I have been somewhat reluctant to do a summary of the year as it just feels a bit cliche. I do however, have a pretty serious compulsive disorder which requires me to box things off in order to feel like I can properly move on.
January
I started the year as I meant to go on, running 3 ultras and a marathon in the first 6 weeks. Stansted Stagger was a cold sunny day with loads of snow still on the ground. Two weeks later I lined up at Country to Capital with Pete for his first ultra and my fears that we would be out for 10+hours in the icy cold were soon put to bed as Pete went from strength to strength running pretty much every step of the 8 hours and 45 miles. I felt great at Winter Tanners the weekend after that and went into the London 50k with confidence. I annihilated the first half and then got lost so many times that I literally threw the map away.
February
My first major goal of the year was to break 7 hours for 50 miles at the Thames Trot. Well I got sick and missed out which sucked a fat one.
March
Awesome time at Steyning Stinger, 'running' with Bucket who had flown over from Singapore. We spent all day in the sunshine, albeit freezing cold sunshine, and had an epic day of almost 6 hours on our feet but truly the Stinger is such a great event.
My second major goal of the year was to break 3 hours in a marathon. The training for it sucked beyond belief. I spent a few hours each week down the track and in the altitude room at the gym churning out 'intervals' which with no coach and no idea meant really just running pretty fast for 40 minutes to 80 minutes and seeing if I could stick the pace. Well I could so I lined up at the Washington Suntrust National Marathon with Frank and ran for my life. I stuck to the watch all the way, hated most of it but felt like I'd really earned it when I crossed the line in 2:58:07.
For some stupid reason I thought that flying to Washington Friday night after work, running a marathon as soon as I got there and then flying back Sunday night on the red eye in to work Monday morning wouldn't be too much of an issue. I dragged Pete into entering the votwo JCC the weekend after and I had the worst weekend of the year by a country mile. It pissed it down for 3 days, I had no energy, the event involves map reading and to top if off we had to stay in a caravan. I can't bring myself to talk about it any more than that. The scenery was great and we both finished. Moving on.
April
Didn't get into London, again, so ran the Shakespeare marathon around Stratford instead. I was having a shit when the gun went off so I was late starting but still managed 3:12 pretty easily. This was a good sign as I started to build up training mileage for Badwater.
May
I can't really work out what happened to my running on the first weekend of May. I lined up at Three Forts Marathon for the second year running knowing the course and having run most of it over and over again in training over the years. I guess it felt a bit like a home course. I had through a mixture of reluctance to ruin the trip and family issues dropped out of Lands End to John O'G bike ride and I seriously seriously regretted that. Three Forts was my way of making it a little easier to bear. It was raining hard and I was acutely aware I had road shoes on and the whole thing is off road. Anyway the gun went and I led out of the school playing field. I started up the first long climb and kept looking behind me to let whoever was on my tail, past me. There was nobody right there pressing and I started to pull away without really trying that hard. When I hit the first downhill I opened up and I was 100 metres ahead by mile 2. I just went with it, taking the encouragement of people at the aid stations and enjoying how strong i felt on the climbs and descents. I mean I didn't put myself over the edge, I walked up one section the really steep climb just over the road up to the Youth Hostel but I guess I knew I was in good shape at Devils Dyke turnaround mile 7, as you go back past the rest of the field and I had 90 seconds on 2nd/ 3rd. The run down to the road again was like free flow I couldn't have run any faster, 5 minute mile pace. The rest of the race I was never able to see anyone behind but that didn't stop me pushing as hard as I could. In the end I finished the race in 3:13. For a 27 mile off road race in road shoes in torrential rain and with 5500ft of climbing, that run made Washington pale into insignificance. I don't know what I would say an equivalent flat road marathon time would have been but way way under 3 hours. It was almost like someone else took over my body for the day. Anyway I was grateful. This was the best run I had ever strung together. I won a the race of 160 people by 22 minutes, leading from wire to wire. I'm not sure how that's possible. I ran the Orpington Marafun the following weekend. Great event for charity but I was sick of running down dual carriageways in south london by the end of the day.
June
All about running maximum mileage and getting myself as ready as I could be for Badwater, sitting in the sauna at every available moment to get used to the heat. Ran the South Downs Marathon again and had a great time, then did back to back 35 mile days on the South Downs with Votwo. Now this one I would definitely do again. Webbo and I took it pretty easy but I knew i was in good shape when at the finish in beachy head after 70 miles I felt like I could have turned around and run back. Tapered massively after this because of slight twinges in my achilles and shin splints which I needed to shake off before Badwater.
July
Badwater. It's all in the report. The greatest race I have run. The most epic. I learnt what true suffering was. Lost so much weight, got my nutrition beyond badly wrong. An unbelievable experience and so good to share it with 5 of my closest friends. I will go back one day because I didn't do myself justice. In the end obviously finishing was the whole point but being a competitive bastard I knew i was capable of 30 hours and running 39 and change was a small disappointment. Would love to go back and see this race as crew and help someone else get to the finish line. I had no idea what being tired was until I got home from this one. It wiped me out for 2 months.
August
DNS at Ironman UK. No energy, managed 2 bikes and 1 run between Badwater and IMUK start date. Waste of money and a let down for Webbo who raced alone but finished well.
Back to Chamonix for UTMB. Massive disappointment with the race being abandoned because of landslides in the 5 hours we were running. I was ill for days in the lead up and I was still fucked from Badwater. I felt absolutely horrendous just a mile into it, which, with 102 miles and 30000ft of climbing wasn't a good sign. Probably a huge blessing that it was cancelled although part of me was intrigued just how far I would go on zero energy with the shits. Strike 2 at UTMB after my DNS in 2009.
September
Pulled out of Furnace Creek. How I was going to ride 508 miles non-stop through the desert when my longest ride in 2010 to date was 103 miles I really don't know. Idiot.
October
Ran the Caesars Camp 100 miler after my DNF at the 50 mile in 2007 due to injury. Again this one is all in the report. If you'd told me I'd run 27 hours 11 at the start I would have been annoyed. By the end I was delighted. Chaffing so horrific I fell asleep with the air con pointed at my balls in the car for almost 2 hours at mile 80. One of my proudest moments of the year was having the stones to get out of the car 22 hours in to the race and get through the last 20 miles. A few years ago I'd have just turned the engine on and driven away. I think....
November
Started ramping the training back out towards the middle of the month. Launched the website which has gone down well with most people so I'm proud of that. Ran Gatliff 50km in perfect conditions. Thoroughly enjoyable.
December
Luton cancelled. Again. What a shame, oh wait no that race fucking SUCKS.
Highlights:
1. Winning at Three Forts I put this above the others because I'm not sure I will ever run as well as that again in my lifetime.
2. Finishing Badwater. Fulfilment of a 5 year dream
3. Breaking 3 hours at Washington. Just nice when someone asks me my best marathon time (the most common question from runners and non-runners alike) that I can say something that starts with a 2.
4. Finishing Caesars Camp. Any other year this would have been top. Still not sure I could get out of the car and start up again if put back in that position.
5. Running the south downs way 5 different times in races. I love that track.
Lowlights:
1. The road to Lone Pine mile 100 to 122 at Badwater. Absolute physical and mental agony for hour after hour after hour.
2. Having to pull out of Lejog. Blowing out a once in a lifetime trip for fear that I was causing them to rush the cycling. Massive error. They finished in the 8 days without me anyway.
3. Having to pull out of Furnace Creek and thus the Death valley Cup which I would have been the first Brit to complete.
4. Not being able to bust my 50 mile PR at Thames Trot
5. Having to pull out of Ironman UK. Who likes triathlon anyway.
All in all the highs far outweight the lows so I'm happy and I'm lucky, I've had such a great time this year.
Goals for 2011?
Break 20 hours for 100 miles.
Run under 7:30 at Comrades
Break 24 hours at Western States
Break 25 hours at Leadville
Finish the Grand Slam
Do less pointless racing and enjoy longer training runs in places I don't usually get too.
Put on the best possible event that I can on the NDW on August 13th.
Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday 23 December 2010
Sunday 5 December 2010
The Grand Slam
I guess over the next 8 months I'll end up writing about this particular subject over and over again. For a long time now I've considered 100 mile trail runs as the thing I see myself doing more of than any other type of racing in the future. Switching off from the world for a whole day and getting in to the rhythm of running until you drop. The sense of achievement on finishing. The camaraderie between the racers. The atmosphere before during and after an event. The appeal of traveling to far flung places to race. All reasons why I want to run more trail 100's. The downside is the amount of time you spend out of running the other side of a 100 whilst you recover, but if you're not quick enough to be up the front that kind of matters a lot less. There is also a significant cost implication but you can't take it with you so i'll just spend the few grand i've saved on this now instead.
So for a few years now I've wanted to run Western States 100. Western States is the oldest 100 in the world. I could write for about 5000 words on the subject because it is more widely written and talked about than probably any other 100 in the world. This side of the Atlantic, clearly the UTMB is the main trail event over ultra distance with 2500 runners and plenty more wannabe's turned away each year. In North America the honour belongs to Western States, the original 100 mile run and the race with consistently the largest number of applicants.
I never really considered having a real chance of getting in because it is so hard to get a slot. Every year the management board of WS100 select just 400 runners to toe the start line. This year those people included:
Top 10 Men from 2010
Top 10 Women from 2010
36 slots for winners of some of the bigger trail races in the US
30 Sponsor Slots
The management board
9 time finishers going for a 10th finish
70 Two Time Losers (people who didn't get in through the lottery in either 08 or 09)
This left a total of 219 slots to be drawn in a lottery. Still seems like a lot but there were over 1800 applicants for those 219 slots which gave applicants around a 12% chance of getting in.
Last night they ran the lottery and my name was the 60th one out of the digital hat. I literally couldn't believe it. After sitting through the painful experience of watching 220 people get drawn out last year and not being one of them I didn't imagine I had a hope. It was with a heavy heart that I saw the remainder of the names get drawn without Franks name coming out of the hat. Frank has wanted to run this race for some time also having done just about everything else and it would have added massively to the whole experience to have him there.
So the last weekend of June next year I'll be going to Squaw Valley California to run 100 miles to the finish at the Placer School Athletics Track in Auburn. 100 miles with over 15,500 feet of elevation gain and 23,000 feet of descent, in temperatures ranging from freezing at the start to 100 degrees in the canyons, over mountains, through valleys and up and out of the other side into civilisation again all within a 30 hour time limit.
Having already entered Leadville which takes place in late August, I have decided to have a go at the Grand Slam.
So for a few years now I've wanted to run Western States 100. Western States is the oldest 100 in the world. I could write for about 5000 words on the subject because it is more widely written and talked about than probably any other 100 in the world. This side of the Atlantic, clearly the UTMB is the main trail event over ultra distance with 2500 runners and plenty more wannabe's turned away each year. In North America the honour belongs to Western States, the original 100 mile run and the race with consistently the largest number of applicants.
 |
| The WS100 course |
I never really considered having a real chance of getting in because it is so hard to get a slot. Every year the management board of WS100 select just 400 runners to toe the start line. This year those people included:
Top 10 Men from 2010
Top 10 Women from 2010
36 slots for winners of some of the bigger trail races in the US
30 Sponsor Slots
The management board
9 time finishers going for a 10th finish
70 Two Time Losers (people who didn't get in through the lottery in either 08 or 09)
This left a total of 219 slots to be drawn in a lottery. Still seems like a lot but there were over 1800 applicants for those 219 slots which gave applicants around a 12% chance of getting in.
Last night they ran the lottery and my name was the 60th one out of the digital hat. I literally couldn't believe it. After sitting through the painful experience of watching 220 people get drawn out last year and not being one of them I didn't imagine I had a hope. It was with a heavy heart that I saw the remainder of the names get drawn without Franks name coming out of the hat. Frank has wanted to run this race for some time also having done just about everything else and it would have added massively to the whole experience to have him there.
So the last weekend of June next year I'll be going to Squaw Valley California to run 100 miles to the finish at the Placer School Athletics Track in Auburn. 100 miles with over 15,500 feet of elevation gain and 23,000 feet of descent, in temperatures ranging from freezing at the start to 100 degrees in the canyons, over mountains, through valleys and up and out of the other side into civilisation again all within a 30 hour time limit.
 |
| Course Profile of WS100 c/o www.ws100.com |
Having already entered Leadville which takes place in late August, I have decided to have a go at the Grand Slam.
To quote Stan Jensen: 'The Grand Slam of Ultra running award is recognition for those who complete four of the oldest 100 mile trail runs in the U.S. The "Slam" consists of officially finishing the Western States, Vermont, Wasatch Front and Leadville 100 mile Endurance Runs all in the same year.' The races are spread out over a period of just 11 weeks so recovery between the races is going to be difficult especially with the flying back and forth between the US and the UK. I learnt some big lessons this year about recovery after my exploits at Badwater. 3 Brits have completed the Grand Slam before, one of those being Mark Hartell holder of the Lake District 24 hour fell record and a whole heap of trail and fell race wins.
With the Centurion North Downs Way races taking place the weekend before Leadville it's going to be a busy summer but I really can't wait for those 11 weeks. Plus in the short term I have the small matter of running 100s in Texas & North Carolina before heading to South Africa for Comrades in May. I'll probably leave it there for 2011....
Monday 29 November 2010
Rest Recover Run
Slept well last night after yesterdays little work out, got up and ran in. It was freezing this morning and I felt crappy all the way in to town. Ran home this evening and felt a million times better. I wasn't particularly up for heading back out into near freezing temperatures tonight but I popped a Gu caffeine gel and rocketed home. Have been looking at a lot of Leadville 100 videos recently. This one is my favourite. Not particularly great footage in the run up but from exactly 4:00 minutes in it's gold. Leadville's cut off is 30 hours and when they say cut off they do mean cut off. You'll see what I mean if you stick it out to the 6:00 marker. I love that about these kind of races. Some people would say that's unfair but I think it's great. Although if that guy turns out to be me in 9 months time I'll probably grab that shotgun off the Finish Line Marshall and shoot myself instead.
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Saturday 27 November 2010
Gatliff 50km
Ran the Gatliff 50km today and had a great day out. The sun shone from 9am through to the finish just after 2pm and made the freezing conditions more than bearable. My legs felt pretty good, I didn't push the pace but I was still feeling pretty flat energy wise from getting tanked at a stag do on Friday night. Finished it off with a Burger King on the way home. Thats pretty typical style for me. 85 mile week with some good sessions, speed, hills and a long run and probably all about totally undone with plenty of fast food and a massive boozing session which wrote Saturday off. Balance. It's all about balance.
Ryan Adams blows my mind. Not a day goes by that I don't listen to something this guy has written. This is up there in my top 5 of his stuff. His songwriting is beyond brilliant.
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Ryan Adams blows my mind. Not a day goes by that I don't listen to something this guy has written. This is up there in my top 5 of his stuff. His songwriting is beyond brilliant.
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Tuesday 23 November 2010
Rocky Raccoon 100
Had a few good work outs already this week, I feel like slowly there is some form coming back. I have the Gatliff 50km this weekend and Luton Marathon the following so an opportunity to get a couple of longer work outs in. Gatliff will be very slow as an LDWA style event with no marked course and probably some snow on the ground. Luton I will take as it comes. Attempting 2 back to back 100 mile weeks so a good base before some more specific training for Rocky Raccoon 100. I just entered this again for 5th Feb 2011 and I'm pretty excited about finally getting it right at the 100 mile distance. This will be number 4 and I hope I can finally execute the last 40 miles like I've run the first 60 in each of the 3 preceeding this.
Tuesday 16 November 2010
Becoming a Race Director Part 3
After 5 weeks of intensive work on the website, Al made some of the final touches last night and we launched it today. I'm still not 100% on a couple of the images and I need to go back in and add maps and fly-throughs of the course but all in all its pretty close to the finished article.
Its easy to underestimate just how much work it is building a page and making sure you've covered all areas. I've learned a lot in a month, especially about how complicated compiling pages can be.
I think it will be a while before we get people signing up officially but there's still plenty to do while thats all going on.
Great run tonight, loads of energy and ready to put in a couple of longer runs at the Gatliff 50km in a weeks time and at the Luton Marathon the week after. Early build up to Rocky Raccoon 100 miler again in Texas in early February.
Its easy to underestimate just how much work it is building a page and making sure you've covered all areas. I've learned a lot in a month, especially about how complicated compiling pages can be.
I think it will be a while before we get people signing up officially but there's still plenty to do while thats all going on.
Great run tonight, loads of energy and ready to put in a couple of longer runs at the Gatliff 50km in a weeks time and at the Luton Marathon the week after. Early build up to Rocky Raccoon 100 miler again in Texas in early February.
Saturday 13 November 2010
Western States 2011
Lottery entry went in this morning for Western States next June. They are expecting over 2000 applicants for 300 places this year. The odds just keep getting worse and worse, the live draw for the race is in 4 weeks time. Had a scare when I opened the qualification page in that you needed to have, in the last calender year from now or October 2009 onwards either:
1. Run 50 miles in 11 hours or less. Haven't run a 50 this year.
2. Finished 100km in under 14 hours. Haven't run 100km this year.
3. Finished a 100 miler. ok but this I only actually did a few weeks ago!!!!
They might have taken Badwater but not for sure. As Frank e mailed me afterwards, you have to keep this ultra game up these days otherwise pretty quickly you'd find you can't enter the bigger races ie. UTMB, Hardrock, Western States etc etc.
Afterwards I went for a round of golf with the old man which was awesome and then ran the 9 miles back to the house down pitch black country lanes with a broken headtorch.
The website is almost finished now. All the info is present and correct, the background and layout is done, my good friend Al Black is working on the logos tomorrow and then we're off and ready to take registrations. Fingers crossed we get a good turn out for the marathon and 50 mile but the main interest for me is getting numbers in for the 100. Im expecting anywhere from 10 - 100 people based on different peoples opinions. I hope its the latter although the work involved with staging the race will go up exponentially with an increase in numbers. I hope what we end up putting on blows people away.
1. Run 50 miles in 11 hours or less. Haven't run a 50 this year.
2. Finished 100km in under 14 hours. Haven't run 100km this year.
3. Finished a 100 miler. ok but this I only actually did a few weeks ago!!!!
They might have taken Badwater but not for sure. As Frank e mailed me afterwards, you have to keep this ultra game up these days otherwise pretty quickly you'd find you can't enter the bigger races ie. UTMB, Hardrock, Western States etc etc.
Afterwards I went for a round of golf with the old man which was awesome and then ran the 9 miles back to the house down pitch black country lanes with a broken headtorch.
The website is almost finished now. All the info is present and correct, the background and layout is done, my good friend Al Black is working on the logos tomorrow and then we're off and ready to take registrations. Fingers crossed we get a good turn out for the marathon and 50 mile but the main interest for me is getting numbers in for the 100. Im expecting anywhere from 10 - 100 people based on different peoples opinions. I hope its the latter although the work involved with staging the race will go up exponentially with an increase in numbers. I hope what we end up putting on blows people away.
Thursday 11 November 2010
Leadville 2011
Got around to booking my place at the Leadville 100 for August 2011 this morning.
Can't wait to have a go at a course I have read so much about. The rockies in the summer should be awesome.
Wednesday 10 November 2010
Becoming A Race Director Part 2
Well the down time has ended. I'm back in to training again now. The last few weeks have involved a few short week night runs and a longer one at the weekend, most of which have been on hangovers and pretty painful. I'm going to head to either Rocky Raccoon 100 in Texas (again) or Susitna 100 in Alaska during February to kick the year off in proper style. I wanted to go back to RR100 this year to avenge my poor finish. It turns out that 22:54 at my first 100 miler (and by a massive margin the easiest) remains my PB. I know I can quite easily knock 3 hours off of this and potentially more like 5 but I'd like to prove it. Three things need to go right for that to happen, race day nutrition, remaining injury free and keeping the 60 mile+ chaffing at bay. Susitna would be a very different type of race. 100 miles on marked frozen trails, you are required to pull a sled with a minimum of 15lbs of equipment at all times. Food, Fuel, Stove, Sleeping Bag, Bivvy Bag, Down Clothing and a lot of water are all necessities. From experience in Antarctica running on snow ain't that easy either. I'll decide over the weekend which one to go for. I'll also be chucking my name in the hat, once again, for the Western States 100 on Saturday. I hold out no hope. Over 2000 applicants for 360 slots in a straight lottery shoot out. You do the math.
I'm now about 95% of the way there to launching the website and taking applications for our first race. August 13th 2010. North Downs Way 100 mile, 50 mile and marathon. Take your pick. Basically I am striving to put on my perfect race to run, except I won't have the joy of running on the day which is sad. I've taken what I think works the best from Badwater, Western States, UTMB, Racing The Planet, the Marathon Des Sables, Old Dominion 100, Rocky Raccoon 100 etc etc. Based on but not limited too:
- A decent start location with plenty of space and an uncrowded relaxed feel to the start of the day.
- Not ripping people off for entry fees. The cost of putting something like this on is WAY more than I expected and there is no way we will even get near break even in the first year but Im prepared to take that hit to build what I hope will become the best British Ultramarathon on the circuit and the first of many races across the country (all 100 miles of course).
- Responding to everything and everybody personally, on e mail and within hours of receiving correspondence, not leaving it 3 weeks to get back to someone.
- Marking the course because I hate map reading and frankly, getting lost during, let alone at the end of a 100 mile race, is probably the most depressing thing in the entire world.
- Offering people the ability to use drop bags so that they can be self sufficient but not have to carry everything they need for 30 hours.
- Putting on proper aid stations with a decent spread of gels, salt, proper food etc.
- Getting something for finishing that you want to keep forever (a buckle, a very nice piece of metal of some description, a medal and of course a t shirt that says I RAN 100 MILES IN ONE GO SO THERE
- Allowing crews and pacers
- Leniant cut offs but within reason. I nearly cried for the girl who DNFd at 90 miles a few weeks ago because of the cut off.
There will be other races in this series that provide all of the above, on easier courses so that the challenge is purely running 100 miles. There will also be races that forbid pacers, crew and are frankly really really hard so that people and hopefully myself included can test themselves against fast, beautiful, brutal, horrifically hilly, mountainous, flat and stunning courses in the incredible corners of this country that deserve 100 mile races and don't have them.
I've invested around 3 hours a day to it over the past 4 weeks alone and its starting to take its toll but of my tick list I've so far covered everything but actually posting the registration forms to the UK Athletics Association and making a half a dozen tweaks to the website. Im hoping we'll be there by Friday so watch this space.
Wednesday 3 November 2010
Becoming A Race Director
Its been kind of quiet for me since Caesars Camp. It was the end of my racing year to all intents and purposes and I always intended to have some down time and properly recover after it. I have to say though having laid off for a long period after Badwater and not training particularly consistently for Caesar's, I feel like I've got a renewed energy for running again which I didn't expect to have right now. The last two years I've come into November off of the back of Antarctica & the Sahara Race with months and months of racing and training before hand, which has meant that I've been ready for a proper break by the time winter sets in. But not, it appears, this year. I'm already thinking about getting stuck in to early 2011 with some late season training starting again maybe really soon indeed....
My efforts are 100% focused in a different way at the moment. After years and years of scouring the resources of the best races in the world, deciding which ones to do, longing for the 100 mile scene in the UK to grow a bit so I had to a little bit less of a journey to get to more start lines, I finally decided to take the initiative and put on some of my own races instead. About 3 weeks ago I had a kind of epiphany where I realised I knew quite simply what would really work in terms of a new race/ race series and where there is a gaping hole in UK running. That is 100 milers. So I am 90% there. A company has been set up, a website built and a race series divised. The first race course has been recce'd, a date set and all of the legals and permits arranged. It's down to a few finishing touches including nailing down a startline and we will have a brand new 100 mile race on August 13th 2011 over potentially the best marked and most underused trail this country has to offer. We will be putting on 100, 50 and 26.2 mile races all kicking off at the same point albeit at different times and I will finally get to see what being the other side of the fence is really like. I'm looking forward to it immensely. Keep the date free.
My efforts are 100% focused in a different way at the moment. After years and years of scouring the resources of the best races in the world, deciding which ones to do, longing for the 100 mile scene in the UK to grow a bit so I had to a little bit less of a journey to get to more start lines, I finally decided to take the initiative and put on some of my own races instead. About 3 weeks ago I had a kind of epiphany where I realised I knew quite simply what would really work in terms of a new race/ race series and where there is a gaping hole in UK running. That is 100 milers. So I am 90% there. A company has been set up, a website built and a race series divised. The first race course has been recce'd, a date set and all of the legals and permits arranged. It's down to a few finishing touches including nailing down a startline and we will have a brand new 100 mile race on August 13th 2011 over potentially the best marked and most underused trail this country has to offer. We will be putting on 100, 50 and 26.2 mile races all kicking off at the same point albeit at different times and I will finally get to see what being the other side of the fence is really like. I'm looking forward to it immensely. Keep the date free.
Tuesday 19 October 2010
Insanity
Most of the worlds hardest races have been written about at length but there are a few races at the most extreme end of the scale that haven't. The reason is mainly that the running world is divided up as follows:
0 - 99%: Normal Runners (May at some stage run a marathon but mostly 5k, 10k, half marathons at most with the bulk simply recreational running)
99% to 99.99%: Ultra runners including but not exclusive too all the worlds hardest advertised races (Badwater, Hardrock, UTMB, Yukon Arctic etc etc)
99.99% to 100%: insanity.
Insanity is hard for me to really get my head around. The races in this category are instantly dismissed by the majority of even the ultra running community as ridiculous. To the point where most people ignore their existence. Perhaps the most widely consumed ultra running website, the excellent http://www.run100s.com/, doesn't feature any of the below on its lists. These are races without recognition from 99.99% of the running community. In the past I have been guily of dismissing two of them as so totally mental I don't know why you'd bother but crucially, some of the great ultra runners and thru-hike pioneers such as David Horton and Blake Wood have dedicated a vast part of their running careers to finishing these races.
Below is a link to the four races that make up the Badass Slam as devised by Matt Mahoney. These are the most extreme races pretty much anywhere in the world. Its literally impossible to make two of these any harder and still leave people the opportunity to finish. When the finishing rate of a race dips below the 1% mark, clearly there is no room for manoevre. So here's a quick recap stealing some of the information from http://www.mattmahoney.net/wickham/slam.html and other associated individual race websites:
Hardrock: Well advertised. the hardest (greatest elevation changes/ greatest mean altitude of the 100 mile races in the US. This is relatively normal on the scale but the top end of 99.99%.
Badwater: Ditto except this includes the traditional version whereby runners were required to ascend to the true finish of the race, at the highest point in the US 11 miles higher up Mount Whitney to todays finish line. 146 miles non stop. Inevitably this has been made harder by people whom have returned from the summit back to the start at Badwater finishing 'the double'. Danny Westergaard went one step farther this year. after narrowly beating me to the finish of this years race, he ascended to the summit and ran back to the start. Then repeated it. Two more times with minimal breaks to eat and sleep. Badwater sextuple they're calling it. Mental.
Barkley: Pure unadulterated insanity yet some of the great ultra runners and thru-hike pioneers such as David Horton and Blake Wood have dedicated a vast part of their running careers to finishing the race. To quote:
The 100 mile race in Frozen Head State Park TN in late March or early April consists of 5 20-mile loops with 10,400 ft. of climb per loop. 10,400ft per loop. That is utterly incomprehensible, literally straight up and down disgustingly steep unmarked brier ridden mud slides for 100s of feet in succesion. There is no aid, no course markings, and often no trail with long climbs of 50% grade or more. The cutoff is 60 hours with a historical finish rate of 1% and a course record of 55:42. To prove you completed each lap, you must find 9 to 11 books in the woods marked on your map and bring back a page from each book. No pacers are allowed. Runners must alternate directions on the last lap. Weather: fog, rain, wind, sleet, and snow are common. Entry is limited to 35 runners. Entry opens Dec. 26 and normally fills that day. The exact date of the race will not be revealed until your entry is confirmed. Starting time will be announced by bugle one hour before the start. Entry is by invitation. Qualifications: write an essay on "Why I Should Be Allowed To Run The Barkley". Entry fee: $1.60 plus a license plate from your home state.
This race really exists. People try for year after year on the course and some of the greatest ultra runners of our time haven't made it past loop 1: 20 miles.
Wickham 200 mile: I just found out about this, hence I just found out about the Badass Slam. Again a finishing rate of under 1%.
So whatever you get into in the future and however hard it seems, there are people out there pioneering distances and races that defy the limits, not necessarily of physical capability, but undoubtedly breaking the psychological barriers that the rest of the world adhere too. I literally don't think there can ever be anything harder than Barkley that people can finish.
There is a book on it. You can buy it here. Enjoy.
http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Out-There-Marathons-Toughest/dp/145054701X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1287497776&sr=8-1
0 - 99%: Normal Runners (May at some stage run a marathon but mostly 5k, 10k, half marathons at most with the bulk simply recreational running)
99% to 99.99%: Ultra runners including but not exclusive too all the worlds hardest advertised races (Badwater, Hardrock, UTMB, Yukon Arctic etc etc)
99.99% to 100%: insanity.
Insanity is hard for me to really get my head around. The races in this category are instantly dismissed by the majority of even the ultra running community as ridiculous. To the point where most people ignore their existence. Perhaps the most widely consumed ultra running website, the excellent http://www.run100s.com/, doesn't feature any of the below on its lists. These are races without recognition from 99.99% of the running community. In the past I have been guily of dismissing two of them as so totally mental I don't know why you'd bother but crucially, some of the great ultra runners and thru-hike pioneers such as David Horton and Blake Wood have dedicated a vast part of their running careers to finishing these races.
Below is a link to the four races that make up the Badass Slam as devised by Matt Mahoney. These are the most extreme races pretty much anywhere in the world. Its literally impossible to make two of these any harder and still leave people the opportunity to finish. When the finishing rate of a race dips below the 1% mark, clearly there is no room for manoevre. So here's a quick recap stealing some of the information from http://www.mattmahoney.net/wickham/slam.html and other associated individual race websites:
Hardrock: Well advertised. the hardest (greatest elevation changes/ greatest mean altitude of the 100 mile races in the US. This is relatively normal on the scale but the top end of 99.99%.
Badwater: Ditto except this includes the traditional version whereby runners were required to ascend to the true finish of the race, at the highest point in the US 11 miles higher up Mount Whitney to todays finish line. 146 miles non stop. Inevitably this has been made harder by people whom have returned from the summit back to the start at Badwater finishing 'the double'. Danny Westergaard went one step farther this year. after narrowly beating me to the finish of this years race, he ascended to the summit and ran back to the start. Then repeated it. Two more times with minimal breaks to eat and sleep. Badwater sextuple they're calling it. Mental.
Barkley: Pure unadulterated insanity yet some of the great ultra runners and thru-hike pioneers such as David Horton and Blake Wood have dedicated a vast part of their running careers to finishing the race. To quote:
The 100 mile race in Frozen Head State Park TN in late March or early April consists of 5 20-mile loops with 10,400 ft. of climb per loop. 10,400ft per loop. That is utterly incomprehensible, literally straight up and down disgustingly steep unmarked brier ridden mud slides for 100s of feet in succesion. There is no aid, no course markings, and often no trail with long climbs of 50% grade or more. The cutoff is 60 hours with a historical finish rate of 1% and a course record of 55:42. To prove you completed each lap, you must find 9 to 11 books in the woods marked on your map and bring back a page from each book. No pacers are allowed. Runners must alternate directions on the last lap. Weather: fog, rain, wind, sleet, and snow are common. Entry is limited to 35 runners. Entry opens Dec. 26 and normally fills that day. The exact date of the race will not be revealed until your entry is confirmed. Starting time will be announced by bugle one hour before the start. Entry is by invitation. Qualifications: write an essay on "Why I Should Be Allowed To Run The Barkley". Entry fee: $1.60 plus a license plate from your home state.
This race really exists. People try for year after year on the course and some of the greatest ultra runners of our time haven't made it past loop 1: 20 miles.
Wickham 200 mile: I just found out about this, hence I just found out about the Badass Slam. Again a finishing rate of under 1%.
So whatever you get into in the future and however hard it seems, there are people out there pioneering distances and races that defy the limits, not necessarily of physical capability, but undoubtedly breaking the psychological barriers that the rest of the world adhere too. I literally don't think there can ever be anything harder than Barkley that people can finish.
There is a book on it. You can buy it here. Enjoy.
http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Out-There-Marathons-Toughest/dp/145054701X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1287497776&sr=8-1
Sunday 17 October 2010
10 Month Review
From January to the first weekend of October I've trained and raced relentlessly and always planned to take a break following my scheduled final race of 2010 (Furnace Creek 508). Really I had 4 goals this year:
Break 3 hours for the marathon
Finish Badwater
Finish UTMB
Finish an Ironman
The first 7 months went really well and I ticked boxes 1 and 2 with a perfect race at Washington and a less than perfect, but ultimately hugely rewarding experience at Badwater. In amongst those two races I managed to fit in 15 other marathons and ultras.
Ironman came two weeks too soon into my recovery from the heat of Death Valley and when UTMB got cancelled just a few hours in, I felt like a great year could potentially peter out to an uninspiring end. Obviously if my trainers had been confiscated after BW and I was told I couldn't race until 2011, it still would have been a really great season for me. But Caesars Camp allowed me some closure on it, again a pretty poor performance there but to finish a second 100 mile plus race was important for my confidence and allows me to close off this year having achieved a lot. Actually the results from the race made pretty interesting reading. The front runner disappeared out of site early on and continued to expand his lead throughout. What a great race he ran over a very tough course for an 18:41 finish. For my part I managed to get to 50 miles in 10:03 putting me in 4th place out of 56 runners at the halfway mark. Despite the total collapse, 2 hours out of action at mile 80 and a devastating loss of running ability culminating in a 17 hour second 50 mile split, I still managed to finish 14th. The reason for this was that the course kicked ass way more than I had thought it would. Henk wasn't joking when he said he thought only 20 runners would finish. In the end only exactly 20 crossed the 100 mile mark for a finishing rate of 30%. The girl I passed at 97 miles wasn't able to get the last lap done so was the final drop out from a long race. Here's a couple of me in some quality socks. You may get an idea of some of the terrain here but not much:
I learnt so much this year about how to race the really long stuff better and 2011 will give me the opportunity to have the 100 mile race I know Im capable of. Now that the distance is becoming manageable in my mind (as much as 100 miles can ever be a manageable) I'm pretty excited to sink my teeth into Umstead in April.
So now it's into a period of 'rest' for a while. This time of year is really important to me, the last two years I've enjoyed down time between the end of October and Christmas. Its a chance to re-charge the batteries and run for running's sake only. I love moving through the streets/ lanes/ fields at night as winter closes in, but I love also having the option of skipping sessions where I feel like it and taking it easier. Each year it means I'm hungrier to get back into racing in January and with some great races in the UK through the early part of each year I'll reset the goals and look forward to 2011.
There is a good chance I'll run one day of the Druid Ridgeway Challenge in November, Gatliff 50km and Luton in late November/ early December but then again if I don't feel like running on the day, i'll roll over and reset the alarm instead... Running all 3 would give me a nice round 20 marathon+ races for the year.
I had this frame made up last month to immortalise Badwater. I hope I get the chance in the future to get many more of these made but what a great job they did.
Break 3 hours for the marathon
Finish Badwater
Finish UTMB
Finish an Ironman
The first 7 months went really well and I ticked boxes 1 and 2 with a perfect race at Washington and a less than perfect, but ultimately hugely rewarding experience at Badwater. In amongst those two races I managed to fit in 15 other marathons and ultras.
Ironman came two weeks too soon into my recovery from the heat of Death Valley and when UTMB got cancelled just a few hours in, I felt like a great year could potentially peter out to an uninspiring end. Obviously if my trainers had been confiscated after BW and I was told I couldn't race until 2011, it still would have been a really great season for me. But Caesars Camp allowed me some closure on it, again a pretty poor performance there but to finish a second 100 mile plus race was important for my confidence and allows me to close off this year having achieved a lot. Actually the results from the race made pretty interesting reading. The front runner disappeared out of site early on and continued to expand his lead throughout. What a great race he ran over a very tough course for an 18:41 finish. For my part I managed to get to 50 miles in 10:03 putting me in 4th place out of 56 runners at the halfway mark. Despite the total collapse, 2 hours out of action at mile 80 and a devastating loss of running ability culminating in a 17 hour second 50 mile split, I still managed to finish 14th. The reason for this was that the course kicked ass way more than I had thought it would. Henk wasn't joking when he said he thought only 20 runners would finish. In the end only exactly 20 crossed the 100 mile mark for a finishing rate of 30%. The girl I passed at 97 miles wasn't able to get the last lap done so was the final drop out from a long race. Here's a couple of me in some quality socks. You may get an idea of some of the terrain here but not much:
 |
| The start (Photo c/o Henk Van Der Beek) |
 |
| CC100 (Photo c/o Henk Van Der Beek) |
 |
| CC100 view up to the top of the Camp (Photo c/o Henk Van Der Beek) |
I learnt so much this year about how to race the really long stuff better and 2011 will give me the opportunity to have the 100 mile race I know Im capable of. Now that the distance is becoming manageable in my mind (as much as 100 miles can ever be a manageable) I'm pretty excited to sink my teeth into Umstead in April.
So now it's into a period of 'rest' for a while. This time of year is really important to me, the last two years I've enjoyed down time between the end of October and Christmas. Its a chance to re-charge the batteries and run for running's sake only. I love moving through the streets/ lanes/ fields at night as winter closes in, but I love also having the option of skipping sessions where I feel like it and taking it easier. Each year it means I'm hungrier to get back into racing in January and with some great races in the UK through the early part of each year I'll reset the goals and look forward to 2011.
There is a good chance I'll run one day of the Druid Ridgeway Challenge in November, Gatliff 50km and Luton in late November/ early December but then again if I don't feel like running on the day, i'll roll over and reset the alarm instead... Running all 3 would give me a nice round 20 marathon+ races for the year.
I had this frame made up last month to immortalise Badwater. I hope I get the chance in the future to get many more of these made but what a great job they did.
Monday 11 October 2010
Caesars Camp 100 Race Report
It's the morning after and I'm feeling pretty great about the race. I didn't achieve anywhere near what I'd hoped to time/ position wise, my body was in ruin for almost half of it and there was a time around mile 80 when I genuinely thought it could be over. Partly through experience of suffering (already once horrendously this year at Badwater) and partly because of a refusal to quit I managed to get the job done. However much it hurt and however long it took really doesn't matter the minute you cross the finish line in a 100 miler. There are some elite runners who would rather drop out than post a poor time involving hours of walking and needless suffering. Their rationale is that there is another race that they would rather save themselves for, rather than grind their body down to breaking point and take months to recover. Luckily for me I'm not that fast that that's likely ever to be a problem. I think my conversation with the aid station official at mile 80 pretty much summed it up:
Him: How you feeling
Me: Absolutely battered, my undercarriage is blistered and bleeding everywhere.
Him: Have you got another race any time soon
Me: Nope
Him: Well then you may as well trash your body to finish, running 100 miles is not supposed to be easy you know.
Good point.
The Race:
The race is 10 laps of 10 miles, with an aid station at roughly the 5 mile point, which means you never really have to go for too long without encountering people serving food and drink. You also go back past your car every couple of hours so you can bring as much crap as you want and have access to it all the way through. A lot of people had already pitched tents next to their car when I arrived. On the down side it also means that after a couple of laps everything looks the same. Again and again and again and that pretty much sucks. There were around 60 x 100 milers (10 laps) and 30 x 50 milers (5 laps) all starting together at noon on Saturday. Its also very tempting for some to just get in the car and drive away when the race inevitably becomes a miserable death march.
The Course:
0 - 10 miles:
Everyone began together, a few of the 50 mile guys bolted off of the front and disappeared out of sight pretty quickly. I walked all the ups from the start, lots of people running past me and pushed on the downs passing people back again. I was economical from the outset and ate gels every 45 minutes to keep energy levels up. Straight forward lap 1:49
10 - 20 miles:
Repeat, absolutely no soreness to this point just easy going enjoying the day. 3 hours 47
20 - 30 miles:
I find I normally hit the first mental low just after the marathon mark but didn't get it at all and cruised round in another decent paced effort. 5 hours 58
30 - 40 miles:
Grabbed my headtorch at the start of the lap and within an hour it was pitch dark. Headtorches create a tunnel effect which can be quite off putting but I like running in the dark so where I could I switched it off. 7 hours 59.
40 - 50 miles:
Still feeling good and full of energy, still pacing well and because of the lap format, knew exactly where to push harder to make up time for the slow uphill sections. 10 hours 2. Aiming for 2 hours per lap at the start i was almost bang on.
50 - 60 miles:
Things started to unravel at this point. I had to here been fairly consistent but I found I needed more food just before the start of this lap which boosted me, but I then crashed big time about 3 miles in to the lap. The gels weren't enough on their own at this point. 12 hours 30
60 - 70 miles:
Picked up Webbo my pacer at 60 mile point. Absolutely awesome to have him running with me. Did a great job of going just ahead of me on the majority of the course, always on the downs and dragging me along. Mentally I'd been low for about 7 or 8 miles before he showed up. I moaned a lot but my legs and feet were fine. My energy levels were low I felt pretty nauseous like I needed to be sick and my unercarriage was starting to disintegrate and blister again. 15 hours 35
70 - 80 miles:
Long stop at 70 mile point of around 15 minutes, while I ate and changed to try and stop the chaffing. Slightly quicker lap then once we did get moving but not greatly so. Light just starting to break through by the time we got back around to the car. The previous few miles the pain downstairs had reached badwater- esque levels and I voiced out loud to Webbo how pointless it seemed to be dragging my ass around a 10 mile loop another 3 times just for the sake of it when I was in that much pain. Again. I couldn't believe I was having to put up with that shit for a second time in less than 3 months. About 20 small blisters all over the insides of the groin, nutsack and perineum. 19 hours
80 miles:
Webbo left to go and watch his sons first rugby tournament. I scanned in and went across to the car and sat in the passenger seat with the fans on full and pointed down towards my crotch. I passed out for about 80 minutes and then woke up with a shock (I hadn't intended to go to sleep) and pretty much shit myself that Id slept through the day and missed the cut off. I spent the next 30 minutes bandaging my appendage and did a pretty good job. I guess Im experienced at it now. I had to physically shout at myself in the car to make my mind tell my body to get out and keep going. Then pulled on my tracksuit bottoms and a jumper, pinned my number on the trousers, put 2 mars bars in my pocket and walked back through the aid station and out on to the course. I looked like a chav but I was still moving albeit walking like John Wayne. 21 hours 20
80 - 90 miles:
The first 3 miles were just miserable, hobbling along again, infuriated that Id turned potentially a great performace into a slog for the finish again. Once I was through the sharp up and down sections my walking speed increased and with the sun shining for the first time in 15 hours for me, my energy levels were better. 24 hours 25
90 - 100 miles:
More hobbling, more misery, tried to enjoy the trails and the woods and actually did manage a smile at one or two points but otherwise just wishing for the end to come. Passed a girl still running the 100 a few miles from the end and found she still had another lap to go. With the cut off at 30 hours and going very very slowly at around 27 hours/ 87 miles at that point it was obvious she wasn't going to make it. I didn't say so just encouraged her to keep going but DNF'ing this at mile 90 wasn't really fair on her. Caught a guy a couple of miles from the finish staggering around like a drunk going about half a mile an hour, when I got to him his eyes were closed, he was just walking around falling asleep on his feet. Stayed with him to the finish line, my good deed for the day. 27 hours 11 minutes. PW at 100 miles.
When we got to the finish, everything was gone. It was kind of like old dominion when there was just one guy and a clip board at the finish. It seems anti climactic but the last thing I'd want to see is 1000 people cheering you as you cross the line. Henk the RD and a couple of people had broken camp, 95% of the cars had gone, most people at home resting, eating, recounting tales of the previous day and their finish, or not as the case may be. After dishing abuse at the start, to people who dropped out all the way through, to runners coming in to the aid station all day, Henk finally said some nice words. He pointed out that this is a hard race and that roughly 70% of runners drop out of the 100 each year. This year was no different he reckoned only 30% finished again but 'll wait for the stats later in the week.
Why this race is hard (apart from the fact that it is 100 miles)?
Most of the really difficult part of the race is done in total darkness, for me miles 35 to 80.
A lot of runnable trail but lots of unrunnable (after about 30 miles) technical steep up and down.
30 hour cut off. 10 miles doesn't seem a long way at 3.3mph but repeat 10 times and you have to rely on running a good amount of this race to finish in time once you take into account the pit stops.
Its unlikely I'll be going back to do this one again but it is very well organised and executed. Don't expect any love or praise from Henk he'll just abuse you and ask you why you're bothering to stay out there running laps for 100 miles in the dark when you don't even get a medal at the end. If you need to wonder why then there's no point coming down for this one. I wouldn't advise this as a first 100, with the finishing rate as low as it is its clear that most people, experienced or otherwise end up succumbing to the tempatation of a warm vehicle/ tent and never leaving. It nearly happened to me too.....
Next year I will finally run a 100 mile race where i don't totally fall apart in the final third and convert a good start into a good overall race. For now I'll be resting for a while. It's been a long year in more ways than one.
Him: How you feeling
Me: Absolutely battered, my undercarriage is blistered and bleeding everywhere.
Him: Have you got another race any time soon
Me: Nope
Him: Well then you may as well trash your body to finish, running 100 miles is not supposed to be easy you know.
Good point.
The Race:
The race is 10 laps of 10 miles, with an aid station at roughly the 5 mile point, which means you never really have to go for too long without encountering people serving food and drink. You also go back past your car every couple of hours so you can bring as much crap as you want and have access to it all the way through. A lot of people had already pitched tents next to their car when I arrived. On the down side it also means that after a couple of laps everything looks the same. Again and again and again and that pretty much sucks. There were around 60 x 100 milers (10 laps) and 30 x 50 milers (5 laps) all starting together at noon on Saturday. Its also very tempting for some to just get in the car and drive away when the race inevitably becomes a miserable death march.
The Course:
From the start, the course goes immediately uphill for a half a mile and then drops down a very sharp descent and back up a 25% rocky incline. That pattern continues for the first 2.5 miles of each lap. A short section of flat/ uphill and then a sudden drop and climb back up all on rocky ground which at night is difficult and requires a lot of concentration. No climb ever last more than a couple of minutes but each one is an all out effort with pretty poor footing. Once over that section you hit a mile of rolling track running alongside the road which is quite runnable before a mile of gradual uphill which at first tempts you in to running and then spits you out half way up if you do so, out of breath. The sharp inclines/ descents continue to the 4 mile point where finally you hit a nice mile long section of flat path before you reach the woodland at 5 miles.
Once into the woods you get some truly awesome trails to run on. Lots of soft downhill, not that technical and quite fast. This section is almost identical to the type of running you get at Rocky Raccoon 100 in Texas. There is a good climb up from those downhill trails and then some much more technical single track trail before you come back out of the woods and into the open again for 2 miles and one last good long climb and descent in to base camp. As a 10 mile run its challenging, nearly all runnable and enjoyable, especially miles 4 to 8. As a 50 or 100 mile run it is nasty with a cumulative gain of 15500ft total/ 1550ft per lap (descending the same) which after a few hours of darkness starts to wear you down.
(This is the only photo I managed in 27 hours)
0 - 10 miles:
Everyone began together, a few of the 50 mile guys bolted off of the front and disappeared out of sight pretty quickly. I walked all the ups from the start, lots of people running past me and pushed on the downs passing people back again. I was economical from the outset and ate gels every 45 minutes to keep energy levels up. Straight forward lap 1:49
10 - 20 miles:
Repeat, absolutely no soreness to this point just easy going enjoying the day. 3 hours 47
20 - 30 miles:
I find I normally hit the first mental low just after the marathon mark but didn't get it at all and cruised round in another decent paced effort. 5 hours 58
30 - 40 miles:
Grabbed my headtorch at the start of the lap and within an hour it was pitch dark. Headtorches create a tunnel effect which can be quite off putting but I like running in the dark so where I could I switched it off. 7 hours 59.
40 - 50 miles:
Still feeling good and full of energy, still pacing well and because of the lap format, knew exactly where to push harder to make up time for the slow uphill sections. 10 hours 2. Aiming for 2 hours per lap at the start i was almost bang on.
50 - 60 miles:
Things started to unravel at this point. I had to here been fairly consistent but I found I needed more food just before the start of this lap which boosted me, but I then crashed big time about 3 miles in to the lap. The gels weren't enough on their own at this point. 12 hours 30
60 - 70 miles:
Picked up Webbo my pacer at 60 mile point. Absolutely awesome to have him running with me. Did a great job of going just ahead of me on the majority of the course, always on the downs and dragging me along. Mentally I'd been low for about 7 or 8 miles before he showed up. I moaned a lot but my legs and feet were fine. My energy levels were low I felt pretty nauseous like I needed to be sick and my unercarriage was starting to disintegrate and blister again. 15 hours 35
70 - 80 miles:
Long stop at 70 mile point of around 15 minutes, while I ate and changed to try and stop the chaffing. Slightly quicker lap then once we did get moving but not greatly so. Light just starting to break through by the time we got back around to the car. The previous few miles the pain downstairs had reached badwater- esque levels and I voiced out loud to Webbo how pointless it seemed to be dragging my ass around a 10 mile loop another 3 times just for the sake of it when I was in that much pain. Again. I couldn't believe I was having to put up with that shit for a second time in less than 3 months. About 20 small blisters all over the insides of the groin, nutsack and perineum. 19 hours
80 miles:
Webbo left to go and watch his sons first rugby tournament. I scanned in and went across to the car and sat in the passenger seat with the fans on full and pointed down towards my crotch. I passed out for about 80 minutes and then woke up with a shock (I hadn't intended to go to sleep) and pretty much shit myself that Id slept through the day and missed the cut off. I spent the next 30 minutes bandaging my appendage and did a pretty good job. I guess Im experienced at it now. I had to physically shout at myself in the car to make my mind tell my body to get out and keep going. Then pulled on my tracksuit bottoms and a jumper, pinned my number on the trousers, put 2 mars bars in my pocket and walked back through the aid station and out on to the course. I looked like a chav but I was still moving albeit walking like John Wayne. 21 hours 20
80 - 90 miles:
The first 3 miles were just miserable, hobbling along again, infuriated that Id turned potentially a great performace into a slog for the finish again. Once I was through the sharp up and down sections my walking speed increased and with the sun shining for the first time in 15 hours for me, my energy levels were better. 24 hours 25
90 - 100 miles:
More hobbling, more misery, tried to enjoy the trails and the woods and actually did manage a smile at one or two points but otherwise just wishing for the end to come. Passed a girl still running the 100 a few miles from the end and found she still had another lap to go. With the cut off at 30 hours and going very very slowly at around 27 hours/ 87 miles at that point it was obvious she wasn't going to make it. I didn't say so just encouraged her to keep going but DNF'ing this at mile 90 wasn't really fair on her. Caught a guy a couple of miles from the finish staggering around like a drunk going about half a mile an hour, when I got to him his eyes were closed, he was just walking around falling asleep on his feet. Stayed with him to the finish line, my good deed for the day. 27 hours 11 minutes. PW at 100 miles.
When we got to the finish, everything was gone. It was kind of like old dominion when there was just one guy and a clip board at the finish. It seems anti climactic but the last thing I'd want to see is 1000 people cheering you as you cross the line. Henk the RD and a couple of people had broken camp, 95% of the cars had gone, most people at home resting, eating, recounting tales of the previous day and their finish, or not as the case may be. After dishing abuse at the start, to people who dropped out all the way through, to runners coming in to the aid station all day, Henk finally said some nice words. He pointed out that this is a hard race and that roughly 70% of runners drop out of the 100 each year. This year was no different he reckoned only 30% finished again but 'll wait for the stats later in the week.
Why this race is hard (apart from the fact that it is 100 miles)?
Most of the really difficult part of the race is done in total darkness, for me miles 35 to 80.
A lot of runnable trail but lots of unrunnable (after about 30 miles) technical steep up and down.
30 hour cut off. 10 miles doesn't seem a long way at 3.3mph but repeat 10 times and you have to rely on running a good amount of this race to finish in time once you take into account the pit stops.
Its unlikely I'll be going back to do this one again but it is very well organised and executed. Don't expect any love or praise from Henk he'll just abuse you and ask you why you're bothering to stay out there running laps for 100 miles in the dark when you don't even get a medal at the end. If you need to wonder why then there's no point coming down for this one. I wouldn't advise this as a first 100, with the finishing rate as low as it is its clear that most people, experienced or otherwise end up succumbing to the tempatation of a warm vehicle/ tent and never leaving. It nearly happened to me too.....
Next year I will finally run a 100 mile race where i don't totally fall apart in the final third and convert a good start into a good overall race. For now I'll be resting for a while. It's been a long year in more ways than one.
Friday 8 October 2010
Caesars Camp 100
Have spent the day resting in preparation for the 100 miler tomorrow and I am 100% ready to kick this off now, I think Badwater is finally out of my system. I intend to set out on 5mph pace or 2 hours per lap, very slowly, but hold a lot in reserve for later on, particularly after it gets dark. I will be way off the front runners by that time but if I can run successfully through the night, as every competitor will have to, then hopefully I'll be within a few hours of the finish/ the leaders by the time the sun comes up still sticking to that 2 hour pace. Don't get me wrong Im not trying to win this thing but I made the mistake here in 2007 of going off way too quickly and then making a stupid mistake which led to an injury. My lap times that year were 1:30, 1:35, 2:25 (hobbling in to drop after I turned my ankle at 26 miles). At 20 miles I was in the lead by about 8 minutes and that included all the 50 mile runners as well. Its a technical course with a lot of short sharp climbs and descents.
Webbo has kindly agreed to come and run from midnight to around 7am with me once I get through the 60 mile point at which we are allowed pacers. That should be a big help knowing that if I can put 100k in by myself and get a solid base, I will have his company for a significant portion of the most difficult section 60 through 90 miles, the small hours of Sunday morning.
So potentially the last big race of the year. Ive never DNF'd a 100 mile (or +) race but I have DNFd 2 races over the last 5 years. This was my first (the 50 mile version) so its time to get that monkey off of my back now.
Saturday 2 October 2010
508
Today I was supposed to be riding 508 miles across Death valley in the second part of the Death Valley Cup, a race called the Furnace Creek 508. I decided to drop from the trip about a month ago and it was definitely the right call. With the UTMB training leading me right up to September I hadn't had a chance to do any serious riding and wasn't going to be able to until just a few weeks before the race. To turn up in LA with little to no training would have been insulting to the race and frankly pretty stupid. Frank is there however and starts riding in just a few hours time. He's done a handful of 200+ miles plus a 300 miler in training so I reckon he's got himself in good enough shape to get through it and he has certainly got it where it counts, in the head.
This last couple of weeks Ive been winding down a bit towards the 100 next weekend. Im pretty excited about it although my preparations have been derailed by three nights of heavy boozing in Portugal and a subsequent illness. To be honest Im not in great shape but I have put the necessary groundwork in to get through a 100 with three mara/ 50km weekends in a row and a good amount of weekly training on top. I guess Im not as motivated to turn in the volume of training for a local low key race like this, in regards to say Western States or Leadville which is wrong. If I did apply myself fully I think I could do pretty well.... There is no way I would have hit the bar for 72 hours straight within 2 weeks of Badwater or a Desert.
Expectations? Firstly to finish, Secondly to break 24 hours. Caesars Camp has 15200ft of gain and the same descent. That puts it right in the middle of the range of 100s out there at the moment, with Rocky Racoon/ umstead forming the 'easiest' courses with 5000 - 8000ft of gain and UTMB/ Hardrock forming the upper end at 30000 - 33000ft of gain. I ran the Old Dominion 100 in a time of 24:58 which had 14000ft of gain so I am hoping that I can equal or better that time at CC. 24 hours is a reasonable target I think but if things go slightly off of plan I know I will find myself struggling to break 26.
I have Webbo coming down to join me in the small hours as we're allowed pacers through 60 miles onwards. Its going to be weird running 10 laps of 10 miles but I think that might help me. Mentally it will be tough but Im used to doing laps after the Relay 100km (20 x 5km) last year and Rocky Raccoon (5 x 20 miles). I will be behind to start with, people will put a lot of time into me in the first 6 - 10 hours but Im pretty sure if I can at least stay in touch I can do pretty well here on a good day.
Tapering continues this week with a couple of 8ish milers this weekend and then 4 - 8 miles per day until Thursday when Ill stop for good.
Killian Jornet set the record for the quickest ascent/ descent of Kilimanjaro this week. He made it the 47 miles from base camp to the summit and back in a time of 7 hours 14 minutes. 5:23 to the top and 1:41 back down. Thats an hour and 41 minutes to run 23.5 miles. With Geoff Roes and Anton Krupicka this kid is on a totally different level.
http://www.ultrarunning.com/ultra/features/news/jornet-sets-speed-record-.shtml
">
This last couple of weeks Ive been winding down a bit towards the 100 next weekend. Im pretty excited about it although my preparations have been derailed by three nights of heavy boozing in Portugal and a subsequent illness. To be honest Im not in great shape but I have put the necessary groundwork in to get through a 100 with three mara/ 50km weekends in a row and a good amount of weekly training on top. I guess Im not as motivated to turn in the volume of training for a local low key race like this, in regards to say Western States or Leadville which is wrong. If I did apply myself fully I think I could do pretty well.... There is no way I would have hit the bar for 72 hours straight within 2 weeks of Badwater or a Desert.
Expectations? Firstly to finish, Secondly to break 24 hours. Caesars Camp has 15200ft of gain and the same descent. That puts it right in the middle of the range of 100s out there at the moment, with Rocky Racoon/ umstead forming the 'easiest' courses with 5000 - 8000ft of gain and UTMB/ Hardrock forming the upper end at 30000 - 33000ft of gain. I ran the Old Dominion 100 in a time of 24:58 which had 14000ft of gain so I am hoping that I can equal or better that time at CC. 24 hours is a reasonable target I think but if things go slightly off of plan I know I will find myself struggling to break 26.
I have Webbo coming down to join me in the small hours as we're allowed pacers through 60 miles onwards. Its going to be weird running 10 laps of 10 miles but I think that might help me. Mentally it will be tough but Im used to doing laps after the Relay 100km (20 x 5km) last year and Rocky Raccoon (5 x 20 miles). I will be behind to start with, people will put a lot of time into me in the first 6 - 10 hours but Im pretty sure if I can at least stay in touch I can do pretty well here on a good day.
Tapering continues this week with a couple of 8ish milers this weekend and then 4 - 8 miles per day until Thursday when Ill stop for good.
Killian Jornet set the record for the quickest ascent/ descent of Kilimanjaro this week. He made it the 47 miles from base camp to the summit and back in a time of 7 hours 14 minutes. 5:23 to the top and 1:41 back down. Thats an hour and 41 minutes to run 23.5 miles. With Geoff Roes and Anton Krupicka this kid is on a totally different level.
http://www.ultrarunning.com/ultra/features/news/jornet-sets-speed-record-.shtml
">
Tuesday 21 September 2010
Less is More
am: 4 miles: 29 minutes
pm: 6 miles: 45 minutes
Less is more has been a big part of my belief system for about 15 years. I've never really owned much/ any 'stuff' and went through a period in my middle teenage years of throwing pretty much everything I had accumulated up to that point, away. This drove Mum crazy I guess it didn't really make any sense. Well 15 years later and everything I own still fits into one cupboard at my parents house and a pretty small cloth wardrobe in our room at Battersea. On top of pretty much minimal amount of clothing and some CDs the only thing Ive accumulated in recent years is a bunch of medals/ race numbers and some running shoes (about 25 pairs) plus thankfully a few buckles which are now on the wall. I realise that my philosophy hasn't really changed. More stuff means more to think about, more hassle, more to lose etc etc.
Each day I get up put on some shorts and a t shirt and run to work where most of my clothes live. Then at the end of the day I get changed back into the running gear and head home whichever way I feel like going. When I left work this evening in a the late summer sun I thought about the fact that I don't need any more 'stuff' to survive and be happy. Pretty much all my efforts go into trying to travel as much as possible and finish the races I so desperately want to run. That has gone from a list of 100s of marathons to about 8 ultras.
I also thought how great it was that I can train for a 100 mile race with total belief that I can finish and feel comfortable knocking out good quality mileage rather than cramming in as much as possible. Badwater was all about more is king. Caesars Camp has been about less, higher quality mileage.
There are people out there running 200 miles a week+. There are people out there running 80 miles a week and beating them over the highest level. Sometimes mileage is king. Sometimes less is more.....
pm: 6 miles: 45 minutes
Less is more has been a big part of my belief system for about 15 years. I've never really owned much/ any 'stuff' and went through a period in my middle teenage years of throwing pretty much everything I had accumulated up to that point, away. This drove Mum crazy I guess it didn't really make any sense. Well 15 years later and everything I own still fits into one cupboard at my parents house and a pretty small cloth wardrobe in our room at Battersea. On top of pretty much minimal amount of clothing and some CDs the only thing Ive accumulated in recent years is a bunch of medals/ race numbers and some running shoes (about 25 pairs) plus thankfully a few buckles which are now on the wall. I realise that my philosophy hasn't really changed. More stuff means more to think about, more hassle, more to lose etc etc.
Each day I get up put on some shorts and a t shirt and run to work where most of my clothes live. Then at the end of the day I get changed back into the running gear and head home whichever way I feel like going. When I left work this evening in a the late summer sun I thought about the fact that I don't need any more 'stuff' to survive and be happy. Pretty much all my efforts go into trying to travel as much as possible and finish the races I so desperately want to run. That has gone from a list of 100s of marathons to about 8 ultras.
I also thought how great it was that I can train for a 100 mile race with total belief that I can finish and feel comfortable knocking out good quality mileage rather than cramming in as much as possible. Badwater was all about more is king. Caesars Camp has been about less, higher quality mileage.
There are people out there running 200 miles a week+. There are people out there running 80 miles a week and beating them over the highest level. Sometimes mileage is king. Sometimes less is more.....
Monday 20 September 2010
Sunday 19th September
pm: 25 miles: 4 hours 30
Long and slow again because I was map reading for large chunks of it. Unfortunately map reading through the streets of north west london as I ran from Battersea to Radlett.
Weekly Total: 83 Miles.
Long and slow again because I was map reading for large chunks of it. Unfortunately map reading through the streets of north west london as I ran from Battersea to Radlett.
Weekly Total: 83 Miles.
Wednesday 15 September 2010
Wednesday 15th
pm: 1hr 58: 14 miles
Nice easy run 2 laps of Hyde Park with Pete. Felt good tonight absolutely no issues and the first time I felt like Ive had bundles of pace in my legs almost since Badwater. I guess I must be over that car crash by now....
Nice easy run 2 laps of Hyde Park with Pete. Felt good tonight absolutely no issues and the first time I felt like Ive had bundles of pace in my legs almost since Badwater. I guess I must be over that car crash by now....
Tuesday 14 September 2010
2011 Race Schedule
January: Country to Capital 45 mile. Repeat of this year.
February: Thames Trot 50 mile. Want to really nail a 50 miler as good as I know I can. 7hrs49 to beat.
March: Eco Trail De Paris 50 mile. Finish by running up the Eiffel Tower. Awesome.
April: Umstead 100 mile. Heading to North Carolina with Pete for his first 100. I hope to just have a solid run and maybe if all comes good i'll go under 20 hours for 100.
May: Comrades 56 mile. South Africa. No intro needed for this one. Will be with Lisa for the week leading up to it during her half term.
June: Western States 100 mile. California. Please please please please please etc etc.
August: Leadville 100 mile. Colorado. Im not going back to UTMB in 2011 now, I have a wedding to attend. Shame but I can live with missing it for a 3rd year in a row. Probably more excited about running Leadville to be honest.
So thats it. So many choices but I want to give myself time to train right and race properly rather than cramming them all in and running pointless marathons every weekend.
The year kind of hinges on Western States entry for me. If I get in that and Leadville will be my A races. If not then I may switch to Vermont instead and Im relaxed about that also.
Ive binned Hardrock for a time when Im actually qualified rather than crossing my fingers and writing essays to get in.
Monday 13 September 2010
Monday 13th September
pm 4 miles 35 easy minutes
Just an easy run home today. Back to normal mileage tomorrow. Needed this though I slept pretty rough on Sunday night and probably wanted a day off after the longer one yesterday.
I read an interview with Jamie Donaldson today where she talked about her prep for Badwater being 4 - 6 weeks of 200 miles + per week. Thats what I did yesterday (50km) ie. 5 miles more than a marathon, every day of the week for a month and a half. I would like someone to explain to me how that is possible with a job (Jamie is a primary school teacher). I have found that when I run exactly half that for a few weeks in a row (ie 100 mile weeks or 14-15 miles per day) I can't really function properly at work and am knackered all week long. Pretty sure thats big mountain miles as well and not just flat road runs which is what i do most of the time. Wow.
Just an easy run home today. Back to normal mileage tomorrow. Needed this though I slept pretty rough on Sunday night and probably wanted a day off after the longer one yesterday.
I read an interview with Jamie Donaldson today where she talked about her prep for Badwater being 4 - 6 weeks of 200 miles + per week. Thats what I did yesterday (50km) ie. 5 miles more than a marathon, every day of the week for a month and a half. I would like someone to explain to me how that is possible with a job (Jamie is a primary school teacher). I have found that when I run exactly half that for a few weeks in a row (ie 100 mile weeks or 14-15 miles per day) I can't really function properly at work and am knackered all week long. Pretty sure thats big mountain miles as well and not just flat road runs which is what i do most of the time. Wow.
Sunday 12 September 2010
Sunday 12th September
pm: 50km. 5 hours 2 mins.
Fairly solid run out to Syon Park down the Thames Path and back. Hot today and felt it towards the end but only drained two bottles of water in that time. Planned 9:30 miles all the way to get used to Caesars Camp 100 pace. Have a feeling that even that could be a stretch with the hills on the course. Legs felt pretty comfortable, probably would have been ok up to about 50 miles but not quite as strong as I'd have liked them to be ie. pre Badwater conditioning when back to back 35 milers felt a lot easier each day than this did.
This week I got a letter through the post form London Marathon letting me know that after 4 years of missing out on spots through the lottery, I actually qualified for a good for age place with my 2:58 at Washington. Then I realised that the letter had been sat in the postroom at work for 3 weeks and I missed the deadline. Typical.
Fairly solid run out to Syon Park down the Thames Path and back. Hot today and felt it towards the end but only drained two bottles of water in that time. Planned 9:30 miles all the way to get used to Caesars Camp 100 pace. Have a feeling that even that could be a stretch with the hills on the course. Legs felt pretty comfortable, probably would have been ok up to about 50 miles but not quite as strong as I'd have liked them to be ie. pre Badwater conditioning when back to back 35 milers felt a lot easier each day than this did.
This week I got a letter through the post form London Marathon letting me know that after 4 years of missing out on spots through the lottery, I actually qualified for a good for age place with my 2:58 at Washington. Then I realised that the letter had been sat in the postroom at work for 3 weeks and I missed the deadline. Typical.
Wednesday 8 September 2010
Wednesday 8th September
am: 30 minutes
pm: 30 minutes
Total: 8 miles
Total: 8 miles
Two pretty average runs where I didn't feel great for either, nowhere near 100% so kept it short tonight. Got a slot at the Umstead 100 miler for April. Another one on the list for 2011.
Tuesday 7 September 2010
Tuesday 7th
am: 30 minutes. great morning again.
pm: 1 hour 10. 30 minutes down to Blackfriars with Rusty and back up the Thames Path to Battersea.
Total: 12 miles.
Todays revelation is that there is still a race on this planet I'm not qualified to get in too. over the years more and more races have put strict entry criteria probably to limit the number of applicants in a vastly growing sport but also to make sure people are qualified for what they're getting themselves in to. Examples: Most 100s you need to have finished a 50 mile race or longer in under the cut off. Badwater you need to have run 2 x 100 mile nonstop races in under the cut offs.
My race plans next year are all sorted apart from 2 US 100's which have lotteries because they are so oversubscribed. Last year I missed out on one of them in the lottery, so did Frank. The other race is the Hardrock 100. With 68,000ft of elevation change over the 100 mile course and an average elevation above the treeline at 8000ft+ it is probably the hardest 100 miler in the world (bar Barkley maybe). Anyway there is a list of about 10 races you must have completed one of, to be eligible to apply for entry even in to the lottery. UTMB is one of those and my plan was to finish that and go for a spot at Hardrock next year. Well thats out of the window. I wrote to the Race Director and he needs to see a 500 word document explaining why I feel Im qualified to compete, given that 8 of the 10 qualifiers are in the States and aren't very accesible to me. This is the option open to international runners. We'll see how it turns out but I think my chances are slim. I love that there are still so many monumental challenges out there, my only fear is that I may wait years and years to get to have a crack at some of them. Still I fully endorse Hardrocks entry procedure. Frankly its more like a 48 hour mountain climb than a run. In fact I might start hiking instead.
Bestival in 3 days. Wow the training is going down the pan for a while.
pm: 1 hour 10. 30 minutes down to Blackfriars with Rusty and back up the Thames Path to Battersea.
Total: 12 miles.
Todays revelation is that there is still a race on this planet I'm not qualified to get in too. over the years more and more races have put strict entry criteria probably to limit the number of applicants in a vastly growing sport but also to make sure people are qualified for what they're getting themselves in to. Examples: Most 100s you need to have finished a 50 mile race or longer in under the cut off. Badwater you need to have run 2 x 100 mile nonstop races in under the cut offs.
My race plans next year are all sorted apart from 2 US 100's which have lotteries because they are so oversubscribed. Last year I missed out on one of them in the lottery, so did Frank. The other race is the Hardrock 100. With 68,000ft of elevation change over the 100 mile course and an average elevation above the treeline at 8000ft+ it is probably the hardest 100 miler in the world (bar Barkley maybe). Anyway there is a list of about 10 races you must have completed one of, to be eligible to apply for entry even in to the lottery. UTMB is one of those and my plan was to finish that and go for a spot at Hardrock next year. Well thats out of the window. I wrote to the Race Director and he needs to see a 500 word document explaining why I feel Im qualified to compete, given that 8 of the 10 qualifiers are in the States and aren't very accesible to me. This is the option open to international runners. We'll see how it turns out but I think my chances are slim. I love that there are still so many monumental challenges out there, my only fear is that I may wait years and years to get to have a crack at some of them. Still I fully endorse Hardrocks entry procedure. Frankly its more like a 48 hour mountain climb than a run. In fact I might start hiking instead.
Bestival in 3 days. Wow the training is going down the pan for a while.
Monday 6 September 2010
Monday 6th
am: 30 minutes nice warm up felt better than usual (still can't run early in the day as well as I'd like).
pm: 1 hr 10 round Hyde Park in 7:30 miles with Webbo. Ran into Alasdair from RTP in town on business, then back down to Battersea Park for a loop before home. Bit tight in my left calf so much shorter tonight than I'd planned.
Sunday 5 September 2010
Marathon Count
In the past I've had a few people ask me how many marathons I've done. Climbing up the Le Charme with James Adams in the UTMB a fortnight ago we got talking about him running his 100th marathon at the beginning of 2011. James is firmly in the camp of 'a number is just a number' rather than having made it an intention to get to 100 marathons, he has turned to simply running the races he wants to run and watching them add up (or not) as a result.
This got me to thinking about how many I'd done and what actually counts and I came to the realisation that my outlook on it had changed massively in the past 12 months.
I don't actually know anyone personally in the UK who has run 100 marathons but there are a lot. There is a significant group of runners on the UK circuit trying to run as many official marathon length races as possible. I don't think I've ever run a UK road race without seeing members of the 100 marathon club running in their club vests with a degree of pride and rightly so, it is an impressive achievement.
Something I struggle with now though is the idea of racing every week literally up and down the length of the country, simply to get your 'number' up. There is so much chat at the start of the countless uninspiring road marathons there are to choose from nowadays (Luton, Wolverhampton, Leicester etc etc) about how many races someone has done and where they will be for the next few weeks. For those people it is a community. Marathons have become their weekly/ fortnightly/ monthly catch up with friends and an opportunity to get in a run and tick another one off of the list. Honestly I can see why they would want to do it, after all there is always a sense of achievement when you finish a marathon whether you've done 1 or 1000 plus if you are running with friends then of course its much more enjoyable than doing a training run on your own for 4 hours. However travelling all weekend and spending £100s to go and start a race in October on a sodden road around suburban ring roads is now utterly pointless to me. It wasn't a couple of years ago.
From the time we ran the Marathon Des Sables in 2006, through to the Gobi March over 1 year later, I ran zero marathons or races of any length. It didn't even cross my mind to enter one. Id run one, i'd proved to myself i could do it and I didn't care about it. When I finished the Gobi however I realised that when people spoke to me about running they always asked me what my best marathon time was. I wasn't happy with my time so I started running to try and get it down (probably the most boring thing I've ever trained for). Then people started asking me how many i'd run and I realised I could only actually say 2 or 3 and again I was met with an 'oh I thought you were a serious runner'. Well it took me over a year to wonder why I was bothered about any of this. Its all totally irrelevant. About 90% of people won't know the difference or care even the slightest bit whether your marathon PB is 3 hours 52 or 2 hours 58. They won't care whether you've run 10 marathons or 100. And to the other 10%, the numbers do have meaning but honestly who actually cares? Last year I went through periods of running races for the sake of it, I didn't travel particularly far to run any one race but I spent a long time working out where I could squeeze a pointless regional road marathon in just to add '1' to the list rather than going somewhere I loved training and fitting it in around the 100 other important things that the pointless race overtook.
Certainly right now I can't see myself running any other crappy road marathons in the UK, ever. The exception being if its within a few miles of home and Im running with a friend. I reckon that will bring me out at around 2 or 3 per year. In contrast I will continue to run as many races offering epic tests of endurance, incredible scenery or just huge experiences as possible and Im still as PUMPED as ever to get out there and do that. I've had next years races planned out in my mind for a while and I'm entered into about 70% of them already, now its about waiting for the lotteries again to see which of the big boy 100 milers I get places....
So totally hypocritically after saying I don't care, yesterday I counted how many marathons according to standard 100 marathon club t's and c's which frankly are utterly ridiculous (eg. you only get to count 1 for any race ie. Badwater is 1 marathon not 5, desert races you can only include runs that are exactly 26.2 miles or longer etc etc) I've run and the answer is exactly 50. How about that. I would trade every single road marathon Ive ever run for any one of my desert medals but I'm not complaining about reaching 50 it seems ironic that I passed a milestone at Badwater and didn't realise it after being 'into it' last year. Maybe I'll reach 100 in a few years time, more likely I'll reach it in about 4 - 5 given that out of 10 races entered for next year and all but 1 of them is over 45 miles and thats the way I think it'll probably stay for a good while....
This got me to thinking about how many I'd done and what actually counts and I came to the realisation that my outlook on it had changed massively in the past 12 months.
I don't actually know anyone personally in the UK who has run 100 marathons but there are a lot. There is a significant group of runners on the UK circuit trying to run as many official marathon length races as possible. I don't think I've ever run a UK road race without seeing members of the 100 marathon club running in their club vests with a degree of pride and rightly so, it is an impressive achievement.
Something I struggle with now though is the idea of racing every week literally up and down the length of the country, simply to get your 'number' up. There is so much chat at the start of the countless uninspiring road marathons there are to choose from nowadays (Luton, Wolverhampton, Leicester etc etc) about how many races someone has done and where they will be for the next few weeks. For those people it is a community. Marathons have become their weekly/ fortnightly/ monthly catch up with friends and an opportunity to get in a run and tick another one off of the list. Honestly I can see why they would want to do it, after all there is always a sense of achievement when you finish a marathon whether you've done 1 or 1000 plus if you are running with friends then of course its much more enjoyable than doing a training run on your own for 4 hours. However travelling all weekend and spending £100s to go and start a race in October on a sodden road around suburban ring roads is now utterly pointless to me. It wasn't a couple of years ago.
From the time we ran the Marathon Des Sables in 2006, through to the Gobi March over 1 year later, I ran zero marathons or races of any length. It didn't even cross my mind to enter one. Id run one, i'd proved to myself i could do it and I didn't care about it. When I finished the Gobi however I realised that when people spoke to me about running they always asked me what my best marathon time was. I wasn't happy with my time so I started running to try and get it down (probably the most boring thing I've ever trained for). Then people started asking me how many i'd run and I realised I could only actually say 2 or 3 and again I was met with an 'oh I thought you were a serious runner'. Well it took me over a year to wonder why I was bothered about any of this. Its all totally irrelevant. About 90% of people won't know the difference or care even the slightest bit whether your marathon PB is 3 hours 52 or 2 hours 58. They won't care whether you've run 10 marathons or 100. And to the other 10%, the numbers do have meaning but honestly who actually cares? Last year I went through periods of running races for the sake of it, I didn't travel particularly far to run any one race but I spent a long time working out where I could squeeze a pointless regional road marathon in just to add '1' to the list rather than going somewhere I loved training and fitting it in around the 100 other important things that the pointless race overtook.
Certainly right now I can't see myself running any other crappy road marathons in the UK, ever. The exception being if its within a few miles of home and Im running with a friend. I reckon that will bring me out at around 2 or 3 per year. In contrast I will continue to run as many races offering epic tests of endurance, incredible scenery or just huge experiences as possible and Im still as PUMPED as ever to get out there and do that. I've had next years races planned out in my mind for a while and I'm entered into about 70% of them already, now its about waiting for the lotteries again to see which of the big boy 100 milers I get places....
So totally hypocritically after saying I don't care, yesterday I counted how many marathons according to standard 100 marathon club t's and c's which frankly are utterly ridiculous (eg. you only get to count 1 for any race ie. Badwater is 1 marathon not 5, desert races you can only include runs that are exactly 26.2 miles or longer etc etc) I've run and the answer is exactly 50. How about that. I would trade every single road marathon Ive ever run for any one of my desert medals but I'm not complaining about reaching 50 it seems ironic that I passed a milestone at Badwater and didn't realise it after being 'into it' last year. Maybe I'll reach 100 in a few years time, more likely I'll reach it in about 4 - 5 given that out of 10 races entered for next year and all but 1 of them is over 45 miles and thats the way I think it'll probably stay for a good while....
| Date | Title | Distance | Unit | Outcome |
| 12/07/2010 | Badwater | 135 | miles | 39:19:00 |
| 20/06/2010 | South Downs Way Challenge Day 3 | 35 | miles | 06:14:00 |
| 19/06/2010 | South Downs Way Challenge Day 2 | 35 | miles | 06:01:00 |
| 12/06/2010 | South Downs Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 03:44:00 |
| 08/05/2010 | Orpington Marafun | 26.2 | miles | 03:20:55 |
| 02/05/2010 | Three Forts Marathon | 27 | miles | 03:13:24 |
| 25/04/2010 | Shakespeare Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 03:12:23 |
| 28/03/2010 | Jurassic Coast Challenge - Day 3 | 26.2 | miles | 05:48:00 |
| 27/03/2010 | Jurassic Coast Challenge - Day 2 | 26.2 | miles | 05:04:39 |
| 26/03/2010 | Jurassic Coast Challenge - Day 1 | 26.2 | miles | 04:49:00 |
| 20/03/2010 | Washington DC - National Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 02:58:07 |
| 07/03/2010 | Steyning Stinger Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 05:55:00 |
| 13/02/2010 | The London Ultra 50K | 50 | km | 04:25:00 |
| 24/01/2010 | Winter Tanners 30 | 30 | miles | 05:08:00 |
| 16/01/2010 | Country to Capital | 45 | miles | 08:06:00 |
| 03/01/2010 | Stansted Stagger Rescheduled Date | 26.2 | miles | 03:59:00 |
| 29/10/2009 | Sahara Race - Stage 5 | 54 | miles | 12:20:50 |
| 27/10/2009 | Sahara Race - Stage 3 | 26.4 | miles | 06:31:26 |
| 26/10/2009 | Sahara Race - Stage 2 | 27 | miles | 06:24:05 |
| 11/10/2009 | Leicester Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 03:26:14 |
| 20/09/2009 | London to Brighton Trail Run | 56 | miles | 11:02:00 |
| 06/09/2009 | Kent Coastal Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 03:37:00 |
| 28/06/2009 | Herts Hobble Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 04:28:12 |
| 06/06/2009 | Old Dominion 100 | 100 | miles | 24:58:00 |
| 10/05/2009 | Halstead Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 03:44:30 |
| 03/05/2009 | Three Forts Marathon | 27 | miles | 03:52:21 |
| 26/04/2009 | Valley & Views | 26.2 | miles | 04:23:32 |
| 19/04/2009 | Bungay Black Dog Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 03:09:11 |
| 01/03/2009 | Steyning Stinger Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 03:46:30 |
| 07/02/2009 | Rocky Raccoon 100 | 100 | miles | 22:54:32 |
| 17/01/2009 | Thames Path Ultra | 50 | miles | 07:49:17 |
| 19/10/2008 | Amsterdam Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 03:18:23 |
| 05/10/2008 | London to Brighton Trail Run | 56 | miles | 11:40:00 |
| 07/09/2008 | Wolverhampton marathon | 26.2 | miles | 03:26:01 |
| 14/06/2008 | South Downs Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 03:42:04 |
| 11/05/2008 | Halstead Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 03:33:27 |
| 04/04/2008 | Atacama Crossing - Stage 5 | 45.4 | miles | 11:51:57 |
| 03/04/2008 | Atacama Crossing - Stage 4 | 26.4 | miles | 07:02:20 |
| 01/04/2008 | Atacama Crossing - Stage 2 | 26.2 | miles | 06:08:42 |
| 17/02/2008 | Draycote Water 35 | 35 | miles | 05:22:40 |
| 19/01/2008 | Thames Path Ultra | 50 | miles | 08:24:00 |
| 02/12/2007 | Luton Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 03:38:29 |
| 27/10/2007 | Snowdonia Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 03:37:11 |
| 16/09/2007 | Robin Hood Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 03:28:07 |
| 21/06/2007 | Gobi March - Stage 5 | 49.1 | miles | 15:03:11 |
| 20/06/2007 | Gobi March - Stage 4 | 29.3 | miles | 08:30:05 |
| 14/04/2006 | 21e MdS - Stage 5 | 26.2 | miles | 08:20:49 |
| 12/04/2006 | 21e MdS - Stage 4 | 44.4 | miles | 14:06:52 |
| 28/01/2006 | Tring2Town | 45 | miles | 10:34:00 |
| 04/12/2005 | Luton Marathon | 26.2 | miles | 03:52:02 |
Tuesday 31 August 2010
The Next Race
This morning i biked in to work, quads still sore from running up and down mountains at the weekend so took it pretty easy. Did a 30 minute recovery run at lunch and another 4 miles after work. Will try and build back up to pretty big mileage for the next 3 weeks with Caesars Camp 100 mile the next and possibly last thing on the race schedule for this year on the 9th October.
I decided today that Furnace Creek 508 was going to be way too big of an ask with the amount of preparation I've put in on the bike and the lack of time I'm going to have to get it done. Im absolutely shattered from so much travelling and with the abandonment of the UTMB I've got some unfinished business which a relatively local 100 miler will give me the perfect opportunity to attend to.
I DNF'd Caesars Camp 50 miler a few years ago when I damaged my left foot at around the marathon point and hobbled in to the 30 mile point to drop. The 100 is a tough race, 10 laps of 10 miles with a cumulative elevation gain of 15,200ft (the same amount of descent on top clearly). I have done the hill work to prep for UTMB so this should hopefully tie me over nicely to a decent performance in 5 weeks time.
Furnace Creek can wait for another year, Im sure one of the Endurance Heroes will want to give it a go in the future and I'd be right there for it.
I decided today that Furnace Creek 508 was going to be way too big of an ask with the amount of preparation I've put in on the bike and the lack of time I'm going to have to get it done. Im absolutely shattered from so much travelling and with the abandonment of the UTMB I've got some unfinished business which a relatively local 100 miler will give me the perfect opportunity to attend to.
I DNF'd Caesars Camp 50 miler a few years ago when I damaged my left foot at around the marathon point and hobbled in to the 30 mile point to drop. The 100 is a tough race, 10 laps of 10 miles with a cumulative elevation gain of 15,200ft (the same amount of descent on top clearly). I have done the hill work to prep for UTMB so this should hopefully tie me over nicely to a decent performance in 5 weeks time.
 |
| Caesars Camp Profile |
Furnace Creek can wait for another year, Im sure one of the Endurance Heroes will want to give it a go in the future and I'd be right there for it.
Sunday 29 August 2010
UTMB: The last 5 miles
Last night Jez Bragg and Lizzy Hawker made it a double win for the UK in the revised shortened version of two races that began on Saturday morning in Courmayeur. Im not going to call it the UTMB like the race organisers are here because it was nothing like it (90km not 166km). That isn't to take anything away from this new route, it was still undoubtedly an incredibly hard run. The reasons for me not being there for it have been posted below. About 1300 runners started from a combined total of 1000+ TDS and 2300 UTMB runners. Many of the top guys and girls were missing but that shouldn't detract from two awesome performances from Britains best. Jez covered the course in 10:33 and Lizzy in about an hour more than that.
And this is probably the funniest thing I've seen for a while
http://www.morecowbelloriginal.com/
This morning many of the runners were still coming in more than 24 hours after the start. Exactly as I did last year I ran backwards up the course to the last major aid station at the ski lift La Flegere, about a 2700ft climb in 7km, and came back down into town along the route the UTMB usually takes to the finish. The trails here are incredible. The views they afford & their condition as they meander in and out of woodland to open ski slopes and back make running here an absolute joy. The time genuinely just flies and up is as great as coming down.
Back home tomorrow and some decisions to be made about what comes next. Having thought I was going to be out of commission with stiff & sore legs for 10 days after this weekend its a small bonus I guess to have got 2 decent training runs in and preparation can begin for the next adventure.
Short video of the views form the La Flegere. With views of Mont Blanc like this all the way around the course its not hard to see why so many people want to come here and run this race.
And this is probably the funniest thing I've seen for a while
http://www.morecowbelloriginal.com/
Saturday 28 August 2010
UTMB: The Race That Never Was
After all the many hours of deliberation over whether to run yesterday or not I threw myself into the race and committed around lunchtime by finally registering. I spent the afternoon sleeping, managed to eat my first proper meal in 72 hours and had no repurcussions to that point of the stomach problem.
At 5pm, Eberhard came up to our hotel and I finished getting ready. 10 minutes before the start I wandered out of the hotel. Ive honestly never felt so relaxed before a race of even half this magnitude. The fact that Id been so unsure I was actually going to start, for so long into the run up, meant that the pressure was off. I had one plan, finish, and that simply meant reaching each aid station by the cut off point. I hate racing this way. I am a competitive person and gain a lot of mental strength during races from being able to push hard and cover the course in good time. To have to endure a suffer fest over 2 full days of running non-stop was going to be a whole new arena for me and I wasn't relishing the thought. I was however excited to see this fabled course up close, to see how serious the climbs really were and to test myself over a mountainous 100 for the first time.
Well nobody got the opportunity to do so last night. We left chamonix at 6:30pm. The start, whilst incredibly uplifting as one huge celebration, was incredibly frustrating for me. I was literally at the back by the time we got across the start/finish point and it took me 15 minutes before we could actually break into a jog, once almost a km down the road out of Chamonix. There were people lining both sides of the street, 5 deep, photographers, giant screens and of course 2300 other runners. I didn't care about being at the back because frankly thats where I knew Id have to spend the race, what bothered me was that Id wasted what could have been an invaluable 15 minutes if I really did start struggling to meet the cut offs.
The first 9km are 'flat' (rolling trail) down to Les Houches. It began raining a few minutes before the start and it really started falling hard on this first section. I ploughed on rather than getting out my poles or waterproof jacket and enjoyed the fading light. At 9km we hit the first climb up to le Charme. This is a 7km climb up a ski slope passing underneath a bubble lift from 1000m to 1776m (about 2300ft).
About half way up I bumped into James Adams and finished the climb with him before getting to the descent. This was way worse than the climb as the rain had turned it into a bit of a mud chute. Loads of people went over, there were poles everywhere but I didn't see the point in getting them out for now, I would wait until 35km to do that.
We dropped further down the mountain all the way back to the height we'd just come from the other side and into the town of St Gervais at 21km and the first major aid station. I felt rough on this descent it was taking me a while to find my legs, I felt light headed, weak on my feet and clearly just devoid of decent energy reserves from days of not eating. I had to keep banging gels in just to stay focused and I knew I was in for a long night in the cold and rain but had just prepared myself for getting on with it. Just before I came into the checkpoint I passed 3 British runners coming the other way back up the hill shouting 'they've pulled it there's a massive landslide'. I carried on anyway and got to the checkpoint. The guy on the line just said to me 'finit' The race was over, there were runners everywhere struggling to understand what had just happened. I moved through the checkpoint and found an american guy who had flown in just for the race and he was pretty much in tears. The decision was a brave one from the organisers as the chaos this caused and is still causing has been monstrous, but of course runner safety is the most important thing. In those conditions it is hardly suprising that they did what they felt they had to do. They have come up from criticism already but I think that is wrongly placed, it is, however, about how they now make it right for 2300 runners whom have been training for months for this event and who have spent a fortune on getting here to run it.
They shepherded us towards a sports centre in the town where it became clear that the weather had created the threat of landslides around 20km further up the course and that it was just too dangerous to pass. There were all kinds of rumours about another race start tomorrow morning and questions over whether we would be allowed back next year. They sent us towards the train station but I was lucky enough to run into Paul who we'd met at the South Downs Race in June & an English girl Josie who kindly offered us a lift back to Chamonix in her friends camper van.
When we got back to the hotel I stayed up until 3am pretty wired from all the gels Id been hammering, trying to find out what they had announced in the press conference but nothing was appearing so I went to bed.
This morning I woke at 9am, checked online and found out that the organisers had text 'everyone' in the field at 5am to let them know buses would be leaving Chamonix at 6am this morning to take people to Courmayeur where a 100km race (the CCC course) would be run in place of the UTMB. I didn't receive the text so wasn't even given this option. 100s of runners are in the same boat including Geoff Roes who was pre race equal favourite for the win, so clearly this wasn't an elitist texting strategy. I rang Mimi who had received the text but had decided not to run. I probably would have made the same decision even if it had been mine to make. I think if Id got the text, my year was empty from here on out & I felt 100% over my stomach trouble I would have got on the buses, but not in this condition was I going to optionally run a 100km mountain race which I wasn't fussed over completing, it is not after all the UTMB I came here to run. With other things only weeks away I will instead plough all of my energy into those events and PRAY that they give all of us a chance to come back and run this thing next year. After 2 years of coming here and running a total of 13 miles in that time I would be devastated if I didn't get a crack at finishing this in 2011.
Tomorrow Im going to start putting the training miles back in, beginning with a nice long alpine trail run, a pretty rare & awesome opportunity.
Here's to the race organisers, please get it right and open 2011 back up!!!!
At 5pm, Eberhard came up to our hotel and I finished getting ready. 10 minutes before the start I wandered out of the hotel. Ive honestly never felt so relaxed before a race of even half this magnitude. The fact that Id been so unsure I was actually going to start, for so long into the run up, meant that the pressure was off. I had one plan, finish, and that simply meant reaching each aid station by the cut off point. I hate racing this way. I am a competitive person and gain a lot of mental strength during races from being able to push hard and cover the course in good time. To have to endure a suffer fest over 2 full days of running non-stop was going to be a whole new arena for me and I wasn't relishing the thought. I was however excited to see this fabled course up close, to see how serious the climbs really were and to test myself over a mountainous 100 for the first time.
Well nobody got the opportunity to do so last night. We left chamonix at 6:30pm. The start, whilst incredibly uplifting as one huge celebration, was incredibly frustrating for me. I was literally at the back by the time we got across the start/finish point and it took me 15 minutes before we could actually break into a jog, once almost a km down the road out of Chamonix. There were people lining both sides of the street, 5 deep, photographers, giant screens and of course 2300 other runners. I didn't care about being at the back because frankly thats where I knew Id have to spend the race, what bothered me was that Id wasted what could have been an invaluable 15 minutes if I really did start struggling to meet the cut offs.
The first 9km are 'flat' (rolling trail) down to Les Houches. It began raining a few minutes before the start and it really started falling hard on this first section. I ploughed on rather than getting out my poles or waterproof jacket and enjoyed the fading light. At 9km we hit the first climb up to le Charme. This is a 7km climb up a ski slope passing underneath a bubble lift from 1000m to 1776m (about 2300ft).
About half way up I bumped into James Adams and finished the climb with him before getting to the descent. This was way worse than the climb as the rain had turned it into a bit of a mud chute. Loads of people went over, there were poles everywhere but I didn't see the point in getting them out for now, I would wait until 35km to do that.
We dropped further down the mountain all the way back to the height we'd just come from the other side and into the town of St Gervais at 21km and the first major aid station. I felt rough on this descent it was taking me a while to find my legs, I felt light headed, weak on my feet and clearly just devoid of decent energy reserves from days of not eating. I had to keep banging gels in just to stay focused and I knew I was in for a long night in the cold and rain but had just prepared myself for getting on with it. Just before I came into the checkpoint I passed 3 British runners coming the other way back up the hill shouting 'they've pulled it there's a massive landslide'. I carried on anyway and got to the checkpoint. The guy on the line just said to me 'finit' The race was over, there were runners everywhere struggling to understand what had just happened. I moved through the checkpoint and found an american guy who had flown in just for the race and he was pretty much in tears. The decision was a brave one from the organisers as the chaos this caused and is still causing has been monstrous, but of course runner safety is the most important thing. In those conditions it is hardly suprising that they did what they felt they had to do. They have come up from criticism already but I think that is wrongly placed, it is, however, about how they now make it right for 2300 runners whom have been training for months for this event and who have spent a fortune on getting here to run it.
They shepherded us towards a sports centre in the town where it became clear that the weather had created the threat of landslides around 20km further up the course and that it was just too dangerous to pass. There were all kinds of rumours about another race start tomorrow morning and questions over whether we would be allowed back next year. They sent us towards the train station but I was lucky enough to run into Paul who we'd met at the South Downs Race in June & an English girl Josie who kindly offered us a lift back to Chamonix in her friends camper van.
When we got back to the hotel I stayed up until 3am pretty wired from all the gels Id been hammering, trying to find out what they had announced in the press conference but nothing was appearing so I went to bed.
This morning I woke at 9am, checked online and found out that the organisers had text 'everyone' in the field at 5am to let them know buses would be leaving Chamonix at 6am this morning to take people to Courmayeur where a 100km race (the CCC course) would be run in place of the UTMB. I didn't receive the text so wasn't even given this option. 100s of runners are in the same boat including Geoff Roes who was pre race equal favourite for the win, so clearly this wasn't an elitist texting strategy. I rang Mimi who had received the text but had decided not to run. I probably would have made the same decision even if it had been mine to make. I think if Id got the text, my year was empty from here on out & I felt 100% over my stomach trouble I would have got on the buses, but not in this condition was I going to optionally run a 100km mountain race which I wasn't fussed over completing, it is not after all the UTMB I came here to run. With other things only weeks away I will instead plough all of my energy into those events and PRAY that they give all of us a chance to come back and run this thing next year. After 2 years of coming here and running a total of 13 miles in that time I would be devastated if I didn't get a crack at finishing this in 2011.
Tomorrow Im going to start putting the training miles back in, beginning with a nice long alpine trail run, a pretty rare & awesome opportunity.
Here's to the race organisers, please get it right and open 2011 back up!!!!
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