Monday, 24 May 2010
Saturday, 22 May 2010
Big Week
As discussed in the previous post I have never been good at logging big mileage weeks. Big is also a loose term when it comes to training. For a first time marathon runner, the peak training weeks would probably involve running between 40 and 50 miles with a mixture of hills, long run and recovery work outs, no doubt some cross training thrown in somewhere. For a 50 mile race/ Comrades/ up to 100km, training normally involves running 60 miles per week and keeping it there during the peak of preparation. Once you get up to training for 100 mile races, ideal preparation in terms of mileage/ workouts becomes open to interpretation. Some people rely on logging regular weeks of 100 miles plus. Others state that doing anything more than about 70 miles a week is unnecessary. Anton Krupicka was at one time logging up to and over 200 miles per week through sheer love of running and his incredible race results reflected that.
But then again so did the number of injuries he sustained. I personally had ok100 mile races at Rocky Racoon and Old Dominion on about 50 miles per week for 4 weeks in the lead up to each.
At 135 miles, clearly Badwater is a step up again from 100 miles. In light of that as discussed previously I am attempting to put in way more mileage than Ive ever done before. A couple of bigger weeks led me into last weekend and for the first time ever I cleared 100 miles in a 7 day period without racing. In the build up to the MdS and even the Gobi March I used to consider it a 'long run' if I ran 10 miles or more or for over 75 minutes. That might have happened once a week. This week I did at least that every day. So the log reads:
Saturday: 20 miles. 2 hours 45.
Sunday: 11 miles. 1 hour 50.
Monday: 15 miles. 2 hours 11.
Tuesday: 13 miles. 1 hour 53.
Wednesday: 13 miles. 2 hours 10
Thursday: 15 miles. 2 hours 3.
Friday: 13 miles. 1 hour 55.
Total: 100 miles. 14 hours 56.
What this week taught me and this is a big lesson for me at this stage, is that raw mileage tells about 50% of the story and as such forms only 50% of what is necessary to get the most out of training. Psychologically Ive benefited from putting 100 miles out in a week, there's no doubt about that. I didn't find it especially difficult or tiring and I haven't suffered any kind of stiff/ sore legs. I have had some mild discomfort from shin splints in my right leg which tell me I need to back off but nothing that has caused me any significant long term pain. Nevertheless 100 miles took up almost all of my spare time before, during and after work and at the weekends. 15 hours of running doesn't fill a week on its own but when you're working from 8am to 6pm and you need significant sleep to recover properly after each training session there's not a lot of time left.
On Friday night before the start of the week and again on the Sunday afternoon our band the Goose were in the studio for 2 x 4 hour sessions (hence the reason for the lower Sunday mileage). 4 hours of drumming is hot hard work and I always come out feeling utterly drained afterwards, normally with blisters all over my hands. This week was no different and because of the running mileage it took me until Wednesday to feel like Id recovered. Does drumming count as training? Of course not but its certainly a pretty good upper body work out. It also happens to be pretty good heat training....
Ive also started sitting in the sauna for the first time this week. On Friday I did 2 x 10 minute sessions in 85 and 92 degree C heat. Heat training for this event is one of the three pillars of the training recommended by most previous finishers. The other two are mileage and hill work. Ultimately of course the three major obstacles to success are the 135 mile distance, the intense heat of Death Valley and the fact that the race climbs up and over 3 seperate mountain ranges totalling 1000's of feet of cumulative gain.
So 100 miles in a week is a lot, sure, but Ive managed almost no hill work in that time, no walking sessions (of course I will have to walk some of the course given the heat and the distance) and almost no heat training. Whats next then?
Well firstly getting in the sauna every day and building the time spent doing that. And doing some hill work/ stair climbs in the gym/ walking on steep inclines. Whats going to suffer? Raw mileage. Im going to keep it up as much as I can whilst adding in the other components but if somethings got to give its going to be the number of miles. Personally I don't think I will have any greater difficulty getting to the end of the race by running 80 miles per week instead of 100 and if that 20 miles or 3 hours can be spent in the sauna or on the stair machine then here I come.
Im starting to realise it might also be an idea to start doing a little bit of swimming otherwise i might actually drown at the Ironman 3 weeks after Badwater!
Most listened too this week:
But then again so did the number of injuries he sustained. I personally had ok100 mile races at Rocky Racoon and Old Dominion on about 50 miles per week for 4 weeks in the lead up to each.
At 135 miles, clearly Badwater is a step up again from 100 miles. In light of that as discussed previously I am attempting to put in way more mileage than Ive ever done before. A couple of bigger weeks led me into last weekend and for the first time ever I cleared 100 miles in a 7 day period without racing. In the build up to the MdS and even the Gobi March I used to consider it a 'long run' if I ran 10 miles or more or for over 75 minutes. That might have happened once a week. This week I did at least that every day. So the log reads:
Saturday: 20 miles. 2 hours 45.
Sunday: 11 miles. 1 hour 50.
Monday: 15 miles. 2 hours 11.
Tuesday: 13 miles. 1 hour 53.
Wednesday: 13 miles. 2 hours 10
Thursday: 15 miles. 2 hours 3.
Friday: 13 miles. 1 hour 55.
Total: 100 miles. 14 hours 56.
What this week taught me and this is a big lesson for me at this stage, is that raw mileage tells about 50% of the story and as such forms only 50% of what is necessary to get the most out of training. Psychologically Ive benefited from putting 100 miles out in a week, there's no doubt about that. I didn't find it especially difficult or tiring and I haven't suffered any kind of stiff/ sore legs. I have had some mild discomfort from shin splints in my right leg which tell me I need to back off but nothing that has caused me any significant long term pain. Nevertheless 100 miles took up almost all of my spare time before, during and after work and at the weekends. 15 hours of running doesn't fill a week on its own but when you're working from 8am to 6pm and you need significant sleep to recover properly after each training session there's not a lot of time left.
On Friday night before the start of the week and again on the Sunday afternoon our band the Goose were in the studio for 2 x 4 hour sessions (hence the reason for the lower Sunday mileage). 4 hours of drumming is hot hard work and I always come out feeling utterly drained afterwards, normally with blisters all over my hands. This week was no different and because of the running mileage it took me until Wednesday to feel like Id recovered. Does drumming count as training? Of course not but its certainly a pretty good upper body work out. It also happens to be pretty good heat training....
Ive also started sitting in the sauna for the first time this week. On Friday I did 2 x 10 minute sessions in 85 and 92 degree C heat. Heat training for this event is one of the three pillars of the training recommended by most previous finishers. The other two are mileage and hill work. Ultimately of course the three major obstacles to success are the 135 mile distance, the intense heat of Death Valley and the fact that the race climbs up and over 3 seperate mountain ranges totalling 1000's of feet of cumulative gain.
So 100 miles in a week is a lot, sure, but Ive managed almost no hill work in that time, no walking sessions (of course I will have to walk some of the course given the heat and the distance) and almost no heat training. Whats next then?
Well firstly getting in the sauna every day and building the time spent doing that. And doing some hill work/ stair climbs in the gym/ walking on steep inclines. Whats going to suffer? Raw mileage. Im going to keep it up as much as I can whilst adding in the other components but if somethings got to give its going to be the number of miles. Personally I don't think I will have any greater difficulty getting to the end of the race by running 80 miles per week instead of 100 and if that 20 miles or 3 hours can be spent in the sauna or on the stair machine then here I come.
Im starting to realise it might also be an idea to start doing a little bit of swimming otherwise i might actually drown at the Ironman 3 weeks after Badwater!
Most listened too this week:
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Badwater Inspiration
Today I had to delve into my treasure chest of inspiration to force myself out of the door to run. I find this only happens when im in the middle of a proper training programme, where everyday Im putting in the hours, Im tired all the time when I wake up, get to work, get home and I eat all day long, craving food right before or once Im in bed even because I need it for fuel or recovery.
And I do HAVE to run if Im going to finish. I actually don't think 135 miles non-stop is the hard part of this insanity, its the heat I cant get my head around but what i don't want is to get to 80 miles and think HOLY SH*T not only am I dying in this heat but the running part is over beacuse my legs are cooked. I don't plan to be on that road for 1 second longer than necessary.
Subconsciously Ive been training for Badwater all year. Ive been running regular races (about a dozen marathons and ultras in 2010 so far) and building up the weekly mileage but I only actually started visualising Badwater about 3 weeks ago. Since then Ive upped the game significantly.
Ive never been good at running crazy miles in training. Even for 100 milers I wouldn't get over 50 miles a week that often. In fact Id only get to 50 miles a week if I was racing somewhere. The only time I have logged proper miles was in the run up to the Atacama Crossing in 2008. For that I regularly ran 65 - 75 miles p/w with a 10kg pack getting up to 96 miles p/w at my peak and with a 10kg pack that is a goddamn long painful way. For me that is a truck load even if I do read Antons blog and quake in my asics when i see his logged mileage.
So this time Im going big. I mean I plan to go as big as I can without f*cking it up. Upping training over time to massive mileage is a bit like running down a road that gets narrower and narrower as it gets longer. In the past where Ive gone from a 40 mile week to an 80 mile week with no in between, I have toppled off of the edge of that path where its gotten too narrow. Because Ive logged decent numbers this year ie. 60 miles+ per week I started 2 weeks ago with a base week of 60 miles then 85 miles. For me thats as far down the path pretty much as Ive ever gone. This week I intend to clear 100 for the first time but already I can feel some shin splint action brewing down my right leg and if that gets worse the mileage is only going in one direction.... Im on the path still and its stretching out into the distance. Much better to back off in the direction the path gets wider before trying to go any further down it.
Back to the inspiration. So Friday I got up with a hangover having run 80 miles since Saturday, been to a Third Eye Blind gig on Thursday night (7 pints of Guinness and a midnight home time), worked all day, ran 5 miles at lunch and then played the drums for 4 hours until 11pm, getting home with no food at 12:30am. I got up this morning after sleeping for 12 hours, I haven't slept for so long since 2001 when we came back from travelling and I hadn't been to bed for ages (14 hour sleep my PB). I had no inclination to run anywhere today. I had a massive breakfast and then sat around waiting for the inspiration to come. Today it came from three places:
1. Scott Jurek. Scott Jurek is one of the greatest runners ever to have lived. The man has been through a lot over the last few years and having reached a point where he had won all of the worlds hardest races (Badwater, Hardrock, Spartathlon, Western States) multiple times, he fell off of his pedestal just a bit, not posting wins at things he entered and DNFing a few. A lot of people wondered if that was it for Scott. Well on Thursday at the IAU 24hour champs he broke the US national record logging 160 miles in that time. That is pure testament to grittty determination and a love of running. I was absolutely delighted to see him back at the top.
2. Jens Voigt. If you ever feel weak or tired or think can i be ar*ed, type Jens Voigt into Youtube. I have never seen anyone bury themselves physically in any kind of sport like Jens does in cycling. What makes it more impressive is that he doesn't bury himself for personal gain, he does it to help slingshot his cycling teammates into a position whereby they have a chance of victory or even simply protecting time in an overall classification. The man literally sacrifices himself almost every time he rides. I love him for the way he talks about it after "I get paid to hurt other people. I get paid to make other people suffer, how good is that?!" . If Jens kills himself 200 days a year, you can push yourself out of the door for an easy jog. In fact you can push yourself out of the door for a 3 hour interval session on the steepest hill you can climb.
3. Pearl Jam (the best gig I will ever go to). What is better than running down a trail with a carpet of leaves or pine needles under foot with the sun blazing and a nice cool breeze following behind you? Or making it over the last long muddy climb a mile before you get home in the p*ssing horizontal rain and wind?
Doing it listening to Pearl Jam Ten.
And I do HAVE to run if Im going to finish. I actually don't think 135 miles non-stop is the hard part of this insanity, its the heat I cant get my head around but what i don't want is to get to 80 miles and think HOLY SH*T not only am I dying in this heat but the running part is over beacuse my legs are cooked. I don't plan to be on that road for 1 second longer than necessary.
Subconsciously Ive been training for Badwater all year. Ive been running regular races (about a dozen marathons and ultras in 2010 so far) and building up the weekly mileage but I only actually started visualising Badwater about 3 weeks ago. Since then Ive upped the game significantly.
Ive never been good at running crazy miles in training. Even for 100 milers I wouldn't get over 50 miles a week that often. In fact Id only get to 50 miles a week if I was racing somewhere. The only time I have logged proper miles was in the run up to the Atacama Crossing in 2008. For that I regularly ran 65 - 75 miles p/w with a 10kg pack getting up to 96 miles p/w at my peak and with a 10kg pack that is a goddamn long painful way. For me that is a truck load even if I do read Antons blog and quake in my asics when i see his logged mileage.
So this time Im going big. I mean I plan to go as big as I can without f*cking it up. Upping training over time to massive mileage is a bit like running down a road that gets narrower and narrower as it gets longer. In the past where Ive gone from a 40 mile week to an 80 mile week with no in between, I have toppled off of the edge of that path where its gotten too narrow. Because Ive logged decent numbers this year ie. 60 miles+ per week I started 2 weeks ago with a base week of 60 miles then 85 miles. For me thats as far down the path pretty much as Ive ever gone. This week I intend to clear 100 for the first time but already I can feel some shin splint action brewing down my right leg and if that gets worse the mileage is only going in one direction.... Im on the path still and its stretching out into the distance. Much better to back off in the direction the path gets wider before trying to go any further down it.
Back to the inspiration. So Friday I got up with a hangover having run 80 miles since Saturday, been to a Third Eye Blind gig on Thursday night (7 pints of Guinness and a midnight home time), worked all day, ran 5 miles at lunch and then played the drums for 4 hours until 11pm, getting home with no food at 12:30am. I got up this morning after sleeping for 12 hours, I haven't slept for so long since 2001 when we came back from travelling and I hadn't been to bed for ages (14 hour sleep my PB). I had no inclination to run anywhere today. I had a massive breakfast and then sat around waiting for the inspiration to come. Today it came from three places:
1. Scott Jurek. Scott Jurek is one of the greatest runners ever to have lived. The man has been through a lot over the last few years and having reached a point where he had won all of the worlds hardest races (Badwater, Hardrock, Spartathlon, Western States) multiple times, he fell off of his pedestal just a bit, not posting wins at things he entered and DNFing a few. A lot of people wondered if that was it for Scott. Well on Thursday at the IAU 24hour champs he broke the US national record logging 160 miles in that time. That is pure testament to grittty determination and a love of running. I was absolutely delighted to see him back at the top.
2. Jens Voigt. If you ever feel weak or tired or think can i be ar*ed, type Jens Voigt into Youtube. I have never seen anyone bury themselves physically in any kind of sport like Jens does in cycling. What makes it more impressive is that he doesn't bury himself for personal gain, he does it to help slingshot his cycling teammates into a position whereby they have a chance of victory or even simply protecting time in an overall classification. The man literally sacrifices himself almost every time he rides. I love him for the way he talks about it after "I get paid to hurt other people. I get paid to make other people suffer, how good is that?!" . If Jens kills himself 200 days a year, you can push yourself out of the door for an easy jog. In fact you can push yourself out of the door for a 3 hour interval session on the steepest hill you can climb.
3. Pearl Jam (the best gig I will ever go to). What is better than running down a trail with a carpet of leaves or pine needles under foot with the sun blazing and a nice cool breeze following behind you? Or making it over the last long muddy climb a mile before you get home in the p*ssing horizontal rain and wind?
Doing it listening to Pearl Jam Ten.
Monday, 3 May 2010
Three Forts Marathon
I hadn't really intended to race this weekend for various reasons but in the end I decided Id bite the bullet and do three forts, it was only a few hours out of the weekend and the South Downs are without doubt my favourite place to run in England. After the Shakespeare Marathon last weekend my 10th marathon/ ultra this calender year, I ran regularly throughout the week and rested all day Saturday which was pretty lazy but probably accidentally gave me the perfect taper for this race....
Three Forts is a 27 mile trail race advertised as The Tough One with mixed terrain and climbs of over 3500ft. I ran it last year in 3 hours 52 finishing 17th as part of my build up to Old Dominion 100. It meant I knew the course well which proved to be invaluable given that the marking was a bit loose at times. The weather was absolutely atrocious. The website has since published the following: 'Two thirds of May's rainfall fell on May 1st and 2nd - We know, most of it fell on the marathon course!' It was pretty much horizontal at the start. The gun went and I took it quite quickly without going crazy, the first 2 miles go straight uphill to the downs and I ran at what felt like quite an easy pace up that incline, checking behind me at the 2 mile marker to find that I was already ahead of the 2nd placed runner by around 30 seconds, with a long line of competitors snaking back down the hill. I hammered through the first aid station and cruised down a long rocky and slippery downhill before I began the second big ascent. When I reached the top there a marshall directed me straight onwards and I checked behind to see that i already had about a one minute lead with three guys all closely positioned together behind me. After 7 miles the course crosses a main road going into Brighton before the long initially sharp but then more gradual ascent which leads all the way to Devils Dyke, the old Fort. The first 400 yards of this section are insanely steep. I've run the route from there up to the Fort around 10 - 15 times in training and only I rarely run the whole thing. I again checked behind and there was no-one to be seen so I decided to power hike the top 100 yards to conserve some energy, before it opened out on to the road and I began to run again. Devils Dyke is the turn around point and I reached the 11 mile marker there still in the lead.
I turned at the summit and began to open up as I head back downhill. Now I had a chance to see how close for sure the guys were behind me. I made it back to the initial gate into the fort before crossing paths with a guy running in 2nd and then 2 guys together in 3rd and 4th. I estimated I had a 90 second lead. I absolutely battered the next 4 miles back through the halfway point and down to the road which was at the 7/15 mile point. In that section i passed all the other marathon runners and got lots of words of encouragement.
I made it back across the road and up the third climb back up to the top of the downs, about 800ft ascent. I was now putting the hammer down as hard as I could without toppling over the edge. The weather closed in again at the top of climb 3 and there were sheets of rain and fog sweeping across the aid station at the summit. It must have been an horrendous day for the marshalls and volunteers so I made sure I thanked them all for staying out. My course knowledge was absolutely crucial here as I knew exactly where I could open up the gas and go 100% vs those sections I knew I needed to save a bit for being that there were still some climbs to go over although much lower in size. I came into the final aid station at mile 25 with two to go, a 300 yard climb followed by a fast and slippery ascent over the last 1.8 miles into the finish area. I went as hard as I could and couldn't see anyone behind me so I knew that I had it in the bag. The finish was small compared to the previous year due to the torrential wind and rain but it still felt great to cross the line. I got handed a trophy, had a photo with his holiness the local mayor and ran straight into the outbuilding knowing that I was going to be freezing in minutes stood still outside.
In the end I ran the course in 3 hours 13, 39 minutes quicker than the previous year. It felt like there was a smaller group of runners out there than the previous year but there were still 159 finishers. Im sure the weather had something to do with it but last years winning time had been 3 23 so I felt vindicated that I really had run well. The 2nd placed runner ended up coming in 22 minutes after me so I had put a massive amount of time into the field during the 2nd half of the race. Almost unbelievable actually now i look at it.... www.threefortsmarathon.org.uk/results.asp
Im putting this one down to improvement in fitness. Ive still got 8 weeks to work at that before Badwater so happy days I just hope I don't get injured between now and then!!!!!!!!!!
Three Forts is a 27 mile trail race advertised as The Tough One with mixed terrain and climbs of over 3500ft. I ran it last year in 3 hours 52 finishing 17th as part of my build up to Old Dominion 100. It meant I knew the course well which proved to be invaluable given that the marking was a bit loose at times. The weather was absolutely atrocious. The website has since published the following: 'Two thirds of May's rainfall fell on May 1st and 2nd - We know, most of it fell on the marathon course!' It was pretty much horizontal at the start. The gun went and I took it quite quickly without going crazy, the first 2 miles go straight uphill to the downs and I ran at what felt like quite an easy pace up that incline, checking behind me at the 2 mile marker to find that I was already ahead of the 2nd placed runner by around 30 seconds, with a long line of competitors snaking back down the hill. I hammered through the first aid station and cruised down a long rocky and slippery downhill before I began the second big ascent. When I reached the top there a marshall directed me straight onwards and I checked behind to see that i already had about a one minute lead with three guys all closely positioned together behind me. After 7 miles the course crosses a main road going into Brighton before the long initially sharp but then more gradual ascent which leads all the way to Devils Dyke, the old Fort. The first 400 yards of this section are insanely steep. I've run the route from there up to the Fort around 10 - 15 times in training and only I rarely run the whole thing. I again checked behind and there was no-one to be seen so I decided to power hike the top 100 yards to conserve some energy, before it opened out on to the road and I began to run again. Devils Dyke is the turn around point and I reached the 11 mile marker there still in the lead.
I turned at the summit and began to open up as I head back downhill. Now I had a chance to see how close for sure the guys were behind me. I made it back to the initial gate into the fort before crossing paths with a guy running in 2nd and then 2 guys together in 3rd and 4th. I estimated I had a 90 second lead. I absolutely battered the next 4 miles back through the halfway point and down to the road which was at the 7/15 mile point. In that section i passed all the other marathon runners and got lots of words of encouragement.
I made it back across the road and up the third climb back up to the top of the downs, about 800ft ascent. I was now putting the hammer down as hard as I could without toppling over the edge. The weather closed in again at the top of climb 3 and there were sheets of rain and fog sweeping across the aid station at the summit. It must have been an horrendous day for the marshalls and volunteers so I made sure I thanked them all for staying out. My course knowledge was absolutely crucial here as I knew exactly where I could open up the gas and go 100% vs those sections I knew I needed to save a bit for being that there were still some climbs to go over although much lower in size. I came into the final aid station at mile 25 with two to go, a 300 yard climb followed by a fast and slippery ascent over the last 1.8 miles into the finish area. I went as hard as I could and couldn't see anyone behind me so I knew that I had it in the bag. The finish was small compared to the previous year due to the torrential wind and rain but it still felt great to cross the line. I got handed a trophy, had a photo with his holiness the local mayor and ran straight into the outbuilding knowing that I was going to be freezing in minutes stood still outside.
In the end I ran the course in 3 hours 13, 39 minutes quicker than the previous year. It felt like there was a smaller group of runners out there than the previous year but there were still 159 finishers. Im sure the weather had something to do with it but last years winning time had been 3 23 so I felt vindicated that I really had run well. The 2nd placed runner ended up coming in 22 minutes after me so I had put a massive amount of time into the field during the 2nd half of the race. Almost unbelievable actually now i look at it.... www.threefortsmarathon.org.uk/results.asp
Im putting this one down to improvement in fitness. Ive still got 8 weeks to work at that before Badwater so happy days I just hope I don't get injured between now and then!!!!!!!!!!
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