Only me

2 weeks out from the first ultra of the year, 6 months of solid training and I go and (probably) break my toe on a baby gate I installed to keep Murph from troubles food ….

Spot the fucked one – Icing it in the Bristol channel at 6 this morning – now THAT is cold. Plus I have weird feet – No wonder im always injured

Where are you?  Murph likes to jump this stile first then pops his head back over to check im coming

At the beach earlier a big lab just appeared from nowhere (my neighbour was also walking her dogs as it turned out)  My first reaction was oh god here we go dogfight. But instant friendship and this is them leaping all over each other and playing.  I have to remember Murph is not Soak who would have probably attacked first and asked questions later.

Similarity to Soak is uncanny though

See what I mean?

Bits and Pieces

So how do you do this taper thing anyway? I’m doing more milage now I have Murphy but its mainly walking at the moment.  Though we did run to the beach and back earlier we’re covering at least 5 miles a day just in walks – he’s loving it, I’m loving it. Whats not to love.  He’s getting better at recall too and really settling in.

He’s a bit of an early riser – As in as soon as the birds start he’s awake and that means so am I so we were at the beach by 6 this morning.  However this has its advantages – We get first dibs on beach salvage and also going twice a day means I can shift more plastics off the beach.

So the week I get a dog I find a brand new dog toy washed up … weird

having a whale of a time  geddit?  Really he’s thinking why are you waving a plastic whale toy at me

Just hapy to be out and free

Podenco cross

Happy

Mean and moody

Gratuitous dog post

I would have done this anyway but as SRG requested it you get more Murphy photos (In case you missed it I have a new dog called Murphy)  He is settling in better than I could have possibly hoped.  He and Trouble get on fine – well they pretty much ignore each other which is awesome.  He’s pretty well behaved (though may possibly be a sock destroyer) and is already starting to learn recall.  I’m already walking him off the lead (he sticks like glue) as long as theres no livestock or cliffs around and he loves the beach – which is also lucky as he’s going to spend a lot of time there.

The Preseli Ultrabeast is only 16 days away so I might as well start my taper early and stick to walking him and the odd jog with him.  The fankle is a bit tender and I have a niggle in my groin (both probably as a result of the breakneck pace on saturday) so I’ll just rest them and chill with Murph.  He’s going to be an ace training partner, when I run he doesn’t really break into a run just ups his walking trot a bit.  I think he’s got plenty more miles in those legs than I have.

And so with no further ado the photos

With his best buddy Tilly

Yeah he likes the rocks too

Weird ass shape on him sometimes – Podenco cross or something (Hes from Portugal)

Playing together

Still weirdass

Posing for photos

First time in the sea

Not too sure of the water and cant actually swim (he fell in a rockpool so I know this)

Tired out and sofa chilling

Posing in the rain

 

Welcome Murphy

Everyone say hello to the latest addition to the trailrunning community. I give you my new dog – Murphy!

First day I walked him

Murphy is the reason I was down West Wales last week and why I’ve been doing a little less running – I’ve been driving a 3 hour round trip every day to walk and bond with him and finally I brought him home yesterday.  The scary thing is that completely by accident he looks like a Soaky copy – Purely unintentional I orignially inquired about a different dog which had been rehomed and they mentioned Murphy.

Hes had a bit of a rough start to life and is very nervous but already he’s starting to improve.  We’ve been to the beach already and he’s settling in nicely. Him and the cat basically ignore each other – I think Trouble just assumes Soak has been missing for a few years and now returned.  At the moment Murph is like a shadow but slept hapily in his crate last night and we’ve just had a short run at the beach as he is going to have little choice but be a training companion – And thankfully he seems to love to run, he gets a goofy grin on his face and just lopes alongside with no effort while I puff and pant.

So if you dont like dogs I’d stop reading the blog now cos it’s likely to include a lot of Murphy from here on in. Oh and Mawil – the rope is for him to chew on and play with 😉

Day two and off lead already – Im being very cautious and no fields with livestock but he’s sticking like glue to be fair and at 6 in the morning he’s safe enough as there’s no-one about

We have a few issues with stiles – Not sure he’s ever had to climb one before – He’s getting there though

Beach dog!

Getting up to speed

Good look Murph

I had a shower and thought i’d lost him already then I realised he was on the sofa in my middle room which has a black throw on it – His eyes gave him away after I’d searched every room for him

 

Karma

I believe in karma. Or essentially what goes around comes around. It works both ways, bad and good karma.  Learned the hard way and seen it happen thankfully to others who deserved it (Yes I have a mean streak a mile wide)

So yesterday I had to go out mid morning and decided to fit in a quick 4 mile or so run to the Barrow mound on the cliffs as the tide was in.  When I got there it was beautiful and sunny.

Like this kinda sunny

So I headed back and passed coming the other way a group of kids doing their Duke of Edinburgh type stuff, all with their packs on etc  I met one group at a stile and the first two kids just ignored me stood there dripping with sweat and breathing hard and then a girl at the back said “wait everyone let the person through” (Im not sure that they knew what gender I was due to the long hair) and so I hopped over and thanked them and ran on.

A mile or so later I got to the beach and found one of them had dropped their sleeping mat.  So what do you do? I was in a rush as I had an appointment to keep, I had already run 3 or 4 miles hard pace and they were headed in the opposite direction and all uphill. You know what – the tipping point of making me grab it and run as hard as I could to catch them (they move fast these damn kids) over 2 miles or so at 6-7 minute uphill pace (good training hey) was that the girl had called out to let me through and they did.

So I caught them eventually utterly fucked and they were I think amazed that I had done that for one of them – all I could gasp was “Its a bastard sleeping out without a mat” and trotted off – thankfully downhill and home. Ok so I was a little late. So what – And thats karma.  Just the little things can come back to you. And maybe those kids saw a small  gesture from a stranger and might just try it themselves.

Should have nicked it for myself it was a nice one too (Joking of course)

Quick update

Had a few things going on lately so only a few runs this week. At the moment it feels fine and the body can probably use the lessened milage.  Its only three weeks to the Preseli Ultrabeast and in a way I feel like I peaked in the last few weeks so it’s more a case of just keeping the sharpness there.  I don’t want an injury. Though I have noticed that despite not running for 3 days the fankles still hurt as normal. I guess they’re just damaged in general although the amount of time I spend on my feet at work doesnt probably help much.

So what did I do this week …

I ran in some cool sea mists – Always love it when the weather does this even if the rest of the village doesn’t get to see any sun

I found a rope – I found a rope than ran home with it. Why? Do I just like ropes? All will be revealed

Buttercup Abacus

Hill sprints yesterday at Cwm Nash.  I never quite know how many I’ve done so I used nature to help me count. Sprint up, jog down and pick a buttercup on the way, drop it in a pile at the bottom of the climb,  I think it’s 20 its kinda hard to tell. Whatever the exact it’s almost inconceivable that I can run around 20 of these, 2 or 3 used to kill me not so long ago. Plus I ran back home at pretty much full beans. Feeling good. Please body hold out a month like this :p

Carefully laid on Trumps toupee

There are worse places to train!

Preseli recon and newfound common sense!

I was down in West Wales yesterday and as you do figured I could add an hour or two to my journey to get to the Preselis and have a bit of a practice ready for the Ultra there in May.  I know most of the course and only intended on running the Beast Bach course which is around 11 miles and I was fairly sure I could navigate that.  By the time I got there around half two I noticed that the clouds were covering the peaks. Ah well let’s go up and see what happens.

Clouds – bastards

One of the nice things about the Preseli races is the variety of terrain, it isnt all fell. At the start (and end) there are some lovely forestry parts

And you get to run through and old slate quarry

Then a right bastard of a drag up and up and up the neverending drag bastard hill

So I got to the top of the bastard drag where the Beast and beast Bach split and this was the view – around 20 yards visibility and everything pretty damn boggy.  Now I don’t care about freezing cold bog water, In fact i kinda like it in an odd way but the fog? I know the route – I don’t know it well enough to navigate sheep tracks in order to follow the route safely. I know from being up here on fine days the place is massive and I was likely to end up lost.  So for once common sense kicked in and I took a route that followed a fence and bridleway. At least I could easily retrace my steps and had a landmark.

A few miles later I was glad I did – This is a completely different section of the fells … note similarity to first photo. I would have been totally lost up here. It all looks identical in the fog

Following the fence was one thing – running through the streams and marsh was loads of fun though.  I really do love it when it’s a path less trodden

Out of the fog and the panorama google made me looks kinda cool

On the way back down I passed the beautiful wild ponies I’ve seen a number of times.  The thing about training here yesterday was there was no rush, no other people and it was more of an explore.  When I race here there’s no time to take photos or just chill out.  I honestly couldn’t tell you which I prefer.  I only covered 9 or 10 miles but it was a breeze compared to the 32 to come.

 

It’s natural right?

Kids do it naturally as do animals so why do adult humans prfer to walk? Just one of those “while im out running thoughts” I had while another 9 miles flew past yesterday in the sun (and then the clouds came in but hey)

Check out this little dude, can only have been a few days old and giving it full beans!

Sunset after a long weekend

I was away at a friends all weekend, four hour drive back and the sun was out. So despite the utter knackeredness I just couldn’t help but go out. 8 miles or so …. can you blame me