth it.

All in all took over 5 hours.

Day 3. Oh the mental strategies needed to get myself out the door! I was starting to suffer a little from tight Achilles and a pulled hip muscle. However these did strangely disappear during the day. Probably got fed up of my moaning.

I've been lucky enough to have trained throughout the winter without coming up against any bad weather (bar the snow, but that's pretty). Day 3 of the 25 miler back to back was the exception. Crap weather.

Grey, windy, wet. Grim.

There were periods of running and laughing so hard it hurt at the silliness of it all. These, unfortunately, were few though. Mostly it was a case of disappearing inside myself and just getting on with it and trying not think about it. Or moaning at the other half.

I had to go home half way round as I was just soaked through and getting hypothermia (slight over exaggeration). However, getting changed into dry, warm clothes did wonders for my mental attitude and I stormed the last 10 miles (round and round and round and round and round and round Finsbury Park). Another 5 hour run.

I could not have done this without my better half. He's the most irritatingly sunnyside up, positive person I know. So I'm sorry for giving you the Death Stare when you told me "PMA, PMA!" on top of Hampstead Heath Day 3.

It has also told me I need to sort out my mental strategy for marathon des sables. What am I going to do when the going gets tough, I hurt, I get bored, and I want to give up? How am I going to deal with that?

I'm hoping it will be different in the desert. There will be no rain. There will be no boring, run-before-a-million-times routes. There will be no other tasks I'm worrying about doing when I've finished the run. There will just be me (and 999 others) and the desert.

But I must make sure I enjoy it. That's the point right? How amazing it is that I can run, and that I have got the opportunity to do this. How amazing it is that I have the chance to raise money for three very worthy causes and make a tiny difference. I must remember that.

I cannot wait.

The hills are alive with the sound of...runners' feet

View from North Downs just West of Dorking...in mid February!

Sticking with theme of offroading in new and exciting places in and around London took me and the other half to Dorking to run on the Surrey Hills.

I'm in love with the place. There is something about big open spaces that I'm drawn to (hoping this will add to my enjoyment of marathon des sables, being rather big and open).

Added to the beauty of the place was that the sun decided to join us. Positively balmy! Running past vineyards made me feel like I was in France, not Southeast England in February.

For the marathon des sables training plan I'm trying to fit in more challenging runs than flat roads in London, so the North Downs was perfect. It has hills. It has mud.

What hill training happened?
Saturday was an extremely hilly 10km up and around Box Hill. Now most people generally take the well marked trail path or road up to the top of Box Hill. Not me. My other half decided the right path was one that looked suspiciously like a wrong path. We ended up scaling the sharp end of Box Hill instead.

I could go on about men and directions, but I'm not going to. I'm just going to put this paragraph in bold instead.


Climbed up this. Rock climbing equipment not to hand.

On the plus it worked my calves out like nothing else. It was probably coming up for a 65-70% incline so it was a case of scrambling and holding onto tree roots to scale it's heights...

And not looking down.

Considering I've now heard some of the sand dunes on the marathon des sables are pretty scary to climb, I reckon this "training" we did (aka got lost) was probably a good thing. I just wish I could get used to not being scared of heights!

Sunday was more of a horizontal affair, though still hilly. More like rolling woodland than in-your-face vertical incline which was a little more pleasant. We ran 20 miles west from Dorking along the North Downs Way.

Why should runners do hill training?
I've posted on my hill training previously, but to recap I'm trying to concentrate on hill training to build my strength, build my running fitness in general (so I can run further before I get completely worn out), and get my legs used to running up hills, as there are going to be a lot of dunes to crawl over in April in the big sahara race.

So I've been a lot of running in places like Ally Pally, Queens Woods and Hampstead Heath, but it's always good to get out of London sometimes - particularly for me at the moment. I am suffering from a severe case of LACK OF ENTHUSIASM FOR RUNNING.

The North Downs, I am glad to say, has revitalised my love of running. How could you fail to be happy out in somewhere like this? In mid February as well? Happy days.

Back to back running for marathon des sables

Now having successfully got a number of ultra distances under my running get, albeit slowly, I've started upping the game of the back to back runs for the great marathon des sables.

So this week I've managed 3x 15 miles Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Brain says yey! Legs say nay! (though I have just had a massage which was Ammmmmmaaaaazzzziiiinnnngggg).

Friday, I shuffled from North London, down to the river Thames, turned right, headed to the iconic Battersea Tower along the not-so-iconic Nine Elms main road - yuck!, span around, ran back to the equally lovely Tower Bridge (ah! thoughts of London Marathon came fondly back), high fived a couple of beefeaters, then headed back to Chancery Lane and to work. Boo.


Any burgers to hand sir?

Day 1 actually felt the hardest. I think this was because I was running to work, but also because I was carrying a pretty heavy bag too. It felt fine to begin with but around mile 11, my shoulders really began to feel sore.

Time taken: Two and a half hours.
Lots of thoughts about burgers after Tower of London (beefeaters, beef, burgers...)
Burgers eaten: None.

Saturday, I upped the shuffle to A JOG, with two laps around Richmond Park. Oh, it was refreshing to be running somewhere a bit different. And also to not have to think about where I was going. Round and round in a circle. Happy days.

Two sleb spots: Ben Shepherd (mental note: maybe got a bit too over excited about that in front of boyf) and Andrew Marr (not so excited, but excited nonetheless).

No Nell McAndrew - though I have seen her there before. Nor any Kenyan runners. Oh, how I love seeing them in Richmond Park. Even though they make me feel like a huge heffalump, stomping along as slow as you like while they bound gracefully past like gazelles on springs.

Nor, disappointingly did I see Benson the dog.


Not Jesus Christ Benson

Day 2 felt great, because it was somewhere different and I had no pack to carry, plus I saw Ben Shepherd.

Time taken: Two hours fifteen (fifteen less than Friday possibly due to speeding up after Ben Shepherd).
Lots of labradors seen, but none named Benson.

Sunday, back to marathon des sables shuffle pace. Down to Regent's Canal, along to Regent's Park, sneaked across West London into Hyde Park, along Rotten Row (sand and dog poo avoidance practice), high fived Her Madge, then ran back again.

Day 3 was a little tough mentally - I am just finding the long runs a bit boring sometimes, as I've done the routes again and again. However the last 4 miles or so were better as I sped up to challenge myself, which gave me something to think about, instead of moaning to myself about the fact that I was bored.

Time taken: Two and a half hours, with negative splits, but lots of negative thoughts.

So pretty pleased with that. My legs are feeling tired, but okay. I could run again tomorrow, though I'm having a rest (from running day).

I'm trying out 20x3 in a couple of weeks time. This weekend is the sand dunes. Gulp! Weather forecast says it's minus 10 but sunny. Small mercies I guess.

Amersham marathon

Last Saturday I ran the Amersham marathon. What’s this I hear you cry? Well, it’s a fantastic informal “race” organised by a friend who is also running marathon des sables this year.

The Amersham marathon has been going for five years now and basically involves about 20 or so people who follow the organiser and complete a marathon in the beautiful Chess Valley, on the edge of the Chilterns.

People can choose to run the full marathon, join in at the half way point to run the half marathon, or with 10k to go. This year five of us ran the full distance (which actually ended up being 28 miles according to the Garmin) and then we were joined by another three at halfway.

All in all it was a brilliant run. It started early doors at 7am to ensure we finished by lunch time (v. Important) and mainly followed the Chiltern Way, through glorious rolling farmland and woods. Pretty much all of the route was offroad. At this time of year it was m.u.d.d.y – which was great for me, as it gave me a chance to run in difficult conditions, AND with hills.

My tactic for the race was to keep the PMA going throughout, as I’ve been having trouble of late with having negative doomlike thoughts, “can’t do it, I’m bored, my knee hurts”, those sorts of thoughts – sure you’re familiar with those old chestnuts if you run!

Anyway because I was running with 4 others, all male, I thought I can’t whinge. I have to be on my best behaviour, so I kept any bad thoughts wrapped away...and it worked!

My other tactic to help to keep the demons at bay was to break down the race beforehand, so I worked on a 10/10/7 split, again which worked really well. The lovely Karen Weir also suggested splitting races up into time periods, rather than miles, which I will try next Saturday at the “Country to Capital” race. This means rather than focusing upon how many more miles to go, you focus upon doing 40 minutes, then reward yourself with a short break (and also in my case some food), and carry on and so on.

What I am now experiencing frequently on long runs is that I find the second half easier. This was also the case with the Amersham marathon. I’m hoping this is 1) because mentally I know I’m past the half way point, so the race is easier to deal with and 2) because my body is hopefully getting used to the endurance side of things.

It’s fairly reassuring to know this. I feel I can cope okay with around 30 miles now. So I have the “horizontal” aspect of endurance down, I just need to work on the “vertical” side of it – being able to get up day after day and run for a long old time!

The Amersham marathon also reconfirmed one of the things I love about running. Most other runners are pretty decent, down to earth people. A bit of random banter with a group of like-minded people in the English countryside – what could be better?! Good times.

Second 30 mile ultra training run done

I've now got three ultra runs under my belt which I'm pretty pleased about. Two 30 milers and the 38 mile "race" around half of the capital ring.

Last Sunday was the second 30 mile attempt. The route I took was along the capital ring to Finsbury Park, along to Stoke Newington, down to the canal, a lap of Victoria Park, along the Limehouse Basin past the Blackwall Tunnel and back again.

Cute cottage in east London next to Regent's canal

The actual run itself was fine. My left hip is still playing up slightly but it was well behaved on Sunday. I even slashed my time down to 5 hours 35 mins - 25 minutes faster than my first attempt (this works out at around 10.8 minute mile, so with walking included in that my actual running pace is probably more like 9-9.5 minute miles, which I'm happy with).

Houseboats on the canal

The thing I am having trouble with is my head. I got to 10 miles and had a minor paddy attack that I didn't want to carry on. I thought I had run further than 10 miles. It was only the thought of having to run back 10 miles anyway that spurred me on to get to the 15 mile halfway point. From there it was plain sailing. I'd passed half way so it was downhill from there.

I'm having real difficulties at the moment with breaking the run down into manageable sizes during the first half, and remaining positive. I get bored quite quickly and then start thinking of how many more hours to go and fantasizing about what I want to eat (currently I'm obsessing about mince pies and cheese - though not together!). So this is definitely something I need to work on - and I'm sure I'll have looootttssss of practice over the next couple of months with the looming scary long and back to backs ahead.

On a positive (see! I'm trying!) I experienced the endorphin trick again at around mile 28, which was great. Absolutely stormed up Finsbury Park hill and along the last mile of the capital ring to home. It's such a great feeling. It feels a bit like the first few seconds of setting off on a really fast run and feeling invisible before the lactic acid kicks in and your lungs start screaming. Very very cool.

First 38 mile ultra race completed

I've done it! Wow. Big pat on my back. Technically we were all ready and signed up for the Hereward race - 38 miles around Peterborough. But we decided against going as it would have taken us 2.5 hours to drive there, god knows how many hours to run it, train back to the start point, then drive home. Plus it was on a Sunday so no rest day before work on Monday.

It just highlights the realities of trying to train for these sorts of things. Any other distance - even a marathon, is doable in a day round trip. Or I guess if you are a fast ultra runner - which I am not, that also helps to squeeze in these races.

So we decided to run it on the Saturday in London using a garmin to track distance and time. We took the capital ring loop from Highgate around to Wandsworth via Richmond, and ended in Clapham South, before hobbling onto the Northern Line back home.

Here's the route. Nuts. I expect we'll do the other half at some point soon too.


View Larger Map

As predicted times were snail pace. A huge 8.25 hours (9 in total with 2 stops) which equals 13 minute miles. Pretty slow. I'm hopeful that the times will get faster as we go, but because it's a completely new area and I'm not sure how my body is going to react I'm erring on the side of caution. That plus I basically couldn't go any faster. He he. To put into context how slow we were the winners of the Hereward Race did it in 3:45:42 male and 4:19:24 female - though this is insanely fast.

The first half of the run was pretty awful. I moaned a lot. Stopped a lot. Ate a lot. Walked a lot. My left hip unfortunately also moaned a lot (I think I've damaged the top part of my ITB (iliotibial band) but am hoping it is recovering now).

Bu then! the golden arches appeared from nowhere through the gloom and drizzle of Greenford. Like a fly to an electric zapper we headed in and ate an extremely healthy lunch to exit and storm the next 10 miles from Greenford to Richmond.

It was like Mr Negative had left the building and Mrs Positive was now sat on my shoulder. I'm starting to see that the biggest part of ultra running is the mental attitude. 38 miles is such a long way, it's difficult to break it down at the beginning of a race.

I don't know about other runners but I always break races down into sections. For example if I'm running a half marathon I would break it into the first three miles - relax and try and get into a good rhythm. The next five miles maintain a steady pace, the next three miles crank it up a bit, the final two miles, just hang on in there!

Doing this helps makes it all a bit more manageable and also staves off the boredom, as it gives you something to concentrate on at that moment rather than thinking, ugh 10 miles to go, so far! But for 38 miles I found this really difficult to do until I got to half way, then I found it much, much easier to break down.

We had another break at Richmond. Climbing over Twickenham bridge rather felt like an out-of-body experience as my legs were wondering what the f I was doing and didn't want to participate in climbing as well.

The next section though was even more extraordinary. We had limited light left and still had to get through Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common so knew we had to get a move on. It honestly felt like I was running on air. We must have been running at 8 minute mile pace. It was ridiculous. I don't know where it came from. People talk about endorphin highs and I guess this was it. I've never experienced anything like it before.

Similarly, I just put it down to mental attitude. We knew we had to get through that section before it got dark so had a deadline so the head said go and the feet followed. The light also helped as it just made both parks stunning to run through. I remember thinking I must have had sunglasses on as the colours in a lake and on the trees were so vibrant.

Another strange thing which started to happen was I saw a few odd things. Now I think this was just because I was tired and it was getting dark but it was a little wierd. I kept thinking someone was running alongside Pete, and I thought a leaf was a rat and I screamed and jumped over it. Dear me.

The best bit was eating curry at home in the evening. This does also worry me slightly as I know the desert is not going to have these luxuries. Again, it's going to be something I'm just going to have to reframe in my mind. We're going camping for a week with a few runs in between. Yeh, that will work!

Back-to-back runs

Another week down, another week closer to D-day. I have 20 weeks to go.

Because I have my first ultra race next week I decided not to increase the mileage further last weekend, but to do shorter back-to-back runs instead so I'm not too exhausted.

So my routine last week was:-
Mon Rest day
Tues Supposed to run but didn't - oops
Wed Short run into work 4.5 miles, fast (ish)
Thurs Rest
Fri Hill reps
Sat 15 miles, slow
Sun 10 miles, fast (ish) with intervals

With a splash of the gym and yoga in between. Surprisingly I actually find yoga much harder than running. But I'm happy to report that I'm only 10cm away from being able to touch my toes rather than 20cm. The yoga teacher at my gym is a little scary too. Last week she shouted at me "Why can't you STRAIGHTEN YOUR KNEES?? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??"

Not me. Impressive shoes though.










The route I took for the 15 miles was the Dollis Valley Greenwalk. I'm beginning to struggle to find decent routes in London that avoids the crowds now the mileage is getting longer, but this is a good one. It randomly starts on the A1, which is a very pleasant way to begin a run.

But after that delight it ventures off into the rural fields of High Barnet, over to Totteridge and Whetstone, and then follows what must be the Dollis river through woodland down to Hampstead Garden Suburb where you can pick up the Capital Ring all the way back through East Finchley, Highgate to home.

Kind of like the northern Northern line, but nicer.



Not quite TFL, but nice try.

Though this route was really pleasant to run I wasn't in the right frame of mind. I think the main reason for this was I had drunk 2 pints and 2 glasses of wine the night before. Not sure that part was ever in the training plan. Though perhaps this will be good to include as presumably there will be beer on tap at each checkpoint in the desert.

The 10 miler on Sunday was miles better (and miles shorter, which is probably why it was miles better). My legs felt great so I decided to run it fast, with intervals. I mainly did this as I had lots of other stuff I wanted to do on Sunday, but I also realised I actually do miss shorter faster runs.

Running many miles sloowwlllly is very very different to running shorter miles faster. I may be stating the obvs here, but it takes it out of you in a different way.

For example, running 30 miles super slow is pretty tiring after about 10 miles when you are running it, with the wierd stabby, joint pains. Afterwards your muscles are generally fine, but you just feel very tired and could eat and sleep for a year.

Running a shorter distance, like a half marathon, fast is exhausting the whole way through, like you want to vomit, and it's 90% certain you'll have some muscle damage the next day and you'll feel stiff, but there is less of the tiredness or joint pain.

Now although I realise neither of those descriptions sound particularly enticing, they both actually are! On Sunday I was thinking "oh fast runs how I have missed you!" I just love that feeling of speeding along at threshold pace and feeling so awake, followed by the lovely endorphin high.

But the longer slower runs give you that "full and sleepy after Sunday roast" kind of feeling.

This is the first time I've put long (ish) runs together like this, and it's something I'll have to start increasing as the weeks go on, but I have been pleasantly reassured that's it's not too bad, if you pace it right and can still function at the end of a run.

I'm still counting on MDS having spa facilities and sofas though each night. Right?

Official ultrarunner!!

Whoop whoop. I ran my first ultra training run at the weekend. 30 miles. I woke up the next day feeling like something exciting had happened and remembered that it had! 30 miles.

For anyone running their first whatever distance - you will get this feeling. It's brilliant. It's like you've gone out there and achieved something all by yourself, for yourself, and no one can take that away from you. This is partly why I run. So I can feel proud of myself.

Whenever you're having a bad day, the inner you can go "yeh but you smashed that run the other day!", and that will sit with you forever.

Anyway, my point is any milestone run should be celebrated, whatever level you are at. You'll never run your first again so make the most of it when you do.

Pam Reed, ultrarunner extraordinaire said a similar thing in her book "The Extra Mile" when she said she got a little jealous of her friends when they ran their first marathon. I feel the same. I remember thinking during the last few miles of Edinburgh marathon (my first marathon) that I had to remember this bit. And I did, and I still can picture the pain! But also that feeling of absolute elation when I'd crossed the finish and could stop and seize up in agony (joking, kind of).

So, yes, I'm fairly chuffed about reaching past the mara post, though also painfully aware I'm at the start of training still. Got a 45 miler race looming on the horizon in January and still not quite sure how I'll manage all these back to back long runs in the desert.

The route I took for 30 miles (just to remind you I ran 30 miles! 30!!) was from Embankment along the Thames Path to Richmond Bridge and back again.

I started off pretty slow. This was helped by listening to audio books rather than heavy trance and house music. Little bit of running, little bit of walking. No stopping. Lots of eating. Probably too much eating.

The first half felt fairly easy, though it seems that this sort of training is a whole different ballgame to marathon training as it's all about endurance, not speed. So a 12 minute miler pace rather than 8 for long runs.

Started to feel a little tired towards Richmond, though I am sure this is a mental thing, as I knew I could stop and have a drink/sort my trainers out/sit for a minute.

On the way back, I ramped it up with some music to stave off the boredom. Again felt okay till I had about 6 miles to go. Then felt really tired. Though strangely it was easier to jog than walk. Walking gave me wierd stabbing pains in my legs. Really I should have stopped and stretched. The worst pain was in my hip and knee joints rather than my muscles. Though even that disappeared the next day. Result!

It's a lovely route once you get past the tourists around Embankment and Westminster. First there is the glorious Battersea Park to run through. Then sporty "Jack Wills" Putney, with all the rowers out on the Thames. Always love to watch them. Then you hit the offroad part of the path. Just lovely all through the year, but particularly at the moment with all the trees still in their autumnal colours.

For anyone who doesn't get why people run, being outside is one of the reasons, especially in such a busy city as London. Being able to enjoy places like the more rural parts of the Thames Path takes some beating. I don't know if I would have liked to be anywhere else at that point than jogging along between trees and river, saying hello to dog walkers, and seeing the sun through the trees. Happy days.

Full steam ahead

I've been neglecting the blog of late. I would love to say it's because I've been too busy running but alas! it's more too do with the fact I've been on my holidays.

Fortunately I HAVE been doing some running and feel a little more confident in what lies ahead. First run of note to mention is one early morning 11 miler through a stunning Hampstead Heath. Not sure who else ventures onto HH at 7:30am (well I do have some ideas but that's another blog entry) but in reality it isn't many. Which means hogging the whole loveliness of the Heath all to yourself.







Running up Parliament Hill I reflected on an article I read in the evening papers about things that made people feel good – the top ones being “climbing into bed made up with freshly washed sheets” or “sitting by an open fire when there’s a blizzard outside”. Another one should be “stopping at the top of Parliament Hill to admire the view after sprinting up there”. Add to that a sublime sunny autumn morning, a cheery hello from a dog walker and I'm happier than the Greek Parliament who have just been told someone fucked up the maths and in truth they are cruising with £100 billion credit not debit.

Further ramping up the miles was a 21 miler along the sleepy Suffolk coastline. I've finally managed to get the MDS shuffle under control so am at a 12 minute miler pace for long runs now. Doing this has really increased my confidence that I will be able to run a marathon, then another one, and another one, and another one, the do 50 miles then finish with a half marathon in 50 degrees, with a bag, in sand, and up hills.....er yeh.... Anyway running along the coast was a "pleasant" wake up call to how tiring running in sand is going to be. But again - pretty fun day (if you can call it that). A day out on one of England's most picturesque coastlines, having a chat with the other half, stopping for lunch along the way, enjoying the sppppaaaacccceeee that Suffolk is pretty good at - can't be bad. And sunday roast never tasted so good!





Last run of note to date was last weekend's 25 miler along the Lea Valley Way. Urgh! Has anyone else been here? It's depressing. Oh maybe that was just how I was feeling? I started at Tottenham Hale and ran up to Broxbourne in Essex. The first few miles are pretty grim - industrial estates, electric pylons, shady "fishermen" fishing under flyovers in polluted water. Bleurgh.

Gratuitous picture of Robson Green







It does get better once this bit is passed. People say hello, and there was definitely less paranoid thoughts of murderers in the bushes on my part.



Another negative was I had a fish finger sandwich half way and then had bad fish thoughts for about an hour afterwards. Need to learn the art of running on the move (though perhaps fish finger burgers not the cuisine of choice...)

So I'm now preparing for my first ultra - gah. 38 miles at the end of November. Little bit scared but bring.it.on.

Increasing the miles, increasing the food :-)

So we're aiming to do a 50 miler soon (though I'm still a little hesitant about this!) so figured that if I'm at 10 miles now, I need to increase pretty rapidly to make 50 miles by first week of November. Decided a little hazardously to run for 3 hours this weekend non stop to test out the old leggies on the road. Here's the route (battersea and back)...


View Larger Map

Verdict? As suspected - hard. So now a little bit worried about the whole race. Though also I think this is quite good - a little like a reality check. It's supposed to be hard - that's the point. If it wasn't, everyone would do it, and it wouldn't be seen as a pretty damn cool thing to try. On the plus I didn't feel too bad the day after - I could have run again if I really had to.

I think I may tinker with the training plan slightly and focus more on longer back to backs but not running every day. Hoping this will also keep my interest up too.

Anyway, other than that I also remembered how absolutely lovely you feel afterwards and also how much food you can eat!

I ploughed through:-

1) Porridge with apricots
2) Big bowl of pasta with peas and salmon
3) Alpen crunchy bar
4) Two slices of toast with jam
5) Takeaway curry - onion bahji, veg dopiaza, rice, naan, poppadom, dahl, saag paneer, beer, more beer, bit more beer

I've read in articles that you burn 100 calories for every mile you run. I reckon it may be slightly less than this, so say it's 75 calories and you run 10 miles that's 750 extra calories of food you can eat!

What could 750 calories get you?

2 1/2 Gu chocolate souffles

25 carrots

4 1/2 cans of tomato soup

Stay tuned for slightly more appropriate recipes for runners..