Manchester Marathon training going well

It's been a while since I last blogged, and I have much to update you with, so starting with the latest is the Dr Ron Hill - Hyde 7 mile race.

This is part of the Tour of Tameside (ToT), a 4-day event with fell races, 10k and a half marathon; tough to do all 4, especially as Saturday is the half marathon,  Sunday is as a hilly 7-mile road race, with 4 lumps!

It is also one of the races that Royton Road Runners use in the championship, which entails around 12 events in the year. Your best 7 results count, so if you come first in your group, then 25 points, 24 for second, 23 for third and so on. I am in group two, which is for people running around 42 minutes for 10K, so above us are groups 1, championship and the fastest "Premiership".

So far, I have managed to do 4 of the races, this was to be my 5th, because of Covid, the 2020 and 2021 years have merged, with some events still postponed. This makes the race calendar very hectic and haphazard with so much to squash in. This has also had a knock-on with my preparation for the Manchester Marathon, which I am running in aid of SarcoidosisUK. I had planned to do some events in the lead-up, but that I will cover in the coming weeks.

The start of the race was back to pre-covid style with a mass start and not much social distancing. One fella coughed into my back, a disgusted look was thrown back at him; in regular times, that would have been bad manners, these days positively unwanted!

The race elevation looks like this:

I set off and quickly found myself darting around what could be described as a slow herd being pushed by a farmer! Thankfully, halfway up the hill, I got into free air and started to pick up speed and get into my rhythm.

Throughout the race, I saw pretty much the same people; we would be faster or slower on the hills, then the flats and downhills, regroup,  so it became a sprint to the finish. One runner, in particular, was annoying me by running right beside me, to quote my friend Bryan L. "breathing like a horse" i.e. heavy and fast. But, if you have ever raced me to the line, I revert to my sprinting youth and can crack out a decent finish. So, all those years as a junior on the running track are finally paying off!

I finished 34th on gun time, but 30th on chip time, 7 miles in 46:28. Somewhere in there, this set off all-time bests appeared (well, since records began after my 2009 - 2012 years).

In the last couple of months, I have been busy training. Unfortunately, the endurance cycling was proving too hard, I seem to be just fine running, but I struggle cycling. I have failed to finish anything seriously long and hilly.

As most running races had been cancelled, cycling seemed the best way to keep fit. Also, as you are naturally distanced from each other, they seemed more likely to go ahead once restrictions started to lift.

Both the Stockport Sportive and Tour of the Pennines, I was hampered severely with snowstorms which saw me retire with leg cramps, on the last one hyperthermia. Just try going up against big hills in two layers of lycra in a snowstorm… barmy.

So to address my lack of cycling skills, I joined Rochdale Triathlon Club, which has been absolutely brilliant in training me, supporting me with cycling skills and motivation. My shoulder is still being assessed, and I await an MRI as to why my left shoulder is so painful and weak. It is not sarcoidosis related which is a relief. Still, they can only say it is the rotator cuff moving very roughly through the joint. What is causing this cannot be seen with the MRI, so until that is fixed, I cannot swim so I am stuck doing Duathlons which triathletes sometimes refer to as "Dryathlon" as you don't get wet! 

So far, I have done a test Duathlon at Dunham Massey, it is a starter event designed to give you experience and all went well, apart from doing one too many laps on the first run! 

The transition to bike went well, and I pushed hard to make up time. Although this left me with severe "jelly legs", and it took a while to wear off, my running pace for the last leg didn't suffer too much, and I didn't make the same mistake and did two laps as I should.

Since then, I have been practising "brick runs", usually going from doing a bike session to running. This helps prepare your body for jelly legs in races, much like track work when running. Doing sprints with short recovery helps to train your body to tolerate and even remove lactic acid that builds up when you work your legs hard.

Last week at the RTC cycle track session, I stopped after about 1.5 hours of near-constant cycling, put my trainers on and ran the opposite way to the cyclists and happily the jelly legs was minimal, there are techniques like spinning in a high cadence as you approach transition which helps loosen your legs

So I am now in the latter stages of marathon training; the long runs are getting longer, my feet are toughening up like a hobbit. Mixing this with duathlon is not so bad as cycling is acting as cross-training where I can still do cardio but easier and slightly different muscle set/usage.

Coming up is a busy race month and the week before the Manchester marathon, I am taking part in the Oulton Park Sprint Duathlon, which is a TeamGB Age group (MV45) qualifier, if I come in the top 15 and nobody else bothers... I might be off to Spain next year for the European championships... wouldn't that be a dream!

Reflection and future view

As I reflect on the main event of last week, the horrendous weather and early finish to the Velo29 Tour of the Pennines, I had to pick myself up and get back into training.

Usually, races and events are on Sundays to take advantage of the quieter roads, but this was a Saturday, so I decided to meet the runners at the club Monday night and go for a run. There was only one turn up and this is the new norm since lockdown, runners have got used to training on their own, we hope more will come back soon.

I made a hilly route, not the ideal after going through what I did but wanted to push myself a little and other runners are training as well, we merged with the top group to make the numbers up and that helps push us along a little too.

It was a good pace all things considered and overall managed 8.9 miles at 8:12 pace.

On Thursday I chose a mostly flat route, my legs were tired, and my left hamstring seems to be lingering with a niggle, Owen who ran with me is only just back from injury so the pair of us set off with a little trepidation and headed off towards Middleton. 

Being in Oldham you are never far from a hill, so if you want to have a flat route, you best head towards Manchester, we had a real good natter and he was talking marathons, having never made it to the start line he is reticent about this and stated he probably never will do one. I talked to him as best I could at the pace we were doing and assured him he could, he worries about the commitment of training, which is huge for a marathon!

I will speak with him over the next few weeks, trying to get in any running event is tough with what's been going on and it may take some time for things to settle.

This put me back into my own thoughts of my training plan for the rest of the year, there are still 3 big events I am trying to complete, raising money for SarcoidosisUK and the next one is a week away now.

On the 23rd of May, I attempt the medium route of the Tour of the Peaks, a beautiful route but gruesome with two huge climbs. Winnats Pass is steep but I don't mind as long as it is constant with sudden 20% spikes, they sap me!

The second KOM (King of the Mountain) is the Cat and Fiddle, this is a hill that takes you out of Macclesfield and there is a pub called the "Cat and Fiddle" which gives its name to the ascent, not that I will have the time nor inclination to stop for a pint!

The route itself is hilly and this will my biggest cycling challenge to date, I have done longer rides but on very flat routes.

I hope very much to finish the event, in the last few miles, you pass through Youlgreave, which I recently discovered that my 3 times great grandmother was born there in 1807 (Family History is a passion of mine) so just an extra motivator to pass through it.

My training is a bit hit and miss so took a few days off and on Sunday we visited Moel Famau in North Wakes for a walk up the mountain, I love the ascent up through the trees and the views from the peak are stunning

In the evening I set the bike up on the turbo and did a favourite session in Zwift, there is nothing now I can do to get my legs ready for next Sunday's Tour of the Peaks, there is a simple notion that it is 3 weeks before you see any adaption from a tough session. So for the week ahead, I will use the turbo to just keep my fitness ticking over and be ready. 

So my challenge now is to plan my training to get the graph to smoothly show an increase in fitness until the Manchester Marathon in October!

I am nearly at 50% of my target to raise £500 for SarcoidosisUK, if you can donate please visit

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-kelly57

Thank you for reading, keep safe

Mark

VELO29 TOUR OF THE PENNINES 2021

It was Saturday 8th May 2021, the 5am alarm rang out and a grumpy Mark Kelly was struggling to get up, all the prep had been done for the day, just get dressed, load the car and head off!

Easier said than done, but we set off on time at 6am and headed North to Barnard Castle for the Velo29 Tour of the Pennines, the forecast was for light rain till 10am and then moderate with about 14mph wind, gusts at about 25mph for the rest of the day.

If I was quick enough I could do the medium 41-mile route and be back before the worst of it,  I had the option of the long route as that was what I paid for and had decided to see hows things went as I got to Stanhope for the feed station. 

My start time was 08:21 and had a few minutes to spare so got an expresso for a caffeine hit and rolled to the start.

Getting ready for the off

I am trying to raise money for SarcoidosisUK so even though the weather not suited to cycling I soldiered on and in the picture above you can see the screen giving the time, this is important now as to be Covid Secure riders go off in groups of 6, once every minute, this way you can't miss your time slot!

After the cycling is done, various cycling events are shown, on this occasion, it was a Zwift event and I can tell you after what I went through, I would have been better off on the turbo trainer!

The route is full of hills and up I think the second hill before the feed station, these photos show how steep they can be...

My Garmin Varia RTL515 which is a radar and light, came into its own today as you need as much notice as possible a car is coming, on the bike computer I see how ar the car is relative to me if the car is going very fast my bike computer goes red, the light on the back also goes very bright and flashes more.

By this stage I was wet and a little cold but soon after the deluge started and the wind picked up, what goes up must come down, the side winds and wet roads are a nightmare and I was starting to hate being out.

I arrived at Stanhope, sodden, freezing and miserable, I struggled to eat and get my soaking "deep winter" gloves back on, the next photo shows the best pose I could muster.

I spoke to some of the other riders and all now seemed to be heading back via the medium route, it is here the long route riders head north and the medium head south, straight to Unthank Bank.
I could only get a few fingers into the gloves so made changing gears and braking a little bit harder, I trudged and made my way up the hill I would rather never go up again!

The blue line is the segment, if you look on the gradient plot, there seems to be a step, this is a very steep switchback, which is super hard to get speed up for, turn the wheels and power back straight on. "Do Not try this at home" should be painted onto the floor!

It was soon after this the slow fell, then horizontal sleet, at times I could not see and the snow was hitting my eyeballs, glasses are no use. there is a steep descent and the brakes were useless, at one point I was only able to continue following the tail light f the ride in front.

I was frozen, couldn't see, the gloves were doing more harm than good, I dug deep and prepared for the next climb up over Bollihope Common. The snow and sleet were getting worse and at times I could not tell what speed I was doing, the last segment I managed is named "B6278 Climb" how these guys do in 5 minutes beggars belief and to be fair I cannot remember doing it, as I reached the top, I staggered to a halt, the bike fell from underneath me and my legs cramped up.

Somewhere on the common, this photo was taken, it shows the blizzard, grit and determination and a wonderful beard, which would have been handy to keep my face warm

Riders stopped to help me and it seemed almost immediate, that the Velo29 support van arrived, the bike was bundled into the back, make into the front. The van itself had around 9 people in it so very cosy. 

At this point, I was going hyperthermic and they assisted in getting my wet stuff off, a foil blanket over me and getting food and drink down me, my fingers and lips were blue. One of the riders was a paramedic and took care of me, when the actual paramedic got in the van, he tried to take my oxygen levels, but the oximeter could not work as my fingers were too cold.

The van took off and we picked up more people on the way back to the event HQ, I have never been so cold in my life and it took an age for my shivering and teeth chattering to stop.

When my bike crashed to the floor, the bike computer detected it and it sent an alert to my wife, who was parked up back at Barnard Castle, she could not reach me (the bike and phone being in the bike with other bikes all over it) so unbeknownst to me, she was driving to the GPS co-ordinates looking for me. 

As soon as we got back I got my phone and rang her, we got back to the car and headed home, I felt so ill, upset she had worried and headed out looking for me, it was a sombre and emotional drive back.

I got all my wet stuff off me and climbed into bed to warm up and recover from the physical and mental distress that nearly wrecked me, vowing myself, never to get back on a bike ever!

On Sunday I got the bike and all my gear washed, somewhat reticent of the day before and will get back training and ready for the next challenge on the 23rd May, Tour of the peaks, 61 miles of much the same hills, no offence if the weather is not forecast "good" then I will do something else to challenge me, maybe long run!

If you can sponsor me, you would be helping the wonderful charity SarcoidosisUK and give me a boost to continue!

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-kelly57

Keep safe all and a huge thanks to Velo29 and Ryan for getting me back.

Mark

Nutrition made simple

With one week to go till my first big challenge and fundraising event, it has been days with setbacks and a cutback in training.

This week I had planned mostly to talk about nutrition and specifically the energy bars I make and eat all the time, they are great tasting granola bars but jampacked with extra goodness.

What's best is they are homemade, quick n' easy, organic (where I can find it) and store in the fridge for a few days, except the family also eat them, my wife to sustain her through a 13.5 nurse shift, the kids to counter the chocolate rubbish they like so never last long.

So as I take you through the making process I will call out the nutritional benefits, not just for people doing exercise but anyone suffering pain in joints but mainly my Sarcoidosis family, who get awful pains absolutely anywhere in the body!

A great deal of the ingredients are anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant which you should look to incorporate anywhere in your cooking! This article at Healthline.com will give you a better explanation than I will attempt, I reference this website many times!

I am in no way linked to the website other than signposting, other resources are available, I am just being lazy and they talk good sense!

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/anti-inflammatory-herbs

Now the amounts of each ingredient can be up to you and I typically use what I have to hand but the core Ingredients, the links will take you to a specific article that gives you more detail.

A wide variety of ingredients

    

    

Granola (2 Cups) - Makes the base for the bars

Walnuts (Chopped and about 85g) - very good for you and anti-oxidant

Honey (3 tablespoons). - Adds sweetness and much better than refined sugar

Orange Zest and juice (orange) - The orange makes the bars yummy and Vitamin C loaded

Eggs (2 medium) - used to bind the ingredients

Rapeseed Oil  (splash) - helps keep the moisture and bake to perfection

The following I add, again with whats ever in the cupboard but will put my favourites to the top

Flaxseed - I add this at the end, the health benefits are superb, to say the least, also add to thicken the mixture so that's why I put in last.

Gogi Berries - an anti-oxidant, taste best to me when cooked!

Blueberries - Sweet delicious and super anti-oxidant 

Raisins - Sweeten the recipe and moist, also anti-oxidant 

Hemp Hearts - Incredibly nutritious 

Ginger - This has been used in medicine for thousands of years nuff said!

Turmeric - Your biggest friend in the anti-inflammatory space (I take two super loaded tablets a day)

Chia Seeds - Put these in porridge, sprinkle over cereal, invisible in the bars, great anti-oxidant

Cinnamon - anti-oxidant on another scale and adds a bit of flavour

Black Pepper/ Cayenne Pepper  - Now black pepper is proven to help you absorb the likes of turmeric in bucket loads, it's whether you like a kick to your bars... Now Cayenne is a favourite of mine I have Psoriasis and this is pepper is shown to reduce the inflammation 

Dark Chocolate/ Cacao Powder - If you like a chocolate taste, then either use chopped (up as high % dark chocolate you can find) or Cacao Powder, which can make the bars a bit bitter... though!

Now onto the method

1) Preheat the oven to 190°C  (375°F) 

2) Line an 8-inch square baking tin with greaseproof paper and lightly coat it with rapeseed oil.

3) Chop Walnuts into small pieces add to a plastic bag

Chop the walnuts as small as you can

2) Add granola to the plastic bag, Smash and roll the granola and nuts into smaller pieces, add the contents of the bag to the mixing bowl

Smash and roll the contents of the bag

Empty the content into the bowl

5) Chop Goji Berries and add to bowl

6) Chop Raisins and add to bowl

7) Add to bowl any ingredients you fancy from the list above

8) Mix two Eggs in a separate bowl, then add to the mixing bowl

9) Add zest and juice of an orange

Use a grater to get the zest and squeeze the juice

10) Add honey

11) add a splash of rapeseed oil

12 mix thoroughly with a fork

13) check consistency, if too sloppy add flaxseed as it quickly thickens and you can never have too much flaxseed

14) slop out onto a greaseproofed tray (lined with rapeseed oil) 

15) flatten and shape the mixture with a spatula

Prepped for the oven

16) pop into the pre-heated 190c oven for 12 minutes

17) allow the bars to cool for at least an hour before cutting into 10/12 bars

18) package in thin foil or airtight Tupperware and store in the fridge.

Wrapped in foil, two bars to a pack!

As for the training this week, 3 days in bed and not so good until Sunday when I did a 9-mile run which went well, nice to be out after an enforced break!

Hopefully, I can get some more running in this week Saturday will be an early start, as will have to set off at around 5am and though I haven't been able to cycle much my running should keep the fitness there!

If you can sponsor me at all, SarcoidosisUK needs all the support it can get, the link is:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-kelly57

Keep running and keep safe!

Mark

Getting final training in for Tour of the Pennines

As I have the "Tour of the Pennines" coming up, it is imperative that I get some hill training in now so that my legs have time to adapt.

The "Manchester - Sheffield - Manchester" event showed my fitness and endurance are still some way off where I need to be,  I want to be happy I can finish these challenges.

For the last few months, my short distance work is fine and the lungs work fine, legs are keeping good, but the rest of my body is struggling for the endurance of the events I have entered demand.

So for this session, I decided two hills over a short distance would give my legs a workout but minimise the strain.

It all went well, it was my first time up Buckstones Road (except in a car) and it is a long, constant climb, reaching the top was such a hard effort and all the time, wishing for another “Granny Gear” which is a term used for gears to help you get up hills easier, spinning the legs more and requiring less power, just more endurance.

Turning left at the top is downhill into Denshaw, as I approached the next turn there was a police incident, two cars had collided head-on, the passengers must have been taken to the hospital sometime before, the police officers thankfully didn’t make me cycling back up the hill I had sped down!

So I carried on through Delph to tackle the second hill “Grains Bar”, the way home thankfully is all downhill!

Finally at the top

As I was due for another cortisone injection in my troubled shoulder, I went for a run Thursday morning, my timing wasn’t great as I emerged off the trail, back the main road, the school kids were all streaming everywhere, cars queuing, fetching out fumes, my lungs were goosed.

It took some time when I got home to recover, twice I had to get on the inhaler. I have not had to use that since before the first lockdown, the “return to the new normal” the empty roads were a boon for runners and cyclists, almost clean air!

On Saturday I did a version of the Royton Trail, which is our (Royton Road Runners) annual race, this year the race HQ has been changed to the Royton Cricket club, which is our base, traditionally we go from near the Tandle Tavern and finish there.

So the route is not too different but the hard work up through Tandle Hils is now near the beginning and so leaves you to enjoy the rest of the race downhill and mostly flat, I live close to the route and so had the first wear of a running vest thus far this year as it was mid-afternoon and super warm.

Sunday was a planned 36 mile Cragg Vale ride, I took a nice pace ride out to Hebden Bridge, it's a good route with a warm-up distance to Kiln Lane, a steep hill on the way to Hollingworth Lake, it was
quiet on the way round and down to the turn for Todmorden Road.

It is a long easy climb up to Todmorden and undulation from there to Hebden Bridge and a nice rest for a bacon butty and latte at Coffee Cali.

Well earned rest

Latte and gel, a great combo

A quick supplemental gel for energy and it was off to Cragg Vale, arguably the longest, continuous climb in England of around 5.5 miles, not my quickest time up there, but good training and happily Royds Ices were at the top and had a rewarding ice cream

Royds ices, the depot is a the bottom of the hill

The descent back into Littleborough is steep and today a touch windy, not for the faint-hearted! It's the same route back past the lake and home, so this time put a bit of effort and got myself home for a well rewarding brew!

So got a good endurance and hill effort in, getting better now and feeling more confident about the Tour of the Pennines, which is just 2 weeks away.

As I publish this post I have raised £135 which is 27% of my £500 target which is fantastic and thanks to all those who have sponsored me so far, if you can afford and wish to help out, the link is:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-kelly57

Next week I will write about the energy bars I make, not just for me, something for all the family!

Thanks for reading

Mark K

2021 is getting back on track and its charity supporting on the road

Now that the UK is emerging from the Covid pandemic, battered but not down, folks like me can now start to take part in events.

I run and coach with Royton Road Runners so it is good to see races appear back in the calendar and I booked the first few... Mossley 10k was cancelled the next week after I signed up!

I am trying to raise money and awareness for SarcoidosisUK, a charity that supports sufferers of this rare disease, I was diagnosed back in 2019 and although I can still exercise, it takes much longer to recover and some weeks I cannot train as the fatigue can be too much.

I have entered 3 cycling sportive events and as you may know, the Manchester Marathon is something put back twice now but should go ahead and this will be my final challenge of the year and my fundraising for 2021

Tour of the Pennines - 41 Miles of Hills - 8th May

Tour of the Peaks - 61 Miles of Hills - 23rd May

Cheshire Cat - 108 miles including "Mow Cop" - 12th September

With my last and final challenge 

Manchester Marathon 2021 - 26.2 miles of running around my home city

If you can spare time to look at their website https://www.sarcoidosisuk.org 

and if you can afford to sponsor me head to my JustGiving 

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-kelly57

So my training regime is going to be a mixture of two longish runs with the club, Monday and Thursday's and either a long run or long ride

After the first ride of the year went "wrong" for me last Sunday I have bounced back and committed to getting the training right so that the challenges ahead are "doable"

The running is not so much an issue but the start to the year cycling has been mostly on the turbo trainer and very few opportunities to ride, so rocking up to the Manchester-Sheffield-Manchester I was nervous, to say the least.

Overnight it had snowed and I have very little winter gear so had to brave it out with what I could find (Fingerless gloves and knee warmers) 

On the second to last hill, I suffered horrendous cramp and had to stretch out and push the bike up the short bit to the top.

On the last hill, I had to seek medical help and eventually got to Glossop Fire Station for the feed station. I tried to stretch the legs but the pain was too much, so decided to quit and contacted the event HQ to let them know.

Hopefully, in 3 weeks the weather will be better and I will have learned from my mistakes, not a great deal of time to improve my cycling but will soldier on.

My shoulder is still very painful and after an ultrasound was carried out, it was not a bone spur as first suspected, but inflammatory Arthritis. The physio administered a cortisone injection, which has done nothing and the pain is just getting worse. 

I am waiting for a Rheumatology Physio session if this can be confirmed as inflammatory then it might possible Sarcoidosis related, either way it is blommin painful!

So Tuesday evening I ventured out for a 5k run, the legs were tired and a little achy but the effort was respectable

I don't usually bunch runs together but work was getting on top of me on Wednesday, so decided after a year of working from home, why not go for a lunchtime run! it was fun and a little quicker than the day before, just over 22 minutes

Thursdays RRR group B was a nice pace, I think we had all had a challenging week and the conversation was super as we went around a hilly but simple route.

The groups target pace is 8:00min/mile so it was a more comfortable 9:00 pace, my runs to and back from the clubhouse, I go a little faster.

After the tough ride last week, it was imperative I got some miles in the bank on the bike as the Tour of the Pennines is just 3 weeks away! So warily I rolled out on a quiet, cool but wind-free Sunday morning.

My main effort was the Newhey Climb, which is a hill that just keeps on going, I met another cyclist on the way up and we rejoined as I cruised down the other side of the hill, he caught me up and kindly offered to adjust my seat slightly. Turns out my seating position was not helping my performance!

It turns out he is the "Bike Fit" engineer for a cycling team and has done super long weekends of 400 miles, so quizzed him as much as I could!

So a cheeky 21-mile ride with a total climb of 1467ft around stunning scenery was a superb way to get my training on track. 

So please help me raise as much money for Sarcoidosis, and I will do my best to complete these challenges and spread more awareness of this awful disease and together we can find a cure. 

All the best 

Mark