Looking forward to the Fling

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.