This Is NOT a Training Post
This is definitely NOT a training post! I wrote that and it was boring as ... well ...really boring things.
However, there were, for me, some extremely difficult hurdles to overcome, especially in regards to the state of my knees at the outset of my 2024 quest to complete some pretty hefty ultra runs and hikes and to climb the major summits we are planning on climbing this year. For this reason, I will include a brief overview of my knee strength, stability and ROM program (at the end), in the hope that it will:
- Help those of you with similar knee difficulties to at least be encouraged to have a crack at improving your own joint health
- Encourage those of you with other medical conditions to continue to never quit exercise but to research and try anything and everything that will help prolong a healthy and active life.
- Inspire every one of you to never quit on something you love because "The Man" said you should.
- Push you to do absolutely ANYTHING to ensure you not only keep your body moving, but also remain active mentally, emotionally, and even spiritually if that's what floats your boat. Do whatever keeps you alive, kicking and young at heart.
- As always, to drive the message home to all over 50s that you shouldn't accept that your best years are behind you, start slowing down and take up bowls, needlepoint and jigsaws! You should continue or even begin, to push your own physical boundaries and embrace an active and exciting existence... FOR AS LONG AS YOU EXIST!
(I do enjoy a game of bowls now and then though)
I see so many people of my age and even younger who are already old because they were either, never that active in the first place, stopped being active once they were too old for whatever sport they had been doing, or hit obstacles such as injury, illness, marriage, kids and never tried to find a way around, over, or through them.
There is always time to do the things that make you happy - Happiness = A fulfilling life
There is always time for activity of the body and mind - Activity = Purpose
Those who say there isn't are just making excuses for the fact that they simply can't be arsed - Negativity = A life of excuses and Buh...Buh...Buh...Buh...Bullshit
It is NEVER too late to make a positive change, improve your life and consequently the lives of all around you.
So...as the Nike motto goes - JUST DO IT!
Now then. Let me take you back to November 2023.
In the beginning..... There was pain
My hips, ankles and especially my knees felt every slow, laborious jolt of footfall, as I attempted to perform the lightest of jogs.
One minute on - four minutes off for 3km was my first effort... and it was so hard! I hadn't done any kind of running in years and it showed. I felt like a toddler taking its first steps. I had no rhythm, no flow and felt I was carrying a dead weight. At fifteen and a half stone, for running, I suppose I was.
I had five weeks to go until my first mountain trail run and reality had just hit home with a thump.
I'd drastically over-estimated my abilities. I'd based my ambition and running goals on a past, younger self, who could easily get around a half marathon without training, get pulled into a rugby match last minute and breeze through it and get through ten rounds of sparring for fun.
That guy was well and truly gone and it soon became evident that the inaugural B2C-X (Brecon to Cardiff Extreme) on February 6th 2024, was a very over-ambitious goal, having only given myself eight full weeks to train for it.
So for the time-being, I put any thoughts of the B2C-X on the backburner and concentrated on getting out, getting some miles in and looking toward the Dare Valley Christmas Capers Trail Half Marathon, which was on December 16th, just five weeks from my very first, laboured efforts at running.
I continued...
Two minutes on, three minutes off...
Three minutes on, two minutes off...
One minute on, one minute off....
Four minutes on, one minute off...
All at a painfully slow 8.5minute to 10 minute kilometers.
In spite of this difficult start, at no point did I let any thoughts of quitting running enter my mind. The reason I chose running in the first place was because it was so difficult for me, I was looking for a huge personal challenge in 2024, and as I've documented many times, I had huge personal motivations for doing so:
- Dione's breast cancer diagnosis had sent me into my "Fundraising Mode"
- Macmillan Cancer Support have become very important to me and my family
- I was determined to prove to myself that I could overcome any physical difficulties I had with a positive mindset. Dione had done it in spectacular fashion!
After five weeks of training, I still could not jog for more than ten minutes without having to walk, but I was grinding decent mileage, including some good ascent, up and over Y Das and Mynydd Bychan, the two mountains closest to me.
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| Dione and Coco with the distinctive flat peak of Y Das to the right of the image. |
December 16th arrived and it was time for my first mountain trail run, The Dare Valley Park, Christmas Capers Half Marathon. The route was from Resolven to Dare Valley Park, via Rhigos Mountain.
The weather was, as you'd expect in December, pretty awful. At the pre-race briefing, the route was described to us as - 11 miles uphill - 2 miles downhill, with knee-deep mud in places. Everyone laughed.
'He's joking right?' People were asking each other.
No he wasn't. It was exactly as described. By eighteen kilometers my knees were screaming and that's when the downhill to the finish started. Every step was excruciating by then, but I finished and earned a very welcome mince pie. When I got to my car, which was a half mile walk from the finish, my calves and flexors were cramping and I swear hypothermia was setting in as I was shivering uncontrollably.
All-in-all, I was a pretty miserable sight.
I put a warm top on as quickly as possibly and then it took a further twenty minutes to change my shoes. Every time I tried to bend down, my abdomen and flexors cramped painfully. I got there eventually though and then immediately called Dione to proudly tell her that I'd completed the course in a pretty decent 3 hours 10 minutes, mostly walking.
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| Christmas Capers Half Marathon 2024 I was in a good place at this point |
But this event was a means, not an end and I had to treat it as another training day. I was back out training within two days and I had a decision to make...To paraphrase the great Bard himself:
B2C-X or Not B2C-X? That is the question.
I decided I wouldn't do it....
Then I decided I would do it.... Then I wasn't, then I was, then I wasn't, then I was...
Then I definitely wasn't.
Until one week before the event.
I'd been putting in good miles, still walk/run and I still could not run more than six miles without stopping. I had a chat with my personal advisor, Dione. Together, we both thought that the best option would be to target the bag drop point in Merthyr College, which was at around the twenty-four mile mark. This would easily be the furthest I'd have run/walked and would be a decent progression from the Dare Valley Half.
In my head however, I was already thinking that if I made the cut-off time of seven hours and felt good, I'd absolutely attempt the full forty-seven miles.
As it turned out, I did make the cut-off time, but I'd never been so happy to call it quits.
I don't know who the man, or woman who designed the B2C-X route was but I do know whoever that person is.... They are a special kind of evil, sadistic, sick mother-f**ker!
Again, the weather was shocking, but I actually, really enjoyed the ascent from Brecon to Pen y Fan. Cribyn was basically a mud slide and I fell most of the way down it. From Fan Y Big it was another fall/slide back down to the Roman road before crossing Neuadd and climbing what is lovingly known as the "Eight Mile Hill".
Then everything turned to shit. Over a kilometer of bog, up to your waist, if you were not careful, and a few people weren't. For the first time in my life I got cramp in my adductors and it's the worst kind of cramp I've ever experienced.
At this point, I thought my event was over, but I kept going and once through the bog and in to the forestry at Pontsticill, I had recovered quite well. From Pontsticill the route took us toward Dowlais and in to Morlais quarry, then through a very muddy nature reserve to Cefn Coed Y Cwmmer and finally on to Merthyr.
From Cefn Coed an ex-Lithuanian Soldier in his sixties, with no means of navigation latched on to me. Together, we chatted and encouraged each along and at the site of Merthyr College, we both broke into a run (just to look good for the fans). I was greeted at the college by a familiar face, Linda Doyle, who was marshalling. She gave me a smile and most welcome hug. As our friendly embrace broke, I saw my new Lithuanian friend chatting with a couple of other guys then continuing the run to Nantgarw with them.
I hope he made it.
Although, I stopped at that point, I was absolutely delighted. I felt in great shape and didn't have any of the physical side-effects I experienced in December's half-marathon.
In fact the B2C-X seemed to catapult my running up a level. The following week, I did the first sub one hour 10km run I'd done since my twenties!
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| B2C-X Ascent of Fan Y Big |
The B2C-X was the event, vile as it was, that really gave me the belief that I could actually run. It proved that my training was working and that my body was finally becoming conditioned to my choice of challenges.
Since the B2C-X I've gone on to complete trail runs of over twenty-eight miles. I can now run half marathons with ease and regularly do training runs in the Black Mountains of fifteen miles plus. Every ultra distance completed seems to take my mental strength as well as my physical ability to new levels.
My average 1km pace is now between 5:45 and 6:30 depending on ascent. A big improvement on the 8 to 10 minute kilometres I was initially doing.
This has taken consistent training over eight months, plus a program of knee strength, stability and range of movement over the last six years!
Up until a year ago, I never would have contemplated running for fun ever again. I was told by my consultant that it was a sure-fire way to speed up my route to the double knee replacement I've been told I will need.
However, a chain of events unfolded, documented within these blogs, that brought me to the decision to complete an ultra-marathon and raise more money for Macmillan in 2024.
I never thought I'd get the running bug again, but I have.
I don't like jumping on a trend ... but...Being active, training, feeling fit and yes, looking good are all essential ingredients to my happiness and mental health. I'm sure the same goes for everyone who has ever led an active life.
For those of you who haven't and are possibly looking to change that, I absolutely guarantee that getting up, getting out and getting active will make you feel like a different person. Improve your health and happiness and it becomes infectious. That good feeling spreads to all those around you.
Activity - promotes good health - promotes - self-esteem - promotes - resilience - promotes - happiness and Happiness = A Fulfilled Life
That's as philosophical as I fucking get!
To date, although I've done solo ultra distances, I still haven't completed an official ultra.
I've already entered B2C-X 2025.
My ultimate goal is to complete the UTMB Eryri (Snowdonia) Sky Race in 2025.
I'll let you know how that crazy thought pans out.
I'm so lucky to live in the Black Mountains and I've come to know them very well. If you'd like to join me for a hike or run, or just walk and chat your troubles away just shout out.
Here are links to some awesome trail runs I've done solo in 2024. I hope they inspire you to promote your own active life - for life.
Here is my twice weekly Strength and Conditioning session, including knee ROM and stability.
It is a 30 minute EMOM x 4 circuits.
Warm-up
- 50 x Bodyweight Calf Raises
- 50 x Tibialis Anterior Raises
- 10 x ATG Lunges each leg
- 10 x Lateral Lunge to Cossack each leg
- 10 x step to balance through all plains of movement (Sagittal, Frontal and Transverse) on each leg
Main Session
- 25 x press-ups
- 20 x Poloquin steps each leg
- 10 x Chin-ups
- 10 x Flexor Kettlebell lifts
- 25 Dips
- 10 x ATG Goblet Squats
- 10 Wide Pull-ups
- 20 Kettlebell Swings
- 10 x 20kg Kettlebell Shoulder press each arm
- 10 x Bulgarian Split Squats each leg
When ever I can get to the gym, I'll do heavy sled drags as well.
If you'd like to have the above on video. Just Ask. I
Now GET MOVING
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