Beware the Ides of March

Whatever the Ides of March are they certainly got their teeth into me. It started with a cold. Having read that the cold virus can be forced into the heart by exercise (with fatal consequences) I've long since given up running off colds. As soon as the cold went I did a first (for me) and pulled a calf muscle. Hopes that it had gone a week later proved vain as I pulled it again. Off to the physio. Another change to my old habits: The first few miles of a run no longer counts as warming up and stretching. Three weeks later I'm given the green light only to get a new cold. I woke up last Sunday thinking my cold had gotten worse only to have the new feeling develop into food poisoning complete with all the usual evacuations from all available orifices. Could it get any worse? Oh yes.

I've had the very occassional episode of heart fibrillations ever since I can remember. I get about one a year. They only occur when I stop exercise and last between one and fifteen minutes. Apart from the strange feeling of my heart going beserk there are no other symptoms such as dizziness or pain. So, having captured one of these episodes on my heart rate monitor (Polar S625X if you're interested) I took myself off to the doctor with a view to getting checked out before I really start the training properly. Anyway, as a result last Friday the hospital fitted a 3-day heart recorder. They got this back on Monday and on Tuesday (while I was still off work recovering from the food poisoning) I received a call from a worried sounding cardiologist asking if I could come in for more tests as my heart rate was worryingly low, even for a runner. I've always had a low resting rate (I measured 32 bpm recently) so that, combined with being extremely dehydrated with the food poisoning, probably produced some interesting results. So it's off to the hospital on Friday for a treadmill test. Look out for the next exciting installment.

October to February - All Hunky Dory

So having decided to do it it was time to start training. Only 11 months to go. My random once or twice a week clearly wouldn't do so I simply upped that to two or three times a week. This had the desired effect. No longer did I plod up the hills I could actually run up them. The dog was getting fit too. My resting heart rate dropped below 40 for the first time in years. I ran a couple of events an off road 5 miler in Wendover Woods followed by the Watford Half Marathon (an acceptable 1:33 for a fairly hilly course). It was clear on the hills that the old power/weight ratio was still a problem. I ran them comfortably (heart rate stayed constant) but was passed by hoards on each hill. Managed to pull a few back on the downhills (why do they slow down so much? Have they not heard of gravity?). So the next stage is simple: less weight and more power. The Berkhamstead Half was a month away. Just right to see if my plan was having any effect. If only! The next month (March) has been a complete write off.

How it all began...

Two years ago I'd never heard of the Jungfrau Marathon. Our eldest daughter Vicky was touring Europe and sent us a postcard of the Trummelbach near Lauterbrunnen in Switzerland. (She also took this picture looking south from Lauterbrunnen.) A few weeks later while visiting relatives in Switzerland we took a day trip across to see it for ourselves. The Trummelbach is a stream of glacial meltwater from the Eiger, Monch and Jungfrau that has cut through the rock so deep it is like being in a cave system. It's an amazing sight. We then called in at Grindlewald (in the shadow of the Eiger) only to find it had been taken over as the base for the Eiger bike race. Being a keen cyclist (turned runner) I got a copy of the programme. Inside the programme was an advert for the Jungfrau Marathon. On arriving home I looked it up on the internet www.jungfrau-marathon.ch/ws/en and was hooked.

Tragically, last year my younger brother Tony died from a brain tumour. This made me decide to have a go at running the Jungfrau and to do it in aid of the Brain Tumour UK charity. (see www.justgiving.com/micksmountain)