The day after...
Yesterday I ran the Men's Health Survival of the Fittest.
At the time I both loved and hated it, by the time we all finished (my team was called the Backstabbers, thanks Chris), the pain was forgotten and all was good.
If you asked me as a trainer to prepare you for a 10km all terrain assault course, it would be one of the simplest tasks I could do. It's my type of training. A mixture of upper and lower body circuits to sap your legs mixed with various intervals from 200m (different gradients to 3 kms flat).
I could give you every bit of preparation right up to 15 minutes before the run and you'd do well.
So what did I do?
Did I sit down 12 weeks ago and write a program for a 44 year old male, who doesn't run, and likes it even less. Did I formulate a plan to deal with a left achilles injury and potential plantar fasciatis in the right foot? Did I heck.
I trained for a 10km run by swimming and doing strength training. A bug took out a couple of weeks, meaning my motivation dropped and in 12 weeks I ran once. 2.5kms.
So as a result I suffered all the way round yesterday. Legs felt very unsteady from the first kilometer. I ran with zero confidence in my body, because I hadn't prepared. This happened before when we went cycling in the Swiss Alps a few years ago.
Now what is going on?
I actually think it was fear that immobilized me. Two years ago the unknowns were swimming in a wetsuit in a lake, and riding mountains that I hadn't experienced in 30 years. I suffered then as well. But the surprise was I got through it. Same with yesterday, I haven't experienced anything like this, ever.
My team waited for me multiple times.
It didn't help that I smashed both shins in the first km. That's when the internal self talk started trying to get me to stop. I switched into sighting on a small blond lady in front of me, and I made the deal I had to beat her, no matter what. Told the boys and every time she passed me they wouldn't let her get 50m before making me pick up my pace.
The event was a lot of fun and if you want good day out I'm definitely going to do it again next year with the target of beating our 1.08.06 by at least 15 minutes. The time doesn't reflect how much or how little running you do because a lot of time is spent being held up by the people in front. But let's be honest those people 15-20 minutes in front did run faster, and did get through the obstacles faster. So it follows that if we stay with them, we (me especially) will be a lot faster.
The memorable parts...
The first km people were running round puddles and trying not to get wet, about 500m in you had to wade waist deep through a water filled skip. After that we all ran straight through puddles.
The parkour bit, for some reason I stepped over (wtf!), it wasn't until we got on the track that my body remembered how to hurdle, made life a lot easier.
The crawl through the ice pits was ok, but then the crawl through a foot of water was the only time I lterally lost my breath because it was SO cold, and the fireman's hose didn't help.
Running through Battersea power station was amazing, I think that's another one of my problems, I like to experience things, look at my surroundings rather than running head down, and it was a gorgeous Urban course.
I was genuinely surprised by the last parts, people were struggling and the last km was probably the easiest of all.
My advice is have a go at some of these run/assault course events. There was a 12 mile one at Brands Hatch today and there are loads in the calender for next year. But don't follow my lame example, actually train for it, it can only make a whole world of difference.
My observation was the day got noticeably colder, so I would try and get in wave as early as possibly. Don't wear too many layers, after my first dunking I weighed another 5kgs at least, and that wet weight has to be carried all the way round.
At the time I both loved and hated it, by the time we all finished (my team was called the Backstabbers, thanks Chris), the pain was forgotten and all was good.
If you asked me as a trainer to prepare you for a 10km all terrain assault course, it would be one of the simplest tasks I could do. It's my type of training. A mixture of upper and lower body circuits to sap your legs mixed with various intervals from 200m (different gradients to 3 kms flat).
I could give you every bit of preparation right up to 15 minutes before the run and you'd do well.
So what did I do?
Did I sit down 12 weeks ago and write a program for a 44 year old male, who doesn't run, and likes it even less. Did I formulate a plan to deal with a left achilles injury and potential plantar fasciatis in the right foot? Did I heck.
I trained for a 10km run by swimming and doing strength training. A bug took out a couple of weeks, meaning my motivation dropped and in 12 weeks I ran once. 2.5kms.
So as a result I suffered all the way round yesterday. Legs felt very unsteady from the first kilometer. I ran with zero confidence in my body, because I hadn't prepared. This happened before when we went cycling in the Swiss Alps a few years ago.
Now what is going on?
I actually think it was fear that immobilized me. Two years ago the unknowns were swimming in a wetsuit in a lake, and riding mountains that I hadn't experienced in 30 years. I suffered then as well. But the surprise was I got through it. Same with yesterday, I haven't experienced anything like this, ever.
My team waited for me multiple times.
It didn't help that I smashed both shins in the first km. That's when the internal self talk started trying to get me to stop. I switched into sighting on a small blond lady in front of me, and I made the deal I had to beat her, no matter what. Told the boys and every time she passed me they wouldn't let her get 50m before making me pick up my pace.
The event was a lot of fun and if you want good day out I'm definitely going to do it again next year with the target of beating our 1.08.06 by at least 15 minutes. The time doesn't reflect how much or how little running you do because a lot of time is spent being held up by the people in front. But let's be honest those people 15-20 minutes in front did run faster, and did get through the obstacles faster. So it follows that if we stay with them, we (me especially) will be a lot faster.
The memorable parts...
The first km people were running round puddles and trying not to get wet, about 500m in you had to wade waist deep through a water filled skip. After that we all ran straight through puddles.
The parkour bit, for some reason I stepped over (wtf!), it wasn't until we got on the track that my body remembered how to hurdle, made life a lot easier.
The crawl through the ice pits was ok, but then the crawl through a foot of water was the only time I lterally lost my breath because it was SO cold, and the fireman's hose didn't help.
Running through Battersea power station was amazing, I think that's another one of my problems, I like to experience things, look at my surroundings rather than running head down, and it was a gorgeous Urban course.
I was genuinely surprised by the last parts, people were struggling and the last km was probably the easiest of all.
My advice is have a go at some of these run/assault course events. There was a 12 mile one at Brands Hatch today and there are loads in the calender for next year. But don't follow my lame example, actually train for it, it can only make a whole world of difference.
My observation was the day got noticeably colder, so I would try and get in wave as early as possibly. Don't wear too many layers, after my first dunking I weighed another 5kgs at least, and that wet weight has to be carried all the way round.
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