H - 3 Days

In all Liklihood this is my last post prior to the 100 miles run, so I best make it agudun with no grammar errors orspaling misstakes else peops wont read.

Saw, wots gunna happen on fryday?

I'S guna run, wark or crawl 100 mile until im dun ore dunin.

This bit is serious now. Last week my dad (Brian - whom I get my middle name from (John)) decided he'd had enough and quit this life and moved onto bigger and better things, he now watches over us. I'm so proud to have been his son and hope he was just as proud been my dad. It was never daddy, or father or pa. Plain old dad it was. There was no airs or graces, a spade was a spade, that was my dad. He never put it any other way. Maybe thats how come Ive become so tactful (ness?)

I was doing the run for the Veterans. I still am, but that also includes the best veteran I knew. My dad served in the first Gulf War in the 1960s. When I was packing some of his gear up I found his GSM(its not a medal of courage or a medal of honour, but it is a medal I will cherish for the rest of my life, whether I get to keep it or not - I'll add it to my GSM medal I was awarded for the conflict I served in in 1992 during the FRY conflict when based in Bosnia). My run is now for dad, Brian. I hope you can still look down and call my a silly bugger, granted you may have phrased it something like

"Russell, you f$%^&^% stupid little c^&% what a c&^%^$% f%^$%$£" bas^%%^ing twa%^^%stupid bas67876 of an idea. You are truly a stupid f&&&&*^ tw$t.". This is pretty accurate and not meant to offend, but that was dad.

Okay, so the tent above with my brother attached to it represents camping out and I'm pleased to say that some people will be in the park overnight camping out. I'lll thank each of you individually and will be indebted to you for supporting me. Thank you one and all.

My brother represnts the QM. This weeks QM is Liz, many thanks to Liz pre run.

It is the QM's task to ensure he/she make note of all participants, to take note of their name (I'm not bothered about how far - as every little helps(was it T.E. Sco that coined this phrase)), so that I coin thank all who helped, whether by running or supporting.

Only one last thing to say. Thank you all.

Busy Busy Busy

Monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday , saturday, sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, runday, walkday, crawlday, walkbackwardsday, XC PECO day.

This is how my next couple of weeks look. As if this aint bad enough, I see Jaz and my girlfriend chatting about making it coloured coded and the use of running in makeup.

WHAT? Are you kidding. Anyone who knows me knows that I dont have any fashion sense as it is, never mind colour coding whilst running 100 miles. Do me a favour.

Seasons was the theme. I'll be lucky to remember to wear my underpants that day, never mind dress like Autumn, Summer, Spring and Winter.

I appreciate the very kind offer of Jaz's curry, but I dont know if I could even comtemplate dressing with fashion in mind. I still wear the same pants I bought back in the 80's. I certainly dont want to be looking like Boy George from Culture Club do I?

From here it all gets very serious, but fun. I'll name a few people here who I would like to thank prior to the run. At current date, you've all said you'll run (not to worry if you can no longer make it - the thought that counts x).

Zoë, Wends, Tom, Helen, Jaz, Tess, Chris, Liz, Gill, Guy, Robin, Phillippa, Kaja, Harp, Geoff, Paul (W), Kay, Sam, Ralph, Sue, JoeLuca.

Thats 21 of you, I love that so many of you are willing to give your time to help me acheive this feat. It really has become your event. Many thanks for the jump start.

I also thank the park ranger whose wife agreed for us to put up a tent and use a gas burner during the event.

See you all at the start.

BFT

I find it harder to write the blog than to actually get on and do the task.

This week I followed another 24 hour challenge which was completed by (I think 8) guys in the Army. For anyone in the Army you will know of a challenge called the BFT (Basic Fitness Test). I believe this may have changed slightly in the years since I left, but on the whole the test has remained on the same. And without realising it I suppose I've been running 5k's ever since I joined the Army.

Anyway, back to the test. Each year, the minimum fitness was a 3 mile timed run. When I did it it was in combat boots, but nearing the end of my time in the Army, it was considered that running in leather boots damaged your legs and they then started running in trainers.

Everyone would run as a team for the first mile and a half. You did this in 15 minutes dead (even in the early 80's it seems I knew how to pace without realising it). The 2nd half, again a mile and a half was an individual run. The fastest I ever did this was dead on 8 minutes. I've just checked and if my maths is correct, then I used to run that section of it at 5min18sec pace.

Back to the team running this 24 hour challenge. This team of 8 men were to run on the hour every hour, the BFT test. That is 72 miles each, but at quite a fast pace. And if you think about the test I just explained you will see that this is a big big feat of endurance.

Well done you guys.

4 weeks and Counting

Less than 4 weeks to go, for some reason I'm beginning to think that I can cram for my 100 miles in 24 hours.

Lets face it, I am not a student revising for an exam in a couple of days. Building your core strength is something that is done over years of running, these last 4 weeks of training will not give me anything else in the tank.

I had to be reminded my Zoe that It's not the end of the world, when I pretty much declared that I'd made a huge mistake by realising that I couldnt get my normal 8 runs in this week. I'm working down south for the first 2 days of the week.

Anyone would have thought that it was Zoe who had been running for years when I told her that I needed to sort my time out as I couldnt run as much as I NEEDED to this week.

'RUSSELL, your core strength and cardio are already very strong.'

I cant deny that she isnt correct. Anyway, from next week I guess I have a new trainer. lol.

That aside, I've started to believe that this task, whilst not to be underestimated is one that I now know I can do. Many people would follow that up with weather dependant. Well, I dont care what the weather is like, I'll be going for 24 hours anyway. If its raining, windy, snowing, sleet, hail, cats and dogs, so be it. If it aint, then that would be great also.

One thing I've noticed is that when you think that your next achievement is HUUUUGE, you will always notice someone else doing something bigger and better. I did LeJO'G, then my mate cycled across America. I'm running a 100 miles in a day, someone else is doing 131 in 48hrs.

Only 2 more hard weeks left, then taper and run run run run x 100. I have started to look foward to this so much and getting anxious as to the outcome. Will I finish it, will I crack after 40, 50 or even 60 miles. Please see my list below as to what it equates to.

a. If you ran parkrun every week, it would take you 32 weeks of running to clock up the miles that 100 in a day will do.

b. If you ran the Abbey Dash every year (including todays one), you'd be finished in 2026.

c. If you ran the Brass Monkey every year, you'd be done in 2018.

I hope I now see the enormity of the challenge for which I've set myself, I am so glad I find myself with enough people that will help me through.

Support from Friends

When I started my training for the 100 miles in a day, I ensured that I got two things right.

a. When's my spring marathon - That'll be Edinburgh in May. (I'm going to need a minimum of 4 months solid training for that if I'm going to get a GFA for London in the Olympic year. So that means I'd start my training mid to end of January 2011.)

b. Plenty of training for the 100 in 24 hours. (Okay, I didnt get this one correct. If I need 4 months training for a marathon, then surely I'll need a solid year to train for 100 miles).

A year wasnt possible. I've reduced that slightly to just over 6 weeks. 3 weeks big mileage, followed by 3 weeks taper.

Is my plan going to work? Of course it is, I just need plenty of slow miles in my legs. And lots of support from my friends (I would say family - but they think I lost my marbles a long time ago and me saying to them "I'm just off to run a 100 miles", is similar to saying "Just off down the shops". Its really not that impressive anymore. 100metres or 100 miles, its the same number, so cant be much further. I've done a 10 day trek, so doing a one day run is nothing to be impressed about. Joking aside, I'm really pleased with the support that I'm getting from everyone, including my family.

I know from my run today in the park which included 13 laps (out of 96) that one of the worst things coming my way is the absolute boredom of it all. So, I am so happy that I've had at least 15-20 people say that they will come along and give me some support and run a lap or two.

Thank you one and all. I will name you all at a later stage by name and thank you individually. (At this stage, you will have to do with knowing who you are).

However, I'd like to thank two individuals at this point.

I'd like to thank Wendy (Wends) Shaw. Wends is travelling up from Reading and will be running through the night with me, this could be upto 50 miles, maybe more depending on what time Wends arrives in Leeds. Wends has done a few marathons, including the 5 in 5 days earlier in the year. She is also the sister of the second person I'm thanking.

I'd like to thank Zoe Dale, my girlfriend who will be travelling from Eastbourne to run through the night with me. Zoe has only been running since April of this year and has done 2 marathons and 5 half's already this year. She will be running alternate laps with me. She will also be providing me with support, such as hugs for both myself and Wends, when we are feeling down and the odd cup of tea or ten to keep us warm in the small hours.

Thank you both. xx

Skins - Need I say more?

Slow Down Wont You (pacing is everything)

All week I've been wanting to slow down so that I can get to grips with the pace I need to set for the 24 hour challenge. Go to slow and you risk not completing, go to quick to begin with and you blow a gasket.

On the whole during a race I'm okay with this concept of pacing. That is at my pace though, around 6.50 to 8 minutes per mile.

Running 100 miles in a day requires a pace of around 14 mins average per mile. Clearly I wont be running that pace, I'll want to build a lead and have time to spare.

However, running at this slower pace has proved quite a task. For example, today I ran parkrun Brighton with an anticipated finish time of 30 minutes. Like parkrun Leeds it is 2 big laps and one small one.

I set off and ran slow (or so i thought), then when I got to the nd of the first small lap I was already 1 minute up, then at the end of the 2nd lap, 3 minutes up. What the heck, I sprinted the last lap at sub 20 minute pace passing 35 people in the last kilometre (yes I actually counted them, Im obsessive). Ending up 6.30 minutes under target, 2 minutes per mile quicker than I actually wanted to run.

Slow Down Wont You.

Ramblings of a mad man.

I cant believe just how tired I feel this morning after just two days of training. If I feel this tired after only 2 days of training, then how will I cope with the full 24 hour slog. At least I know that I have the stamina and mental resolve to complete the task, having completed a few other daft feats as follows:

a. 16 Marathons, including 5 in 5 days, averaging 3hrs 59min
b. 40 Mile ultra done in 7hrs 30.
c. 52 Mile Ultra done in 10hrs 30.
d. Mountain Marathon in Chamonix
e. 2 Marathons in 2 days just 3 weeks ago.

I'm trying to imagine how tired I'd feel staying up for a full 24hours. The issue wont be the mileage(thats not to say that I will underestimate it because I wont be, if you'd like a representation of how far it is, check out this link PRESS HERE), but staying awake, I need to know what that feels like. I wonder if anyone has an ideas what it feels like. I could possibly ask the Beastie Boys, they sang a song about staying awake until gone midnight.

Does anyone know what the world looks like at 3am in the morning or has anyone been outside between office hours, I'm not even certain that the world is still there once I've gone in the office.

On the running front I've gone from training for 5kms, straight up to training for a 160km run. Thats 32 parkruns (one word, all letters lower case - anyone know whose bugbear that is).

Just how do you train for such a distance? The answer is I dont know, other than one thing, I suspect 80% (ish) is going to be mental. I will be doing over the next 3 weeks a lot of mileage, at slow speeds, before I taper, a taper after only 3 weeks running, now theres a thought. If my training plan works, I should be able to adapt it and put together a quickfire 5 week marathon training plan.

If youve read this far, you should have noted that my writing style is completely random, the reason for that is there is so much in my head which I need out, therefore jumping from topic to top..

I'd like to thank my brother, Paul for setting up the spreadsheet on the blog, which should start to fill up if I get many people wanting to run a mile and (sponsoring me).

If anyone is concerned about getting cold during the night if you plan on coming over to give me support, I'll be setting up a 6 berth tent, along with a table with a double gas burner and will be bringing a kettle and tea bags and coffee, to keep you all warm. I'll also bring along 3 or 4 sleeping bags if you plan on spending more than an hour or so on site.

Thanks, and please keep reading.

How to Share A Spreadsheet

Okay, I remember telling Chris to stop blogging and get on with his running. That I thought was very good advice. If your blogging about running the VLM 2011, then the blog comes second and the training first. That was then, this is now.

I am writing to ask if anyone has any advice on how to a attach a document for others to view and attach that to the blog.

I basically would like to know how to add a spreadsheet with those people wanting to run a mile or so with me. I can then add details such as timings when they will run and other details.

If you would like to run a mile, could I ask that you sponsor me at my Just Giving page. If you would rather not, that really is fine, but please do show your support on the day if possible.

Many thanks and please send your suggestions on how to share a spreadsheet to my email (russellgardham@yahoo.co.uk) or message me on facebook if you are a friend of mine on facebook.

Rusty x

100 miles - 24 hours

My mission: Run 100 miles (in 24 hours)
When: 17/18 December
Start time: 10am


My challenge. I am going to run a 100 miles in a 24 hour period. I will run the 100 miles at the home of Leeds park run. This will be over 90 laps of the park. When you consider that park run is under 3, you will soon realise that the run will be more than 30 consecutive park runs. Phew.....

Okay, I have been a supporter of Project 65 for a year now. Please see the link to their page here Project 65. This charity is to help injured service personnel and their families.

I am running 5 marathons in 5 days next year with my girlfriend Zoë, her own charity page can be found here Zoë's Page.

What I would like is for people to sign up to run the odd lap with me. It would be great if you could sponsor a lap with me. My average running pace will be 14mins per mile, but I will start at around 10mins to begin with at the start of the day. I am not quite as mad as Rusty, but would love to run with him, so will press this link to sponsor him.

However, if you'd like to support me any other way, such as hot drinks, something to eat or even to come and cheer me on, then please do so. Any support will be much appreciated, especially at 3am in the morning, lol.

For my initial blog, I think that I will leave it at that and see what response I get. I will then blog on my feelings, trainings and goings on over the next 6 weeks or so.

thanks for reading.