Team CanDoSandhu's Blog

Moving On...

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 05:59:04 PST

The blog has now found a new home:

http://www.candosandhu.com/blog

You should be automatically redirected to it, but just in case you're not, please update your link. Look forward to you visiting our new home. ;)

TransRockies Run/Walk/Crawl...

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 01:51:31 PDT

OK - I've finally recovered from by cold. Now I'm ready to tackle this epic blog posting...

Yes, sorry, it's a bit of a long posting...so go put your kettle on or go grab a beer...you'll be here a while! :o

Pre-race build-up

We arrived in Denver on Friday 22nd August at around 7pm - the flight was pretty smooth, especially since (thanks to Parm) we flew business class. We picked up a shuttle to Buena Vista - sharing with Juliet and Howard who also happened to be doing the TransRockies Run. They were great to chat to - such nice and positive people, forming one of the two Herbal Life teams.

Anyway, got to the hotel (Best Western Inn) at around 10:30pm. Woke up the next day to find the breakfast room full of other TransRockies Runners. Spotted George (of Team Knuckleheads) having breakfast on his own. After warm introductions we joined him for breakfast. Fred (George's running partner) eventually joined us for breakfast too. Fred and George were the two runners we were most looking forward to meeting (having been in communicado with them via blogs for the past six months) - we weren't to be disappointed...they turned out to be really great guys.

We also met Sjohn and Mimi (Team Cheetah) - two lovely ladies from Seattle and Los Angeles, respectively. They formed an 80+ ladies team - which surprised me as neither of them looked over 40 years old. It was to be a common factor all week - meeting runners who looked much younger than their age. Running does indeed help fight the ultimate battle - the battle against Father Time.

Later on in the day we were to meet Kendra and Christine, two smiling and laughing lovelies from Toronto (Team Achilles Heal). They turned out to be incredibly strong and determined - as you'll soon discover.

Anyway - these three teams formed a close bond with us over the duration of the run...which just added to the enjoyment of the entire week. We went for a short 5km run with Fred and George just to stretch our legs. Nice slow pace - but it was worrying that my heart rate was 15 bpm higher than normal...don't know whether it was the altitude (the air did indeed feel thin) or whether it was the effects of the flight (jet-lag and dehydration) but it was a worry.

Tried to unwind by going out for a meal with several teams - needless to say George fell in love with the waitress, Jennifer, at Buffalo Bar & Grill ;)

The Gang

Moving on (yes I know you want me to get to the nitty gritty...but you'll just have to be patient)...Sunday morning we registered. This also meant we were given the bags that we were to use for all our gear for the next six days (any other bags would be put into storage and returned at the end of the race in Beaver Creek); the camp bags turned out to be much smaller than the organisers had intended (about 18 inches in length instead of 36 inches). To make amends the organisers gave three bags per team instead of two. Not ideal, but nothing that was going to make a massive difference. We also received the trail maps for the six days so finally we were able to see exactly what we had let ourselves in for....there were no surprises. Also, we received lots of nice promotional goodies - favourite of which was no doubt the Timex watch :)

All runners gathered on Sunday evening for the briefing and introductions. It was great being in a roomful of so many like minded, positive people. Most of the other runners looked mega fit and lean - that was a worry, I had hoped for more bigger builds like me! I was feeling pretty nervous (not my usual laid-back self) - Jo on the other hand was very relaxed and happy.

I was, however, very pleasantly surprised to discover that many of the runners and organisers had been reading this blog. It was like they already knew us - it's nice to know I haven't been yapping away on this blog for nothing. ;) It was great hearing complete strangers saying "Oh, you're Team Can Do Sandhu" - Jo picked the team name and it actually sounds better when it's said with an American accent. :)

After the briefing and (rain interrupted) barbeque, we (including Team Knuckleheads, Cheetahs and Achilles Heals) headed back to the hotel early to try and get an early night (and to try and get back before it rained again). On our way back the heavens opened us...the rain was cold and heavy. By the time we got back to the hotel we were soaked and gasping for air (having "tried" to run back).

Fred, George, Sjohn, Mimi, Jo and drowned Rat/Sat

I didn't sleep well on Sunday night - as I was worried about how out of breath I was after such a short run and I was stressing about how cold that rain was...if it rained like that when we ran then it would become a big mental challenge. It also didn't help that I had to get up and use the toilet every 90 minutes as we were making sure we stayed hydrated. All my dreams were plagued with images of running, freezing and bears. I shouldn't have worried - over the week we saw no bears and it was anything but cold.

Day One - Buena Vista to Numbers

It was a nice leisurely start to the day - the race didn't start until 10am, so plenty of time for breakfast and meeting more teams. At breakfast we met two guys from Britain, Mark and Duncan from team Heathens. Mark (I think) was from Tumbridge Wells whereas Duncan had married a Canadian and made the smart decision in moving to Canada (lucky git)...I married Jo from Wigan but have never entertained the thought of moving there!!! :o Anyway they turned out to be great guys, always smiling, running for pleasure of it and always having time to chat even though they turned out to be pretty elite runners; they would go on to finish 3rd overall in the Open Mens category - brilliant.

Team Can Do Sandhu

This was supposed to be an "easy" 12 mile run, up a gradual incline. It turned out to be anything but easy. It was very hot and monotonous, and the air felt really thin (and we were only at around 10,000 feet). A real mentally tough run. We were doing pretty well until the (only) checkpoint (at about half way), but then we really started flagging and had to walk...I think the checkpoint actually spoiled our rhythm. Once we started to walk it was difficult to get going again...and when we did it was a very slow plodding run. We were only marginally slower if we walked...so we decided to walk most of the last 5 miles - managing a brisk almost 8kph pace (with Jo clinging onto my rucksack to ensure she "stayed" with me).

We yo-yo'ed with a group of other teams (mainly because they altered between running and walking - whereas we just maintained a consistent fast paced walk).

It didn't help that the marshals falsely kept raising our expectations. At one point a marshal said "Only two more miles". After two miles another marshal said "Only one more mile". After another mile we kept expecting to see the finish around every bend...it finally came after a further half a mile. We passed Kendra and Christine just before we finished....actually they had already finished and were in the transit van on their way to camp. ;)

It was encouraging to know that there were still quite a few teams behind us after we had finished and that other finishers said that they too had found the stage difficult.

I felt terrible when we finished. Dizzy and sick. I had to eat, drink and sit for about 15 minutes before I felt semi-human again. With hindsight it is obvious that I was pretty dehydrated, even though it was only a three hour run and I had drunk a couple of litres at least along the run; I would begin to pay the price for it the next day.

Fred and George (who had already finished and cheered us in as we came to finish) were concerned about Jo...they thought she didn't look well (she looked fine to me). That was the great thing about our group - we looked out for each other. I had said to Jo the night before that finishing the TransRockies Run would be hollow if others in our gang, especially Fred or George failed to complete it. Anyway, they needn't have worried about Jo, she was fine. If it wasn't for my dark skin I think they would have been more worried about me...the dark skin hides my true state, under the skin I think I was probably white as a ghost....I really didn't feel well.

We didn't help ourselves by being pretty disorganised on the finish. We stood around in the sun waiting for the van that would take us to the camp...there was no shade. Then we realised the volunteers in the medical van were giving free stretches so we went and got stretched out...that really really helped. We were too lazy to go and soak our legs in the nearby river, which really would have been the most prudent thing to do, so instead we stood in the sun for a bit longer and then eventually got a lift to the campsite (which was about 20-30 minutes back the way we had come).

The campsite too was bloody hot. At least there were a few trees around for shade, but the tents were saunas (pretty much the theme for the whole week). The tents would remain uncomfortable until the sun dipped behind the mountains.

We collected our bags, found suitable available tents. Dumped our stuff. Went down the hill to use the showers. I made a point of having a burst of cold shower to cool the legs down. After the shower I was absolutely starving...so it was a trek back up the bloody hill to the campsite to collect wallet from tent. Then trek back down to burger van...one burger, hot dog and coke later I was feeling human again.

Switched on Knuckleheads!

Then it was back up the hill for a nap. Then back down the hill for dinner. Then back up the hill to get ready for bed. The winners ceremony was back down the hill in the main tent - I couldn't be bothered, I had had enough of that bloody hill...it was tedious - pretty much how the whole day had been for me. Jo went down without me, along with the ladies in the "gang", whereas the men had more sense and decided to get an early night. Kendra and Christine had finished on the podium - so it was good that some of our gang went down to cheer them on.

Apart from the hassle of having to get up and use the toilet every hour or so in the night we slept pretty well - it was Jo's first time EVER in a tent and sleeping bag...she took to it very well, so we may save lots of money in future as there's no need for those five-star hotels anymore, right!?

Day Two - Vicksburg to Twin Lakes

This was to be a short 10 mile stage, but it involved a massive and steep climb, taking us to close to 13,000 feet (our highest elevation for the week). This stage, therefore, was the real elevation tester - if anyone was going to suffer due to altitude then this day would be it.

Calm before the (second) storm

I knew that only elevation and injury could stop us completing the TransRockies Run. Today was the altitude test - get through this day and then you can stop worrying about elevation.

The day started off as a rush. We rushed to get our gear packed and hand our bags in. We rushed to have breakfast. We rushed to catch the bus that took us to the start (a 40 minute journey). We rushed to strip off our warm layers (it was freezing in the morning, but warmed up pretty quickly once the sun came out). We rushed to use the toilet before the start. We rushed to get into the start area...Jo was still taking off layers when they said "One minute to go" :(

As such, we weren't in a good mental state when we started. The first mile or so was pretty flat to the first checkpoint and then it was straight up the mountain. We arrived at the first checkpoint with plenty of other teams around us. We took quite a while at the checkpoint as we now took the opportunity to do the things we didn't get a chance to do at the rushed start, like putting sun cream on and getting our trekking poles out. For us the stage really started here.

As we were getting ready Fred, George, Mimi and Sjohn arrived at the checkpoint. So we all departed together. I led (up a narrow steep uphill track), as I was all up for leading a strong fast march up the mountain. Jo wanted a slower pace...she realised that the rest of our gang could benefit from a slower steady pace. The TransRockies was no longer about just Jo and I completing the challenge - it was about the whole team and that included the Cheetahs and Knuckleheads. So I gave up the lead to Jo and allowed her to set a pace that allowed us all to get to the summit together...it meant we stayed with our friends and the stage turned into our most enjoyable and meaningful of the week.

The six of us make slow but steady progress up the mountain. The air was thin but no-one suffered any altitude sickness. We overtook the (mixed) French Gore-Tex team - they were struggling with some real "issues"...I think their team harmony was under severe stress as the girl (Manon) was having problems but they kept stopping and then pretty much sprinting up the mountain. We persuaded them to slow down and take it easy - their current approach was likely to result in complete failure. We also caught up with Ryan and Amy...they were a lovely couple who were due to get married at the end of the race at the finish line. They joined our merry band of trekkers and the eight of us made the summit after around 2.5 hours into the stage. Getting to the summit was rewarding, emotionally and visually.

Aint no mountain high enough :)

The rest of the stage was pretty easy; a steep downhill, the second checkpoint, a gradual downhill, a fun thigh-high river crossing, a few other small "splash about like a kid" stream crossings and a final flat one mile to the finish. I did have a slight worry, however, half-way down the mountain I started to get bad stomach cramps...I think this was the dehydration catching up on me from the day before. How bad did it get? Well - let's just say once we finished I got to the toilet just in time!!

The finish itself was very special - all eight of us crossed the line hand in hand. It was I think the emotional highlight of our entire week, something we will always remember. It's a shame the camera crews had packed up for the day as this I think demonstated the real spirit of the TransRockies Run.

There's no "I" in "Team" :)

Once again it was another transit to the campsite (Leadville) from the finish (Twin Lakes). It was another hot day but we were more organised this time and managed get settled down and showered up quickly. We walked into town with Fred, George, Sjohn and Mimi but struggled to find an open restaurant - it was 2pm, go figure! Eventually we found a great restaurant, not sure what it was called but I think it might have been "Doc Holliday". The food was great - I was happy as a pig in shit (with or without lipstick) ;)

As to that French couple that were struggling - they too made it, although Manon didn't look too happy when I saw her at the campsite later. One of them was later spotted having a smoke outside their tent - no doubt that helped with the breathing at altitude!! :o You gotta love the French! ;)

I spent the rest of the day ensuring I was rehydrated. I also had to take a couple of Imodium as I didn't want an "accident" in the night! Incidentally, during the entire week, the trips to the toilets in the night were rewarded with one of the most awesome night skies I was ever seen. The stars were amazing - if it was wasn't for the cold and tiredness I would have been tempted to get the camera out and take some pictures...I am a bit of a closet astronomy fan, but it's not an interest one can pursue in light polluted and cloudy London :(

Day Three - Leadville to Camp Hale

This was to be our first big distance day, over 24 miles. I felt good - no sign of any stomach problem, which was a relief. I think, judging by our strong start, Jo too felt good. We were getting better at our morning routine, hence were better prepared mentally for this stage. The stage started with a relatively flat road section leading to long uphill. Fred and George went off well too - leaving us behind...I thought they were long gone until I heard their voices from the surrounding shrubs. They had got lost when they tried to avoid a little puddle on the route...knuckleheads ;)

We left them behind as we pushed up the slope, but I could still hear George every now and then shouting "I AM TECHNICAL" whenever he came to a technical bit of the route...so I knew they were still pretty much with us. George was like that - constantly making us laugh on the run, seriously adding to the fun-factor.

Taxi!

At the checkpoint before the big downhill we were pretty much with the Old Goats and the Knuckleheads; the Old Goats are strong, so being alongside them half-way through a big stage was encouraging. The Old Goats pretty much left us behind soon after the checkpoint even through Jo and I were flying on the downhill - we managed to overtake a few teams on the downhill but couldn't catch them goats. :( Jo was really motoring...I was absolutely loving it - we were heading for a really good time, sub-6 hours, which would have been amazing (considering our first race ever was the London Marathon in 2006, which we did in 5 hours and 38 minutes).

Unfortunately the fast pace couldn't last. The day was pretty hot even though most of our running was in the shade, so I think the dehydration became an issue. Jo was feeling dizzy, so we had to slow down on the downhill...either that or risk injury. So, for the last few miles of the downhill, we switched to a fast walk instead.

Eventually the downhill finished and we had a few miles of flat wide gravel track into Camp Hale. I'm not so confident about the organiser's ability to measure their course distances - my GPS and Polar RS800 both had our distance at 24 miles and yet we still had a couple more miles to go. :( That final run into Camp Hale become extremely difficult. Mentally difficult because we expected it to end around 24 miles and yet it just went on and on, and the remaining four miles or so were just so monotonous - it didn't help that for the last mile or two you could see the finish in the distance. It was also physically difficult because it was extremely hot and there was absolutely no shade. In a way though I still enjoyed this part of the course, physical and mental challenge was what we had come to the Rockies for. ;)

Where's that bloody camp!?

We were getting slower and slower...I could tell that Jo was suffer from dehydration and blisters even though she never complained. I could see Fred and George slowly catching us up and eventually, about a mile or two from the finish, they overtook us while shouting "USA, USA" - cheeky sods. :(

We eventually finished at a time of about 6 hrs 30 minutes. I told Jo that we should be pretty impressed with that - to run at altitude, over mountains, in searing heat and to come in only 50 minutes behind our London Marathon time was, in my book, awesome.

Camp Hale was a beautiful location, with a nice cold river nearby (which we soaked our legs in for half an hour). Jo was suffering badly from dehydration and had a case of sun stroke, but to make matters worse we waited at the medical tent to get our blisters seen too and to check whether they had anything to speed up her rehydration. The problem was that there was no shade whatsoever near the medical tent while we waited in line to be seen - and standing in the baking sun for 30 minutes just added to our problems.

The great thing about Camp Hale was that the finish line was part of the main camp, so when the last placed team (Team Perky) approached the finish line, at around nine hours after the start, most of the camp rushed to the finish line to cheer them in. There's something special about Team Perky (Alex and Susan) - neither of them are your typical endurance runner builds. Alex especially carries quite a bit of upper body muscle, which just becomes excess baggage when you run long distance. The longer it takes to finish a stage, especially if you are at the back, the harder it is mentally. I have utter respect for these two - they kept pushing every day even though they were last across the finish line. It takes guts and determination to put one foot in front of the other five hours or more after the leaders have crossed the finish line - these two were the real inspiration and, for me, the true winners of this race.

According to the final results Team Perky did not finish (DNF) the final stage - if anyone knows what happened then please let us know. Either way I think Alex and Susan can hold their heads up high and I hope they continue to push themselves and inspire others.

After dinner we headed for a very early night (7pm) - to give Jo a chance of recovering for the next day. I wasn't too worried since the next stage was just a 14 miler. Fred and George were worried enough to suggest that I could join them if Jo dropped out - it was a moving gesture, but I assured them that she'd be fine. I knew that whatever Jo's state was in the morning that she'd be strong enough to do the stage - she's a tough (not so) old cookie. ;)

Day Four - Camp Hale to Red Cliff

Woke to a freezing morning - with ice on our tents. I hate the cold and this morning was really cold, so I wasn't in a good mood (until the sun came over the mountains). Jo on the other hand was feeling much better so had perked up considerably - the early night definitely helped.

Body heat welcome :)

This was a great 14 mile course. Flat (ish) for two miles, then steep uphill for four miles, flat again for one mile and then a great seven mile downhill. Brilliant - I was really looking forward to it. We tackled the uphill as a group (with the Knuckleheads and Cheetahs) - it was a good laugh.

Do they never stop smiling? ;)

What a view!

Once the uphill was over Jo and I went hell for leather on the downhill. We passed so many teams on the downhill (especially on the initial steep downhill) - I think Jo's definitely in her element when she's running down a mountain.

Don't look back!

You'll recall we had a very early night the previous day - hence we missed the course briefing. If we had gone to the course briefing we would have known that there was NO WAY of avoiding wet feet on this stage. But since we didn't know - when we came to our first river crossing we tried to "tip-toe" around the side to avoid the ankle deep section....I then slipped and fell in!!! I only hurt my pride but had a good laugh....until I realised I had lost my Oakley sunglasses - goodbye £70. :( Anyway, like I said, it wasn't a day for dry feet...after the first river crossing there was another, and another, and then the course actually entered the river....we ran in the river, downstream for a few hundred metres. It was crazy and mega fun...that is exactly what we wanted from the TransRockies Run.

I like doing things that "normal" people consider to be a little crazy...I like doing something and thinking "if only they could see me now". I've had few moments like that in my life, like crawling under my floorboards in my first house, feeding a new electric cable...crazy because I'm petrified of spiders and there I was crawling in their neighbourhood, or like when I went for a 20km run and decided to just carry on and ended up doing a full marathon. I think by doing some of these daft things you reinforce that you are alive in more ways than one. This running in a river was one of those "if they could see me now" moments - it's the most fun I've had with my trainers on. ;)

Unfortunately the river also slowed us down - we didn't have the experience or confidence of running over the slippery rocks, so we slowed to a walk, but we picked up the pace again after the river section. We met John DiMeo at the final checkpoint which was a nice surprise. John's blog is linked on the right - he did the TransRockies Run last year and his blog entry helped persuade us to enter this years TransRockies Run. This year he wasn't running - instead he was a volunteer. The volunteers over the week have been amazing - really great, encouraging, people...we honestly couldn't have done it without them.

Anyway we finished the stage strongly, only a short period behind the Old Goats and for once well ahead of the Knuckleheads - yippeee!! We were definitely getting stronger as the week went on.

Still smiling? Knuckleheads!

Red Cliff campsite wasn't great (the site itself was a bad patch of grass with lots of broken glass strewn about the place and the shower truck couldn't make it up the dirt road to the actual camp, hence was located by the finish - about a 10 minute transit from the campsite itself), but it didn't really make any difference. The massages were fully booked, so Jo and I showered and went to Mangos to eat...wow, the food was great...I was so hungry but even I couldn't finish the 18" pizza all by myself, so I shared it - half of it went to the gang manning the finish line.

So that's what proper runners look like - go team Heathens

Jo spent quite a considerable amount of time doing self-maintenance of her feet. She had a blister on every two...and some of her blisters had blisters. It wasn't a pretty site - did I mention that she's a tough cookie?

Day Five - Red Cliff to Vail

I'd been looking forward to this stage because I knew we could "push" ourselves. Up until this stage we had been running within ourselves, mainly because we didn't know what to expect and did not want to overdo it and find we no longer had anything left to complete the race. On this stage I knew we could really go for it because there was only one day left and if push comes to shove we could crawl that final stage.

Unfortunately I didn't actually discuss this "push ourselves" approach with Jo...I just set a hard pace from the off (we pretty much went up the mountain from the start - so no flat warm-up phase). Needless to say Jo and I had a little "falling out" about one mile into the race. I explained to Jo that we were capable of going much faster - that I hadn't actually felt any real pain or hardship over the previous stages and that no pain really did sometimes mean no gain. Well I was looking for some gain...and therefore needed to push in order for us to feel some pain. After we had a little "discussion" and Jo had thrown her hiking poles to the ground in disgust we kind of made up - I think we were on talking terms again by mile three. I held Jo's hiking poles and she held their ends and allowed me to pull her up the mountain - I wasn't really pulling, but I think it helped Jo and I psychologically.

We made good progress up the mountain - even passing (and staying ahead) of them Old Goats. :) Once we got to the top of the first climb we made a very quick stop at the checkpoint and charged on. Over the week we had progressively been getting quicker at the checkpoints - it's very easy to allow yourself to linger too long at checkpoints and lose quite a bit of time...I think the first two days we must have spent almost an hour in total at the three checkpoints (doh!).

Hot and bothered!

Anyway we had a great little downhill run, followed by a powerful charge up to the second peak - that second climb did just seem to keep going on and on though.

Is there no end to this madness?

Then we had a great final downhill. This final downhill was an amazing almost 10 miles runnable downhill - but again it seemed to go on for a little longer than expected...my GPS disagreed with the official distance yet again! Jo was strong on this stage, finishing stronger than me...pretty impressive for someone who had a blister on every toe.

Playground of the rich and...richer

The finish was extra special because my brother, Satpal, and his wife, Parm, had flown in from the UK especially to cheer us on. We spotted them in as we approached the finish and it gave us a massive lift. It was strange to be in Vail - the campsite was on a beautiful field...it was so lush and green that I wouldn't have been surprised to find that someone had sprayed it green (akin to what the Soviet soldiers used to do when they had a army general visit them). We were surrounded by the ultra wealthy, in a pristine town...it just didn't seem real. I've been to Vail before, but this time, after spending a week around great people and without a care for the comforts in life, Vail felt a little sterile. It also didn't help our perception of Vail when a reporter from the Vail newspaper interviewed my brother and his wife near the finish line and asked them "what's going on here, is it some kind of race?". The stage may have finished in Vail but no way can anyone really say that Vail was part of the race. :(

Five-star campsite

Anyway, so did I encounter any of that "pain" that I was seeking? Er, well, not really! It was quite a straightforward stage for us, we powered up the uphills (with me towing Jo via the trekking poles) and we charged down the downhills (with Jo leading the charge). I was very tired by the end - my legs felt pretty spent but I wasn't suffering any aches or pains and I knew that by morning I would be as fit and energised as if I had not run the day before. Jo on the other hand had added to her impressive collection of blisters...we knew that the final stage would involve some considerable pain for her - but she's tough, with a high pain threshold, so I knew we'd be fine.

We got to meet Fred's wife and kids - it was touching to see him surrounded by the his loving family. They were obviously (and rightly) proud of what he had achieved, although Helen (his wife) did say she would kill him if he did it again! I can't begin to imagine how hard it must be fitting in training for something like the TransRockies Run and at the same time having time for a family - hats off to Fred's family for helping him through the process.

Oh, and I almost forgot to say, we FINALLY beat the Old Goats. :) (It is sad that I am competing with two guys who are around the same age as my dad but, man, those old goats are tough!!)

Day Six - Vail to Beaver Creek

There was a jovial relaxed atmosphere at the start of this final stage - I think everyone felt that the worst was over and that one way or another we would finish this final stage. Just like we all underestimated the difficulty of the first ("easy") stage I think we all underestimated this final stage.

The Knuckleheads clashing with the Cheetah's outfits!

We started by running through Vail - personally I think it would have been better to run through the town at the end of the previous stage (so that family and locals could have cheered us on, whereas not many were awake for the 8am start to see us off). The Knuckleheads went off quick - they were on a mission, it was their final chance to beat the Old Goats in a stage...so much for an easy "photo" day!!! ;)

I thought this stage would be a repeat of the previous days stage. It started along our usual formula; Jo and I having an argument after the first mile, then me towing Jo up the mountain (for almost 10 miles), followed by Jo charging down the downhill. We were daft enough to think the worst was over once we had finished the first and larger of the two climbs for the stage.

Too early to rejoice!

The downhill, however, which we were looking forward to turned into a bit of a nightmare. After the first mile of the downhill...we turned off a nice wide downhill onto an overgrown, rooty and rocky, steep downhill.

Avon calling

After tripping over roots and rocks we realised we couldn't risk running this single-track, so we slowed down to a walk. As we progressed we got slower and slower and Jo's blisters just got worse. It was also getting pretty damn hot again - especially as we ran through Avon to the final checkpoint. We then began the seconds, much smaller, climb of the day.

It's not funny anymore!

What looked on paper to be an easy 1500 foot climb turned into a nightmare. It was just so steep, and just when you thought you were at the top, you spot an even steeper section - it was torture.

WHAT!? Another bloody hill - can't we go around?

Jo was in considerable pain due to her blisters - I asked her how painful (out of ten)...she replied "twelve"...even when she was suffering severe tooth problems and leg injuries during training she would always say "nine", so I knew "twelve" really was off the scale and unchartered territory for her. It was a good thing that this was the final stage - now sure how we would have handled it otherwise. I think I was finally experiencing the "pain" that I sought...now, where's that "gain"?

To say that we had a few disagreements and "discussions" on that final uphill would be a bit of an understatement - we were both a little cranky from being tired and in pain, but we made up on the downhill. We could hear the finish long before we saw it, so we told each other how proud we were of one another, had a kiss and a cuddle and flew into the finish. Satpal and Parm were there to cheer us on - Parm even had a Union Jack (that's the British flag, in case you don't know) for us...which we both held as we crossed the finish line.

The finish itself was a bit of an anti-climax...the (very) cheap medal, the quick finish (out of the trees and there's the finish) and the general "now what" feeling, but Satpal and Parm helped push the sense of achievement with the champagne and chocolates. :)

We congratulated the Knuckleheads and the Old Goats...and yes, the Knuckleheads did finally beat the Old Goats to the finish line. I told Fred's kids that they should be very proud of their father - they rushed over to him and gave him a hug...I think Fred was a little moved by it all but he is such a nice guy that I think he deserves all the joy he can get so I make no apologies for bringing a tear to his eye. :) Kendra and Christine cemented their podium place by finishing second again - they actually ran fast down that single-track that we were forced to walk on...nutters. We were at the finish line to welcome Sjohn and Mimi - who finished with their usual glowing smiles...these two ladies always looked pristine, as if they'd just been out for a light stroll round the park...damn, what's your secret? It was a great day made even better when Amy and Ryan crossed the finish line to the "Here comes the bride" wedding music - they proceeded to saying their wedding vows surrounded by friends, family and fellow (sweaty, smelly and smiling) runners next to the finishing area. Now their real endurance event starts. ;)

Jo and I had got stronger as the week had gone on - another week and we might have found ourselves on the podium. ;) I wasn't too surprised to be honest; I know how strong Jo is...stronger than she thinks, and I've always had faith in my abilities. The Knuckleheads too I think had plenty left in the tank - especially George. Fred is a faster runner (on the flat) and so, initially, I was more worried about George than Fred but I needn't have worried - George is damn strong. I think he can go much further and he too is a great guy, who spends more energy worrying and caring about the people around him rather than himself. Although George is a pretty private person it is obvious from the little he discloses that he's had a very tough year - I hope the lasting memory he has of this year is one of success and happiness.

Team "Can Do" (Achilles Heal, Old Goats, Cheetahs, Knuckleheads and Sandhus)

Boots - new addition to the Sandhu family (thanks Christine)

The race was great - the organisation could have been better, but I'll leave that negativity for another day and posting. As to the positives, the country is amazing...it just inspires you to run. But, best of all, the people (especially the small group that hopefully will be friends for life) were just brilliant - if the country doesn't inspire you then these people surely must. We would happily run with them again - in fact I think we might insist on it. ;)

Inspirational country!

After the dust had settled Jo asked me "At what point in the race did you have to dig really deep to overcome the pain and suffering?". My response was..."I didn't!". Sure, some of it was a challenge and I felt pain but I didn't "suffer". In fact I suffered more in the Helsinki marathon last year - I guess the eight great months of training that Jo and I endured was the real suffering. I think, for both of us, there is more in the tank so when we were congratulated in the final presentation with the words "this will be the toughest thing you will ever do" I had to disagree; there's bigger and possibly better challenges out there...the TransRockies Run for me was about gaining experience for whatever comes next. ;)

Jo has her sights set on the next challenge and she's aiming pretty high - she wants to do the TransAlps Run (almost twice the distance and twice the ascent) next year. I'm hoping she can persuade her sister to do it with her, otherwise her mug of a husband has his next challenge mapped out for him! I'm not sure it can complete with the experience of the TransRockies Run, unless our new (hopefully lifelong) friends were there too.

Regarding my ambitions. Well, I'd quite like to take on the Comrades or one of the Four Deserts - but it depends on costs and dates. Even so, these runs would (just) be a build up to my ultimate goal...to run across India from North to South - a 2000+mile TransIndia Run. Anyone fancy joining me - or locking me up in a nut house (George can join me for company). :)

PS: The rest of the photos can be seen on myphotoalbum - http://satsumo.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album17 - if you're not already fed up! ;)

Quick Update

noreply@blogger.com (Jo Sandhu) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:33:56 PDT

Well, we did it. Over 106 miles and 19,170 vertical feet of climbing (although we're sure it was more than that - it certainly felt like it!) and we are done. We've got the t-shirts and the blisters to prove we completed the TransRockies Run. We've had a blast the whole way, solely due to the lifelong friendships we forged along the way. We'd like to give particular mention to Team Knuckleheads, Team Cheetah and Team Achilles Heals - not forgetting the Old Goats!

It's been the toughest challenge we've faced so far, but the definite intention is to set our sights on bigger and better challenges in the future - there are many to choose from so watch this space while we figure it out...

In the meantime, we've spent the last day or so with Sat's brother, Satpal and his wife, Parm. We've had a great day making the most of the Labor Day sales and done lots of shopping and eating, followed by more shopping and eating!!!

Sat'll provide a day by day account of our adventure with plenty of photos over the next few days but we just wanted to let all our followers and supporters know that we'd succeeded in our quest and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Fred - hope you're very proud of yourself and we know it's tough having family commitments but we hope you continue to inspire others through your challenges
George - the main man! You've got bags of potential! The strength and support you demonstrated this week was immense - keep up the great work - the world is your lobster! Yum yum!!!
Sjohn - your words of wisdom and mantras were inspiring - "pain is expected, suffering is optional!" - carry that with you throughout life and you'll go far.
Mimi - what a foxy chick! Anyone who can run 107 miles, looking great and still wear 4 inch high heels for the finishers banquet rocks in my book!
Kendra - what can we say?? Your inner strength and self-belief are immense. Dora certainly is an exceptional explorer!
Christine - your drive and determination shone through that beguiling smile!
Old Goats - what inspiration for the younger generation. YOu lead by example and set the standard for us to follow.

Anyway, we've had enough champagne, mojitos and wine for one evening! We just wanted to say thank you to everyone who's supported us before, during and after the event and this is just the start of things to come!

xxx

We're not alone

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:19:25 PDT

Well, we've made it to Buena Vista! We've met several other teams, all from the US or Canada so far, and it's been great to share stories and experiences with other crazies like us rather than bore family, friends and colleagues!

The journey to Colorado was pretty uneventful. The flight was a bit delayed and took longer than expected due to a strong headwind for most of the way but we were well fed and watered on British Airways thanks mainly to our sister-in-law, Parm, getting us an upgrade to business class. Thanks Parm! x

There's a big Democratic convention going on in Denver this weekend so it was no surprise to see Lord David Steel on the flight with us - about 3 seats over from where we were.

Our pickup from Denver was shared with another couple, Team Herbalife, Juliet and Howard. They clearly have lots of long-distance running under their belts and it was great to pick up a few tips from them, especially as Juliet had done this race last year too. We checked into the Best Western around 10.30pm. It had been a long day but it was good to climb into bed knowing the adventure was already underway!

This morning we were up by 7am, we didn't have any specific plans for the day but we were hoping to hook up with some of the other guys we've been in contact with over the past few months. We didn't have to wait long. At breakfast we met Fred and George - Team Knuckleheads. Two laidback guys who are very easy to get along with. So much so that we agreed to head out for a little 5km jog within 30 minutes of meeting them! We also met Team Achilles Heals (Christine and Kendra) who had just arrived from Toronto.

It was already 62 degrees when we set off at for our mini-run about 9am and it continued to hot up. It was a good opportunity to see how we felt at 8000ft. Breathing was a little laboured but we stayed well hydrated and felt good afterwards. We found a great place for breakfast where we were joined by Sjohn and Mimi - Team Cheetah.

The 6 of us have hung out for the afternoon, checking out a dog agility competition (my mum would have loved it) and exploring the local area. We've met some of the organisers of TRR and introduced ourselves - quite surprised to hear how many people have been reading this blog. Our reputation definitely precedes us! We've had lunch (the prices here are so cheap compared to the UK) and this will be followed by a little siesta before we regroup and and catch up with Team Survivor (Judy and David) and head off for dinner. Eating, sleeping, running - what more could we want! It's been a great start to our adventure and if these first few hours are anything to go by, then we're going to have a blast!

BTW - if anyone's been trying to contact us, we have no mobile phone signal so we're unable to make/receive calls or texts.

Whip it on!

The Challenge Ahead

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 02:13:38 PDT

Since all the information in this posting is on the TransRockies Run website this posting is really for those of you (i.e. my sister Am) who cannot be bothered to check the main TransRockies Run website ;)

I've also included the weather forecast for the start and end locations for each day. Although it's looking good I suspect the weather on the peaks will be totally different - there's been quite a bit of snow and hail around Leadville recently. There's rain shower predicted for the area on Tuesday 26th August and Wednesday 27th August around Leadville :(

[Edit: Trail Goat (Steve Harvey), who was in Leadville last weekend, had posted a more accurate weather forecast - it looks like it'll be rain and snow pretty much every day!! :( ]

There's a little confusion over the length of the 1st two stages - with contradicting information on the TRR website, hence the description doesn't necessarily match the profile. Let's just say the course is fluid and we wont know for sure until we're running it!

Stage 1 (Mon 25th Aug): Buena Vista to Vicksburg

Buena Vista is located south of Leadville on Colorado Route 24. The scenic town is a recreation haven, most popular for spectacular white water rafting. Expect the weather to be wonderfully mild and pleasant. In this first leg of the race, runners will be cover 18 miles and climb 2,700” to Vicksburg.

Buena Vista: Mostly Sunny 79F/23C
Vicksburg: Cloudy, 73F/20C

Stage 2 (Tue 26th Aug): Vicksburg to Twin Lakes (shuttle to Leadville)

At the end of the first stage, runners will find themselves in Vicksburg, an old silver mining town that is regarded as one of Colorado’s legendary ghost towns. After a night’s slumber with spirits of the mining past, runners will travel 16 miles in stage two and climb 4,500’. This stage ends in Twin Lakes with a shuttle to the tent village in Leadville.

Vicksburg: Sunny, 75F/21C
Twin Lakes: Sunny, 74F/21C

Stage 3 (Wed 27th Aug): Leadville to Camp Hale

Once in Leadville, runners will be challenging their altitude acclimation. Leadville is Colorado’s highest incorporated city at 10,430’. Leadville is also a historic silver mining town that was once Colorado’s second largest city. Again, the weather should be fabulous. After a sky-high night’s sleep, runners will travel 25 miles and climb 3,300’ to Camp Hale.

Leadville: Showers, 66F/17C
Camp Hale: Unknown

Stage 4 (Thu 28th Aug): Camp Hale to Red Cliff

A night in Camp Hale is a very historic one. Located in the Eagle River Valley, Camp Hale was a major mountain warfare-training center for the US Armed Forces. Starting in 1942, Camp Hale was a site for training in mountain climbing, skiing, mountain fighting techniques, and cold weather survival. At its peak, Camp Hale’s facilities included mess halls, barracks, a hospital, a chapel, a fire station, a post office, a bank, a stockade, a guardhouse, stables, corrals, 2,700-seat theater, and a giant field house. After years of conventional and secretive military use, Camp Hale was decommissioned, dismantled, and turned over to the US Forest Service in 1965. Runners will leave this historic site and head towards Red Cliff, covering the shortest leg of 14 miles and climbing 3,009.

Camp Hale: Unknown
Red Cliff: Sunny, 65F/16C

Stage 5 (Fri 29th Aug): Red Cliff to Vail

The previous stage’s short leg was a mild preparation for this leg - the longest stage covering 25 miles and 5,000’ of climbing. After the grueling day, runners will find themselves in Vail, home to one of North America’s most popular skiing destinations. The snow may have melted, but the scenery of Vail is still spectacular. Tired runners may find renewal in Vail Village where Alpine-inspired pedestrian streets are lined with shops, markets, restaurants, and bars (just in case a strong cocktail is needed).

Red Cliff: Sunny, 69F/18C
Vail: Sunny, 72F/20C

Stage 6 (Sat 30th Aug): Vail to Beaver Creek

The last stage of the run is by no means an easy one. Runners will travel 21 miles and climb 4,623’. It may be a long final day, but once in Beaver Creek runners will be celebrating their accomplishment, surrounded by the beauty of this classy Colorado ski destination.

Vail: Sunny, 72F/20C
Beaver Creek: Sunny, 71F/19C

Week 28 Summary (11/08/2008 - 17/08/2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 01:48:45 PDT

Weekly Totals:
Exercise Time: 1hrs 47mins
Running: 2x, 16.43km (10.1 miles)
Longest Run: 10.53km (6.5 miles)

Calories:
Expended: 2491
Consumed: 2256 (Fat 30%, Carbs 52%, Protein 17%, Alcohol 1%)

Weight: 86.0kg
Body Fat(%): 18.0

HRrest: 56
HRmax: 180 (estimated)

This will be my last "Weekly Summary" posting - phew!! ;)
I will try and do a summary of the race week after our return, but then going forward I'll switch to doing monthly summaries instead.

Looks like I didn't manage to get down to the 80kg weight I had hoped to get down to - but dropping down from 103kg to 86kg is pretty good. I am pleased with that (especially the 10% reduction in body fat). I have an off-road marathon to run at the end of October - I'll be aiming to get my weight down to 80kg for that.

Week 27 Summary (04/08/2008 - 10/08/2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 03:03:50 PDT

Weekly Totals:
Exercise Time: 11hrs 25mins
Running: 5x, 100.00km (61.7 miles)
Longest Run: 22.82km (half-marathon+)

Calories:
Expended: 3463
Consumed: 2769 (Fat 28%, Carbs 54%, Protein 16%, Alcohol 2%)

Weight: 86.0kg
Body Fat(%): 18.0

HRrest: 56
HRmax: 180 (estimated)

Character

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:01:28 PDT

Over the past few weeks Jo has confirmed just how much character she's got. I'm pretty confident that only a serious injury or illness would stop Jo being able to complete the TransRockies Run - as she's been through quite a baptism of pain recently.

Jo skimmed over our 6 half-marathons - so I thought I'd elaborate a bit more on the suffering.

We decided to run the six consecutive halves because it would be good experience and it would be good mental training - we didn't really feel there was much to gain physically this late in the training but there was plenty of mental toughness to be gained. I don't think we realised just how much mental toughness Jo was going to have to use in order to do these runs.

On the Friday before we started the six runs (2nd August) Jo went to the dentist, to have yet another root canal drilling session on her troublesome tooth. The tooth's been giving Jo trouble for most of the year - and it has got progressively worse in the past two months.

So she was in pain on Friday night - hence didn't get much sleep, but we still ran the half-marathon on Saturday. Then, on Saturday night, Jo was sick - we think that was down to the after effects of the anesthetics pumped into her by the dentist as well as the anti-biotics she was on. So after not much sleep again, we managed to head out the door for the 2nd half-marathon.

The runs themselves were pretty easy but Jo's leg was giving her considerable pain especially at the start of the run - starting at about a nine (out of ten) in the pain scale, but eventually going down to about a four. The real problem, however, was her tooth - pretty much she didn't sleep all week that we did the six half-marathons. The painkillers only seem to give Jo about a 2 hour respite - and then the next lot would take an hour to kick-in....so only two hours of sleep at a time.

So as you can imagine, getting up at 5am on the Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday was pretty difficult. I found it mega hard - and I managed to get some sleep, so not sure how Jo did it. It was good that we did these runs; the runs gave Jo confidence with regards to her leg pain - we know if we start slowly then eventually the pain will subside.

After a week of serious toothache (sometimes up to ten on the pain scale) Jo had had enough - it was time for the tooth to come out. So on the Friday after the runs she was back at the dentist getting the bloody thing removed. Unfortunately that still wasn't the end of the pain...last weekend Jo was still in agony. I ran on Sunday (a fast 10km) but Jo didn't - not a problem really as we were considering starting our taper anyway.

Yesterday Jo was back at the dentist - and he stuffed her empty tooth socket full of some special material laced full of helpful drugs. It's working. Last night was the first time Jo's been pain free for weeks - she's managed to get a full nights sleep and is now smiling again.

I had tooth ache about a month or so ago and after a couple of days I was ready to set to with a pair of pliers, so I'm not sure how Jo's managed to carry on after several weeks of constant pain.

I'm sure Jo wont mind me saying, but I don't think a year or so ago Jo would have been as strong. I remember when we first started running - training for the London Marathon 2006. Jo was racked with self-doubt - which led to quite a few arguments and tantrums while we trained. Even after we completed the marathon Jo was still lacking in confidence in her abilities - she clearly stated she had no desire to run marathon distances again.

There's no way that that Jo would have been looking forward to doing 110miles in the Rockies. The turning point was when Jo went on a Tony Robbins course.

Since that weekend long Life Coaching course, and some subsequent Life Coaching, Jo's been a transformed person - so much more positive. I think these days she reflects the confidence that I always felt she should have - maybe walking on hot coals does that to a person. It's now even got to the stage where she is a Life Coach - she has a passion for wanting other people to reach for their potential and is now slowly building up a client base.

So if you're reading this and feel there's more you want from life, then give Jo a shout. I'm pretty sure she can help you unlock your potential - after all, she's managed to find the key to unlocking hers.

Less than two weeks to go to the TransRockies Run....getting excited and nervous now :)

Six of the best!

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:10:47 PDT

Bit of a misnomer the title of this posting as I don't think they were 6 of our best runs but collectively they were the most challenging. Basically we've just completed 6 half marathons in 6 consecutive days - phew! We started last Saturday so at least the first couple were done at a reasonable time of day. The last 4 had to be squeezed in before work so we've been up by 5am each day. Are we looking forward to a lie-in tomorrow!?! Absolutely.

Each of these runs had it's highs and lows and there's no need for me to go into any real level of detail, the main thing now is the sense of achievement and the fact that it signified the culmination of our training and now the tapering starts - yeehaw! We've got a final 20km scheduled for Saturday but after that the runs become fewer and shorter and although that'll give my leg a chance to heal a bit more, there's also a sense of anticipation building that the time to put all this training to the test is fast approaching.

This was just a short posting to celebrate the 6 in 6 - made even more poignant by Sat seeing the double-Olympic gold medallist Dame Kelly Holmes out for a run with a friend this morning. I'd read Kelly's autobiography, "Black, White and Gold", shortly after we'd started our training regime and was inspired by her level of commitment and mental strength especially with all the injuries she suffered and the way she came back even stronger to win Olympic gold. With this in mind, and the Olympics opening ceremony tomorrow, I think it's a sign (in fact, even as I'm typing this, Kelly's on a TV show that we've got on which is obviously why she's in London today). I don't mean we're going to win the TransRockies (although I'm sure my parents would be telling me to aim high!) but I think our preparation and training plan has done the job and got us to where we need to be.

Stay tuned for our last 2 weeks before the big event!

Jog on...

Week 26 Summary (28/07/2008 - 03/08/2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 07:13:32 PDT

Weekly Totals:
Exercise Time: 13hrs 40mins
Running: 6x, 113.40km (70.0 miles)
Longest Run: 22.11km (half-marathon+)

Calories:
Expended: 3608
Consumed: 2556 (Fat 24%, Carbs 61%, Protein 15%, Alcohol 0%)

Weight: 84.8kg
Body Fat(%): 18.0

HRrest: 56
HRmax: 180 (estimated)

Final push

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:26:58 PDT

It's been a good week and a half. Training has gone very well. Jo's still got pain in her calf but sometimes it's not so bad...and even when it is bad Jo manages to carry on running (I think it helps knowing what's behind the cause of the pain).

Last week I did about 65 miles (105 km) which is the most running I've done in a week. I even managed to squeeze a half-marathon in before work on the Thursday...which was mentally tough as the route I chose took me away from home and then back past home (1 hour later); when passing home there was the option to cut the run short and/or pop home for breakfast - but I passed the test, I carried on and did the distance. The Friday's run was the first time that my legs felt as if they didn't have the energy for the distance while I was running. I had run just 4km to meet up with work mates, shared two pints of orange juice and lemonade and then run the remaining 10km home (again passing the test of ignoring a shortcut that would have halved the distance). I now realise that orange juice and lemonade isn't a good energy drink - the run was hard....it also didn't help that I was getting hungry and all I could smell while running along the canal was food. Food glorious food...that was torture...it got worse when I got to Limehouse and I could smell Scampi...yum yum...I'd be lousy under interrogation, just wave a plate of Scampi in front of my nose and I'd let you know all my secrets (and probably some stuff I didn't know I knew)!!

Then at the weekend Jo and I got back to running together - which is great. We make great training partners; when we run together our pace is slower...much more likely to get us over long distances and we ensure we spur each other on. Last weekend Jo was a hard task master. I woke up on Saturday and Jo was already awake and raring to go - damn, was it already time to get up....Jo forced me our of bed and I started getting kitted up. Then I looked at the clock....6:45am...on a Saturday...hell no, this can't be happening....that wife of mine is evil. Jo was adamant that I didn't need any more sleep...sick, evil, demented woman. We ran 15km on Saturday morning and then squeezed in another 6km later in the evening - to take our daily total up to half-marathon. On the Sunday we did a half-marathon in one go....not quite as early as Saturday...otherwise there would have been trouble.

Sunday evening was so hot that I got my hair clippers out and gave myself a radical hair cut!! Now I'm ready to join the French Foreign Legion!

This week, on Wednesday, we've managed to do a half-marathon before work and then on Thursday we managed a total distance of half-marathon, but broken into two runs. We find doing 2 runs in one day is good training - it teaches the body to run again without being rested from the previous run. The 2nd run (after work) was hard for Jo - her leg was really hurting (9 out of 10 in terms of pain - which is pretty much as bad as it gets before you have to stop), but she did well...she kept running. And she didn't complain at all when she asked me if we could walk...and I said "no"...I knew she could keep going. It was my turn to be a hard task master, and it had nothing to do with getting revenge for Saturday morning. ;)

This weekend we're aiming to start our 6 half-marathons in a row challenge...we figure it would be good training to get six long runs in, one day after the other, before we begin our taper. The aim is actually to do a very long run on Sunday - but we'll see, it depends on how much pain Jo gets from her leg. So next week is going to be hard - doing a marathon in the morning before work for four days in a row.

It's not the running I find hard - sure it's a challenge but when we run together we run slow and on flat terrain so there's no real physical stress. What I do find hard, extremely hard, is the sleep deprivation - having to get up at 5am to do a run, especially when your body wants extra sleep because of all the training. The lack of sleep affects me mentally - I'm grumpy and my will power suffers...Jo doesn't get much conversation out of me until I've woken up (about an hour into the run). On Thursday Jo wanted to get up even earlier, at around 4:45am (because she needed to get into work early)...I refused...I draw the line at 5am. It was because I was unwilling to get up so early that we ended up breaking the run into two runs - I guess next week I will have to accept whatever needs to be done in order for us to run complete half-marathons before work :(

At least all this effort is having a positive affect on my body...after a plateau (made worse by the Swiss holiday diet) I'm losing plenty of weight again. I'm down to about 86kg (13.5 stones). I'm not sure I'll hit my 80kg (12.5 stones) target before the race but I reckon I'll be sub 13 stone - for the first time in well over 10 years. Most of my clothes are now too big for me and I'm having to add extra holes to the belts that I own...but I'm more than happy to have to put up with these inconveniences. Running has given me back my life - even after the TransRockies Run I have no intention of stopping.

Week 25 Summary (21/07/2008 - 27/07/2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 07:48:12 PDT

Weekly Totals:
Exercise Time: 11hrs 40mins
Running: 6x, 105.50km (65.1 miles)

Expended: 3515
Consumed: 2230 (Fat 30%, Carbs 50%, Protein 18%, Alcohol 1%)

Weight: 87.4kg
Body Fat(%): 17.5

HRrest: 56
HRmax: 180 (estimated)

The long and the short of it!

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 02:41:05 PDT

Well, the final countdown has started. Only one month to go - can't believe it's August at the end of this week. The last month has been pretty frustrating from a training perspective for me and if I'm really honest, I wondered how this would impact my performance during the actual event. It's added another dimension to the challenge as mental attitude and alternatives to running have had to play their part to ensure I could come back stronger than before. So the past week has involved focused action to get me running again.

The week started with another sports massage by the latest member of the Team Can Do Sandhu support team - Adrian at Cannons gym in Kingly St, London. In a nutshell he's mad as a brush. Adrian's a fully qualified sports masseur but also part-time actor - that's quite a unique combination when you think about it . During these sessions I never know whether to laugh at his repertoire of bad jokes or cry at the pain he's inflicting with the massage - it usually ends up a mixture of the two! It's hell at the time but he knows his stuff and definitely does a good job. Anyone still curious to find out more can see him in panto in Rochdale in December! (yes, honestly!)

Sat's already mentioned I had a doctor's appointment which we expected to result in a referral to a physio. This duly happened and on Thursday I was introduced to Emma the physio at Milligan and Hill. After many questions, prodding and measuring she concluded that the pain I'd been experiencing was due to having one leg slightly longer than the other. I'd already been aware for some time that I had been blessed with this particular condition (!) but it had never been a problem before. Seems the pressure of all the running we'd been doing had finally taken it's toll.

Fortunately the (temporary) answer was quite simple - a thick layer of cushioning in the trainer of the shorter leg. She rounded the treatment off with my first ever exposure to accupuncture. It was an odd experience and the sensation of having needles twisted gently in my leg and foot was not something I'd want to repeat too often but along with the massage, physio exercises and the trainer bolstering solution, I'm in a much better place than when I started the week.

I'm sure I'll get some stick for confessing to this but I was far happier knowing what the problem was and what to do about it rather than it being some muscular or ligament injury which would prevent me from running for the foreseeable future.

I'm seeing Hannah The Podiatrist on Tuesday and Emma The Physio again on Thursday and I guess orthotics will be the longer-term solution but in the meantime I'm running again! Anyone looking for a physio in the City of London should look up these guys as I was impressed.

After a successful trip to the gym on Friday, I figured I had nothing to lose by heading out for our regular run on Saturday. The first hour was a bit painful but seemed to wear off after that so we managed 15km in the morning and another 6km in the evening. Today we did the full 21km in one hit and this was even better than yesterday. So we've done 2 half marathons this weekend and I feel great.

Hopefully our Welsh contingent will be pleased with this posting - they'd put in a special request for more postings from me! The plan is to produce more frequent (but shorter) postings over the next couple of weeks in our final stages of training.

Jog on...

Bearly Living...

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 04:50:45 PDT

When we entered the TransRockies Run we weren't thinking of charity or changing the world etc, but once we entered we realised it would be foolish and irresponsible not to raise some fund for worthy causes while we were at it.

Jo chose to raise funds for MacMillan Cancer Support because she knows of several people who had suffered from cancer and to whom MacMillans made a huge difference, whether to help them in their recovery or to make their final journey that little bit more bearable.

I chose to raise money for WSPA (World Society for the Protection of Animals) because some of their causes I feel very passionately about. I'd like to focus on one of these causes in my quest for your charity if I may - bile farming. What is bile and what are it's benefits? What are the alternatives to bile farms? I guess I should answer these key questions before I condemn bile farming.

Bile contains a key ingredient called ursodeoxycholic (UDCA) - a molecular magic bullet which heals by expelling excess heat from the body. Apparently it aids in treatment for anything from flabby libidos to cancer. UDCA has been shown to work - it is thought it plays a key role in a bear's ability to hibernate. It's effects come from it's ability to keep cells alive beyond their pre-programmed lifespan (self destruction through a process called apoptosis). All animals have UDCA in their bile - it's just that bears have the highest concentration (American Black Bears coming out on top).

Before this all backfires on me and you all go out looking for the closest bear bile supplier, there are alternatives to getting UDCA from bear bile. It is possible to synthesize UDCA from scratch (but the process is complicated, hence expensive) or one could use a cheap readily available source - slaughterhouses. If you're going to kill cows, pigs and turkeys then you may as well extract UDCA from their gallbladders - this form of UDCA is available today online for as little as $13.50 a gram (much cheaper than black market, bear, bile extract). There are also herbal alternatives to UDCA that have been proved to work.

So, what's so bad about getting bile from bears?

There are two ways of getting bile from a bear, kill it or farm it; (via surgery) stick a (steel) catheter into it's gallbladder and milk it once or twice a day. Killing bears is becoming less feasible as they are now an endangered species in Asia (where bear bile demand is greatest) - the illegal killing of wild bears for their gallbladders has even spread to North America.

So, how about bear bile farming? Imagine being in a cage. Imagine that cage is so small that you can hardly turn around, sit up or stretch out. Now imagine being unlucky enough to survive...for up to fifteen years in that cage. The lucky ones (about half) die during (or soon after) surgery which is carried out by farmers who have no veterinary training. There are 7000 bears in captivity in bear bile farms in China (and another few thousand across the rest of Asia). WSPA visited one-third of these and as you can guess the behaviour of the bears was pretty much what you would expect from any living thing being kept in these atrocious cages, and many bears had infections/wounds around their catheters.

This is one of many worthy battles that WSPA fights. If you care about living in a world populated with wild animals (rather than just farmed animals or pets) then please sponsor me (link on the right).

Yes I know it would be pretty ironic if I was to get killed by a grizzly bear while we're running the TransRockies...if that happens then you have permission to laugh - but only if you've sponsored me ;)

Thanks for listening
Sat

Sources:

The Journal of Life Sciences - "A Bear Market", by Julian Smith (May 17th 2007)

Consumer report on the trade in bear gall bladder and bear bile products in Singapore, by Animal Concerns Research & Education Society (ACRES)

Inconsistency

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:22:30 PDT

It hasn't been a good few weeks.....we've been hit by the trainers worst enemy, inconsistency.

Inconsistency in our training, in our diet, and (as you can tell from my multiple blog posting) inconsistency in our blogging!!! :(

Four weeks ago Jo's leg was giving her pain, hence her training suffered - which in turn also affected my training. We tend to spur each other on, even if we're not actually running together, hence when one of us is injured or sick then the other's training is also affected. Jo has better will power than I have - I find it easier to excuse myself from training sessions when I know Jo isn't able to run! :(

Then we had our one week holiday in Switzerland, which wasn't too bad as we managed to get in quite a bit of hiking, but in a month of very little running it too stands out as a barrier to our running.

Once we returned from holiday we threw ourselves into a couple of good runs, but maybe the poor diet from the week before was now affecting us. We were both pretty tired and Jo's leg was still hurting hence we skipped another couple of planned runs.

When the weekend came we were back into the flow, although Jo's leg was still an issue, which slowed us down...hence making me feel as if we were going backwards. I'm not sure I was fully aware of how much trouble Jo's leg was giving her at this point. On the Sunday (a week ago) I felt terrible, but still headed out on a run with Jo. After a few hundred metres it was obvious I shouldn't be running, my heart rate was around 150 while we were just warming up (normally around 120-130), so I headed home while Jo continued her run, alone.

So last week was also a write off. Jo with her bad leg and me with a high temperature. Jo booked into a sports massage and I got onto the antibiotics. Jo switched to doing pool sessions instead just to keep active whereas I did sod all.

Jo's sister (Gill) and her boyfriend (Andy) were down last weekend. They have finally returned to the UK after their 6 month adventure in South America (blog link on the right). It was great to see them, and we had a great weekend. We still managed to get runs in on Saturday and Sunday - I felt great, back to normal, but Jo's leg was an issue, hence we cut Sunday's run short.

Recently our diet has been pretty poor, ever since our holiday, but on Monday we made a commitment to get back on track. I'm glad to say that after just a couple of days of healthy eating I'm feeling much better....and no longer craving chocolate (the unfortunate side-effect of a week in Switzerland).

Jo's booked in to see the doctor on Thursday so she can get referred to a physiotherapist....it's a stupid system; insurance companies insist that you are referred by a doctor, as surely there is no way that you could possibly know that you need to see a physio (!) - £10 bet that the doctor spends 1 minute listening to Jo and then says "You need to see a physio"!! Jo did see her sports masseur again yesterday - and he's confident that Jo's leg problem stems from a problem with her hip (Jo did have hip pain a week or so before the leg problem manifested itself). We'll see if the physio agrees.

I'm back to running proper distances again - in the morning before work. Yesterday I ran to work via Limehouse and the Regents Canal (i.e. 11km route, instead of the direct 2km route to work). Today I ran past Limehouse, on to Canary Wharf, back to Limehouse and picked up the Regents Canal, carried on (to Islington) past the point where I turn off to work, and then back to work...a total of 17km (10.5 miles). I'm hoping to do the same again pretty much everyday until we have to taper....it's only a month to go (YIKES!).

I have changed our training plan - I have removed interval and intensive training sessions and put back the long slow runs. It's about getting back to being confident about running the distance rather than worrying about how fast we can be.

Hopefully Jo's leg/hip get sorted soon and we manage a couple of decent weekends of running - fingers crossed.

Now than we've only got a few weeks of training left I must confess that we're getting a little nervous! :(

Week 24 Summary (14/07/2008 - 20/07/2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:22:16 PDT

Weekly Totals:
Exercise Time: 1hr 52mins
Running: 2x, 17.90km (11.0 miles)

Expended: 2501
Consumed: 2293 (Fat 24%, Carbs 55%, Protein 19%, Alcohol 2%)

Weight: 87.6kg
Body Fat(%): 19.0

HRrest: 56
HRmax: 180 (estimated)

Week 23 Summary (07/07/2008 - 13/07/2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:22:05 PDT

Weekly Totals:
Exercise Time: 3hrs 41mins
Running: 3x, 34.90km (21.5 miles)

Expended: 2585
Consumed: 2403 (Fat 30%, Carbs 51%, Protein 18%, Alcohol 1%)

Weight: 88.4kg
Body Fat(%): 19.5

HRrest: 56
HRmax: 180 (estimated)

Week 22 Summary (30/06/2008 - 06/07/2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:21:56 PDT

Weekly Totals:
Exercise Time: 16hrs 18mins
Trekking: 5x, 62.10km (38.3 miles)
Total Incline: 3150 metres (10335 feet)
Total Decline: 3350 metres (10991 feet)

Expended: 3199
Consumed: 2826 (Fat 43%, Carbs 40%, Protein 16%, Alcohol 1%)

Weight: 88.8kg
Body Fat(%): 19.5

HRrest: 56
HRmax: 180 (estimated)

Week 21 Summary (23/06/2008 - 29/06/2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:21:41 PDT

Weekly Totals:
Exercise Time: 5hrs 42mins
Running: 2x, 13.70km (8.5 miles)
Trekking: 1x, 15.70km (9.7 miles)
Total Incline: 1625 metres (5331 feet)
Total Decline: 1000 metres (3281 feet)

Expended: 2720
Consumed: 2592 (Fat 29%, Carbs 52%, Protein 17%, Alcohol 2%)

Weight: 88.8kg
Body Fat(%): 19.5

HRrest: 56
HRmax: 180 (estimated)

Yodelay-ee!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:26:23 PDT

We've been a bit quiet lately as we were on holiday last week. We had wonderful week of hiking in the Swiss Alps. Our intention was to get some proper mountain running in, but we found the gradients a bit too steep - doing 700 metres over a 5km distance is on average much more than we'd expect to do in the TransRockies (and those stretches in the Rockies that are this steep will also have to be trekked rather than run). Also it seemed like ages since we actually had a "holiday" rather than a "training camp" - so we eased up a little to recharge our batteries. Initially the aim was to get some altitude training in - but to be honest the hiking trails didn't go above 3000 metres hence there wasn't any noticeable oxygen depletion to test us. We did, later in the week, go up to 3700 metres - where the going was tough, but mainly due to the gradient and the thick slushy snow...the lungs seemed fine.

Below is a short summary of our achievements and adventures each day.

Saturday 28th June
Still half-asleep, we were up at 3am for our 6.20am flight from Heathrow to Zurich. With only a slight delay before take-off we were in the land of cuckoo clocks and chocolate by 9am and had plenty of time to drop our bags off at the fly-rail counter, apparently they'd follow on to the hotel behind us later in the day. In the UK, 4 separate train journeys with minutes between connections would be treated with a great deal of cynicism, the Swiss version of events, however, we a totally pleasurable experience. Zurich Airport to Lucerne, Lucerne to Interlaken Ost, Interlaken Ost to Lauterbrunnen and finally Lauterbrunnen to Wengen all ran completely to time and the ever-changing scenery was fantastic. The climb up into the mountains was breath-taking. All in all we were in pretty good shape by the time we got to Wengen.

We just chilled for the rest of the day and discovered the mega food prices as we went out for Pizza.

Sunday 29th June
We got kitted out expecting to run from Wengen (altitude 1300 metres) to Kleine Scheidegg (altitude 2000 metres) but the gradient was too steep to run. Doing a fast trek in the very hot sunshine had Jo's heart rate in the BT2/DPT zones hence we wouldn't have been able to push to a run without wearing ourselves out. So we completed the 6km fast trek and savoured the amazing views at Kleine Scheidegg - looking up at the north face of the Eiger. Awesome - truly awesome.

Eiger - North Face

Once we got our breath back (from the views - not the trek) we had lunch and then headed downhill to Grindelwald (altitude 1000 metres).

Nice view from restaurant - Kleine Scheidegg towards Jungfrau

We ran quite a bit of the 10km as we wanted to get as much downhill running training in as possible - it uses a totally different set of muscles. The Swiss Alps seem to be very popular with Japanese walkers - who were incredibly friends...especially when you took the time out to say "konichiwa" :)

We treated ourselves to ice-creams and then headed back to Wengen via the train. We again discovered food is very expensive in Switzerland - around £40 for the two of us (no alcohol, no starter and no desert!)

Monday 30th June
On the previous day Jo had used her trekking poles to hike up to Kleine Scheidegg. I had borrowed these for the downhill to Grindelwald - I wanted to find out whether I felt comfortable actually running with them rather than just using them for hiking. I discovered I felt fine running with them so we got a 2nd set of hiking poles for me in the morning.

We took the gondola up from Wengen to Mannlichen (altitude 2200 metres) and then fast-hiked down to Kleine Scheidegg (6km).

Top of Mannlichen

We continued on up from there to the Eigergletscher (a train station at the foot of the Eiger, at altitude 2300 metres). On our return to Kleine Scheidegg (total loop 5km) we treated ourselves to another ice-cream and then ran down to Wengen (6km) - in the pouring rain. I ran with my hiking poles and eventually Jo realised it wasn't so bad running with the poles. It's good to know that when we're in terrain which requires a constant switching between hiking and running that we can keep our poles out and run with them rather than having to shrink them down attach them to our backpacks every time we want to run. Incidentally our backpacks were pretty heavy all week...we'd pack them with about 4-5litres of liquid each, some food, some extra clothing layers and I also had my digital SLR and it's lenses. So I reckon the packs were between 7-10 kgs each.

Easier way of coming down??

That evening we went to the Victoria hotel for dinner - and were flabbergasted to be told they charge for tap water (£2 for 1 litre) - so we left no tip :P

Tuesday 1st July
These days I am rarely ill, but sleep deprivation and hay-fever joined forces and forced me to take this day as a very easy recovery day, especially since our legs were really feeling it from the downhill running. The sleep deprivation was partly my own fault - I kept reading late (ish) because I was hooked on the (Sir) Ranulph Fiennes autobiography (Mad, bad and dangerous to know) - but mainly it was because (with our windows open in our hot Sunstar hotel room) we kept getting woken up in the middle of the night by inconsiderate morons walking on the main (traffic-free) street - the worst being a group of Brits screaming and swearing at 3:20am....no wonder most of the world doesn't like us British. The hay-fever I can't really do anything about - every July I encounter a 2-3 week period of intense hay-fever (drugs only help a little). Sometimes going abroad helps (escaping from whatever pollen is affecting me) but not this time, if anything my hay-fever was worse in the Swiss Alps.

So, after spending a small fortune on medicine, we decided to walk down to Lauterbrunnen (altitude only 800 metre) and then spend the rest of the day travelling via trains and gondolas. The walk down to Lauterbrunner was actually harder (steep and monotonous) than we wanted, but we had a nice relaxing day walking around Lauterbrunner and later in Murren (via gondola) - although Jo wasn't too happy when she threw (and lost) her sunglasses into a 100 metres waterfall....so we spent a while in Murren looking for a new pair of sports sunglasses!!!

New sunglasses!!

The weather was great as it had been most of the week so far - the rain when it came was usually confined to the evening and nighttime hence generally we stayed dry on the trails.

Wednesday 2nd July
Wow - what a great day! We took the train to Alpiglen (altitude 1600 metres) and trekked the Eiger Trail (7.5km up to Eigergletscher). The trail takes you right to the foot of the Eiger - cutting across the scree slopes of the north face. No wonder so many climbers want to climb it (and so many fail and die) as it really is an awesome mountain that mesmerises you - not for me though, I'll keep my feet firmly on terra firma!!

Eiger Trail

After the Eiger Trail we walked down to Kleine Scheidegg for lunch (and more ice-cream) and then trekked up to Mannlichen, taking the gondola back down to Wengen.

Thursday 3rd July
Today the weather forecast was for rain - lots of rain. The forecast was spot on - we took the train down to Lauterbrunnen and hiked up 6.5km to Murren (altitude 1700 metres).

Gloomy weather towards Murren

The hike was mega steep - sometimes the gradient was a 1:1 (one foot/metre upwards for every one foot/metre forwards, i.e. 45 degrees), and rarely did it get any better than a 1:2 (1 up for 2 forward, i.e. 22.5 degrees). When we got to Murren the heavens really opened up and we were faced with torrential rain so we found shelter in a cafe and had some tea and food. We then trekked down to Lauterbrunnen and then continued back up the other side of the valley back up to Wengen (4.4km) - getting to the hotel in time to avoid the 2nd spell of torrential rainfall.

Friday 4th July
Our last full day in the Swiss Alps was reserved for a trip up to Jungfrau (the "Top of Europe"). We took the train up (via Kleine Scheidegg) - it passes the Eigerwand station (carved into the rock of the Eiger) from where most climbers would get off and tackle the north face (avoiding the "boring" first few hundred metres). Eventually we arrived at Jungfrau station (altitude 3500 metres), well above the clouds.

Damn - should have brought our snowboards!

The views were amazing - we were surrounded by snow and ice as far as the eye can see (the views to the other side of the Eiger - the greener/warmer valleys was blocked by cloud).

Jo, surrounded by snow

The Jungfrau peak is actually just above 4000 metres, but it's not possible to trek to it, so we trekked to another smaller peak at 3750 metres. The trek was considerably longer than it looked (snow has that sort of affect on the visuals) - it was about 3.5kms whereas it looked as if it was a few hundred metres!! The going was quite tough - it is difficult to know whether the it was hard because of the altitude or whether the ankle deep slushy snow and gradient had more to do with it. We did however cover the distance in the same sort of speed as we had managed at much lower altitudes (e.g. the Wengen to Kleine Scheidegg trek) hence I'm inclined to think the altitude wasn't a factor (this time).

Top of Europe!!!

Back a bit more please!!!

At the end of the trek there was a nice restaurant - well the seating area was nice with great views, but the food was, erm, interesting. We both ordered cheese on toast (mine with egg - which Jo hates) - we thought it's nice and simple and everyone (surely) knows what cheese on toast should look like, right? Wrong!!

What we actually got was a bowl of melted cheese - with a sloppy slice of bread at the bottom (no idea whether it was toasted) and mine had a fried egg dumped on top. How truly disgusting - it was like soup - except it was all melted cheese. We could feel our arteries clogging up with each sip/mouthful - we gave up after a few spoonful. To make matters worse each dish was about £9 - I would have preferred to just set light to a £20 note!

So just be careful what you order in Switzerland - and remember they have a sadistic point of view when it comes to pricing everything!!

Anyway we headed back to Wengen and a well earned slap-up (proper) meal. The next day we packed and said our goodbyes to the mountains and headed back home via their great train system.

Since we've got back we've been a bit slow getting back into running properly. Jo's got a tight calf muscle - and I'm lacking a little in motivation. I had a couple of really good runs at the start of the week - but they were short and fast (11km in 1 hour and 8km in 42 mins). Really need to get in a couple of 20km+ runs to get back into the distance game. Hopefully we'll kick start this weekend and burn of some of that Swiss chocolate we've been stuffing ourselves with (don't expect any weight reduction in my next training summary!!).

(BTW: If you want to see the rest of our Switzerland photos then feel free to dive into my photo album website - http://satsumo.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album16)

Week 20 Summary (16/06/2008 - 22/06/2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 09:36:26 PDT

Weekly Totals:
Exercise Time: 13hrs 49mins
Running: 5x, 74.33km (45.9 miles)
Bike: 1x, 72.80km (44.9 miles)
Longest Run: 30.00km (18.5 miles)
Total Running Incline: 1445 metres (4741 feet)

Expended: 3610
Consumed: 2325 (Fat 28%, Carbs 50%, Protein 20%, Alcohol 3%)

Weight: 88.2kg
Body Fat(%): 18.5

HRrest: 56
HRmax: 180 (estimated)

Run Rabbit Run

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 11:11:47 PDT

It's been a while since I've done a posting about running - so I figured it was time I did a little catching up.

Firstly, can I say hello to the new readers that I know we have in Asia. One in India (that'll be my dad - "Hi dad, do you fancy taking up running next time we visit you?") and another in South Korea. The vast majority of our readers are, however, still from the USA, Canada and UK. Maybe the rest of the world has more sense? Having said that we've just got the details of the teams that are in this years TransRockies...I'm not impressed a) There's only 48 teams - for such a great event I think that's pretty sad (I know it's not cheap - but a one week "holiday" for just over $1000 each isn't that bad, is it!? It's a no-brainer, right!?!!!) and b) There are only 2 teams (that's right just TWO teams) from Britain (that'll be us and "Pheonix Runs" - Wendy MacFarland and Stu Gibson - well done fellow Brits)....Looks like Jo and I are going to have to learn to speak American ;)

A few weeks ago we embarked on a massive run - probably my longest run ever (just slightly over the marathon distance). It was another of these weekends where we combined running with socialising - this time spending the weekend with my sister (Kam) and her family. We caught the Tube to Putney Bridge, crossed the bridge and started running from Putney to, erm, Slough (!!) When I tell most of my friends they look at me as if I have grown a 2nd head...I do get a buzz out of doing stuff that other people think is insane. Which reminds me...I really am warming to the idea of doing the Marathon des Sables - in the next year or two!! Anyone fancy joining me?

Anyway - that run to Slough (about 28 miles West of central London) was hard - it was tedious and hot (around 28C, not quite what Judy and George have to face in California and Florida, respectively, but it's pretty much as hot as it gets here in the UK). I was glad I had given in to Jo's idea of cutting the run short by catching the Tube to Putney first, instead of doing the run from our doorstep (which would have made it about a 35 mile distance run!).

It was great running past my previous family home in (Old) Southall. I couldn't believe it hadn't changed a bit. It still had the garage and the extension that our dad built and the grape vine that my mum planted.

Happy memories

Anyway - the reason I am going back so many weeks is that ever since that weekend I have felt particularly good about my running. On the Sunday following the run, Hosh (Kam's husband) took us out for a 10km+ run around their neck of the wood (Farnham Common) - it's quite hilly but I loved it. I felt so strong I just wanted to sprint up every hill we encountered. Considering it was a day after a mammoth run it really was a big confidence booster. Jo's started to call me "rabbit" - it's her new nickname for me...I think it's after the duracell bunny. You just wind me up and let me go...it does seem as if I have boundless energy at the moment.

Since that weekend we have also started our interval training. When we first started our training I was not looking forward to getting to this phase (Peak Interval Training aka PIT), but by the time this phase was upon us I was raring to go. It turned out that the 1st interval session wasn't as enjoyable as I had hoped - the week leading up to it had been brilliant. Monday it rained buckets as I ran home along the Regents Canal. Tuesday I ran with my "running club" mates from work (Tim and Jeanette who are training for the British 10k at the end of June). By Thursday I was really really looking forward to the interval (PIT) session but the weather changed drastically - it got very hot. I struggled, but still did the 10 intervals of 1km - but they were a bit erratic.

The following weekend we ran on Saturday, along the river...one of my most enjoyable (biggest-smile) runs ever - as I raced the boat on the Thames. Then on Sunday we did the Guildford to Dorking run that Jo talked about in her posting.

Dorking - at last!

Denbies vineyard - where's our complimentary wine?

I did feel strong and enjoy it, but I do worry about how much our pace drops whenever we hit a slope - I'm not just talking about Jo here, it's my pace that is a concern too. But we're doing something about it now - incline sessions on the treadmill, which I really really love (could it be sunstroke!?)

My week now involves doing a treadmill session on Mondays (slow walk but high, 10%, elevation for about an hour), "running club" run on Tuesdays (about 7-8km, usually with Tim - who doesn't seem to know how to run slowly, so that's fine as it is supposed to be a DPT, 80% HR, session), another treadmill session on Wednesday (close to 2 hours, mostly jogging slowly but with about 5% elevation) and then the aforementioned interval session on Thursdays (basically run as fast as you can for 1km, recover, and repeat 10 times - and go home and cry...if you still have the energy!). The weekend tends to consist of one 10-15km fast run and one long run (either a really long run - marathon distance - or somewhere there are hills).

I am really enjoying the whole week. I, especially, love the Tuesday runs with Tim, Jeanette and Simon from work - it just feels easier to be running at pace when you're just initially trying to keep up with someone (Tim starts fast, hence I struggle to keep up with him, and then I get going and he has to work at keeping up with me - it's a nice combination). I also really love the treadmill sessions - I love the fact that I really have to battle mentally to keep going. Just how boring is it running for 1.5 hours on a treadmill (with an incline of 5-10%) in a very hot and humid gym - very boring. To say I sweat quite a lot would be like saying the Sahara is a bit sandy - I hope the treadmill is waterproof! I still find the interval session very very difficult - and I struggle to get my heart rate up to the high 170s that I am aiming for (I highest I have managed to get to is 174); I suspect the legs are tired, lacking glycogen, hence there's no point in them asking the heart for more oxygen...guess it is to be expected after all, as Thursdays are the 7th day in a row of running (hence I love Fridays too - rest day, yippee!).

The weekends are, these days, always special so I look forward to them too. I really enjoyed last weekends run to Satpal and Parm's BBQ - not the run in itself, but how good Jo felt about it - and of course the great BBQ afterwards. Everyone commented on how much slimmer I look - which was obviously the excuse I needed to eat several kilos of meat, with a light scattering of salad :)

This week has been another great week of running - I'm feeling strong, whether strong enough to handle the Rockies I haven't a clue, but certainly strong enough to handle everything I'm throwing at myself at the moment. I think I am finally beginning to feel the benefits of my weight loss and the much enhanced weight-to-strength ratio. But ask me again after this weekend...I'm due to mountain bike (actually it's just flat off-road biking mostly - hence not dangerous enough to be banned under my current "no risky sports" ruling) with my brother, Satpal, and his gang - it will be about 45 miles (which, off-road and with my brother's bike mates, is going to be pretty tough). Jo's also expecting me home in good enough condition to do a long run on Sunday.

I'm feeling a little apprehensive about this coming weekend -lots and lots of (whole wheat) pasta tonight I think! ;)

Week 19 Summary (09/06/2008 - 15/06/2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:31:27 PDT

Weekly Totals:
Exercise Time: 7hrs 05mins
Running: 4x, 60.00km (37.0 miles)
Longest Run: 30.02km (18.5 miles)

Expended: 3164
Consumed: 3072 (Fat 33%, Carbs 45%, Protein 17%, Alcohol 5%)
I blame the bbq for breaking my "eat for your target weight" rule! :(

Weight: 88.8kg
Body Fat(%): 19.5

HRrest: 56
HRmax: 180 (estimated)

Stronger

noreply@blogger.com (Jo Sandhu) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:37:10 PDT

This weekend saw yet another turning point in our training, hence I felt the urge to write the latest posting.

Last Saturday we'd done a fast-paced 15km, the weather was quite warm and we'd had a pretty good run. Sunday's weather was even hotter and we decided on an impromptu trip down to our old stomping ground in Surrey. We jumped on a train to Guildford with the plan to run along the North Downs Way to the town where we used to live before moving to London, a place called Dorking. We estimated it'd be about 22km so a reasonable challenge for a hot, Sunday lunchtime.

I like to think that I have quite a high level of mental toughness but recently the long runs at the weekends (particularly the off-road ones) have been very challenging to the point where it just wasn't fun for long stretches at a time. I think that had begun to play on my mind and I started to question whether I'd be capable of completing 120 miles at altitude in 6 days.

Much of what we do on a daily basis is determined by our attitude and approach - if we're determined to succeed then we tend to achieve our goal. Just between you and me, I confess that last Sunday my mental attitude left something to be desired and I found the run technically very difficult virtually from start to finish. Although the distance is one we've done (and exceeded) many times before this one seemed unusually daunting. Each time we reached something resembling an incline, my heart sank and I resorted to walking up it. Sat was running in his usual fashion - powering his way up - methodical and meditative.

Clearly my tactics weren't a positive contribution to the journey. I didn't welcome Sat's attempts to encourage me or appreciate his recommendation to turn off my music to help me focus. I had to do it my way which impacted both of us as my mood and delaying tactics meant it took hours. Each time we reached a clearing in the trees I yearned to see the spire of Dorking's parish church to indicate we were almost there. Many times I was disappointed. Finally it came into view and we were on familiar ground and bounding our way through Denbies, one of the UKs vineyards (their wine's actually quite nice). Once we reached Denbies we knew the route was all downhill and we both found some extra energy to sprint the last 1km or so.

I wasn't pleased with my performance that day but it did give me the opportunity to learn an important lesson. We might have done lots of training to do the distance, but hillwork had now become a priority. I made a commitment to get on the treadmill during the week and start practising. This we duly did and now combine speedwork and hillwork in our weekly schedule.

Maybe it's psychological as I doubt we'd make such progress in a few days but I actually felt strong during training this week and was relishing the repeat run from Guildford to Camberley on Saturday. Mentally I was a million miles from where I'd been the week before. We knew the route as we'd done it about 3 weeks ago; about 30km - with the first 20km being the most challenging from a technical perspective. Our reward at the end of this run was courtesy of my brother-in-law, Satpal, and his wife, Parm, who were hosting their annual BBQ. So this was a great incentive to get there as quickly as possible.

Conditions were great - quite warm but with a good breeze to keep us cool. Sat had bought a couple of walking poles mid-week to take with us as well - we'd seen quite a few people had used these during last year's TransRockies Run and thought we should perhaps get used to them as well so they were strapped to Sat's rucksack for easy access.

I won't bore you with all the details of the run. Suffice it to say that I had probably the best run ever!!! I was so energised and felt in really good shape. We set off and before long the usual 50 yards had opened up with Sat in front. The gap never widens but it seemed to be a comfortable distance between us. I didn't listen to my iPod as I was focusing on my mantras and affirmations to power me through and they worked a treat. The first one was simply "I'm stronger" for the first 20km. I then moved onto a Tony Robbins classic for the rest of the way "All I need is within me now" - you emphasise a different word with each repetition. It really worked. (And we didn't even use the poles - not this time anyway). The kms just seemed to tick away and once we'd got past the halfway point I'd already stopped counting.

By the time we'd got to Camberley I was on a high. We had run the whole way. I'd given it everything and was so pleased with the result. Even better was to know we'd beaten the time it took to get there by 35 minutes!

We definitely felt we'd earned our Mojito Royals (champagne cocktail), BBQ food and desserts which we tucked into with relish over the course of the evening. The rest of the family and some of Sat & Parm's friends came over as well, culminating in the, now traditional, Wii tournament which always causes plenty of banter and healthy competition!

Another memorable weekend for us in so many ways. Lots of great memories and another notch on the training calendar of success.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that you can complain about any particular situation or moan about what you haven't got in your life and find excuses to reinforce it or you can step up and take responsibility and choose to do something about it. We always have choices. Often we need to venture outside of our comfort zone to get there but without a doubt, the reward is always worth it. It really is all in the mind!

I'll leave you with this final thought...hell would be to meet the person I could have been. Carpe diem!

Laters....

Week 18 Summary (02/06/2008 - 08/06/2008)

noreply@blogger.com (Sat Sandhu) — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 02:16:33 PDT

Weekly Totals:
Exercise Time: 9hrs 44mins
Running: 6x, 85.21km (52.6 miles)
Longest Run: 26.68km (16.5 miles)

Expended: 3368
Consumed: 2657 (Fat 33%, Carbs 47%, Protein 16%, Alcohol 4%)

Weight: 89.2kg
Body Fat(%): 18.5

HRrest: 56
HRmax: 180 (estimated)