Habit: 2015 Rocky Raccoon 100 Training

Every week for 6 weeks I've started writing a blog on my dull ass training. But every week I run out of time to finish it.

So here is the world's longest blog post about my own training. It's just an amalgamation of stuff I've written weekly since October, and a brain dump from today. It's obvious which is which. It's really for my own future referral although I know one other person who is marginally interested in some of this....

This is the start of my training towards Rocky Raccoon 100 (Jan 31) and Athens 24hr (Mar 28). The idea is to run a sustained period of higher mileage than I've traditionally done without compromising consistency and/or the quality I'm after.

Why am I doing this? To keep me focused on the job and because when I used to post stuff like this I did get one email from a nice person saying that they'd found it useful.

I called this post habit, because the primary issue I've encountered with my own training regime in the past, is consistency. It's the number one thing that I preach to my coaching clients, it's something I believe makes more of a difference long term to the success and health of an ultra runner, yet I myself wax and wane between periods of very consistent training and some exceedingly erratic episodes. As examples, between January and May 2013, training for the GUCR, I averaged 32 miles per week. That included a 100 miler, a 50km, an Ironman and the London Marathon. The 100 and the Marathon were PBs. So what does that tell me? That sometimes less can be more, but more that I might actually get to an ok standard if I applied myself. I count some of my past performances as second tier. I don't want to hot dog or massage my ego or show off. I have run well a few times in the past, but I haven't yet had a really good 100. That's what I am setting out to change this time around. To then roll off of that and get a burst of follow on training for the 24hr. Then wind my season down for a couple of months as the Centurion one takes off.

So the plan has the usual phasing: Recovery, Base, Build, Peak, Taper, Race.

The general plan through Recovery and Base was:

Get in to the habit of running by heading out every day.
Leave quality until the build phase.
Easy miles with most on trail, more forgiving and better strength building.
Let the running come back gradually.

Phase 1: Recovery. 2 weeks.

Just a little consistent running with no quality, some cycling and low mileage. After the BGR and a very bad 24hr track attempt in September I was so heavily fatigued, that I had a panel of blood tests and an ECG performed so that I could see if there were some deeper underlying issues going on. I felt dreadful with no energy and some dizzy spells. Everything came back clear which proved to me a. that I just needed to rest and b. that once I felt better I was good to start training again with the caveat that if I dipped again, it was likely to be chronic fatigue and would need a lengthy period off. Thankfully that has proved not to be the case.

After 4 weeks of almost zero mileage, I picked up with the following two weeks:

Recovery 1: 37.3 miles. 2100 ft. 6:07.
Recovery 2: 59.7 miles. 2700ft. 9:06.
A couple of the runs were right up in the 9:30 per mile range, on trails, including some hiking. I then ran one 13 mile effort at a comfy 8:15 pace in the second week, which felt sufficiently easy enough to give me the go ahead to pick it back up.

Phase 2: Base. 4 weeks.

Applying the consistency. Everything just seemed to work well from the off and motivation was really high.

Base 1: 86.7 miles. 5500ft. 12:14. 
A good start. Easy Ridgeway recce on the Monday. Solid runs around home Tues - Fri including some tempo at the end of Friday's session. Piece of String organising on the Saturday but a good solid 15 miles at 7:40 pace on trails on the Sunday.

Base 2: 94.3 miles. 18500ft. 19:08. 

This week always had the potential to go too far in terms of indulgence, with a trip to the Lakes from Thurs - Sun. In the end it was relatively restrained but featured a long day on the fells on Friday and then the L100 recce from Coniston to Buttermere on the Sunday. The Friday run was in horrendous conditions initially, around Buttermere, up Scarth Gap and then to the top of Haystacks. Wainwright's favourite fell I had all to myself, in fact I didn't see another person in 4hrs. The rain was horizontal and the wind was around 50mph judging by the fact that I know I can't stand up very well in 60. It abated enough for me to enjoy Innominate Tarn, but the descent back to Scarth Gap was steep, rocky and slippery. I then went up over High Stile, High Crag and along to Red Pike but in very low visibility started to descend off of the Ennerdale Side. In fact i had navigated on to White Pike and had to hunker down behind some rocks to get the map out and re-assess where I'd gone wrong. I followed a bearing up and over the top of Red Pike, the descent back to Buttermere was ridiculous in studded shoes on the 'path' that's been laid. It's always satisfying, however, to get oneself out of trouble resorting to traditional navigation techniques. I met Martin Bergerud back at the hotel and we went straight out on to a circuit up and over Mellbreak. The weather cleared now and left us with a calm and sunny afternooon for much of it. The climb up the far side of Mellbreak was steep though not quite in the same league as Yewbarrow.

Haystacks

Martin B climbs Mellbreak North End

The L100 recce, I ran with Debs, in what were average conditions to start with becoming good for much of the day. The section through the plantation between Seathwaite and Boot was atrocious underfoot. It's not good even on a summers day and thigh high bog sinking incidents were numerous. After Boot we made good progress over to Wasdale and then a really nice final section over Black Sail Pass and Scarth Gap to Buttermere. It was eye opening to see how much time could be saved on the descent off Black Sail. Without any meaningful effort it was possible to put some considerable minutes in to other runners as a result of better lines and downhill 'technique'. That part is definitely worth seeing again.

Debs with Yebarrow behind on route to Wasdale Head

Yewbarrow side on from the Black Sail ascent

Debs descending Black Sail with Ennerdale behind

Base 3: 91.1 miles. 5000ft. 12:47. 
I expected some fatigue from the circa 18000ft of climbing the previous week but a very easy 30 mins on Monday set me up well for the week. Tempo Friday night, I had Louis all weekend down at Lisa's parents so I got out very late on Sunday night for 20 miles. The SDW was as wet underfoot as I've ever seen it but the route: Burgess Hill - Streat - Black Cap - Housedean - Black Cap - Ditchling - Burgess Hill was a good one. Apart from the stretch between Ditchling and Burgess Hill which is already flooded and infuriatingly shit trail.

Base 4/ Easy 1: 71.2 miles. 3500ft. 9:37. 
On the Monday we went on holiday. Our first proper holiday with Louis, and our first in a number of years. Antigua was about 30 degrees in the day time and contained zero trails with plenty of rollers. The heat and humidity (it rained at least once every day) co-oincided an easier week with the bulk of the 9 day trip but was still able to get out for 90 minutes each day. The treadmill saw a couple of pieces of action, notably I ran one tempo set on there and finished off 10 miles in 61:30 which was pleasing.

View from Shirley Heights over English Harbour, Antigua

Aggressive sweat on the one road in and out of the Hotel

Phase 3: Build. 4 weeks.

Build 1: 102.9 miles. 7200ft. 14:55
Began with a couple of longer road runs before leaving Antigua including one just before our flight, then an overnight with no sleep on the plane (Louis slept on my lap) and a short run on return before passing out for a good long snooze. Keeping the daily schedule was hard over that few days. On Friday, Drew and I went out for a few hours on the Ridgeway and surrounds, I saved a lot for Sunday and the first long session of 30 miles. The first 10 I ran with Ian Munro before pushing on by myself and finding more and more gas in the tank as the run went on, such that it ended up being some kind of giant progression run. Again, satisfying.

Drew in foreground, Wendover Woods ahead

Build 2: 100.3 miles. 4000ft. 
This week ended up being a lot of very similar length runs with not enough differentiation in effort. Tuesday was a noticeable effort, I tried to hit the track but didn't make it and ran a few intervals instead with a circa 7 min average for 14 miles overall which wasn't taxing. Thursday was a 19 miler which went ok also. Otherwise too much junk in the week.

Build 3: 101.5 miles. 3000ft.
This was a really good week. I grabbed a last minute place in the Enigma Blues Marathon on the Wednesday. Monday I ran 14 miles, Tuesday when I found out there was a spot I pulled back and ran 8 easy. The marathon started easy, at around 6:50 pace. It was windy and the course is fast albeit a little fiddly with lots of turns. The pace felt harder than 6:50s and I decided after lap 2 of 7 it would be better to back off and maintain consistency through the week. I ran with Jonathan Godfrey initially but around mile 12 we suddenly dropped off to 7:15s and I decided just to press on. There was a lot left in the tank, I made sure not to stretch out and in the end ran in a 2:54. The strava app probably couldn't cope with the twists and turns of the course, and hence was giving me bogus readings by about 15 secs per mile so those early miles felt harder, because they were harder. Thursday easy day, Friday the same with Drew recce-ing the far eastern end of the NDW for the future. Saturday I had the pleasure of pacing Louise Ayling to a Park Run PB, a few easy miles on the river and then 2 stints of pacing Paul Navesey on his 50km treadmill WR attempt. Both times I was able to hold his pace, 6:00 mile initially, then a little higher, without too much difficulty which only a few days after the marathon was encouraging. Sunday easy 15 in 2hrs, felt easier than it perhaps ought to have done.

To Come

This week of Build. Then 2.5 weeks of Peak. Then the taper. I'll do an assessment of pace splits and lap times, but form suggests I can go a good bit quicker than 17:32 from last time, if conditions are good.

Holme Fell: Louis' first Wainwright

A few days on from the BGR experience we're enjoying our holiday in the lakes. It had been my plan to get our boy Louis up his first Wainwright before we head home. He's 6 months old and starting to weigh some. We stay over Coniston way in general when we come up and have one of the lowest and most straight forward Wainwright climbs behind the cottage.

Holme Fell has a long grassy ascent with some very easy rock steps on one side and a big crag off of the front, overlooking the main road from Ambleside to Coniston. It's a beautiful fell and one full of character despite being the second lowest of all 214 peaks.

After a simple 40 minute hike we made the top, the first for Louis and his Mum. Breathtaking views and a nice way to start easing the waste back out of my tired legs.

Bob Graham Round 2

This post shouldn't really about my second and failed attempt at the BGR. It should really be about sacrifices. Not my own, but those made by my crew/ pacers again this weekend in the name of allowing me to try to complete a circuit of 42 Lakeland summits in under 24 hours. To them I am extremely thankful for the time, effort and energy expended.

The critical factor for me in this Bob Graham equation, is the 24hrs. My crew overheard a conversation between two past Centurion race competitors at the Lakeland start about how it shouldn't be that difficult to run 100km in that time. Having not seen the route I would have to agree. Having seen the route and been in to the deep end of it twice now, I can safely say it's one of the hardest things I've ever tried to do. This is the kind of route where a decent mile split is the wrong side of 50 minutes on occasions. That's pretty hard to comprehend unless you've tried to hike up Yewbarrow. In many ways, I've come to view the challenge in a similar way to the Spartathlon. I've also come to realise that my training and preparation for it needs to match that which I applied in order to reach that finish line in Sparta. Not simply try to show up and just wing it which is much closer to what I've actually tried to do.

The crux of the matter is this 24hr thing. Twice now I've faced the potential of being physically able to complete the distance, but just not within the time frame. How? Why?

I am not a fast runner, but I'm not slow either. But this has almost nothing to do with running. It's about a much broad range of skills. I alluded to that in my blog of the first attempt a few weeks ago, but this time it was really brought home to me.

Pre Attempt

The attempt this time almost fell foul of some weather considerations once again. The forecast at first looking perfect, turned decidedly sour for Saturday night on the western fells. The Met Office Mountain Forecast was for very low visibility in hill fog and heavy rain down to below 500 metres. Co-inciding with the timings we were due to be out on leg four, a very high level and involved part of the round, we decided to bring the start time forward to Friday night. This was far from ideal, it meant we were all rushing a little to prep in time.

At 10pm we drove out to Penrith to pick up pacer Adam Stirk, a successful BGR finisher. He would be pacing me for leg 1 and 2. We'd never met before but from all our correspondence I knew he was the perfect man for the job. Whilst Drew and I collected Adam, Nici and Claire were off trying to buy the supplies for the effort. Funnily enough there wasn't much open at 10:30pm on Saturday night. And therein lay our first major, and ridiculously amateur issue.

Leg One

11:06pm and Adam and I were off up Skiddaw. There was none of the thick cloud cover from last time, Adam's knowledge of the route was superior to my own and in two places he saved me minutes off of last time. It was a stunning night, the stars were out in force, I felt great and it was exceptionally warm and humid such that we ran the whole leg in t shirts but still sweated buckets. Skiddaw 74 mins, Great Calva 37, Blencathra 69 and a nice runnable descent of Doddick Gill to Threlkeld rather than Halls Fell in 29 mins and we were at the car at just past 2:30am (3hrs30). Text book stuff. I was feeling superb.

Leg Two

Leaving Threlkeld I made a massive error. I took only gels with me out on leg two. Adam and I had both had a few stomach rumblings on leg one thanks perhaps to some fairly metallic tasting water down at the River crossing. At the start of this leg Adam was forced to make a pit stop and I got the first rumblings of some issues. The Lakeland 100 race had started at 1800 the night before and by a weird twist of fate, our paths joined the course just as Paul Tierney emerged on to the route. We had a chat as we hiked up through the fields below the Coach Road, he was feeling rough and I was feeling great but as I pointed out at least he didn't have to hike his way up Clough Head next! We went our separate ways and we took a slow line up Clough Head gaining the top in 54 minutes. From there the run of the Dodds came easy enough, then I began to suffer some slightly more severe stomach problems. Two pit stops in quick succession and a refusal to digest gels led to a rapid slow down in pace. Nevertheless we still made pretty good time over Helvelyn, Nethermost, Dollywagon and the grind up to Fairfield, dropping over Seat Sandal and down to the road in 4:25 or a total of 8hrs. Bang on schedule. Damage was done though, I hadn't eaten for two hours and was in the locker.

Leg Three

The extent of my nutritional woes was brought home as I arrived at Nici's car at Dunmail to find all we had with us was an old pot of baked beans, a pack of biscuits and some gels. This was a disaster. On a stomach that wasn't co-operating we basically had a pack of biscuits for the next 6 - 7.5hrs. I drank the beans, ate a few biscuits and felt marginally better so Paul and I got off up Steel Fell. 24 mins later we were on to Calf Crag, a small mistake and a wasted couple of minutes, then the climb to Sergeant Man. We were stopping for water wherever there was signs of some. It was exceptionally warm and the springs were as dry as I've ever seen them. The next section went ok as we tagged High Raise, Harrison, Pike O'stickle and began the circa 50 minute traverse over to Rossett Pike. The climb to Rossett is punchy and we took a cr*p line up there and then on to Bowfell again shedding some valuable minutes. As we gained the highest plateau of the round I was weaving and bobbing with almost no fuel going in. My strength on the climbs was poor and my control on the descents even worse. Despite that, there were moments when I felt we still had a good chance and that it would all come together and we ground onwards. The climb up Lord's Rake to Scafell and down to Wasdale was shockingly slow, however. With a huge sense of deja vu I came in to the car park at Wastwater feeling almost identical to how I had done 4 weeks previous and in a very similar overall time.

Leg Four

4 weeks ago I'd decided to call it a day at Wasdale. I didn't have enough time to get round and once you are out on leg 3 and your crew have departed, you are in for a very long hike out to Honister if things go wrong. Well this time I decided that come what may I'd commit to leg four and suffer the consequences. It wasn't within the bounds of possibility I could make it in, it was just very unlikely. I ate like a horse at Wasdale. I was starving from the stomach and lack of available food imposed mega bonk. Really all I'd had in 9 hours was a few biscuits, a mule bar and some beans.

The climb up Yewbarrow is the steepest on the BGR. It's roughly 1 in 2. And despite everything, 50 mins in and we were up it. Pretty slow for a 0.9 mile climb but actually bang on schedule. That, however, was the end for me. It completely wiped me out. I became a kind of liability in a way because my sugar starved brain was having trouble with basic functions. I lay on the ground for 5 minutes before we got on and continued the climb to Red Pike. I was moving interminably slowly now and I began to feel it slipping very rapidly away from me. The giants of leg four are imposing at the best of times and I felt their might creeping upon me. My mind was willing my body to keep grinding it out to this point, but my body finally won out and it was with a fairly massive collapse. It took us 84 minutes to gain Red Pike, on a 50 minute schedule. Drew and I sat on the summit and discussed our options. We decided to make the call to quit the attempt. He was encouraging for me to continue and finish outside the 24hrs, I was dead against it. I knew I'd only view that as a failure and worse, was potentially putting him and myself in a fairly risky position on the rocky climbs/ descents of Kirk Fell and Gable.

So that was it, but by far from the end of the day. We'd been out a little over 18 hours, but I realised we'd probably take another three to get down to the crew at Honister. We skirted Steeple and Pillar, the next two summits, people at home therefore would realise we'd abandoned as we missed the tops. We dropped down to Blacksail pass and took the Lakeland course across to Buttermere. It was the safest and quickest way out for us given the weather that blew straight in and completely engulfed the Leg four tops behind us. It simply served to reinforce that we made the right call at the right time. Clearly a failure is not something to pat oneself on the back over, but I am proud of the judgement we exercised. In the mountains, and make no mistake these are mountains in every way shape and form, ones success must primarily be judged in my opinion on the ability to get to safety without the need for external help. I'm sure someone before has said it much better, but that's how I view it anyhow.

We got down to Buttermere and hitched a lift with a rally driver who tried his best to finish us off on the drive back to Honister where we met with Nici and Claire, and the day ended.

Aftermath

Massive disappointment at a second failure to complete the round. But more learnings. I knew this was a hard thing to achieve, but I had until now been naive to the level of difficulty. It is exceptionally hard. I would equate it to running a difficult 100 mile race within 24hrs, with only 4 check points. I was probably 1 - 2 hours out this time overall.

Ultimately the stomach issues I had and lack of food on leg three were my major undoing this time. But ultimately there's something more here. I was probably fit enough to get round, but not fit enough to do so with much margin for error. I knew the route pretty well, but there were still times on leg three when we made silly mistakes or wasted time. And someone with a greater knowledge of the route or sense of mountain craft would easily have wiped a half hour - an hour off that one leg alone I would think, thanks to better lines.

If your knowledge of the route/ navigation skills are not exceptional, the way to get around the BGR is with heavy support. One navigational pacer and one 'mule' pacer for each leg. Possibly more. I see lots of pictures of people doing the round with a number people accompanying each leg. We had a total of one driver and 4 pacers. Basically the equivalent of one or two leg's worth of support. You also need to recce the routes over and over. It's not just a case of knowing the way, it's a case of understanding the ground, knowing where the water sources are such that you carry nothing more than you need on a 4 - 7 hour leg. It's about fell speed. An ability to negotiate incredibly rocky or loose scree descents at pace, for the whole way.

Fitness wise,  the climbs are so steep that as long as you are moving forward/ upward, you are working at rate which I would describe as fairly similar to marathon effort in order to proceed at a pace quick enough to get you round. You simply cannot recover unless you stand still. And that isn't conducive to getting around....

Simply put, I wasn't ready in a few different and important ways. Next time rest assured I will be.

This has bitten me in a way I haven't been bitten since Sparta and for that I am exceptionally grateful. Certainly, returning to the Lakes time and again is beginning to feel like coming home.

Return to posting

I took this blog out of commission some time ago as we shifted everything over to the Centurion website. Increasingly, i've found that to be the wrong forum for much of what I wanted to write about. So in a bid to return to the days of writing more regularly I've re-instated this old blog. More than anything else I'd like this to go back to being a running diary to look back on in years to come. Many of the better blogs out there address a range of issues, offer advice and inspire debate. Any posts falling under those remits will go on to the Centurion site.

Thus, new posts may appear anything from daily to annually.

It's the Wednesday before my second attempt at the Bob Graham Round. I am the most energised I've been for months. A combination of getting through the meat of the Centurion racing season, and Louis sleeping through the night. It feels like a gigantic weight has been lifted from my shoulders, with a successful BGR this weekend I shall be floating along.

I've been kindly leant a tracker by open tracking off of the Fell Runner Forums which is extremely kind of them. http://maps.opentracking.co.uk/bg2014.cfm?n=35

All I need now is for my ankle to hold out and the weather forecast to stay as planned. I went over on my right ankle coming off of Green Gable on my final BGR recce two Fridays back and it degenerated in to a strain which has prevented running for a week since. It's coming around.