Weekend warriors...

And so, having run out of excuses, the first big training weekend arrived for Atomic Hamster. Mr A arrived promptly at Hamster Mansions and Team Overall plus the Squishy one headed off to put their stamp on the Rhayader 20, the Rhayader 20 having singularly failed to put a stamp on the race information we'd been sent...

Despite the presence of a storm-lamp on the table, the weather was pretty pleasant for the race...and there were remarkably few dead sheep. Everywhere you go, always take the weather with ewe indeed. Mr A had gut problems from around mile 8, while your correspondent was resisting the urge to throw up; the hills were almost alive with the sound of Drew sick. There wasn't much singing, but we did manage to crack the 'two fish swimming along when one crashes into a concrete wall and says 'dam'' joke as we passed the, er, dam. As delerium set in, I also coined 'two scarecrows in a field, one says to the other 'can you smell snowmen?'. No, it wasn't even funny at the time, to be honest...

At mile 17, we located a caravan site and one half of Team Andrex retired for a pit stop. It was then just a case of jogging it out for the T shirt; 3:22 and shrapnel meant that we ran the Transalp requirement of 10 min miling.

Day 2 dawned before dawn, as it were, broke. Forcing down breakfast at 4am is never easy. Into the car, then off to Eastnor Castle to ride the Lightning. Even though we were sharp-dressed men in our Pirate gear, we barely had legs and didn't know how to use them. I was first off at 6am, to discover that the first 2k of the 9.3k course was entirely uphill. Nice touch, Raymondo, er Patrick. First lap done in just under the hour, hand the baton to Mr A, wait for him to come in just under an hour later, repeat...only progressively more slowly. Mr A was standing up manfully, my hips locked up and refused to allow more than a shuffle. There were many pitstops for both members of Team Overall. Portaloo, couldn't escape if I wanted to...

Twelve hours later it was over; we'd covered about 30 miles each over hilly, muddy terrain, the day after logging 20 on the road. We'd finished sixth male pair. Admittedly there were fewer than 7 male pairs entered, but a kill's a kill.

Thanks to Mr A for the company and Squish for the support. It's like a big upside-down squirrel.

The other A-H

Race Report and other stuff......

The race report, for any that haven't seen it and were wondering what TOAH was on about......

Race Report Day 1: 29.3 miles along the flat Grantham canal. Plan was to run at 10 min/mile pace, eat & drink well, keep Mr H company and finish. Mr H was ill with a virus, so I was down to 3 targets. By checkpoint 3, at 15mile, I had foolishly forgotten to eat & drink well, but was happy to arrive in 2hrs 25m. 2 down 2 to go......, additionally, having surpassed my longest training run of the year by the halfway stage, my legs decided they didn't want to function. So, miles 15-21 took a little under 2hrs wich put paid to another of my targets, which left me with 'to finish'. After another hour and some, I crossed the finish line in Grantham and thought, hey Meatloaf... 1 out of 4 ain't bad. The remainder of the day was spent walking around (much like the last 10 miles of the Ultra), eating & drinking (totally unlike any of the Ultra) and watching Alice in Wonderland in 3D.

Race Report Day 2: Woke up at 0630, stretched walked about a bit, felt soreness in right achilles, decided that whilst I'd be able to start the 2nd 29.3 miles, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to finish it, so decided to withdraw. 1 Ultra is blaggable, a 2nd in 2 days probably is as well, but I've bigger races to prepare for, the risk was too great. Went back to bed.

So there we have it.

So... yes, nutrition, very important. Had a quick look at my Garmin which recorded the 1st day of the race (but not the 2nd, obviously! (see above for reason)), and apparently, I used over 3000 calories during the run. Now, the generally agreed calorific intake for a male is 2500 calories per day, and that's before taking into account the exercise. Using the frequently used, and highly accurate guess-o-meter: pasta meal Friday night 600cal, porridge 400cal, 1lt SiS PSP22, 2 energy gels, 4 mini mars bars and a bottle of coke probably doesn't equate to the 3000cal deficit. In fact it might be hard pressed to get close to the 2500cals needed to sit on a couch!

Lesson learnt (again) or maybe not.. it's been suggested that, since I'm rubbish at remembering to fuel correctly, and since I get distracted easi-oh look a rabbit; bring forth the holy hand grenade of Antioch. And the Lord did grin and the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orangutans and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats and large chu - I shall be adopting a Pavlov's dog style of nutrition training; my ever faithful stopwatch will now beep every 20 minutes which should be the cue for me to take on some nutrition. As some Bare Naked Ladies once sang so eloquently, ring a bell and I'll salivate. Woof!

So, Rhyader beckons, and TOAH will be available to keep me on the straight and narrow (unless it's a corner), just like an arrow....

Till next time, pop pickers

Do you have a Flag?

Atomic Hamster

Run for your Lives

It's amazing how much training is underestimated; I speak from experience. Yesterday I ran a 6 mile cross-country race, 4th time in 4 years, and it was the 1st time that I've actually done any serious training before the event. Strangely enough I managed a PB (that's a Personal Best time for the race for any lurkers who don't follow 'running speak'). I wasn't overly surprised that I PB'd, but it's reassuring to know that all the training isn't going to waste. And the downhill training proved a real bonus during yesterday's race as I 'flew' past loads of runners in the final mile; now that was satisfying :)

Today I heard the hills calling, and they were saying 'nutter, hills don't speak', but I ignored their taunts and enjoyed a post-race 45 min hill-session.

In other news, apparently Immauel Kant was a real pissant who was very rarely stable.

Barry Mann, another great, but understated philosopher; I've often mulled over his questions of life, the universe and everything; such as Who put the bomp in the bomp,bah, bomp, bah, bomp? or Who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong? and if I ever found that person, would I too wish to shake his hand?

We were Wolves, we were young, we were crazy,

Atomic Hamster

Running Free

I love running in the snow

There, I've said it. I get a buzz from running in heavy rain. If I'm returning from a running lay-off, then I'm more motivated to go out if it's a proper downpour, non of this wimpy light drizzle stuff. I have no idea why, there's probably some deep and meaningful reason about connecting with nature and stuff, but I'll leave those arguments to the philosophers.

But, thanks to yesterday's run, I've found that running in a snow shower beats running in heavy rain. I think it's safe to say that I wasn't looking forward to yesterday's run.... it was cold, and snowing; but once wrapped up and on the canal path, it was fab. The swirling flakes of snow, brushing against my face, the tree branches covered in white... it was strange, I could almost here Shaking Stevens in the background.

Today the snow has gone, and it's not raining, but I'll be on the road again, maybe I'll find something good about running in normal weather conditions, or maybe I won't.

This tray is wet

Atomic Hamster

Team PSOF......

as Team Leader, I recieve all the communication from the Transalping Run organisers, and yesterday the official confirmation e-mail arrived.

So, Team PSOF are confirmed as starters for the 2010 Transalpine Run, start number 63. Not sure how useful the start number will be, can't imagine chip timing for the event, and the associated ease of online tracking but you never know. maybe a gps chip, that would at least help if we got lost; though I'd prefer a potato chip.

As well as the welcome e-mail, they included useful stuff such as a press release, accommodation forms and stuff to pack in your emergency kit. guess I'll be off to look for an altimeter device to go with my Leki/Pacer poles (no, I still haven't decided which to go for!).

And they've updated their website to include the elevation profiles for the 8 stages, which was quite sobering on 1st look, and panic inducing on the 2nd look.

I'm covered in Bees

Atomic Hamster

Leki or not Leki, that is one of many questions

So, gadgets; or should that be essential items to aid in the completion of the event. Cheating sticks.... I'm not too proud to admit that any aid that will help me get through this event should be investigated, and there seems to be a huge choice out there. Leki appear to dominate the market, and look quite 'comfortable', plus they provide sponsorship of the Run. But if I'm only going to be sold on a product because they are also the race sponsor, then I'll be restocking all my race kit, which seems a bit pointless. However, there's also Pacer Poles which look suitably hi-tech and gadgety to fit in my rucksack. Decisions, decisions.....

Or Death? That's not much of a choice.

Atomic Hamster

We race you here...

Of course, we're not going to go into this completely undertrained; partially undertrained is the Pirate way, so that's the way it's going to be.

We will be running to and from Grantham on the weekend of 6-7th March; we've entered the Rhayader 20 on 20th March (because it's flat) and the Lightning 12 hour the next day; the Stratford 1/2M is on 25th of April and we'll be in it. In time, we may enter more; alternatively, we don't want to overdo it. Don't expect to come round and burgle us while we're out; the rottweiler wouldn't like it...

I see we have an option to 'Monetise' our blog. I suppose a few sunflowers wouldn't go amiss.

Well we're out of cake...

The other Atomic Hamster

We're In.....

You know how it is. Fill in paperwork, send off entry fee, start telling people your plans for the coming year, but it all seems so distant. Then you pop over to the website, as you've done religiously over the past few months, and find there's a new link... one that points to confirmed entries. You scroll through the list until your eyes rest on your names, and suddenly you get that knot in your stomach, that's it, in black and white, you're in and there's nothing you can do about it now; except keep training.

I'll take Cake please,

Atomic Hamster

Transalpine Run 2010, the start.......

Blog, day 1.

My co-runner, Mr Crash Hamster, and I have entered the 2010 Goretex Transalpine Run. We're still trying to come up with a valid reason as to why we've entered it; suffice it to say the best so far is 'because we can'. Our sporting (sic) background is as follows:

ATOM: 3x Ironman, 7x Marathon, 1x Ultra, and some smaller races as well.

Crash Hamster: 4x Ironman, 9x Marathon, 3x Ultra, and some smaller races as well.

We are members of the Pirate Ship of Fools and, when not out 'training', can be found in the forums of Runnersworld.

No doubt between now and race day, we'll pop by and update the Blog with stuff; however that's not guaranteed, and this initial post is in no way a contractual agreement that we'll provide useful, insightful or relevant posts in future.

Thanks for looking

Atomic Hamster