Running Nick

Sandstorm2008 - Check it Out!

2008-01-14T21:38:00.001Z

For the next few months all my blog postings are going to be on http://sandstorm2008.blogspot.com/, which will be covering the Marathon Des Sables 2008 challenge for Ben Ragless and me.

The London Triathlon 2007

2007-08-07T18:37:00.000+01:00

The day started with Claire and I getting up at 04:00 Sunday morning and leaving for the Excel Centre in London! Ben and I had a wave (start) time of 06:30, which suddenly seemed very tight after arriving in the main hall at Excel with only 30 minutes to spare.

We found our designated bike rack and laid out all the kit we would need in the right order to ensure a quick, mistake free transition. Last on was the wetsuit with a splash of baby oil to help with getting it off after the swim. Fortunately there was a 15 min delay to the start for Ben and I to talk tactics!

We jumped into Victoria Dock at 06:45 and surprisingly it wasn't cold but was slightly salty and quite brown?! About 250 25-29 year old guys set off on the 1500m swim as the above picture shows. It was pretty exciting and rough at the start but soon things calmed down and I could get into a rhythm. Due to my lack of freestyle ability I did a mix of breaststroke and front crawl, which served me well. I scrambled out of the dock and began taking off the wetsuit to some greatly appreciated cheers from Claire and Annie! As people staggered into the main hall to get their bikes I ran, as I thought this was easy time to save! The first transition went well, with no slip ups and I headed out on to the bike route and my favorite discipline of the tri.

The 40 km bike course comprised of 2 laps, with the final lap taking competitors up to Big Ben and back to the Excel centre, I have never travelled through central London as fast as Sunday morning! My aim was to keep an average speed at 20 mph, which I could see from my computer as that would put me close to a certain Mr.Cameron's time! It was quite a push but just managed it. I arrived back at Excel in 1hr 8 mins and tried to locate my bike rack, to pick up my trainers for the run. Eventually I found it and did a quick change and set off on the 10 km run.

As I exited the Excel centre Al was on the sidelines cheering away shouting "Pull your socks up Summers"! I was a bit confused as I wasn't wearing socks but appreciated the support anyway and gave him a thumbs up.

When I got outside I realised just how hot it was and it was only 09:00! The run was tough, really tough, I hadn't done enough bike-run practice and I really felt it. The course was 2 laps round the docks and mostly in the sun! Thankfully I had great support and loud cheers from Claire and Al and that kept me going and helped push me on. Strangely I found the second lap a bit easier and to back that up, my time for the 2nd lap was a minute quicker than the first! The first time I've done a negative split.

I crossed the finish line in 2hrs 30mins 52 secs and thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and it won't be my last tri!

You can see a breakdown of our times here - http://olympic.triathlonresults.co.uk/ResultODMale2529_2.htm

Claire took some great pictures on the day (please excuse all the sweat!), which are on my Flickr site - http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicksummers

The nearly Chasing Gurhka route

2007-07-25T17:35:00.000+01:00

So here goes another map (through MyMapPlus) but this time its interactive! On Trailwalker I carried my Garmin etrex round just in case we got into a spot of navigational bother, of course we didn't need it!

However I kept it running and recorded the complete track of our route, along with the waypoints. I've used the waypoints and embedded our celebratory checkpoint photos from Flickr, just for fun!

You should be able to click here to view the track in Google Earth.

BRICK

2007-07-23T20:52:00.001+01:00

A week after Trailwalker and yesterday was going to be another tough one! With less than 2 weeks to go until the London Triathlon I feel very under prepared, as running/walking 100km's is so different to the high heart rate and bursts of speed required for a triathlon.

So yesterday I did a 10 mile bike around Welwyn Garden City, a quick transition in the back garden, then headed out on a 5.5 mile run. The bike and run combined in a training session is know as a 'brick' due to the way your legs and feet feel! I have done one before and that was at the Bude Tri, but I'm conscious that I'm really not used to this kind of thing, so want to get at least another two done before 5th August.

The brick training went to plan and although pretty tough heading straight for the run, it was manageable and got round in 1:10 mins. The bike was 32 mins and run (included Knightsfield Road!) was 35mins and the rest being transition.

Today is a rest day! Back to the pool tomorrow though : )

Trailwalker Rankings

2007-07-23T20:42:00.000+01:00

The Trailwalker 2007 times are finally out and we officially came 16th out of 196 of teams that finished as a team of 4 people - many did not! Our ranking of Male teams puts us 13th!!!

It was no surprise to see 4 Gurhka teams leading the way, with the winning team crossing the line in 10 hrs 34 mins 12 secs. Well done guys!

A full breakdown of the results can be found here - http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_you_can_do/events/trailwalker/downloads/20070718-TeamRankings-250ops.xls

Some early video footage!

2007-07-18T16:56:00.000+01:00

Courtesy of Claire Nally Movies Inc we're all very lucky to have some early video action from Trailwalker 2007!

There's going to be more coming from my Dad following some much needed editing out of cheesy smiles and lack of conversation I expect!

There are some more YouTube clips below:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mlkNolXcl_U (Check out the Pasta Feast! - Checkpoint 2)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5viOl0lOe9w

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EyowJPG5J9k (Ben's new Trainers!)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vkfXi4elbjw (Jack & Jill Windmills - Checkpoint 8)

TRAILWALKER 2007 - In Sub 17hrs!!

2007-07-15T19:11:00.000+01:00

Yesterday at 22:51 the Chasing Gurkhas (Ben, Me, Dan, Sim) completed the 100km Trailwalker event across the South Downs Way!

We achieved both our aims of finishing as a team of four and doing it in under 18 hrs, we actually managed to complete the 100km's in an official 16 hrs:51mins:7secs.

We're still waiting to hear our final finishing place...as soon as we get it, I'll post it!

The Trailwalker Route

2007-07-11T21:16:00.001+01:00

It's three days to go until the 100 Km challenge across the South Downs Way and The Chasing Gurkhas team (Ben, Dan, Sim and me) are raring to go and final preparations are in full swing!

Today I banged into my Garmin etrex the waypoint/checkpoint locations, so we know ETA's at checkpoints and just in case we not sure where we are on the map, we can always check the GPS!

I'm also hoping to write a list of food supplies we need for the trip as well and pick everything up tomorrow. There's lots to consider as carbohydrate is the order of the day but it can get boring and sickly, so I'll probably be mixing it up with some raisins, nuts and cold pasta to keep me going.

Click here to check out the Checkpoints along the route.

To view in Google Earth click this link - http://sandstorm2008.com/kml/trailwalker2007waypoints.kmz

A sunny bike ride at last!

2007-07-10T21:58:00.000+01:00

For the first time in what seems like weeks, we had a sunny evening. So I took headed out for a bike round the countryside of Hertfordshire. It was perfect conditions with little wind and humidity.

I completed 14.5 miles in 50 mins around a route I've done 4 times now.

The Bude Triathlon

2007-06-27T21:51:00.000+01:00

On Sunday while the rest of the UK were getting soaked Al, Kathy and I took part in the Bude Tri, all the way down in sunny Cornwall. We all met up in Sidbury (where we were staying) on Saturday and headed straight for the beach for a practice sea swim in wetsuits which until then I hadn't done! Following the practice swim, Mr.Cameron gave a 1 hour How To session on bike transitions, which was great for me and Kathy as this was our first tri.

On Sunday we arrived in Bude, racked our bikes and begun checking out the competition as well as the swimming route. We had a quick briefing, then headed down to the beach ready for the start. Our route started in a river, then out to a buoy and back in to the beach. The bike was scenic 11 mile ride out of Bude up and down some hills then back into Bude. The run was a tough 3.5 mile route around Bude, with lots of much needed support towards the end! If anyone is interested in the results click here - http://www.shorelineactivities.co.uk/shorelinetriathlonresults07.htm

It was a really fun event to do and great practice for the real deal in August.

My first Tri - Bude (Sprint)

2007-06-22T17:45:00.000+01:00

For the past couple of months I've been triathlon training and Sunday marks my first race at the Bude Triathlon! I'm looking at it more like an experience rather than actually a race as my swimming is still pretty bad but I expect that's what most beginner triathletes say - at least I hope so! After spending the past couple of weekends away I haven't even done a 'Brick', the bike then run bit, so I'm hoping I don't get cramp!

I'm sure it will all come together and it is just a Sprint:

Swim 500m

Cycle 11km

Run 5km

I'm doing it with Al Cameron and Katherine Berry. I think all of us are counting this one as a bit of practice for the main event which is the London Tri on 5th August.

Stats and Maps from last weekend

2007-06-22T16:18:00.000+01:00

Using Dan and Simeon's Garmin running computers and my Garmin etrex GPS receiver (the yellow brick!) we've got the following split times for each of the 42 miles and a map for the route in the Peak District.

Here are the stats:

1 15.15 2 17.25 3 15.52 4 10.12 5 10.42 6 12.57 7 14.26 8 15.28 9 18.45 10 14.31 11 13.39 12 11.30 13 16.08 14 17.20 15 20.03 16 14.44 17 15.56 18 25.42 19 16.33 20 16.58 21 22.12 22 11.06 23 40.40 24 16.37 25 17.57 26 15.53 27 13.49 28 13.52 29 14.03 30 15.26 31 22.14 32 16.06 33 12.18 34 20.01 35 15.54 36 13.33 37 13.43 38 15.15 39 24.05 40 11.54 41 13.26 42 12.04

The slow miles were either the food stop in Matlock or the constant changing of the map!

And here is the route we took on a map along with some photos that you can view by clicking on the map pins - http://www.sandstorm2008.com/kml/chasinggurkhastraininggmap.html

Summer Training Camp for Chasing Gurkhas

2007-06-20T18:11:00.000+01:00

Last weekend the Chasing Gurkhas (Ben Ragless, me, Dan Barrett, Simeon Willis) 2007 Trailwalker team had a training session up in the Peak District. We all met up at a cracking Youth Hostel (Ravenstor) near Buxton with yours truly getting the top bunk, which was going to prove tough going on Saturday evening!

My challenge had been to come up with a 42 mile route with some hills, downhills and hopefully some flats, trying to imitate the South Downs - all with a piece of string! After 10 miles or so it quickly became apparent my route was nearer 50-55 miles, so a more direct route back to the YH was found! Our plan was to run the downhills, flat sections and walk (as fast as we could) the hills. This worked pretty well and we managed to maintain a similar pace throughout the 42 miles, with only changing the map causing delays. The weather was pretty typical....sun one minute, then heavy rain the next but was never really a problem and the scenery was brilliant...

We completed the 42 miles in 11hrs 25mins, which will hopefully stand us in good stead for 14th July. But perhaps the best news is that nobody has reported any injuries, let's keep it like that! : )

My MRI

2007-04-16T14:10:00.000+01:00

Over the past 6 weeks you would have noticed a real lack of Posts on my blog. Unfortunately this has been due to a knee injury I picked up way back on 17th February at the Thames Path Ultra. Since then I've been visiting the physio twice a week for suspected tendinitis, along with the usual anti-inflammatory, ice and NO RUNNING!

It's steadily improved but running is still painful, so I visited the 'Knee Guy' in Hertfordshire last week and he put me in for an x-ray and MRI.

The MRI was a crazy experience! I was put on a bed, with headphones on listening to Top Gear, Greatest Car Driving Songs!! It lasted 35 mins and the noise from the machine virtually blocked out those great rock tunes like Huey Lewis and the News! I should find out more on Wednesday...

Saracens v harlequins

2007-04-15T17:40:00.000+01:00

What better way to spend a sunny april afternoon than watch some live rugby! Some friends from Welwyn and i enjoyed the 33-19 at sarcaracens in watford.

A year later and back at the Berkhampsted 1/2 Marathon

2007-03-04T18:35:00.000Z

My first half marathon was last years at Berkhampsted. The route is a good mix of town and rural roads with at least three pretty long hills, with the final one being just before the 11 mile marker. Last year I made it round in 1hr 49 mins, which I was pleased about seeing as though it was the longest distance I'd ever run!

So a year on I was eager to find out how much of an improvement they'd be! Conditions were shockingly bad, with torrential rain from start to finish. The route was identical to last years, which was reassuring and felt familiar.

My plan was to try and match my Stevenage pace of 7.5 minute miles. I finished with a time of 1hr 37 mins - identical to my Stevenage 1/2 marathon but this race was much tougher, rain and hills, so all in all pretty chuffed! Place 203 out of 943.

Next up is the Silverstone 1/2, which is flat and in theory fast! Just need to sort out my 'Runners Knee' over the next few weeks, with a visit to the physio.

A few days after...

2007-02-20T18:48:00.000Z

Looking back on Saturday it was such good fun, even if my legs are still like two stiff planks of wood! I'd defintely recommend this event next year.
So the big question was did I take too much kit and give myself back sores unnecessarily? The answer is a definet YES! I probably ate half of what is in the picture below. The organisers were really good and gave us a rationed 500 ml bottle of water (at checkpoint 2 I had to take 1ltr) cake, Haribo and chocolate, so I just didn't need to break into my stuff, so I'll know for next year.

The GPS receiver came in handy, helping us out in the dark when we had no clue where we were on the map! Here's our actual route in GE, after checkpoint 4 you might spot some doubling back, when we should have crossed the bridge!- TPU_17_2_07

The next race on the calendar is the Berkhampsted Half Marathon, which was my first running race, so looking forward to that on Sunday 4th March.

Matching medals and jumpers

2007-02-17T21:53:00.000Z

We successfully completed the thames path ultra in 10 hrs 36 mins. Secretely we were hoping for anything under 12 so we're dead chuffed with the time. Really good event with lots of cool people happy to share their experiences . Off home for a long sleep!

Ben on the Thames Path Ultra at Marlow

2007-02-17T13:10:00.000Z

Kit for tomorrow

2007-02-16T20:34:00.000Z

Hopefully i need all this kit! We'll soon see.

Thames Path Ultra

2007-02-16T14:24:00.000Z

Tomorrow marks my first Ultra anything! The Thames Path Ultra is a 50 mile foot race from Reading to Shepperton. It starts at 09:00 Saturday and closes at 01:00 Sunday morning! There are 4 checkpoints along the route, which also close at preset times, so if we start to slow too much, we're out! Our tactics at the moment are to run steadily for as long as possible, hopefully around 5 hrs. We know that once we break into a walk it will be near impossible for us to start running again!

The Thames Path Ultra is intended to be an essential part of training for the MdS taking place at the end March this year. All participants must carry all water, food, clothing and any other essentials like Vaseline, just like the Marathon of the Sahara but without the sand!

The leaders should be finished between 7-8 hours, fortunately for Ben and I, we're not doing the MdS until next year, so we're using this race more for experience and meeting people who've been there and done it before. The only aim I'm going to post is that we want to finish and get the medal and certificate, anything else would be a bonus right now.

Off now to get an emergency pair of socks and my kit!

A New Toy

2007-02-14T17:51:00.000Z

This Christmas I got a Garmin etrex GPS receiver from Claire, which I'm sure is no reflection of my map reading skills on those walks in the Lake District!!

I was up and running recording tracks within minutes, which could be uploaded to some mapping software like Cadcorp or Google Earth but what I really struggled with was creating Waypoints and constructing a route! So with its first real test looming this Saturday at the Thames Path Ultra, I've finally got it nailed and its very cool!

For those that are interested click here to see the Waypoints for the route Ben and I will be taking on the Thames Path Ultra this Saturday on a map! Where you can also link off to Google Earth to fly the route.

Its Official - I am a TG!

2007-02-13T20:00:00.000Z

On January 28th, Ben and I undertook the Tough Guy challenge, which this year was known as the Oirish Toiger 2007?!?! It was a relatively mild, dry day at around 8 deg but that doesn't help a great deal when you have obstacle after obstacle to contend with - most of which involve getting very wet and cold!

It started with an 8 or so cross country miles, which was pretty dry under foot, until some cargo netting towards the end. At this point the wet, cold torture started to take its grip, with ditches full of water to contend...then on to the Killing Fields!

The Killing Fields is basically an open space, with a variety of challenges ranging from climbing A-Frames (for the first time ever) to the really tough obstacles like the above picture (not me!) know as the Fiery Holes. This involved jumping between deep, muddy water with hay bails to clamber on, whilst negotiating a hot, smouldering bonfire. All good fun!

Ben and I finished with a good time of 2hrs 29 mins and received the biggest medal yet! Imagine a horse brass and you'll be on the right lines!

So was it the toughest thing I've done yet, you may ask? Well I'm not sure, its incomparable to any other event I've entered up until now. I have to say, nothing quite hurt as much as crossing the 24 mile marker at the London Marathon last year!

No excuses this year - Tough Guy 2007 this w/e

2007-01-27T17:16:00.000Z

Last years disappointed is soon to be all forgotten about when Ben and I take on the Tough Guy 2007 challenge. Whilst snowboarding last year I dislocated my shoulder on Day 2 in Val d'isere, getting a massive air off a chairlift - if only!! This meant pulling out of Tough Guy and watching from the sidelines with Ben doing a magnificent job of completing the event. I was very gutted not to be taking part.

Back to this year and preperations have gone well for the event as Ben and I competed in plenty of races and Trailwalker, which was tough! A few weeks ago I went snowboarding again, for some cold weather training, which kinda worked except it wasn't much below freezing! But all day spent on snow and strapped to a board wouldn't do any harm and a lot more fun than being at work!

Since coming back, a mixture of gym work and running has been the order of the day, as this event is extremely hard to train for. Yes, it starts with a cross country run , which sounds very nice but then there's A-Frames, Vietcong tunnels and a Paradise Climb, which you just can't prepare for, so fingers crossed for tomorrow! As well as the training Ben and I have been massing together quite a bit of kit for the day, inc. neoprene vest, neoprene gloves, swim hat, hats and other disposable gloves! Watching last year, hopefully gave me some tips for the day.

Thanks for entering again Ben, I doubt I would be doing this if it weren't for you!

The aim of tomorrow is to finish as I'm not going back to beat a time!! Right off to put this one to bed once and for all!

...photos and report to follow shortly.

Trailwalker 2006 my favourite pictures

2006-07-20T12:43:00.000+01:00

Click here to see and download pictures.

Trailwalker 2006 Stats

2006-07-20T11:03:00.000+01:00

Courtesy of Ben here are some stats from trailwalker 2006:

403 teams started the event of which:

Finished in a four: 202 (50%)
Finished in a three: 109 (27%)
Finished in a two: 31 (8%)
Finished in a one: 11 (3%)
Did not finish: 50 (12%)

We finished 124th with a time of 24hrs 48mins

For those wanting more information and stats go to the Trailwalker website.

So overall our position was pretty good but like 50% of the other teams we didn't manage to finish as a team of four. This is what seems hardest!

Trailwalker 2006

2006-07-18T13:24:00.000+01:00

What a great experience!!

We (Paul, Ben, Nick and Tim) set off at 06:00 on Saturday 15th July 2006 from the Queen Elizabeth Park outside Petersfield on a 100 Km walk/run across the South Downs Way and what an experience it was!

Our team name was "Third Time Lucky" for reasons I shan't go into now but all I can say is that there may be a "Fourth Time Lucky" team entering next year!!

The route took us along the South Downs Way the majority of the time only deviating to meet our great support crew (Claire, Annie, Lauranza, Caroline, fantastic bus driver Ben's Dad and my parents who assisted in the medical emergency) at the 10 Checkpoints.

Our primary aim was to finish as a team of four as normally 50% of teams loose at least one member of the team on route. Our second target was getting a time between 20-24 hrs, which with the training and preparation since the London Marathon we'd put in over the previous 3 months, we thought both were achievable aims.

As the leading Gurkha's set off at the front (running the entire 100Km), Third Time Lucky settled into a strong pace, with the team agreeing prior to the event to run downhill sections in daylight hours to help our pace. We passed through Checkpoint 3 on a 18 hr pace, which was good as we knew when it got dark we would naturally slow.

During Stage 4-5 (15:00) trouble struck as Paul (who got married to Caroline on Tuesday - congratulations!) was having problems with his right foot. Unfortunately the injury got worse and Paul had to retire and the support crew upping sticks to meet us 4.5 miles from the Washington Checkpoint. The three of us arrived at Checkpoint 5 to see Paul being looked at by the ambulance team. My Mum and Dad also met us at Checkpoint 5, as it was only a few miles from Worthing, it was a real boost to see some friendly faces at the half way point.

We carried onto Checkpoint 6 which was only a 9.8 Km yomp to Botolphs, near Steyning. This would be the last Checkpoint we'd see in daylight, so it seemed a good time to tend to the blisters for the last time, which by this stage were looking pretty nasty, especially Ben's who had to tape up tape up his right foot! I seemed to get away with not too many problems, just one large blister on my left foot, which had appeared at Checkpoint 2!

We were all looking forward to Checkpoint 7 as we'd been told the Gurkha's would be cooking up lots of pasta! It was a hard 8.7 Km stage to Devils Dyke but very rewarding as we saw a spectacular sunset as we approached the checkpoint. To my amazement Mum & Dad had made it as well, along with Paul who had spent 3 hrs at Worthing A&E getting his foot checked out. After eating, we got straight into our night gear (extra layers, hat, gloves and head torch), as it turned very cold compared to the 30 degrees heat earlier in the day.

Stage 8 was a short stage, only 6.7 Km but it became apparent very quickly that walking at night was never going to be easy or that fast. After being surrounded with fellow trailwalkers all day we suddenly found ourselves on our own with only the odd glimmer of a head torch, so navigating became a major priority, as none of us wanted to walk more than we had to! We arrived at the Jack and Jill windmills at around midnight, we eventually found our mini-bus with two people (Annie and Claire) wrapped up in sleeping bags on watch duties! Both were pretty much asleep but who blames them, I wanted that to be me!

We set off into the night knowing that Stage 9 was going to be toughest as it was a whopping 13 Km across large, open areas of land, which is tough as the footpath can often disappear, then reappear 200 metres on, proving difficult when dark. For nearly 2 hrs we saw nobody and the banter in the team had all but dried up making this quite a mentally testing time as well as physical because all we wanted to do was stop and go to sleep, we had now been walking for 19 hrs straight.

As we approached Lewis other trailwalkers seemed to appear out of know where, giving us a lift and extra motivation to finish the stage. But probably one of the toughest bits of trailwalker was walking the last 1 km of this stage as it never seemed to end, eventually we made it - the end was finally in sight! This checkpoint was the last time we saw our support crew until the finish, only two stages and 12 Km in to go! We set off with the sun rise less than an hour away (03:45'ish).

The last stages were obviously tough but it did seem very uphill for the most part! Checkpoint 10 was a couple of Gurkha's with the clock-in computers and jerry cans of water, so we breezed through the checkpoint, wasting no time with only the finish on our minds.

As we approached Brighton, we started encountering local residents walking their dogs, I remember thinking we must have looked like 'travellers', dirty clothes and weathered face but it didn't matter we could now see the finish at Brighton Race Course. We completed the final furlong (201 metres) on the race course and crossed the finish line in 24 hrs and 48 mins and 48 secs.

It was a great event to take part in as everyone was supporting each other, whether it was the Gurkha's shouting "keep going Sir" or the wonderful support crew ready with food and water at every checkpoint.

Will there be a next time, we'll have to see but one things for sure Ben and I aren't settling at 100Km! Planning has already begun...

Too hot for a PB at the St.Albans Half Marathon!

2006-06-16T19:34:00.000+01:00

So how did it go? Actually, it went pretty well considering it was hitting nearly 30 degrees mid race! Aparently there was a record number of entrants, well over 2100, which was great for the organisers but not so good for the runners!!

Ben and I set off from Verulamium Park, St.Albans at 10:00 (strangely taking longer to cross the official Start line than at the London Marathon?!) , it became obvious after the first couple of miles that roads were not going to be closed, so instead there were 2100+ runners trying to negotiate narrow tracks on the side of busy roads or braving it like me and running by the curb on the road! Not very good.

The route I'd give a 6/10, overall organisation I'd say 7/10, water stops I'd give 3/10 (where was the last one, it was signposted but never appeared?!).

On a more positive note, I was really pleased with my time because the training has been very inconsistent recently, with Trailwalker fast approaching on July 15th. I came in with a time of 1:54, position 392 out of 1465 finishers - all results are on the St. Albans 1/2 Marathon website.

I'm sure the conditions took a good 10 minutes out off my time as the winner finished with a time of 1:15, which is 10 minutes slower than expected. Still a dam fast time!!

Preparing for the scorching St Albans 1/2 Marathon

2006-06-10T18:51:00.000+01:00

Apologies for the lack of posts on my blog recently. Could I use the excuse that I've been training too much? Absolutely not! But with a busy month ahead, I'll be doing my best to keep the blog up to date as much as possible. So keep checking!!

Following the London Marathon I took 7 days off running completely, including in the gym. Following my lay off, I was surprised how quick my legs recovered and it wasn't long before I set was doing 3 km runs at lunch in the gym.

In recent weeks I've been building up the training gearing towards tomorrows 1/2 marathon. The running has mainly consisted of doing at least one 9/10 mile a week at a fast'ish pace and most days in the gym doing cardio and working on improving my core strength.

I'll be running tomorrow with Ben in seriously hot weather, which apparently not very conducive to fast times, so I'll be happy to finish the race with a sub 1:50 time.

I'll post my time on the blog as soon as I get it!

Running Nick to Carry On!

2006-04-27T21:27:00.000+01:00

Well I've definitely caught the running bug and can't wait till my next race. I must have such a bad short term memory, as Sunday's pain seems such a distant experience!

So what's next?

I'm hoping to enter another Half-Marathon during May or June (will post in the next couple of days) but the big event that I'm training for now is TRAILWALKER, which is an Ultra-Marathon! It is a 100 Km run/walk across the South Downs on July 15th-16th. In a recent Trailwalker briefing we were told that it is the equivalent of 2 marathons and climbing Ben Nevis - crazy!

The team (team name tbc) of 4 is:

Ben
Tim
Paul
Me

At some point I will stop signing up for these events and get on with some decorating round our new house!

Thanks for all the support!

2006-04-26T22:21:00.000+01:00

So enough about the glory boys for a minute!

Of course there's always people in the background giving great support and Ben, Tristan and I were no exception. So I'd like to take this opportunity to say a huge thanks to all the girlfriends, wives, friends and family for their support on those cold, wintry weekend runs for the past 6 months.

But without a doubt seeing all the friendly faces on route on Sunday was such a lift to us all, it was brilliant, especially those hi-5's along Embankment!

Sorry Tristan, such a great picture of you.

London Marathon Completed : )

2006-04-24T18:06:00.000+01:00

We Did it!!

Yesterday Nick, Ben and Tristan all completed the London Marathon in very respectable times:

Nick: 4:12:20 ; Ben: 4:24:02 ; Tristan: 4:46:20

It was an amazing day and was so brilliant taking part! A huge thanks to all our supporters around the route, and everyone who has sponsored us. We have raised money far beyond our expectations for the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund, due to everyones amazing generosity - thank you!

My stats from the race look like:

More photos to follow shortly....

The Running Numbers to remember!

2006-04-21T12:53:00.000+01:00

To help all those great people who are coming along to support us at the weekend, I thought it would be helpful to give you our running numbers that we picked up last night from the ExCel centre.

Ben - 10054
Tristan - 8807
Nick - 44050

With the aim of running a time of under 4hrs I thought it might be useful to give a rough guide on where we'll be from the 13 mile marker. So here's our best guess give or take 5/10 mins!

13 - 11:30........... 20 - 12:24
14 - 11:38........... 21 - 12:33
15 - 11:46........... 22 - 12:41
16 - 11:52........... 23 - 12:49
17 - 12:00........... 24 - 13:03
18 - 12:08.......... 25 - 13:12
19 - 12:16........... 26.2 - 13:25 ish!!

Breaking the £1000 barrier!

2006-04-20T13:30:00.000+01:00

Yesterday the www.JustGiving.com/NickSummers website topped the £1000 mark, which was great news. A huge thanks to everyone who has sponsored Ben, Trsitan and me, now its down to us on Sunday!

Re-Charging the legs!

2006-04-19T13:23:00.000+01:00

Following Ben's lead I ventured to the Saks salon for a "Deep Tissue Leg Massage"! I have to admit I was a bit dubious about the whole thing, relaxing waterfall music, burning oils dimmed lighting you can just imagine!

Anyway I am pleased to report that it was a really good thing to do as my legs feel back to the way they were before all the marathon training started.

Map of the London Marathon route

2006-04-18T14:52:00.000+01:00

For my friends at work and those wondering where the London Marathon route will take 45,000+ mad runners.....

Click here to Open the London Marathon route in Google Earth. - before I get accosted by map mechanics, I know the mile markers are slightly out, poor data quality I'm afraid.

And the official London Marathon route map, for those without Google Earth, Click here for a .pdf of the route.

Chocolate and pasta Loading

2006-04-17T21:53:00.000+01:00

I hope everyone had a good Easter holiday and got lots Easter eggs!

On the training side of things Good Friday was the last longish run of 10 miles round Welwyn Garden City again! We're really not going to miss our well trodden loop round the town, up to the Hatfield Tescos and back home. We weren't aiming for a particular time but jogged round in 1hr 30mins, which was a bit average....Obviously saving it for Sunday!

The remainder of the Easter weekend was spent with Claire's family in Norfolk, resting up and eating plenty of pasta and Easter chocolate of course!

I'll post some info on the Marathon route and extra bits in the next day.

2 weeks to go and the last long run

2006-04-09T18:08:00.000+01:00

Today Ben and I tackled our last long run before the marathon, which I can't believe is only 2 weeks away!

We decided to repeat last Sundays 18 mile run (2 laps round WGC), as both of us felt we could do better and hopefully not feel so knackered at the end! After watching a great new band last night called the Guillemots in Northampton, we decided to get up early for a Sunday and hit the streets at 09:00. We clocked 2 hrs 44 mins, which was an improvement but the great thing was that we both felt much stronger after 13 miles and at the end, which hopefully bodes well for 2 weeks time.

Time to taper down....

Someone who couldn't recover in time!

2006-04-05T19:39:00.000+01:00

Sadly the news broke this week that Paula Radcliffe pulled out of this years London Marathon, with a foot injury. Such a shame as I was looking forward to keeping up with Paula for at least 1 mile - in my dreams!

I forgot to mention in an earlier post this week that Ben and I went out for our 'long run' on Sunday after meeting up with Jean Pickering, from the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund. It was also a good excuse to try out the new clothing for race day.

We covered 18 miles in 2hrs 50 mins, which was an OK time but we were probably hoping for a quicker time. We think the time can be improved on so we're going to repeat the run this Sunday. I hope the time is better!

The big positive from Sunday's run was that NO chaffing was reported.

Don't look if your Squeamish!!

2006-04-04T19:29:00.000+01:00

Recently everyone's been asking about 'the shoulder' so thought I'd let you all know on my blog!

It all seems such a long time ago but back in early January I headed out to Val D'Isere for the essential, annual snowboard trip with a great bunch of people that didn't know each other hardly at all (Pen, Laura, Vicky, Nav, Mike, I'm not in Africa Rob and Al)! But as most of you all know disaster struck after lunch on Day 2.
Since the 'reduction of the shoulder' on that fateful day, I've done loads of physiotherapy, which has worked brilliantly and 12 weeks on I'm ready to run the London Marathon!

A massive thanks again to everyone for their support.

Got the T-Shirt!

2006-04-03T17:28:00.000+01:00

On Sunday Ben and I went to the Puma centre at Gosling Sports Park to meet up with Jean Pickering (Olympic bronze medalist in hurdles '52) and some fellow marathon competitors Running for Ron. It was also a good opportunity to pick up the official Run for Ron running shirt (see below) for April 23rd and a photo shoot for the local paper - Welwyn and Hatfield Times.

Probably the most useful part of the morning was speaking to a veteran of many a marathon. He suggested that the second 20 miles of the marathon is the section to focus on and doing a 'negative' first 13.3 miles (running a slower first half of the marathon) was a good thing. If that happens we'll be very happy : )

Some warm weather training!

2006-03-27T14:10:00.000+01:00

Since moving into our new house its been pretty hectic un-packing boxes, meeting the neighbours and weekend training so Claire and I booked a quick trip away to Barcelona for lots of great food and culture. Plus it gave me the opportunity to try out my Spanish, which I've been studying for the last couple of weeks. Needs more practice thats for sure!!

So last week was seen as a 'rest', which was a good thing as my knees had started getting a bit sore after all the recent road running.

However, come Sunday we were back out training except rather than running it was a 23 mile fast walk (Nick, Ben, Tim and Paul! I don't want to say too much at the moment but this was the first training session for the UK Trailwalker event which takes place on July 15th 2006. It took us what seemed a staggering 6 hrs 15 mins!! More to come on this soon...

Silverstone Half Marathon

2006-03-19T21:20:00.000Z

You can just make out the medals!

This was to be Ben and my second competitive half-marathon race, in preperation for April 23rd and it was a good one! We were quitely confident of a quicker time than at the Berko Half 2 weeks ago, due to Silverstone being pretty flat and the 21 miles we put in last Sunday. 13.1 miles would see like a quick jog!

The good news is that we both completed it in 1hr 43mins, which we are really happy with as it beat the Berko Half time by 8 mins! Go here to see Race Report and 'official' Result listing.

Hopefully some official pictures coming soon...

Rocket Fuel for the 21 Mile weekend run

2006-03-14T13:25:00.000Z

On Sunday afternoon Ben and I set off on 3 laps around Welwyn Garden City, including an extended section up to Tesco's in Hatfield. Half way round it was time for my first ever Lucozade Carbo Gel, which Ben assured me was like Rocket Fuel for about an hour! Sure enough, straight away the syrup type mixture hit the spot, unfortunately it had also covered my t-shirt (sorry no pic!) in the process!

The 3rd lap was tough for sure, going from our longest run of 13.1 miles to 21 was a big jump but had to be done with 7 weeks to go. We made it round in 3 hr 5 mins, which was pretty respectable for a first attempt we think! We're going for a second attempt in a couple of weeks time!

Look what came through the post today!

2006-03-10T13:31:00.000Z

As I was going through the boring post (mainly bills, NTL again!) this morning I kept what looked like interesting mail till last! Sure enough it was running related...I got more excited when I saw it was a running number I thought YES, my London Marathon number is here.....but then I realised that runner number 3436 was a pretty low number for the big one!

So sure enough 3436 is my London Half Marathon running number. Word on the street is that there's going to be over 10,000 crazy runners jogging round a F1 racetrack! For those who interested the Silverstone course looks like this -http://www.tophalfmarathons.co.uk/images/silverstone_map.pdf

Ben and I are both racing and hope to beat last weeks time of 1hr 49 mins. Pressures on!

Who else is Running for Ron?

2006-03-09T13:22:00.000Z

Tristan's House Party - Sheperds Bush ,London

Needless to say lots of famous people (Minister for Sport, Sports Commentators etc) run for the Ron Pickering Memorial Fund but who's running in my team?!

Well after much persuasion at a house party, last Friday in London I can now confirm that the Team looks like this:

Ben Ragless - veteran of many challenging events such as Trailwalker (x2), Marathons and of course in Jan 2006 became an official Tough Guy (http://www.toughguy.co.uk/).

Tristan Robinson - athletic looking Belgium guy who likes to capitalise on his height by playing Basketball and puts plenty of time in the UCL Union!

Me - Fairly fit but always thinks we're quicker than we really are!

Blitzing the Berko Half!

2006-03-05T19:02:00.000Z

Today was the first race in preparation for the big one in April. Before the race we were hoping for a sub 2 hour time which took into account the hilly terrain of the Chilterns. We had heard the course was pretty tough!

We were glad to see that there was no rain/snow/sleet and the skies were blue, but temps were low. We positioned ourselves optimistically at the 1hr 45min marker at the start. The course was undulating with hills at 3, 5 and 11 miles, but passed through some cracking scenery.

Close to the finish we realised a 1hr 50 was doable, and strode out to the finish (picture above - us in the finishing straight!) and made a 1hr 49 time. See here for the results page.

Here's a piccie of us proudly showing off our medals.. (from right to left: Ben, me, Gary and James (future runner!).

Something also worth mentioning is that Claire and I have moved into our new house in Old Welwyn.

10 miles round WGC

2006-03-02T13:17:00.000Z

Ben and I went out last night for the last run before the Berkhampsted half. We managed a bit over 10 miles in 1hr 25 mins, which is just over 8 minute miles, so we're feeling pretty good about Sunday! Fingers crossed it warms up a bit :)

The route Ben and I took was from Old Welwyn to / through / round Welwyn Garden City! I'm sure the map makes much more sense! http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=44966

5 days to the Berko Half!

2006-02-28T13:34:00.000Z

Into the last week before the first half marathon and all is going to plan so far! Tonight is the first of many pasta meals this week, plus the compulsory Shrove Tuesday pancakes of course!

Ben and I are due to do a final practice run tomorrow evening, fingers crossed snow / ice free! Currently the forecast for Sunday is looking like a chilly 5 deg with rain!

New pictures coming soon, so check back soon!

Training update....

2006-02-24T12:09:00.000Z

Training is going well. We did a 1/2 marathon run on Monday from Welwyn village, which was run in a good time despite the wind and rain. Looking forward to the Berkhamstead half marathon next sunday as this will be the first 'real' race.

Ben's a real Tough Guy...

2006-02-16T16:09:00.000Z

This is a piccie of Ben (fellow marathon runner) at Tough Guy 06. Unfortunately Nick was not able to take part despite serious training, as he dislocated his shoulder while snowboarding at the beginning of January. This has put the marathon training back slightly as he needed to keep the arm in a sling for 3 weeks.

Intro..

2006-02-16T15:59:00.000Z

This is a blog to keep up to date with Nick's progress for the London Marathon in 2006