Brian's running miscellany

Dating in the eighties

2010-08-23T12:27:00.001+01:00

Hilarious.

Dating Montage
Uploaded by smithy00101. - Sitcom, sketch, and standup comedy videos.

Milton Keynes, it's just like the alps

2010-08-21T22:34:00.005+01:00

Today I ran from the gloomy valleys to the lofty jagged spires of Milton Keynes. Repeatedly. As the chart belows shows. Hill training in Buckinghamhire at its most glorious on the Col du Brickhill (near Bow Brickhill for anyone from nearby).

Disregard the fact that the y-axis scale is in feet, meaning I scaled an impressive 80 vertical feet or so every rep, totalling around 930' in all, and you have some idea of what the Family members doing the UTMB / TDS / CCC will be tackling next weekend. Texts have confirmed the random Scottish punters have arrived in Chamonix although I understand George Reid's plane was 2 hours late so he'd used the time sensibly to carbo load via beer.

For the UTMB'ers there will essentially be 10 munros to climb and descend in a row spread over 103 miles of the most spectacular mountain scenery one could imagine. Half of them in the dark (unless you are really fast). The CCC'ers and TDS'ers will have essentially half the climbing and descending and about two thirds of the distance.

How I wish I could be there. Emigration to Australia has taken its toll financially and time wise so I wisely pulled out about 4 weeks ago, but the memories of the race last year still stir within me. What an event. Come on the Family, you'll have a ball. :-)))

The return, and the exit

2010-08-08T21:41:00.006+01:00

Time to end the record (even for blog tardy me) post free stint. My blog has successfully received no postings since late April. Months of endurance, one might even say ultra, non-posting. Well all good things have to come to an end and I'm going to tell you what has been going on in the land of Doc McIntosh. Read on or stop here, you have been warned. :-)

Highland Fling (53 miles, April)

The race was going great. A bit hot and sweaty but good conditions. 10 minutes ahead of my sub-9:40 time when I hit Beinn Glas farm, feeling a little odd. I'd passed a few folk I knew near the top of the Loch including Ian B and had mentioned I was feeling a bit off but I was running well. I drank a can of coke and ate something at Beinn Glas then headed off, feeling increasingly rough. A mile out my legs seized up in a double spasm forcing me to clutch them in serious pain.. The spasm lasted for 10 minutes, me unable to move. Salt! SALT! DOH! I b****y forgotten to take any salt pills so far in the race. What a school boy error. My legs eased as I stuffed 3 tablets down with water but they spasmed again for 5 minutes then again for a further 5 minutes. I toyed with giving up but settled myself into just finishing. People overtook me as I went as fast as I could without incurring more cramping spasms. DOH! I came in rather slower than desired at 10:26. Oh well lesson learned. Other than that I had a great time.

Coming over Conic Hill

Grand Union Canal Race (145 miles, May)

My next ultra racing outing was the GUCR at the end of May. This has to be the hardest race in the UK - mentally it is draining and physically the homogeneous flat terrain really batter your calves and feet to bits. I learned a lot from doing it. Or rather DNF'ing at ~94 miles (Leighton Buzzard) despite the best efforts of Drew Sheffield to convince me otherwise (thanks Drew). I struggled with motivation from 6 hours in and knew I'd be running within 0.5 miles of my house at 87 miles into the race. I pushed on beyond this but at ~1am after 94 miles and 19 hours of flat canal running I decided I didn't want to finish enough to do the further 13 odd hours that it would take me to finish. Physically I was fine and could have gone further but mentally I just didn't want to. Why? I've mulled this over lots both during the race and afterwards and have come to 3 conclusions:

(1) I am not interested in running ultras simply for the distance challenge. There have to be mountains or some kind rugged landscape for me to run across. I found canal running just drained my motivation. It was tough.
(2) Don't run a very long, mentally hard race that goes within 0.5 miles of your house. It has to be easier to finish than to simply stop, call your wife and go home to bed.
(3) I got into ultra running to do the UTMB. Now that I've done this race I think my motivation for the very long (100 mile or so) races has waned a bit. I need to refresh my mojo. I just didn't have the necessary desire to complete as I found out.

No regrets though. It's all a learning experience. Maybe I'll come back another year, don't know.

Me somewhere north of Milton Keynes on the GUCR, I think around mile 60

France

I've been on holiday in France camping with our daughter near Marennes, just south of La Rochelle. It was great. She stayed up late and we all went to bed together in the same tent. Given that she sleeps for 10-12 hours a night we ended up with more sleep than we've had since she was born. I'd do it again at a drop of a hat.

Australia

And our big news is that we are emigrating as a family to Australia, to Brisbane more specifically. It wasn't on our plan but Kirstin's folks need some support so we've moved quickly and I've got a good job sorted out (at http://www.watercentre.org/). We're waiting for my visa to come through ad our house to sell but it looks like the start of November will be our leaving date. I'll be sad to leave the UK ultra running scene behind but there's a decent enough ultra and trail running scene in Queensland and northern New South Wales so I'll be OK. Thinking of taking up triathlon for a bit to spice things up as well ... :-)

If any Family members find themselves in that bit of the world then make sure you give me a shout.

Looking forward to the Fling

2010-04-14T13:49:00.005+01:00

Well not long to go now to the Highland Fling, a cracker of a race from Milngavie to Tyndrum. I'm going to try to beat my PB of 9:56 by as much as I can manage. Quite how much will, as ever in an ultra, depend partly on training so far (I'm feeling strong) and partly on the day (for how long can I push myself to continue at 09:30 pace or thereabouts?). Let's see. I'll employ the strategy of going out reasonably fast and trying not to slow down, and will be interested to see how my pace changes over the course of the race.

I've got a 10 mile hilly trail run today, a hill repeat session tomorrow, a 13 mile canal / trail run on Friday and an 8 mile 6:45 pace tempo run on Sunday left to do this week. I'll then taper next week with a speed session on Monday and a 7 mile trail run on Wednesday.

Woohoo, getting excited about stoating down this hill already!

Thoughts on pace at Compton 40

2010-04-07T09:00:00.008+01:00

This year I decided back in January that I'd try to run at between 9 and 9:30 min miles except when climbing, and largely I've been successful. I've been toying with running faster at the start of a race for a few years now having noticed that I tended to slow down after about the same time running, so thought, why not run faster at the start. Now that I've been running ultras for 4 years I am noticing that I can keep the faster pace up for longer and so have decided to increase my pace a bit, and run the start of races faster - at somewhere under 9 min miles depending on how I am feeling. This strategy has been put forward by Stuart Mills too in an interesting post. John Kynaston is toying with varying his pace too so it will be interesting to see if a common pattern emerges in terms of successful race strategy.

I thought I'd start logging some graph data to see how my pace is decreasing over the distance of a run, so that I can (i) determine if I get slower in a linear manner or (ii) start to slow after a particular distance or (iii) something else. I'll plot elevation on these graphs too as climbing and descending is an obvious determinant of pace.

Compton 40 pace by distance, and elevation plot

At the Compton 40 my pace gradually and fairly linearly decreased from ~8 min miles to just below 10 min miles, ignoring the various climbs / descends and obvious stops / slow downs for food and navigation. I ran the last 4 or 5 miles easily so they don't represent an accurate picture of the pace I could have achieved if I'd pushed it. But the first 30-35 miles I was going at pretty much my maximum sustainable pace I think (but then again this will be a function of psychology on the day I suspect).

Let's see how my pace in the Fling compares.

Compton 40 race report

2010-04-05T15:18:00.008+01:00

I ran my 3rd ultra this year on Saturday, making a total of 16 so far, ranging in distance from 31 to 103 miles, and from fairly flat (2500' +/-) to not flat at all (31,000' +/-). This one was the Compton 40, a local race for me, being in Berkshire just a little bit south of Oxford and only a few miles off the A34. I'd never heard of it before so am thankful to Drew Sheffield for suggesting it as a nice complement to the HM55 and the forthcoming Highland Fling.

My verdict? A superbly well organised race over nice runnable chalky downland terrain. A fair amount of sticky mud in places, quite some potential for navigational errors going into and out of small villages en route, but overall a good, nicely undulating course.

View across Compton Downs (from http://www.geograph.org.uk/)

Race profile (my Garmin gave 2429' +/- rather than the advertised 3900' +/-)

The race is combined with a 20 mile option so has a fast start and you never quite know who is running what race until the peel off point back at Compton for the 40 milers. I had decided before the race started to stick to my run fast at the start plan, and ended up doing round about 8:30 min / miles at the start. I ran along by myself, chatting to the odd person until somewhere around mile 10ish Drew caught up wth me.

My pace against total elevation change for each mile

Drew, along with Mark Cobain and a lad called Steve from Northampton's Wootton running club had done the 78 mile ~16,000' +/- ONER race along the jurassic coast the weekend before so I assumed they'd all be creaking round together, just getting the miles done. But no, they all gave it a great shot. I ran with Drew until around mile 14 and gradually peeled away as his legs just didn't have anywhere near his normal strength on the ascents. Not suprising really - 16,000' of climbing 1 week previously. Superb effort by all 3 of them, and all finished the race in under 7 hours. Don't think I'd have been capable of that.

Lough Down, one of the hills we climbed and descended in the first half (from http://www.geograph.org.uk/)

I chatted to a few other folk and gradually fell in around miles 20-25 with a Bob Graham club member called Pete who is running the WHWR this year, and David, a chap who, along with Mark and Steve is running the JOGLE on 30th April - 16 days back to back of ~50 miles each day, what a challenge. David was struggling a bit with a sore back but was relatively easily running alongside me. I kept my pace as near to 9:30 as I could except when climbing, when wading through oozing mud or when reading my map. We stayed together chatting until we reached the top of the last big ascent when I stopped to put on my gloves (yes, memories of the HM55 DNF were fresh) and windproof as the weather coldly closed in. He peeled away and had a good run down into West Ilsley where I caught him after overtaking a few other folk, and we ambled our way out, Pete joining us and helping with the navigation.

I wasn't really fussed about putting in the best time I could, and neither of them seemed to be either so we trotted along chatting at a reasonably relaxed pace up and then down the slope into East Ilsley (where Pete fell back) then up and out of the village, up and down a few last downs and onto the finish. I could have ran the last 4 miles a good bit faster, and I suspect David could have too, but there seemed to be no rush as we ran along sharing stories and views. If you are reading this David then thanks for the company and all the best for the JOGLE (same to you Mark, Steve and Robert).

So, how'd I do? I came in 22nd out of 105 finishers with a time of 6:38:51 so pleased about that. I kept a reasonable average pace of 9:58 min/miles so also pleased about that. My legs were stiff yesterday and a little sore today but not bad. I'll take this week easyish then have a more intense week next week before tapering off a bit for the Fling where I'm out to beat my PB of 9:56, hopefully by a decent 10-15 minutes or so.

The best dressed ultra runner in Britain

2010-03-29T16:03:00.007+01:00

Good quality woollen flat caps are not normally associated with the world of ultra running. However a revolution in race wear is about to sweep the community.

Picture this man, the svelte gazelle like Andy Cole:

Wearing this kind of cap as he runs boldly across the North York moors in wet and windy conditions:

What a paragon of athletic sartorial elegance. The best dressed ultra runner in Britain without doubt.

I expect he will up his game as we all seek to emulate. It'll plus fours, tweed and brogues for Andy next. A tough game to follow. :-))))

Recovery

2010-03-25T20:42:00.002Z

I know I only ran part of the HM55 - actually the HM34 for me. But my recovery this week has been great and very pleasing anyway - a day off on Sunday to drive home, then a 6 mile speed session on Monday consisting of 1 min reps, 1 min recovery where I even managed to hold 5:50 pace. Tuesday saw an exercise bike and rowing machine session at the gym then a 13 mile canal and trail run on Wednesday. Today I did a gym strength session and am planning to take tomorrow off before doing some runs over the weekend.

I sent off my entry to the Compton 40 which takes place on the 3rd April. I've not run the course before so navigation might be an issue. I'll try to run it hard anyway and take the navigation as it comes. The race organisers have provided an excellent page full of downloads and Google Earth fly throughs to help - http://www.comptonharriers.org.uk/Challenge_2010.htm

Hardmoors 55 race report - or don't underestimate the weather on the North Yorkshire Moors

2010-03-21T15:02:00.008Z

Just got back from a weekend away up in the North Yorkshire Moors, running the Hardmoors 55 race. I was staying in a hotel with various WHWR family members - John Kynaston, Sharon Law and Tim Downie, and the race was organise and marshalled by even more of said family - Jon Steele, Dave Waterman, Mike Mason and Lee MacLean (honorary member).

What did I think of the race? Great course, really runnable with various stiff but nicely spaced climbs. Well organised too and good technical t-shirts in the goody bag. Potentially some serious weather en route though. In fact, don't underestimate the weather like I did. The moors may not be high but if there is continuous rain throughout the day and a strong northerly wind, the conditions are pretty brutal in their effects.

What I thought was Jon's (the race organiser) slightly OTT kit advice for carrying and leaving along the course in drop-bags was actually spot on. I went for a rather more minimal approach with no clothes left in drop-bags and suffered the consequences, having to retire just before mile 34 with just over 6 hours of running and 5100' of climbing done, my hands frozen to the point of uselessness, unable to grasp or do anything with zips or anything else for that matter - I couldn't even apply enough pressure to un-clip my bumbag.

I hadn't been able to feed myself or drink water properly for a good hour or more without completely stopping and fumbling around for ages with my bum bag zips whilst standing still in the blasting wind and driving rain atop the moors. My blood sugar was getting lower as I expended more energy on keeping warm and despite this I was getting colder and colder, already tipped onto the shivery slope towards hypothermia. Recognising that without a pair of windproof second gloves on top of my thin fleece ones (a pair which I had stupidly left in my kit bag to save weight rather than carry them) I would continue to deteriorate I called it a day at the road crossing just after the Wainstones, before the 9 mile high open country commit to Kildale.

I knocked on a car window and a kind fellow who was supporting some other runners let me sit in his car, dripping wet and shivering badly. He even took my bumbag off me as I couldn't. It took me a good 30-40 minutes to stop shivering in the warm car and feel my hands again properly. It turned out that the two runners he was supporting also called it a day at this point for similar reasons so we all sat together shivering uncontrollably saying hello. Fairly comical in retrospect.

Until about 30-40 minutes before I bailed out the race was going really well for me. I was managing to keep within my target pace of 9-9:30 min/miles except when climbing and had been running with Colin Hutt and a tall lad with curly hair called Ricky from Tring since well before Osmotherly, the first drop bag point. Together we were keeping up a good pace and I was hopeful for a 10:30 finish. My hands and core temperature really started to suffer on the open moorland and hills after Lords Cafe though and ever so gradually I dropped back from the group as it took me longer and longer to get food out and I seemed to need more and more food. Colin and Ricky finished somewhere around the 10 hour mark which is great so well done those two.

Congratulations have also got to go to John Kynaston and Andy Cole who both slogged it out to come in around the 11:45 and just below 12 hour marks, to Richie C who came in 3rd with a time around 9:15 and to John Millen who came in 9th with a time just below 10 hours - well done all. I later met up with Sharon and Tim, who both also called it a day, both suffering from some degree of hypothermia as well. Sharon hadn't been able to access food for 20 miles for the same frozen hands reasons as me, and so was in bad shape by Kildale where she stopped. She had to spend over an hour in a sleeping bag next to a radiator before the shivering would stop.

I feel a bit annoyed at myself today for not having carried my second pair of gloves during the race as I feel certain I would have finished if I had - not having them is why I couldn't eat properly, why I had to stop in an attempt to eat and therefore why I got so seriously cold. I also feel a bit stupid however at not having put on an extra layer at Osmotherly as I knew the length of open moorland ahead, and had just had a taster of it above the village which had already frozen my hands. Daft errors that cost me the race really. I'll be better prepared next year if the weather is the same, but for now it's time to think about the next race - the Compton 40 in 2 weeks time, then the Highland Fling 3 weeks after that. Then it's the biggy - the GUCR. Gulp.

Hardmoors 55 or how to get lost on the north yorkshire moors

2010-03-16T11:52:00.004Z

Well after a dismal February, the month of March has seen more running and more motivation. Hurrah and just as well as my 2nd ultra of the year, the Hardmoors 55 (actually now 54 as the course has been shrunk by 1 mile to avoid a mass roadkill of runners) is this weekend, the 20th March.

I did my 'train to Northampton then run back home' 32 mile canal run the other weekend in glorious sunshine, then at the weekend just past did a strange combination of 5 mile sub 7 tempo session early on Saturday morning followed by a 17 mile canal - trail - footpath run in the afternoon. A speed interval session last night left me panting away as I've missed out on these sessions for the past 3 or 4 weeks due to illness. Just 1 more session this week before the HM54 - a good old off road hill rep session on the local Col du Brickhill. Tres fantastique.

The race should be good fun although I'll be hoping not to get lost. I've never recce'd the course or been anywhere near it except once for a Scarborough holiday as a kid. The weather reports vary from light rain and 7C to cloudy and 5C feeling like 3C with windchill. Not tropical weather then.

I've heard that the course sweeper, Dave Waterman, has now been promoted (?) to checkpoint marshall. I'll be relying on his finely honed search and rescue skills should I become hopelessly lost. Picture a cockney speaking running boxing ex-forces fireman with a liking for red wine bounding out of the windswept moors, cans of super lager strapped to his back like a very alcoholic version of a St. Bernard to rescue runners hopelessly lost and in need of re-fuelling. Er, I can't wait.

Justice and James

2010-03-08T12:50:00.005Z

Last week one of the killers of James Bulger, John Venables, was remanded in custody, for reasons as yet formally unconfirmed. I haven't been able to put the case out of my head since then.

James was battered to death in 1993 when he was only 2 years old. The details of his killing are beyond words, truly horrific. The two killers were only 10 at the time of the murder and so were released on bail in 2001.

This is not right. They have not paid a sufficient price for their crime. Punishment should be determined in terms of relative impact on a criminal's life and in relation to the severity of the crime. That James's killers were released after only 9 years cannot be right - what impact has their jail sentence had? Not enough. Their lives can be re-established and remain effectively in front of them.

James's mum has supported a fundraising campaign to build a facility for bullied children in Liverpool which isn't doing so well, probably because the case is so old and until the events of last week, not high in the public mind. I donated and urge you to as well. Donate here. Rest in peace little James.

Pain in the back

2010-03-01T11:38:00.003Z

Sunday morning. Kit all ready for 35 mile run from Northampton to my house in Bletchley. I am down on my knees changing a nappy before I go (wife getting a lie in as compensation for my buggering off to run all day) and I go to stand up. Aaaaarrrggh a sharp pain gives my upwards motion a rather geriatric appearance.

I shall now use a phrase frequently employed by the dear Debbie M-C. WTF? 2 weeks off from the worst chest cold I have ever had, 1 week of getting back to training and I now twang my back as I am getting ready to do a long run. Am I the unluckiest man in the world?

Well, I couldn't bend over for most of yesterday and my back is stiff today so I'll do some gentle exercise bike this evening at the gym then try running tomorrow. Gaah. The frustration.

JK appears to be almost as injury prone as me just now, although he has better reason than I, being genuinely geriatric. Cheap shot I know John, but I couldn't resist it. Sorry. :-)

Misjudge and wheeze

2010-02-26T14:10:00.002Z

You know the feeling you get when you think a cold is nearly over and exercise would kick it finally into the grave? I do too. But sometimes you don't get it right, like me last Thursday. Day 8 of a bad chest cold with lots of phlegm and wheezing and coughing and not much running. A 55 mile race on the horizon and no running. So I ran, thinking the cold would be kicked into submission. Not the case. My head was like an aftershock hangover on Friday and I ended up taking my asthma inhaler 15 odd times on Saturday my breathing was so bad.

Day 13 (this Tuesday) of same cold and I try again. The next day no ill effects, and in fact I feel better so I go out for a much craved for 18 miler in the rain at night. The next day (Thursday) no ill effects. Ha ha take that cold. I'll do a 35 miler this weekend by running to the train statin, getting the train to Northampton and running back to my house in Bletchley. This should get me somewhere back on track training wise after a frustrating 2 weeks off.

Oh well, time to listen to calm music (Kings of Convenience) ...

Peak week training

2010-02-17T10:56:00.003Z

Well I am peaking nicely in my periodised 4 weekly training plan. Unfortunately I am peaking in terms of the number of dry days in a week, dry days being ones without alcoholic refreshment. I haven't had a drink since last Tuesday. Over a week. I can't remember the last time that happened.

I should have been peaking mileage wise last week but caught a real beast of a chest cold off our little daughter. It has taken the whole family down. Eilidh for 10 days now, Kirstin for 8 days and me for 6 days. No running. Just a lot of phlegm, coughing and not much sleeping.

I am going to go for a 5 mile splutter filled run this evening I think to try to get my body moving again. Funny thing is, I am not even thinking of drinking. Almost JK-like in abstinence (ssh listen and you will hear the angelic chorus surrounding my very being). :-)

Huarache hokum

2010-02-09T13:10:00.006Z

I am naturally fairly sceptical, and so I have followed form with regards to the claims about barefoot running, or the rise of Huarache hokum as I'll label it here in a good humoured manner. I've been particularly sceptical about:

(1) claims about how bad trainers are for you, with some book authors seeming to claim that about 80% of the running population are at any one time injured as a direct consequence of wearing trainers. Eh? Where on earth does that figure come from? This sounds very suspicious and anecdotal. What is being counted as an injury? How was the data gathered?

There appear to be 2 key review papers in the scientific literature about incidence of running injuries - Richards et al 2009 and van Mechelen (1992) (not available online - too old I guess). Note however none have found evidence of the cause of running injuries as being the use of trainers, and none have done so experimentally.

So, the evidence is not anywhere near being robust at the present time. What is clear is that the forces experienced by runners differ in where they are exerted and their magnitude, depending on footstrike (heel based as with trainers, or mid- or fore-foot based as with barefoot) - see Lieberman et al 2010. So there is the potential for there to be differences in both type of injury, and injury incidence rates between barefoot and trainer wearing running, but the difference or cause of difference is not yet established.

(2) taking the stance that it is reasonable to compare incidence of injuries between lifelong barefoot running and largely sedentary western populations

Huarache Indians I assume run from a very early age, have a lifestyle which is not dominated by sedentary activities and are therefore well adapted physically to not wearing trainers. Most westerners who run probably take up running relatively late in life (i.e. post 18) and live largely sedentary lives. They have not grown up with the motion of running and consequently have not physically adapted to the same extent.

To then think about comparing the levels of running induced injuries between the two populations just seems crazy. It wouldn't be surprising if Huarache Indians were injured less from running, but not because of running barefoot, simply because they've been doing it for most of their lives.

A more valid, and interesting comparison, would be to compare injury rates between Huarache Indians (or other lifelong barefoot runners like some Kenyans), and any population of trainer wearing runners who had been running for the same length of time (so you control for extent of physical adaptation). I suspect you'd also need to control for biomechanic characteristics to ensure that the two groups were equivalent in terms of propensities to pronate etc.

So what is my position?

It is certainly worthwhile trying to establish whether there is a link between the use of trainers and incidence, type and severity of injury in running. No argument there.

If one found that there was a link, what would be the advice? Everyone to go barefoot? I suspect this would lead to injury too, partly as folk adapt to the new style and different stresses and strains are placed on the body. I do wonder whether even after adaptation to the new style that injury rates, types and severities would be reduced if everyone now with trainers went barefoot? I have a suspicion that the distribution of biomechanical characteristics might play an important mediating role. Are all Huaraches biomechanically neutral or is the incidence of pronation the same in western and lifelong barefoot running populations? Characterising this would be important before issuing general guidance on the appropriateness of running - whether barefoot or with trainers. Having said that, review evidence would suggest that the use of long distance, pronation control trainers has no effect on injury prevention (Richards et al 2009).

As ever however I am open to good quality evidence so my intention with this post is to encourage responses which might alert me to evidence I am missing. Comment away you barefoot runners, I remain to be convinced! :-)))

Funniest blog in the world er ever

2010-02-04T11:40:00.002Z

One of my running club mates Ryan emailed me the link to this guys blog. It is absoutely hilarious. I particularly like this post about being fined for late return of DVDs.

Training plans

2010-02-03T08:58:00.004Z

This year is a world of difference from last year. I am actually mostly awake and cold free instead of being knackered, demotivated and sniffling. Aaah, little Eilidh is sleeping through the nights now and has a reasonably robust immune system. Hoorah. Also, like Ian Beattie, I am moving towards a booze-free mid-week with pretty good success (zero alcohol beer is a wonder - Becks Blue and Cobra Zero are the best I've tried). No booze, means fresh as a daisy in the morning. Well, almost.

Last year I didn't formulate a nice training spreadsheet, instead preferring to follow a roughly similar week on week but increasing intensity training plan from memory. It didn't work. It was too easy to drop sessions because I was knackered. This year I have a multi-coloured spreadsheet (yes geeky I know) and am following it to make sure I keep up the mileage and am progressing. My mileage isn't as long as others like JKs but I can't do anything about that due to work and family committments. I'll just have to make the quality and diversity of sessions count.

My basic weekly plan, periodised for increasing intensity and with every 4th week as an easy week, is:

Monday - speed intervals
Tuesday - hill reps or gym strength training (alternating weeks)
Wednesday - long slow run (18-20 miles)
Thursday - rest
Friday - medium trail run
Saturday - tempo run (sub 6:50 pace for 6 miles)
Sunday - rest or medium trail /road run

I am tying together my peak weeks with an ultra race to increase the distance so that I am ready for the 145 mile GUCR by the end of May. It'll be a killer mentally as the terrain will be very homogenous and essentially flat, so I need to read some material on psychological preparation. Andy Cole has posted on this subject lately but I'd appreciate any books that anyone can recommend. Thanks.

TDS 2009

2010-01-20T12:34:00.002Z

I'm not running this race which is part of the UTMB family of races. But the video is superb and gives a real flavour of what running any of the UTMB races is like - superb mountain scenery and such local support you would not believe all the way through.

George Reid and Andy Cole are running this race in 2010 - it'll be great guys!

TDS 2009

UTMB 2010

2010-01-18T22:41:00.001Z

I'm in (barely contained glee with a strong undercurrent of oh s**t) ... who else?

Top ten!

2010-01-17T17:44:00.004Z

Top 10 (out of 90 finishers) position for the 45 mile Country to Capital race on Saturday with a time of 6:45. A cracking start to the season. I am very pleased.

I ran the race and came in with fellow Family member Drew Sheffield, each of us going through bad patches when the other was running fine. It worked very well. A 3rd guy we hooked up with en route called Stephen came in at the same time.

The official results have our timings and positions a little out. Basically Drew came first in 7th position as he did the nav for the first section having scoped the route out a few weeks back (many thanks for that - I owe you), me next in 8th and Stephen in 9th.

But anyhoo, top ten. Only my second ever top ten (Marlborough Downs 33 in 2008 being the other). Full race report describing the world of pain and psychological battle that is canal ultra running to come ... :-)

Clothing dilemma for tomorrow's race

2010-01-15T08:25:00.005Z

Running a 45 ultra tomorrow from Wendover in the Chilterns to Maida Vale in London. Forecast for heavy rain, windy and max 5C temp all the way. 7 hours or so of running in what will probably be pretty cold conditions, with the possibility of slushy snow underfoot in the Chilterns.

I'm having a clothing dilemma. I usually run with a helly hansen long sleeve and a pertex jacket if it is windy and wet, but tomorrow will be cold as well. I'm thinking instead I should wear a short sleeve t-shirt, a lightweight running polartec long sleeve top and a pertex jacket to give a extra warmth without the risk of overheating.

An insignificant dilemma given what is happening in Haiti (if you've not donated to the DEC appeal yet you can do so here) but any clothing advice given will be gratefully received. Thanks.

Ultra running tips

2010-01-12T15:03:00.002Z

This guy, James Adams, has written a long, informative and humourous set of ultra running tips (or things which have helped him). Check it out. Good stuff.

What ever happened to our stiff upper lip?

2010-01-10T22:14:00.002Z

I must admit that I have a very stiff upper lip. So stiff, well actually, so tiny and non-moving, in fact that deaf people trying to lip read me have serious difficulties. Seriously. My wife takes the mickey out of me about it.

But that's not why I post today. If, like me you watched the ITV news on Friday night you'd have been forgiven for thinking that Britain was about to collapse into an apocalytpic doom within days Gas supplies running out, nobody able to get out of their house, half the nation unable to make it to work and almost half the nation's schools closed (probably the reason why half the population can't get to work). What on earth is going on?

Leaving aside the usual media hyperbole (what was to be a further 10 days of solid freezing appears by tonight to have turned into a slow thaw) we appear to have coped miserably with this cold weather. Litigation culture means we have hamstrung ourselves with plainly ridiculous health and safety laws and practices that no-one with responsibility is willing to ignore and say 'get a grip' to those who whine and try to make profit out of genuine accidents. People seem unable to cope with risk unless it involves lane weaving at 90mph on the M1 or drinking too much booze. We've lost our stiff upper lip. Where has it gone?

Caring family man

2010-01-07T20:39:00.004Z

Google throws up the oddest results sometimes. I think it may have developed a sense of fairly sick humour. I wanted some kind of cheesey, super white teeth smiling family man photo with which to illustrate this post, but instead the first image result for 'caring family man' was this ...

Not really what I had in mind. Anyhoo ...

In my efforts to combine running with being a caring family man and generally good dad I have been trying to figure out how I can increase my mileage and at the same time drop my weekend long run. No idea why I didn't think of it before but I have decided to run to my running club (a distance of 6 miles), do the run (5-8 miles) then run back (another 6 miles). I'll do this every Wednesday with the 4th one off for recovery purposes giving me a mid-week run of 17-20 miles. That way I have Saturdays free to be a dad and my wife is much happier with the whole ultra running daftness. Super.

I did my first such run this week with a nice 17 mile snow and ice filled escapade in my new Kahtoolas. Marvellous.

Running on snow and eyeing up the year ahead

2010-01-04T15:16:00.007Z

I started up my training for the 2010 season just before Christmas and have been building up the miles and time on feet. I found that running on snow whilst up in Scotland meant I had to cut back my mileage aspirations and change them to time on feet aspirations. Cumbernauld, where I was staying, was, like most of Scotland, snow bound so 9.5 mile fast trail runs turned into 1hr 30 mins events as I worked hard through knee deep snow in places on the moorland around the local country park. I used to live in arctic Sweden and love the snow. Soft and fluffy or hard and icy. It's all good. I can see from Ian B's and John K's blogs that they don't share my love here though. I can't understand it. Snow is great to run on, much better than pavements. :-)

I had a great 14.5 mile run around the Trossachs with Stan B and John Malcolm just before Christmas. Nice powdery snow and a hilly circular trail with good company and crisp blue skies. What more could you ask for? But my munro bagging, microspike wearing ambitions came to nothing when a brief but sudden kidney / UT infection hit me on the 27th, putting me out of running action for a few days. C'est la vie. All I can do is read about Pete Duggan's exploits in microspikes and gaze lovingly at how to put them on now that I am back in snow-less MK.

What's coming up first racing wise then this year? The 45 mile Wendover to London Country to Capital race is in less than 2 weeks. Drew Sheffield and John Millen should be running it so it'll be a good chance to catch up with them as we pound out the miles. Before that there's a sneaky wee hilly multi-terrain 5 miler in the Wendover Woods. Stoating down a clay mud forest trail then back up another one as fast as possible. Superb fun. 2010 here I come!

Looking forward to hills and snowy conditions

2009-12-13T21:35:00.002Z

I got into running mainly through having a long history of various kinds of mountain activity from hiking to a little climbing here and there. So I am always keen to take advantage of our little family's annual trip to Scotland for Christmas.

I've two runs planned and I'm hoping a few folk will be able to join me:

22nd December - 18ish mile hilly trail run from Loch Venacher to Aberfoyle over Menteith Hills and back via National Cycle Route 7. Pint afterwards in the Lade Inn.

28th or 29th December - Ben Lawers group (Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh, An Stuc, Ben Lawers, Beinn Ghlas starting from Machuim Farm) - 19km with 1750m ascent. I've been pointed at either YakTrax or Kahoola running crampon devices and am planning to bring an ice axe up with me along with a pair of one or the other. Bring on the ice and snow! Tanking up a mountain ridge with ice axe and crampons will be great fun.

Other than that I'm feeling pretty good. Managed not to make a fool of myself at the running club Christmas do, through only consuming 5 pints of fizzy lager pop stuff. Then even went for an 18 mile run the next day and felt fine, no muscle soreness afterwards either. Not sure I'll be that limited this Friday though with the works night out. The lads at work can drink as much as I used to be able to do, and which I still think I can but plainly can't (as my wife seems to take great delight in informing me). Saturday might not see so sprightly a Brian.

Good old British understatement

2009-12-06T21:09:00.003Z

I was glad to be out running this weekend. Yesterday I thought about joining together a 6 mile route out and back along the Grand Union Canal (GUC) towards Leighton Buzzard from my house with part of a nice trail run route in Stockbridge Country Park. Not knowing exactly how long it would be it turned to be a nice 12.3 miles with around 600' of ascent and descent plus a lot of flat running along the towpath. I kept a steady 8:30 mins / mile pace and didn't push it throughout the run. I just let my legs work and my mind ease out of the strains of last week. It worked a treat.

I then went out for a just shy of 8 mile run today from my house, along the GUC to Caldecotte Lake then around the Lake and back to my house via Fenny Stratford High Street. As I ran towards the underpass which goes under the A5 between the GUC and Caldecotte I passed an old fella with his dog. 'A bit muddy along there, a bit flooded' he said in a reasonably understated way. I responded in a jolly manner 'that's half the fun' and ran on until I got to the underpass, or part of the River Ouzel as it had now become. A bit muddy? Try a path with water up to your waist and a soft, thick covering of sediment for about 80'. Anyway I hummed and hawed for a minute about the chilly water and my no longer visible feet before plunging forward, enjoying the almost mountain marathon feel of what is a fairly pedestrian running route under normal conditions. :-)

Out of the woods and on the mend

2009-12-03T09:40:00.003Z

Great news. The 48 hr culture test results came back and no bacterial meningitis, or indeed bacteria of any form. Hooray! She has been released for hospital alhough still has a canula so that the remainder of her course of antibiotics can be given intravenously as an out patient today and tomorrow. She isn't quite 100% yet, but not far off. It looks to have been an extremely bad viral infection.

We are so relieved. And knackered. :-)

Thank you to everyone who has posted or texted their support. Reading your messages really helped keep my spirits up. Thank you.

Update on the little lady

2009-12-01T21:03:00.002Z

Today brought good news and left some significant uncertainties. Little lady E is behaviourally back to herself after a reasonable night of sleep hooked up to a saline drip. Her intravenous fluids were removed this morning and she has eaten pretty well. Most importantly she is playing and doing what most 2 year olds do a lot - saying 'no' and 'mine' a lot (ah the joys). :-)

Her temperature is back from the initial peak of 39.1 to a nice 37.5 and appeared stablilised but started to climb back to 38.1 in the early evening so her body is clearly fighting something. Her white blood cell counts are huge, also indicating an infection and the non-blanching red spots also indicate infection. We won't know definitively whether she has bacterial meningitis or not until tomorrow early evening when the 48 hr culture test results will come back. In the meantime she is being treated as is if it is meningitis.

My mum, the marvellous lady that she is, has arrived from Scotland and is helping out heaps. Kirstin has another night in hospital (what a mum she is) and we (my mum and I) will relieve her at 6 or 7am. Keep your fingers crossed.

A disease you don't want your child to get

2009-12-01T00:00:00.003Z

Winter time and yet more ups and downs on the emotional rollercoaster that is being a parent. There are some diseases you know are very bad, and which you really don't want your child to catch. Bacterial meningitis is one of them, with the potential to kill within 4 hours.

Little Eilidh was admitted to A&E today. Bad vomiting, fever and shivering. Diagnosed initially as viral infection with resulting bad dehydration. Non-blanching (i.e. red even when pressed) spots became apparent however so she is being treated as potential bacterial meningitis with intravenous antibiotics and saline drip. Are we worried? Yes. Will we sleep much tonight? Probably not.

She has responded very well to the saline but we are not out of the woods yet. Fingers crossed for the little lady throughout the night.

Run wheeze cough wheeze

2009-11-24T09:24:00.002Z

Yes, it is the season for young children (can't really call Eilidh a baby anymore) to catch all manner of cold bugs and pass them with gay abandon to their parents. As a consequence I have been coughing and feeling woolly headed for almost 2 weeks now with the most persistent of chesty colds.

Without as much gay abandon I have opted to continue training in the windy wet of recent evenings. I have reduced my aerobic exertion levels, so no speed sessions, and think I feel the better for it. Never sure however if one should persist and train through colds or just sits down and rest. Cue exercise induced wheezey gasping and phlegmy coughing (mm nice).

It has got to be better than this approach to exercise though ...

A brief, but enjoyable, musical interlude

2009-11-17T11:35:00.002Z

Normal service shall be resumed momentarily. In the meantime enjoy the cerebral and auditory pleasures of Mister Cutler and the Butthole Surfers.

Ultra races for 2010

2009-11-16T12:01:00.004Z

Right then, my ultra racing plans for 2010 are shaping up well and will be (assuming I have in injury free year next year):

16th January - 45 mile Country to Capital - entered
February - ???
20th March - 55 mile Hardmoors 55 - entered
24th April - 53 mile Highland Fling - entered
29th May - 145 mile Grand Union Canal Race - entered
24th July (?) - 50 mile Lakeland50 - not entered yet
27th August - 103 mile Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc - not entered yet
Then not decided but tempted by the Tooting Bec track 24 hour event, or I might just sit down and go aaah.

I'll try to use the races both as events and as peak week training runs. Any suggestions for a long (ultra or off road marathon) for February would be much appreciated.

I now need to find some time to put together a detailed 4 week periodised training plan. I didn't do anything detailed last year, trying instead to run a rough 4 week periodised plan from memory along. It didn't really work. I didn't know how I was improving really and it was easier to bail out of sessions when they weren't written down.

The evils of Debenhams and House of Fraser

2009-11-10T14:09:00.005Z

I have never been one to purposefully devote leisure time to shopping, much preferring to run up hills, drink beer, watch movies or read a book. However I do upon occasion venture into the shops which populate the centre of Milton Keynes. Some of them are good, and some, namely Debenhams and House of Fraser, are, well c**p.

Debenhams' problem is poor quality stock. They charge double or triple the price of stores like Matalan, but Matalan clothes last for years whilst Debenhams clothes fall apart within weeks or months. My wife is now the proud owner of 3 pairs of bust trousers and 3 bust shirts / tops. Buttons fall off, hems come undone. Not what you want or expect. The response to a complaint from my wife was to say that stores offer a 20% off if you are willing to effect a repair yourself. Not really the point, and having a standard response like this shows they know that their products are of poor quality. Don't shop at Debenhams.

The problem with House of Fraser is just with one member of staff in their Milton Keynes branch. I was standing with our daughter waiting for my wife to look at some tops. My daughter was touching some dresses which were hung up, when a rather stuffy lady full of 'children should be seen and not heard' attitude came over stating that our daughter was pulling on the dresses and that she should stop. My daughter clearly wasn't pulling, she was feeling the fabrics, something that all shoppers do. Her hands were clean so I failed to see the problem. We left promptly and won't be buying anything from there again. I'd advise others to do the same. Why spend money in an unfriendly, unwelcoming, anti-child store?

There. I feel much better now. Catharsis via blog post is great.

I'm in!!! Grand Union Canal Race 2010

2009-11-08T15:54:00.002Z

Got the great news today via an hyperlink in an email from the Essex Bling Lord Mike Mason - I've got an unsupported entry for the 145 mile Grand Union Canal Race (GUCR) 2010.

Entry list here - http://www.gucr.co.uk/template.asp?doc=235

The race objectives are fairly straightforward but the distance is long, and the terrain relatively homogeneous which will bring its own challenges. From Birmingham to London in a oner. Woohoo.

Completion will qualify me for the Spartathalon 2011 so my plans are falling nicely into place.

Any tips for the race or training for such a long bit of basically flat running much appreciated.

28th Ridgeway Run race report, and help my daughter is turning into an aussie!

2009-11-01T20:24:00.004Z

11th October (yes, this is another tardy blog by the busy bald academic) saw the 28th running of Tring RC's 15km Ridgway run. Tring is a nice Buckinghamshire town nestling at the base of the Chilterns, below the 87 mile long distance path called the Ridgeway. There is an annual race run by the TRA which takes in the whole route but Tring RC's Ridgeway run is a more modest affair distance wise, but much faster.

The undulating (+/- 620') route starts in Marsh Lane and runs along road for a mile before heading up and into the rolling, hilly woodland around Auldbury and the Ashridge Estate, along the lovely forested 'ridge' (remember this is the Chilterns, so no lofty cliff top paths here) towards Ivinghoe Beacon before turning down then up Pitstone Hill along the Ridgeway for a bit then back down along Marsh Lane and into Tring. Nice mixed terrain although perhaps a little too much road.

Ridgeway run profle

My previous fastest time had been 1:10:47 in 2008 so I was very pleased to come in under the 1:10 mark with a time of 1:09:38, in position 38 of 473 finishers. Either the UTMB hadn't knackered my legs in, or they had given me a super boost of strength or as I suspect I hadn't run the 40 Mile High Peak 40 ultra 3 weeks before it for the first time in 4 years (had a friend's wedding you see).

Me grunting my way out of Marsh Lane at just below 6:30 pace

The race itself I found to be the most enjoyable shorter race I've run for a while. The weather was good and I consciously played around with my psychological approach to see what worked best. I don't normally focus on closing down the distance between the heels of the runner in front and me but did during this race and it worked a treat. I didn't lose motivation or slow down unwittingly as can sometimes happen. Rather I remained focussed, was able to not notice the effort of running as much and overtook quite a few folk mid-race. I was so full of UTMB ultra camaraderie I kept encouraging people who were slowing in front of me to keep going etc. that I got a few odd looks. Not the done thing in shorter races.

Me grunting my way up the rise after Pitstone Hill

I caught a white vested runner on the 'ridge' section only for him to catch me up on the descent towards Pitstone Hill. I kept the distance constant with the aim of taking him, but after a while he pulled away gradually, seemingly having kept more in reserve than I. However I caught sight and began to close the distance as we headed along Marsh Lane towards the finish. I knew I could catch him if I timed my sprint right and oh so nearly, very nearly did. I sprinted with 100m to go and he was clearly surprised but noticed me just as I was about to overtake. He had enough notice to get a split second head start that he just maintained to the finish. I could tell though he was slowing as we neared the line so reckon if I'd just started my sprint 50m further back I'd have taken him. Oh well, we live and learn.

My daughter is turning into an Aussie - help!

Clearly I knew I was marrying into good Aussie Queenslander stock but I had no idea that so much of the Aussie habit is apparently genetic. Our daughter Eilidh is about to turn 2 years old on the 17th November and the photo below was taken during the summer when she was about 19 or 20 months old so it is a little dated now. Look at it though. Can't you just imagine her with a stubbie of beer in one hand saying 'jeez' or 'she'll be right' ... ? Help! With no particular input I have given rise to a mini-Paul Hogan! :-)

Little Eilidh looking Australian in her wendyhouse

Ultra Tour Du Mont Blanc race report (or the ultra tartan army on tour 2009)

2009-10-02T07:39:00.002+01:00

My race report was first drafted on the 20th September so when I published it, it appeared with this date, way down people's blog rolls. Rather than copy and paste the whole thing into a new post (the photos and formatting didn't copy well) this is just a post to get the race report to the top of blog rolls.

Read on below, but make sure you are well hydrated, don't need the toilet and have access to food. It isn't the shortest post in the world, but then again the race took 40 hours ...

Ultra Tour Du Mont Blanc race report (or the ultra tartan army on tour 2009)

2009-09-20T20:45:00.018+01:00

The route of the UTMB (anti-clockwise from Chamonix)

After race thoughts

Well, I've been sitting here for about 4 weeks wondering how to relate the experience of the UTMB to others. Sunny Milton Keynes with its climbs ranging from 0' to 130' is rather different from the landscape of Chamonix where a 1000' climb is pretty much the minimum, and 3000' the typical.

Life too is rather different from a week with a bunch of Scottish ultra runners in a bustling alpine town, all s******g it about a particular race they've got themselves into, trying not to drink too much beer, enjoying the mountains and the calm before the storm.

Images still fleet through my mind of running past jagged peaks and tumbling glaciers, but mostly of climbing, climbing, climbing up that b****y hill called Bovine in the dark over jumbled boulders, a torch light at my feet and down, down, down the narrow, twisting, seemingly never ending track to the few twinkling lights of Vallorcine which never got any nearer no matter how much I ran.

40 hours of heaven and hell. Two full nights, 103 miles, more height gain and loss than Everest from sea level. What an event. Here's my attempt to relay the experience ...

Pre-race

Aaagh the view from the start line in Chamonix (photo by Michael O'Connor)

I am sitting in our central Chamonix flat with Drew, George, John Malcolm, Michael O'Connor and Richie Cunningham. John and Richie are doing the TDS but their company is very welcome, particularly the advice of UTMB vet Richie. We are all putting our race packs together. 'You are only taking half a jelly baby?' 'You aren't taking a micro-fleece?' I am beginning to wonder whether I am over prepared with my pile of gels and my weather proof gear. Mike Mason's advice to cut all weight is also going through my mind. 'Stop it Brian, you know your own body, how much you eat and what you need to feel warm in the mountains' I tell myself as preparation anxiety bites deep. I can see the others are also questioning their own packs, gaaah the anticipation as we try to kill the dead time before the race. Will I finish? What happens to me if I don't? Doubts bubbling to the surface from the reputation of the race.

The start to Les Contamines (19.3 miles, +4765', - 4355')

The Vangelis music is playing loud as we (Drew, George, Michael and myself) leave our little bit of Scotland and get together with Davie Bell and meet Tommy Hepburn at the start line which is heaving with thousands of Frenchmen. I've never seen so many well defined male calf muscles in all my life. These guys look seriously professional thought I peering down at my wee hairy scrawny Scottish legs. Maybe I should shave to look slicker?

Our little bit of Scotland in central Chamonix (photo by Michael O'Connor)

We met quite a few other Brits on the start line, including the mightily thighed Jon Steele looking very sunburnt. A bit of banter but everyone was well inside their own thoughts, wondering what the heck will this be like? Will I survive? It did feel a little like we were preparing to charge recklessly to god knows what fate.

The most anxious Scotsmen in the world? (photo from Davie Bell)

The time passed quick enough though and we were off, walking the first few hundred metres before enough space opened up to allow a run. Keeping the pace deliberately slow (10 min miles or so) I ran towards Les Houches with George and Tommy, losing the others in the crowd and the differently timed pee stops we all seemed to take. The running was easy but it was difficult not to belt it with the majority of others. I just kept thinking 'the aim is to finish, don't shoot your quads'.

Les Houches was reached quickly enough after 4 or 5 flattish miles and the first of the support enjoyed. The locals were out with shouts of 'allez allez' and 'bon courage'; calls which I'd grow to appreciate more and more during the race, precious sparks of motivation which kept me going as the body fatigued. The locals were really an inspiration in this race. You run out of the dark up a mountain into a tiny wee hamlet in the middle of the night and the residents are out shouting your name and urging you on. Such a feeling of genuine appreciation for what us daft runners were attempting to do left you with a lump in the throat and a beaming smile on your face. Many thanks to all you folk I'll never know but who helped me finish, your shouts of 'allez Brie-ong' were superb.

The slope sharply steepened as the crowds squashed onto the track leading up the 2560' or so to La Charme. Poles out clacking clacking, head down with Tommy and George we made steady progress through the field to the top. Ha, these sleek French calf muscles don't actually seem to give any performance edge I thought.

We passed by a big Les Houches banner (I thought Les Houches was at the bottom!?) we contoured round in rapidly dimming lights past people putting on layers to cope with the onset of chill in the early night at 5900' altitude. Ignoring the cold we headed down the ever steepening, slippy, grassy track Tommy peeling away with ease from me whilst I gradually moved ahead of George. The 3280m descent was quite a surprise physically, very noticable in my quads which made me anxious about the next 9 such descents I'd need to do en route. Would my quads survive beyond the next such descent? Only one way to find out.

The applause and cheering in Les Houches was nothing on Saint Gervais, with what looked like a reasonably sized town's population all out on the streets behind barriers 'allez allez' 'bon courage'. I caught sight of Tommy at the drink and food station as I grabbed a coke and 4 slices of cake before running straight out and into the darkness of the night.

The 6 mile 1180' climb to Les Contamines was pleasant enough, a mixture of the odd steep switchback climb with lots of forest and agricultural trail running. Tommy caught up with me then we passed through a checkpoint, both of us bleeped in with a bar code scanner (all very hi tech this race). It didn't feel like 6 miles so I was a little confused but carried on regardless. Les Contamines was reached shortly thereafter and I joined the scrum for a water re-fill, some coke, my first bowl of salty noodle soup and some more slices of cake. The stop was beginning to look a little like an army field hospital with a few casualties sprawled around, including one Brit who appeared injury free but suffering from plain old knackeredness. I wished him luck but he looked out already.

Not falling into the pit-stop trap and with Tommy nowhere in sight I pushed on out of Les Contamines 2 hours or so in advance of the first cut-off time and feeling good.

Les Contamines to Les Chapieux (11.8 miles, +4360', -3080')

The stretch to Notre Dame de la Gorge was easy going with Notre Dame itself appearing out of the dark in the form of a seemingly abandoned Marie Celeste like rave. Purple lights, decks and a sound system but only 2 or 3 local kids ambling around and the few runners who were in front and behind me. Quite surreal but soon forgotten as I headed sharply up the steep natural stone slabs and outcrops that marked the 1970' odd ascent to La Balme.

A bouffant haired fella with 70s style trainers and very short shorts, that I decided unconsciously for some reason was Italian, kept jockeying for position with me. I decided to beat him on the ascent and we both kept each other going (I could sense he was thinking something like I'm not going to let that little bald hairy legged guy beat me).

We passed by a randomly located mountain pub at some point where the half cut and some clearly pissed occupants encouraged us. Next in line were a man and a woman manning a tree stump with cups of water and tea. Who are all these people? Are they part of the race? What are they doing in the dark half way up a mountain?

The tree cover was still substantial on either side so it didn't feel fully like we were going up a mountain until the warming bonfire of the La Balme refuge were reached. I lost my bouffant foe as I checked in, refilled water, ate more salty soup then began to feel cold. No bloody wonder really given that it was the middle of the night and I was at almost 6000' altitude. I pulled on my WHWR pirate buff and Montane Oryx microfleece, thinking about the latter that I was glad not to have been influenced by the others into ditching gear for the pursuit of lightness.

Then the proper climbing began. 2460' into cloud up a steep, rocky trail, the water droplets scattering my head torch beam eerily and reducing visibility to less than hundred feet at points. Head down, overtaking when I could, I clack clack clacked away, poles and legs taking the strain. I felt ever so tired however. Rather concerning given that I had most of this night plus a full day another full night and some of a morning left to go! I figured out on the next major climb that this was the effect altitude was exerting on me. No lack of puff, just a serious urge to curl up and go to sleep.

After a long time of head down effort and some more jockeying with the bouffant haired Italian the track levelled out and we seemed to contour a bit, large boulders and cliff like out-crops half seen in the dark, images of a mountain vista beyond tantalising my mind. Checkpoint at Croix Du Bonhomme (8130') passed I began the very steep, technical, slippy mud and rock 900m descent to Les Chapieux (5080'). I lost the bouffant Italian and lots of folk bombed past me but I couldn't go any faster without risking injury and the ability of my quads to go on. I just persisted as fast as I could, becoming aware of a blister on my right heel (nooo! not this early on surely?). Overtaking some people, other people falling over in front and behind me with the tricky ground I reached the Les Chapieux checkpoint, grabbed food (more salty noodle soup), refilled water and drank coke. I decided to re-lube my foot to prevent further blistering so sat down and got to it. A good 15 minutes after I arrived I checked out past a few enthusiastic well wishers (allez allez) still well ahead of schedule into the night and the second serious 3100' climb up to Col de la Seigne (8252').

Les Chapieux to Courmayeur (17.3 miles, +4890', -6068')

The first stage of the climb was up a gradual winding tarmac road to Ville Des Glaciers. Is that some Scottish chatter I can hear behind me after a few minutes? I turned round to see George Reid and Drew Sheffield coming up the road. They must have caught up whilst I was relubing, great! Some conversation! I had been on my own for hours now. We clacked our poles, chatted away and plodded up the road and beyond as it turned into an endless rocky ascent over what seemed like a hill perpetually about to round off to the top but never quite making it. A never ending asymptote. I could feel altitude taking its toll, making me very very sleepy and sapping my will to push on. Oh how I wanted to just curl up and go to sleep ...

Descending down towards Refuge Elisabetta from Col de la Seigne (photo: Davie Bell)

It would soon be light however as the black turned to deep grey and rocky shapes and edges began to appear. Still deep in cloud we crested the Col de la Seigne (8250') in the growing light of dawn. The arctic blast of wind channelled up the valley from Lac Combal hit us, instantly removing all body heat but also acting like a giant slap in the face, countering the soporific effects of altitude which had been increasing their grip on me steadily throughout the climb. George stopped to put on a windproof and Drew headed on. I waited for George but soon pulled away on the descent, catching up with Drew after a bit of serious effort as he'd opened up a fair gap. We then made good progress down, down, down past Refuge Elisabetta to the Lac Combal checkpoint (6460') where more salty noodle soup and coca cola were gratefully consumed, hands slightly numb in the early morning high altitude cold, glaciers and jagged peaks peering down at us.

George came in just as Drew and I were leaving the checkpoint, legs creaking back into motion as we trotted along the high, perched alpine valley on a rough rocky road raised above pools of crystal clear water on either side. The path soon left the road stiffly climbing up to the east. The sun wasn't on us yet so I was glad to generate heat from climbing as we headed up the 1525' climb to Arete Mont Favre, a tiny little tent of a checkpoint perched high above Lac Combal and Courmayeur at 7990' altitude. The views of the Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc) massif were glorious in the early morning sun which hit us as we crested then began the long descent to the mid-way point distance wise - Courmayeur.

Me descending from Arete Mont Favre towards Courmayeur

The tendons on my left knee began emitting some sharp intermittent pains on the way down the 1580' descent to Col Checrouit en route to Chamonix. I ignored it, determined to keep with Drew and not fall behind. Some upbeat jazzy music was playing as we hit the checkpoint, quickly filling up our water packs and drinking down some coke before heading down the bone dry, dusty switchback nightmare of a trail that twisted it's way down between the ski-lifts to Courmayeu which seemed almost close enough to touch. Ha. It took us bloody ages. Dust, beaming sun and narrow, precipitous trails for 2500' of straight down descent. We chatted a bit but I mainly concentrated on jut getting down. Or rather concentrated on not thinking at all as I hoped my knee pain would go away and blisters wouldn't pop or become very very sore.

We hit the bottom and ran through what looked like a swing park before reaching the narrow, ye olde style streets of Courmayeur. What a beautiful town! Reaching the half way point in reasonable shape was a real confidence boost. I'm going to complete this I thought. I am.

Our only non-checkpoint support en route was a single drop bag at Courmayeur which we collected easily from some super efficient Italian girls. Drew headed off to wash his feet whilst I restocked with gels and checked my phone which contained lots and lots of texts to my surprise. Mike, Dave W, Murdo, my wife, parents, brother all urging me on. This really gee'd up my spirits. I texted Mike back and he sagely advised not getting caught up in the relaxing, inviting atmosphere of the checkpoint. I washed my feet, relubed them, made the tactical decision not to pop the 4 serious, bulging and deep heel blisters on my right foot and then ate some pasta with Drew before heading off, legs sore but spirits high.

Courmayeur to La Fouly (19.1 miles, +6865', -5540')

We walked / jogged through Courmayeur town centre then walked up the ever steepening road to the monster 2620' trail ascent to Refuge Bertone in steadily increasing heat. Drew was suffering a little so we slowed down a bit but he soon picked up and we made steady progress up the never ending dusty switchback forest track. The skyline always seemed just above us and one switchback away but it took us a good while to reach it but the refreshing caffeine infusion of coca cola made it all seem a distant memory.

My knee pain had disappeared and my blisters seemed fine but made me anxious. If any of them popped it would make the rest of the race a serious painfest.

We headed out of Bertone to begin the high level (6500') contouring trail run past Refuge Bonatti (6625') then down to Arnuva (5800'). We disturbed a large deer early on the run which bolted from bushes above us but the rest of the run was uneventful. George had clearly been making great time and caught up with us just before Bonatti. It felt good to be re-united as we had agreed that we would run together earlier on, before Lac Combal. It was clear though that we were running at different paces downhill so we had gradually peeled apart from George. He must have been belting up that hill from Courmayeur to make up the distance though!

Drew fell back a bit before we reached Arnuva and I peeled away on the descent, reaching the checkpoint first. I stopped for longer though whilst Drew was in and out. George and I left together after some more salty noodle soup and coca cola, chasing Drew up the hill.

Me ascending out of Arnuva towards Grand Col Ferret

The slope steepened stiffly then eased off for a bit as George and I plugged away before reaching the start of the main bit of the 2520' climb to the Grand Col Ferret, at 8321' the highest point on the race. I could see Drew ahead and decided to catch him. Having agreed to roughly stick together I found it very motivational to make sure I kept up with whoever was in front. I steadily overtook a bunch of folk, George not too far behind me, but got caught behind a big train of runners so didn't catch up with Drew until part way down the long, undulating descent t La Fouly.

My knee pain had gone but the blisters were definitely still there, just on the edge of popping but not quite. Drew and I kept up a serious pace on the 3100' descent, alternating who was in front and who was following. This tactic proved pretty effective and other than when we stopped for a quick lace re tie and refuel we weren't overtaken by anyone. By the time we hit the road we were knackered though, and very tired of going down but over lots and lots of undulations. We walked a fair way down the road before putting on a show of running into the checkpoint heroically.

And guess what? Yes, more salty noodle soup and coca cola. Lots of coca cola.

La Fouly to Trient (18.8 miles, +4300', -5260')

The most dangerous bit of the race came in this section. As we headed out of La Fouly, an hour behind our 40 hour schedule I suggested to Drew that we try 10 minute miling for as long as we could to make up time. He skeptically agreed then proceeded to set a great pace, definitely quicker than 10 min/miles along the gradually descending forest trail. We overtook a bunch of runners and ended up with a few latching onto our pace as the trail became a ledge, perched a good hundred feet or more up a cliff face, sometime sheer, sometimes a steep forested slope. If you tripped and went over at this point you'd not be coming back. Focus I thought, focus, not being the best with heights.

We slowed down just before the beautiful Swiss alpine village of Praz De Fort where we gained the company of one of the Mens Health Magazine team runners, the last standing man in his team. Simon was his name I think. He knew Drew so we chatted away as we reached the start of the 1000' climb up to Champex En Lac and plodded up in fading light. Champex took ages to reach and I began to flag mentally a little. Drew kept up a good pace and we staggered into Champex as darkness properly fell, Drew's cousin Emma shouting hello excitedly and joining us in the runners tent.

Tommy was there with his wife Rhona, but was acting a bit bewildered. He hadn't been eating much and appeared a bit sleep deprived (unlike us of course haha). He headed off saying we'd probably catch him as we began eating bread, salty noodle soup and I had my first couple of cups of coffee. Sharon appeared from nowhere. Together with Emma they really helped us prepare for our second night, insisting that we put on extra clothes, helping refill water bottles and getting cups of coffee. They were superb. Thanks girls. I owe you.

We headed out, walking through Champex with Emma and Sharon, enjoying the slightly delerious sleep deprived silliness of the whole affair. We hooked up with a random Spanish guy just beyond the town boundary where we left Emma and Sharon and headed into the forest leading to the 3rd last climb, up the hill called Bovine. But why were we going down? We wanted to go up. Eventually the trail turned the right direction and we started ascending.

Bovine was quite simply put, hell in the form of a hill. We knew it was our 3rd last big ascent but had no idea how long it would take. It turned out to be hours I think, time was ceasing to have much meaning so it is difficult to say - existence was transforming into never ending forward motion. The trail deteriorated as we passed by the first few folk we'd see hunched at the side of the trail, head in hands either gathering strength or sleeping. Casualties became an increasingly familiar sight from this point.

The trail up Bovine was hardly a trail at all. It was just a jumble of large, awkward boulders which prevented me getting into a rhythm, and required some serious leg lifting effort to get up. Drew was pressing on ahead like a man possessed and I followed in his wake, head down, alone in my torch beam, the dark night and increasing cold with altitude pressing in on me.

Eventually we pulled out of the forest and, relieved, contoured round in the chill of the air to reach the Bovine checkpoint (6520'). A very quick cup of coffee and salty noodle soup and we headed off to tackle our 3rd last big descent - 2250' seemingly straight down a hard rocky path to Trient with hardly any swtichbacking at all. The descent has become a blur in my mind. Drew was ahead and we were making good time. I stopped thinking about anything other than going down, except the bit where we had to navigate round a very very large bull which loomed suddenly out of the darkness in the middle of the trail. This race still had some surprises!

My legs were stiff as we hobbled across the road in Trient to reach the checkpoint and to resume the now familiar salty noodle soup ritual. I was knackered, very sleepy and in need of coffee, which perked me up. A large German sounding man said 'hello Brian' (from my race number) and we talked a bit. He was one of a bunch of locals (I guess) who were stood at what seemed to be a bar section inside the checkpoint tent, next to but separate from the runners benches. It must have been around 2am so what these folk were doing out I don't know. Crazy, but much appreciated support. We said goodbye and headed out, reluctantly leaving warmth for the cold of the night and the beckoning 2580' climb up to Catogne. I kept thinking 'dig deep' (Mike Mason's mantra), nearly at Vallorcine. We had run / hiked from Vallorcine to Chamonix the week before the race so I knew if I made it there I'd make it back to Chamonix for sure. There'd be no more surprises in store.

Trient to Vallorcine (5.9 miles, +2580', -2715')

Shoving a couple of Hammer gels down we joined in with a train of folk heading up the swtichbacking 2580' climb. We stopped a couple of times to get more food inside and passed a few semi-sleeping casualties on the way up. The tree line was tantalisingly close for ages but the trail always seemed to have an extra corner, or an extra little steep climb. There were a set of 3 or 4 lads who kept catching up with us throughout the climb then powering ahead only to be caught by us as they took a breather from their serious pace. This happened several times but we took them just before the crest of the hill and they never caught up with us as we descended towards Vallorcine.

But oh what a descent. Hell. 2460' of what seemed to be randomly curving trail which left me completely confused. What direction was Vallorcine? Where were the lights? Accumulated tiredness was kicking in big time as Drew and I pushed our way down at as fast a pace as we could manage. We gradually caught and past a few folk then joined on the back of a bigger group which we worked our way through at pace until we hit the really steep dusty lower sections of the descent where all thoughts of overtaking disappeared, the mind having to completely focus on the technicalities of the steep, dusty and rocky trail. The lights of Vallorcine popped in and out of sight but never seemed to get any closer. My spirit was slowly being extinguished. Dig deep Brian push on I kept muttering to myself until we finally reached the back of some wooden huts, slipped and slid down a grassy path to the train track and headed over to the field hospital that was Vallorcine.

Tommy was there along with Rhona (what a trooper!) and he waited for Drew and I to quickly down some salty noodle soup and for me to do my business in the portaloo. I timed it perfectly and managed to finish just as my gag response to the awful awful smell became irrestible and I heaved myself out of the loo with a rasping, gasping wretch.

Vallorcine to Chamonix (11.3 miles, +3080', -3817')

Drew headed off slowly as I put on my gloves then Tommy and I followed, catching him up after 5 or 10 minutes. Boy it was freezing as the sun began to poke through and we plodded up to the Col de Montet then began the last big 2850' foot climb to La Tete Aux Vents. Drew wanted to push on for a sub-40 hour time. I wasn't bothered, having long ago set myself into a finish the race mind set rather than a do it as fast as you can mind set. I asked a French runner (in French despite the 2 nights of sleep deprivation) whether sub-40 was possible and he replied that it was. I told Drew and let him know I was happy for him to peel off, which he did with gusto. Tommy and I plodded on for a mile or so then upped the pace to run into La Flegere, the last checkpoint before Chamonix.

After some more coca cola and a gel we headed out and down the first section to Chamonix, which the only way to describe is Kinlochleven on acid. A very very very steep rubbley landrover access track which we ran down the side of before pulling off onto the technical switchbacking trail down down down to Chamonix. Tommy and I ran hard, Tommy in front, overtaking folk and inspirin a few to follow us in our wake. The motivational power of following someone in front running hard is quite amazing, even after 39 hours of running.

Richie Cunningham was waiting at the foot of the hill where is spills you out onto the streets of Chamonix. He gave us the saltire he was carrying and urged us on. Saltire fluttering between us we ran down and round the twisting town centre, calls of 'highlanders' and 'Scotland' heard here and there we ran up the final straight and over the line.

Tommy Hepburn and I crossing the line after 40 hours and 11 minutes

Confused, elated, exhausted and just plain relieved to not have to go forward any more we shook hands with the race organiser and collected our gilets noir. Would I do this race again? No f'ing chance thought I. Chanelled out of the finishing area Tommy met with his wife, and I met up with Drew and Emma. My phone then rang, I fumbled then answered. My wife, daughter, mother and father were on the other end cheering and for a moment I couldn't speak. Emotions welled up and my eyes began to fill before I got it under control. 40 hours of driving myself forward. Mountain scenery like you would not believe. The comradeship of running with Drew, Tommy and George. The support of so many locals around the massif regardless of the time of day. This is an experience of a race that all ultra runners need to sample.

After race thoughts

I can't wait to do this race again. Maybe not next year, but I'll be back for sure. I know where I can gain time by stopping for less, and by pushing on more. I should have pushed on for sub-40 where Drew did as Chamonix wasn't half as far away as I thought at the time I decided not to push on. But how near 35 hours or less could I get? I haven't been able to stop thinking about it all ever since, and probably shan't till I return to the streets of Chamonix. Come on!

The longest climb in the history of history - a Sur Les Trace Des Ducs De Savoie (TDS) race report

2009-09-14T20:19:00.004+01:00

It is an honour to host some great race report writing by John Malcolm. John is sans blog but spent the week or so with the ultra tartan army in Chamonix. He ran the TDS and this is his report. The TDS is a 106km, 6600 m ascent/descent race run at the same time as the UTMB. It actually goes up a peak (Mont Jolie) and looks a corker. Judge it yourself ...

TDS race profile (elevation in metres)

Never been to Italy before. And I’ve never felt so awful in a race before. I’m walking down to la Thuile and cursing the town for being so bloody far away. I’ve been on my feet for god knows how many hours (22? 23?) and I’m having a stinker of a race. Low on energy. Low on morale. This is the hardest race I’ve ever done. But hey, the town’s only five minutes walk away so when I get there I’ll fuel up, heat up, and be on my way.

One hour later, the town doesn’t seem to be getting any closer and I’m starting to lose a couple of places after working so hard to make them up. But why bother fuelling up now? It can’t be that far away now! I take some solace from looking up at the sky and seeing it filled with stars – more than I’ve ever seen before. My head is severely mashed, there’s no way ever I would normally consider not taking on board some fuel, even if the checkpoint was only a short distance away. It’s all fuel in the tank – doesn’t matter when it gets there. I know this but for some reason I just don’t reach for the jelly babies.

The 800m descent from Col du Petit St. Bernard to la Thuile is not the most pleasant introduction to Italy – not at the moment anyway. The never ending descent, with town in view, crushes my spirits and leaves my race finish hanging by a thread.

I keep crossing a road. Looking back I realise it was one of these Alpine switchbacks but at the time I didn’t know what was going on. When I finally reach la Thuile the checkpoint is at the further possible corner of the town. But it’s indoors so I take the opportunity to have a seat, get some food and some sleep. The sleep isn’t intended, more a consequence of being completely out of it. When I wake up, I realise where I am and lift my head, the marshalls in the room are staring at me – I must look pretty rough. I suspect that they suspect a DNF is on the cards. I must admit, it’s tempting, it would be really easy to throw in the towel and get a lift to Courmayeur, or wherever.

My brain doesn’t work like that though and other than exhaustion, there’s no DNF reason. If I DNF I know it would knock my confidence. There’s no point in quitting so after about 40 pointless minutes in the checkpoint I persuade my body to let me leave. I get up, have a drink of coke and head out of the checkpoint. It’s freezing. I had been coughing loudly in the checkpoint and it’s even worse now. I’m literally unable to breathe, as the altitude and cold hit me all at the same time. Drop my bag, reach for the trusty inhaler and a few short bursts later I’m back on the go, breathing easier. [Just hoping no one saw and that I don’t get wada-tested at the end]

Despite a sub-24 hour time now being well out the window, I congratulated myself for getting up and going again. God knows where that came from.

Rewind 22, 23 or 24 hours earlier and I’d just left Chamonix on what I now realise is the toughest race I’ve ever taken part in.

It started with a gentle run to Les Houches followed by a 600m climb and descent before reaching Mont Joly. I started easily – really easily – and intended to pace myself as evenly as possible as I’d done in the WHW race. Up the 600m climb a few people were starting to catch me and they advised they were the race sweepers and that I was in last place! I couldn’t help but laugh, I’ve never been in last place before! They said something about the person in last place sometimes working their way through the field but I could tell from the look in their eye they didn’t really believe it – I knew however that this was my race plan and that in all likelihood I would make up a few places before the race ended – looking at my splits I constantly moved up the field, had a tiny dip of five-ten places during the lengthy stop at La Thuile then moved up again.

At the top of the hill I left the sweepers and started gaining spaces. I figured I would start to work through the field and that soon I would be overtaking left and right (but not centre). It pretty much worked like this. I kept a steady pace heading up Mont Joly and counted 50 people as being overtaken, which was good as I hadn’t broken sweat and was just marching past them.
The first part of the ascent was on land-rover type tracks and this frustrated me as I was all for wild mountain tracks - I soon got my wish when the path changed to a really rough, rocky mountain top – my favourite. After the top, there’s an amazing ridge along to Col du Joly and in the clouds the steep cliffs looked rather frightening. Wonder how far they actually drop?

It was getting quite lonely only vaguely being able to speak the language of my fellow competitors so I spent large proportions of the early part of the race trying to think of things to say in French. I finally had an opportunity when at a checkpoint one of the marshalls asked if I was cold (only being in my vest) “non, je suis ecossais – ne pas soleil on ecosse!” [No, I’m Scottish – there’s no sun in Scotland!] . The four or five surrounding marshalls started laughing and I left the checkpoint with renewed enthusiasm.

I went through highs and lows over the next stages of the race, as the ascents and descents became more and more punishing. I started to realise how tough the race was. Even so, looking back at some of the amazing places I was, it really made the experience worthwhile – most people will never ever see these amazing hidden valleys.

It was often difficult to see in advance where the route went, so I kept telling myself that the route would always go the most difficult route (visually). Nine times out of ten it did go the tough way but on each of those “one” occasions there was a slight mental boost and I ploughed on a little merrier. The organisers are incredibly sadistic – they had us up practically every hill possible and the climbs and descents just didn’t stop. Every stage had either a tough climb, a tough descent or both. It was quite disheartening knowing you were on a 5km stage and had been for the past 90 minutes.

One climb in particular just about killed me. Passeur de Prolagne (or words to that effect) - it was steep with scree, rocks and mild scrambling. It was a 600m climb and I felt every single metre. All I could think was that if this was killing me, what would the forthcoming 1500m climb do? I had a seat, a rest, a sabbatical from the climb. The first and only rest during the entire race, that wasn’t at a checkpoint. I spent a few minutes with my head in my hands and just focussed my energy on the climb. When I emerged I was behind a train of people who were slowly moving upwards - slower than I normally would but I decided to just go along with it and let them drag me up the hill.

Elation cannot describe how I felt when I reached the col summit. There was another descent and I picked up down here shouting at the top of my voice random “amusing” French phrases – “Je suis le grande fromage!” “je suis la papa!” [I’m the big cheese! I’m the daddy!]. Thankfully no one was around to hear me and no one will ever know…

Another slight uphill (slight – it was probably about 200m) and then the long descent I’d been dreading. 1500m over less than 5 miles. I ran down. My quads were already shot but I figured I still had a slight chance at sub-24 hours. About an hour outside Bourg st Maurice (BSM) I caught another train of people walking downhill. Every part of me said overtake them and then get on with it but for some reason I just sat behind them. And walked down the easily runnable hill. And kept walking. And kept walking. Brain mashed well and truly. I reached the town after a huge amount of time, any race time in tatters and my spirits crushed. I spent about ten minutes looking at the time on my watch and debating whether I’d been running for 16 or 18 hours. I worked it out two ways, both made perfect sense but both provided different answers. I settled on 18 hours and felt dejected and mentally ruined – sub 24 was gone.

[Post-race, looking at my splits, I was running for 16 hours! BSM is pretty much bang-on 2/3rds in to the race, distance and ascent/descent-wise, so this was perfect pacing for a 24 hour race – could it have been different had I known this??? Lesson to take home – always use a stopwatch, don’t just rely on the time!]

Coke at the previous aid stations had mostly run dry (a side effect of Richie’s BIG cup? :-) so I was gagging for Coke. There were loads of open air restaurants and they clapped and cheered as we passed. They seemed friendly enough so I went inside and tried to buy some brown ultra-juice. They initially seemed unwilling to serve the smelly chap with the rucksack and poles, cramping the restaurant’s style, but my prayer hand gestures persuaded them and I left the restaurant to another loud cheer.

The buzz in the town was fantastic – it was like what I’d expect the tour de France to be like. Unfortunately a severe medical issue stops the Brits from putting on similar shows but I hope scientific breakthroughs will in future loosen off those stiff upper lips. The French really know how to put on a show though and it gave me a huge buzz to be there, even if I was feeling cack.
The hit from the food and the coke got me going again and I went for a short jog on a flattish section, through another town to get the 1500m climb to Col du Petit St Bernard underway. It was initially quite tough trail, but I was coping well, making a few places and pulling away. It was pitch black by now and so eventually the land rover type track was welcome. I spoke briefly to an English couple and to-d and fro-d with them for a bit. There are also many more stars in the French/Italian sky than the Scottish one…..

I was scared to put too much effort in on a runnable track as I had no idea how far I was from what I assumed would be a tough final climb. I could have run more of this but the unknown really did affect me psychologically and for some reason I just didn’t get going. I must admit I had given up and was just enduring rather than racing against the clock. Eventually, after what seemed like the longest climb in the history of history, I reached the summit and a nice burning fire.

Walking away from the fire, the cold and altitude made breathing difficult so I went back and added on some layers – I put on the Ron Hill tracksters for only the second time – their last outing being the WHW night time rain in 2008.

Then came the descent to la Thuile. It’s only about 4 and a half miles, with 800m of descent. From scratch, I suspect I could batter down it in 25 minutes but this time it took me at least two hours. After straining in the dark to confirm the tricolore was green, white and red, not blue, white and red, the sight of the Italian flag raised a smile. The constant text messages from Vodafone telling me I was in Italy were extremely frustrating however – I opened my bag to read the text, thinking it was encouragement, only to find information on call rates! Very tough on the old spirit.

I did receive a few updates on some of the other WHW runners though, confirming they were all going well, especially Richie who was tucked up in bed at this point! I briefly considered sending a few encouraging texts but could never be sure if everyone was still going – imagine the scene, you’ve just pulled out with extreme exhaustion / twisted ankle / torn hamstring when muggins-here sends you “keep going buddy you’re doing fantastic!”

Anyway, I ploughed on seeing the lights of the town, deciding not to fuel up and eventually reached a short road section with tour de France style scribbling on the road. Among the writing was “go Lance”, which briefly raised my spirits somewhat, seeing something familiar to me.
The town was stereotypically Italian and I weaved my way through the streets to the checkpoint. It couldn’t come soon enough.

Forty miserable minutes later I was on my way again, through the night. I was slow, it was tough and not particularly pleasant. I didn’t feel as tired after the powernap and just about kept my marbles when they took us away from the road and pointlessly sent us up a hill, only to come back down to see the same road again. Through a couple more unmanned checkpoints, hours of feeling horrible and then the first light the next morning came. What a welcome sight - particularly as the summit of Mont Blanc was clearly illuminated high above me. Makes me wish I could be bothered getting my camera out..

The second last checkpoint saw me leave with renewed vigour. I was told it was an hour to the finish and I was determined to break that hour. I powered up the hills, ran the less steep uphill sections and ran the flats. I made around 5 places before the 1km to go sign so I added a touch of speed through the Courmayeur streets and was quickly on the heels of a female runner. Should I overtake? Shouldn’t I? It wasn’t much of a decision so I shot past her then continued on, overtaking another couple on some horrible downwards stairs and flying past another runner on the short climb up. He tried to keep away from me and I toyed with him a little before shooting off.

The finish line was a beautiful sight – I’ve never been happier to finish a race. I went straight in to the sports centre and fell asleep, unshowered, in race gear on one of the designated beds. I woke up four hours later, having missed the last bus to Chamonix. Ahh well, they got me back in the end, after giving me some free beer :-)

My initial aim for the race was to just get around so I’ve done that however there’s a slight disappointment to have taken so long and placed not so well (385 out of 480ish finishers, 650ish starters). I know I could knock a good few hours off the time should I do the race again. I also suspect that although I struggled, had I been doing the full UTMB race I could have just about got round, which is a big confidence-booster for UTMB 2010.

Looking back at the race I’ve got loads of images in my head that will last with me forever:
Ascending a steep col, coming over the top and seeing the most amazing view of snow-capped Mont Blanc in the distance. Trying in vain to work out how to say “that’s why I’m here” in French, then realising the runner adjacent was Japanese and couldn’t understand anyway.
Descending another col and watching as the view changes then looking back on the seemingly impregnable mountain I’ve just run down. Looking closer, straining my eyes and seeing what look like ants in the distance running down the same route.

Looking up Col du Bonhomme, feeling good, seeing dozens of runners in front and thinking to myself “I’m going to overtake every single one of them”. And I did.

The crowd at Bourg st Maurtice treated me like I was either the race leader, coming in to the finish or Nelson f*cking Mandela on a world tour, when I was just some random Scotsman numerous hours after the race leader, completely knackered and without a well publicised prisoner-to-president background.

The smile on the face of the little French girl just outside Bourg st Maurice as she donged her cow bell.

The talk beforehand about always keeping your race number in view but then the marshall at Col du Petit St Bernard encouraging me to zip my jacket up over the number, to keep warm. I thought she was telling me off for having it partially covered!

The over-friendly Italian chap with the impeccable English, telling me at the finish he thought I was done for in La Thuile. So did I. What an experience. What a race. Where do I sign up for next year?

John Malcolm

UTMB 2009 video check this out

2009-09-01T16:52:00.002+01:00

Great 10 minute video of the UTMB 2009 (cheers for sending the link George). See if you can spot the saltire flag on the balcony as the race leaders run along one of Chamonix's main streets just after the start. That was our flat and George Reid's flag. :-)

Ultra Tour Du Mont Blanc 2009 - the short version

2009-09-01T12:40:00.004+01:00

What a gruelling adventure and magnificent experience. The UTMB 2009, a superbly organised and relentless ultra race over 103 miles of trails which result in more ascent and descent than climbing Everest from sea level, is now over. I came in position 609 with a time of 40:11:13, running over the line, Saltire flag raised high with Tommy Hepburn. A great feeling of achievement.

I'll blog a full report with photos soon but in the meantime the interested can see some video clips of the race to get a sense of the terrain from here - http://www.chamonix-meteo.com/ .

Thanks to all the Family members (both physical and WHWR) who provided messages of support before, during and after the race. Knowing I had some folk watching out for me as I progressed round really helped motivate.

And thanks to all the Family members in Chamonix, both those who ran the race with me (Drew, George R and Tommy), who ran the race separately (Michael, Davie B, Andy C, Jon, Iain R, George C, Jens), who helped make sure we were safely fed and watered before we headed into our second night beyond Champex (Sharon and Emma) and those who ran a different race and helped cheer us in so brilliantly (Richie, John M and Sarah R).

I had such a great week getting some final training in the mountains, getting used to altitude, getting to know you all and having a laugh. Thanks all, I will never forget the experience.

Cham ya bam; UTMB prep, taperitis and spending too much cash

2009-08-26T09:39:00.003+01:00

Well here I am sitting in an internet cafe in Chamonix (or Cham) with some overcast skies and a nice 18C or so at 10:45am. Tapering is well in progress and luckily no signs of taperitis (when completely made up pains pop up to worry you). I am also on a beer taper which is helped hugely by the price here (4.5o - 6 euros a pint aaagh!).

Drew Sheffield and I made our 06:30 flight on Saturday despite having to haul ourselves out of bed at 3:30am and the ChamExpress connection from Geneva worked great. We stepped out of the van and I nearly fell over having never been here before. All around are the most unbelievable towering serrated, pointed peaks, sheer rock faces and tumbling glaciers. What a place to be, and what a massif to run around. Excitement set in straight away.

Other than an erratic hot water supply and the Dire Straits played outside at 08:00 on tannoys our flat is great and will only require 200m of walking from the finish, which, after the race will be very very appreciated.

We met up with Richie Cunningham, Andy Cole and his wife and took the free train to Vallorcine on Sunday. Andy and his wife took an easy walk whilst the rest of us took a slow jog / hike up to Col de Montet (puffing due to altitude for sure) then on to Tete aux Tet and Flegere before taking the Kinlochleven on acid descent to La Floria and back to Cham. This is the last 18km + 1000m or s of ascent of the race which we wanted to recce and just enjoy for it affords the most magnificent views of the Mont Blanc massif in all its jagged and glaciated glory. I took a fall on the technical, rooty and rocky trail just before La Floria but other than a skint hand and knee no damage was done (phewft).

Monday was spent at > 2500m with Drew and Richie as we took the cable car up Brevent, the mountain facing Mont Blanc. The first section was in little pod cars to seat 4 or so with a 30' or so drop beneath. The second section was in a 60 person car with a 500' drop beneath as it travelled up the sheer cliffs that lie beneath the summit. I held a pole in the car and looked at the floor, not being the best with heights. Gibber gibber. We basically sat down and let our bodies get used to altitude but also made the time to hike down 500m or so to Lac Brevent to swim in our undies after a few shrieks getting in. We then hiked back up in the glorious sun which shone upon us both Sunday and Monday. I wasn't puffed on the hike back up at all so reckon I should be fine during the race.

Yesterday was a lazier day with a short 4.5 mile walk to Les Houches with Richie along the 'Milngavie to Drymen' section of the UTMB, and last night we cheered on the Petit Trot de Leon (PTL) runners as they left the town at 22:00 fr a 114 hou max. 260km adventure in teams of 3. The music was going, and the race has definitely began to feel imminent. Bring it on! George Reid also arrived in so our flat is now complete.

Today is registration day, tomorrow a lazing around day and Friday the last minute prep day as we will kick off at 18:30 local time. Time to relax, gather strength and prepare. I'm feeling good and focussing on staying that way, particularly psychologically.

My race number is 3570 and this is my planned maximum schedule (40 hours) if anyone wants to follow me on the UTMB website mobile phone text update service. The weather is forecast to be 23C on Saturday, much better than 29C so touch wood it looks good.

Here we go! Waaahooo!

A debate about competitiveness and ultra running

2009-08-17T14:58:00.003+01:00

I'm glad to see that John Kynaston has taken my comment on his blog in the spirit with which it was meant, and that some interesting debate has taken place since then. John had posted some reflections on his blog about feeling negative during races when he became aware he was behind particular people. I commented this in response:

To be honest, I think you are too competitive John. Although you are chasing times I think you partly measure yourself in terms of whether you beat other folk or not. This is evidenced by the negative thoughts you have when you find out where you are in relation to others.

Run the race to enjoy yourself. If the only way you can truly enjoy or motivate yourself is by knowing that you have beaten other folk I'd take some time to reflect on why you are ultra running in the first place. I mean this with all due respect and with constructive intent.

To my mind there should be joy simply in the process and what you as an individual (without reference to others) achieve at the end.

A variety of responses (here and here) debating the merits of competition in training and racing have appeared in the following posts from John creating quite a good debate. I've nothing extra to add to the debate just now except my last comment, which provides a summary of my views on competition:

Thanks for taking my comment in the spirit with which it was intended. I prefer open honesty as a basic strategy in life.

I think you are making the right decision to back off from organising group runs. You have very specific goals and are training for them. I think this kind of training is best done on one's own, or with someone with very similar goals. Not in a wider social grouping, where the banter and company should be more important than the time.

As for competition I agree with various commenters that it is omnipresent and useful. I fully appreciate and indeed indulge in the use of competition during a race between the person in front of or chasing me. It is an excellent way to motivate one to perform during a race. However beyond a race I do not seek to define myself in terms of beating or being better than others. I feel this side of competition is negative and potentially quite corrupting.

I'm not casting aspersions here (honest guv, I'd say if I was), just articulating my views on competition, which I recognise as something of double edged sword. All the best with your training.

I'd welcome any views on my views if they are more appropriate to post here rather than John's blog where the main debate lies.

Back to blogging about preparation for the UTMB next ...

Rather rubbish run

2009-07-30T08:18:00.002+01:00

Sometimes the world conspires against you when you try to train. It was rainy yesterday as I headed out for a 7 mile hilly trail run. Not a problem. However it all went downhill from there.

It took so long to get my Garmin linked to satellites I was about to head off without the damned device (after all its the run that matters) when it decided to play ball. OK I thought and headed off strong. It lost signal twice and on the second time it took about half a mile to regain signal by which time there was little point recording the run.

Then my shoes began to progressively loosen as a I ran up one of the bigger hills on the route. Odd I thought they are becoming very loose. I am used to Salomons loosening a bit on the uphill as they have a fancy tightening system that doesn't work 100% (much better with normal laces I reckon than gimmicky tighteners) but this was getting ridiculous. I stopped at the top, shoe almost flapping to see the supposedly unbreakable lace had snapped. Aagh, no way to tighten the shoe (another feature of gimmicky tightening devices) so I had to walk back to the car.

The rain then decided to turn monsoonal. I sighed slightly and tramped on like a drowned rat, shoe flapping from one foot.

Bobby Gee weekender

2009-07-29T08:35:00.007+01:00

Distance: 30.14 miles
Time: 12hrs 45 mins
Ascent: +/- 11,500'
Fun: lots
Weather: great
Beer: some - Coniston Bitter, Jennings Bitter, some other bitter I can't remember the name of
Breakfast: full English complete with fried bread mmmm

The Bobby Gee (term nicked from the erstwhile Mr. Cunningham) or Bob Graham Round as it more formally called is a ~70 mile, 28,000' ascent long distance fell running challenge that is well described by Richard Askwith in his book 'Feet in the Clouds'. It is perhaps the classic long distance fell run in England and must be completed within 24 hours, at any point in the year you so desire. Attempts must be registered and completion is recorded on an honesty basis as attempts are usually solitary and not under typical race conditions. This is a challenge about yourself and the fell, not beating the man in front.

The Bobby Gee has been on my target for some time now and I have a sort of loose agreement with Jon Steele to give it a bash next year so this weekend just past was an opportunity to recce the route and to get some quality time on hills, serious ascent training for the UTMB. Unfortunatly Jon's son James was seriously injured so he couldn't make it (best wishes for a speedy recovery James) but I met up with two other dafties, Davie Bell (also doing UTMB) and John Millen (done the Fling in a cracking time, about to do the Devils and planning on WHWR next year) to do the route over 2 days.

Well having done it I can safely say I need more time to train on the rough ground of the fell and to recce the route to figure out the best lines where no path exists, or even where a path exists. Going from Steel Fell to Calf Raise then on to Sergeant Man was a prime example of rough ground that we took a while to get across in a definitely less than optimal line. I also need to make sure I fill up water bottles whenever I can. We made the school boy error of running out of water (all 3 of us simultaneously) just after Clough Head and so had to cope with beaming sun, sweating inclines and no water for miles until we reached the streams just above Dunmail Raise. If only we'd filled up at the base of Blencathra ...

At the top of Blencathra figuring out where to go next (Skiddaw and Great Calva behind)

Section 1 - Keswick to Threkeld

Anway we managed some sleep despite the snores emanating from the tent of Mr. Bell and set off at 7am on Saturday morning, planning to run to Langdale and sleep over in the Stickle Inn Bunkhouse. There were a few early morning clouds around but basically a fine fell running day. The path out of Keswick rose gradually towards the Skiddaw car park then became steeper as it headed up Skiddaw proper. This was my first long use of the poles which I'll use in the UTMB and they work a treat, really helping to ease the stress of climbing on the legs. I found them less useful going downhill at speed or over very tricky steep rocky ground when they took too much attention to place properly, but they were just as useful when going downhill at moderate to slow speed over moderate to easy ground.

We head through cloud to the top of Skiddaw (brrr chilly) then down the other side before heading off over rough and boggy ground down and back up to Great Calva. Quick stop then off down the rough heather clad slopes to the river crossing before slogging up the grassy slopes of Mungrisdale Common. Banter was good and we were beginning to generate a fair amount of wind between us, something that would continue to gather pace as we proceeded. Over the boggy top then up the ridge to Blencathra summit where we bumped into a 25 mile walking event. I said we weren't part of it before we learned they were serving beer to the competitors. Doh. We literally went straight down the steep, rocky and scrambly Halls Fell Ridge to end up in Threlkeld where we failed to find a shop that could quench our thirst for a nice cold coke. The thought of nice cold cokes stayed with us for the next 7 odd hours till we reached Langdale but aaaah how nice did one taste.

Section 2 - Threlkeld to Dunmail Raise

John and myself at the top of Clough Head with a glorious view

We definitely didn't take the best line from Threlkeld to the summit of Clough Head and ended up slogging through thigh and waist high sedge for about a mile before breaking through to shorter grass. We then all pretty much simultaneously ran out of water after Calfhow Pike nd got progessively more and more dehydrated as we jogged and power hiked our way south along the ridge across the Dodds to Helvellyn and beyond. We really started farting like troopers on this section which may have been related to the lack of water, who knows. The sounds and bracing smells that regailed our senses were quite something. Fart comfortable with each other for sure.

Davie and John heading up the slopes of Great Dodd

We took the strategic decision to miss a few tops and instead contour around the ridge in the interests of finding water more quickly which we eventually did, on the slopes between Nethermost Pike and Dollywagon Pike. Aaah it tasted like nectar. The ground immediately afterwards proved comical with lots of potholes and Davie doing a face plant as he went down one with one leg, unable to let go of his poles on the way down.

John and myself on the steepish descent down to Dunmail Raise (glorious day)

Section 3 - Dunmail Raise to Langdale

The climb straight up Steel Fell was pretty savage with an intermittently defined path dotted with PB stud marks (someone must have been doing the Round proper) but the views at the top ample reward. This section doesn't look far on the map and we could see the Langdale Pikes tantalisingly close but the ground was rough, bumpy and boggy with little in the way of clear paths. I ended up knee deep in muck and we continued farting our way towards the end point which we reached with a steep but pleasant descent from Stickle Tarn to the bunkhouse.

Davie and John just beyond the top of Steel Fell (Skiddaw and Blencathra in far back)

The bunkhouse and day 2

We went straight to the pub for our long desired cold cokes and ordered food right away. A 1/2lb cheeseburger and chips went down a treat for me accompanied by some good lakeland bitter after a shower and freshen up.

We slept in the next day having read the forecast for persistent rain and gusts up to 65mph on the tops (a reminder of the 2008 OMM) and waking up briefly at 6am to confirm the state of play. So day 2 a write off we ate some well earned full englishes then packed up our gear, said goodbye and headed home with some unfinished business to do.

How do I feel about the UTMB after the outing? Bring it on. The poles worked a treat and I'm looking forward to the main event now. Just a few more hill reps to go ... :-)

Manny's Corbett run

2009-07-28T12:05:00.002+01:00

Eating lunch with tender quads after the Bobby Gee weekend which I'll blog about later. During the run Davie Bell was talking about a lad called Manny doing an attempt on all the Corbetts (hills above 2500ft but below 3000ft in Scotland) in 70 days without motorised transport so I thought I'd follow the story up. He apparently completed his attempt on 8th July and you can read all about it here http://corbettrun.blogspot.com/.

Hat off to Manny. What an adventure!

Back from Oz and the loom of the UTMB

2009-07-23T14:59:00.005+01:00

Back to reality on Tuesday at 6am in Heathrow after 3 weeks in Australia. The flights back from Oz were good enough, the space on the A380-800s much better than normal and the Singapore airlines service great. Our daughter managed a reasonable amount of sleep on the 13 hour second leg from Singapore to Heathrow after a sleepless but good humoured 7.5 hours from Brisbane to Singapore. Our sleep rhythms are surprisingly back to normal after making ourselves stay awake on Tuesday although my head is pretty woolly. What surprises me most is the fact that our baby daughter took basically no re-adjusting at all. When we went to Australia she woke up at 3am for 2 hours for the first 4 nights which wasn't very pleasant at all.

The 103 mile, 10,000m ascent UTMB race is now looming. Previously it was a relatively distant thing but now that I have the course maps, profile and handbook I am beginning to feel some trepidation. The course involves going up and down and up and down and up and you get the idea. Not so easy to train for in rural Buckinghamshire so I am heading north this weekend to do the 76 mile 28,000' ascent Bob Graham Round in the Lake District over 2 days with Davie Bell, Jon Steele and John Millen. A builder, an ex-paratrooper, a mortgage consultant and an academic to make up a right motley crew on the fells. Should be great fun.

Profile of UTMB (note elevation is in metres, not feet ... erk)

Running in tropical Cairns

2009-07-14T23:44:00.003+01:00

I've now been in the land down under for 2.5 weeks and am thoroughly enjoying myself. I've been based with my in-laws in Nerang on the edge of the Gold Coast Hinterland which is nice and hilly so I've been getting in some great UTMB focussed training. I caught a cold in the 2nd week which put paid to running but I enjoyed myself by drinking lots of beer and wine from the wineries in the granite belt which we were visiting (try the Felsberg Tawny Port if you can get it -mmmm). In fact drinking lots of beer has been a fairly constant theme of the trip but this was to be expected, being married to a Queenslander.

I am now on the bit of the trip which is paying for my flights - a work conference in tropical Cairns where the temperature is a notch higher at 28C, high considering it is mid-winter here! It is fairly humid too so running is hot and sweaty, but good UTMB heat training I figure.

There is a 330m rainforest covered hill, Mount Whitfield, 5km from my hotel that I have been running to and running up and down like a deranged sweaty Scots man. I've spotted one or two other locals also doing reps so I'm not being totally batty.

The stairs on the way up Mount Whitfield

I ran round the 'blue arrow' trail near dusk the other day and began to get the aaaagh spiders are out to get me jitters. Then began to think about snakes and violently territorial cassowaries before reigning myself in with a 'stop it you soft git and carry on regardless eeek what's that in the bushes come on man stiff upper lip'.

Off for a catamaran trip to the outer barrier reef for some snorkelling today under bright blue cloud free 27C skies as it is the 'social' day of the conference. Ah its a hard life. :-))))))

Great Barrier Reef off of Cairns

A small remembrance for a good man, Dario Melaragni

2009-07-13T13:06:00.000+01:00

I was shocked and saddened to learn today that Dario Melaragni had died on the top of Lochnagar from a suspected heart attack. My thoughts go to his wife and to those who tried to help him and were with him through the event.

I'll only say a little here for others knew him better and I shan't pretend to have done so. However he gave me not just one, but three shots at realising my ambition to run the West Highland Way Race. I failed on the first two but his action provided me with a measure of confidence and most importantly the opportunity. I succeeded on the third attempt and feel much bettered as a consequence.

Thank you Dario for organising the race and for providing people like me with the chance to realise their dreams and ambitions. Rest in peace.

I've got Leki poles and I'm learning how to use them

2009-06-24T12:45:00.003+01:00

I've got all my UTMB equipment in place except a fresh pair of sports pants (you probably don't want to know about my underwear preferences so I'll stop there). They include a pair of ultra light Leki Makalu carbon trekking / running poles as shown below (ooh gasp at their carbon construction and sleek appearance):

I've tried them out once, and despite feeling like a complete prat running repeatedly up and down a hill in rural Buckinghamshire I was very impressed. They cut 10 secs off a hill rep of 4:30 typical with the same effort. Well I never thought I.

Not sure I am using them correctly so any tips much appreciated - I have them at medium height (arms bent a right angles) and am using relatively short thrusts, about half as frequently as my footfalls.

A year without the West Highland Way Race

2009-06-22T08:33:00.002+01:00

Well, the Race has been run and the times are almost all out. There have been some cracking performances (Richie C in 16:24, Neal Gibson in 18:42 and John K getting a further 8 minutes into sub-20 territory), but I can't see any mention of Thomas L or Murdo McE, and can't find times for Jon Steele, David Hall or David Waterman on the finishers list. I wonder if it is incomplete? Hope they all did well.

This is the first year in 4 that I have not competed in the WHWR and I do feel a little sad not to have been part of the camaraderie and fun (masochistic definition of fun) this year. I wouldn't have been in a fit state though what with the various injuries and baby caught illnesses this year so no worries.

Will I be back next year? I deeply suspect my wife might not let me, but you never know. Ha ha!

Back in action ta-daa

2009-05-18T09:54:00.003+01:00

The Marlborough 33 miler was held on Saturday and, in a calculated risk, I decided to take part to get my first ultra race of the season under my belt and put my UTMB training back on track. The results aren't out yet so I'll wait till they are to post a race report. However I reckon I did it in about 5hrs 11mins - a good 15 mins slower than last year but I couldn't push my pace over rough ground in case I went over on my ankle. The whole race was a little odd in that respect. I had to let people pass me and not be bothered as I gingerly trotted downhills over bumpy agricultural land for fear of knackering my ankle. I finished strong though and had a great day out running across the North Wessex Downs. And best of all my ankle hasn't twinged at all so taking the risk has paid off.

Next will be to run the route of the Fling on 13th June at race pace(ish) to get the mileage up and to make up for missing the real Fling.

Don't iron in the buff

2009-05-02T15:41:00.002+01:00

About to head out for my first decent run since my ankle injury two weeks ago. I'll take the pace easy as I'll be heading off road but increase the distance to 6 miles with ~500' of climbing. If my ankle reacts badly tomorrow then I'll have to consider pulling out of the Marlborough, so I'm a bit nervous about the run.

And so to the title of this blog. Today I learned why one shouldn't iron in the buff with the ironing board situated at groin height. Or at least, if one does decide to iron with such an equipment arrangement then one really ought not to employ vigorous sweeping movements or allow oneself to be distracted by the antics of ones cute baby daughter. Yes, today has been a bit stingy in certain regions. Luckily nothing deep or serious.

Doh ...

2.5 mile run woohoo

2009-04-29T09:20:00.002+01:00

I upped my run mileage to 2.6 miles (shhh don't tell my physio, he only Ok'd 1 mile) last night. I ran a reasonably brisk 7:40 pace for the distance and although I was aware of my right ankle there was no pain so the recovery looks good. I'll do some cross-training on rowing machine and bike today before seeing my physio for more thumb in the torn tendon spot torture tomorrow to get rid of the few remains of swelling fluid build-up.

The Marlborough Downs may yet be on!

Recovery progress and Fling thoughts

2009-04-27T13:48:00.003+01:00

Yes, more self-indulgent injury tedium but it is about all I have running wise to say. Anyway, I did a gym strength training session on Friday and then a 1.5 mile (woo) run on Sunday morning. My ankle seems fine with it although there is still a little fluid build up around the front outside of the joint. My sports therapist will kindly thumb that away on Thursday when I see him, whilst a bite down on a bit of leather and swear a lot.

I'll up the mileage to 2.5 tonight then lay off for 1 night before trying a 5 miler at a very easy pace on Wednesday. Still hopeful for the Marlborough Downs on 16th May but it's not 100% yet.

It's been great reading the various blog reports about the events at the weekend's Highland Fling. Sounds like Dave the subversive pirate was excetionally grumpy, probably due to not getting to wear tracksters for half the day. Sounds like Ian and John K had tough races - might be age gentlemen? ;-) The others have still to report but it looks like Marco, Ritchie, Neal, Tom, George R and Davie Hall had great races, and of course, Jez beat the course record again. :-)

Well done to Drew Sheffield, who I will be sharing an apartment with at the UTMB along with George Reid. He completed the Fling in 10:55 then ot on a bus and completed a marathon the next day somewhere in the Midlands after almost no sleep. Crazy fella!

Hopefully I am injury free next year to join in all the fun.

The diagnosis and prognosis

2009-04-22T21:53:00.003+01:00

Yes, I'm still sitting here self-absorbed in injury and recovery, but the weather is very nice and I am feeling quite chipper all in all. Off business class to Abu Dhabi in a few weeks to deliver some teaching to the Abu Dhabi water and power company - reclining bed seats and all. Woooo. The teaching day finishes at 2pm strangely enough so I'll have quite a few hours to either UTMB power hike train on a severe incline running machine ala Mister Mason's recommendations, or to find a large skyscraper to run up and down the stairwell of. Maybe the beach for some heat training. Who knows?

Anyway, my physio diagnosed my ankle injury today. Likely that I have given myself a minor tibialis tendon tear (grade 1) and a bit of anterior talofbular ligament damage too. Got good strength and no pain when under load so should recover quite quickly. He didn't want to say much about me doing the 33 Marlborough Downs ultra on 16th May but gave me the OK to run a few miles at the weekend as a tester, then build up sensibly. I'll see what the weekend brings ... :-)

Good luck to all the WHWR Family in, or supporting the Montane Highland Fling this weekend. It should be hoot, and a great race with a few folk trying for PBs (Tom, John K, Neal and I suspect also Marco). All the best all!

Highland Fling - the decision

2009-04-20T13:01:00.004+01:00

I'm going to bail out of the Highland Fling for sure this year. Here's my reasoning ...

According to the anonymous poster who I've enjoyed a bit of exchange with, and who ran the Exe to Axe (what's your name fella?) there are 3 grades of ankle sprain, of increasing severity:

Grade I

Mild sprain, mild pain, little swelling, and joint stiffness may be apparent
Stretch and/or minor tear of the ligament without laxity (loosening)
Usually affects the anterior talofibular ligament
Minimum or no loss of function
Can return to activity within a few days of the injury (with a brace or taping)

Grade II

Moderate to severe pain, swelling, and joint stiffness are present
Partial tear of the lateral ligament(s)
Moderate loss of function with difficulty on toe raises and walking
Takes up to 2-3 months before regaining close to full strength and stability in the joint

Grade III

Severe pain may be present initially, followed by little or no pain due to total disruption of the nerve fibers
Swelling may be profuse and joint becomes stiff some hours after the injury
Complete rupture of the ligaments of the lateral complex (severe laxity)
Usually requires some form of immobilization lasting several weeks
Complete loss of function (functional disability) and necessity for crutches
Usually managed conservatively with rehabilitation exercises, but a small percentage may require surgery
Recovery can be as long as 4 months

I don't seem to have any loss of function and have almost no pain in my left ankle sprain now except at the very extreme end of a few very particular movements of my foot, and when I poke at the bruised bits (very tempting). I do have some stiffness, but not too bad. That coupled with the fact I can do toe raises and run 20' without any problem or pain at all makes me think I have either a severe grade I or a mild grade II sprain injury.

I'll see my physio on Wednesday for a proper diagnosis but the swelling, although still clearly present, has been decreasing every day. And, the bruising appears to have reached a maximum with some serious black bruising on the outside edge of my foot, just above the sole and the area around my ankle a sort of greenish bruising colour (mmm nice). Thanks b*****y I don't have a grade III or what I had on my right ankle just before Christmas, a proper grade II.

If I continue healing at this rate I reckon (hope) I should be in a position to do a 6 mile run by the weekend. However I don't have confidence that I haven't weakened some tendons so do not want to risk a further, more serious sprain in the middle of the Fling race, or to test my ankle by subjecting it to 53 miles of pummelling (yet).

Not a comfortable decision to make but I'd far rather be risk averse and back to full training by the weekend after the Fling so I can focus on training for the UTMB. If I complete the Marlborough Downs 33 miler on 16th May, then run the 53 mile Fling route on the weekend of 13th June, then do a 2 day Bobby Gee round on 25th/26th July with Jon Steele and Davie then finish off with the new 31 mile 6800' ascent Dark an White Peak ultra on 8th August before tapering I should be in good shape for the UTMB.

It'll mean I won't be able to complete enough races to qualify for a ranking in the Vasque champs this year but I'm not bothered about that. If can complete the UTMB as my only achievement this year I'll be a very happy man indeed. :-)

Disaster strikes in Aspley Heath

2009-04-17T09:27:00.003+01:00

This week I have felt great - fast and strong with good form. The past month of proper training has paid dividends and my fitness has jumped up, back towards where it should be after a few months of poor training.

So, out I was with a mate doing a final hardish trail run in the rain around Aspley Heath Woods and running well, particularly up hill. We headed at speed down the last downhill, a section with clay mud and tree roots that I have run a million times before in all conditions and I lost my footing and went over on my left ankle. There was a loud pop/crack noise that could have been my ankle or a twig, I don't know. I stopped in sudden agony which then rapidly disappeared. Looking down I could see the swelling was instant and looked a bit like a tendon had snapped and muscle had bundled up on the front, slight outside of my shin, just above the ankle.

I could walk unaided back to the car and use the clutch OK which gave me some hope. I then applied ice when I got home and went to bed early to elevate and rest the injury. This morning the swelling has gone down hugely and I have a compression bandage on. I don't think I've snapped anything but have probably torn some minor muscle above the ankle, I've called my physio nd will get a proper diagnosis asap.

So, disaster for the Fling. It is almost certainly off the cards now. The question is can I recover for the Marlborough Downs Challenge on 16th May? If I have to take 8 weeks off running the UTMB is at risk but if I can get back on my feet in a week or two the UTMB is still on. Ideally what I'll do is run the Marlborough (maybe not that fast) then do the Fling route in June to make up the miles (anyone not doing the WHWR fancy joining me for this, leave a comment).

Fingers crossed and touch wood. What a year I am having so far. No luck at all. Boo hoo.

Final plans for the Fling

2009-04-13T09:40:00.003+01:00

It's been a while since I blogged about anything running related, but that's not to say I haven't been doing anything running related. Quite the opposite in fact. :-)

Training wise I finished my last long run before the Fling on Saturday just past (a 19 mile loop out and back from my house taking in canal, forest trail and the streets of Milton Keynes); I have done another few simulate-the-alps-in-rural-Buckinghamshire sessions (now up to 19 continous reps of a 110' ascent off road hill); done quite a few more 6 mile tempo runs with 1 mile warm-up and cool-downs (and am getting quicker - now at 6:40 pace avg); some gym strength training sessions and a 28.6 mile trail run with +/-2400' ascent/descent along the Ridgeway as a sort of Wuthering Hike replacement (I did it in 4:41 with an avg. pace of 9:56, not counting a 10 minute admire the view and eat stop).

I have also competed in the 2009 Exe to Axe 'fell' race from Exmouth to Seaton (21.5 miles, 4100' ascent) along the south coast. I came in 43rd out of 134 with a time of 3:35:01, which is about 13 minutes slower than last year, but boy was it hot and boy did I completely underestimate my water requirements. Race report coming over next few days with some photos hopfeully.

My final bits of training and tapering for the Fling will involve:

Monday - speed interval session
Tuesday - 10 mile trail run with +/- 1000'
Wednesday - 10 mile trail run with +/- 1000'
Thursday - 6 mile tempo run with extra 1 mile warm-up and cool-down
Friday - rest
Saturday - simulate-the-alps-in-rural-Buckinghamshire session (try for 25 up and down reps of 110' ascent off road hill)
Sunday - rest
Monday - gym strength training
Tuesday - 9 mile easy run
Wednesday - 6 mile easy trail run with +/- 500'

Not sure I am as fit, fast or strong as last year due to various baby related training difficulties over the past three months (which have been tough I have to say). Am hoping to beat my 2008 Fling time (09:56) but won't be too disappointed if I am outside it. The main (sole?) objective for this year is to complete the UTMB and this a good few months off yet.

It will be good to say hello to the various familiar faces again at the Fling nd do some ultra racing!

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

2009-03-31T10:23:00.005+01:00

My training is getting back on track so I'm happy on that front but I have just returned from a networking / conference visit to the Technion in Haifa, Israel so I thought I'd post a few thoughts about the trip. The trip involved lots of water infrastructure tourism (wooo I hear you gasp at the thought of pumping stations, reservoirs and desalination plants) but also a brief visit to Jerusalem on Thursday evening last week. But what a visit! The significance of the place is quite overwhelming both in terms of the history and the continuing influence that the various sites within the old city continue to have on the lives of millions of people.

Our first port of call is what is generally regarded as Christianity's most holy site - the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which was built around the rock of Golgotha (or the Hill of Calvary), the site of Christ's crucifixion and burial, prior to resurrection.

Plan of the Calvary and outline of the Church from here

Although agnostic in position, being able to see the spot and actually touch the slabs on which Christ's body was lain was really quite something. I'm still struck by the tangibility of the experience, and the sheer significance of what it represents in terms of lives across the planet.

I then walked the Via Dolorosa (or Way of Suffering), the route along with Jesus walked , carrying the cross before ending at Golgotha. Then it was on to look at the Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's 3rd most holy site, where Muhammad ascended to heaven. Then, at the same site we visited the last retaining wall of the Temple Mount, the most holy site in Judaism, where Jews believe Adam was created.

Quite an experience all in all.

MK half marathon race report and Wuthering Hike pre-race report

2009-03-15T19:31:00.005Z

MK half race report

Distance: 13.1 miles
Time: 01:29:59
Position: 242/3038

Early March is pretty late to have my first race of the year, but this was it. My other 2 planned races had to be aborted for various reasons (one was cancelled due to yes would you believe icy conditions - and it was supposedly a 'challenging' trail race ha ha) and I've not had a good start to the year training wise. Eilidh's various ailments and bad teething have left me down 1 session per week pretty much consistently since the start of the year.

Excuses excuses I know but I've been gradually upping my speeds and getting PBs every year since I started running half marathons 5 years ago. My previous PB set at this race last year was 01:29:06 and I was hoping to beat it, but this wasn't to be. I was lucky to stay under the 01:30:00 mark.

I ran strong for the first 5-6 miles at a consistent 6:35 - 6:42 min/mile pace then began without noticing to slow to 6:50. I regained 6:45 pace but then slowed to 7:05 and worse over miles 7 to 11 as the route turned into a fierce headwind. I just couldn't get any faster through the wind. The last mile I picked up to 6:40 pace again but too late, the PB gone for another year (c'est la vie).

Wuthering Hike pre-race report

I am filing a pre-race report because although registered and was actually in Haworth ready to race on Saturday morning I was stricken with the most torrential bout of diarrohea you could imagine. Vast volumes of pasta consumed in the interests of glycogen storage were turned through a marvellous chain of biochemical reactions to an outpouring of water with the odd brown fleck. Quiet amazing, and quite debilitating too when it comes to running 31 miles. So there I sat in my Westfield Lodge apartment overlooking the last road drag up to Penistone Hill watching the bobbing heads of runners nearing the end of their race. Gits said I feeling jealous (I hope all WHWR'ers there had a good race even if they are all gits for bobbing their heads far too happily as I looked out my window).

Where did I get the lurgy bug from? A baby of course. We went on holiday with some friends and their almot 2 year old baby boy to a Centre Parcs holiday camp thing near Nottingham. It turned into holiday sick camp. We arrived on the Monday only for them to be stricken down on the Monday night with the lurgy - they caught it from their baby son who had it the week before (lesson - do not go on holiday with babies who have just had sickness and diarrohea, even if you are paid to do so). Eilidh then caught it on Wednesday with a magnificent series of ejections from either end. Kirstin then came down with it on Wednesday night / Thursday morning and I felt pretty ropey at the same time but thought I'd escaped the worst of it. How wrong was I.

So more, tales of a poor start to the year running wise. I'm a glass half full kind of chap though so I'm happy I have a couple of extra months up my sleeve when it comes to the UTMB as compared to the WHWR. I'll do a race pace 30 miler one afternoon this week to make up for missing the Wuthering and that'll get me back on track. Until the next baby related illness incident of course! :-)

Eilidh in hospital

2009-03-05T20:47:00.002Z

The 2nd year of Eilidh's life is proving to be peppered with various ailments - colds and squirty bum bugs mainly. Unfortunately with an asthmatic set of parents (mine still persists) she is hit heavily in the chest when she gets a cold. Apparently babies in their 2nd year get on average 24 colds. That's a lot of wheezing we've still to come.

Anyway I got the call to pick her up early from her childminders on Wednesday as her ventolin puffer was having no effect on her latest chesty cold. I took her immediately to the doctors as her last chesty cold was only 1.5 weeks ago - probably the same infection. He referred her immediately to the hospital. Que for a 4 hour wait in A&E after being really very quickly seen and Eilidh nebulised (an effective way of delivering the anti-wheezing drug salbutamol). Her blood oxygen levels were tested using a rather nifty infra red non-invasive device (I'd love to know how it works) and came out at 82% - pretty dangerously low. She was tranferred to the paedatric unit after 4 hours in A&E, put on oxygen and nebulised every hour until 09:00 when the nebulising went to every 2 then 3 hours. Eventually she was discharged today at 17:30, with some steroid to reduce lung inflammation and two very bleary eyed parents.

So, more blogging about being a father and not training, but heyho I wouldn't change a thing. I love her to bits.

My draining will

2009-03-04T13:51:00.004Z

Training seems to be going according to my rather rough plan this year. Long run distance is up, speed and tempo sessions going well but I'm struggling to get my mileage up to the levels I want it up. There's no physical problem, just a motivational one. Eilidh is still teething. It's been pretty much 2.5 weeks of 05:00 - 05:15 rises every day and they are exacting a toll on me. My will to get out running after work at night is gradually being sapped. I'm still doing OK but I'm dropping 1 session per week just to try to get to bed before 22:00. I find it impossible to get back from work, play with Eilidh, help get her ready for bed, train, cook dinner and get into bed any earlier than 22:00. It's often 22:30 and I am an 8 hour a night sleep kind of a chap so the accumulated loss of 2 hours sleep a night is well, accumulating. 4-5 cups of coffee a day to function a work says it all.

She's great though. She knows and can repeat the sounds of elephants, cows, frogs, ducks, sheep, dogs, her grandad (who says a sort of high pitched yoo-hoo to her), tigers, cats, lions, birds and monkeys. She can point out some colours, loves drawing (on everything) and says what's that to everything, all the time. Very funny.

On the Imelda Marcos front I've just purchased myself a new pair of road trainers which I'll try out tonight. Adidas Supernova Sequences. Lovely white, red and silver. Hopefully be good for the MK half marathon, my first race of the year this weekend.

Close Encounters of the Academic Kind

2009-02-24T08:41:00.004Z

Stan B reckons my blog is reminiscent of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I am trying to figure out how.

I have a large domed and bald head which does impart a certain otherwordly appearance in a dim light, or if a bright torch is shone upon it. It might be this which reminds him of said movie.

Or he may simpy have detected that I look like the kind of fella who really enjoyes watching said movie. Sad I know, but it's a cracker. Almost as good as Das Boot for mind numbing ultra length movies. Here's the famous bontempi organ music to heighten the Close Encounters experience I offer here on this mildly academic blog. Enjoy. :-)

Condors soaring over Milton Keynes

2009-02-22T21:50:00.005Z

Saturday was a glorious day for the start of my Milton Keynes based alpine training regime in preparation for the UTMB in August. The sun was out and its warmth could be felt penetrating through trees and clothing. The condors were soaring high above the lofty, snow clad peaks and jutting aretes of the Brickhill Alps whilst marmots and lemmings scurried about in the pine clad slopes and upper alpine meadows. Glorious.

I picked the off road slope with the single greatest uninterrupted vertical ascent and started my run at 3pm. 115' of climbing and 115' of descending saw my first hill rep complete. Yes, the Brickhill Alps are a behemoth of a mountain, ahem er, molehill range.

Last year I peaked at 15 reps in my mid-week hill rep sessions so I was pleasantly surprised when I got to 13 and thought, hang on, this isn't too bad, I can manage a few more. I got to 15 and thought the same thing again. It wasn't till rep 17 that I could feel my calves begin to complain and in rep 18 I thought I'd probably have to walk rep 19 so I called it a day. 18 consecutive reps of up and down, covering 2100' of ascent and descent over 7.83 miles in 1:26.

I then managed to dodge the condors on my descent to make it home in time for my voracious daughter's dinner. A great afternoon. I'll work on upping the number of reps to somewhere around 30-40 as I get closer to the UTMB (oh joy, the idea of it sounds very enticing).

Here's a picture of my at the top of the hill I selected to run up. Milton Keynes is wonderfully scenic isn't it? A real hidden gem. ;-)

Training update (oh what an exciting post title) and racing plan

2009-02-20T22:48:00.005Z

Right then folks, I'm back to the keyboard whilst sitting in bed last thing at night. Eilidh is teething like billy-oh just now so it's 6am ups or earlier every day. The time is past 11pm so I'm playing fast, loose and dangerous with sleep quotas. I'll have to be quick.

My training is back on track performance wise after a rather stuttered start to the year. I'm not managing all my planned sessions yet as various bits and bobs are popping up but I am performing as I want to be at this stage in the year and season. Progress wise I am doing as below:

Endurance - no problems, my base level doesn't appear to have diminished and I've run an 18.5 miler on the last 2 weekends. The 2nd one had about 1500' of ascent in it and I recovered within a day.
Speed - again no problems, I am up to running 6 consecutive sub 7 minute miles in my tempo sessions with the first 3 at sub 6:50 pace. I am holding 6:15 and below pace easily in my 3 minute effort interval sessions
Strength - my gym sessions haven't been as regular as I'd like so I need to up these
Yoga - I can now do up and down dog positions in Ashtanga Yoga and am enjoying it
Hills - not really started this yet but tomorrow is the day I run 15-20 reps of a 130' ascent hill near my house as the start of my 'simulate alpine running in rural buckinghamshire' training plan

I have my race and training even plan sorted until the back end of September and it kicks off next month:

March - MK half marathon (aiming sub-1:29), Wuthering Hike 31 miler (aiming sub-5:15)
April - Exe to Axe 21 miler (4500' ascent, aiming sub 3:20), Highland Fling 53 miler (aiming sub 9:56)
May - Marlborough Downs Challenge 33 miler (aiming sub 4:55)
June - 2 day Bob Graham Round
July - in Australia so I''ll grab whatever I can plsu something big when I return as a final UTMB training session
August - UTMB 103 miler
September - High Peak 40 miler

If anyone has any June or late July ultra race or training ideas I'd be very grateful for them.

Looking forward to the season, and hoping to see some familiar faces at the ultra events, particularly the Wuthering Hike, Highland Fling and HP40.

In the meantime here are some photos that were taken by my mate Phil Dickson at PSD Photography over the festive period. We wanted to get some professional photos taken to send to Kirstin's family in Australia, for my family and our own albums, but didn't want anythin too cheesey. I think he did a good job. The last photo was taken in People's Palace in Glasgow when he accidentally dropped something and managed accidentally to take a photo of us (my family - gran, mum, dad, brother, wife, daughter and me) grimacing at the noise. Funny expressions!

Grunt puff puff ...

2009-02-02T09:20:00.005Z

... are the noises I made on my supposedly long hilly trail run at the weekend before I decided to cut it short and go home! Talk about perseverance, not.

Last week was my first full week of training so my mileage lept up and by Saturday my body was groaning under the strain. Probably too much red wine on Friday night too - well you've got to haven't you, after a week of hard work and not much sleep due to our crazy daughter's prolonged teething? That and I still get overly excited by Friday nights even though my hazy youthful days are but a hazy memory. Actually they were hazy the next day but that's besides the point.

Anyway, my breathing felt a bit laboured / asthmatic (I've had asthma since I was wee) and my legs sluggish after 1 mile of running so I called it quits at 11 miles. Pain in the bum really and disappointing performance wise but hey ho, back in the saddle this week. I'm planning to do a 20 miler this weekend and I'll remember to stay off the vino.

More importantly I've got to pass my condolences on John Kynaston for the loss of his father - sad news. And at the other end of life, my congratulations to Debbie and Marco for the birth of their son, Cairn, the first newborn to have already finished the West Highland Way Race - great stuff.

To leave this post I'd like to finish with a great a track by the Doves - There Goes the Fear. I first heard it, and the band on Richie Cunningham's UTMB slideshow and rather liked it. It has a dramatic fee that sort of suits the enormity of running a long ultra I think. And lots of other life events too.

Dreaming of la gilet rouge

2009-01-28T22:25:00.004Z

Yes, I have returned to the land of the blog after a slightly stuttered start to the year in training terms. And I'm back to training in full tilt now thank goodness. We experienced the awful hell of both parents and baby ill with winter vomiting virus on the same day with no parental help within 300 miles. Oh how the minutes crawled by ...

But that's now history, our daughter is back to full health and I have started focussing on the main goal for this year - completing the 103 mile, 33,000' of ascent Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc in late August. This is the race that got me into ultra running in the first place. My wife and I competed in the 2005 Edinburgh Rat Race, a slightly tongue in cheek 2 day city centre adventure race involving the usual orienteering, mountain biking, kayaking but also abseiling off buildings, bouncing around a car park on space hoppers and impersonating Sean Connery. Anyway the North Face sponsor it as well as the UTMB and they were handing out gear catalogues with pictures of Tim Tweitmeyer (did't know of him at the time) running next to glaciers and big, impressive mountains. It also had his UTMB race report. I was instantly inspired and hooked. And this year I have got an entry.

I did a wee 6 mile trail run yesterday whilst I was off work and I thought about the race all the way round, picturing what it might be like and what winning a red gilet will feel like. I can't wait!

Since I last blogged I have also been for a project meeting inside the Arctic Circle in the north of Sweden. A tiny 250 inhabitant place called Abisko on the main line from Kiruna to Narvik on te Norwegian coast. The Ice Hotel is about 10km from Kiruna if you've heard of that. I lived in Kiruna for 13 months in 2001-2002 and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I took the plane to Stockholm then caught the 17 hour overnight train up and back. Much more civilised and relaxing and only aboout £100 for a sleeper cabin to myself each way so not too expensive, particularly compared to flights in that part of the world. Although the flights have their unique charm when you first notice that have are landing on ice and packed snow in a jet plane. Hee hee!

Abisko is stunningly beautiful. We were there only 10 days ago so the aurora was out and the ground was covered in snow. The temperature was between -5 and -25 C, averaging around -10 to - 15. I went out running twice, the first time for an out and back 7.5 mile run on snowmobile tracks through the forest and the second I only managed 4.5 miles as it was below -15, which is not so good for long lung exposure. I saw a wild female moose and a juvenile whilst on the first run. The photos below are of the Lapporten or Lappish Gate, which looms over Abisko, and of some aurora taken from just outside Abisko. The Lappish Gate is a main waymark on the traditional reindeer herding routes of the indigenous nomadics, the Saami.

Lapporten, Abisko, Sweden

Aurora Borealis from near Abisko, Sweden

To top it all off I even got to drink beer in the sauna. A great Swedish tradition. Hic.

If you are interested I'm training 6 days a week like this:
Monday - speed or hill intervals
Tuesday - easy run
Wednesday - tempo run
Thursday - yoga (a new innovation for my training this year)
Friday - gym
Saturday - long run (for 2 weeks, then a long hill session for the 3rd week and 4th week off)
Sunday - rest

I'll be in blog contact once per week, or maybe more frequently and look forward to catching up on all the news I've missed from the WHWR family. Hope everyone else is dong well and training hard. :-)

I'm almost back

2009-01-10T15:58:00.003Z

Christmas and New Year are just about a distant memory and I have returned to training in earnest. I've not had a chance to write anything proper yet after the festive break but will get round to it over the next week.

Fear not, the balding glaswegian will return (is that a groan I hear from the back?)!

Normal running resumes and a holiday booked

2008-12-15T12:09:00.002Z

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

2008-12-08T08:23:00.002Z

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

2008-12-07T09:38:00.004Z

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)

2008-12-05T08:22:00.002Z

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

2008-12-03T12:24:00.005Z

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

2008-12-02T09:20:00.003Z

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

2008-11-26T09:30:00.003Z

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

2008-11-18T16:37:00.002Z

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

2008-11-17T15:14:00.002Z

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?

2008-11-13T21:07:00.003Z

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

2008-11-05T21:27:00.005Z

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)

2008-11-02T11:36:00.015Z

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

2008-10-29T09:07:00.003Z

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

2008-10-17T13:07:00.004+01:00

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

2008-10-13T22:10:00.004+01:00

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

2008-10-06T20:45:00.003+01:00

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

2008-09-28T22:03:00.006+01:00

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

2008-09-24T12:57:00.004+01:00

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

2008-09-22T20:45:00.013+01:00

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

2008-09-17T12:16:00.003+01:00

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:

elite or very good performers have both good running economy and good ability to withstand EIMD
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

2008-09-16T13:47:00.001+01:00

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

2008-09-16T12:47:00.002+01:00

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

2008-09-04T21:07:00.007+01:00

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

2008-09-02T22:35:00.003+01:00

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)

2008-09-01T20:06:00.005+01:00

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

2008-08-27T21:31:00.004+01:00

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

2008-08-27T07:45:00.005+01:00

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

2008-08-26T16:54:00.003+01:00

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

2008-08-26T16:32:00.002+01:00

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).

Teeth, morality, religion and heavy legs

2008-08-24T19:28:00.004+01:00

Yes, I thought I'd blog on a diverse range of topics today.

First of all are teeth and the fact that my daughter is now taking on the appearance of a beaver with the appearance of her front lower pair and front upper pair of milk teeth. She is no longer a baby (aaawww) but instead has gained the ability to gnaw through wood (hoorah!). We are hoping she'll take after me in the teeth domain for my wife has a slightly wonky set of toothy pegs. Mine ain't US-style perfecto, but they also aren't British in appearance - my wife, an aussie, introduced this stereotype to me. Apparently most of the rest of the developed world take the piss out of us Brits for having dodgy teeth - 'British Teeth'. I had no idea, but it is as entrenched a stereotype as French men wearing stripey t-shirts and dangling onions from their bikes. Unfortunately I think the British Teeth stereotype might actually have more basis in truth, or so my wife tells me at least.

Onto morality and religion. I type this whilst watching 'Make me a Christian' on Channel 4. It's an interesting program but fails to address the assumption that religion is the only way to have a coherent moral or ethical stance - this assumption is not stated as such but lurks around in the background context. I'd much rather see a set of people engaged with debates about morality (concerned with good or bad) and ethics (sets of principles for conduct) which include religion but expose the participants to a far wider range of positions.

As someone educated formally to Doctoral level in the sciences and a professional 'scientist' I understand what Richard Dawkins is still trying to do - show people that the Biblical account of creation is complete nonsense in terms of geological, glaciological, genetic and fossil evidence, and that in fact you don't need to invoke a godlike entity to explain either the existence or diveristy of life. There are simpler explanations, and following William of Ockham's (a good Christian by coincidence) principle (Ockham's razor) the only plausible way of building theory and explanation is piece by piece, starting with the simplest and only adding additional elements and layers if absolutely necessary. Otherwise you start arbitrarily complex and you have no basis for jusifying the level of complexity of explanation you have selected. The dynamics of small scale (chemical, molecular and genetic) processes embedded within the dynamics of larger scale (developmental biological, organismic and ecological) processes over space and time are all that is needed.

Clearly such process based explanations do not provide the same kinds of answers that religion provides, or at least the non-literal creationist or fundamentalist bits of religion. But I suspect not everyone wants or needs such answers. Science does not do the same thing as religion in epistemological or functional terms and no-one sensible has ever pretended otherwise.

However Richard Dawkins fails to understand that simply showing that there is no need to believe in a god does not provide a replacement for something which is quite clearly a core component of human life regardless of country or culture. People all over the world lead their lives according to religious codes of morality and ethics, and meet together to worship. Does this mean that people need to belong to morally and ethically defined communities, or to have some institutionalised forum for debating issues of morality and ethics, or just to be told what is good and bad? I don't know, but suspect there are a complex set of needs being satisfied. Richard Dawkins will remain frustrated until he figures out something to adequately replace the religions he so desperately wishes to debunk. I suspect it will be close to impossible however - the institutional history and capital associated with the worlds religions is substantial and I cannot see how something (a new institutional structure - centralised or decentralised wouldn't matter) could be created quickly enough to satisfy the same needs as the religions of the world. These things take time, lots of time ...

I wonder whether I should turn this blog into a sort of scholarly version of the subversive blog? I simply can't compete with Dave in booze terms and agree with some other WHWR family members that blogs which contain more than facts and figures are more interesting. Well I'll see if anyone bothers commenting here to see whether the scholarly waffling appeals or put readers off. Maybe I'll continue on regardless! :-)

But having said that here are the facts for my weekend's runs. I did a hilly off road 10 miler yesterday which I felt tired throughout but also felt I maintained good form. I then did a faster run today to try to get some speed back into my legs. It wasn't a tempo run or speed session, just an attempt to run a bit faster than normal. I managed despite getting lost a bit but my legs felt really heavy throughout so it wasn't a comfortable run.

Saturday - trail run
Distance: 9.80 miles
Ascent/descent: +834'/-803'
Time: 01:23:56
Splits: 8:34 (avg), 9:14 (slowest), 8:04 (fastest)

Sunday - road run
Distance: 6.89 miles
Ascent/descent: +164'/-164'
Time: 00:52:55
Splits: 7:41 (avg), 7:42 (slowest), 7:20 (fastest)

Upcoming races

2008-08-19T15:40:00.002+01:00

One more race in the ultra season for 2009 for me then I coast into a sort of awkward jumble of races that will be difficult to train coherently for.

The last ultra this year for me will be the High Peak 40, a 40 mile race which starts in Buxton in the Peak District and does a clockwise circuit of some of the more interesting trails, peaks and dales including Mam Tor and Cave Dale. It's quite a fast race as parts of it are on road although it contains everything from muddy bog to hard pack trail to seriously rocky trail to road and grassy fields, and has around 4500' of ascent. The last 6 or 7 miles of it are a real sting in the tail - first psychologically as you come up and out of a dale at the 33 mile mark or thereabouts and have to run for 4 or 5 miles along a road which winds its way visibly ahead of you, seemingly forever - then physically as you strike over a field with only a few miles to go and all of sudden come across a 300' odd deep narrow dale barring your way with the only option being to descend then climb back up. It's a great race though and I've run it twice before. I'll be hoping for sub 7 hours this time.

I have decent 'ultra legs' on me just now having completed a total 5 ultras so far this year (Wuthering Hike, Highland Fling, Marlborough Downs Challenge, West Highland Way Race and Devil O the Highlands) so training shouldn't be a bother. I went out for a 9 mile recovery run last week after DOTH and also did a gym training session. Today I'll do a 6 mile trail run, then an 8 mile road run tomorrow then another 6 mile trail run on Thursday. I'll squeeze in something around the 15-16 mile mark on Saturday and that should be my legs recovered so I can build up the distance for a few weeks before I taper.

My back of year plans are to run a 9 mile trail race (the Ridgeway Run) from Tring on 12th October then the Original Mountain Marathon (OMM) on 25th/26th October. Marco C and myself have got an entry for the A-Class, which will entail being self sufficient (i.e. carrying all gear - water, food, clothing, tent etc.) and navigating our way point to point over the Borrowdale fells in the Lake District covering around 20 miles and a few thousand metres of ascent each day. The exact course details won't be released till the day but if its anything like the event in Galloway in 2006 it will contain a lot of up, a lot of down, a lot of navigating over very rough ground in bad weather, fording rivers up to my chest and sleeping in damp warm clothes with spectacular scenery and bunch of other like minded er folk. Heaven, sheer heaven.

I then plan to try run a half marathon faster than my current PB of just over 1:29 and would like to enter a full marathon in December to see what time I could do. I've only ever run 1 road marathon and that was years ago when I had only been running for a few years. I got 3:42 which I think I could easily beat now. Sub 3:15 would be my goal, sub 3:10 if possible but I don't know if I'll be able to turn round the ultra and OMM training quick enough to get speed in my legs.