2020 DIARY. A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF AN EVERYDAY RUNNER

2020 RUNNING DIARY 

This is a journal of my 2020 running.  Entries will all be about running but may have a few other moans and groans along the way, be warned, i can be proper miserable.  Please feel free to comment on anything, good or bad, I can take it. 

2020 is pretty much mapped out for me regarding aims. I have so far got numerous events booked up. 2 x 50 mile runs, 1 x 100 mile run and my biggest challenge I've taken on in my 6 years of running. 230 mile, 6 day multi stage event. There will be numerous marathons added along the way.

JANUARY 

1st Wednesday.

Today was recovery run day after yesterday’s liverbird Marathon. Did a few laps of the Tarn, a local lake. Ran with Mrs S. All was ok. This time of year we play spot the new years resolution runners, not sure if we decided any were new or not. 5k was done and all was ok, weather was fine. Rest of the day was eating. 

2nd Thursday 

Back to work today, after 2 weeks off, but did a 5k beforehand.  A boring 2 laps of town but all went ok with it. Legs a tad achy. Sick to death of hearing about veganuary and RED ( run every day ). I don’t care if you want to go vegan or if you’re doing RED, even worse if you’re doing veganuary and RED. STOP GOING ON ABOUT IT, it’s boring. Jan 3rd Friday No running but did finish work at 4pm ( normally 7 pm) which meant we can drive to Shipley in Yorkshire for tomorrows Marathon.  Had the normal night before Marathon meal of chips. Jan 4th Saturday It’s my birthday.  Woke at 5 am in a premier inn. Had to spend the first 90 mins sitting in the bath, so I never woke Mrs S.  She wouldn't appreciate waking up that early. She finally woke at 6:30 and gave me a few pressies. We got ready for todays Marathon,  grim up north Titus trot,  our 4th Marathon in 10 days. Had malt loaf as per normal 2 hours before the start. The Marathon itself went ok. All along the canal. I like canals but they do get a tad tedious after so long, there were periods of just wanting to get it done. Was running to the pace Mrs S  set which resulted in a sub 4 Marathon and 3rd female position for Mrs S.  So, it was a successful run today but slightly tinged by the fact it would be our last run together for a while. The Christmas/ new year period is time we run together no matter what. Once back home I had more presents and my favourite meal of sausage mash & beans followed by cheesecake. Jan 5th Sunday No running today, rest day. They are important though I did have 6 hours on the M6, not sure that’s very restful.  Once home we had Chinese take away, lots of it followed by birthday cake and champagne.  It was the last blow out and puts an end to Christmas/ new year for us. I'm pleased as I feel I've really plugged out over the last 2 weeks. I need to get back to normal. Still fed up of hearing about Veganuary & RED. You don't need to tell us how wonderful you are folks. Facebook post. “5 days into RED, my legs are F###### killing me. My reply”, “why do day 6 then “. No reply from the poster. Jan 6th Monday Hooray back to normal. Back to work properly and the start of a new running plan. I like being on plan, it gives me structure and tells me what to do. All plans are expertly written by Mrs S who knows exactly what to do to get me to the goal at the end of the plan. In this case it 8 weeks long and results in the GB Ultras Chester 50. An event I've done before but want to do much better this time around.  It also means no more eating rubbish. I'm not going to weigh myself till the end of January, till then, best behaviour.  Arriving at work to find boxes of biscuits didn't help but I resisted the urge of the jammy Dodger staring me in the face. The plan kicked off with a 3-mile run around town in Heart Rate Zone 2. I do all of my training to heart rate; it certainly bore fine results in 2019 so hopefully will do again. Jan 7th Tuesday No running today. 2nd rest day in 3 days, I'm very good hey. Rest is important. 2 days of behaving with the food, not a snack in sight. Still desperately want to jump on the scales but still resisting as don't want to disappoint myself. A good friend of mine donated to my charity today, was very kind of him. Jan 8th Wednesday Today’s run was 5 miles in HR zone 2. All went ok and the pace for Z2 wasn't too shabby. Have been told many a time that I should work on my stride length. Normally I can't be bothered with these things, I just run as I do and feel that concentrating on form is just too much to ask of me. Today though I attempted extending the stride, as I started doing it the heart rate went higher than today’s zone 2 win, so I abandoned it. It lasted one minute though, got to start somewhere.   Post on Twitter. “what’s the worst thing about training for London Marathon “. My reply, “listening to said trainers telling us how amazing VLM is and how amazing they are for doing it “. Jan 9th Thursday Today’s run was 6 miles in Z2. All went ok with it but who ordered the snow. Weather woman Carol never mentioned it. Fortunately, it wasn't that cold out there. Got me thinking on this run about people who constantly post about not running in bad weather, which I think is ridiculous.  I often hear “took one look outside and opted for the treadmill “. Do people not know that on event day the race organisers do not provide the weather. On the day it could be horrendous, then what you going to do when all through your training you've hidden from the bad weather. Get out there people, whatever the weather. Someone's FB post “don’t you just hate non-runners giving you advice, was told to drink water and pizza the day before my Marathon “ My reply “ swap water for beer and add chips and the advice is spot on “. January 10th Friday Rest day today, rest from running anyway. Still work to do and I walk lots while at work. Everything feels ok though with the legs. Booked an event for later in the year (booked ages ago). A Beyond Marathon event called Deadwater.  It’s a 6 day event but it’s not looking good. Organisers need a certain amount of entrants for the event to break even. We are 10 short at present and entries are open till the end of January. Fingers crossed. I do fundraising for a charity called NSPKU ( more on that later ). At the school I work at I am often picking up the odd pennies here and there. Decided I will keep count and see how much I find throughout the year. Will update each Friday. This week was 11p. Called daughter at 3:30 pm to see if a parcel had arrived which is a present for the wife's upcoming birthday.  Parcel had arrived and daughter had it in her hand. I asked her to go hide it in her wardrobe. She never, and Sharon found it. Thanks Daughter. January 11th Saturday Its 6am it’s very windy. Not going out till 8:30 ish. Should be interesting out there today. 12 miles to do. Went for the run, was a tad breezy and a bit of rain, but not cold. Whatever the weather though,  it was a rubbish run. Soul destroying,  boring, could of stopped at anytime.  It dragged and dragged. Worse feeling run I've had for a long time.  Only good thing I can say about it is I lasted the whole 12 miles.  I hate these runs but ditching it won't help with the end goal. Suffer we must. January 12th Sunday 6 miles today. Ran with someone I met through work. He's a tad quicker than me but he is happy to run at my pace. In the 6.5 years of my running I've only ever ran with Mrs S  these runs do make a nice change. The 6 miles had 4 miles of quicker pace in them and all went ok. It’s one full week now of behaving myself with the food. Did make a roast though and enjoying a few glasses of red. Still haven't weighed myself, temptation has been strong but I'm determined not to hit the scales till the end of January. Just read a post on FB about RED January.  Poster saying it’s not a good idea. I 100% agree with him. Running every day is not good for you, rest days are very important.  Most people I know who run everyday end up injured, they won’t admit it though. Even if not injured they still end up running very short distances every day, just to continue the streak. It’s pointless running in my opinion.   January 13th Monday Rest day from running. Nothing exciting happened.  Never even saw any posts that I can moan about. January 14th Tuesday 6 miles today. Out at 6:35, weather had calmed down so I did the middle 4 miles at the top of Zone 4. All went ok. I’m guessing this run and info gained will come in use for the upcoming 10k. My coach, aka my wife has slightly adjusted the HR zones today, will see how that goes. It’s also a day closer to the weekend where Sharon is doing a 24 hour event. Starting to get trip sorted. January 15th Wednesday 5 miles around town. These everyday training runs of up to 10 miles are normally done in and around town. It’s a very small town and these runs get very tedious.  Just as well I have the HR to keep me amused. Today was the new HR Z2. Which means it will produce slightly quicker paces and won't feel like a plod. After a few months though this new Zone will feel very ploddy. Just have to stick with it. January 16th Thursday After finishing work late last night, 9:30 pm, I thought todays run may feel tired. Off I went at 6:40 am for my 6 mile run in the new HR zone 2 run. All felt absolutely fine and is probably the best run of the week so far. The new zone 2 HR feels too quick,  like my old zone 3. That will change though and after a few months the ticket will get used to it and it will feel more relaxed. Just today to get through and off work Friday.   Got through today, no work till Tuesday.  So this weeks pennies count up is 19p. That’s 30p in total. Keep dropping those pennies kids. January 17th Friday Early start today, not through choice but woke at 3:50 am. Not ideal with an 18 mile run ahead, which means 4.5 hours awake before said run. Good though that it’s a day off work. The run itself is all part of my Chester 50 plan. It’s to be 18 miles at high zone 2, low zone 3 heart rate. Fortunately all went well with it. No dramas out there, actually nothing happened whatsoever except me running.  After the run the toenails needed some loving, it was trim time. Only had 1 toenail come completely off, big toe, left foot no longer has a toenail. When I read other posts from runners it seems everything happens out there. Not so for me, training runs go well for me if I achieve what’s on the plan for that day. But that’s all that happens,  it either goes to plan or it dont. Seems though from what I read there are animal stories, accident stories, tales of woe, adventures.  I think people exaggerate. January 18th Saturday Its event weekend,  not for me though. Early start and drive to Tyndrum, Scotland  for a 24 hour event Sharon was competing in.  The event started at 11:45 am. The day for me and daughter is to see Sharon start the event, go for a 4 mile run on the west highland way,  book into hotel, eat. Whilst doing all of that we plan everything around the times that sharon is due to end / start a new lap. Sometimes its walk around, return to event, eat, return to event, sit in hotel, return to event.  This goes on till 1 am. January 19th Sunday Wake at 4 am after 3 hours sleep. Go to the start / finish area of the event Sharon is in. At present she is in 5th place and 2nd female.  The roads from hotel to the event are very very icy. Making a 2 min walk a 15 min skate. The morning is, event, hotel, event, breakfast,  event, book out of hotel and back to the event. After 22 hours and 44 mins, Sharon ends her event after running 100 miles and grabbing 5th place and 2nd female. Went to the event presentation,  went to cafe then the drive home. Been a very long 2 days but it’s gone perfectly.  As far as a whole weekend event goes, it couldn't of gone any better for any of us. Super proud of Sharon, she ran a fantastic ultra. At home now, watching snooker and having a beer. January 20th Monday Another day off work is most welcome after the tiring weekend.  This is the day to do write ups about the event just gone and to take it easy. Well, for the most part anyway. I still had my run to do.  Today sees the start of week 3 of the current plan. The run was 6 miles, 1.5 warm up and 1.5 cool down,  the middle 3 was in Z3. Surprisingly all went well. Rest of the day has been lazy but with the bonus of not seeing any annoying social media posts yet. January 21st Tuesday 6 miles today in HR zone 2. Done on a regular road loop with head torch.  Just a regular no frills run. Nothing happened out there.  I am however starting to feel a slight niggle behind the left knee and middle of left butt cheek. Need to get on top of this before it develops into anything serious and puts me on the bench. Very important to deal with these things straight away.  Fingers crossed. Back to work also after 4 days off. Was more of a wrench going back than it was after 2 weeks at Christmas.   On social media,  mainly FB, can people not do anything for themselves anymore,  what echoes, got a bad toe, what backpack,  what socks, what should I eat. Every day the same questions come up. January 22nd Wednesday Day off running today so not expecting much too happen. Was right, nothing exciting happened. January 23rd Thursday 7 miles today, for 3 of those it was into the dizzy heights of zone  4. All went ok though, managed the run with no dramas.  Still getting a few niggles in left leg, but and knee. Using the buzzy machine each night. Hopefully that will work. 5 days to Sharon's birthday,  purchased some race pictures from her 24 hour Tyndrum event. Very very rare we buy race pics because they are so expensive. These however are the best race pics I've seen, the 45% discount helps also. January 24th Friday 5 miles today, meant to be in zone 2 but legs had no oomph whatsoever so just bimbled my way around. On days like this its important not to push the pace just for the sake of it. All went ok and luckily no real left knee / butt grumbles. In the school penny pick up quest. 23p this week. That’s 53p in total. January 25th Saturday 20 mile run today in zone 2.  The 1st 10 miles was with company,  those miles went quickly,  the 2nd felt a bit more of a grind. A good undulating route though and thankfully no real knee discomfort.  The person I ran with is much quicker than me so if he's to stick to my pace it’s a good slow run for him. Slow running is good folks, all of you speed merchants can do yourself a favour by do lots more slow running. In other news, rest of the day was out with Molly organizing birthday things for Mrs S.   January 26th Sunday No run day today, total rest. Did some work on our minibus though. Still trying to remove the seats and get it ready to be insulated.  One day this van will be finished and we can use it at events. January 27th Monday 5 mile run today. Bit of snow out there and it was icy. So the run ended up more of a bimble and wasn't feeling the run love today. Got it done though. Just opened and envelope,  contains a race number,  cant remember the last time I got a race number in the post. This is for the 10k on Sunday.  I'm #0890. January 28th Tuesday Non running day for me. Still a busy day though. Its Sharon’s birthday so up early to put dinner in the slow cooker. At Christmas we have a rule were we can buy nothing running related. Birthdays though its anything goes. So sharon received a framed collage of her race photos from Tyndrum 24. We never buy race photos because 1, there not very good and 2, they are expensive.  Though this was a rare occasion,  1, they were superb event pics,  the best we've seen and 2, we had a 45% discount.   She also received a race entry to the Montane Howgills 26 in May. I like buying her race entries but do get a pang of I'd like to enter it myself.  I resisted though. Rest of the day was work and birthday celebrations. January 29th Wednesday Today is a 5 mile steady. Dont need to rush out for this one though as not starting work till 1pm.  Had a new pair of shoes which felt too narrow so I've been stretching them. They still felt too narrow. Will sell them. Other than that the run was ok. Nothing exciting.   January 30th Thursday I thought today was a rest day, my brain was in rest mode. Looked at the plan which is stuck to the fridge. It says run. B@##@$$#. Can switch it to tomorrow but think I may just get it done today. Run done and all was ok. Pair of Hokas ATR 5 were todays choice.  Definitely the most comfortable on the road section of any trail shoes I've had. Been trying to buy a pair of new balance but they never stated the shoe width.  I emailed and asked. They sent me back this picture as a reply. Your beating everyone who's sat on the couch. How many more times will people post that saying. January 31st Friday The day started of with a 30 min leg massage at 8am. It hurt a bit but it’s worth having this maintenance.   No running today so nothing to report there. On social media,  it’s been a day of everyone telling us how their RED January has gone. I am so pleased to see the back of it. I wonder how many continued running while injured.  I've seen loads of comments throughout January like “ my legs are killing “. “ I feel knackered “ etc. But they carried on. Why, just so you can tell us you ran everyday. Well, it’s not big or clever. Another thing I'm pleased to see the back of is veganuary.  I couldn't care less if anyone wants to ho vegan, even if it’s just for a month. And I dont care about there holier than thou ramblings  hopefully by next January the fad will be forgotten.   I did see somewhere,  someone mentioned Februdairy.  I really hope not. In the penny pick up at school this week, 21p. That’s 74p in total.