Hollow Man - The Cult

Lyric:- It's so nice to get away, get away for a day - Astbury & Duffy

Song Choice:- Loved The Cult back then and still love 'em. Download, plug in air guitar, play very loud and thirty second dance party to this f*cker as it's just awesome!

After exchanging many an email today over the relevance of an apostrophe in my email signature I know it's time to go and take a long break away from the minutiae of a crazy non-stop existence.

If anyone comments on the above I will have to seriously kill you btw!

Ahhhh I feel better now The Cult have finished playing their awesome anthem and I have got the apostrophe incident off my mind - you see we spend hours picking holes in things, making points, being emotional limpets.

You'll know where I'm coming from...when I start to care about that stuff - I give myself a good firm kicking. It's as close to an Energy Vampire as I'll ever get.

Maybe it's time for a Spring Clean?

This weekend's a good place to start so clear out the negative baggage, re-inflate your tyres with fresh ambition and stop being a Hollow Man or Woman indeed /-)

Rory Coleman - 890 Marathons - 231 Ultras

11 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records - 21 Years' Alcohol Free.

Location:Pembroke Road,Cardiff,United Kingdom

The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows

Lyric:- 'Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream' - Mccartney & Lennon

Song Choice:- My first Boss played this album every working day at work 'God Rest his Soul', along with Fleetwood Macs 'Tusk' and Paul Simon's 'Graceland'.

Turning off your mind, relaxing and floating down stream, sounds just perfect to me right now as I'm middle of two MdS Training Days. 

I'm not moaning though as I'm loving the distances. It wasn't all plain sailing though as the mud of Penarth proved quite a challenge today, especially for my client, Ana Umbelino, from Madeira as they don't have that out there. Then again she stepped up quite nicely to the 42.2km on the Welsh Riviera and amazingly she was still running at the end. Not bad for someone who'd only ever run 28km before in one go.

It just shows you what can be done if you out your mind to it...

What are you putting your mind to today?

Numbers - Kraftwerk

Lyric:- Eins zwei drei vier funf sechs sieben acht - Huetter, Schneider-Esleben & Bartos

Song Choice:- Well it's about time I had the Godfather's of Synth on my blog and what better choice than Numbers from their awesome 1981 album Computer World, I bought at University.

Now, I'm not sure what it is about numbers that really flicks my switch but they play a vital role in my daily routine that governs my way of thinking. If you've ever received an email from me you'll will have seen my signature with my array of numbers that are SO important to me listed.

Ask me to do some calculus or explain SOHCAHTOA for my older 'O' Level Maths (when it was a lot harder) readers and I'm not sure I can help that much. Ask me my Credit Card number, endless Numeric facts or Tubular Bells Catalogue Number and I'm your man.

When It comes to the weights of MdS Kit and Calorific Return of Energy Gels and Hi-energy Food then I'm in seventh heaven.

Numbers aren't just my Forte, they're my Forty...

More tomorrow...

On the Beach - Chris Rea

If only it had been like this today...

Lyric:- The sands of time will blow a mystery - Rea (Interestingly Chris Rea is an anagram of 'Rich Arse' which I've always found amusing)

Song Choice:- Less amusing was my run today where this song rang round my head today during 26.2 miles in the sand dunes of Merthyr Mawr in the most horrendous running conditions I've experienced in a long, long time.

I did it as part of some hard-core training for this year's MdS and of course the sand provides perfect specificity for what the 500 British Competitors are in for in just 41 days time. Funnily enough I didn't see any of them doing the same session today. Getting the feel of running in endless sand in extreme (and I stress extreme) conditions should play a massive part of anyones MdS Preparation as far as I'm concerned. Lots of this year's competitors have signed up for Heat Acclimatisation which is a great idea but if their first experience of sand is in the race itself it's going to be one hell of a shock.

Sand running speeds are basically whatever you run on the road in mph becomes your speed in kph in the sand.

Today in the driving rain on 6 x loops of 4.36 miles - I hit the grand speed of you guessed it, 4.36 miles per hour a heady 13.75 minute miles. At the end of the 5th lap, it would have been SO easy to have just given up as my legs had become so cold and wet they just lost their ability to work properly. My average heart rate of 117bpm shows it wasn't a lack of energy...The Sand had got to me and I just felt completely destroyed just like you feel in the race itself when the shit hits the fan on the long day.

If you haven't run lots of miles in sand yet or up some 800 metre high mountains, it's time you did! Come and see what it's like next weekend with me at my Desert Training Camp .

Then you'll know what you are REALLY in for at MdS and you'll soon be packing a whole lot lighter too... 

Pure - The Lightning Seeds

I could have gone more full frontal!!!

Lyric:- Pure and Simple Everytime - Broudie

Song Choice:- This great 1990 hit popped up on my radio yesterday. Whatever happened to to them?Anyway I love the above lyric and it's homage to being PURE as that's where my thoughts are today.

Actually, my thoughts are more about accessorising as folk love to over-accessorise the pastimes or things they love much to my amazement and frustration.

You see the thing I love about running is that it's such a pure and simple thing to undertake - I started my running career without ANY running kit at all...There wasn't a Brooks Trainer in sight.

Fast forward and you'll need Prescription Oakleys, ULTRA-vest, Garmin with Heart Rate Monitor of course, arm guards, calf guards, nipple guards, compression top and shorts, buff and a solar panel to power your MP3 with Bluetooth Headset to listen to The Lightening Seeds sing Pure.

Go back to basics folks, don't Pimp up your running or your life. You'll find out you'll run a little quicker without the excess weight and you'll enjoy the freedom you first had on your first run when you first started.

You'll be richer both in mind and wallet!

More later... Now where are my Orthotics

Rory Coleman - 887 Marathons - 231 Ultras

11 Marathon des Sables - 9 Guinness World Records - 21 Years Alcohol Free.

Location:Caerdydd

Epic - Faith No More

Lyric:- It's magic, it's tragic, it's a loss, it's a win, It's dark, it's moist, it's a bitter pain. It's sad it happened and it's a shame, you want it all but you can't have it. It's in your face but you can't grab it - Gould et Al

Song Choice:- I used to really enjoy listening to FNM back in the 90's well before my running days started and I thought it would be a good chance to revisit their 'Real Thing' album on today's run.

So in a state of remembrance I decided to run a 10km at my 1996 3.24.21 marathon PB speed, roughly 7 mins 50 secs/mile. All I can say is 'My God' how on earth did I ever do that for a further 36kms I'll never know. Then again I was nearly 20 years younger and I must have been at my optimum fitness back then.

Today's recreation was predominately downhill and although it had quite a few road crossings I did have to work really hard to keep my sub 8 pace all the way, I can only say I felt totally buggered at the finish and that my smoker's cough of the said 90's returned for a good hour post run. Luckily I ran to my own front door so it wasn't too far to stagger to a well earned sit down and a few thought gathering moments.

Ok, it was tough but it proved to be quite an inspirational run as I think I can expand on the distance and work away at my speed, especially post MdS and have a bit of a crack at getting back near that old PB.

Time will tell eh?

More tomorrow when my legs feel less bandy...

Something for Nothing - Rush

Lyric:- You don't get something for nothing - Lee & Peart

Song Choice:- Time for some Rush I think, especially after a return to the dreaded Coleman Power Hour today.

We live in a funny old world don't we? And I thought long and hard about the getting 'something for nothing' especially following a week of receiving the best possible care and advice from a plethora of Healthcare Professionals in Cardiff. I didn't question their experience as it's really obvious to me when to LISTEN to good FREE* advice.

I thought I'd try and take some of this ethos on board and offer some FREE advice to some of my fellow MdS Runners going to Morocco in just 45 days time on the 2015 Facebook Group.

Well it's amazing that some folk on receiving quality professional advice gained from 21 years of running 887 marathons including 11 MdS feel the need to question things that are proven to work and part of my everyday professional coaching, then choose to ignore the exact thing that will save their race. It beggars belief how myopic folk can be about something they know very little about.

I can only hope that's part of getting information for FREE.

I'm sure the same people were in my situation last week, they would have been, elbowing the anethsetist out of the way, wanting to put in their partners epidural by following a Youtube Movie or Forum Thread.

I can say that I tried but I'm going back to payment in full for my intellectual property as FREE advice is worth nothing.

More tomorrow...