Tag: running

Long Slow Run….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 2 Comments

With the prospect of completing 20 miles and 200 obstacles less than a month away I decided that I needed to get some miles under my belt. So this morning I ran 16.3 miles. It was a lovely morning. I was even feeling strong up to about 14 miles but the last couple were a struggle. A simple stile at mile 15 felt like a mountain and even kerbs were requiring a big effort. Not sure how I'm going to cope with 200 obstacles.

But I'm glad I've completed a nice long run. Plan is to complete 18 or so miles next weekend, with a few days at the gym in between.

 

One month to go….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 2 Comments

That can't be right! Can it? This time next month I will be going to bed safe in the knowledge that in the morning I will be participating in the Rat Race Dirty Weekend in Stamford. Just to confirm it is not some sort of mass sordid swingers weekend or a weekend trapping rats or even a sensible run in the country. It is in fact the “largest assault course on Earth”. 20 miles. 200 obstacles.

 

I'll be the first to admit that the training is not going amazingly well. I ran a half-marathon a few weeks ago, and done plenty of 30 min runs around the woods. I even joined a gym in an attempt to shake up the training a bit. But 200 obstacles!? So on the run home from the gym today I took the opportunity to attempt the mother of all obstacles….

As I approached the pipe that spanned the treacherous fast flowing dyke I was feeling somewhat apprehensive, I was sweating more than the 15min hill reps I'd just completed at the gym and even more than Ted Striker….

I was getting closer and closer. My heartbeat was increasing. In my head I was trying to work out what to do if I fell in. The walk home covered from head to foot in scummy, manky dyke water was not worth thinking about. I'd decided that if I did loss my balance I would dive to safety into the nettles, the idea of being covered in nettle rash must outweigh the risk of botulism. So, a plan was in place, if it came to it I would dive to safety…

I went for it…..

Suffice to say: I survived. I'm ready!

 

Only 68 days….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 4 Comments

….until the Rat Race Dirty Weekend at Burghley House in Stamford. Just to remind you, actually it may be just to remind myself: 20 miles. 200 obstacles. You did indeed read that right. 20 miles. 200 obstacles. Apparently, “It's bigger, bolder and badder than ever!” I think the time has come to put in a bit extra work.

Since Janathon I've been taking it a bit easy. Completed about a dozen runs, the longest around 10 miles. So with the spectre of the Rat Race Dirty Weekend on the horizon, plus the Newton's Fraction Half-Marathon just round the corner, tonight's run was to include obstacles. When I say obstacles, I actually mean just one obstacle. It may not look like much, but it's an obstacle all the same…

You may look at it and say: call that an obstacle? Granted, it is only 2 feet high, and when I approached it for the first time I sailed over it like a salmon swimming upstream on it's impossibly long migration to its spawning grounds. However, after 4 miles of trail running through the woods at a pretty brisk pace, when I reached it for the second time, it looked more like this….

Suffice to say I cleared it. I'm ready.

 

A world famous star thinks I’m fabulous….

~ Phil Lengthorn ~ 7 Comments

Having recently been converted to the Nike+ running app I was presently surprised when the world famous Trey Hardee had a personal message for me at the end of tonight's run. What did you say? You've never heard of Trey Hardee? You've never heard of the remarkable Trey Hardee? Well to be totally honest, I hadn't heard of the fella either. Although a quick internet search and I am now fully conversed in the ways of the Trey Hardee: an all American decathlon star. But the important thing is that he has heard of me and he was very happy with my run tonight…..

So, the penultimate day of Janathon is complete, and after tonight's 3 mile run in the rain I am on the verge of cracking the 100 miles. Lovely jubbly.

Total Janathon mileage = 98.69