Give Me Fuel

Give Me Fuel, Give Me Fire, Give Me That Which I Desire!

So snarls James Hetfield with a menacing, vexatious, spiny pugnacity every time Metallica blast headlong in to their epic 'Fuel'. Come on, if you can't be rambunctiously sesquipedalian when describing heavy metal, when can you?
This track has been stuck in my head for the past week since I heard it during the hardest part of my most tortuous run to date (metrics over on the right and here), but I am not complaining for not only is it a tremendous power anthem - especially when you are 3/5ths though track repeats and your world consists of pain and not enough air - but it is also serendipitous as this post is about fuel.
As you may have read, Alison has been conducting her own experiments on optimum race-nutrition, but this post comes courtesy of my experience of non-race nutrition, or (putting my little finger to the corner of my mouth) should I say over-nutrition Mr. Bigglesworth?

In the first two weeks of my switch from 10k to marathon training plan, the jump in mileage had me believing that I could eat absolutely anything I desired; I was, after all, an 'endurance afleet' and the training itself co-conspired by making me want to eat everything I could lay my hands on.  It came as some surprise however when at the end of week two, I found out that I had put on 2kg.
I mulled the muscle-is-heavier-than-fat argument, but since I had not been taking industrial steroids nor had I spent the week pulling trucks or lifting atlas stones, I conceded it was most probably due to me being a greedy boy and since then I have returned to using the tremendous myfitnesspal to keep tabs on my nutrition and the weight has already come back off. 
Deep down I was not really surprised: Alison and I used this fabulous and free tool a while back, losing 25kg (4 stone in old money) over the course of a year and through doing so, we became even more acutely aware of what constituted our food and what we were putting in our mouths. 
Weight gain and loss is for the vast, vast majority of people simple maths: Calories Out - Calories In; if, over time, this produces a positive number you will put on weight, if it is negative you will lose it. The trap I fell in to was one of bad reasoning: long runs = loads of energy = limitless food, but sadly it does not - a medium pizza is around 1000-1200 calories and in order to burn through that, I have to run 10 miles (even in the marathon, I will 'only' burn 3000 calories). Usually, when people hear this they are initially surprised and then shortly afterward aghast as they do the mental arithmetic of converting their mid-afternoon snack in to hours of running and then abruptly change the subject.
Bottom line (no pun intended) is that it is always good to keep an eye on your food habits and maybe even perform an audit every now and again. Alison and I have a solid awareness of what we eat; the majority of our food is home-cooked and through our own research, we have developed a good understanding of nutrition and the food supply chain, however even knowing these things I am still caught out when I'm not paying enough attention and my urge system is singing so loudly along with Mr. Hetfield that I can't hear myself think.
Back to the running, and it certainly doesn't hurt to be eating the right stuff for that...

Ohhh, On I Burn,
Fuel is pumping engines, 
Burning hard, loose & clean 

Lazy (right) Butt(ock)

I went to see Ryan the Physio again on Tuesday to try and understand why my right knee had felt strange for ten days and it turns out the reason is that I have lazy right-hand-side bottom muscles! I was relieved when he told me that the swollen bursae (protective fluid sacs) behind my knee aggravated by the knee working hard to correct my asymmetry in running cannot get broken or snapped and my knee shouldn't hurt any more than it did. The strange feeling I had inside the back of my knee was essentially the swelling and also the cause of me not being able to fully straighten and lock out my leg since the hamstring muscles couldn't stretch over the lump. So Ryan was happy for me to carry on with my speed work run of that day and allowed me to use the gym where he's based to do this and so he could see my special gait in action. He's prescribed ice and buttock exercises so whenever I've been at home I've strapped an ice pack round my knee for 20 minutes every hour and a half and today (touch wood) it feels miles better.

The exercises are 40 reps (2 x 20) each side of the Side Lying Hip Abduction (The Clam) for Gluteus medius activation with an added freeweight balanced on the top knee - our hardbound copy of Larousse Gastronomique has never had so much use!

Picture credit Elizabeth Quinn

Plus 40 (2 x 20) reps each side of an adaptation of the above exercise raising the top leg, kicking back into the air then returning that knee to the floor in front of the lower knee. Apparently if I do these exercises daily I can correct a lifetime of dodgy running technique... sounds incredible but I'll do it until I'm 'toight like a tiger' ;)

The second 20-miler is up for me tomorrow so I'm hoping I'll be able to forget the recent leg niggles and just get on with it. After abandoning my first ever training run on Thursday after only 2 miles because the knee hurt in a new location for no apparent reason I'm keen for this injury-obsessed blip to be over already. Keep you posted.

Trans Pennine Trail

I've become an injury obsessive/bore. Ever since last week's 20 mile schlep I've had tightness behind my right knee that feels like muscle strain but hasn't gone away. I've kept to the training plan under the premise of no pain no gain but I'm starting to worry my asymmetric running style might be damagingly uncoordinated to a degree that I need to try and fix it as after 18 miles yesterday I feel like an old lady, or at least the right-hand side of me does. I have to admit to feeling a bit sorry for myself which is ridiculous since rain hasn't stopped play, yet. It means such a lot to me to do Emily's marathon and not just do it, really run it.

We went up to stay with good friends Rob and Kerry in Thurlstone, Yorkshire at the weekend to see Kerry in panto as Robbing (Vatman and Robbing the dynamic tax collection duo) as part of the Penistone Theatre Group production of Cinderella. We thoroughly enjoyed it's classic British panto mix of terrible jokes and eclectic singing. The well-endowed Ugly Sisters stole the show along with the young man (ooh young man!) who played Buttons. Iain and I even got a shout out for 'not being from round 'ere' :)

Near Peak District Prettiness

One of Many TPT Railway Bridges

Aside from seeing our friends and the panto I took the chance to do my long run out amongst the green stuff and as Rob and Kerry live on the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) Rob suggested this an ideal, and flat, place to run. The best route taking into account me not being familiar with the area was to run west for 4.5 miles then turn around and run east for 9 miles and then back again for another 4.5. Iain came up to the path to high-five me after I passed the house at 9 miles and check I wasn't hurting too bad and at that point I felt pretty good although both right ankle and knee were making themselves a bit of a distraction. The path whilst mostly being flat was uneven and necessitated some vaults over frozen puddles and swathes of mud and I think this must have provoked the ankle. This was a bit depressing as I thought the new-new trainers had solved that one. The path from 9 to13.5 miles was slightly downhill all the way to my turning point. The Trans Pennine Way at least in part follows an old railway hence the flatness and presence of lots of bridges and just before my turning point a tunnel...

There was no light to be seen at the end of that tunnel and there was no way I was going in there in the pitch black. I made my turn back early and on sensing the path rising away in front of me and the headwind now blasting me in the face it did cross my mind that the lack of light at the end of that tunnel was some kind of omen. So the five miles to finish constantly slightly uphill with a hurty knee and hurty ankle really tested my patience and I'm sure anyone going past me probably thought I'd lost it with my red face grunting and cursing all the way. Demonstrating that distance running is as much a mental game as a physical one, I then overshot the house by too far lost in distracting hurty bits obsessed with finishing quickly and had to walk a mile back crying like a baby. It was done and so am I... physio appointment now booked to assess misbehaving right-hand ailments tomorrow morning...