Last weekend I put in the last big weekend running a reasonably hilly 70 miles over Saturday and Sunday. Webbo, who ran the Sahara with us late last year, and I headed down to Petersfield on Saturday morning, we kicked off about 9:30am and ran 35 miles, Stage 2 of the Votwo South Downs Way Challenge from near Petersfield to the windmills at Clayton. The day went by pretty quick without too many navigational errors. We hit the downhills hard and walked most of the ups and finished in 6 hours flat.
After the night spent at a local pub, Day 2 (Stage 3) for the rest of the racers, started from where we'd left off the night before and we quickly hit the front of the small pack of early starters. At mile 4 we went at 90 degrees to where we were supposed to be headed and set off on a route which took us all the way down into the centre of Lewes rather than 4 miles east of it. That first stage should have been a simple 6.5 miles and ended up being 10.3. We pressed on regardless until on a steep downhill section Webbo's hamstring blew out and he was forced to a walking pace. He was adamant he would drop at the 2nd checkpoint due to the pain he was in so I went off ahead and pushed reasonably hard through CP2 and then a short sharp 53 minute 6 mile section to CP3. At that point I was alone and hadn't see anyone else for a long time & I ended up going wrong in the last 7 mile stage but made pretty good time afterwards down to Beachy Head and the finish in 6 hours 14. This is a great event and i recommend it to anybody whether you do just a day or all 3. I'll be back to do it again for sure.
The 70 miles was so comfortable all the way it just capped off a good solid period of training and left me feeling as confident as I could be about the massive distance of Badwater ahead. I didn't have any real leg fatigue, was able to run easily on Monday and through the week and was just happy to have got through the mileage without picking up any last minute injuries.
Now its taper time. That means Ive finished most of the running part of training and Im in to a period of winding down and resting. It is so important not to start events tired, espcially priority races or 135 mile ones. The two times Ive trained properly for a race and not tapered properly or been able to get adequate rest in were Old Dominion 100 mile and Sahara Race both in 2009. In both those races I went ok but being tired was the difference between going ok and finishing strong. Old Dominion I was sure I would break 24 hours but smashed into the wall at mile 68 ish and walked most of the last 9 hours for a 24:58 finish. I was so tired when I started the Sahara that I never found any form and i ended up feeling dreadful for the entire week.
It is the price you pay for entering ridiculously hard races that you end up doing things that seem, and frankly are, absolutely ridiculous within the training cycle. For Badwater there are three factors: Distance, Hills and Heat. Distance training is about logging big miles, quality miles but big miles. Hill training is about power walking for long stretches on inclines & a good amount of work on the never ending stair machine. Heat training can be done by either a) heading somewhere hot ie. the desert and getting decent exposure to heat over an extended period of time, preferably running in it or b) sitting in a sauna and getting your body used to the heat but more importantly taking on and absorbing huge amounts of liquid.
This week Ive spend over 3.5 hours in 85 degree Centigrade heat. I still cannot handle more than about 20 minutes in one stint but it is becoming easier. In that 20 minutes I am easily putting away 1l to 1.5l of water.
This weeks most listened too (used in the intro to one of my favourite all time films)
Saturday, 26 June 2010
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Badwater: Into the last 4 training weeks
Well Im still in training for Badwater. Id better be. Its still 135 miles in up to 55 degrees C of heat. Uphill. If you want a good look at the race then get the DVD Running on the Sun. The overdramatic trailer is below which makes most participants seem like a loony but lets be honest this stuff isn't that normal
Much better is the video of Jamie Donaldson storming the course in 2008
I said in the last post that i would look at dropping down the running mileage and adding some other components to training ie. saunas, neverending stair machine, cycling, swimming etc. I had to do it anyway because of the 4 day cycle ride from London to Brighton via Dorset spread across the end of one training week and the start of the second. Also I haven't swum at all, or indeed ridden my bike over 4 miles since August 2009 (ok one 60 miler with Jim) and with Ironman two weeks after Badwater I should get round to doing some more.
I said in the last post that i would look at dropping down the running mileage and adding some other components to training ie. saunas, neverending stair machine, cycling, swimming etc. I had to do it anyway because of the 4 day cycle ride from London to Brighton via Dorset spread across the end of one training week and the start of the second. Also I haven't swum at all, or indeed ridden my bike over 4 miles since August 2009 (ok one 60 miler with Jim) and with Ironman two weeks after Badwater I should get round to doing some more.
Volume has been ok. I had a big blow out on the Saturday after the bike ride and made it back to the hotel for 4am! So Sunday was a non event but other than that Ive stayed away from heavy boozing.
29th May - 4th June: Needed to do a big run on the Sunday to get some miles in the legs but not to overdo it too much given the cycling trip. 50km in horrible weather so not too bad and the Monday run was a nice bonus. No problems with my legs after either I think now I can run up to about 35 - 40 miles without the onset of leg fatigue if I pace at 6 - 7mph. Thats a good sign. Question is can I stave off bad leg fatigue up to the 70 - 80 mile marker so i can at least break the back of the race before succumbing to inevitable pain.
Saturday: 32 miles
Sunday: 3 miles
Monday: 18 miles
Tuesday: 4 miles
Wednesday: 80 mile bike
Thursday: 104 mile bike
Friday: 80 mile bike
Totals: 57 miles running. 264 miles bike. 1 x Sauna.
Hours: About 30.
5th June - 11th June: Finished the bike ride with a time trial up Ditchling Beacon and then a 10 hour boozing session. Back to running on the Monday and felt fine, didn't want to go too mental as I was still a bit run down and had the South Downs marathon on the Sat morning.
Saturday: 80 mile bike
Sunday: Rest
Monday: 8 miles
Tuesday: 16 miles
Wednesday: 4 miles
Thursday: 16 miles
Friday: 4 miles
Totals: 48 miles running. 80 miles bike. 3 x Sauna.
Hours: About 14.
Saturday: 26.2 miles South Downs Marathon
I took this one easy and ran it with Pete (see Country to Capital post). The race is fantastically organised start fo finish. We kicked off from Slindon College near Arundel and ran up to Queen Elizabeth Country Park near Petersfield, South Downs Way all the way. Good sunshine, great aid stations, walking ups and running the downs hard. 5600ft of climb, 5200ft descent. Nice trails for 90% of the race. Felt easy but quick enough. 3 hours 44 mins.
So from here a steady week with some swimming, lots of heat acclimation in the sauna at 90 degrees C and steady running. This weekend 2 x back to back 35 mile days over the South Downs again, days 2 & 43 of the Votwo South Downs Challenge.
Next weeks intention is to put in 135 mile week. 70 at the weekend and 13 a day through the week.
Don't you just hate it when you're about to finish a good race with someone you've run the whole way with and some try hard comes barrelling through the middle, knocking you (me in the awesome looking red visor) to make up 2 places so he can go from 34th to 32nd as if anyone gives a ....
Most listened too this week
They don't make em like this anymore
Its pretty hard not to be moved by this when you've been running for a few hours already
The Foals
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