Hoka Highland Fling race report

If you read my previous post, you will realise I was in the turmoil of a dilemma - to go for it or hold something back for battles to come? I am not one for indecision, I like to have a clear plan but this time I found myself standing on the start line in Milngavie not really knowing how I wanted to play it.

Tracey and I travelled up to Milngavie after work on Friday and I wasted no time before going down to the pub to register. It was great to catch up with Andy Cole and Mark Barnes, but I didn't want to stand around for too long when there was a nice hotel room with carpets and sheets (as opposed to our new house with floorboards, dust and sleeping bags!) just next door.

Like many runners, I think my biggest worry for the race was getting up in time to make the start so I set my alarm for 4:15am but put it on the far side of the room so I would have to get out of bed to turn it off. The adrenaline kicked in as soon as the alarm went off and I made the start with loads of time to spare, catching up with friends and just being happy to be back on that sacred car park.

The temperature just lifted enough for me to leave my jacket in the bumbag and, in fact, the weather made a welcome return to spring after a dismal few days. I got myself in the front start pen but made sure I was to the back of the group as I didn't want to get dragged along too quickly early on. The field spread out quite quickly and I soon settled into a nice rhythm but I was concious of the speed that I was running at, so allowed a few to pass me and tried to stick to my rough 8 min/mile on the flat plan up to Drymen. I met up with Matt Wilson along this stretch and we enjoyed each others company to Rowardennan, having previously met up for some running around Keswick.

What pleased me most about this early, flat section of the race was that I was able to keep up a reasonable pace without really panning myself and was pleased to reach Drymen (67th place) and then Balmaha in good time. The new path up Conic Hill really helps with your footing and makes for an easier climb. I reached Balmaha in 2:55 hours, spent a minute sorting my drop bag out and headed out of the car park with the attitude that I would allow myself to think I was in a race now - game face on!

I am so much more at home on the terrain up the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, I love the single track, twisty, rough, undulating and gnarly. I could feel I was starting to run well and, more importantly, cover the ground quickly with a minimum of fuss. I concentrated on being smooth, going with the flow and not fighting the terrain and as I worked with Matt, we seemed to be in Rowardennan in no time. We were away from the checkpoint in a couple of minutes, though Matt wanted to walk a while to sort his nutrition out and went on to finish in under 9:30 hours on his debut.

I was enjoying myself now, picking off runners every 5 mins or so, and with this positivity, I set myself the target of running all the hill out of Rowardennan. I almost managed this last year but had a couple of lapses so was determined to take the scalp this time - and did! I caught up and then tagged along with John Butters on the way to Inversnaid and we made good time together into the checkpoint along the single track.

By now, I felt I was in a nice groove and ready to take on the Marmite section after Inversnaid. If you just accept that it is rough and it's the same for everyone, there is no big mystery to this section and I really enjoyed myself, running my fastest split ever for this sector. Looking at the final results splits, I was the 15th fastest up the side of the loch which reinforces how much I was enjoying myself.

As I approached Beinglas Farm (22nd place), I started to play my usual maths game of predicting a time and realised I had a chance of breaking 9 hours for the first time, so that became my new target to keep me fired over the remainder of the race.

I knew I couldn't hang around so pushed on with the good running to be had on the forest road to Derry Darroch and was really encouraged by the support from Paul and Gaynor (thanks, guys), thinking I could catch the next man up the track. I finally caught the next place (Ryan McKenzie) just as we reached the rollercoaster woods, feeling very pleased with myself and then proceeded to fall apart for 30 minutes as Ryan cruised away from me having spent 40 minutes trying to catch him (there is definitely some psychology in that!).

I somehow managed to hold it together through the woods and got myself in a better place once I was back down on the track to Auchertyre. A few more difficult maths calculations and I thought I could still make the 9 hour target, so no time to wallow in self pity after a rough patch. The two drunks near the main road underpass gave me a hearty cheer and offered me a miniature of vodka (did anyone else see them or was it just some sleep monsters?). It is always surprising how your body can kick in with a good finish once your brain takes off the self-preservation shackles and I was soon turning into the campsite and the superb finish area.

High 5's

I crossed the line in 8:56:10 hours, a PB by 22 minutes for 21st place - a very happy bunny!! For once I wasn't in bits and was able to (just) about suffer a massage and be sociable instead of hiding away in a corner in some kind of self-preservation coma.

Going back to my original dilemma, I think I just about got things right - a nice steady start followed by a great confidence building blast along the loch and a good finish in a new PB without totally wasting myself. Just about ticked all the boxes;-)

Thanks to all the organisers and marshals that surely make this one of the best events on the calendar. Once this is posted it's time to crack open one of those chilled beers they were passing out at the finish (just cannot quaff on straight after the race) and remember the good times skipping over those boulders on the loch shore. Eight weeks to the big one!

Hoka Highland Fling Race Update

A distinct lack of blogging over the last couple of weeks due to a house move (and lots of building work) and no t'interweb.

Now that we are back in the correct century, I can at least give a quick update on the Highland Fling as we have just got back from Scotland.

I was a little worried about how the house move might have affected my run, but I managed to put together another good race, breaking my PB for the course by 22 mins, finishing in 8:56 hours for 21st place.

I'm delighted with that result and am looking forward to a nice recovery week before the final push of training up to the West Highland Way Race in 8 weeks time.

Full race report and video to follow.

The boy needs a race

In my previous incarnations as an orienteer and fell runner, I probably raced 20 or 30 times a year and, if I am truthful, did not really focus on one specific race in any 12 month period. Now, this has advantages and disadvantages. It was never too long over the winter before the first fell/orienteering race so you did not have to maintain motivation for training for very long and once the season started properly, I was basically racing every weekend. If things went wrong in a race, it was "no biggie" as there was another one a few days later. On the flip side, I look back and wonder if I ever really got the best out of myself when I was training and racing over such a long season.

I have a totally different outlook now. Since I started having a stab at ultra running, I have focussed on just a few key races in the year, perhaps as few as 5 and, even then, using some of those as preparation for a bigger fish to fry later. A few weeks ago, I was trying to explain to a sports psychology class full of games players (football, rugby, netball, hockey) how different it is with regard to training motivation - contrasting sports where you compete every week with those (ultra running) where you train for 6 months for one performance.

Ten years ago, I would have raced more often, even if doing ultra races. I know my body could have taken the stresses then, but now I have to listen to what the body is telling me and plan more carefully if I am to get the best out of it. It does, however, mean that the competitive juices have to be kept bottled up for long periods of time which is difficult to do, especially round here when the fell racing season is kicking in.

Thinking along these lines then makes me wonder if doing some fell races might help with my ultra preparation, but for the time being I am going with the "if it aint broke ..... " philosophy.

All this brings me round to the conclusion that I need a race. Since The Tour de Helvellyn in December, I was supposed to have done two races (The Dark Mountains mountain marathon and the Dark Peak Marathon) both of which fell through with injuries to team mates, so I am now into my fourth month without a competitive outing. Boy oh boy, am I looking forward to the Highland Fling Race!

It is said that you don't have to dig up the spuds to see if they are growing, but I at least want to have a look to see if I've got any spuds at all!

The thought that occupies some of my training time is how many of the spuds do I want to dig up during the Fling, knowing that the main focus of the year (the West Highland Way Race) is only eight weeks after. The answer to this seems to vary depending on whether I am running out on the trails or sitting at home, perhaps being more logical. If I am cruising along a lovely trail, I think I will have a good blast in the Fling, when the adrenaline has subsided, I think it is wiser to keep the powder dry for the WHW race.

Psychologically, it's great to run a faster time at the Fling and build some confidence, but I have to wonder how long it will take to recover and is there enough time to get some quality training in before a taper for the big one? I have some real quality training planned for May and think that I will gain more confidence from completing that than I will from a better time in the Fling allied to slightly lower quality training.

I could probably ramble on for pages and still keep changing my mind, and I'm sure that everyone else who is doing this double will be pondering this exact same problem. However, I have the feeling that I will be keeping quite a few spuds buried for the big occasion in June.

Training - Dalemain to Ambleside

Last weekend I originally intended to go up to Scotland and run from Tyndrum to Fort William but things conspired against me with a combination of work commitments and the final throws of building to a house move. So instead of using up a full weekend with travelling, I stayed at home and managed to fit in a long run on the Lakeland 100 route.

John and I did this route last year in lovely weather conditions but this time I woke up to a covering of snow, fog and high winds on the fell tops. Should make for an interesting day out!

I was really pleased with the speed at which I was covering the ground and my ability to maintain this over the full route - a sign that I'm starting to get into shape for the first ultra of the season; the Highland Fling, in only 5 weeks.

This last week has been a wipe out with regard to training, without a single run from Monday to Friday. I always intended this to be an easy week but those same stress factors mentioned earlier meant that I just wasn't able or inclined to get any running done. By pure coincidence, I recently listened to a podcast with a section on overtraining by Marc Laithwaite. In this, he made it clear that overtraining is not just running too much or too fast but is linked to the amount of stress placed on your body. For most of us, this stress usually comes in the form of physical stress from running too much, however, at times, this stress can come in the form of work related issues or other stressful situations (like moving house - tell me about it!!). I am aware that I am running/training well and don't want to jepodise this by pushing myself (over stressing my body in what ever form) and then suffering a major setback.

With all this in mind, I have taken the last five days off from running, not stressed about it, got some major work related issues out of the way, planned a re-wire, planned a new heating system, planned a kitchen (or actually watched Tracey plan a kitchen), planned a bathroom and planned new windows and doors.

What stress?

Enjoy the video trip from Dalemain to Ambleside :-)

Dalemain to Ambleside Training from Recovery Beyond on Vimeo.

NOT The High Peak Marathon

As often happens in sport, the best laid plans of mice and men......... Last weekend, I was supposed to be running the High Peak Marathon but over the last two weeks the team of 4 had fallen apart at the seams with injuries. Though I was looking forward to the race, it was really just a means to an end in order to get a good long work out in difficult terrain and enjoy the craic of running in a team instead of individually. With this in mind, I made some other plans and decided to take in a couple of legs from the Bob Graham Round.

When I mentioned this at work, Simon (our Headmaster) jumped at the chance to have a look at part of this classic route, so we arranged to meet up after work on Friday and have a yomp round the first leg, taking in Skiddaw, Great Calva and Blencathra, before running back to Keswick along the old railway line. This would Simon's longest mountain adventure to date and he couldn't have picked a better night to have a look at the route.

Simon on Skiddaw at sunset

We had a fantastic evening, and enjoyed a wonderful sunset from the top of Skiddaw before dropping off into the shadow where the temperature took a dive. As we climbed Great Calva, the light started to fade rapidly and we had our head torches on soon after the top as we started the descent.

Sunset from the top of Skiddaw

We took a slightly longer route to Blencathra to avoid the steep drop off Calva and the wider crossing of the river Caldew, but as we started the slog up towards the Cloven Stone we had a chat, mulling over the time of day (late!) and the fact that we did not have micro-spikes with us, eventually making the sensible decision to drop back down to Glenderaterra and head back to Keswick. We had a great night out, covering about 16 miles in 3:48 hours and I suspect it has planted a small seed in Simon's mind about a Bob Graham round in future years.

 That was only half of my plan, so the next morning I caught a bus out to Threlkeld with the intent of running leg 2 of the BG, along the Dodds, taking in Helvellyn and Fairfield, finishing at Dunmail Raise. I don't think I have been up on this route since my own Bob Graham round back in 2007. Back in those days I knew every blade of grass on the route but still thought it prudent to take map and compass with me (it's just a comfort thing) and I spent most of the run remembering BG recces and, obviously, the round itself. As I went further south, the snow and ice got thicker but there was always enough safe ground about, meaning I didn't have to stop and put my Yaktrax on. The views were stunning and I particularly enjoyed seeing a frozen Grisedale Tarn with Fairfield behind.

Grisedale Tarn

The whole adventure really got my mojo going for life back on the high fells after a couple of years of running the lower trails - so there is just one more tweek to add into the training equation. How many tweeks make a full change? It was a great couple of outings and another back to back grouping, the old legs seem to have coped well enough so I'm starting to feel like my fitness is going in the right direction and, so far, the slight rise in mileage is working.

I've had a nice easy week since then, with just 4 sessions, but plan a much bigger week from tomorrow, finishing off with a long day out either on the West Highland Way or, more likely, the Lakeland 100 route - depending on the weather/work/domestics.

Two Bob Graham legs from Recovery Beyond on Vimeo.

Gorgeous day

I finished off a great week of training today with a couple of hours round Glenderaterra area.

It was a fabulous morning and, though I am tired from a big week of training, I was bouncing along, taking in the views and stopping to take photos.

Having clocked up a high mileage week (for me, anyway), I will make sure I take things nice and easy next week, probably only training 4 or 5 sessions to give my muscles and joints some time to recover.

 

My focus is now starting to drift towards the High Peak Marathon in a couple of weeks time. 42 miles of slogging round the Peak District in the dark will make for quite an adventure and yet another good block of time on feet in prepatation for bigger battles later in the year.

 



 

 

I have another trip up to Scotland planned for 4 weeks time when I hope to run Tyndrum to Fort William, which means I will have covered the full WHW already and any other trips after that are a bonus.

 



 

Back in the groove

Since getting over my cold, I have slotted back into training mode without too much discomfort.

The first week back, I started fairly steady, including some minimalist running in the park, but by Thursday I felt ready to do some proper work so slotted in one of my "Skiddaw reps". This is a simple concept but can work wonders. For those that know the mountain, you will be aware that it is just one long relentless climb on a good track which makes it ideal in the dark/fog/mist/cloud. The aim of the session is to condition my quadricepts to the eccentric contractions of downhill running, so a Skiddaw rep is simply a run up for a certain length of time, nice and steady, followed by a hammer back down. At the moment, I'm just doing a 40 minute run up, but I will progress this over the months until I'm doing the summit and back in late spring.

On the Friday I broke my 8 min/mile rule about a week early but it was just such a lovely evening that I found myself skipping along at a good tempo pace and just decided to go with it. It was nice to take the shackles off and run with a bit of pace, though I have a long way to go before this type of running is going to be easy!

Tempo run round Derwentwater, looking towards Skiddaw

Rather stupidly, I followed my first tempo session of the year with one of those days when my head was cashing cheques my legs could not honour. Through Twitter, I had arranged to meet Matt Wilson, who was going out on a 30 mile Lakeland 100 recce starting in Keswick, though I only intended to do 40 mins or so with him. Matt was starting mid-morning, so I thought I'd sneak in a run first, meet Matt for a short while and be done and dusted by lunchtime. I set off early on a loop round Glenderaterra - fantastic views (#fail)

17 hours after the previous photo!

It took me just over 1:30 hours to do my first loop, I met Matt and we headed off down towards Borrowdale. Before I knew it, we were at the bottom end of Derwentwater, meaning my only option was to continue round the lake and complete another full circuit. Eventually, 2:40 hours after leaving home, I crawled in the front door and demanded bacon sandwiches, which is all I thought about for the previous 40 minutes.

This week has been built around my first long run on the West Highland Way this year. Over the last few years, during my half term break, I have ran from Balmaha to Tyndrum (33 miles) and used this as a good guide to how well I have wintered. This time I decided to extend the run and continue to Bridge of Orchy (40 miles). To make matters just a little more interesting, the only bus all afternoon back towards Glasgow left Bridge of Orchy at 3pm - so the race was on!

Near Rowardennan

Although I made good time all day, I felt like I was putting more effort in than I wanted to and I feel this was because of the bus factor (not some new reality TV show) just adding a little pressure to the run. Having said that, it is always such a pleasure to run on this route and I was really pleased with how strongly I ran the last section in particular.

On the final section to Bridge of Orchy

If you watched my video from my previous post, you will know that I made the journey with about 40 minutes to spare before the bus, but the real bonus was that I got a lift back to Balloch (where Tracey was meeting me) and so arrived back about 40 minutes before I was expected - that NEVER happens!

What I have decided is that, next time I go out for an ultra length training session, I am not going to put a time pressure on myself - you shouldn't be rushing through scenery like this!!

West Highland Way training run video

On Tuesday, I ran from Balmaha to Bridge of Orchy, covering about 40 miles of the West Highland Way, playing a racing game with the City Link bus service. I had to reach Bridge of Orchy before 3pm to catch the only afternoon bus back to Balloch.

For now, here is a short video of the outing.

Two weeks off

Just as I was getting into a good rhythm of training, which included my first venture into a carbo depletion run, I picked up a right good stinky cold. Like most others, I work on the above/below the neck rule; if the cold is confined to the head only, it's generally OK to continue training (lightly) and I often find it's good to have a blow-out (literally!) on training runs to help get rid of the snot, if the cold ventures anywhere below the neck and into the chest, it's time to stop and take a rest. This time, although my chest felt OK, I was quite achy in my back and my head was pounding most of the time, so I just made the decision to take a couple of weeks off.

This lay-off coincided with the Dark Mountains race which I planned to do, so I reluctantly had to pull the plug on that one. Sounded like a brutal night out on the fells; last team standing basically wins! Definitely on the radar for next year.

I tentatively ran for 30 mins yesterday and did not feel too bad and followed it up with 90 minutes today, taking the Glenderaterra loop as used in the Lakeland 100 route. I seem to have come through the fitness tests without any major problems so I think I will be back in proper training again from next week.

Drinking Cumbria Ale

This two week lay-off has forced a slight change to my plans. I apply my "not-faster-than-8mins/mile" rule during December and January to make sure I ease myself into the year, but I have missed two weeks of this. While I was running today, I thought about whether I was ready to ramp up the tempo a bit now we are in February or do I want another 2 weeks of steady work. I have decided to keep the brakes on for another couple of weeks, the clincher being that I am planning a big week of training in a weeks time, including a long run on the West Highland Way, so it makes sense to keep things steady until that is out of the way.

View towards Great Dodd from above Glenderaterra

I have been doing some more detailed planning for the rest of the year, mainly identifying the weekends when I will do my key sessions; ultra distance long runs, back to back long runs and some more carbo depletion runs. In addition, I wanted to find a race to do in late summer to give me something to aim for after the WHW race. So after a few hours trawling t'interweb, I have found this little beauty; The Ring O Fire. It's a three day ultra race round the Anglesey coastal path, with days of 32, 64 and 35 miles. Sounds like a really good challenge and will give a fresh focus after the WHW and provide a number of trips in the campervan down to Wales to do some recces.

My main theme for this year, with regard to training, is to get more ultra length runs done. In my build up to the WHW race in 2010 I did 5 35ish mile runs during the year, the Lakeland 100 last year saw me do 8 monsters. This year, including December 2012, I hope to complete 13 or 14 before the start of June. I seem so much better at recovering from the long runs than I used be and, as long as I keep the pace nice and steady, I think I could be standing on the start line in Milngavie feeling more confident about my preparation taking some of the mental stress out of the race.

Time will tell!!!

Carbo depletion run

Like Sir Dave Brailsford, I am keen in looking for some marginal gains. I neither want to or have the time to (or the body to!) make dramatic changes to my training and racing. The bottom line is; if it aint broke, don't fix it. I am, however, keen to make some tweeks to my training to see if I can lift my ultra performances to the next level, whatever that level may be.

Having done some reading around, I am keen to add a few more ultra training runs to my schedule (rather than the one per month I did last year), I also want to do a few back to back big days out, just to simulate the latter stages of a long race.

I think I have become a little bit more streetwise (trailwise) with regard to nutrition during long races and particularly the recognition that I am mostly burning fats, not carbohydrates. I have read of a number of ultra runners who include carbohydrate starvation (carbo bleed) sessions in their training so I thought I would give it a go.

The basics are that you miss breakfast and do not take any food on during a run of somewhere between 2 and 3 hours. After the 2 hour point, once you have used up your muscle glycogen stores, your body has no choice other than to start metabolising fats, as you would in an ultra race. Your body hopefully becomes more economical at doing this. It is often tough going during the final stages of a bleed run, but I thought the time had come to give it a go.

This has been a medium week of training (5 sessions for about 50 miles) and I took yesterday off so I was ready to give this a proper go. Not having breakfast is tough; a mug of black coffee just doesn't hit the mark, but I headed out the door at about 9am, looking to do about 2:30 hours just to dip my toes in the water of a bleed run.

I headed round Derwentwater, down to Grange, along to Rossthwaite and made the climb over into Watendlath. It was surprisingly warm, certainly above zero and I felt quite good, without ever really pushing the pace. I was very concious of the thought that after 2 hours this might get tough and it seemed I was just killing time until this point.

It was somewhere after Watendlath Tarn that I started to get a bit tired, certainly not knackered or in any distress, but more tired than I would expect after just 2 hours of running. I kept the pace going but had to work harder, so I felt that it was a good workout.

I did find it nice to not have to worry about getting gels/food in at the correct times; I just ran and had a drink of water/electrolyte when I felt like it. Simples!

I was absolutely Hank Marvin when I got back to the house, but pleased to come through my first carbo starved run and will give it another go in a months time.

Bigger week

Well, I said I was going to try and up my mileage a little this winter so I thought I would make the most of the final week of the Christmas holidays and spend a bit more time out on the trails. During December and January I have a rule that I do not run faster than 8 mins/mile, though I think I may have broken that rule a few times during the Tour de Helvellyn race. This principle allows me to build up a good solid base for the rest of the year, reduces the chance of getting injured or fatigued and means that I am chomping at the bit come Febuary, ready to start upping the tempo.

For the first time in a number of years I have run on 7 consecutive days (the "Daveathon"?) and managed to cope without too much distress. This week I have clocked up 71 miles in 11:24 hours which, for those that know me will realise, is a VERY big week. I rounded the week off today with a long trail round Blencathra, nice and steady, out and about for just under 4 hours.

Clouds rolling over The Dodds



On Latrigg

Above Glenderaterra

After a week like that, I know it is vital that I allow some recovery time, so I will drop down to a nice easy week once back at work next week, probably only 4 or 5 sessions and then go up through the gears over the next few weeks heading towards my second race of the season (if I call the Tour de Helvellyn my first?!) which is this little beauty - The Dark Mountains overnight mountain marathon. This is the sort of race you commit to as you are sitting in a pub having a pint of Guinness - will I ever learn? Should be interesting and a really good challenge with all the usual mountain marathon possibilities/eventualities plus the added bonus of doing it in the dark, in January.

Guinness has a lot to answer for!!!

Review of 2012

Forgive me if this rambles but I have never put my thoughts down for others to read when reviewing the previous year so I am not sure how this will pan-out.

This time 12 months ago, I was just about in a position to call what I did "training". I was past the point where my rehabilitation was taking me towards being able to run, but I did not really have great confidence and was constantly worried I might be doing some damage.

My first real target for the year was to complete a long run on the West Highland Way in mid-February, so the first 6 weeks of training were planned around building up (slowly) to that. I was really pleased with my discipline during those early weeks as I held back, listened to my body and made good progress. I completed the run (and became an ultra runner again), running from Balmaha to Tyndrum, getting a real boost of confidence.

Just a couple of weeks later, at the beginning of March, John and I had our first Lakeland 100 recce run. We had some interesting weather but a fantastic day out, starting our video record of the Lakeland 100 route which became a useful tool for many others as well as ourselves. I did not admit it at the time, but I really had to dig deep over the last hour of this run and knew I had a lot of work to do before the race if I was to do myself justice.

By the end of March, having had a consistent block of training for a couple of months, I fared far better on our next recce run, from Dalemain to Ambleside. This time the weather took a swing for the better and showed the Lake District in all her glory and I felt I was now starting to get back to some kind of position where I could cope with an ultra marathon race.

The Highland Fling at the end of April would be my first race for 14 months and I was more than a little excited!! A new PB by 40 minutes signalled my return and gave me another confidence boost ahead of my next block of training.

John and I met up again in both May and June to complete our recce runs. The outing in May was, I believe, the most significant of all our runs together, We ran from Ambleside to Coniston, continuing on to Wasdale and it was the first time we both struggled. Up until this point we had coped reasonably well with the route and, I for one, was possibly getting a little casual about the whole thing, starting to think I could breeze round the race. This recce run was just the sobering moment I needed, reminding me of just how tough an undertaking this race is.

At the end of June I had a couple of days out with my dad who was running/cycling the 90 miles of The Two Saints Way. This was perfect preparation for me as it gave lots of hours on my feet without trashing my legs and it was a nice distraction from the usual training.

Three weeks prior to the Lakeland 100, I competed in the Saunders Lakeland Mountain Marathon, using it as my last long session before starting a three week taper. Of the six races I did last year, this was the only one where I was disappointed with the result. In the wider scheme of things, the result did not matter, time on my feet in rough terrain/hills was more important (along with not getting injured!) but I still felt I should have finished higher. The format meant that the first decision made at the start of the race would dictate your result and I made the wrong one!

The big race arrived at the end of July and I can honestly say I got myself to the start line in just about the best possible shape I could be and executed my game plan to the letter. I still get emotional when I read my report.

I intended to take some time to recover but after just a couple of weeks, I was back in training and starting to re-focus on some new targets for the remainder of the year. I started to introduce more tempo work into my training (which is something I will add again next year at the appropriate time) with an eye on a new PB at the Round Rotherham 50 mile trail race in mid-October.

Before that, I ran in the RAB Mountain Marathon on the Cheviot hills, having a super run, taking 2nd place on the Elite Class (=2nd actually) which set me up nicely for my last race of the season, the Round Rotherham Race. Having not done this race for a number of years and previously not really trained as an ultra runner, I was keen to see how much I could improve and try to finish off the season in style. As the race went on, I thought I might be able to dip under 8 hours and I pushed myself over the last couple of hours in the endeavour, but fell just short, still setting a new PB by 1:15 hours.

Sunrise during the Rotherham race

All-in-all, a very successful year but another year of learning how to play the ultra running game. I think this is one of the reasons why I enjoy ultra running so much - I have done many different running disciplines over the years but this is one where the preparation, understanding and knowledge play as important a role as pure running; there always seems to be something new to learn or understand.

As ever, I am thinking about how I might tweak things for this next season. I have already squeezed in one race; having a wet day out on the Tour de Helvellyn but have still not yet finalised all my race plans for next season, though my main goal is for a new PB on the West Highland Way Race in June - all roads lead to Milngavie!

A couple of things I am toying with are increasing my mileage slightly and also putting more back to back big days together. I have not generally been a big mileage trainer as you can see from the figures below but this does mean there is scope for increase without getting daft. I know this is going to take careful planning and I only intend to do this over the winter, but it will be interesting to see what I write this time next year!

Monthly Mileage
Jan 131
Feb 149
Mar 194
Apr 204
May 137
Jun 197
Jul 223
Aug 183
Sep 120
Oct 135
Nov 18
Dec 186

Happy runnings!!

Tour de Helvellyn video

Here is a short video of the race last weekend. Not the greatest quality but it does give a flavour of the race.

Enjoy!

Tour de Helvellyn race report

Hi, remember me?

After the Round Rotherham race, I took six weeks off from training as I just felt I needed a regroup after the season. For three weeks of this I did not run at all (due to a cracked rib) and for the other three weeks I just did 3 easy jogs of about 5 miles each. I started training again at the start of December with a lovely run round Derwentwater which helped get the mojo back. How can you not enjoy running round here?

 

 

Last weekend, Tracey and I went up to Scotland to stay with John and Katrina, giving me the opportunity to have a run on the West Highland Way, from Milngavie to Rowardennan. I had a lovely day out and really felt like I was already back in some kind of training mode and John and I spent a happy few hours reliving this past year, especially the Lakeland 100 race and thinking about next year's plans.

 

During the last week, a friend of mine contacted me to say he too was running the Tour de Helvellyn so we could share transport and probably much of the race. Adam and I first joined forces on a Bob Graham round back in 2007 and he has more recently shifted his focus towards some ultra races. The TdeH has quickly gained the reputation of a tough beast with the guaranteed combination of tough course and bad weather and this year again, it would not disappoint.

 

Adam picked me up at 7am and we drove to Askham with the plan being to start just before 8am and get round the course in daylight, not having to use headtorches. After a speedy registration and a quick chat to a few friends, we were ready to go, the only problem being that it was still pitch black outside so we waited another 10 minutes and eventually ventured out.

 

 

The rain held off for the first half an hour but the wind made it's intentions clear from the start. I tried to keep looking back to get a picture of the terrain for the return journey as Adam had warned me how difficult the bleak more over Askham Fell can be. I passed Andy Cole, looking as comfortable as ever, on the long drop to Howtown, though I felt that I was getting pulled along by Adam in these early stages, going at a slightly faster pace than I normally would. With nothing major riding on this race I thought I would just go with it and see what happens. Just before the first checkpoint at Martindale Church, we were joined by John Osborne and would run together up over the long slog to Boredale Hawes and down into Patterdale.

 

 

This is where the wind and rain really started to kick in! You could not carry out a conversation if you were not side-by-side on the track and as we approached to col, no kind of socialising possible. The real problems came with trying to eat and drink as this meant taking gloves off. The drop down into Patterdale came as a relief, to get out of the wind was great, however, the vista did reveal the next part of the course and the long climb up to Sticks pass.

 

Adam pulled away from me on the drop but I did not chase after him as I was more concerned about my quads for later in the race. It was really nice to get down into the valley and, as ever, the marshals at the checkpoint were fantastic and I was away quickly, getting psyched for the next long climb.

 

 

 

This is where things really started to get spicy. As we climbed, the wind got stronger and the rain got heavier. It became a real battle to take the gloves off, sort out some food and eat, but you have to make that effort or you will regret the apathy later. By this time my gloves were soaking wet and not really making much of a contribution to keeping my hands warm, so I made the decision to change them for my second pair once we were down in the next valley.

 

 

 

 

Once again, Adam zoomed past me on the long descent, this time I could not respond as my feet were so cold I don't think they were actually attached to my legs, I certainly did not feel that I was in full control of them. Once down to the tree line, I quickly warmed up and scooted along to Swirls Car Park, which feels like the half-way point. Here we were met by Adam's wife, Kate (a work colleague of mine) who had the bottles of Coke I had asked her to bring and, more importantly, a campervan with space to do some kit sorting and glove swopping.

 

I was away from here slightly quicker than Adam and, in fact wouldn't see him again until the finish, but I always felt him metaphorically breathing down my neck. It was now time try and find one of those strong second half performances - game face on!

 

After a drag through the forest towards Dunmail Raise, you start the long climb to Grisedale Tarn with a bit of route choice thrown in for good measure. Those in front of me started to take a more direct line up the fell but, once I had realised my error in not dibbing the footbridge checkpoint and retraced my steps, I took Adam's advice and stayed on the low path and made my climb up Raise Beck.

 

 

 

Again, as you climbed the weather deteriorated, but the change of gloves had given me a new lease of life and I managed to keep pace (just) with Alex Pilkington, a previous winner. Alex picked a great line round Grisedale Tarn and down towards Patterdale again and I just did all I could to hang on for as long as I could, which would actually be for the best part of two hours, though for the whole of that time, Alex was imperceptibly moving away from me, looking very smooth.

 

 

The drop to Patterdale seemed to go on forever and took a toll on my quads, but I felt OK once I started the climb back up to Boredale Hawse and without seeming to notice, the weather had taken a swing for the better, enough to be able to drop my hood for the first time in the day. I was still trying to keep Alex in view and this dragged me up and over the col with a minimum for fuss and, in fact I coped well with the rough part of the drop into Boredale; the problems started as I hit the road where holding Alex in view just became too difficult. Strangely, I found myself looking forward to the climbs as I was coping better with the ups, still running most of them, it was the flat road sections I was finding difficult.

 

Once on the climb back out of Howtown, I felt good again, and ran most of the way up to the Cockpit circle, catching Lee Knight just before the top. I had a slight waver (even after being warned by Adam) trying to pick the correct path back to Askham, but got myself sorted and, in fact, ended running into the finish with Lee.

 

 

Just under 7:05 hours for the 38 miles route, and that felt like a pretty good run. Again, I was pleased with my strong second half and finished in fairly good shape. It was now a case of waiting for the final timings as the runners drifted in, all looking very wet and cold. In the end, I was more than a little pleased (read "well chuffed") to get 5th place which brought 2012 to a very satisfactory conclusion. Other notable performances came from Tim Collison (1st, 6 hours!!!), Lee knight (6th, 7:07 hours), Adam (16th, 7:32 hours), John Osborne (51st, 8:32 hours) and the evergreen Andy Cole (87th, 9:32 hours).

 

Congratulations to all those that took on the challenge and a special thanks to the organisers, marshals and refreshment providers who put on a great event. If you fancy zipping up your mansuit (or even wetsuit?) give this one a go!!

 

Happy Christmas.



Round Rotherham 50 mile trail race

Last Saturday I had my final adventure of the season on the trails round Rotherham. I have done this race a number of times before, when the race was run in December, and more significantly, before I started training specifically for ultras. I was keen to see how my time now would compare to my previous outings (9:20 hours at best), as I now feel far more confident over these kind of distances.

The relatively flat nature of the course meant that I ran almost the full 50 miles, only taking the odd walking break, giving the effort a very different feel to the normal ultras I compete in which generally have far rougher terrain and significantly more ascent.

My plan was to set off at a slightly quicker pace than I normally would in an ultra, see how long I could maintain a healthy pace and then hang on for dear life over the latter stages. For those that know me (or regularly read my race reports) you will know that this plan differs from my normal routine of steady start and finish strong - I just wanted to try something different in this end-of-season race.

Sunrise

The video tells the story of the race in more animated detail, but needless-to-say, I finished the season off in good style with a new PB by 1:15 hours, finishing in 8:04 hours for 22nd place.

What really suprised me was how much my quads suffered despite the lack of hills. I can only think that the continuous running took it's toll on my legs as the last couple of hours were tough!

One week on, I am well into my post season recovery period and just intend to do 2 or 3 nice easy jogs of 3-5 miles each week until the start of December when I should be chomping at the bit, ready to kick-start the winters training.

The next couple of blog posts are going to have to be a "review of the season", followed by a "lessons learned"; it's the blog-law, isn't it?

RAB Mountain Marathon video

I managed to get some good video clips as I was racing last weekend and have finally got round to putting them together into a film of my adventures over the two days.

The music I have used is by a female singer-songwriter Annemarie Quinn who has the voice of an angel and just happens to be an ex-pupil of mine. If you like the sound of the two songs I have used, you can get a copy of the album from here or visit her website at the previous name link.

Enjoy.

RAB Mountain Marathon race report

This is always one of my favourite races of the year, so much so, that I think I have only missed one of the events since it started. (When I was only just about walking post-op last year!)

Most readers will be familiar with the mountain marathon concept where you race over two days carrying all the required equipment to be self-sufficient for the full duration of the event. There are so many facets of this kind of racing that appeal to me; the test of navigation skills (without the use of GPS), the route planning, the race strategy, the long days out on the hills, the preparation and kit selection and especially the opportunity to be "off the grid" for a couple of days. The RAB MM is run as a "score event" where you have a maximum time limit on each day, with the aim of collecting as many points as possible without incurring penalty points for being late. Each checkpoint is assigned a points score depending on it's distance, height and technical difficulty. For this particular event, the Elite class have time limits of 7 hours on Day 1 and 6 hours on Day 2.

The event centre was based near Wooler on the NE edge of the Cheviot Hills. I drove over after work on Friday and was quickly registered and settled into my sleeping bag in the campervan.

Saturday dawned clear and bright which set the tone for the weekend, though the air temperature was low and gave some idea of what to expect during the following night.

At the start, you are given a control description sheet which tells you which controls are "live" that day and what their respective points values are. Having made a bad decision at the start of the Saunders MM earlier in the year, I took my time here and tried to look at every possibility before setting off. Physically, I wanted to run a controlled race, hoping to be running strongly at the end, rather than going off hard and trying to hang on. Tactically, I had decided to be prepared to take longer routes to gain better running rather than shorter distances in tougher terrain - a lesson learnt from my last visit to The Cheviots in the Phoenix Long Orienteering Race a number of years ago.

It was a stunning morning and I soon settled into a good solid pace, always trying to be smooth and not fight the terrain as this just wastes energy. I ummed and ahhed about some of the earlier low point controls, but made the decision to get across to the higher points values and just pick up a few of the close, early controls. For those that were at the event, I chose some particularly good lines round controls 7, 10, 9 and 12, before dropping down to cross Harthope Burn.

The terrain changes slightly after the river crossing, becoming steeper and hillier, though I was really pleased with the way I was still covering the ground without ever really going into the red and blowing. I made a slight change to my route choice as I climbed up the SE flank of The Cheviot as I thought I might struggle to complete my final big loop of controls in time. Round the upper plateau of The Cheviot, it was lovely to run on the slabs of The Pennine Way and get some rest from the mud and heather.

As I set off on my final loop, I started to realise that I had over-estimated how long this would take me (or I was running faster than I thought I would be?!) I approached the camp and realised I easily had enough time to collect another control but not quite enough time to collect a 2nd extra which would have involved another 6km and a short climb. So, a little disappointingly, I tagged my last control and ran back down into the finish/camp.

I came into the finish 30 minutes before my deadline, and this did feel like a bit of a waste, though I knew I had had a good solid run. For a while I was in the lead until two other teams (the pairing of Tim Higginbottom and Chris Near and the solo runner Darrell High) came in to place me third overnight. Tim and Chris were well ahead but Darrell was only 30 points in front, though my main worry for the second day was my slender 5 point lead over Andrew Higgins in 4th. A podium place was up for grabs!

The camp was in a lovely spot and I pitched my tent just on the verge of a track which meant I could cook on solid ground, making life that little bit easier. Things started to get interesting as the sun went down and the temperature plummeted. I do not think I have ever been that cold for that long! I slept in everything I had with me; socks, thermal tights, Skins shorts, Pertex overtrousers, thermal top, fleece jumper, Pertex jacket, waterproof jacket, buff, gloves and sleeping bag. I managed to doze for an odd hour but seemed to spend most of the night shivering, finally waking up at 6am in an ice tent.

I started to feel better once I was up and had some warm food inside me, though you know it has been a cold one when you have to spend 20 minuted shaking the ice off your tent just so it will fit back in your rucksack.

Once I had stared and got my map marked up, I tried to divide the controls into three groups and then treat each section as a separate entity basing my decisions on the time I had left, always having options to bail out and get back to the finish under the time limit.

I cleared my first group of controls (to the west of the camp) about 20 minutes quicker than I thought I would and set off into my second loop. It was during this loop that I had my first major problem of the race. One of the control markers was missing from the intended sheepfold. When a control is missing it always eats away at your confidence, but I was sure I was in the right spot and a couple of others agreed with me, so we decided to just carry on after we had made a note of each others names so we could vouch for each other at the finish. Having lost 5 minutes checking and double checking the control, I decided to miss out a low scoring control (10 points) which would mean I could still collect the higher scores later in the day.

I soon put this out of my mind and even managed to spot a route choice that I had missed earlier, so felt rather pleased with myself as I entered the last loop, still running well, knowing that I should make it to the finish in time.

I started to feel the pace a bit as I approached my 3rd last control and made my only real navigation error of the weekend. All those around me were obviously heading for the final control whilst I had enough time to collect one extra one, however, in my knackered state, I simply ambled along with the pack for a km until I realised my mistake and had to cut round a small hill to get back on track, probably losing 7 or 8 minutes. No major panic, but it did leave a bitter taste in my mouth!

I think I was still annoyed with myself as I made the final climb, I pushed on and ran up much of the path to the summit cairn before the steep drop down to the finish. Despite the couple of errors, I would have still had evough time to have collected the 10 point checkpoint I missed out earlier and therefore get a clean sweep of all the controls for the day. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

It was now just a case of getting a shower, clean clothes and some food and waiting for the other runners to come in to find out the final positions. I knew I had had another good run and was only 10 points off the maximum score (the organisers credited those who had visited the missing control) but it was so close at the camp that I just hoped I had held on to the podium place. In the end, it was more dramatic than that....

.... Tim and Chris had stormed round again and scored the same as me but in about 30 minutes less time, winning with a total score of 780 points. Darrell had sored 30 points less than me on Day 2, meaning that were had the same total score of 720 points!!!! In a score event, if the points are equal, you then look at the total time taken by each runner and the shortest time takes the higher position. It took another 20 minutes or so before the combined times for the two days were up on the screens, but, would you believe it, we were equal on time too!!!!! We had both been running for 12 hours and 18 seconds over the weekend so could not be split and were awarded equal 2nd.

The Elite class prizewinners
(Photo by Richard Dearden)

For my troubles and pains, I earned a lovely new RAB softshell jacket which I have been showing off at work all week, and given myself just enough mojo to get me through these final couple of weeks training before the Round Rotherham 50 miler and then a well earned rest.

Thanks to the organisers of the race and the many marshals who made it possible. Another cracking RAB MM!