Normal running resumes and a holiday booked

Whoopeedeedoo, yeehah and other such cowboy like exclamations of joy. Normal running has resumed! Although my ankle is still a little puffy I'll have my last dedicated treatment session on it this Thursday and should be clear by the end of the week. I'll still have some proprioception exercises to do but this will be on-going for some time to ensure I don't tear the ligament again.

Last week I did my first 6 mile road run with Shenley Striders (the club I run with) and then headed out into the woods of Aspley Heath for a wet n muddy trail run on Saturday. 10 miles and 800' of ascent and descent later I write, uninjured and raring to go for the 22 mile training run organised for the 22nd December along the bank of Loch Lomond with Tim, Stan B (not met Stan yet) and a few others I believe. My ankle was fine throughout the trail run despite the often awkard heavy clay mud underfoot and I only felt 1 twinge when I landed a little off balance. Great stuff.

Other news is that we have booked our holiday to Queensland for 2009 to see our family over there. I have a conference in Cairns so it is an opportunity to tie both things together. We got a good deal with Singapore which means we'll be flying the new huuuuge A380-800 between London and Singapore. I am a bit of a nervous flyer anyway so was curious to know how such a beast would cope with landing in cross wind conditions. Quick google search and what do you know, you tube comes up trumps. Check out this video of test landing in Iceland (I think) for how to pilot a plane in extreme cross winds. Then check out the size of the plane next to a standard euro hop Boeing. (!)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdi-hnFrmag
(sorry - the embedding is disabled so I can only provide a link)

Hopefully landing in Singapore won't be as windy.

Music for post race relaxation

It is very easy to get carried away with excitingly fast and heavy music and Billy (the shoe?) has pointed out that I may have gone too far with Napalm Death. I have to agree at least partly. However motivatory they may be for runnng, they ain't pleasant listening.

So as a counterpoint here is an example of the kind of music that would suit the drained, elated, knackered, slightly out of body state likely to be induced by running a long ultra ... The Butthole Surfers and Hurdy Gurdy Man ... now relax ...



I'll blog about running next time. Honest.

If we listen to this music we'll beat Jez Bragg

Keith Hughes is onto something. I had thought as far as the short time scale effects of listening to thrash metal and punk on hill running performance. If we extend this principle and put together the right compilation I reckon he's right - we could all beat Jez Bragg's WHWR record time. Sub 14 hours could even be on with the right mix and sequence of tracks. And we have 6 months or so to perfect them. Great!

So far we have the list as being composed of ...
Slayer
Minor Threat
Celtic Frost (hmm, didn't they have rather permed hair Keith?)
Voidvoid (these guys were just a bit odd - can we delete them?)
Acca-dacca (AC/DC)
The Datsuns
Deftones (suggested by Mister Mason)

No-one has mentioned the brummie grindcore kings yet, so I'll have to ... bring on Napalm Death yeehaaah!



Then we mustn't forget the industrial wonders of Ministry with their track Stigmata



Right Jez, the musically and physically challenged, are throwing down the gauntlet!!!!! er ahem ;-)

More music to motivate (and some rather groovy dancing)

In response to Keith's comment I've been thinking long and hard about whether to post some more 80s old school thrash ala Celtic Frost (ha - had forgotten about them) or possibly Nuclear Assault. Instead, check out the groovy dancing to Minor Threat, a top 1980s straight edge punk band from the States (I was for about 2 years around the age of 20 a straight edger and rather too serious - but the music is great for running up hills to)...

Muuuusic to motivate

Normally I am a bit of an au-natural kind of chap when it comes to running, at least in audio entertainment terms. I have a tiny wee iPOD shuffle but don't really like it when trotting along, I'd much rather just be with my thoughts and the sounds of nature around me. However, upon occasion I do run with it and find this song makes me run like a maniac, regardless of incline or terrain.



It has the same effect on my wife and she has never liked thrash metal even slightly. As an experiment, download it onto your iPOD then try running up a very big muddy hill. Please come back with feedback on how it affected your performance.

In case you are wondering the song is Raining Blood by Slayer, one of the bands I used to love when I was hairy teenager (actually I still like the odd listen to them when the mood takes me - you never really seem to grow completely out of teenage tastes I have noticed).

The road to recovery

On Sunday, and again last night I ran for 15 .... wait for it ... wait for it ... minutes! Yeehah, what a feat of ultra style endurance.

My ankle is much better as a consquence of time and my physio friction rubbing it with great gusto. To ensure I don't exacerbate it he has advised me to get back into running by running for 15 minutes a couple of times, then to up to 20, then 25 etc until I reach 40 then he reckons I'll be fine. All very frustrating but the light is at the end of the injury tunnel.

In the meantime here's a photo of Eilidh and I out for a walk up to Scale Force in Buttermere, the day after the OMM. It was absolutely gorgeous!

Admonished

Still off running (boo) so not much to report really. I am using an exercise bike and rowing machine, and doing some weights at my University gym instead. The exercise bike is essentially a proper road bike with correct positioning so I get a good work out on it - quad burn after a minute or two to be honest!

My right ankle is much better though and I am hoping, subject to what my physio says this Thursday, to be able to do a couple of short 3 mile runs this weekend to get back into shape.

He admonished me though when I saw him for the first time last week, about 2.5 weeks post-injury. My ankle was still looking fattish but the bruising had mostly disappeared. I told him what had happened and what the hospital doc's advice was (don't run for 4 weeks) and I could see the steam coming out of his ears. 'b****y doctors and their injury recovery advice' you could see him thinking. I then told him when the injury had happened and he gave me a bit of stern ticking off.

He reckons there would have been about 4-5 days acute that he'd not want to touch the torn ligament, but straight after that he advised treatment is essential to ensure the swelling goes down and doesn't become a more permanent fat ankle, and to ensure smooth, flexible healing of the ligament. He then spent 20 minutes friction massaging my swollen ankle, right at the sorest point. AAAAAAGGGGHHHH is all I can say without descending into the kind of language that would get my blog deleted. I shan't be leaving injuries that long in the future. :-)

Projectile vomiting

Ah yes, we had our first ever experience of baby projectile vomiting last night at 12:30am. Little Eilidh was 1 year old yesterday and developed a very bad wheeze and cold to mark the occasion. We took her to the 24 hour clinic and got some ventolin to ease it but she didn't sleep well. Up every 5 minutes from 11:20pm till around midnight then again at 12:30am when she projectile vomited bits of vegetable and milk all over my wife. Huge lumps of veg too - she's clearly not got the chewing lark down pat yet.

Anyhoo, she seemed better this morning so we gave her a bottle only for this to come up 30 minutes later at 7:15am. Both occasions reminded me of the Monty Python Meaning of Life restaurant scene about 'wafer thin mints', so here you are, to give some idea of what we've just been through. ;-)

Final ranking in the Vasque Ultra Champs 2008

The final rankings are in for the Vasque ultra champs 2008 and the race calendar for 2009 has also been released.

Ranking here - http://www.runfurther.com/media/results2/Overall_Results_12_races_2008b.pdf
2009 calendar here

I managed to come 15th out of 210 competitors with 3133 series points so very pleased indeed. I'll aim for the top 10 next year, but the competition is pretty stiff. The winner was Mark Hartell with 3873 points and the only (?) ther WHWR Family who completed the series was Richie C, with a fantastic 3333 series points. I'm only 200 points behind there Ritchie - watch out for er perhaps 2015 ;-)

The Highland Fling is part of the series for next year so I reckon my 4 races (1 short, 1 medium, 1 long and 1 additional from any category) will be Wuthering Hike (short), Marlborough Downs Challenge (medium), High Peak 40 (medium) and Highland Fling (long). I can't wait!

I decided finally to support the home side, England, when I went along for some corporate hospitality at Twickenham on Saturday just past. How wrong was I in deciding to do so on the basis that it would give a great opportunity to wind my aussie wife up when they won. As you may know, they lost in a show of rather unadventurous rugby. Boo. I now face a solid ribbing for supporting England and the losing side. Boo!

Lakeland 100 or UTMB, that is the question?

Tomorrow is a day at home for some father and daughter time. I take 1 day off every 4 weeks to spend time with Eilidh and thoroughly enjoy myself. I was a bit nervous at first thinking what the heck will I do with her and worrying about the imminency of a crying onslaught but actually it's not that bad once you figure out her eating and sleeping cycles etc. Think we might go to a music group then p'raps for a walk around a lake in Milton Keynes with her in her macpac childcarrier backpack. She'll be 1 year old in a few days time, almost exactly 34 years younger than her Dad (me in case you are wondering) - I was 35 on the 12th. Hoorah for me.

Not much to report training wise as I'm still recovering from my ankle injury - the swelling is almost gone but still present in front of my ankle bone and the bruising is now easing off, having travelled all the way to my toes. I'll probably take a 3rd week off of running (next week) but ramp up the exercise bike and rowing training to compensate. I did 2 sessions of this at the University gym this week just to ease my ankle in and not to aggravate it. No problems to report.

Got my copy of the Fellrunner (the FRA mag) through the post and was pleased to see quite a few ultra type challenge articles - lots on the various fell running rounds which I have on my radar to do at some point. I'll definitely do a 2 day Bobby Gee next year for training and might up to a full sub 24 hour one.

Congratulations to family member Mike Mason for getting his name in print in the magazine in the roll call of honour of UK finishers on the 2008 UTMB, alongside Jez Bragg and Richie C. Have you seen the mag Mike? Congratulations also to Lucy C for her CCC performance.

There was an article in the magazine about the Lakeland 100, a 100 mile w/ 24,000 feet of ascent trail ultra around the Lake District at the end of July. We are planning a visit to Oz to see my wife's folks in July when I could easily taper for this event rather than entering the UTMB. Doing both would be too much. I am tempted to enter the Lakeland as the logistics will be easier, the cost less (important with planned Oz trip) and the event should count towards the 2009 Vasque ultra series. But then again it ain't the UTMB. Any advice to help me decide would be much appreciated.

Aagh me ankle

Last Saturday was a fairly inocuous weekend day. Milling around doing family stuff then a late afternoon trail run to break the legs back into training for my upcoming half marathon after the OMM (well semi-OMM due it being cancelled). I drove to a nearby country park with some lovely hilly pine tree lined trails and headed off feeling sprightly in the slight drizzle of rain. Up the first slope then gently down amidst a lovely tree grove, through a fence then crunch aaagh and I had to sit down urgently. An effing tree root. I'd went over on my right ankle badly and could only sit there growling loudly, clutching at my ankle as what seemed like an endless series of waves of pain washed over me.

Arse, I've broken it I thought. My right ankle you see has been the site of a fair few 'over on the ankle' injuries after I tore ligaments and muscle badly in 2o01 in an off piste telemark ski-ing accident 4 miles from the nearest road, 10 miles from the nearest town, 3000' up a mountain in -17C in the arctic circle in late February with less than 2 hours of light and therefore relative er warmth left (as you do). My ankle has been a little floppy since then as they never really recover from ligament tears.

After about 3 minutes of writhing the pain began to subside and I began to wonder how will I get the 1/2 mile back to my car. Do I wander a further 300m to a conveniently located but quite possibly closed British Legion club, try to hobble back myself or just sit and wait, hoping for some sort of rescue. I opted for number 2 and gently got myself to my feet, testing the mobility of my foot when I was steady. Full movement waahoo, not broken so I hobbled away, taking 20 minutes to cover the distance, some sort of record surely.


Off to A&E to check for breakage I was amazed to have luckily hit a real lull and was processed with x-ray in an hour. Anterior talofibular ligament (the one in front of ankle joint) tear but no bone issues. Good news in one sense but 4 weeks (ha that'll be right) off running I was advised.




My large et puffy ankle about 2 hours post injury

The swelling has already almost subsided in a bout of amazing healing, but there's bruising down to my toes now. I'll hang off the running this week and next, but try a few exercise bike sessions next week instead. I need to work off the calories you see in preparation for the upcoming England vs Australia rugby match at Twickenham on the 15th November. I've been invited into a corporate hospitality box for the day with a champagne and canapies starting at 11:15am, then nice 3 course lunch, match then open bar. Great!


As a Scot married to a Queenslander, do you think I'll be supporting the home team?

Ever so slightly inclement weather conditions (OMM Borrowdale race report)

For those that don't know, mountain marathons are a particular (British?) kind of mountain or fell running event. They are held over 2 days and require all participants to be self-sufficient in terms of clothing, tent, cooking and fuel, water - everything. Each day involves orienteering between checkpoints (CPs) along a course - either a fixed course or a 'score' course (no fixed sequence of CPs. I was running the 'A' course, the 2nd longest of the 4 fixed courses - approximately 30km with 1800m of ascent each day over rough (very rough - through / over bushes in places) ground. More info on the OMM site.

Pre-race

The drive up to the Lakes was pretty hellish. It took us 8.5 hours from Milton Keynes as Eilidh is teething badly just now, something I have learned causes babies poo to come frequent and very er loose. Thick and fast they came I wish, more sort of very runny and fast. We spent hours just changing nappies at service stations on a journey that I'd expect should take 4-5 hours. Anyway we arrived at Grapes Cottage in Cockermouth at 20:30, our holiday home for the next 5 days and waited for my folks to arrive. They arrived just after 21:00.

My Dad then drove me the 13 or so miles from Cockermouth, up and over the high Honister pass (~ 1200' altitude) to the event HQ at Seathwaite farm near Seatoller village in Borrowdale to drop me off. The weather was windy but no rain. He seemed to drive quite slowly but given it was dark and the road has a 20% incline on both sides of the Honister pass this is quite understandable really (thanks for the lift Dad). Anyway, dropped off I met my partner Ian who was replacing Marco at short notice (bet Marco is thanking his work now given what happened!) and we went straight to bunk down for the night. Our start time was 08:37 - the race has a staggered start with competitors on each course heading off at 1 min intervals from ~ 08:00.

The night proved very windy and the VW camper van we were staying in shook like something from an exorcism movie. The wind was actually that strong it tore a rent in the tarpaulin that connects the hard, raisable roof to the body so we had an er well ventilated nights rest.

Event headlines

Before regailing you with tales of my adventures on Lakeland fells during the event I'll start with the headline weather stuff. The event was cancelled about 12pm on day 1, about 4 hours after the first competitors started. The video clip below will give you some idea of the conditions on a less exposed area - the road up to Honister from Buttermere taken sometime on the Saturday afternoon. The conditions on the fell tops and plateaus were much worse - driving painful rain and winds gusting regularly at strengths which either buffeted you and made movement very difficult, blew you uncontrollably sideways or just blew you straight over on your back (happened quite a few times mid-race to Ian and myself).



Most of the press coverage blew the seriousness of the event cancellation out of all proportion - talking about the Lake District being turned into a morgue and all sorts. Nonsense really even though the weather was so extreme. Richard Askwith of the Independent, a fell runner himself, gives a more balanced account here.

Other reports to look out for are the various reports, photo sets and videos available at Sleepmonsters.

Seathwaite to CP1 at the source of Tongue Beck at the eastern end of Ennerdale

The race started about 5 mins walk up the valley from Seathwaite, where lots of tight wearing folk of all ages were congregated, waiting for their start time, huddling against the wind. Ambient temperature was fine but you could tell that up higher the wind would be freezing so no-one had bare legs. I decided to wear waterproof pants over a pair of shorts, my hairy scottish legs giving me proven levels of insulation.


Picture of the OMM Borrowdale start from http://climbing.me.uk/

We were off shortly after our alloted time of 08:37 running up the valley struggling to fold and orient our maps as is the norm with events that involve orienteering. The path was rocky but easily runnable and we gradually over took folk as the 450m ascent up towards the bealach between Base Brown and Green Gable on the way to CP1 began. Ian was moving gradually ahead of me but I just kept my pace. The OMM is not an event to kill your legs wtih 'too fast' ascent lactic acid too early on, so although the competitor inside me wanted to keep up my brain remained engaged.

I had my first gear failure about 5 minutes into the climb. My laces came undone - aaagh, bloomin annoying and something that would keep happening throughout our run. I really hate laces coming undone despite your best efforts to jam them solid.


Picture of Styhead Gill on the way up to the bealach between Green Gable and Brandreth, looking back down towards Seathwaite (from http://www.geograph.org.uk/)

Laces tied we soon reached the point where we had to leave the relatively soft incline of the path and head on up over steeper rough ground to reach the bealach. Taking a few folk here we were rewarded with great views of Brandreth and Grey Knotts at the top. Still sheltered from the wind we countered round rocky and grassy ground on Green Gable towards the head of Ennerdale. I went over on my right ankle slightly and had to stop briefly but the pain subsided and I carried on fine.


Gillarcomb Head above Ennerdale with Pillar the background, just above CP1 (from http://www.geograph.org.uk/)

Rounding onto Gillarcomb Head the wind was screaming up Ennerdale and made descent to CP1 at the mouth of the Tongue Beck tricky. My partner Ian was blewn flat on his back as we jumped our way down tufted ground to the CP. I dibbed in and turned 90 degrees to head to the summit of Brandreth and towards CP2.

Brandreth to CP2 on the slopes of High Spy

The wind buffeted us constantly on the plod up the short grassy and rocky slopes of Brandreth, making Ian and myself bang together accidentally several times. We had to stop a few times and brace as gusts became to strong to move in but we were soon over Brandreth and onto Grey Knotts, checking compass bearings on the move, climbing over a fence and running on over mixed bog and rocky outcrop.

The summit of Grey Knotts (from http://www.geograph.org.uk/)

The view down to Honister Slate Mine at the top of Honister Pass from the descent of Grey Knotts (http://www.geograph.org.uk/)

The rain was coming in with the wind now as we made our way down the 300m descent over grassy ground with outcrops to Honister Pass and I had my second gear failure. I had forgotten that upon descending the Kamleika pants I was wearing have a very annoying habit of falling down, due to their being quite heavy material and the fasten not being tight enough. Mental note - must either buy new trousers or only wear these with braces. Then my shoes laces came undone again. Gaagh!

Anyhoo we reached Honister slate mine and passed a few folk stopped to put on their waterproofs before heading straight up the shoulder of Dale Head. The wind was constant but the gusts not too bad so we ate and drank as we climbed ~ 150m gradually heading east onto the broad, boggy plateau of High Scawdell.


Picture of the sheep fold (beneath crags) containing CP2 at Dalehead Tarn (from http://www.geograph.org.uk/)

We didn't route select particularly well over the plateau and ended up to our mid-calves in boggy water at several points, starting the lack of feeling in your feet that I think is ubiquitous amongst mountain marathoners mid-event. Our going was good though and we reached CP2 in fine fettle.
Dale Head tarn to CP3 at Greenup on slopes off Maiden Moor


From High Spy looking down to Derwent Water (from http://www.geograph.org.uk/)

We had a choice of routes here. Either contour round towards CP3, or head up the 200m or so ascent to the top of High Spy then head north towards CP3 and drop in on top of it. We chose the latter as I knew contouring would take in rough ground and would involve a climb at the back end anyway to avoid the precipitous Blea Crag, just south of CP3.

It was as we gained higher ground on High Spy that the wind really kicked in. As we progressed along trying to stuff energy bars in our mouths, drink water, take compass bearings and ignore the fact that we hadn't felt our feet for some time now due to their submersion across High Scawdell we were quite simply just blown around. You'd try to place your feet and your legs would be blewn, making you trip, stumble and sometimes fall. At other times you were simply blewn along or plain over. The gusts were becoming more frequent and stronger so the 150m descent from Narrow Moor down to CP3 over about 150m horizontal distance gave welcome shelter even whilst it destroyed my quads.


The slope down from Narrow Moor to CP3 (from http://www.geograph.org.uk/)

From Narrow Moor to CP4 on Causey Pike

A quick CP stop then off back up the 150m, struggling to place feet securely amongst the dead bracken which covered the slope. Nearing the top I had to use hands to gain decent purchase and then into the gale force wind once again, quads and calves burning and fatigued from hard climbing. Quick compass bearing to check where we were and we were off stumbling, half running, half blewn along over the top of Maiden Moor and down its north west flank, my b****y waterproof pants half way down my legs and me trying to hoik them back up whilst descending and trying to drink. Laces then undone again but more and more difficult to retie with quickly numbing clumsy fingers upon exposure to the wind and air.

The path then road past Little Town and across Newlands Valley were a welcome bit of ultra style plodding, allowing me to drink the last of 1.1l of water I started the race with, knowing dehydration would already be taking its toll on my performance (1.1l over several hours of hard exercise isn't much). I could feel my quads were pretty tired now.

We gained the track and started to climb up the hellish slope of Birkrigg Brow towards the summit of Causey Pike. Now this was the hardest climb so far. 300m of ascent across about 300-400m horizontal distance over some of the densest, shrubbiest heather cover I have come across. The wind was driving stinging rain into our faces from the south west and buffeting our bodies, making the difficulties in foot placement basically impossible. Climbing was a slow process of taking tiny inch long secure steps or longer ones which inevitably resulted in a loss of balance and stumbling or falling over. My legs were burning and I had no water to drink.


The top portion of the heather filled slopes of Causey Pike (from http://www.geograph.org.uk/)

From Causey Pike to the race HQ

Unbelievably the wind seemed stronger as we crested the main eastern shoulder of Causey Pike and contoured round then down a hundred feet or so north to CP4 in relative shelter. I dibbed us in and then trudged back up the 100 feet or so to the shoulder before trying to communicate with Ian about our route to the next CP. However as soon as I reached the shoulder I was blewn uncontrollably with stinging rain visibly in sheets down the shoulder to the north east. I sat down to stop myself and Ian sat down too. We agreed to head down the valley to Rigg Beck diagonally south west over very steep dead bracken covered ground. He began to peel away, both of us stumbling, falling again and again due to poor footing and the strength of the wind.

My laces came undone again and I had real problems with numb hands this time in re-tying them. I caught up with Ian who was bunkered down deep amongst the heather and bracken. We both looked up the valley to Rigg Beck. The sky was darker and the rain was lashing in. Ian asked whether we should bail.

We mulled it over. It was certainly attractive (the thought of beer had already entered my head) but also safer we felt. This was not weather for camping at mid-way. So we bailed. Continuing on would have meant committing to some serious and exposed terrain. Bailing at that point left a 12-13 mile road run back to the main HQ. Easy. Or so we thought.

We ran round the road under Cats Bells and met up with 2 other 'A' course competitors bailing. Both had completed the UTMB so we had a good bit of banter on the way back about that. Both were planning to enter the WHWR for 2010. The rain was steady but we were sheltered from the wind so the going was pleasant enough. We turned onto the main Keswick-Borrowdale road and started going through increasingly large puddles. The puddles soon merged and by the time we were a few miles from Seatoller the road had become a river from 4 to 12 inches deep, flowing from sodden fields. A landrover stopped to tell us the event had been cancelled a few hours before and that flooding was much worse nearer the main HQ so our only mission now was to get back to safety and warmth.

The road/river got steadily deeper and our feet got steadily colder and colder. By the time we turned off the road onto the higher path to Seathwaite I hadn't been able to feel my feet for a good 30 mins. By the time we reached the race HQ we had been running / walking with our feet fully submerged for an hour or so and numbness had transcended into a sort of cold pain. We could see tents blewn down and cars almost flooded out in the fields as the race HQ came into view but luckily Ian's VW was on higher ground.

I checked us in and we were handed hot food and drinks vouchers to redeem on site. I gave ours away as we had supplies in the VW.

The winds and rains continued to gather pace and didn't die down until the early hours. We kept the VW roof down to keep water and wind out and slept on the same bunk. The van shook like a van possessed in an exorcist movie again but we were warm and cozy, if a little trapped on site.

Getting out of Borrowdale on the Sunday (easier said than done)

After getting back to the race HQ and drying off I ventured out to see if there was a public telephone to contact my wife to say I was OK and to arrange for transport out of Borrowdale. It was p*****g it down and there was one public phone with a queue. I stood, gradually getting wetter and wetter, my boots filling up until it was my turn. Chucking in a bunch of 20ps, my only cash I dialled the number then noticed the machine had just eaten my money and had no intention of letting me call anyone. Aaagh. I left the machine slightly miserably, not wanting to start faffing around with reverse charges. I knew the queue was long and people were very keen to use the phone.

After a few hours the rain eased a tad so I stood in line again. I ended up chatting to a Royal Marine behind me and asked whether the army might send in transport trucks to get people out if the flood waters rose any higher - many of the Seathwaite fields were knee high or higher. He said there weren't any transports leftin the country so unlikely. Apparently everything decent from tanks to tin openers is in Afghanistan, so there's nothing left.

I eventually got on the phone to discover you can't reverse charge calls to mobiles so I had to reverse charge to a friend in Edinburgh, who took a message to contact Kirstin and arrange for my Dad to pick me up in Seatoller village at 9am. I had no idea whether they managed to contact Kirstin because there's not even the slightest hint of mobile signal anywhere in Borrowdale. Thanks for relaying the message though Ian and Kirsty.

In the morning I put my 35l kit rucksack on my back and my 25l racing rucksack on my front and hiked off down the road to Seatoller. I expected from reports the night before to have to

wade waist deep in water to reach the village but luckily only a few bits of water remained. The rest had drained into the swollen lengths of the Derwent.

Not knowing whether my dad would arrive at 9am british summer time, or 9am winter time (the clocks had been set back overnight and I forgot to specify when on the phone) I set off to meet my Dad at 9am summer time. He wasn't there and being a 20 minutes early kind of chap I decided to start walking towards Cockermouth by walking up the 275m ascent to the top of Honister Pass then down the otherside into Buttermere and onwards.

Hordes of OMM'ers who had spent the night sheltering in barns and the old slate mine were coming down the hill towards me like a stream of refugees in a war zone. Lots of bleary looking eyes and cheery faces though with some good banter as I headed the opposite way.

An hour came and passed, with no sign yet of my Dad. Hmm I began to wonder. Did the message get through? I had to assume not. Or perhaps the road is flooded and impassable at some point. Possibly. No matter really. I had food, water and the weather and scenery were fine so I wandered onwards. I reached about 1/2 mile beyond Buttermere before a van with 2 fellow OMM'ers in it stopped. They were heading to Cockermouth so I gladly accepted the offer of a lift, my ankles were hurting from bruising sustained the day before and I would rather not have walked the remaining 7 or 8 miles on top of the 5 or 6 from Seathwaite to Buttermere.

It turned out my Dad had been a real trooper (thanks Dad). He'd tried both the Honister approach to Seatoller and found it flooded and impassable, then the Keswick approach and found it flooded and impassable too. With no available approach he had no choice but to retreat to Cockermouth and wait. He was so relieved to hear from me when I called just after 11am winter time. My wife didn't seem perturbed at all - haha!

Post race mullings

Since the event I've been mulling over whether mountain marathons or trail ultras are harder. I've come to the conclusion that its not an entirely sensible question as they have different qualities - long trail ultras are never that intense physically (puffing and panting) but require an ability to keep trudging through constant pain hour after hour after hour.

Mountain marathons are a different kettle of fish altogether. The repeated very steep ascent and descent over rough ground kills my legs as there are no sustained hills with 400m + climb around where I live so I find them very intense physically. In addition having to put up with the intensity of exercise whilst dehydrated (inevitable after a few hours when the water you carry runs out and you must find more) and navigating in generally poor weather makes mountain marathons very challenging indeed. There is something also very committing about them - no support crews, no water provided, nothing except for a course.

I first and last did the OMM in 2006. Having competed again in 2008 I think I will make the OMM a regular fixture and maybe look to add in another mountain marathon per year. Trail ultras are probably my favourite thing but mountain marathons come a very close second.

Finally, do I feel a bit soft having decided to bail before knowing the event was cancelled? No. In these kinds of events you must always be thinking about the risks of continuing over rough ground with no support and of pitching a tent and surviving overnight. The weather was pretty atrocious and definitely not the kind of weather for sheltering in a tent. Mountain sense would direct anyone sensible to search for buildings to shelter in (or a pub with ale!). I reckon having recognised the severity of the weather early on helped my partner and I achieve the best outcome given the situation - a warm bed and food for the Saturday night. I'd much rather that than have arrived at the mid-way camp only to be told to head to HQ only to be told at the top of Honister to seek shelter in barns as happened to those who finished their course.

Back from OMM

Thanks to the various folk who texted or left voice mail messages for me, concerned about my safety at the recently cancelled, very wet and windy OMM event in Borrowdale.

The event was cancelled at 12pm, about 4 hours after it started due to very heavy winds and rain - 100mph and over 1 month of rain in a 1 day are the figures I've heard.

I'll blog a full report shortly but needless to say I am fine and looking forward to 2009.

Some balanced and thoughtful reporting on fell events and weather by Richard Askwith can be found here in the meantime.

New OMM partner and lying on a mat

Poor old Marco M-C has had to pull out of the OMM due to surprise work committments - boo. But really rather quickly I've found a replacement, a chap called Ian with what seems like a penchant for mexican headwear. It'll be a wee bit strange doing the event with a complete stranger, particularly sleeping in a 1+ person tent together, but we've spoken on the phone and he seems pretty relaxed and easy to get on with so I'm sure it'll be fine. Well, we've still got to become 'fart comfortable' with each other, something probably best done outside said tent. Actually I'm getting quite excited about the event now that it is just over a week away. I'll be staying up in the Lakes for a few days afterwards for a short break with my family, which I am also looking forward to.



Alun Ward emailed me the photo above earlier this week, wondering whether I was the fella on the mat. Yes, it's me, rather dehydrated and far too hot after running the High Peak 40 in 20C+ heat in mid-September. He came in a place or two behind me but looks like he is just about to start. Damnably unflustered by the exertion, unlike moi. Oh well ... :-)

Ridgeway Run race report

Distance: 9.68 miles
Terrain: mostly trail, some road
Ascent / descent: +610' / -619'
Time: 01:10:42
Pace: 7:18 (avg)
Position: 47/438

This is a regular race of mine, the nearest thing to a fell race within 30 minutes of Milton Keynes, and an event that always seems to get a lovely weekend. This year was no exception. The race has been running for 27 odd years now so is quite a fixture locally for the road boys wanting to try something out with hills and for all us poor fell and trail obsessed runners locked in living down south. Tring Running club organise the event and big cheers must go out to them - every year the t-shirt is a great design, the car parking works with military precision and the finish line is well constructed. Even with the sizeable field of 438 it all went well.


The Chiltern Hills over which the race runs

The sun was shining, the sky was blue and I set out to better my PB of 01:11:00 set a few years back. I did this with a few seconds to spare so am very pleased.

The race started at a pretty furious pace (6:12 mins/mile according to my Garmin) so I deliberately slowed to 6:30 pace after half a mile, not wanting to burn out. I slowed down further to 6:50 as we hit the first field and I then became aware of a grunter on my tail. Heavy breathing and a particular noise which meant I could recognise the fella. I think it was the Burnham Joggers runner who came in directly behind me but I can't be sure.

Anyway he was in close as we hit the first slope and I decided to stretch out a little, feeling confident about my climbing strength and endurance. Sure enough I quickly and easily lost him from earshot but he reappeared on the next, downhill, section where it sounded like he was putting in some effort to catch me so I stretched out again and kept him at bay.


Tring Ridgeway Run course profile and my pace

We crossed the stableyard to the north of Aldbury and gradually wound our way up to the monument in the Ashridge Estate. He was right at my heels and to his credit kept it there till the incline increased when he dropped back and I ploughed on, passing a few other runners. If only the race had more climbing I'd have easily (ha) moved up 10 positions. I managed to keep some of these runners at bay but the long flattish run through the Ashridge Estate saw me gradually picked off by the stronger on the flat runners. Damn these ultra trained legs of mine, faster faster I thought but to little avail.

The thought and possibly the imagined grunting of the runner I was determined to keep at bay kept my speed up, up and over Pitstone Hill in glorious sunshine then down through the woods to the final 1.5 ish mile road section. My legs were heavy by this point and try as I might I couldn't sustain faster than 7:14 ish pace so lost a few places, but importantly kept the grunter at bay. Hooray! A thoroughly enjoyable run.





Father and daughter enjoy the post-race sun and wet grass

The OMM in Borrowdale is fast looming (25th of this month) and Marco M-C and I still haven't got our tent sorted. I am humming and hawing about buying a new one as Marco has an old Vango 100 that might do the job, but it looks pretty wee. The dimensions below are for the Laser Competition, but they are about the same as the Vango 100. Has anyone tried out one of these tents with 2 people? How comfy are they? Can 2 folk actually fit in? They are supposedly big enough for 2 under mountain marathon race conditions.


Laser Competition tent dimensions

Finally, I have received some gentle encouragement from Mr Cunningham to stop being a big woose. I was thinking of doing a 2 day Bobby Gee (Bob Graham Round) as training for the 09 UTMB. Mr C has probably correctly pointed out that I ought to just get on and do the actual thing as training. Well, I might well just. Cheers for the motivation Richie. :-)

Uphill training in the rain oh joy

The rain had been falling for quite a few hours on Sunday by the time I dug out my fell shoes and headed out for some off road hill repeats. I've not worn my fell shoes since February and have missed their grip and the usual running through mud in stoating rain that usually accompanies my wearing them.

On Saturday I ran a hilly 10 mile off road run route I do locally in a record 1:22 for me and felt really strong, keeping my form throughout. I think I get a little lazy form wise sometimes and it makes my running less efficient so I am focussing quite hard on this, particularly running uphill.

Mike Mason emailed me this video of Scott Jurek, complete with lovely hair-do, giving some uphill running technique tips. The video doesn't cover really steep or fell terrain but the advice given works a treat for shallow to moderate trail slopes.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid416421194/bctid1453536224

Other than thoroughly enjoying running in the increasingly heavy rain doing my hill repeats on Sunday, I consciously kept my hips neutral, following Scott's advice. I found that I had a tendency under strain towards the top of the later repeats to bend forward but that this actually made my running less comfortable so I stuck with the form. It made my quads and calves burn more but felt more efficient overall. I did 9 repeats of ~130' each vertical climb and will increase this by 1 repeat a week till the OMM.

Anyhoo, well done to all Family Inverness 10k and marathon runners at the weekend and best wishes to John K for a speedy recovery and return to racing.

A different kind of endurance

My wife Kirstin has been back at work for about 2.5 months now and has recently been successful in gaining a promotion - she's now Operations Manager for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. This has meant that she has had to up her hours from 3 days per week which she felt comfortable with since having Eilidh, to 4 days 1 week then 3 days the next. As part of this, and to get me more time to spend with our daughter I will be taking 1 day off every 4 weeks to be the pcg as we call it tongue-in-cheek (primary care giver). I did my first pcg stint on Friday, and wheesht it's pretty intense, but great.


Eilidh in 'give me my yoghurt' mode in July before teeth appeared

Now I don't want to paint a picture of me as an oafish, non contributing husband. On the contrary we have always adopted a 50/50 split to all forms of work domestic but Kirstin has definitely pulled more than her fair share of baby raising. I did midnight nappies and bottles and all that sort of thing but other than the paltry 2 weeks paternity leave I've not done much full time pcg'ing other than at weekends due to my being a full time work.

On Friday, it all went pear shaped from 8am, when Eilidh started moaning due being tired from getting up too early (a habit she has on occasion). I tried to put her to bed but the screaming began and wasn't stoppable even with a nice warm bottle of milk. I called K for advice and she suggested taking E out for a walk in her buggy. This worked a treat, got us both out of the house, soporifically sent her to sleep and reset her mood for the rest of the day, which we spent in the sun at a Milton Keynes lakeside, playing on swings and 'ooking' at ducks (E can say ook). I even managed a shopping trip (in which E sat laughing in the trolley chewing a cucumber half her height) and still managed to make dinner for us all as per usual. The whole experience is quite tiring physically (constant bending over to help her walk) and emotionally but great overall.

Outwith the baby front I nearly landed myself in deep doo with a comment on Debs blog about whether or not she should run and race whilst pregnant. Clearly a sensitive issue from her blog and the comments made by some of the other commenters. Anyway, I managed to extricate myself after realising I had waffled incorrectly about how Kirstin and I had approached the issue of pregnant exercising. Apparently the advice given by our Doctor was that keeping up existing forms of exercising is fine, it is the taking on of new forms of exercise which might be more risky - probably something to do with uncertainty as to how the body would adapt. Not sure how long Debs will manage to run as expansion continues - good luck to her though!

Last thing. I went a for a run on Saturday morning with a fellow called John Litten who had read my blog and has entered the Highland Fling. He lives in Luton so not so far away. I took him round the local hilly woodland and we waffled about ultras and running as the morning mist rose to reveal a glorious day. If you are reading this John - it was nice to meet you. Good luck in the Venice marathon!

High Peak and Vasque Ultra Champs position

The results are out for the HP40 run held at the weekend: http://www.highpeak40.co.uk/results.asp

I came in 16th out of 154 finishers with a time of 7:06:28, so very pleased position wise even though I was outside my target time of 7 hours. The heat probably put paid to that ambition for me for this year. I bettered my time from last year by about 9 mins so happy anyway.

Well done to other Family members Lucy Colquhoun (6:13:06), George Cairns (6:23:20) and Ritchie Cunningham (6:58:12)! The race was won by Brian Coles of Stoke AC with a stonking 5:44:42. Well played that man.

I have now completed all my Vasque Ultra Championships races and am currently placed 7th out of 203! Whoopeee! There'll probably be a bit of movement as there are some races to go and few folk should definitely overtake me like Mark Hartell, currently ranked 14th but with 1 race in hand. Full results here:
http://www.runfurther.com/media/results2/Overall_Results_10_races_2008.pdf

High Peak 40 race report

Distance: 40.97 miles (advertised 40 miles)
Ascent / descent: +4858' / -4766'
Terrain: varied (wet grass / fields, hard trail, rocky trail, road)
Time: 07:06:32
Splits: 10:25 (avg), 7:40 (fastest), 15:58 (slowest)
Position: tbc

NOTE: all photos have been taken from http://www.geograph.org.uk/


Elevation profile of HP40


Splits for my HP40 race 2008

The High Peak 40 or HP40. My 4th and final race in the UK Vasque Ultra Championships and a race I've run for the past 3 years, this one included. It contains a fair amount of road running but the road is well broken up by such a variety of other terrain types from lovely lake side paths to fields, to muddy dale tracks and rocky hill top trails, that this race is one of my favourites. It is exceptionally well organised with drinks and food provided at every 1 of 12 checkpoints so you don't need support or to carry much except for a drinks bottle and some weatherproof gear. Although the latter wasn't needed at all on Saturday. Sheesht it was hot.

I didn't get home from work till 7pm on the Friday so it was a quick in, eat, get stuff ready, have beer on couch then off to bed. The alarm went off at 4am and I awoke a bit disoriented with the sound. Porridge quickly eaten, coffee cup and water bottles filled I was out the door in 30 mins for the 2.5 hour drive to Buxton in the Peak District. The M1 was pretty dead but music from Radio 2 kept me going till dawn arose.

The Peak District is not strictly a particularly mountainous terrain but it is lovely, and great running country with lots of ups and downs and a real mixture underfoot. The HP40 starts and ends in Buxton, taking in a 40 mile loop of the Goyt Valley, Rushup Edge, Mam Tor, Cave Dale, Tideswell Dale, Cressbrook and the River Wye and the Deep Dales.

I arrived, found the registration and headed back to my car to get ready. Richie C passed me on his way to registration and said 'hello Brian'. I caught up with him when he returned, wearing his new Skinz (yes very slick), in an attempt to stave off the excesses and damage of the UTMB. Brave fella I thought, this is likely to hurt so soon after. He was well aware of this likelihood. The UTMB sounds like such a race, I can't wait to enter next year. It'll be a challenge like no other.

A chap called Ally (Ali?) came up to me asking if I was Brian McIntosh, to which I responded affirmatively. He had apparently read my Highland Fling race report and been inspired to enter it next year. He was entering the HP40 as his first ultra at a distance slightly below the Fling for preparation. If you are reading this Ally, I hope it all went well - the heat was brutal! It's great that someone has been motivated to run an ultra partially as a consequence of blogging. Spread the ultra love as Dr Marc and Tanya (a pair of american ultra bloggers) would say. Cheesey but true!

I met a girl who had travelled down with Richie called Lucy as well. I think she was Lucy Colquhoun but can't be certain. She shot off like a bolt so I suspect she was. No other family members were about that I saw although Ritchie said George Cairns was there.

Anyway I stretched (something I forgot to do last year - doh) and headed down to the start. Not much hanging about and we were off, Lucy leading the field. 7:15 pace, crikey better slow down I thought as we headed out of the centre of Buxton towards the climb over the moors to the Goyt Valley. I slowed to a more sustainable 8:00 - 8:30 pace until we hit the hill up to the moor when power hiking was the order of the day.

After the moor I slotted in beside a long haired runner from Essex whose name I can't remember, and a chap called Andy from near Whitby who I met both last year and in 2006. We ran together down the steep sloping road to Fernilee reservoir and along its banks, chatting as we went, keeping the pace between 8:30 and 9:00. The sky was clear blue gorgeous and I was already sweating lots. I kept having to eject bogies from my nose, a behaviour which I know winds Miek Mason up, but there's not a lot else to do mid race when there's stuff to come out. I wondered whether I still had some cold virus inside me.


Fernilee Reservoir in the Goyt Valley

I felt strong as we left the Goyt Valley and headed east for Rushup Edge and Mam Tor. I kept up the pace at sub - 9 levels but walked up the steeper or more sustained hills so as not to knacker myself. I was drinking well and despite the bogies and sweat was feeling great. Sub 7 hours looked on - my goal for the race. Upon reaching the Rushup Edge checkpoint I kept up the pace and deliberately grinded out the slow mile or two uphill to Mam Tor, peeling away from Long Haired Essex Man and Andy. The air was beginning to get warm now.


Mam Tor from the air


Hollins Cross from near Mam Tor

The descent from Mam Tor to Hollins Cross then off the south side of the ridge to Castleton is great fun - very fast with lots of rocks to scrabble and jump down in the latter stages. My legs felt fine despite the pummelling and I got into the Castleton checkpoint on my own. Another runner approached as I finished filling up my water bottle and headed off, jaffa cakes stuffed in mouth. The runner kept with me into Cave Dale but I kept up a good power hike pace in the early stages and upped it to a light jog in the latter, less steep sections and lost him as a consequence.


Cave Dale viewed from above

I was alone in the hard limestone fields above Cave Dale when I saw a runner in the distance and thought I'd keep them in sight, or maybe even catch them. Little did I know it would be a suffering Ritchie C. Well, I guess it was only 4 weeks ago that he ran 103 miles with 33,000' ascent in the UTMB so he probably has a good excuse for being caught by me! :-)

We ran together for bit, chatting (good to have met you Ritchie, if you are reading this) but I kept the next checkpoint brief so peeled away. I overtook another runner on the long gradual road descent to Tideswell village and dale the Ritchie overtook me, his second wind emerging. Good stuff. My legs were beginning to feel the pain though as marathon distance approached - I can never be entirely sure if this is psychological or whether there is some damage threshold at ~26 miles that kicks in.

I passed through the Tideswell checkpoint amidst the stink of a small sewage treatment plant with odour issues to be shortly overtaken by the 2nd lady. I kept up with her for the next 5 miles or so at around 9:05 - 9:20 pace, grinding out the miles, ignoring the growing pain and enjoying the scenery in the dales. Lovely, picturesque stuff.


Near Cressbrook

Ritchie C passed me again, he had gotten lost for the 2nd time so wasn't having his ideal race, but looked cheery nonetheless. No swearing. Maybe he was just being polite.

I had been sweating for hours now and the heat must have been above 20C by now. My t-shirt was covered in salty stains.

I think dehydration was now taking its toll. The climb up the first Deep Dale to the long road section took forever and I just couldn't get more than a plod out of my legs. My stomach felt heavy but I was hot and dripping with sweat. After what seemed like an eternity I reached runnable ground and made myself run up the last half mile to the checkpoint next to the 3 mile long road section from hell. The 3rd lady caught me and another fella up here. Both left before me.



Looking up Deep Dale number 1

The road section from hell at mile 33

I drank as much as I could and left stuffing jaffa cakes into my mouth, settling into a plod behind the runners in front. I could feel despondency and an I can't be arsed mood take hold as I looked ahead along the seemingly endless 3 mile road section from hell. Sheesht it was sunny, but at least there was a breeze. After about 1 mile I began to think making sub 7 hours will be tight I'd better get a shift on and so upped the pace from 10:00-10:30 to 9:10 - 9:30 per mile. I overtook the 2 runners plus another but it didn't feel pleasant. Nausea was beginning to make its presence felt.

I kept up the pace and staggered towards the 2nd Deep Dale, a hilariously hidden, 200' odd deep ravine in otherwise flattish limestone farmland. I staggered down one side and up the other but had to let the 2nd lady over take me. Nausea was rising and my head was feeling hot and a bit wobbly. Sweating, sweating.

The chasm of Deep Dale number 2

I topped out of Deep Dale 2 and managed to stagger into a trot across the field to the last checkpoint, sweating. Quickly downing some water I tried rather feebly to run on. After 20m I managed to get into some sort of rhythm and forced myself to keep up a pace. Making sub 7 hours was going to be tight. I forced on, nausea rising and head feeling hot, sweaty and wobbly. Come on Brian, push it, push it, I ran up the last grassy field and had to stop at the top for a second or two, holding on to a fence. Push it, I ran on. Well, tried to run on.

I kept up some sort of run as I entered Buxton but I knew sub 7 was out of my grasp. Well, keep your position then I told myself, glancing back to see another runner a few hundred metres behind. I pushed on, sweating and feeling really not very right at all, holding the other runner at bay until I could stop when I reached the line and fall onto the crash mats provided. My legs ached, my shirt was caked in salt, my legs in mud and my head a bright sunny red. My thoughts swam and it took me good 5 minutes before I could sit back up again. That was a tough race. Superbly organised, extremely hot and wonderfully varied. I'll be back in 2009, potentially with UTMB legs like Ritchie C. :-)

Exercise induced muscle damage and bugs

My last bit of follow up with Paul Murgatroyd at Lincoln Uni after my running performance tests was concerned with understanding why I am performing reasonably well this season but have a poor running economy. I asked ...

"do you think ultra performance might be related to resistance to muscle microtearing, which might be trainable? I am aware that I do not get sore muscles mid-race as much as I used to. I have to run longer and faster to reach the sore stage."

And he replied ...

"Definitely - the research is unequivocal here that exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD), usually microtrauma in the local muscle tissue following eccentric contractions, is reduced through the repeated bout effect (RBE). Obviously the trauma is worsened when covering difficult terrain, particularly involving a lot of ascent/descent, and the body's adaptability to withstand this is improved through training and racing (increasing the RBE, in effect)."

To which I then replied ...

"I wonder then whether this might be the case as a pair of hypotheses to explore:

1. elite or very good performers have both good running economy and good ability to withstand EIMD
2. there are 2 ways to be an above average performer - either good running economy or good ability to withstand EIMD

Looking at myself I don't do a lot of road running. Most is trail, and quite hilly. I suspect therefore I have reasonable resistance to EIMB (could this be tested in some way?) but don't run at high speeds much so have a poor economy.

I wonder what the ideal mix is between economy focussed and EIMD resistance focussed training? Something perhaps to explore. "

And he replied ...

"Interesting hypotheses indeed - for us, the next stage of testing in racing is firstly to look at where the subjects are working in relation the the lab variables taken. For instance do runners work at a certain percentage of VO2 max/HR max? Do they run below, at or above LT? Is this replicated amongst the group or do individuals differ? Does this change between races, eg. 40 to 60 to 100 milers? How much effect does the terrain have on this - hilly v flat? Lots to discuss and deliberate, undoubtedly!"

And just for good measure here is more of the genius of Ivor Cutler, with a superb rendition of 'I believe in bugs'. Marvellous. Just ignore the random badly shot stuff of some guy playing a guitar in a nightclub that starts about a minute and a half in, when Ivor has finished.

Pickle your knees in cheese

Ivor Cutler, now deceased, was a Scottish genius of folk and poetry. Here is one of his songs on YouTube. Marvellous.

Children are vectors of disease

Just returned from a very sunny, warm and pleasant Vienna, where I was attending the IWA World Water Congress. Far too large a conference for meaningful interaction but some of the sessions were good. I got to go out to my favourite restaurant, Meirerei Im Stadtpark, the cheese and milk bar. It is dedicated to serving products made from milk and if you are a cheese lover like me then it's a slightly smelly heaven. Well recommended.

If you really like cheese and want to find out what your name is in cheese then go to the online cheese comparator. I am Gruyere, St. Agur or King River Gold, depending on whether I enter Brian McIntosh, Brian Stuart McIntosh or BS McIntosh.

I drank far too much good Austrian lager at the conference but did manage to get out for a couple of runs, one 17 miler a week ago on the Saturday before I left, and two whilst I was there (one mid pace, one tempo) along with a gym session. For gym sessions, on the advice of Andy Dubois (WHWR family) I've stopped using weight machines (single leg press etc.) for quad and ham strength training and have started doing clock lunges with dumbells, and single leg squats (tricky balance wise!). Both exercises are great - hopefully they will help strengthen my weak right glute med as well improve my quads.

Andy DuBois demonstrating clock lunge technique without dumbells:



Good demo of single leg squat technique:



Currently I am sniffling with a fair sized quantity of bogies up my nose, having caught a cold from our daughter. She isn't walking yet so we still carry her around. She catches colds from other kids at playgroups and our childminder, Maria, then we hold her and she breathes and sneezes over us. C'est la vie but not so good prep wise for the High Peak 40 race which is coming up this weekend. I haven't trained that much since the Devil O the Highlands so I might struggle with my goal of coming in sub 7, but I'll see. Grit the teeth and bear it I suppose ...

Running economy and ultramarathon performance

After my testing on Monday I was wondering whether Paul Murgatroyd was looking at the wrong factor as a key determinant of ultra running performance so I sent him this email:

I have had a good ultra season so far, coming in top 10% in one race and consistently top 20%-25% in all others. My running economy is poor which might explain why I am not in the top 5 say but I wonder physiologically might there be some other determining factor behind decent muscle performance? Something anaerobic? These might be daft questions from a physiological layman but I wonder do you need to have a good running economy (in the terms you measured) to be decent at running ultras?

Specifically I was wondering whether ultra performance might be related to resistance to muscle microtearing, which might be trainable. Paul replied stating:

The determinants of running economy are yet to be fully understood and a good deal of research in this area is still ongoing. Certainly there will be an underlying genetic component (but how much is determined by this is difficult to say, with any great certainty) but one thing that is well reported is that running economy and other associated variables, such as LT and LTP, are more trainable than VO2 max.

I would anticipate that, as your quality and quantity of training increases - more miles and more speed work at the recommended paces - you will see a greater change in running economy and LT/LTP values thanVO2 max. Running economy and other factors, such as vVO2 max, have been shown to be important determinants of endurance performance and if we took two marathon athletes with similar VO2 max values, the deciding factor would be running economy - the ability to sustain race pace with lower energy demands/O2 consumption and thus offsetting fatigue. In terms of ultra-running, this is even more likely to be a performance indicator, due to the longer distances involved and the need for athletes to be as economical as possible and delay the onset of fatigue for as long as they can. [one of the UK's best ultrarunner's] VO2 max is not exceptional, but running economy value and speeds at LT /LTP and vVO2 max were amongst some of the best we've had so far. Interesting stuff!

The LT and LTP he refers to are the lactate threshold (point where a person moves from easy to steady running) and the lactate turn point (point where a person moves from steady to tempo running). My LT occurred at 11km/hr (8:44 mins/mile) and my LTP occurred at 13km/hr (7:23 mins/mile). Not too hot really!

His recommendations for me to improve as I mentioned in a previous post are to do more speed interval and tempo work. Specifically he has recommended 1-2 sessions per week of:

• Tempo - Warm-up, then 25-30 mins@164-172bpm (and/or ~13-14km/hr on the flat), then warm-down
• Intervals - 1M easy, then 3 x 1M or 6 mins@172-177bpm (at ~14km/hr), with 800m or 3-4 min recoveries, then 1M easy (increase to 4-5 reps over 4 months)
• 1M warm-up, then 6 x 600m or 2mins@175-180bpm (at ~15km/hr), with 400m or 2-min recoveries, then 1M cool-down (increase to 8-10 reps over 4 months)
• Warm up, then 2 sets of 4, 5, and 6 mins@172-177bpm (at ~14km/hr), with half-length recoveries and 6 mins between sets, then cool down
• Pyramids - Warm-up, then 1min up/down, 2 mins up/down, 3 mins/up down @175-180bpm (at ~15km/hr)- repeat 2x, then warm down

I had weekly sub 7 min/mile tempo runs as part of my training before the WHWR but didn't restart them due to the need to recover and just get some miles in my legs in preparation for the DOTH. I restarted my weekly tempo runs last week and did another one on Tuesday at ~ 14km/hr (6:51 mins/mile) to implement his recommendations. 1 mile warm up, 5 miles at tempo then 1.5 odd miles cool down. It really monsoon style pissed it down and I got soaked, my legs felt pretty heavy and sluggish, and my trainers filled up with water. Great. :-)

I then did a medium pace (7:58 mins/mile) and distance road run last night. It felt fine. Looking forward to a hilly 19 miler at the weekend before I scoot off to Vienna for a conference next week.

Body fat and beerage

I weighed in yesterday at the University of Lincoln running tests at 64.2kg - a little heavier than I was entering the WHWR, when I was around 63.5 kg. I think I have put on a bit of extra beerage since then. :-)

I was skin fold tested and came out at 15.7% with a BMI of 21.7 and a height of 172cm. The conclusions and recommendations were that I am about optimal for endurance running but could improve by losing 1-2% body fat, or around 0.6-1.3kg. If I get back down to 63.5kg I will be within the recommended range and will be happy. A few less mid week beers then. Boo.

Performance tests, The Forge and religion (again)

Well done to all Family members who competed in the UTMB, and special congratulations to our man from Essex - Mike Mason - for a terrific run!

I went to the University of Lincoln today for some running performance tests as part of the ultra running study being conducted by sports physiologist Paul Murgatroyd. He is trying to see if there is some ultra threshold, a % of VO2 max or some other relative physiological measure known to affect running / aerobic exercise capacity, which might be trainable and directly relate to performance.

Anyway he did 1 test to test my running economy - he was looking for changes in my blood lactate, heart rate and oxygen uptake over a series of increasingly faster 3 minute intervals. He then let me rest for a few minutes then did a VO2 max test where I ran at 13km/hour on an increasingly steep incline. I came out with an average VO2 max (3.81L/min), a max heart rate of 185 bpm and a poor running economy (220 ml/kg/km).

I was initially surprised at having such a poor running economy (which is a meaure of how my body responds to increasing intensity of exercise) but Paul has explained that it is likely because I am trained to a slow race pace just now so when the test was conducted it started at 12km/hr (8 min/miles) and rose to 15km/hr (6:24 min/miles) I struggled with the intensity. I can feel that after 5 ultras so far this year my legs are sluggish and don't have much speed in them. The remedy? More tempo and interval work. I do wonder given that I am running ultras quite well whether there is something more than an aerobic measure which will be influential to performance in ultra races - there has to be something about muscle function but I am no exercise physiologist so don't know.

A few people have asked about the photo at the top of my blog. It is of An Teallach (The Forge), just south of Dundonnel, which is just south of Ullapool. A truly magnificent mountain with some of the wildest, most remote and beautiful land in Scotland. Here is another photo, this time taken from one of the tops, back along the spectacularly sharp ridge. It was taken in 2005 and the chap is my mate John.



Onto religion again, I sit here blogging whilst semi-watching a programme on TV about religion. The programme this time is about how Wahabism (correct spelling?), a relatively hardline interpretation of Islam from Saudi Arabia, is being taught in some UK Mosques. The interpretation is reported as being based on segregration and the drilling home that Muslims owe only allegiance to Allah and no-one, or nothing else. There are some fairly serious and worrying undertones and implications from what is being shown - that UK Muslims are being encouraged not to integrate, and in fact to be slightly duplicitious in their relations with non-Muslim Brits - that is not to form friendships with them and not to speak of what they are being taught. Non-Muslims are given a depersonifying label by the various religious teachers - kaffirs which I thought was a white south african apartheid and derogatory term for black people. The implication is that the teaching is one of Muslim superiority. Not good. Now I realise (hope) that what the programme will not apply to most Muslims but nonetheless it is worrying. To see the hate literally on the faces of some of the people preaching really concerns me. Why such hate? What has happened to them to make them hate so much?

More generally and beyond Islam, I wonder how the institutions of religions prevent such a slide towards extreme views in their adherents? What strategies are employed to ensure that whilst teaching 'the truth' as apparent to adherents of that religion, that such teachings are not corrupted by some into saying that those who do not believe the truth or live their lives according to the truth are somehow bad, evil, lesser etc.? The teaching of absolute truths concerning morals, ethics and the structure of society in terms of inter-personal relationships and values seems to me to be dangerous thing which unavoidably contains a strong potential to slide towards extremism.

Mid week abstinence

I managed to ignore my open bottle of shiraz - viognier last night but have to admit I haved succumbed to the lure of a nice 10 year old bottle of The Macallan. Well I've not drunk the whole thing, just a glass, but there goes abstinence for the week. Hic hic hoorah!

Didn't manage to train tonight which is a real shame. I was going to go on a nice hilly trail run with my club but upon having my gas meter changed this morning I was informed I had a leak. Not a big one, but a leak nonetheless so my gas supply was cut off. It took until 6:30pm to get an engineer round but he did his job well and isolated the leak - our gas hob is dodgy. I'll have to see if I can get a replacement tomorrow but I think the company has changed its range even though I am within my 5 year warranty. To install the equivalent looking hob might require I get a fitter out to saw the worktop aperture a little larger. Groan ... this could get complicated and with a hungry 9 month old baby, not having a hob could get tricky for cooking food. It'll be out with the Trangia!

Tempo run

I am sitting here eating breakfast and listening to radio 4 before I start work for the day. Apparently Mumbai has a serious odour issue at their municipal solid waste site so the authorities have decided to bring in 42,000 litres of deodorant to deal with it. Imagine the smell of that volume of Lynx. Enough to melt all your mucous membranes I suspect!

Anyway, I went out for my tempo run last night round Furzton Lake in Milton Keynes and it went quite well. I set out to warm up for 1 mile, to run sub 7 pace for 4 then to cool down for 1. I've not really done much speed training since before the WHWR and now with both WHWR and DOTH in my legs I feel a little sluggish speed wise. I didn't feel like I had pushed myself as I neared the end of the 4th sub-7 mile so decided to do a 5th. I could probably have squeezed out a 6th but my motivation went.


Eastern end of Furzton Lake

Distance: 7.5 miles
Ascent / descent: +/- 85' (woooo hilly)
Time: 57:09
Splits: 8:12, 6:43, 6:47, 6:51, 6:54, 6:51, 9:59, 4:47 (half a mile)

I don't need lots of speed / tempo training just now as I gear up for the High Peak 40, so will probably do a speed (interval) session one week then a tempo run the next. I am thinking of this as an alternating week training plan:

Week 1 - 1 x long trail run, 1 x medium tempo run, 1 x medium trail run, 1 x hill training
Week 2 - 1 x long trail run, 1 x medium road run, 1 x medium trail run, 1 x speed intervals

I can only manage 4 sessions per week as I have my baby daughter Eilidh to look after. Much better than running! Well some of the time at least (depends on how many nappy changes you have to do). We are going to get my wife back into shape now with a spot of running and gym bike work so I'll have to swap around exercise nights.

New title photo

I generally think there is a beauty in a relatively minimalist approach to life, and to design, so I have resisted putting a picture in the title bar. However I also think that change is inevitable and indeed a (the?) fundamental characteristic of life. I have decided to go with change this time and to adorn my blog title with a lovely photo of ... ? A few of you ought to be able to guess.

Anyway, it's my favourite mountain in Scotland and a place I last visited in 2005 when my friend John took the photo on a hike. I have fancied running from the nearest road access, past the mountain all the way south to the next road for some time now but never got round to doing it. The nearby bothy would also be a great place to base oneself for a mountain running bonanza. Some time, some time ...

Lethargy and abstinence

I sit here trying to gather some motivation to go out and do a sub-7 min/mile tempo run but to be honest I am struggling. I'll do it, but I am feel feeling super lethargic. I wonder if I might be something to do with my newly found mid week abstinence regime?

I have been thinking about not drinking Monday to Thursday for some time now but have got into the habit of a wee post-work drink whilst cooking the dinner (just like Nigella Lawson me, but slightly less chesty and less hairy, or at least with a different hair distribution). This week, in preparation for my wife and daughter returning from Oz where they've been for the past 2 weeks I have decided to take action on the fact that drinking mid week makes me tired and sluggish. I am under strict instructions to be as well rested as possible for their return so I can take over as pcg (primary care giver) so have decided to cut out the booze in the interests of promoting a feeling of restedness.

Might my body be going through some minor form of cold turkey and consequently making me feel lethargic? Probably not, but I am not feeling sprightly.

I have an opened bottle of wine from Sunday night. A nice shiraz - viognier blend. I am not going to drink it. I am not.

Update on the bottle of wine when I next blog with my running stats (I will get out the door).