Back 2 Black 2017 - Event review

"They are only puddles, just run through them!"

That's the first event of the season well and truly done, and I have to say it was rather enjoyable! Taking on a night run as the first race was a little daunting at first because of the mass start in the dark, but it was a laugh especially when one of the guys behind claimed he was going to follow me because I 'looked like I knew what I was doing!'

One of the errors I'd made in the build-up to the race was not buying a new headtorch, something that Ali had not been so slack in doing (although that was partially because her old one had given up the ghost and so she definitely needed a new one). Mine gave out such a pitiful light that when there was no one around I was struggling to see anything! Lucky for me the first mile and a half was spent running with a lot of people around so I was using all their lights instead! When we both passed the final couple of people who we'd been running behind I was certainly glad of Ali's super-bright torch and made sure that I was ahead to be able to see where all the roots and rocks were sticking up amongst the mud!

The event was held in Leigh Woods in Bristol and was all around the various footpaths and cycle routes in the woods, all nicely signed with reflective arrows and the odd flashing red light so that you knew there was a turn coming up. There were quite a few marshals around the course, although it was a bit weird as we'd been warned during the briefing of one particular area that was slippery and potentially dangerous due to the rocks we had to navigate down for five metres or so - yet there was no marshal at that point checking that people were getting down there ok!! Lucky for everyone there was a gate at the top of this section so meant that we all had to slow down anyway, and everyone was also making sure that all those around got down the section ok.

One of the amusing things was when we got to the first set of muddy puddles (about 300 metres into the run) and a large number of people seemed to slow and try and go round the puddle so not to get muddy or wet!! Ali and I, on the other hand, ploughed straight through the middle of them (much to the slight disappointment of the marshal who was stood just the other side of the water, who I heard voice his disappointment of his positioning when I accidentally gave his lower leg a bit of a soaking!) My thoughts were the fact that we were going to end up pretty soggy and covered in a decent amount of mud anyway, and as they are only puddles just run through them! The first lap of the woods passed pretty quickly, especially as we were all still in the middle of the group from the mass start, but as we climbed back up the hill to the carpark it was clear that a few people hadn't quite banked on this hill or had gone out a little fast from the blocks when we passed them whilst they were walking. A short stretch of car park/road later and we were back into the woods and mud again ready to take the second lap of the woods.

Lap 2 is where it was a load of fun - plenty of mud (some of it a bit deeper than first thought - see the state of our trainers!) and a nice rolling terrain which allowed for a nice little bit of time to cool off between the inclines. Because we'd decided to do the 5km route it meant that we were able to push ourselves a bit more than we would have done if we'd done the 10km (that would have been more about just getting around the course), and so each time we caught up another one or two people we were able to up the pace for a couple of minutes to get past before dropping back to a nice steady pace. It was just starting to rain again as we got towards the finish which allowed me to use my stellar motivational skills on Ali - "come on you're doing really well, only half a mile to go! Hurry, I'm starting to get wet now!" - completely discounting the fact that I was already soaked due to sweat, muddy puddles and the drizzle from the start! One final sprint up the hill, which went on for a bit longer than I first remembered but due to the rubbish headtorch couldn't see what was going on, I passed a few people also on their way to the finish line and back into the light!!

 Ali and I finished a respectable 24th and 21st respectively (out of 60-odd entrants), with times of 35:29 and 34:44 which were around 10 minutes behind the overall winner of the 10km race. This meant that we averaged a pace of 6:32/km (10:28/mi) although it certainly felt a damn sight faster than that when we were running, so it's pretty amazing how much the mud and terrain affects you especially when you are not checking your watch for the splits all the time! Ali did even better in her age category where she was 4th out of 23! I came 5th in my category, although there were only 9 entrants! I'm going for the fact that we're both doing well as we're in what most people would claim as the 'prime fitness' age group so are pretty likely to be running against the fastest people entering!!

Overall the event was great fun, and well organised - well-lit at the registration tent and no hassle grabbing our paperwork, number and timing chips! As I said earlier it would have been perfect if there was a marshal at the rocky point mentioned in the briefing before the start as it was highlighted as being potentially dangerous (especially as there was a marshal about half a mile beforehand and the next one wasn't until the finish), but due to the sporting nature of those taking part it felt safe enough going down there. I know that Wild Night Run has 7 other races in their series, and if they are all as good as this one I'd definitely recommend taking part - I'm certain that we're going to be looking at a few of them for the next year!

Here's a little tip for you though - if you ever find yourself at the race start and have to pin your number onto your front, but also have to wear a fluorescent waterproof jacket (and therefore don't want to - a go pro chest mount (because we all have one of them hanging around at race start right?!) is just perfect for pinning onto!! Although it's probably far easier to remember your triathlon belt or just pin onto your leggings/shorts!!

If you want to know more about the Wild Night Run race series then click below, and to see when more of my blog posts are available 'Like' the Facebook page!

Wild Night Run

Keep em Spinning Facebook page

One Life - Liv 4 It, Love It!

Keep your head - Wear a helmet!

"But it'll mess my hair!"

I know I have posted about this before, although the last time was a bit more morbid and included a number of names of people who had recently been killed whilst out cycling - from what I remember it was a significantly large number of people in a very short space of time that had meant that the mainstream papers were running stories about it as well!

With the advances in technology and style, it still amazes me the number of people who still don't wear a helmet whilst out cycling, surely coming home from a ride has to be the most important part of a ride even behind having fun?! You never quite know what is going to happen when you set off and so wearing a helmet goes a long way to making sure you arrive back safely.

Source : Mirror.co.uk

The number of excuses that people use when you ask them why they don't wear a helmet really is baffling at times! It can range from them being uncomfortable to not being cool, the ever popular "it'll mess my hair up" or the fact that "it's only a training ride/commute". With the sport becoming more and more popular by the year it's down to those already in the sport to ensure that newcomers, especially youngsters, keep themselves safe whilst out on the ride before they make themselves look the coolest!

I think the old concept that pro riders don't wear helmets when they are not racing is beginning to be quashed as most of the material you can see online which involves media of the pros training you will be able to see them with helmets on, I even remember that a number of the riders I've seen signing on at the Tour of Britain or Tour de Swiss have their helmets on when riding between the buses and podium which I'd hope will encourage others to wear a helmet even if it is for a short ride out to the shops or into the office.

Source : Scotbycycles

Another thing that's helping to make sure that more people wear a helmet when out on the road is that club rides are telling riders that they will not be welcome on the club rides if they aren't wearing a helmet - so even if you turn up on the flashiest bike with the newest kit, if you don't have a helmet with you you're going to look pretty silly when you are asked to leave the ride before it's even begun! It's also very common for sportives or other events to require you to be wearing a helmet when taking part, which is a great idea especially with the wide variety of skill levels who are all out on the road at the same time often taking on challenging routes where they are less likely to be familiar with the roads (so never quite know what's going to be around the next corner!)

I feel the solutions that are being developed by the cycling industry are also giving people less opportunity to give excuses - what with the new helmet styles that are coming out all the time it's surely more cool to have a helmet like the pros (which are developed to keep a rider going far faster than the majority of us do when we're out on the road), and also the air helmets that are also available - providing a way to make sure that hairstyles are not ruined during the ride.

Source : Pinterest (Bzemer)

Give me my trusty Specialized helmet any day of the week, I don't think that there is a ride I've been on since I took the sport up again nearly five years ago (whether it be the current helmet or the old one), and even along the cycle path by the canal last weekend when pottering along with the dogs it was securely on because you can never be certain what's going to happen whilst you're out on a ride...

One Life - Liv 4 It, Love It

2017 - The Plans!

Wow, didn't 2016 go quick?!

It really doesn't seem like that long ago that I was sitting down to do my first piece of 2016, and here I am doing the first one of 2017... Whilst a lot went on (and that's probably why it went by so quickly) I'm certain if I looked back onto the things that I wanted to do sporting-wise and to do with this blog I certainly wouldn't have met half the targets I might have set myself!

The idea for 2017 is to set myself a few targets and see how I get on against them - you could call them New Year's resolutions, but that just gives them a feel that they are only for the beginning of the year and so halfway through they'll be forgotten! If I call them 2017 targets then at least I've got something to aim for by the end of the year rather than just the start!

My three areas that I want to build these around are health, events, and my blogging/vlogging. They've all got challenges, but I can see the events and blogging sections being the harder to keep up, so any support from you guys is really appreciated!

Health

This might be one that some people find contentious, I'm lucky in the fact that I still have a pretty high metabolism and can therefore eat quite a lot and still remain roughly the same weight, however as I'm sure mum has said for a number of years "it'll catch up with you at some point!". To that end I'm trying to make sure that I eat more healthily during 2017, meaning less takeaways and booze, and more home cooking and forward planning about meals!

To help with this section a late Christmas present Ali and I bought each other were Fitbits, and so I'm tracking how I'm getting on through the app. I've set a step goal each day of at least 6,000 steps which is below the recommended number when you first open the app but is a more realistic goal given that my job consists of sitting at a desk for a decent amount of the day! So far this year I've actually managed to meet the target each day, so fingers crossed this will continue!

I am also aiming to exercise at least three times a week for a minimum of 30 minutes each time - whether this be running, cycling or going to the gym. Looking at the app for the Fitbit it counts a brisk lunchtime walk as one of these exercises but I'm hoping to get in three "proper" sessions as well each week.

The final (and possibly likely to be the most debated in the household) health target I'm aiming for is to lose the little bit of additional weight I've gained over the past couple of years. As I said at the beginning of this piece, I'm lucky in the fact that I can often eat whatever I want and still maintain a relatively constant weight, however when I compare myself to how I was at peak fitness when I started uni and was playing badminton constantly last year's lack of training and post wedding relaxing has definitely won! I'm hoping to get myself down to around 84kg (I'm somewhere about 86kg at the moment) but at the same time have muscle instead of wedding excess!

Events

I'm really looking forward to doing a few events this year, as it makes the pain of exercise and training for bearable, and gives something to work towards. As it stands I'm only entered into one event for the year - a 5k night run in Bristol at the end of February, but I'm hoping to complete at least five running events and one triathlon by the end of December and maybe even a cycling sportive or two! These might not seem like a lot of events to challenge myself to enter nad complete in a year, but given that last year I only took part in (and completed) one event this is quite a step up!

As for what sorts of running events I'm going to take part in we'll have to wait and see - things like Tough Mudder don't really take my fancy, but the Endurance Life Coast Trail Series looked quite good fun when Ali took part in a number of their events last winter so I might be eying up a few of them towards the back end of the year. The main aim for any of the events is to have a fun and to finish - if I end up getting a good finish time out of it then that's a bonus!!

Blogging

Where would I be in setting targets for 2017 on a blog if I didn't set some targets for that as well?!

One thing that I really want to make sure that I do is doing a monthly 'progress' piece on here to see how I'm getting on against the targets that I've set myself for the year, what this should do is make sure that I'm keeping focused on what I plan to achieve over the course of the year because these posts could be super boring if ever month was "I did nothing"!!

I'd like to upload more content onto the Keep em Spinning YouTube channel through the year - whether it be a monthly vlog to accompany these blog update posts, reviews/videos of events that I've taken part in, or snippets of races that I've been to see. Make sure that you keep your eyes on there for any new content that's uploaded!

All the blog posts and videos will be shared via the Facebook page, so it'd be really great to get a few more 'likes' on there before the end of December! I'm going to set myself a challenging target of 500 likes by the end of the year, and will be running a few competitions to try and help me on my way - so watch out for those…..

If you'd like to take part in posting on here, by sharing your experiences about your sporting time or a specific event that you've taken part in, then either drop a comment at the bottom of the post or send a message on the Facebook page - it would be great to have a few more people to share their stories!

'til next time

One Life - Liv 4 It, Love It

Rob