I didn't do any exercise at all the week immediately after the Marlborough Challenge race as I reckon rest is an ideal way of recovery and staying injury free. Got to think of my poor bum you know. Excuses excuses I know. :-)
So I am trying a slightly tight for time recovery and peak this week. Last Sunday I ran a 6 mile trail run to get the legs working again. Monday I rested to make sure everything was fine. Tuesday I did a gym session, Wednesday I did a tempo run with an aim of staying at sub 7 min miles just to get some speed back in the legs. Thursday I saw my sports therapist who worked on my hams and glutes. My right hip flexor was quite tender and my right calf was too, but my right glute med, although still tender, is definitely better. I am hoping I can get it to the state it was in pre-Fling, when I could hardly notice it. And today (Friday) I did an exercise bike, rowing machine and stomach workout at the gym. Tomorrow I will do my last long run (can't decide whether to do 20 miles or 23 miles, will see how I feel) and that'll be my recovery and peak week. Then it'll be taper time.
Most folk seem to be in good form although Debs has picked up a foot injury (best wishes) and Tom has interminably tight hams (also best wishes). I've been discussing timings with JK by email - boy does he have his distances and timings down to a fine art. I'll hopefully not be too far behind him in the race! Dave Waterman is peaking late and still valiantly fighting the pirate cause - aaaar'll be looking forward to finally meeting him face to face on the 21st. He'll also be able to meet my mum, Satyavajri, who reads his blogs regularly to her great enjoyment and hilarity.
The stats for the week ...
Sunday
Route: Stockgrove Park perimeter loop
Distance: 5.99 miles
Terrain: trail
Ascent / descent: +463' / -473'
Time: 48:06
Splits: 8:02 (avg), 8:19, 8:05, 7:44, 7:53, 7:59, 8:03
Tuesday
Gym session
Bench press, single leg press, pull-ups, shoulder press, leg curl, calf raise, dips, seated rows, triceps push downs, hammer curls, stomach workout
Wednesday
Route: Furzton Lake tempo run
Distance: 5.99 miles
Terrain: footpath
Time: 43:13
Splits: 7:50 (warm up), 6:27, 6:54, 6:56, 6:59, 8:05 (cool down)
Friday
20 minutes hill course on exercise bike
2000m rowing machine
Stomach workout
Friday, 30 May 2008
How to exercise your bum
The exercises I was given recently by a biomechanical specialist to train my glutes to fire properly (and avoid my hams taking too much load), and to strengthen them are below for anyone who is interested. If you get very tight hams the cause may well be your glutes not firing properly, or being too weak.
Exercise 1 - training your glute to fire before your ham
Dead easy. Lie on your front, face down into the carpet. Lift one leg up to an angle of ~ 20 degrees. Feel your bum as you do this. Make sure it tenses before your leg raises. If it doesn't, do it consciously - tense bum then raise. Basically hold your leg for 20 secs then drop and repeat. This is about nerve training so repetition is needed.
Exercise 2 - bridging and pelvic stability
Lie on back, knees bent, pointing upwards. Tense stomach and raise hips towards ceiling so your upper body ends up at an angle of 45 degrees. Extend one leg out along this 45 degree angle and hold for 20 secs. Your knees should be in line and your pelvis shouldn't move - control it with bum and stomach muscles if it does.
Exercise 3 - glute med strengthening 1
Lie on side with both legs bent semi-foetal style. Your knees should be together and pointing down i.e. don't curl your knees up too much. Put your hand on your hip to make sure it stays pointing forward, rather than moving backwards with the exercise. Keep your heels together and lift your topmost knee up and back towards your bum. Try a few different angles to get it right. You should feel the burn in a 45 degree angle from the hip insert of the ITB to the bottom of where your bum cheeks meet. Do 10-15 reps. Don't hold in extension.
Exercise 4 - glute med strengthening 2
Lie on side, legs straight and together. Life your uppermost leg to an angle of 20-30 degrees. Make sure you don’t bend at the side of your midriff. Keep this solid so the load is taken by your bum and ITB. Do 10-15 reps.
Exercise 5 - glute strengthening 3
Lie on your side. Keep your lowermost leg straight and bend your uppermost leg so that your knee is semi-foetal and your foot is behind the calf of your lowermost leg. Keep the heel steady, your hips pointing forward and bring your knee up and back towards your bum. This is a variant of exercise 3 and should feel similar in burn. Do 10-15 reps (or however many you need to - this applies to the other exercises).
A key trick in all the exercises is making sure that you don't let your glutes have an easy time of it. Focus on tensing and working the glutes, tense but don't take load in your stomach, and don't reduce load by letting your hips roll back (for exercises 3 and 5). In doing so the strengthening will be more effective and you'll also train your glutes to fire properly.
Beer in the next post. Honest.
Exercise 1 - training your glute to fire before your ham
Dead easy. Lie on your front, face down into the carpet. Lift one leg up to an angle of ~ 20 degrees. Feel your bum as you do this. Make sure it tenses before your leg raises. If it doesn't, do it consciously - tense bum then raise. Basically hold your leg for 20 secs then drop and repeat. This is about nerve training so repetition is needed.
Exercise 2 - bridging and pelvic stability
Lie on back, knees bent, pointing upwards. Tense stomach and raise hips towards ceiling so your upper body ends up at an angle of 45 degrees. Extend one leg out along this 45 degree angle and hold for 20 secs. Your knees should be in line and your pelvis shouldn't move - control it with bum and stomach muscles if it does.
Exercise 3 - glute med strengthening 1
Lie on side with both legs bent semi-foetal style. Your knees should be together and pointing down i.e. don't curl your knees up too much. Put your hand on your hip to make sure it stays pointing forward, rather than moving backwards with the exercise. Keep your heels together and lift your topmost knee up and back towards your bum. Try a few different angles to get it right. You should feel the burn in a 45 degree angle from the hip insert of the ITB to the bottom of where your bum cheeks meet. Do 10-15 reps. Don't hold in extension.
Exercise 4 - glute med strengthening 2
Lie on side, legs straight and together. Life your uppermost leg to an angle of 20-30 degrees. Make sure you don’t bend at the side of your midriff. Keep this solid so the load is taken by your bum and ITB. Do 10-15 reps.
Exercise 5 - glute strengthening 3
Lie on your side. Keep your lowermost leg straight and bend your uppermost leg so that your knee is semi-foetal and your foot is behind the calf of your lowermost leg. Keep the heel steady, your hips pointing forward and bring your knee up and back towards your bum. This is a variant of exercise 3 and should feel similar in burn. Do 10-15 reps (or however many you need to - this applies to the other exercises).
A key trick in all the exercises is making sure that you don't let your glutes have an easy time of it. Focus on tensing and working the glutes, tense but don't take load in your stomach, and don't reduce load by letting your hips roll back (for exercises 3 and 5). In doing so the strengthening will be more effective and you'll also train your glutes to fire properly.
Beer in the next post. Honest.
Poor taste jokes about supplements
If you take performance enhancing pharmaceuticals and brand yourself as an ultrarunner, all I have to say is p**s off. It takes a lot of my time and energy to be OK at ultrarunning, time I don't spend with my family, and I have no respect at all for anyone who looks to take a short cut. The whole idea is to push yourself, so why take substances that mean you never end up exploring your own limits!?
Now I understand that there ought to be humour associated with most (all?) things in life but I didn't really get the joke posted recently to a well known UK ultra race forum about wanting to 'be clean' for the race. It was all predicated on the poster assuming that the reader would (a) know who Victor Conte is and (b) link the name Victor to Victor Conte. Rather opaque, a poor attempt at sophistication in humour and not very funny subject matter in the first place. Some people saw through it, others like me, wondered but didn't.
The race director was quite right in expressing extreme annoyance that someone was making a joke about the race and drugs. The joke risks sullying the race and the people who spend an awful lot of their time training very hard, and I, like others, did not appreciate it. Doubly so because the poster was too chicken to post their email or proper name. And they still have not owned up publicly.
Well that was my first ever rant-like post. Almost Waterman-esque. Back to training and beer in the next one.
Now I understand that there ought to be humour associated with most (all?) things in life but I didn't really get the joke posted recently to a well known UK ultra race forum about wanting to 'be clean' for the race. It was all predicated on the poster assuming that the reader would (a) know who Victor Conte is and (b) link the name Victor to Victor Conte. Rather opaque, a poor attempt at sophistication in humour and not very funny subject matter in the first place. Some people saw through it, others like me, wondered but didn't.
The race director was quite right in expressing extreme annoyance that someone was making a joke about the race and drugs. The joke risks sullying the race and the people who spend an awful lot of their time training very hard, and I, like others, did not appreciate it. Doubly so because the poster was too chicken to post their email or proper name. And they still have not owned up publicly.
Well that was my first ever rant-like post. Almost Waterman-esque. Back to training and beer in the next one.
Monday, 26 May 2008
What's wrong with my bum?
On an initial glance your answer to this question might be 'why there's nothing wrong with your bum Brian, it looks perfectly fine'. Well yes I suppose, on the exterior it might look fine, but inside this slightly hairy pair of muscle groups all is not well.
I bailed out the WHWR in 07 unable to bend my right leg at all at Kinlochleven - very very frustrating. My sports therapist diagnosed a weakness with my hip rotator / glute which was causing my hams to overload and basically give out, as well as be more injury prone generally. He has helped it lots over the past six months particularly but wasn't able to be precise about any biomechanical cause underlying the weakness so off I went on Saturday to see a biomechanical specialist in CMK Therapy. £35 for a 40 minute sports assessment session - great value and I'd highly recommend them - http://www.cmktherapy.co.uk/.
He first of all got me to take my shoes off and stand on one leg, then the other, with my legs bent. He was looking to see whether I had good pelvis control and it was pretty clear that standing on my right leg my pelvis control was a bit shaky to say the least. This was a strong indication that the source of the problem is my glute med muscle.
The glute med muscle
The glute med is used for lateral pelvic stability, for abduction and medial rotation. After some more testing and some exercises the biomechanical specialist, Gary Conway, was sure the problem is my glute med - basically it isn't firing properly when I extend or medially rotate my right leg. He can't say why this is so, it might be a bad habit I have got into over time without any particular trauma or might be a habit I've adopted as a consequence of some injury.
Anyway, he was extremely practical and sent me off with 5 different strengthening exercises to do after seeing me run on a treadmill just to make sure his diagnosis was right. What a great value, helpful assessment session.
I've started doing the exercises and my right cheek is on fire - serious lactic acid! Aaagh, but it's all for the best. :-)
Friday, 23 May 2008
10th position yeehah
I came in 10th position at the Marlborough Downs Challenge! Yeehah! I've never come in the top ten before so am super pleased.
There were 97 starters so I (almost) place in the top 10%. Great news and something that should help me in my aim to rate in the top 50% of ultra runners in the Vasque ultra champs.
Now comes the tricky bit though - staying injury free before the biggy in June! Fingers crossed ...
There were 97 starters so I (almost) place in the top 10%. Great news and something that should help me in my aim to rate in the top 50% of ultra runners in the Vasque ultra champs.
Now comes the tricky bit though - staying injury free before the biggy in June! Fingers crossed ...
Thursday, 22 May 2008
Marlborough Downs Challenge race report
Distance: 33 miles (advertised), 32.34 (measured)
Time: 04:55:28
Terrain: trail
Ascent / descent: +2153’ / -2106’
Pace: 9:08 (avg.), 7:55 (fastest), 12:19 (slowest)
Position: tbc (results not out yet)
Marlborough is a lovely historic market town which spreads down the south side and into the bottom of a south downs valley. It is the home of Marlborough School, a rather more well-to-do affair than Greenfaulds High School in Cumbernauld where a large number of protestant (or non-denominational) essentially Glaswegian kids have been educated, yours truly included. They play cricket and wear suits at Marlborough. Not so at Greenfaulds. In fact so much so I had no idea that anyone played cricket at all in Scotland but apparently they do, just not in Cumbernauld. I was quite disturbed when I learned that some Scots play cricket and it still doesn’t sit well with me. Cricket!?
Time: 04:55:28
Terrain: trail
Ascent / descent: +2153’ / -2106’
Pace: 9:08 (avg.), 7:55 (fastest), 12:19 (slowest)
Position: tbc (results not out yet)
Marlborough is a lovely historic market town which spreads down the south side and into the bottom of a south downs valley. It is the home of Marlborough School, a rather more well-to-do affair than Greenfaulds High School in Cumbernauld where a large number of protestant (or non-denominational) essentially Glaswegian kids have been educated, yours truly included. They play cricket and wear suits at Marlborough. Not so at Greenfaulds. In fact so much so I had no idea that anyone played cricket at all in Scotland but apparently they do, just not in Cumbernauld. I was quite disturbed when I learned that some Scots play cricket and it still doesn’t sit well with me. Cricket!?
Marlborough College (from http://www.geograph.org.uk/)
Marlborough is also the home of the Marlborough running club who organise the Marlborough Downs Challenge, a race with a 20 mile and a 33 mile route. The 33 mile ultra route is a cracker – fairly fast for an ultra with a mixture of grassy field, forest trail, chalky downland trail and canal towpath. Very historic too as it takes in the Saxon Wansdyke and the ancient Avebury stone circles. I ran it last year, got a little lost and ended up adding on a mile, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Like last year it is part of the ultra-champs series so attracts a fairly competitive field, including some members of the Vasque ultra team and some other gnarled, very prominently calf muscled chaps.
I got up at 5:45am, sneaking down the stairs so as not to wake our daughter and was out the door and on the way by just before 6:30am. The roads are clear at that time so the drive past Oxford to Swindon then south was easy going and took about 1.5 hours.
The 33 milers head off at 9am, followed by the 20 milers at 10am giving us the 33 milers a head start and an opportunity to catch some of the 20 miler field on the final 6 miles before the finish. Dave Waterman had trashed his legs on a 6 mile run a few days before the race and was being perhaps uncharacteristically sensible and texted me to say he wasn’t turning up, leaving me to go aar. I decided nobody else would understand why I was going aaar so said it once or twice quietly before shutting up.
I did however meet one WHWR’er, Shirley Colquhoun at the start before all of a sudden the starting horn parped and we were off through the ground of Marlborough School to the first climb of the day. A hundred feet or so straight up a steep grassy slope after a few hundred metres of running (look at me interspacing imperial and metric). I was in the front 6 runners as we puffed our way up the steep slope but dropped back a few places as we ran the first mile or so along the top of the down through some fields towards the first checkpoint at the edge of a forested section.
To get to this checkpoint we needed to cross diagonally across and down a sloping field. I began running down and heard a thundering galloping noise. Lifting my head from looking at where my feet were going I watched a largish heard of around 60-100 young bulls stampeding away from the very front runners. I didn’t think much of it but they began ever so slightly to turn back in on themselves towards the fence with the front runners. Oh aye I thought, what are they doing? They continued turning and slowing until they almost stopped then began speeding up again, curving ever more in my direction. Oh dear, that’s a heck of a lot of beef tonnage with a lot of momentum heading increasingly towards me I thought. Some of the other runners were at the fence and trying to get as quickly as possible to the stile over. I changed direction and made for the fence thinking that a bit of vaulting action might be required as the high velocity beef stampede bore down upon me. They curved even further back in on themselves and thankfully away from direct intercept course with me then stopped. A lone bull stood apart from the herd and lunged at a runner ahead of me. Hmm I thought, not so good and headed for the fence again. The runner evaded and got to the stile, The lunging bull seemed happier and rejoined the mass which milled about a bit as I ran along the fence to the stile and was over, to the checkpoint then into the forest.
Marlborough is also the home of the Marlborough running club who organise the Marlborough Downs Challenge, a race with a 20 mile and a 33 mile route. The 33 mile ultra route is a cracker – fairly fast for an ultra with a mixture of grassy field, forest trail, chalky downland trail and canal towpath. Very historic too as it takes in the Saxon Wansdyke and the ancient Avebury stone circles. I ran it last year, got a little lost and ended up adding on a mile, but thoroughly enjoyed it. Like last year it is part of the ultra-champs series so attracts a fairly competitive field, including some members of the Vasque ultra team and some other gnarled, very prominently calf muscled chaps.
I got up at 5:45am, sneaking down the stairs so as not to wake our daughter and was out the door and on the way by just before 6:30am. The roads are clear at that time so the drive past Oxford to Swindon then south was easy going and took about 1.5 hours.
The 33 milers head off at 9am, followed by the 20 milers at 10am giving us the 33 milers a head start and an opportunity to catch some of the 20 miler field on the final 6 miles before the finish. Dave Waterman had trashed his legs on a 6 mile run a few days before the race and was being perhaps uncharacteristically sensible and texted me to say he wasn’t turning up, leaving me to go aar. I decided nobody else would understand why I was going aaar so said it once or twice quietly before shutting up.
I did however meet one WHWR’er, Shirley Colquhoun at the start before all of a sudden the starting horn parped and we were off through the ground of Marlborough School to the first climb of the day. A hundred feet or so straight up a steep grassy slope after a few hundred metres of running (look at me interspacing imperial and metric). I was in the front 6 runners as we puffed our way up the steep slope but dropped back a few places as we ran the first mile or so along the top of the down through some fields towards the first checkpoint at the edge of a forested section.
To get to this checkpoint we needed to cross diagonally across and down a sloping field. I began running down and heard a thundering galloping noise. Lifting my head from looking at where my feet were going I watched a largish heard of around 60-100 young bulls stampeding away from the very front runners. I didn’t think much of it but they began ever so slightly to turn back in on themselves towards the fence with the front runners. Oh aye I thought, what are they doing? They continued turning and slowing until they almost stopped then began speeding up again, curving ever more in my direction. Oh dear, that’s a heck of a lot of beef tonnage with a lot of momentum heading increasingly towards me I thought. Some of the other runners were at the fence and trying to get as quickly as possible to the stile over. I changed direction and made for the fence thinking that a bit of vaulting action might be required as the high velocity beef stampede bore down upon me. They curved even further back in on themselves and thankfully away from direct intercept course with me then stopped. A lone bull stood apart from the herd and lunged at a runner ahead of me. Hmm I thought, not so good and headed for the fence again. The runner evaded and got to the stile, The lunging bull seemed happier and rejoined the mass which milled about a bit as I ran along the fence to the stile and was over, to the checkpoint then into the forest.
Cow trying to look innocent
The forest trail was much more pleasant than last year when, as a result of heavy rain there was a lot of heavy clay mud. Not so this year, only a little mud but nothing to get bogged down in.
I met a chap with a peaked cap and a rucksack in the woods and started chatting. He was going steadily at 8 min/miles or so, and I wanted to try keeping this pace up for as long as possible so kept with him. We exchanged some race stories, me about the Fling and him about the Manx Mountain Marathon, an ultra I’d love to do – 31 odd miles almost the length of the Isle of Man with 8000’ or so of ascent. The social aspect of ultra running is great, I can’t think of any other sport where the competitors have such camaraderie.
West Woods nr. Marlborough (http://www.geograph.org.uk/)
After a mile or so of woodland we broke out onto the downs and started the long, very scenic stretch of the race along the Saxon Wansdyke to Devizes. The path follows the edge of the Downs escarpment so you get a great view north and south over rolling green, very pleasant land. We ran on together and were joined by a first time ultra runner, Matt, who was starting to train for his MdS place in 2010!
View from the Downs (http://www.geograph.org.uk/)
The run was pretty uneventful but enjoyable to Devizes although I could feel my legs were beginning to feel like they’d run 20 odd miles by mile 14. I wondered how the legs would cope, given that this race was only 3 weeks after the 53 mile Fling. It looked like they’d feel as if they’d run much further. Compared to last year, when this my 3rd ever ultra though my legs felt strong. This race was ultra number 9 for me, the WHWR in June will be ultra number 10.
I continued to run and talk with Matt whilst the peaked cap chap slowly peeled away – I didn’t think I could sustain his pace, which was about 7:50/mile so didn’t bother. The rutted tracks back towards Avebury went past quite quickly compared to last year when I really felt it and had to keep stopping and walking for bits and before I knew it I had reached the stone circle and the last 5-6 odd miles.
I continued to run and talk with Matt whilst the peaked cap chap slowly peeled away – I didn’t think I could sustain his pace, which was about 7:50/mile so didn’t bother. The rutted tracks back towards Avebury went past quite quickly compared to last year when I really felt it and had to keep stopping and walking for bits and before I knew it I had reached the stone circle and the last 5-6 odd miles.
Avebury Stone Circle (www.geograph.org.uk)
Matt and I were still together when the peaked cap chap approached behind – he’d screwed up the navigation and must have run an extra mile or so to get back on track. I did this last year so felt for him, he would have run a cracking race if it were not for this. He slowly peeled away again, running very consistently and I decided to try not to let him out of sight. This meant I slowly peeled away from Matt on the climb out of Avebury and he didn’t catch up. I got to the last checkpoint about 30 seconds behind the peaked cap chap who started off just as I arrived. I quickly stuffed a jaffa cake and some jelly babies in, took a cup of water and asked how long to go. 3 miles came the reply. What!? Great, I thought it was 4 miles or more left. I looked at the watch and saw I had almost 30 mins left on the clock – a sub-5 time was on.
I quickly ran off, only a few hundred metres behind peaked cap chap and tried to up the pace. My legs weren’t having it. I could only get to 8:30 / mile or a bit under. No chance at 7 min / miles. Bummer, but sub-5 was still on.
Peaked cap chap ever so slowly started peeling away so I upped the pace a bit but struggled and he started peeling away a little more. I kept him in sight though and was feeling on a real high, knowing sub-5 was almost definitely in reach. I had already passed a few 20 mile route runners and passed another who had had it. He was walking so I started encouraging him as a I ran past, saying it was less than a mile to go and he could do it no bother, and he started up again. Great!
Peaked cap chap was still in sight as I turned the penultimate corner into the dipped field. He was climbing out of the dip as I ran quickly down into it, and was out of sight by the time I crested back out. I upped the pace a little more reaching 7:30/mile by the penultimate bend, then the final straight to the finish line. Upping further I almost got to 7 min/mile pace before crossing the line. Peaked cap chap was there, trembling a bit. He’d run a great race, so consistent in pace and still beaten me even with a few extra miles. I came in a minute behind him, at 4:55 by my reckoning, although the official results aren’t out yet.
I didn’t hang around too long as I have, yes Debbie you guessed it, a baby daughter to take care of. ;-)
Matt and I were still together when the peaked cap chap approached behind – he’d screwed up the navigation and must have run an extra mile or so to get back on track. I did this last year so felt for him, he would have run a cracking race if it were not for this. He slowly peeled away again, running very consistently and I decided to try not to let him out of sight. This meant I slowly peeled away from Matt on the climb out of Avebury and he didn’t catch up. I got to the last checkpoint about 30 seconds behind the peaked cap chap who started off just as I arrived. I quickly stuffed a jaffa cake and some jelly babies in, took a cup of water and asked how long to go. 3 miles came the reply. What!? Great, I thought it was 4 miles or more left. I looked at the watch and saw I had almost 30 mins left on the clock – a sub-5 time was on.
I quickly ran off, only a few hundred metres behind peaked cap chap and tried to up the pace. My legs weren’t having it. I could only get to 8:30 / mile or a bit under. No chance at 7 min / miles. Bummer, but sub-5 was still on.
Peaked cap chap ever so slowly started peeling away so I upped the pace a bit but struggled and he started peeling away a little more. I kept him in sight though and was feeling on a real high, knowing sub-5 was almost definitely in reach. I had already passed a few 20 mile route runners and passed another who had had it. He was walking so I started encouraging him as a I ran past, saying it was less than a mile to go and he could do it no bother, and he started up again. Great!
Peaked cap chap was still in sight as I turned the penultimate corner into the dipped field. He was climbing out of the dip as I ran quickly down into it, and was out of sight by the time I crested back out. I upped the pace a little more reaching 7:30/mile by the penultimate bend, then the final straight to the finish line. Upping further I almost got to 7 min/mile pace before crossing the line. Peaked cap chap was there, trembling a bit. He’d run a great race, so consistent in pace and still beaten me even with a few extra miles. I came in a minute behind him, at 4:55 by my reckoning, although the official results aren’t out yet.
I didn’t hang around too long as I have, yes Debbie you guessed it, a baby daughter to take care of. ;-)
My bottles of Fuller’s finest London Pride went down very well that night. Mmmm.
Monday, 19 May 2008
Marlborough Downs Challenge quick race report
I've just read Ian Beattie blogging about how he gets hacked off at a lack of up to date postings on blogs he reads so have been scared into action here! ;-)
I left the house at 6:20am to drive down south of Swindon on Saturday, to the lovely South Downs for the Marlborough Downs 33 mile Challenge. The race forms part of the Vaude Ultra Championships which I am aiming to rate in the top 50% this year (actually I'd like top 25% but have no idea if this is even remotely feasible). The weather was good upon arrival, and stayed good for the whole of the race.
I'll blog fully tomorrow when I have some time and can talk about how I met Shirley Colquhoun, and how the front runners at the start (incl. me) were chased by a herd of stampeding young bulls. Not sure if this sped us up or slowed us down, but certainly it added to the excitement early on.
How did I do?
The results aren't out yet but I reckon I came in with a sub-5 hour time - 04:55! I am really pleased with this. The course is quite fast with only (ha ha he says) 2100' of up and down over the 33 miles, but I am very pleased. This time may have been enough to get me in the top 20, but I'll have to wait and see. I tanked my 05:21 time from last year at any rate.
That was my last ultra race before the biggy in June and will be last >23 mile run too. A few more longish runs then it will be taper time. My how time flies.
I left the house at 6:20am to drive down south of Swindon on Saturday, to the lovely South Downs for the Marlborough Downs 33 mile Challenge. The race forms part of the Vaude Ultra Championships which I am aiming to rate in the top 50% this year (actually I'd like top 25% but have no idea if this is even remotely feasible). The weather was good upon arrival, and stayed good for the whole of the race.
I'll blog fully tomorrow when I have some time and can talk about how I met Shirley Colquhoun, and how the front runners at the start (incl. me) were chased by a herd of stampeding young bulls. Not sure if this sped us up or slowed us down, but certainly it added to the excitement early on.
How did I do?
The results aren't out yet but I reckon I came in with a sub-5 hour time - 04:55! I am really pleased with this. The course is quite fast with only (ha ha he says) 2100' of up and down over the 33 miles, but I am very pleased. This time may have been enough to get me in the top 20, but I'll have to wait and see. I tanked my 05:21 time from last year at any rate.
That was my last ultra race before the biggy in June and will be last >23 mile run too. A few more longish runs then it will be taper time. My how time flies.
Wednesday, 14 May 2008
Weight loss and rampant vegetation
We returned from Scotland to find our front and back gardens transformed into mini-jungles. The roots of one of the small trees, which pokes out at a funny horiztonal angle, were even exposed, the foliage having grown so much it was very very top heavy. The ivy had gone bananas (well not producing yellow bent fruit) and the shrubs were busy ferociously trying to outcompete one another for light and space.
This, combined with my wife having a bit of a funny turn, meant that my planned last 16 mile run before the Marlborough Downs 33 mile race this coming weekend had to be cut down. Sometimes life conspires against training plans, but I've learnt it best not to get stressed. Better to accomodate. So I looked after Eilidh whilst my wife got it together, then hacked back the rampant vegetation then went out for an 8 mile run in the searing heat.
I figured that the run would take me just over an hour, too short for WHWR weight loss measurement according to the race instructions. However I figured I'd see what happened and thought it might be interesting given the very hot (>24C) late afternoon conditions. I drank 300ml of water then weighed myself - 64kg.
The run went well (stats below), with my aim being to keep a moderate pace of always sub-8 mins / mile. When I returned I reweighed myself and found I'd lost 1.6kg! I now weighed 62.4kg. This is 2.5% of body weight so within the 'safe' WHWR range of +/- 4% of body weight. I plan to weigh myself this weekend at the Marlborough Race to see what happens over an ultra distance. I'll do a mass balance and try to estimate intakes as well as the output (sweat mostly, unless I pee).
I also did a 6 mile moderate pace run last night, again in balmy weather (>20C) felt fine but my hams have been tight ever since the Fling. And my right glute has been a bit tender. These are the early symptoms of the source of the injury which put me out of the 07 WHWR, so I saw my physio today. I'll see him every week to make sure I go into the 08 WHWR in as fit a condition as I went into the Fling. Injury and quitting are not an option this year.
Sunday run
Route: Great Brickhill and canal loop
Distance: 8.07 miles
Time: 01:03:06
Splits: 7:41, 7:48, 8:09 (uphill), 7:41, 7:51, 7:47, 7:52, 7:31, 0:30
Tuesday run
Route: Three Locks canal out and back route
Distance: 6.24 miles
Time: 0:48:32
Splits: 7:37, 7:49, 7:52, 7:57, 7:52, 7:39, 1:43
I won't run again until the race on Saturday. Am looking forward to it, there are a few WHWR'ers also running it, including the famous piratical and subversive Mr. Waterman. Aaar, oi'll be seeing you there then me hearty. Aaar.
This, combined with my wife having a bit of a funny turn, meant that my planned last 16 mile run before the Marlborough Downs 33 mile race this coming weekend had to be cut down. Sometimes life conspires against training plans, but I've learnt it best not to get stressed. Better to accomodate. So I looked after Eilidh whilst my wife got it together, then hacked back the rampant vegetation then went out for an 8 mile run in the searing heat.
I figured that the run would take me just over an hour, too short for WHWR weight loss measurement according to the race instructions. However I figured I'd see what happened and thought it might be interesting given the very hot (>24C) late afternoon conditions. I drank 300ml of water then weighed myself - 64kg.
The run went well (stats below), with my aim being to keep a moderate pace of always sub-8 mins / mile. When I returned I reweighed myself and found I'd lost 1.6kg! I now weighed 62.4kg. This is 2.5% of body weight so within the 'safe' WHWR range of +/- 4% of body weight. I plan to weigh myself this weekend at the Marlborough Race to see what happens over an ultra distance. I'll do a mass balance and try to estimate intakes as well as the output (sweat mostly, unless I pee).
I also did a 6 mile moderate pace run last night, again in balmy weather (>20C) felt fine but my hams have been tight ever since the Fling. And my right glute has been a bit tender. These are the early symptoms of the source of the injury which put me out of the 07 WHWR, so I saw my physio today. I'll see him every week to make sure I go into the 08 WHWR in as fit a condition as I went into the Fling. Injury and quitting are not an option this year.
Sunday run
Route: Great Brickhill and canal loop
Distance: 8.07 miles
Time: 01:03:06
Splits: 7:41, 7:48, 8:09 (uphill), 7:41, 7:51, 7:47, 7:52, 7:31, 0:30
Tuesday run
Route: Three Locks canal out and back route
Distance: 6.24 miles
Time: 0:48:32
Splits: 7:37, 7:49, 7:52, 7:57, 7:52, 7:39, 1:43
I won't run again until the race on Saturday. Am looking forward to it, there are a few WHWR'ers also running it, including the famous piratical and subversive Mr. Waterman. Aaar, oi'll be seeing you there then me hearty. Aaar.
Saturday, 10 May 2008
Hairy ears
This post has little to with running although if the problem I am about to confess continues, then I may suffer a decrease in aerodynamic efficiency and consequently find running much, much tougher, particularly in high winds.
Now I am a grand old 34 years of age. Pretty much a brand new father. I harp on about this a lot but I am pretty chuffed about it so please forgive the repetition. I may be balding, but overall am a generally fairly youthful kind of chap - sort of tanned, sort of honed etc etc (although not quite feeling twenty years younger than my actual age like a certain Mr Murdo McEwan from the WHWR ...(http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/spectrum/Men-4564.4046323.jp). So why, why, why am I being afflicted in the prime of my manhood with increasingly hairier ears?
Sometime over the past 6 months a few longish fair hairs started sprouting vigorously from just inside the little fleshy protuberance that sticks out at the front of your earhole. I plucked the little bastards out. But they keep coming, like a biblical plague. Well actually, that's a lie otherwise I'd look like a yeti. A few seem to sprout every few days, but they are increasing in density and frequency of growth. I had to pluck a further 4 out of my right ear alone before the journey back from Scotland to Milton Keynes today.
I am aware that hairy ears afflict other men, but as early as 34? I dread to think what I might be like by the time I reach 50 ... perhaps I may be supplying the wig industry. Any comments from hairy eared, or baldy eared readers would be most welcomed. Please put my mind at rest about the future.
Oh, yes, to give this a vaguely running subject here are the stats for the 3 recovery runs I've done since the Fling two weeks ago ...
Easy trail run along Loch Venacher
Distance: 8.36 miles
Terrain: forest trail and a little road
Ascent / descent: +618' / -623'
Time: 01:12:56
Splits: 8:44 (avg.), 8:37, 8:48, 9:35, 8:44, 8:30, 8:35, 8:31, 8:27, 3:05 (0.36 miles)
I found this run fine but sweated a lot due to having just come over the bad side of a cold.
Easy hill run up Meikle Bin
Distance: 6.35 miles
Terrain: forest trail and grassy hill
Ascent / descent: +1217' / -1219'
Time: 00:59:46
Splits: 9:25 (avg.), 8:18, 9:30, 12:30, 10:38, 8:01, 8:04, 2:52 (0.35 miles)
Really enjoyed this run on a balmy evening in the Campsie Fells, good quad exercise with great views at the top.
Faster run around Palacerigg Country Park
Distance: 5.71 miles
Terrain: forest and moorland trails
Ascent / descent: + 170' / - 133'
Time: 00:41:55
Splits: 7:21 (avg.), 7:51, 7:13, 7:08, 7:15, 7:34, 4:53 (0.71 miles)
Found running at a faster rate quite tough after the Fling - a fair amount of huffing and puffing was involved but the legs and lungs feel much the better for it.
I plan to go out for a longish run tomorrow (15 miles), then do an offroad hill session on Tuesday and an easy 9 miler on Wednesday before laying off till the 33 mile Marlborough Downs Challenge race on Saturday 17th. It will be my last ultra before the biggy in June and I am really looking forward to it. My aim is to beat my time from last year of 05:21:11.
Now I am a grand old 34 years of age. Pretty much a brand new father. I harp on about this a lot but I am pretty chuffed about it so please forgive the repetition. I may be balding, but overall am a generally fairly youthful kind of chap - sort of tanned, sort of honed etc etc (although not quite feeling twenty years younger than my actual age like a certain Mr Murdo McEwan from the WHWR ...(http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/spectrum/Men-4564.4046323.jp). So why, why, why am I being afflicted in the prime of my manhood with increasingly hairier ears?
Sometime over the past 6 months a few longish fair hairs started sprouting vigorously from just inside the little fleshy protuberance that sticks out at the front of your earhole. I plucked the little bastards out. But they keep coming, like a biblical plague. Well actually, that's a lie otherwise I'd look like a yeti. A few seem to sprout every few days, but they are increasing in density and frequency of growth. I had to pluck a further 4 out of my right ear alone before the journey back from Scotland to Milton Keynes today.
I am aware that hairy ears afflict other men, but as early as 34? I dread to think what I might be like by the time I reach 50 ... perhaps I may be supplying the wig industry. Any comments from hairy eared, or baldy eared readers would be most welcomed. Please put my mind at rest about the future.
Oh, yes, to give this a vaguely running subject here are the stats for the 3 recovery runs I've done since the Fling two weeks ago ...
Easy trail run along Loch Venacher
Distance: 8.36 miles
Terrain: forest trail and a little road
Ascent / descent: +618' / -623'
Time: 01:12:56
Splits: 8:44 (avg.), 8:37, 8:48, 9:35, 8:44, 8:30, 8:35, 8:31, 8:27, 3:05 (0.36 miles)
I found this run fine but sweated a lot due to having just come over the bad side of a cold.
Easy hill run up Meikle Bin
Distance: 6.35 miles
Terrain: forest trail and grassy hill
Ascent / descent: +1217' / -1219'
Time: 00:59:46
Splits: 9:25 (avg.), 8:18, 9:30, 12:30, 10:38, 8:01, 8:04, 2:52 (0.35 miles)
Really enjoyed this run on a balmy evening in the Campsie Fells, good quad exercise with great views at the top.
Faster run around Palacerigg Country Park
Distance: 5.71 miles
Terrain: forest and moorland trails
Ascent / descent: + 170' / - 133'
Time: 00:41:55
Splits: 7:21 (avg.), 7:51, 7:13, 7:08, 7:15, 7:34, 4:53 (0.71 miles)
Found running at a faster rate quite tough after the Fling - a fair amount of huffing and puffing was involved but the legs and lungs feel much the better for it.
I plan to go out for a longish run tomorrow (15 miles), then do an offroad hill session on Tuesday and an easy 9 miler on Wednesday before laying off till the 33 mile Marlborough Downs Challenge race on Saturday 17th. It will be my last ultra before the biggy in June and I am really looking forward to it. My aim is to beat my time from last year of 05:21:11.
Friday, 9 May 2008
Run up Meikle Bin and a Garscube bail out
In my frustration at not having managed to run up a munro during my time here in Scotland as a result of a bloomin cold, I decided to take advantage of the recent spot of sunny weather and head to the nearest hills to Cumbernauld - the er fabled Campsies. It's only 30 minutes drive from my folks house to the car park at the west end of Loch Carron, and the start point for a nice 3.5ish mile run up and 3.5ish mile run back down Meikle Bin.
Meikle Bin is the prominent hill that peeks up from over the campsies and the most obvious thing to go up. Actually it's a surprisingly nice wee jaunt starting next to Loch Carron (which was a glorious deep blue surrounded by dark green of forest and bright blue of a sunny 18C evening sky), winding up for about 3 miles through plantation then breaking out onto the summit 'ridge' for half a mile with great views on all sides. The summit is quite pointy by Campsie standards and affords great views all over Glasgow area and the beauty that is Cumbernauld and Kilsyth.
Looking north down the summit ridge of Meikle Bin
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/199291
The summit is at 570m and I think you start at about 215m so the route covers 255m of climb in 3.5 miles then 255m of descent over 3.5 miles - a nice way of getting the quads to work again after the Fling. I felt good during the run and completed it in an easy feeling 59 minutes, varying between 8 min/mile and 8:30 min/miles.
Getting out into the evening sun, alone on a hill was just what I needed but jeez-oh, did I cough. The after effects of that cold. I had a nice cool Loch Fyne Avalanche Pale Ale when I returned, for constitutional purposes.
I had arranged to go out running with the Garscube Harriers (Marco and Debs) last night (Thursday) but Microsoft Word put paid to that. I'd been editing a document all day, working from a memory stick but regularly saving, when there was an error and Word had to close. It couldn't recover the document and in fact decided to delete it from my memory stick just for convenience. Great - 8 hours work down the pan. The report I was editing couldn't wait so I spent until 9pm last night and mouch of this morning re-doing what I did yesterday. Thank you Mr. Gates. And sorry Marco for having to bail out.
Meikle Bin is the prominent hill that peeks up from over the campsies and the most obvious thing to go up. Actually it's a surprisingly nice wee jaunt starting next to Loch Carron (which was a glorious deep blue surrounded by dark green of forest and bright blue of a sunny 18C evening sky), winding up for about 3 miles through plantation then breaking out onto the summit 'ridge' for half a mile with great views on all sides. The summit is quite pointy by Campsie standards and affords great views all over Glasgow area and the beauty that is Cumbernauld and Kilsyth.
Looking north down the summit ridge of Meikle Bin
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/199291
The summit is at 570m and I think you start at about 215m so the route covers 255m of climb in 3.5 miles then 255m of descent over 3.5 miles - a nice way of getting the quads to work again after the Fling. I felt good during the run and completed it in an easy feeling 59 minutes, varying between 8 min/mile and 8:30 min/miles.
Getting out into the evening sun, alone on a hill was just what I needed but jeez-oh, did I cough. The after effects of that cold. I had a nice cool Loch Fyne Avalanche Pale Ale when I returned, for constitutional purposes.
I had arranged to go out running with the Garscube Harriers (Marco and Debs) last night (Thursday) but Microsoft Word put paid to that. I'd been editing a document all day, working from a memory stick but regularly saving, when there was an error and Word had to close. It couldn't recover the document and in fact decided to delete it from my memory stick just for convenience. Great - 8 hours work down the pan. The report I was editing couldn't wait so I spent until 9pm last night and mouch of this morning re-doing what I did yesterday. Thank you Mr. Gates. And sorry Marco for having to bail out.
Wednesday, 7 May 2008
Fling recovery week
I had planned to do some work at my folks house for the first part of last week then to relocate to their caravan in Callander for the second part of the week and the bank holiday weekend. The idea was to continue working, but in more pleasant surroundings (a view of Ben Ledi out the caravan window), do a nice 8 mile recovery run along the banks of Loch Venachar in the Invertrossachs Estate then a run up a munro. However, a bloomin' cold started up and didn't disappear until the bank holiday Monday so I had to settle with only doing the 8 mile run. Boo. No munros for me and I'll be heading back dawwwn saarff to Milton Keynes shortly. Most disappointing. I might try to run up Meikle Bin in the campsies this evening instead as it isn't very far away and is a nice wee run.
Colds do have the most annoying habit of appearing just when you don't want them to. I don't get very many of them but when I do get them they always occur at awkward times, when I've planned some running. I can't help feel that my fitness diminishes for every planned day of running that I lose, even though I know this to be nonsense. Recovery helps just as much, but not for the 'have I trained enough?' anxieties.
I don't have access to Sport Tracks just now do can't do the stats bit for the 8 mile run but it went well. A bit sweaty, which I think was due to the cold but my legs felt fine after the Fling. A bit tight in my calves which I'll have stripped out when I see my physio next week.
Incidentally, Tim Downie has written an interesting blog on the potentially disastrous effects of having a mid-race massage. See here - http://whw08.blogspot.com/2008/05/musings-on-massage.html . I agree with his analysis of what happened to the runner - massage releasing toxins from muscles and causing renal failure. Not good.
Instead of running up a munro I had to go to the nearby Lade Inn Real Ale Shop and sample a range of tasty Scottish beers (ah it was a difficult choice) including ...
Harviestoun Old Engine Oil - very tasty, strong (> 6%) stout
Loch Fyne Highlander - very tasty malty ale
William Brothers Grozet - nice, chilled, citrusy golden beer with bogmyrtle and gooseberry!
Cairngorms Trade Winds - very nice golden ale
Cairngorms Black Gold - lovely stout
Brig O'Allan 80/- - quite nice 80/-
Atlas Latitude - lovely golden ale
Cairngorms Nessie - quite nice dark beer
Lade Inn Lade Out - lovely dark beer
Lade In Way Lade - lovely golden ale
Harviestoun Schiehallion - refreshing cold lagery beer for hot days
You might notice that I have few criticisms for beer. Its great. But out of the various ones I tried I must say the Loch Fyne and Cairngorms brewery beers were the best.
Colds do have the most annoying habit of appearing just when you don't want them to. I don't get very many of them but when I do get them they always occur at awkward times, when I've planned some running. I can't help feel that my fitness diminishes for every planned day of running that I lose, even though I know this to be nonsense. Recovery helps just as much, but not for the 'have I trained enough?' anxieties.
I don't have access to Sport Tracks just now do can't do the stats bit for the 8 mile run but it went well. A bit sweaty, which I think was due to the cold but my legs felt fine after the Fling. A bit tight in my calves which I'll have stripped out when I see my physio next week.
Incidentally, Tim Downie has written an interesting blog on the potentially disastrous effects of having a mid-race massage. See here - http://whw08.blogspot.com/2008/05/musings-on-massage.html . I agree with his analysis of what happened to the runner - massage releasing toxins from muscles and causing renal failure. Not good.
Instead of running up a munro I had to go to the nearby Lade Inn Real Ale Shop and sample a range of tasty Scottish beers (ah it was a difficult choice) including ...
Harviestoun Old Engine Oil - very tasty, strong (> 6%) stout
Loch Fyne Highlander - very tasty malty ale
William Brothers Grozet - nice, chilled, citrusy golden beer with bogmyrtle and gooseberry!
Cairngorms Trade Winds - very nice golden ale
Cairngorms Black Gold - lovely stout
Brig O'Allan 80/- - quite nice 80/-
Atlas Latitude - lovely golden ale
Cairngorms Nessie - quite nice dark beer
Lade Inn Lade Out - lovely dark beer
Lade In Way Lade - lovely golden ale
Harviestoun Schiehallion - refreshing cold lagery beer for hot days
You might notice that I have few criticisms for beer. Its great. But out of the various ones I tried I must say the Loch Fyne and Cairngorms brewery beers were the best.
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