Tyne Tees Update

Stop press!!! I'll be on North East Tonight on Tyne Tees next week. i.e. week commencing 12/03/2010.

Watch out for me on Tyne Tees TV.

I spent this afternoon filming a piece for the local news programme North East Tonight. The film crew took some footage of me running on Tynemouth Beach and then I gave a face to face interview at David Fairlamb's gym.

I thought it all went very well. After the event, as ever, I thought of things I should have said or could have said differently. I must admit I got a bit choked up when I talked about leaving Katy and Jack for over 3 months while I'm off running across the USA. Overall though I was very pleased, with my contribution to the whole thing and I'm sure after some neat editing it will come across well. 

There is a good chance that the item will be shown on tomorrow's programme at 6 pm. Failing that, it will be early next week. Please watch out for me on Tyne Tees TV. I'd appreciate any feedback or opinion after you've seen the piece. You can get in touch at sponsorship@rungeordierun.com. 

A good start to week 70

This week I have been mostly running 1/2 marathons! It's week 70 of training for USA 2011. Today I ran my 2nd 1/2 marathon in 2 days. Today's route, a big loop 13.5 mile one around Gosforth, was done in 02:10:38. Yesterday's 13 mile effort was an extended Peter's Pies 6 Tyne Bridges Challenge took 02:17:50. I suffered a bit on this one due to a quick 11 mile run on Saturday which had 5 x 8 minute miles and a 7 minute mile in it. That's far too fast for me given what I'm trying to achieve this week. i.e. 7 x 13 mile runs. Will I ever learn!

One thing I have noticed since last week's back massage is that my posture has greatly improved and I've got a much better technique as a result. For me, better technique means better breathing and better breathing means better rhythm. This was evident on Saturday with those quick miles.

I've got another 5 half marathons to do between Tuesday and Saturday this week. The aim is to get each mile as close to 10 minutes as I possibly can. This will be the key to getting all 91 miles done this week. A repeat of Saturday's pace would be foolish!

Back pain no more!

David Fairlamb arranged for me to have a back massage from one of his associates today; John Addison. My back pain had been getting only very slightly better and has been limiting by pace recently. I'm glad to report that the excruciating pain endured during today's massage seems to have done the trick. The real proof of the pudding, however, will be during tomorrow's run when I've got an easy 5 miles to do. I've got a further easy run on Friday and an 11 mile run in the North Pennines on Saturday morning.

Next week is my second so called "Red Week" of the year. This is where I have 7 days of consecutive high mileage.The first Red Week was 4 weeks ago where I ran 10 miles a day for 7 days. Red Weeks occur every 4 weeks with the final one in mid August where I'll be running 32 miles a day for 7 days. 

Next week's Red week is 13 miles per day, starting with an extended Peter's Pies 6 Tyne Bridges Challenge on Sunday. I don't have any school runs to do and will be reducing my hours at work so everything is set up for a successful week.

With further massage from John I should be in much better shape over the coming months. Thanks to David Fairlamb for arranging the sessions with John Addison. Thanks also (I think!!) go to John for donating his time for free and for inflicting so much pain that seems to have cleared up my back problem.

Where will it all end?

The current route that I'm using to run across the USA next year starts at Huntington Beach, California and finishes in Central Park, New York. There is one problem with this. The run will start at the Pacific Ocean but will fall short of the Atlantic Ocean by 20 or so miles. 

It would be a shame to travel all of that way and end up with the run not being a true coast to coast venture. 

Finding an end point for the run has been on my to-do list for quite a while now. With the help of Caroline O'Doherty from The Children's Foundation (and her sister in law in New York) I've decided to bring the 3100 mile run to an end at Coney Island.

Wikipedia has the following to say about the location of my new found "finish line".  "Coney Island is a peninsula, formerly an island, in southernmost Brooklyn, New York City, USA, with a beach on the Atlantic Ocean.".


The thing that swung it for me, though, is the fact that they have their own Hot Dog eating competition! Last year's winner managed to eat 68 hotdogs and buns in 10 minutes! I reckon, having just ran 3100 miles, I may be able to beat that!

In the meantime, it's official. My 3100 mile run across the USA is a true coast to coast route!

Starting to think about the logistics.

I dedicated last night's free time to pricing up flights to and from the US, looking for a hotel in LA and New York and starting the VISA application process. I didn't have too much luck I'm afraid. 

The departure date is too far in the future for flights and hotel bookings. More annoyingly though was the fact that my online VISA application session "timed out" mid application.

When the session timed out, I was at the point in the application where it asked "Where will you be staying"? "Hmmmm, ermmm, arl owa man like"!. Which for readers outside of Newcastle translates to "All over old chap".

I'm going to leave the VISA application until I can book flights and a hotel. Most sites won't allow you to book more than a year in advance so it looks like this is a job for May 2010.

I then decided to issue an appeal to the 1360 members of my Run Geordie Run Facebook group and to my 300 followers on Twitter. The appeal was for anyone who had access to discounted flights and hotels in LA and NY to get in touch. I've had a couple of good replies but I think it's appropriate to mention one particular person at this point.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to introduce the latest member of the Run Geordie Run team; Shelli Tench Mayfield. Shelli lives in the USA and with her best friend being a Geordie she knows what people from our region are all about.

Shelli is currently in the process of creating a PR plan for me "stateside". I don't want to go into any details at this early stage, needless to say that I'm very excited about her plans and even more so with her dedication and effort so far. Aside from PR, it's very comforting to have a good contact in the USA. All of a sudden the whole thing seems a little less daunting than before with access to local knowledge such as Shellis'.

Thanks to Shelli and thanks to all of those folk who have written to me with advice on various aspects of the run and also on fundraising and publicity. The virtual community of helpers and advisors is growing by the week. It's great to have you all aboard. I've said right from the start that the USA 2011 run will be a team effort. It's me putting one front in front of the other a few million times but I'm sure a lot of credit will go to those people behind the scenes who contribute, advise and help out.

An early return to running.

I'm writing this while tucking into porridge with blueberries. Fantastic! Anyway! I haven't ran for over a week due to a pain in my back. I was booked in for a massage on Wednesday to put it right but had to cancel due to a random headache! Strangely enough, a few people I know came down with the same headache symptoms so it must have been some bug or other. I've rearranged the back massage for Wednesday next week. 

In the meantime, however, I'll be back on the streets this morning for the 10.5 mile Peter's Pies 6 Tyne Bridges Challenge. It'll be a case of taking it very steady in order to protect my back. It's important that I get myself fit for next Sunday when I start 7 days of 13 miles per day. This, of course, is part of my gradual build up to 7 days of 32 miles a day by mid August.

For now, though, I turn my immediate attention to getting around the roads and paths of the River Tyne.

A pain in the back!

** Warning! This should not be read by any women. This contains details of a bloke who thinks he's got excruciating pain. What a wimp! **

I gave Beach Bootcamp everything I had last Saturday but unfortunately aggravated my back during one of the sprint drills. Somehow, I made it to the gym afterwards for a 3 x 3 mile session on the treadmill with a mile on the cross trainer in between. This is a kind of session I'd only just tried the night before for the first time. I'd forgotten my iPod and needed a different approach to avoid the boredom. 

The idea here is to get the 3 miles on the treadmill done as quick as possible then the same with the mile on the cross trainer. The next 3 miles on the treadmill must be done quicker than the last 3 and so on. On Friday night I managed a quicker 3 miles each time and left the session with a good calorie burn and more importantly a bit of confidence to take into the weekend. 

Saturday morning's 3 x 3 was a lot different to the previous session. I managed the first 3 miles at a 10 minute mile pace. I just couldn't go any quicker. As soon as I tried to increase the speed in the treadmill the pain in my back became unbearable. When I started the 2nd 3 mile session the pain became unbearable at 11 minute miles. Enough was enough and I decided to call it a day. "Listen to your body" and all that.

Unfortunately, the pain lasted all weekend and I had to duck out Sunday's 10.5 mile Peter's Pies 6 Tyne Bridges Challenge. The pain was at it's worst this morning (Monday) and by mid afternoon the pain had left my back and ventured into my hamstrings via my glutes. Nice!

As I write this blog post this evening, the pain is far more bearable and I hope to be running again by Thursday at the latest.

USA 2011 Training Summary - Week 67

The Run Geordie Run Training Summary is brought to you in association with Northern Runner, 52 Low Friar Street (Just down from the Gate), Newcastle.

Why not visit the Northern Runner shop and let the experts examine your feet to recommend the best shoe for you. Alternatively, click on the link to the left to go straight to their website.

Sunday 7th February - 10.5 mile run, The Peter's Pies 6 Tyne Bridges Challenge. (01:39:06).
Monday 8th February - 6.25 mile run, Jesmond Dene. (01:01:28).
Monday 8th February - 3.75 mile run, Treadmill. (00:39:02).
Tuesday 9th February - 10.3 mile run, Gosforth to Rowlands Gill. (01:52:50).
Wednesday 10th February - 5.2 mile run, Heaton to Dave Fairlamb's Gym. (00:53:29).
Wednesday 10th February - Personal Training Session. (01:30:00).
Wednesday 10th February - 5.2 mile run, Dave Fairlamb's Gym to Heaton. (00:57:48).
Thursday 11th February - 10 mile run, Treadmill. (01:45:10).
Friday 12th February - 10 mile run, Treadmill. (01:47:20).
Saturday 13th February - David Fairlamb's Beach Bootcamp.
Saturday 13th February - 5.1 mile run, Tynemouth, Fish Quay, Pier. (01:00:56).
Saturday 13th February - 5 mile run, Shotley Bridge to Ebchester and back. (00:48:59).

Sore!

Well it's not that often that I ache after a run these days but last night's efforts seemed to have taken their toll on my legs when I woke up this morning. It's not a bad thing when it happens. In fact, I always look forward to seeing how I react on the next scheduled run. On top of the soreness was a wave of tiredness. What a state after 10 miles and 1 gym session!

Today's 10 miles were done on the treadmill in the gym and the first 5 miles were such a struggle. I couldn't get the pace above 11 minute miles. Very poor! At that point I was thinking that I still had quite a few miles to do this week and how more difficult it was probably going to get. Just then, colleague Fraser Scott (aka Crazy Trev) joined me on the adjacent treadmill. Off came my iPod and after a bit of banter (and only 5 miles left to do) I felt a whole lot better and stronger.

I finished the last mile at 07:40 per mile pace and I've got to say that I felt absolutely brilliant. It was a total contrast to when I'd started the run. Anyway! That's 50 miles for the week done and 20 left to do. Surely it's in the bag now!