My withered leg

There was a significant shock tonight. I took my cast off and half of my lower left leg has disappeared. A bit scary, but I've looked at the Western States course and it snakes slightly from right to left therefore it should suit my lopsidedness.

Coming back to the post yesterday, I have neglected to get involved with triathlon since my little birthday sojourn at the Cowman half Iron distance tri a few years ago. I have actually entered 2 Ironman races in the interim but been unable to race both times. The tri world is such a different beast to ultra running. It's expensive, it requires a shed load of equipment, the equipment makes a tangible difference to your performance, it's EVEN harder to get into the big races than the world of ultras primarily because it is a recognised televised sport with full time paid professionals. I'm not going to go on about it in any more but I actually own a half decent trek road bike, albeit it is probably now considered an antique or at least retro with its discovery channel logos from the 2006 UCI racing season. I also have a wetsuit which I've raced in the once. I can't breath in it but at least I float. And I have some pretty nice trainers with only a few hundred miles on them....

Riding the circumference of Puerto Rico in 2008 in BVI national colours

So it's just a question of when. Obviously I'm not entering anything less than a half IM distance as I can't be bothered to get wet and cold for less than that. I'll probably leave it until after the Grand Slam but to be honest the major problem is more finding a race I can get in to at this 'late stage' without incurring a massive flight and entry fee cost. Ironman UK is slap bang in the middle of the slam and Ironman Wales is the same weekend as Wasatch so both off the cards. On the Half Ironman IM70.3 front I'm actually IN Vegas for the 70.3 World Champs so will be there to watch. Ireland 70.3 I am away for. I see two options, Italy 70.3 or France 70.3. Neither are great timing wise. I've looked at some of the other races, double, triple, quintuple and deca Iron events (I'm not joking) but they all clash and I think I should maybe try a normal Ironman before I try and pull out 10 back to back.

So will it be another year of no swimming? I am determined not to get in the pool until I next have to swim at a triathlon. Certainly I have hated every minute of cycling in the gym but my quads are now enormous (ly average sized)

Weekly Summary March 14th - 21st

We've had an incredible reaction to the Thames Path 100. In our first week of opening for registrations we've had 16 sign ups, which, bearing in mind the race is a just under a year away, is a phenomenal response. Finally we've also managed to get some traction with the UTMB organisers to get the races listed as official qualifiers. Fingers crossed we will get our answers next week.

Injury wise I feel like I'm mending. My fracture is pain free and the pain i've had in my shin bone under pressure has abated. I'm still at least 3 weeks from being able to resume light running but I'm staying sane and positive. This week I've cycled exactly 240 miles over 8 different sessions, between 45 minutes and just under 3 hours in length. Average pace has been good, just over 21mph for the lot. So I'm getting some decent exercise time in despite wearing having the cast on throughout. 

Makes me think I should sign up to a full length one of these and take the opportunity to put this enforced riding to good use....

Coach & the Slam

Every day I get up and cycle to work. I work all day, then I go to the gym and sit on an exercise bike for between 90 and 120 minutes and push at a minimum of 20mph and a maximum of about 22mph. I get my HR up to between 140 and 155 during that time depending on how hot it is in the gym that day. Then I get on my bike and cycle home. Every day. At the weekend I get up and go the gym, then I cycle for between 90 and 120 minutes and then cycle home again. The only real difference between me and a cyclist is that through necessity I do all of this with a cast on my leg. It is fair to say the attention I've drawn falls mostly into the 'are you kidding me do you not want to get better you have a broken leg' category. I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't trust in the person telling me that this is what I should and can be doing.

Very recently I decided that I had taken my own running career as far as I could on my own. I had a pretty good run of things. I managed to navigate my way through some hard races without too many major difficulties. I broke 3 hours for a marathon and actually won a couple of awards in desert races for finishing in the top 5 plus a bona fide hard trail ultra win with a field of 200 people so I guess I reached a pretty good standard. By no means spectacular but still I was pretty pleased.

Ever since Badwater it has felt like the wheels have come off. I was a wreck of a human being for 2 months afterwards. I started UTMB and got pulled early in the race along with all of the other runners which in hindsight was a blessing in disguise because I was ill and struggling after just 4 or 5 hours. I had a shocking race at CC100 and finished on nothing but sheer stubbornness. Then I had a break, a couple of small ultras and ramped up my training again for RR100. The whole of the last 3 months I have been teetering on the brink of disaster and so far this year I've suffered two, DNFing at Rocky Raccoon and then picking up this stress fracture. What it showed me was that I'd taken it as far as I could on my own. If I wanted to carry on finishing really hard races I could probably do it without help. But I feel like there is at least some potential to do better than that. I don't think I'll ever run a 2:40 marathon or a sub16 hour 100 mile race or be anywhere near competitive at the bigger ultras but I would like to at least do myself justice and do as well as I can. In the end I will go back to just running things to finish them and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It's all I've pretty much ever done and I love that about our sport. However whilst I have another couple of years to push myself as hard as i can I am going to give it a crack.

So that led me to contacting my new coach Lisa Smith-Batchen. I'm not going to write any more about Lisa now than to say I'm three weeks in under her wing, I've spent two of that three weeks injured and yet she's already changed the way I view everything about training and what I want out of racing. I set myself some pretty ambitious goals to give to Lisa and she feels I can achieve them. It will take time for me to get to some of them because of having to sit it out for 6 - 8 weeks with this fracture but I have total confidence that once I'm back in the game, I will be back better than ever. It is Lisa who picked out that I had a stress fracture by just talking to me from the other side of the atlantic when my physio couldn't even do it with me on the table. Lisa told me in no uncertain terms to get a scan immediately, which threw up the fracture and has subsequently given me what I need to keep my mind in the game, stay reasonably fit and get healthy again without rushing and causing longer term problems. I put my total faith and trust in her. If Lisa says cycle, I cycle. If people in the gym look at me like I have a mental issue that's fine. I'll just keep getting on that bike and visualising the first big climb out of Squaw Valley at the start of Western States.

That goal became all the more real today when my application for the Grand Slam went through and my name joined the short list of others going for all 4 100 milers this summer. A lay off from running was the last thing I needed right now but it has only fed my hunger to succeed in completing something not many other people have done or get the chance to do.

Thames Path 100

Al and I finally got our act together and launched the new website this week. It is so much better than the previous one in terms of communicating the details of each race to potential runners and allowing them to stay in touch with race news and progress.

As part and parcel of that we sent registrations live for the Thames Path 100 at the same time. A 100 mile non stop run from Richmond in London to Oxford.

We have worked very hard to make sure we don't clash with any existing race dates and particularly to stay clear of the excellent races put on by Go Beyond (Country to Capital 45 mile and Thames Trot 50 mile) always in Jan and early Feb each year. A big part of that is that selfishly I intend to keep running those races myself every year!!!!

In the end I went for the first week of March. My frustration as a runner is that there are no early season long ultra courses available in the UK. As such I have flown to the States twice to run Rocky Raccoon because I like to race often and stay fit rather than have a big gap over Christmas. It gave me that early season opportunity to get a good 100 mile trail run under my belt. For experienced runners it will also provide a gauge of where they are in terms of fitness and of how difficult some of the longer or more challenging 100 mile plus races are going to be for them during the true long ultra race season of May to September. The TP100 will form an excellent platform for major races across the summer. I include in the category of major races: GUCR, WHW, Badwater, Spartathlon, Lakeland 100, UTMB, Western States, Leadville, Hardrock etc etc. 

It is always going to be a balancing act putting on new events. We will always incur some criticism for either clashing with existing race dates or putting races on, on courses or national trails that are already covered by existing events. In my opinion there is room for 3 things: 

1. An early season long course. 

2. A race that offers first time 100 milers a chance to complete the distance under the simplest possible conditions, after all the distance itself is enough of a challenge. 

3. Another 100 mile option to UK runners at an affordable price. 

I'm sure also, as per the NDW100, that we will receive a backlash against the cost of the TP100 entry, which I have set at £85. The cost is £85 for two reasons. 1. That is the minimum I have worked out we can charge runners and not lose money. That is based on reaching a certain reasonable but optimistic number of entries which I will keep to myself bearing in mind we are including buckles for all finishers, easily the most expensive part of staging this race but crucial in my eyes, to give people something they can take away and be proud of apart from the sheer pleasure of simply finishing and having the memory of doing so. 2. Because I personally consider £85 for a 100 mile/ 30 hour fully supported marshaled and marked race with proper medical back up, good value for money. The cheapest 100 I have entered to date is Rocky Raccoon and the early entry cost for that is $130, or, you guessed it..... £85. 

The cost has always been the most difficult thing to get right for me. I am extremely confident I or rather we as a team can give people an awesome race day experience, because frankly I intend to put on my ideal race as a runner, leaving as little as possible and preferably nothing to chance. Things will go wrong in our first events but the mistakes will be minimal and there will be plenty of capable people around on race day to ensure that we correct any mistakes swiftly and properly. I guess I feel a little vindicated in our costings given that we are up to 57 runners for the NDW races, 5 months from race date, and the fact that 6 people signed up within 24 hours of the TP100 going live, 12 months prior to race date. 

Last thing to be aware of really is limiting numbers in case the races turn out to be so popular that we get out of control. I have put reasonable limits on all the races, a number that I feel we can properly manage in our first year. There has to be an element of 'testing the water' and in my eyes to unleash 100s of runners on to new race courses, is irresponsible. This after all is not Western States which I understand will have 1400 volunteers this year for under 400 of us runners. Insane.

So thanks to those who have supported us already and I promise we will do everything that we physically can to blow you away before, during and after race day. 

For those that follow the misery of my running career at the moment, I am currently spending between 2 and 3 hours a day cycling in the gym, wearing a cast on my left foot. Im not joking. Some of the looks I've been getting are priceless. It is mind numbing and not in the least bit enjoyable but hopefully I can retain some level of fitness for the Grand Slam. There is one bonus, I get to watch a shed load of TV ( mounted to the bike frame). Today I watched 3 back to back episodes of Jamie Oliver cooking tapas on Channel 4, whilst burning 1100 calories. I have to wear this thing for between 4 and 8 weeks. Oh JOY!!!!!

The Scan

It's official I'm out of Umstead 100 and looking at 6 - 8 weeks off of running. I am not very good at reading scans but allegedly you can see from the below on the right hand leg (my left leg), next to the oval shape and under the darker line on the edge of the bone there is a stress fracture. Will be becoming a spinning junkie in the meantime in an attempt to remain fit enough to tackle Comrades and then 4 x 100 milers in the space of 11 weeks this summer. Obviously Centurion Running will benefit somewhat also.

8 weeks from the 1st March which was the last run is the 25th April 2011. Wow that seems a long way off....

MRI Scan Wednesday 2nd March 2011. 

Stress Fracture

Well I had the MRI on Wednesday night which was an interesting experience in itself. I hadn't had one for about 11 years and the machines have certainly gotten a lot quieter in that time. I actually fell asleep lying down listening to the clunking of the cylindrical behemoth.

I got the results back on Thursday afternoon with a pretty abrupt e mail from the doctor stating quite simply that I did indeed have a stress fracture of the left tibia. As discussed in previous posts it was obvious something was pretty badly wrong ever since Rocky Raccoon, but I hadn't expected to find out I had been running on a broken leg for 3 weeks. 

It's hard to state exactly where I go from here because I don't have the full prognosis yet. Obviously I need to let this heal and any impact will prevent it from doing so. That means I won't be able to run for what is my book an awfully long time. I've had to abandon all short-mid term racing plans including Umstead. It is possible I may need surgery but the physio talked to me on Friday night and said that was unlikely. I'll find out soon if I need an air boot to help keep the weight off of the bone whilst I'm going about daily life. 

On the bright side I can continue to cross train so I will do that as much as I can and try to retain the fitness I have built up over the last couple of months and try to get well in time for Comrades (3 months away) but more importantly the Grand Slam (4 months away). 

It really does suck not being able to run. It's been 4 days and I'm already fidgeting. I want to do everything possible to assist the healing of the fracture but the reality is there is little I can do except rest. It doesn't hurt just walking around, there is more of an itchy sensation from deep within my leg which is a little perturbing but at least I'm not immobile. 

On a much happier note the Centurion website is all but done and we will be launching it later tonight so check it out from Sunday 6th onwards www.centurionrunning.com . We are adding forums and a lot more detail on the individual races themselves including where and when the 2nd 100 mile trail race which will be held on the Thames Path in March 2012. The North Downs Races are proving popular and we passed 50 entrants this week. The entries into the 50 have increased to 8 but still lag well behind the 100 (21) and the marathon (24). We are still over 5 months from race day so if the interest levels continue I will have to think about limiting the numbers to make sure we have a sustainable race in our first year which is extremely important.

I read Anthony Kiedis' autobiography again this week. RHCP a class act for 25 years. My top 2 below Yertle the Turtle and Don't Forget Me. John Frusciante at his best at 4:00 in the first one.