Westward Ho!

I rest happy tonight, as I have found a perfect run-to-the-sea route. Because I was still in Ireland at the weekend I postponed my long run until today, so I could be back in Devon and resume my search for a great route leading to the sea. There is something within me that keeps wanting to run towards the coast; in my imagination I am running along a quiet road and the air begins to feel heavy with salt, I round a corner or reach the top of a summit to suddenly see the foamy water straight in front, beckoning and driving me to keep going towards it.

Today I discovered this near-perfect scene occurs when you are running into Westward Ho! The only town in Britain with an exclamation mark! (And I can't think there can be many elsewhere in the world...?)

To complete my 18 miles, I drove to a pretty little fishing village called Instow (shown in pic) and then ran further along the coast to Westward Ho! where the beach-sighting happened that made my day. It was a hard run because it was exceptionally windy today, and the decision to wear a men's waterproof jacket didn't help as it filled with air like a sail when I went up or down hills, but the wind also leant the waves some extra power and the sight and sound of their crashing as I ran along the quay made it an enjoyable run.

Investing in your feet

At the beginning of this year I had a foot and gait analysis at ProFeet in London. It was very expensive, at almost £120, but that included an intense consultation that lasted 90 minutes and custom engineered insoles. I went to the shop because I'd been having knee pain over christmas after I increased my mileage, and I think it was worth paying out for as the pain has not returned when I upped my long runs again, and the shoes I purchased following their advice are the most comfortable I've ever had. Also, it was nice to have so much attention and individualised advice, and watching the videos of me running when they were played back was really interesting- just to know what my running style looks like! I couldn't really see a difference in the different shoes they tried me in, despite the 'technician' man slowing in down and drawing fancy things on the screen, but it sure sounded like he knew what was going on.

ProFeet also do ski boot fitting, which would be great to prevent blistering and pain. Their shops are only in London at present, but the website is www.profeet.co.uk and is worth checking out for advice on footwear.

Dublin leaves more (much more) to explore

I’m in Dublin for work and have been itching to get away for a good run all week. Unfortunately I was let down. It might have been because I still had a crick in my neck from sleeping on the plane, and a headache from too much coffee and too little sleep, but it was not a satisfying run and I felt somewhat let down. I had expected Dublin to be a prime running-exploring location.

It started off well; I spied lots of other runners out on the streets, always reassuring in unknown territory, and many of them seemed to be heading in the direction I’d chosen towards the coast. However I quickly found that the route I’d planned back at the hotel (on walkjogrun.com) was actually a traintrack- which had shown up on the map as a road. So I ran along the main road that hugged the train track, but where I had been expecting to run along the sea, from the road the view was blocked by a high fence.

Somehow, as much as I tried, I couldn’t work out how to still roughly follow the route I’d designed to loop back to the hotel. Again, rather than being Dublin’s fault, this could have been because my brain was addled from swimming against science and polite conversation for the past few days, but the roads that had name signs (which were few) seemed to have different names to what they were on the map, and the road signs were very few and far between so I couldn’t aim for landmarks. I was a bit lost.

I ended up tracking bus stops for the aircoach which I knew stopped outside the hotel, hoping I was going in the right direction to take me back, rather than to the airport.

What I found most dispiriting was that the area I was lost in was totally uninspiring - a mix of flats, office blocks and functional-looking hotels, with wide, busy roads that were tricky to cross. Hopefully it was just the area I strayed into today and tomorrow I’ll find my way to the lovely Dublin I’ve heard so much about.

Running Fuel

After today's 18 mile effort (and believe me it really felt like an effort after a weekend of partying!), I decided a treat was in order. This was partly brought on by all the hedgerows laden with blackberries that I passed on my run, which after about 12 miles set my mouth watering.

I've been collecting recipes from Runner's World for a while because I like their idea of healthy versions of classic dishes. However last time their recipes were put to the test was in what my friend Kate and I now refer to as the banana cake disaster. It's probably best left at that...

But I decided to give them another chance and tonight I made a Runner's Crumble, which turned out to be much more successful. The recipe uses oats and honey to reduce the amount of sugar and traditional butter/flour topping needed and only took about 30 mins to prepare and cook.

The picture does not do it justice, so you'll have to take me at my word when I say it was delicious. (Note the use of past tense- Gareth and I ate the whole thing in one sitting!)

Going further and further....

At my cousin's wedding this weekend I found myself sitting next to a guy who was preparing to cycle in an 80 mile time-trial the next day. It struck me that a few years ago, discussing long distance training with a stranger at a wedding would have singled you out as an oddbod, a hardnut with a perverse streak. But these days it seems everywhere you go there are 'normal' people working towards challenges that are harder, further, and riskier. Every social gathering I attend has at least one person who is working towards a marathon (and either not their first or one involving a bit of a twist such as an unusual location or added challenge), or involved in another physical feat such as ultra triathlons, mountain climbing or sailing round the world. Next weekend in the UK alone the Runners World event directory and Time Outdoors.com list 7 running or cycling endurance events that are long distances, from 26.2m marathons to 110m epics.

It's not enough these days to be aiming to complete a local 5k or a charity walk- now you have to be doing a moonlit 26 miles in snowdonia dressed as a banana. And it often seems like it's not the actual event that is the driving force behind the desire to go further and do more impressive things, but the training. The therapeutic and meditative aspect of exercising for long periods acts as a valid 'time out' from everyday lives and work. To get away on your own for hours at a time, and to schedule your life around a commitment that is only to yourself would be considered selfish if for instance, you said you were aiming to watch all 7 series of the West Wing back-to-back tomorrow so couldn't join friends for dinner. But the same single-mindedness is acceptable to society if you have the excuse that you are 'training'.
Thank goodness!!

Using Mapmyrun.com to plan routes

Mapmyrun.com is part of a group of online mapping tools with other branches such as mapmyhike, mapmyride, and mapmytri. I have been using it for a few days now and I am surprised that more people are not aware of it. I for one had not come across this site until it was recommended to me by Iain from the North Devon Triathletes, someone who seems to find time to be online as much as me, as well as doing crazy amounts of training (cheers Iain!).

And having explored the site I can now see how it would be perfect for mapping routes incorporating more than one activity such as for Tri's, as you can mark specific points on the route to change to cycling or something else. This ability to add markers to the route is my favourite aspect of using mapmyrun, despite my previous raving about being able to see the elevation/terrain. The topographical maps are brilliant, but being able to add your own markers wherever you like is a great feature and allows you to really personalise your runs, or to quickly look at points other people have noted on their routes. There is a decent range of markers to choose from, including essentials like toilets and parking places, and some thoughtful additions like dog warnings and good areas for stretching/warm up. If there isn't a suitable marker you can annotate the route with pop-out comment boxes.

Apart from the marking facility, there are several other really great features. The map area you see on screen is bigger than other tools I've used, and the mileage you're clocking up is displayed in the top right corner as you go along. You can also jump to any other location in the world by typing it in, a big improvement on the zoom out-zoom in again method on other sites. Another fab idea is a printable cue sheet which will automatically tell you on the ground directions for your planned route. (e.g. along the road to swanson st, turn right, straight for 200m etc)

Like other tools you can choose from a selection of views (satellite, street map, hybrid) as well as the extra ones showing topography etc, and you can upload routes from your Garmin device/pedometer. But the unique features of this site have raised it head and shoulders above the other tools I've tried so far, and I'm upset to be moving on to test a different one next week.

Marks out of 5: a big shiny 5!

My embarrassing running secret

I have a secret fear. I'm ashamed to admit it, but in the spirit that a problem shared is a problem halved I'm just going to come out with it.

My fear is one that raises its head at this time of year when evening runs start to last into the darkening night and the flourescent sports clothing emerges from the bottom of the wardrobe. It nags at my thoughts when I start to lose sight of the path beneath my feet in the growing dusk.

And here lies the problem; if it's late evening, it's been damp weather, and I can't see my feet, there is a good chance I will land my foot down on a slug. Even writing it makes me shudder!

I have run at night time through deserted parks in Edinburgh, thuggish-looking housing estates in Glasgow, and noisy parts of North London, but now I'm running on footpaths in the wet and warm (ish) countryside I am scared to go out in the dark. It's pathetic I know.

I'm fine with getting muddy; I've nothing against accidentally sinking my running shoes in big puddles or cow pats. But that squelching pop of a slug underfoot is something I can't stand. Luckily, I usually run in the morning or late afternoon, when the slugs are not out in full force. Otherwise I tend to try and stick to well-lit paths or have to deal with running while gritting my teeth and crossing my fingers. I'd be interested to know if there are any other runners out there who feel squeamish about slugs, or have any other silly running fears. I tried to google running and slugs and discovered lots of information on a computer accessory called a 'slug' (as if having a mouse, an apple and a dongle wasn't silly enough), but nothing to do with one of the slime sacks meeting your running shoes on a dark night, so perhaps it's only me.....

The competition's really hotting up!

on my run today I found myself dodging through a fairground. One of the routes I commonly take out of town was in the process of being blocked off with rides and stuffed-animal stalls, so I'll have to avoid that path for a few days. It looked like it would become a surprisingly big fair for this small town and I suppose the music and lights could add a bit of excitement to a run, but going through the grounds today it already smelt like petrol and burgers, and that was just from the workers caravans so I doubt it will be very pleasant when the fair is actually open.

This week the internet route planner I am testing is mapmyrun.com. I am going to trial it for a few days before writing my review, but so far I am really impressed and think this could be a contender for the crown. You don't need to register or sign in to use the route plotter so if you just wanted to quickly check a route, say, at work, there is minimal time-wasting. Also, and here is a big, gold-star worthy bonus, there appear to be altitude lines and terrain type as display options. This sounds very promising!

But my news of the day is really this: Following my (admittedly harsh) criticism of Sanoodi last week, a nice chap from the Sanoodi team (a sanoodidude if you will) has got in touch with me to let me know they are working on some of the issues I mentioned. It sounds like they are planning to fix the problems with the site and I am really looking forward to re-visiting it in a few weeks to see if I can re-instate it as my mapping site of choice.

It was very nice to hear that my comments were valuable- perhaps this blog will do some good after all!

Online Route Planners: Test 1

This week I have been testing the route planner on Fetch Everyone, an online resource and community for runners (www.fetcheveryone.com).
When I first started looking at Fetch Everyone (from now on I’ll shorten to FE), I experienced a slight sinking feeling. It just looked too damn good, and so I began to regret choosing it as the very first route-planning tool to review.

Fortunately for my blog, but unfortunately for the FE folks, I did eventually find a few niggles which prevent it from quite becoming the perfect route planning tool, and therefore allow my quest to continue.

FE is a huge site, with over 17000 members and a wealth of services from forums, photo galleries and blogs to training plans and logs. Everything on the site is free, although you can do very little without registering, which means you also need to log in to use the route planner. However, once you are logged in the ‘measure route’ tool is conveniently sited at the top of a drop down menu of tasks, showing they know what runners are likely to want to do when visiting the site quickly.

The tool itself uses googlemaps and offers the same map/satellite/hybrid views that I’ve seen on other google-powered sites. My personal bugbear with googlemaps is that they do not show places of interest or useful amenities that you would find on your average paper map or A-Z. As well as meaning you can’t choose routes which may run right past historical or interesting sights, you cannot plan your route based on nearby petrol stations or public toilets (a problem long-distance runners will understand). Another major drawback to using only googlemaps to plan your run is that you cannot see altitude or elevation.

But if you are not bothered by unexpected hills or points of interest and just want to know distance this is a neat way to do it, and there are a few things which make FE an improvement on other tools that also use google. Number 1 there are clear instructions at the top of the page telling you how to use the tool. This sounds obvious but there are other sites (Sanoodi for one- see my previous rant) that leave you in the dark meaning wasted time faffing around when you coud be out running. There is also a clever button to press to quickly create a ‘there and back’ course without retracing your steps.

To plot your route you simply type in the postcode of your starting place and then double click to draw a marker at points along your route. Again, it is such a simple thing but the double click mechanism means you don’t accidentally plot a marker way off course when trying to move the screen up or down.

FE allows you to save your past routes and annotate them with descriptions (thanks to the lack of elevation guidance my description of my latest route now reads “VERY LONG HILL. ONLY DO IF FEELING MENTAL!!”). The tool also remembers your original location so the map is zoomed in to your start place whenever you subsequently visit the site. However this means it is not very easy to plan routes for other areas you might visit and I could only test routes in other towns or countries by zooming way out and zooming in a bit at a time to find the right place, which is rather awkward.

One of the best features of Sanoodi was being able to look at other peoples runs for ideas. FE also has this feature, but there were not nearly so many routes in my area as there were on Sanoodi and it is not possible to compare them by distance so FE rates slightly lower on this facility.

Marks out of 5: 3.5

Route planning internet tools

Whilst I still think an Ordnance Survey map or A-Z is the best tool a running explorer can have, there are times when you don't have access to a map (or don't want to invest in a map because you will only be in the area a short while), and want to plan a route. I occassionally used to use Sanoodi after reading about them in Runner's World, and found this was particulary good for stealing ideas from other peoples routes they had saved on the site. This week however, I have found that Sanoodi has changed and I can't seem to create new routes anymore. I can create a series of dots, but they don't link up and thus it doesn't tell me the distance. The site also seems really slow now and won't allow you to view other people's routes near you at the same time as creating your own. This has annoyed me greatly. Grrr!

I am a lazy and impatient computer user and am likely to give up if a website is too tricky to use or starts behaving in an irritating manner. So I might well hear from someone smarter than me that the revamped look is actually much easier, fancier, blah blah blah and I'm being a doofus, but that is not really the point. They have turned me off now by confusing me and I just don't think there is any excuse these days for a poorly designed website, since there is such an abundance of free and easy-to-use sites. Especially when the original site, although admittedly a little austere looking, seemed to possess all the right functions before the change. Double Grrr!

So I have decided to test out alternative route planning sites, a different one each week, and rate them according to how useful they are for running explorers. First up: Fetch Everyone (FE).

Cycling is fun too!

This evening I went for a bike ride, and scouted out a few new running routes. Cycling can be a really useful way of doing a bit of road reconnoissance before you run, and confirming whether that loop on the map which kinda looks like a path is really more of an impenetrable tunnel through thornbushes. Cycling is like collecting free miles- if I was running and discovered I couldn't get through a path I'd planned or had to stop and walk/jump around a swamp I would be annoyed. When you are training for a marathon every mile of every run counts and often the speed at which you do it too, so if you are cut short you feel cheated, or if you get lost and run many more miles than expected you worry about overtiring and not being able to complete that long session you have planned for the next day.
So on my bike I finally discovered how the different directions of the Tarka Trail meet up near the train station, and to take a nose-peg if I'm running in the direction of Bishops Tawton. The Fragrance de la farmyard was particularly strong tonight.

Bishops Tawton is a lovely village and my ride there revealed some classic exploring finds. First up was a field full of the cutest little ponies in the whole world; about two foot high and toy-like, but they weren't the slightest bit interested in me as I wooshed past. Unlike the next animals I encountered-the huge cows pressing up against the fence all turned their big heads to towards me as I approached. Perhaps they were playing the who-dealt-the-smell game (eww I smell it too, who was that?! Certainly not me!) and my timely appearance gave them somewhere to lay the blame.

I also came across a line-dancing class- incongruous disco music blaring from a quaint-looking church hall and flashes of middle-aged men shaking their butts. A row of white-haired women sat outside taking a moments rest from their efforts, on a bench that was practically in the graveyard. I love this kind of glimpse of the unexpected side of village life, and I never would have noticed it if I'd been in a car as I wouldn't have heard the music drawing my attention over the road to look.

Later on as I arrived back in town I heard another surprising sound which made me take a detour to investigate- the rhythm of steel drums was reverberating around the town fountain. As I rode past I saw there was a whole army of drummers, grooving away in hot pink outfits, whilst a more traditional-looking marching band stood to the side, evidently waiting their turn. Amazing! The beats brought a huge smile to my face and whirled my legs into a fast finish all the way home.

Sea-seeking

Today I ran a 16 mile route towards the coast. It was my third attempt at finding a good, run-able path to the nearest beach at Saunton. I say attempt, because I am still looking. Todays route took me along the lovely Tarka Trail to Braunton, where the path joined the main road and I ran along the pavement which was wide (shared with cycles) and scenic. Until the pavement suddenly ran out, merging into a soft verge with very overgrown grass and intruding hedges. I had to run along the road itself, far from ideal when it was barely wide enough for the traffic causing queues to build up behind me whilst waiting to overtake.
I hate being the cause of annoyance to drivers, and the roads were not particularly quiet this afternoon so I couldn't really relax and enjoy the run, and after excitedly anticipating catching a glimpse of the sea-proper (as compared to the estuary), I ended up itching to turn around and get back to the trail. So the search for the perfect coastal run continues.
To attain perfection, the run should be:
*Not too hilly, although some high points are good if they provide a good view.
*Light on traffic, or on good pavements.
*Involving few busy road crossings or roundabouts.
*Able to fit into part of a loop, rather than out-and-back along the same route.

Why I don't use GPS running gadgets

Sure, I could invest in a Garmin forerunner watch or other SatNav device. I could even borrow my husbands super-techno phone. But for me these fancy systems cannot replace good old-fashioned mapping and there is nothing like plotting a path with pencil and string (or these days with lines on-screen), and setting off knowing you are heading to a new destination or passing a particular landmark. Without looking at a map, you could easily run past wonderful and unique sights, oblivious to routes which would have taken you past them and added amusement or interest to your run.

One of my favourite runs used to take me past Jane Austen's house in Winchester, something I would not have known to look out for if I hadn't studied a street map.

I have given in to technology in one way- for christmas I was given a Nike Plus gadget which plugs into my ipod and tells me how far or how fast I have run. I quite like running with it, hearing a voice encouraging me every km and watching my distances accumulate on my pc afterwards is quite satisfying. But I will never stop using maps completely.

One evening recently I set out for a short run thinking I would just see where my feet took me, relying on my Nike Plus to tell me when I had completed my goal of 4 miles. After about a mile, I took a turn down a convenient road which seemed to be going in the right direction for a homewards loop, and abruptly found I was facing the steepest hill I've seen since San Francisco. I didn't want to turn around so launched myself at the slope thinking it would soon be easier. A whole mile of climbing later, when my thighs were burning and I was barely moving forwards with each step, I had to admit defeat and go back. Relying on technology that simply tells you how far you are going means you don't know where to avoid running, whether it is because of steep hills, heavy traffic, or poorly-lit or otherwise unsafe areas.

Of course a map can't tell you where the dodgy areas of town are either, it is only through exploring that these things can be worked out and your own personal preferred routes discovered.

In the beginning...

Recently I have found myself starting a new life in a new town, in a completely different part of the country. I am also training for the Athens marathon and am facing the challenge of running 16-20 mile routes in unknown territory. I am an explorer in muddy running trainers, getting to know my new surroundings and its natives by pounding the pavements and trails. (Just a warning, my mind does tend to wander in fanciful ways after around the 10 mile mark!)

My exploring has led me to re-discover an old love of maps. A love which started when my dad used to read me Arthur Ransome's Swallows and Amazons books; with wonderful maps of the children's adventures bracketing the stories ('Here Roger twisted his ankle'; 'Here they tickled trout'), Ransome always plotted just enough information to allow the geography to build up in your imagination. I longed to chart my own landscapes with personal stories and memories.

My inner geek likes to pore over maps of new places and look at all the funny names (near to me now are Diddies and Patchole), but better still is to draw a new route on a map, lace up my shoes and set off to see the names and places come to life. I could walk - but I love running, and it gets you there faster!

So I am the running explorer and this will be my expedition log.