I donned trainers and went running last night. My route was my 4.2mile short course around the country lanes. I didn’t really intend to push it, I just fancied going for a run.

Almost as soon as I set off I felt pangs of pain in my shins but I was too proud to just stop and turn around, I kind of assumed that the pain would dissipate as I got into the swing of it. It didn’t.

The shin pain is difficult to explain, it felt a bit as if the thin muscle that attaches to the front of the bone was tearing off. It didn’t get any worse really but just sort of slowed my pace.

I decided that running the full distance was not going to do me any favours after about 20 minutes… which was about half way and I was not in any really position to short cut my way home. I cut a few corners and stopped running once I got back onto the estate.

I ran 3.9 miles in 41 minutes with an average speed of 5.71mph. Pretty slow but considering my legs were screaming agony it was a speed I am happy with.

My legs ache today, and this weeks internet diagnosis has pointed the finger solely at shin splints. A painful condition caused by running on hard surfaces. Rest until the pain goes away, and then I will gently get back into the swing.

Fibreglass resin is everywhere!

Nigel and I got together on the weekend to repair the K2. There were a few little holes that wanted patching, the cockpit conning had some chunks missing from it, but most severe damage was where the cable for the rudder was slicing through the boat each time a turn was made. I got hold of some fibreglass from work and with assurances that fibreglassing was really easy was pretty confident that me and my mate could do this.

I have taken photos of the before, work in progress, and hopefully will get some nice finished shots of the craft when it is all sprayed up to perfection. Because I can’t upload them at the moment I am going to ask you to imagine the before and after.
Before Imagine a dusty old scout boat which has generally been looked after, a couple of faded stickers here and there, rusty rudder gear and a couple of holes that could turn ugly if not attended to asap.
After Now you need to imagine a boat that has had all the stickers and the rusty cables removed, has been sanded where there was to be a repair, then had fibreglass inexpertly applied everywhere. There are runs of resin, and a spiders web of rock solid glass especially around the tricky fiddly bit at the cockpit conning.

I think I am making it out to be worse than it is actually. The bit I am most proud of is where the rudder cables will exit the boat, we have bonded in some trick metal eyelets that resemble F1 exhaust ports, and although we have made a bit of a mess in some areas it will tidy up nicely when we have to flat it during the prep for spraying. All in all a success I think. I need to source about 14 metres of replacement cable, and a few other little gromits that I don’t know the name of (I am hoping to be able to show it to a bloke in a hardware shop who will smile and tell me he has hundreds) and then we are good to go.


Bank holiday Monday was a chance to run off a bit of a hangover that had appeared as a direct result of the successful glassfibreing. The sun was shining, I was feeling fit, so I set off for 7.4 miles around town. Everything was good I felt fit my feet were blister free, I was even able to thrown down a couple of sustained fast running to elevate my heart rate whenever I came to a bit of an incline. I don’t think I have felt so fit or happy with my running yet and it was a good feeling. Unfortunately I wore the same shirt I wore for the Ironbridge half, and I developed joggers nipple again which made life a bit uncomfortable but apart from that it was good.

I must have been daydreaming or something as I came to the final mile or so because I suddenly became aware that I was getting overtaken by another jogger. It’s not a problem, he was clearly a fit guy and my ego was already preparing the excuses for why he was able to pass me with such ease (joggers nipple, already covered 6 miles etc.) but the thing was my competitive streak then kicked in. His pace was manageable and I held the gap between us. I was actually pretty happy that I had enough left in the tank to pick up the pace again. Crossing the main roundabout before I get home he had a break in the traffic, I did not and I waited for maybe 30 seconds jogging on the spot while my unknowing pace setter stretched the gap. Underway again and I was running really hard to close the distance and for maybe half a mile I was this side of full blown sprint speed.

I never did catch up with him. By the time I arrived at the turning for my house he was still a few hundred metres away. The sprint finish did zap me though, and once I was off the main road I paused to get my breath back and to let the stars in front of my eyes go away. I walked the final stretch stopping the clock 67 minutes after setting off.

7.22 miles in 67 minutes is an average speed of 6.62 mph. Not bad, and has pegged the speed from my previous (shorter) run which was 6.63mph.

I did go for a run last night after work. I was a bit achy from the Monday run, but I was quite fired up for another smaller run. The rain held off so I set off on my usual 4.2 miler.

There are two hills I have to go up which are about a quarter of a mile long and I really stepped up the pace for these inclines pushing it to VO2Max. By the end though I was pretty binned and my calf muscles were agony.

It took me 38 minutes to do the distance, averaging 6.6mph. I have to admit to being a bit disappointed with that average speed as I thought my uphill sprints would make more of an impression on the speed.

By the time I was finished my legs were wrecked and I am having a rest day today.

Long weekend away in London to wave the wife and sister off on the Playtex Moonwalk. 26 mile walk at night around London. They both completed it in about 9 hours, and judging from the blisters, muscle fatigue and sleep depravation, it was a tough challenge. My involvement was chauffeur and moral support but it did mean that I had Monday off.

Initially my Monday was booked off as we were going to make a long weekend of it, but as it worked out we came home Sunday. But it did mean that we had a day to put one of the cars through MOT. Rather than get the wife out of bed after covering a marathon distance the night before, I decided to run back from the garage.

6 miles through the heart of town from the garage to home according to google maps. Managed to cover the distance in exactly precisely 50 minutes, which is about what I expected, managing an average speed of (if my maths is correct) 7.2mph.

I don’t think I am a morning runner. I got all manner of stitches most notably in my right shoulder, and my throat filled with a nasty metallic tasting spit, though I am prepared to consider that the spit might be because of the exhaust fumes form the Monday rush hour traffic.

I think now is a good idea to endorse 1000 mile socks about now because they are wicked. 6 mile run = blisters. It is a simple rule that I have come to accept but not with these bad boys. Basically they seem to be two very thin socks magically attached to each other, the friction that would normally cause blisters happens between these two layers and your feet are fine.

I also should endorse warming down about now. My calves were in agony when I finally got home (there is quite a lot of uphill out of town to get to my house), it was the same pain that I managed to create in my legs a week ago that had me hobbling around for the rest of the week. Not this time though, there is a dull throb that lets me know that I ran the distance but I can walk and am considering an evening run tonight too.

Devises to Westminster progress hasn’t been going anywhere really. I am now a member of the BCU though, and am pleased to see that the Shropshire Union Canal is on the list of waterways we can use as a member. With this in mind Nigel is coming round this weekend to help me with repairs to the boat. Nothing major, just some fibreglass work around the cockpit, that sort of thing and then after that we are good to go.

Right, finally. I have got back into the whole training thing.

I wasn’t going to mention it as it wasn’t all that much of a stint training but last Thursday I went for a paddle after work. Nothing major, just a slog upriver, muck about in the rapids and a blast back. It was enough to remind me that I could do with building more muscle though.

One thing that concerned me while making my way up the river was the lack of pull out points if we capsize. When Nigel and I took the K2 out and had a couple of sinkings we were near the launch point and were able to get back on the water without too much issue, but further up river beyond the power station there is nothing but steep banks and nettles.

I have just applied to join the BCU (a requirement to take part the in the DW race) and I understand that membership gives you access to quite a lot of waterways in the UK. I’m hoping that the Shropshire Union Canal is one of those waterways because at least canal banks are going to be easier to get out on.

Monday night I went a running. After work, got changed and just went. I didn’t take my usual stuff, no heart rate monitor, no camelback, not even a watch, just my iPod. And I discovered that it was a whole lot of fun without encumbering myself with the usual paraphernalia I feel I need.

4.2 miles of road and footpath according to google. It became 0.1 of a mile longer because there was a load of cows malevolently blocking a gate when I neared home so I had to go around them. I didn’t time myself because I didn’t want to burden myself with hitting targets or keeping to a certain pace I just wanted to put some road miles onto my dodgy knee.

I did commit the running crime of failing to warm up or warm down so my punishment today is aching calves. Apart from that I have no other ills to report, knee has held up to the rigours and though my broken toe reminded me that it is still there every now and then while running, it doesn’t feel any worse for wear today.

Well that’s the end of April and I have done pretty much bugger all.

A holiday, a broken toe and a nasty cold have seen me out of action training wise for about 3 weeks and it has been a slippery slope of less and less motivation. This bank holiday weekend I decided to try and turn this around a little bit.

The weather was glorious and after the wife’s expression of interest of boating whilst on holiday I hired us an open canoe for the day. I have never canoed before and was pleasantly surprised with how much fun it is. I was also surprised how tiring it was. We paddled 13 miles at a leisurely pace which took about 4 hours, by the time we were done I felt fine (though the missus was bushed) but the next day, my shoulders really were achy. Good fun and I intend to do it again, I have considerably more respect for those doing the DW in an open canoe now as they are slow and heavy compared with kayaks.

Sunday was another nice day and we headed off to the beach with my sister and our dogs. The plan was to walk 15 odd miles as the girls are still preparing for their moon walk next month. Me and my dog went charging up and down the beach for a good hour or so but the mutt had lured me into the sea so I ended up with wet sandy feet. This sand then proceeded to grind away the skin on my heels to the point where they bled blood. I had to turn back having run/walked about 3 miles.

Today I have bloody heels and it is painful to walk. I am planning to be back at the swimming pool tomorrow morning and once the feet stop hurting when I have shoes on I will be back street running again.