Today was a slight and expected decrease in pace than previous days. We had shorter breaks so our total time for 37 laps was largely similar to the 36 yesterday. We set off at quite a steady pace and it didn’t fall off a cliff as much as I thought it would at some point today.

We had a can of pop each at 12 laps which was a nice incentive to look forward to. My plan was that Grace would magically appear like some sort of mirage around 24 laps. She had promised to bring us Coke and Lucozade. Near the top of the hill on lap 27, I spotted her orange footwear at the bottom of the hill and cheerily pointed out to Paddy ‘Grace is here, Grace is here’ like a small child!

My plan for breaks today changed slightly when we decided to get the 37 lap day out of the way. We had breaks every 3 from 28 onwards and this was marginally easier knowing you had a beginning, a middle and an end lap in...

To be honest, the level of fatigue in this photo is probably worse than I look! This was after 28 laps of the 36 today. We had my Auntie Grace join us for around an hour and a quarter which was great to see a familiar face.

She had an alcohol free beer with me after we had done 12 laps and then did a walk while me and Paddy managed another 12. I had discussed with Grace before she came about her possibly carrying some fluids while she was with us but I didn’t ask her in the end to do that. Cycling has a kinder word for this than running does. Domestique I’m led to believe roughly translates as servant to another cyclist supporting them to win a race. The only running equivalent term I’ve heard is ‘mule’, luckily Grace had a bit of a sense of humour about this!

Me and Paddy didn’t follow through on our post run beer today, Grace had brought us some alcohol free Punk IPA and we had...

I’m really happy with how today went. It makes a massive difference this being your sole focus for the day. I had watched an episode of the Netflix documentary The Last Dance prior to meeting Paddy and was suitably inspired!

We reverted back to having breaks every 4 laps. This had been our strategy when Paddy was building up from 12 laps to 32 the day before this challenge. We had increased in increments of 4 so today was the next logical progression.

We had some salt tablets at 8 laps and 24 laps which I believe helped. I went through 2.5L of Vimto in my water bladder and Paddy managed to get by on just under 1L. There were a few comical moments where me and Paddy would offer words of encouragement to each other that were met with no discernable increase in pace from either of us!

A few months ago I had ran 36 laps on my own without breaks that took a similar time to our efforts...

Today was frustrating for multiple reasons, I had a feeling I would be running on fumes when I had planned the week out based on my study and work commitments beforehand. I’ll get the excuses out of the way now, I hadn’t eaten as much as I should earlier in the day and being switched on from 10am yesterday until 4 today was always going to catch up with me part way up Post Hill!

Paddy had set off a lot faster than I expected and I tried to keep up for the first few laps then settled into being 5-7 seconds behind him at each summit. We have a gentleman’s code that we wait at the top of the hill and at the bottom before starting again. Despite the rests at 5 and 11 laps for our 17 today, I needed him to honour this for all sodding 17 of them!

One of the things I am most proud of in terms of this challenge is that we have picked a goal that is genuinely a stretch for both of us. It’s...

Today was a bit of a tougher effort, we arrived at the woods at 6:30am and groggily started our 17 laps. My morning caffiene fix of a mocha sachet and a Nespresso pod hadn’t quite kicked in and Paddy wasn’t firing on all cyclinders either. We stopped for a break after 5 laps. Paddy was moving considerably slower and struggling more than usual.

During our training for this, we have used breaks every 4-6 laps to help with the deliberate practice element of the preparation. Anyone who has been on Post Hill will vouch that it is steep enough to require your undivided attention but this also helps with maintaining focus for a set period of time. During our first break, Paddy looked very pale, he doesn’t have much colour at the best of times, but had gone noticably whiter!

We continued for another 6 laps and Paddy managed to find some energy from somewhere, knowing our 2nd break wasn’t far...

The Centurion One Up Challenge is a personal endeavour where you aim to cover as much vertical gain as possible over the course of 7 days

My friend Patrick and I have been running in Post Hill Nature Trail (Woods) for the last 6 weeks. He is fundraising for Campaign Against Living Miserably and has already reached a large sum of donations. Being honest, for the first 4 weeks, we were aiming for the Everest elevation total although have recently talked ourselves into aiming for Rum Doodle.

Our plan to achieve this will involve going up Post Hill along the motorbike track and straight back down the same way 194 times this week, covering 36 times a day over the last 4 days. Given that Strava estimates the hill to be 63m of vertical gain this will just reach Rum Doodle.

Today’s 17 was a strong start. The weather was fine and it was quiet due to us running later in the evening. A...

I finished this challenge with 2 laps of my 5.4 mile route on Thursday and 24 laps over the last 7 days. This involved another 2 on Friday, back to back 6 lap outings on Saturday and Sunday to finish last week and 2 laps for Monday to Wednesday, ending with a 4 lap effort today.

The back to back 6’s were the main focal point of the Challenge and I knew if I got through those without much difficulty, the last 4 days wouldn’t be a problem. I had listened to Rich Roll’s podcast on Saturday which really helped me with maintaining a focused mindset for the last few days. One of his guest’s Chris Hauth had an interesting theory about the mindset of athletes and how some of the tactics used in races and training are transferable to dealing with the anxiety people have around Covid-19. It was brilliantly summarised as being able to stay in the moment and working fully working towards the task...

I have long believed whenever I get too comfortable with my running that the universe has a way of ensuring I get kicked back into reality. I made a quip to a work colleague about being so familiar with the. 5.4 mile route that I subconsciously know where the kerbs are so don’t fall up them when not paying attention. After 2 lap days on Wednesday-Friday, it’s safe to day I was asking for this on lap 2 of 4 last Saturday morning!

I had not been paying attention running along past the White Rose Centre and waved to a couple who had moved onto the grass out of my way. I caught my foot on a branch or uneven bit of tarmac and went flying, using my right arm to break my fall! My right palm was bleeding quite heavily and I had a nasty graze on my right elbow. Being more pissed off with myself than anything else, I continued the rest of lap 2 and then rinsed the wound under the cold tap in...

This week was substantially harder than last. I managed to cover 2 laps of 5.4 miles on Wednesday and Thursday followed by a three-peat of 4 laps on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. My pace and enthusiasm had all but dissappeared by part way through lap 1 on Sunday but I showed some perseverance and still managed to finish them. One of the locals enjoying a pint of beer on his front step just after 10am certainly brightened my mood.

I found yesterday and today’s 2 lap sessions more comfortable and although my pace didn’t really get any better, I was quite content to get the miles in. This brings me to just under half the total elevation for the challenge with 16 days remaining. I do like the idea of trying to improve my weekly total to 22-24 laps on the next fortnight but this will be something I’ll have to try to manage carefully as the priority is finishing the challenge. Even if I...