Report on the South Downs Way 100: Self Supported

I blogged about this journey a couple of times in the lead up to it. I was probably the most excited I've been all year to get out and run.

On Saturday morning after our TRA AGM in Swindon, I scooped up Neil Bryant from the station and drove down to Eastbourne. Neil and I didn't know each other particularly well, in fact we'd only properly met once - at our NDW100 last year where he finished 2nd - but as he remarked during the course of the run, what an amazing community the ultra running one is that we could just hook up and tackle an experience like this together. Neil was looking to 'trailblaze' the SDW in it's entirety, checking in at little dibber boxes which record your time and journey at roughly 10 mile intervals along the trail. He had previously run the first 88 miles of it in his first attempt and was back to finish it in one go. 

We managed to park within 10 yards of the trail head which was ideal and after about 5 minutes of getting our gear together, we were off on our journey to Winchester.

The idea was to run the trail self-supported. Now I don't want any 'purists' coming down on us for using that turn of phrase! We weren't being picky and minimalist, it's just that we were pretty happy going about things at our own pace, without any time pressures at all. When you haven't got a crew, an ETA or any onward journey plans, you can totally switch off from everything and just enjoy running for runnings sake. As it turned out we relied almost entirely on what we had in our packs from the start, with the exception of pit stops at Alfriston, Pyecombe and a farm near Exton. 

The first section of the SDW runs across the 7 sisters up to Alfriston. Having never run together before there was always a chance that we were going to struggle to find that magic 100 mile pace - where you hold enough in the tank to be able to run the same speed all the way through, but without being too slow over the initial sections where you feel great. Neil is a phenomenally talented runner having probably his best season ever and I was well aware that if anything, I would be slowing him down rather than the other way around. That being said I was hopeful that I could stay within about 10% of Neil's pace and therefore that we wouldn't have any major issues sticking together. 

As we got going through Seven Sisters park, the hills and hours just seemed to fly by. The sun was out and it was warm but not too hot and the views, as always, were just stunning. 

White Horse above Littlington

We made great time right from the off and reached Alfriston at mile 12ish pretty quickly. Knowing that the next chance to get any supplemental food would be Pyecombe 20 miles further on at best, I scooped up a mars bar and ate it on the move. Neil, on the other hand, was running his own little nutritional experiment which I got a great deal of enjoyment from witnessing. My pack contained 30 gels. Neils contained bags of nuts, cheese, chorizo and olives. He was making a go of running 100 miles on protein alone. Our two strategies could not have possibly been any different but it seemed to make no odds at all.

We departed Alfriston and made our way up to the radio masts overlooking Newhaven to the South and the Weald to the north, the hills bustling with paragliders making the most of the weather. We dropped down the other side into Southease at mile 19ish, re-stocked our water and pushed straight on to Housedean Farm (mile 25ish) and the next tap. In that regard, I can't think of a better trail to have a go at running self-supported than the SDW. I wasn't 100% sure on all the tap locations and distances, but I was fairly sure on them and honestly, there are enough out there not to worry about anything else. I would guess you can get access to water every 6 - 11 miles on average and we did pretty much just that, never stopping for more than a minute to fill up and re-pack the bags before pressing on.

The running was just incredible. I wanted to get out there and connect with the trail. That sounds a bit strange but I did want to make it more of a journey than one dictated around pace, splits, positions and schedules. I think we both got that in spades over the course of the run. 

After Housedean there is a gradual climb up to the ridge connecting to Ditchling Beacon and we ran the whole trail. I think we'd both found our stride and were making really good progress. Nothing super quick, just steady progress and a nice conversational pace, probably about 5mph without fail. We hiked the steeper grades but otherwise seemed to run uninhibited the rest of the trail.

After Ditchling I hit a little bit of a low patch energy wise and my hamstrings began to talk to me but I knew that was just a dip in calories and salt. As we dropped down in to Pyecombe at mile 32ish, we made the decision to leg it across the A23 to the M&S in the service station down the road. This is where our team work came in. I knew where all the taps were and could navigate without maps the first 65 miles of the trail and Neil had the experience of his previous SDW trailblaze run behind him. He knew that the garage would be the last point we could get our hands on anything, probably until morning or even the end of the run so the extra half a mile or so and flirting with the traffic well worth it. We stood in the garage for about 20 minutes as I ate a bowl of pasta with three packets of salt mixed in & Neil ate 8 chicken kebab skewers and bought some scotch eggs. The only thing we had in common diets wise at this stage is that we both bought a load of cheese and devoured that too. 

Out of Pyecombe we climbed up and over the hill down to Saddlescombe Farm, re-filled with water and then climbed up to Devils Dyke at mile 36. The sun began to set at this point and it was incredible to watch it die out from yellow to brilliant orange to red and then fade away to leave us in total darkness. 

Sun goes down over Ditchling Beacon

We couldn't believe it but not only did we not have a good moon to light the way, we had NO moon. It later appeared at about 3am absolutely HUGE directly behind us and bright orange. It was one of the weirder moments of the run....

At this point we were on the Three Forts Marathon course from last weekend and it was definitely still a little more churned up than elsewhere. It was also strange being back on the same trail just 6 days later for such a different sort of run. We finally succumbed to the dark just after Botolphs at mile 38ish and switched our headlamps on, restricted to that all too familiar bubble of light for the next 7 or so hours. 

We made our way to Washington (mile 46), over to Amberley (mile 52) and up to Bignor Hill (mile 58) all completely uneventfully and at a really good clip. We hadn't slowed down at all so our 2 hour first 10 miles had quickly become not much more than a 12.5 hour 100km which was great. By this stage my stomach was all over the place and I had to stop 3 times in quick succession for pit stops, but Neil just walked on down the trail, I caught him up again and we carried on running. It was like we'd run long distance as a team 1000 times before. At around 2am we could hear a free party going on in the woods not too far away, ran through a field of waist high bright yellow rape crop and saw a heard of deer running across the top of Harting Downs - all of which were pretty surreal moments. As we came through Harting Downs and the light started to come up I asked Neil what the giant obelisk on the side of the hill directly across from us was all about. Pretty sure it was just a small hallucination but a pretty good one nonetheless.

Neil in the fields

As the sun came up we were met with clouds of freezing fog but only in the lower reaches of the trail. We'd run along the ridge above and to the side of it and then drop down into the patches that were covered in it where the temperature was a good few degrees cooler. 

Low Lying Clouds coming through Harting Downs

From Harting Downs I knew it was about a marathon to go and we were still moving really well, no enforced walking breaks at any unnecessary points (ie. where it wasn't at least quite a long or steep climb, relatively!) and no stops for anything at all. My energy reserves were low though at this stage as I'd been rationing my gels unnecessarily tightly and I did hope that as we came in to QEC Park with around 22 miles to go, that we'd find the cafe open. At 5:40am we cruised down towards the visitor centre and saw the first other people anywhere for the last 50 or so miles and they were cooking bacon and egg sandwiches on a barbeque. I couldn't believe it. We wandered over and asked them if they would sell us something and to my disappointment they said we'd have to wait a half an hour to see what was left from when the rambling club had come through and taken their share. No way we were doing that, so instead we ran on to the visitor centre and sat down for 5 minutes where we had a scotch egg each. The stuff of dreams.

Scotch Egg at Mile 80

The sun was really coming up as we crested Butser Hill with around 20 miles to go and it was finally time to shed lights and jackets and get the job done. We pushed on to Exton and ran almost everything, I knew though that I was marginally slower than Neil would have been on his own at some points at this stage. For 80 miles in to a run, I felt good, just that little bit less quick than Neil but it didn't really seem to make any difference. We both just got on with the job at hand and cracked on to Exton. Just before the village, we came upon a farm selling tea, coffee and brownies at about 7am for some fishermen - it's amazing what you can find out on the trail - so we went in and treated ourselves. Neil got some fresh milk which seemed to make him pretty happy and I got some sugar which made me equally so. 

As we came in to Exton we were met by a good friend of mine, Paul Bennett, who'd got up early to meet us at QECP. We'd blown our estimated times so far out of the water by this stage, however, that he met us 10 miles closer to home than he'd intended. He about turned, we made it through the last trailblaze dibber point and climbed a steep pitch up out of Exton to the final 10 mile section of trail. 

With the sun up, Paul's company and some energy inside, I think we both felt tired but happy that the job was done and we reveled in the last section. We ran a good deal of it but were less fussy about how steep a hill had to be to warrant hiking. That being said we didn't let up too much and we crested the final hill overlooking Winchester at around 11am or 21 hours after we'd started. 

Running Down into Winchester

The final few miles

Scaring some horses at mile 98

We wound our way down and across the M3 and in to Winchester town centre where the trail peters out and found King Alfreds Statue where we stood around trying to locate the final trailblaze dibber point but alas it had been torn off of the waymark post. That was it, our journey was over.

At the statue in the centre of Winchester

All in all Neils Suunto ambit came up with around 3855m of climbing for the 100ish miles in a total time of 21 hours 27 minutes - all in one clean push. I'm pretty proud of that and particularly in how well we handled everything.

Blessed with brilliant sunshine, a cold but not frigid night, great company and good footing for the most part this was an experience I will never forget in almost perfect conditions. I would thoroughly recommend 'journey' type runs like this to anybody willing to give it a go. I think I knew deep down that I was ready to tackle 100 or so miles of trail without any specific reason to do so, but I wouldn't have been ready to do that a couple of years ago. Packing for the run took no time at all, it was just basics really but in poor weather and with less access to water, I'd have needed more. 

I can see myself doing this kind of thing more often, perhaps with the intention of doing one trail in it's entirety each year. 

So after 3 ultras in three weeks it's two weeks of downtime until we fly to South Africa for Comrades. I can't wait to get stuck in to something so completely different from this weekend. I guess that's what this crazy but incredible sport is all about.

Tomorrow

So it looks like we've been lucky with the weather. To be honest I don't really care either way but when it's warm and dry up on the downs, that's when they're at their most glorious.

Going to find it hard to concentrate during tonights Trail Running Association AGM but i'm looking forward to having a good catch up with Dick Kearn.

Everything is packed now and the kit is light and as minimal as I could make it I think.

30 Gu Gels
20 S! Caps
North Face Endura Boa Pack
1.5l bladder
Shit Kit (toilet roll in a ziplock)
Silva Compass
North Face Jacket with hood
2 x Petzl Headtorches
T Shirt
Moeben Sleeves
Shorts
Drymax Socks
Montrail Mountain Masochists
£20 cash

I last posted a music video about a year ago. It seems the done thing though if you want to be considered as a real runners blog. Or if you want to look back on things in a decades time and see what you were listening to then.... I'm finding the Maccabees incredibly inspirational right now....

Running the South Downs Way: Self-Supported

Things have been going well the last few weeks. A fortnight ago we had a great weekend away at the Highland Fling, then this past Sunday I was fortunate enough to be able to pace a coaching client of ours and a tremendous athlete - Tracey Horne, to a 3rd place finish at the Three Forts Marathon.

The South Downs Way was a boggy quagmire which slowed everybody down somewhat, but that's part of the fun. With my unbeatable combination of Montrail Mountain Masochists and Drymax socks I have suffered zero blisters during the past fortnight of significant mileage.

That is good news because this weekend, Neil Bryant and I are going to attempt to run from Eastbourne to Winchester on the South Downs Way.

I can't begin to describe how excited I am about this run. There is something so inherently appealing to me right now about leaving the watch and the world behind, setting off on an adventure which involves doing only something as simple as putting one foot in front of the other until we reach the other end. Nobody to count us in, no pressure to reach a certain point at a certain time and freedom to move uninterrupted and as a team over what I truly believe is the most outstanding trail in Southern England.

All in all the South Downs Way footpath is just over 100 miles in length. I would dearly love to reach the far side in one unbroken and continuous forward movement having relied on nothing other than ourselves and a few local shops on route.

Neil came up with the idea as part of his continued efforts on the trailblaze scheme. Just a few weeks ago he found himself at Exton, 88 miles in, forced to withdraw due to a confluence of circumstances out of his control. So he emailed me afterwards and asked if I wanted to have a crack at it with him. Yes I did.

Neil is fast becoming one of the most talented ultrarunners we've got. Not only have his 2012 results been fantastic, he is I believe the most prolific high performing ultrarunner in the UK right now. Can I think of anyone better equipped to be doing this with? I really can't.

Even as little as a year ago, I wouldn't have dreamed of dropping a run like this in to the calendar, especially so close to the big summer racing season. Since we've moved out of London and I've had more time to do things at my own pace, I've noticed my focus has changed a little. When I started running I quickly built up a tick list, as most runners seem to do, and started working through it one at a time. A good number of races off of that original list have been finished. A few are still to come, but whereas that was all I was in to 5 years ago, right now I'm just enjoying running for pure running sake. The goals have changed, in fact, with a lot of races packed in to a short period of time, I find myself resenting the calendar for not allowing me to get out on my usual local trails as much.

So this weekend is an experiment in so many ways. There are a lot of unanswered questions. Will we make it? Are we going to run out of food or water during any stretch, particularly overnight? How are we going to function as a team? How muddy is it really going to be? I can honestly say I haven't bothered to worry or even try to answer those questions. I don't see the point. This is probably the most simple task I've given myself in running terms this year. If you don't have to worry about logistics, what is there left to think about? If we don't make it, run out of food or water, get stuck in horrendous mud, it doesn't matter. It's all just part of the adventure. And if I find myself hankering for a finish line, well I'll only have to wait another 3 weeks to be standing in Durban on the other side of one.

Afterwards it will be back to the rigid structure of recovery, training, taper, race, repeat as I try and negotiate the hurdles of Comrades, The West Highland Way Race, UTMB and Spartathlon but if this summer goes well, I am left with just three of the original races I had listed out*. I hope this journey has a longer lasting impact on where I decide to take my running however....

* Incidentally the only races still left to run off of my original bucket list are: Hardrock, GUCR and the Iditarod Invitational.

Highland Fling 2012

I'd heard a lot about 'the fling', but mostly from Drew Sheffield who kept telling me the race was the best of the best so after years of leaving it off the calender I decided that along with the West Highland Way Race, 2012 was the year for it.

With respect to my old favourite Country to Capital, London to Brighton (trail) and a few other smaller, regional events, I hadn't ever raced a top level UK ultra. By top level I mean in terms of depth of field and history. Keeping an eye on the start list the past couple of months, it was obvious that the race was attracting a lot of high calibre runners from both north and south of the border, as well as a few from the continent with Hoka on board as chief sponsor. It is always nice to be part of a race that stretches away at the front and gives you an opportunity to see, albeit fleetingly, some truly classy runners negotiating the trails.

The Fling begins in Milngavie, a suburb of Glasgow and wends its way 53 miles almost directly north to Tyndrum. Milngavie is where the West Highland Way trail begins, with a huge fixed kite banner just off of the high street leading you out of the town and straight on to trails up in to the hills. The WHW ends up in Fort William, 95 miles away and 42 miles further on than Tyndrum, so the Fling makes use of the first 'half' of the waymarked route.

A little group of us travelled up on the train on the Friday morning and arrived in to Glasgow just before lunchtime. Alex Pearson, Claire Shelley, Drew Sheffield and Clive Steffen. Race start was Saturday morning at 6am for the ladies, 7am for the Male Vets and 8am for the Men so that the trails weren't too crowded.

From the off, the pace was really hot at the front. Whilst we hadn't spoken in depth about it pre-race I think Drew and I both knew that we were going to stick together and see how the day worked out. For me, that came with the added bonus that Drew has run the course numerous times as part of this race and the full WHW. It seemed like he knew where pretty much every stone on the course was so all I had to do was run around enjoying the scenery which was spectacular with snow capping the higher peaks dropping down to the trail.

To begin with we were trailing just behind Richie Cunningham. Richie has won the WHW and regularly posts 8 hour times on the fling. Smart running? Nope. But it felt ok pace-wise so we went with it. It turns out Richie has got one pace - fast. A big group of guys cruised away at the start making up 30 secs per mile or so on Richie and by the time he was done he'd put an hour back in to them (at least). Incredible. As he came past us at about mile 7 I said to him, this is too easy for you!, his reply? 'Aye it's a piece of piss'. Somehow you knew he wasn't joking or being arrogant - it genuinely was. The first 12.5 miles to Drymax aid station were pretty flat and fast, a mix of trail, tarmac and crushed gravel but quite quickly we got into a section of gates. How Terry Conway and Ludo Pommeret, eventual 2nd and 3rd Place finishers got to 12.5 in 1:22 with all that stopping is beyond me.

Anyway as we rolled in to Drymax we didn't break stride pushing straight through in 1:37. We carried on up the trail through some de-forested woods and then hit more rocky and slightly technical trail which led us up to the base of Conich Hill. Everyone kept talking about this climb/ descent in pre-race conversation and we took it very sensibly up and even more sensibly down. The rocky trail was pretty slippery so it made better sense to veer off in to the thicker grass to the side, and once we were down we hit a great stretch of downhill woodland trail, easily the best of the day and came barreling in to Balmaha at mile 20 in about 3:07.

The aid stations at the fling only stock water, so everything else is laid out in drop bags that you hand in at the start. My sole nutrition for the race, as usual, was GU. 20 gels allowing for a 10 hour finish. We grabbed our bags and pushed straight through the car park having stopped for maybe 30 seconds - so far everything was working seemlessly. It didn't feel like we were working too hard at any stage, just rolling along at a good pace and I was having a ball. It was on the section to Rowardennen here that the sun got a little higher and inevitably things became a little harder. The trail was still pretty quick as it began to wind its way down the side of Loch Lomond. There were some steeper short sections but nothing that lasted too long. At about 24ish miles, Drew hit a low patch and I pushed on ahead by a few minutes still feeling pretty good. When I reached Rowardennen, mile 27, there were people everywhere. It looked like some were resting, some were taking on food and some were done for the day, certainly a few earlier starters were taking more time here to re-stock which was pretty sensible.

Again I motored on through without stopping and began what turned out to be a pretty steady climb for a couple of miles on gravel road. Once through there the trail returned again along the side of the loch and rolled its way down into Inverglas at mile 34. At mile 31 I hit a huge bonk and felt shocking. I had still been hitting the downs pretty hard and hiking the ups but I my one bottle strategy seemed light. I ended up getting in to the loch to scoop handfuls of water over my head in order to bring my temperature down as I wasn't drinking enough. Coming in to Inverglas I was pretty spaced out but I thought I could turn it around with a couple of gels and some S! caps. If I'd known what the next few miles were like I would have thought better of that.

Once you pass the hotel it's six miles or so on to Beinglas, but the first 3 miles or so are over a pretty slippery, rocky and rooty trail with some not insignificant drops. Whilst it doesn't last forever and certainly isn't a race breaker, it is extremely technical and only the nimblest could consider running it - mid bonk there was no hope for me and i ended up spiraling deeper in to the hole. I hadn't felt like we'd gone fast during the morning but on reflection I was probably 75Kcals per hour short of what I should have eaten and a good litre or two of water down. Out of the other side of the boulders I fell on the trail and rolled on to the side and once I'd picked myself up, Drew suddenly appeared behind me having come back to life. As he came past I knew it was a good moment to MTFU and hang on to him in to the next aid station.

Following Drew down the hill into Beinglas Mile 40

I managed it and took on as much food and fluid as I could carry out of Beinglas with 12 miles to go.

In the end it took me a bottle of coke, 3 gels, half a litre of water and some S! Caps to pull out of it, and at about mile 48 started feeling great again. Typical. By that stage we were within a few miles of the finish and Drew had some pretty serious cramping issues and from the the amount of salt on his shirt it was pretty obvious he was running short. We knew we had a sub 10 hour in the bag and didn't feel any undue pressure to race it in so we continued pushing along at a steady pace and eventually rolled over the line in a very controlled 9:45.

Finally feeling good again. Just in time to finish. (note drews 'cramping' face)

I can safely say that I felt better at 53 than I had done since mile 31, which goes to show that however long you may be in bonk hell, you can pull out of it and your fortunes will change again at some stage. That I took so long to come around was purely bad race management, but as with all ultras I am dead against carrying more than I need. Sometimes dipping slightly below the right level is better than carrying too much, but at the weekend I played that fine line a little too close. It was certainly excellent prep for the WHW race and with some very small adjustments I'm sure I can have a good race there.

The Fling is an excellent race. Great value, incredible trails, glorious sunshine (only an hour or so of gloom and hail), good competition and great company made this a truly awesome race. I can't wait to get back in June and run the whole trail!

All Time Ultramarathon Finishes

One day when I'm too old to shuffle more than a few yards i'll look back on these....

Races (Upcoming)

28/4/2012 Highland Fling 53

6/5/2012 Three Forts 27 

3/6/2012 Comrades 56

24/6/2012 West Highland Way Race 95

31/8/2012 UTMB 104

29/9/2012 Spartathlon 153

12/1/2013 Country to Capital 45

2/2/2013 Rocky Raccoon 100

Results (Historic)

4/2/2012 Rocky Raccoon 100  20:19:53

14/1/2012 Country to Capital 45  6:00:10 

22/10/2011 Caesars Camp 50  10:30:29

20/8/2011 Leadville 100  26:29:00

25/6/2011 Western States 100  28:25:00

15/1/2011 Country to Capital 45  7:09:00

28/11/2010 Gatliff 50km  5:21:00

9/10/2010 Caesars Camp 100  27:11:00

12/7/2010 Badwater 135  39:19:00

20/6/2010 South Downs Way Challenge Day 3 35  6:14:00

19/6/2010 South Downs Way Challenge Day 2 35  6:01:00

2/5/2010 Three Forts 27  3:13:24 (1st Place)

13/2/2010 London Ultra 50km  4:25:00

24/1/2010 Winter Tanners 30  5:08:00

16/1/2010 Country to Capital 45  8:06:00

25/10/2009 Sahara Race 250km  35:55:50

20/9/2009 London to Brighton 56  11:01:00

6/6/2009 Old Dominion 100  24:58:00

3/5/2009 Three Forts 27  3:52:21

7/2/2009 Rocky Raccoon 100  22:54:32

17/1/2009 Thames Path 50  7:49:17

24/11/2008 The Last Desert: Antarctica  73.94km (2nd Place)

5/10/2008 London to Brighton 56  11:40:00

31/3/2008 Atacama Crossing 250km  37:21:19 

17/2/2008 Draycote Water 35  5:22:40

19/1/2008 Thames Path 50  8:24:00

16/6/2007 Gobi March 250km  47:21:01

6/4/2006 Marathon Des Sables 212km  43:04:57

28/1/2006 Tring To Town 45  10:34:00

PBs

26.2 miles: Washington National 20/3/2010  2:58:07
50 miles: Thames Path 50 17/1/2009  7:49:17
100 miles: Rocky Raccoon 100 4/2/2012  20:19:53

Week Ending 22nd April

Monday: 6 miles 0:55
Tuesday: 11 miles Hours
Wednesday: 12 miles 1:50
Thursday: 6 miles 1:00
Friday: zippo
Saturday: 2 miles 0:16
Sunday: 17 miles 3:10

Total: 54 miles 9 hours

Awful weeks training. Completely trashed my calves running a road half marathon in a pair of new balance minimus last Sunday after i turned up to the race without my road shoes. Shouldn't have started but held on to a whimper of hope that I could complete the entire thing. Running up on my forefeet without any training in them with the added impact of moving at pace (6:30p/m) on road completely smashed my calves to bits.

Mondays run was a shuffle. Tuesday was all walking. Wednesday felt ok until the last few miles when my calves began screaming at me again (bonked pretty hard too for some reason). Thursday I had to actually turn around and go home and Friday I had a sports massage to sort the problem out. Todays run was a slow amble around the Ashridge Boundary Trail with Keith Godden over at ultramarathonrunning.com, a really nice gentle conversational outing.

So coming into the Highland Fling next Saturday the plan is to do pretty much nothing except try and heal up and get some rest. I don't seem to be firing on all cyclinders. Counting back from Wednesday I managed 80 miles in 6 days and the half marathon in 1:26 did take a little something out maybe. That's higher mileage than I've been doing so who knows.

So far under Joe's tuition my weekly mileages have been:

Week 1: 78 miles
Week 2: 82 miles
Week 3: 40 miles
Week 4: 28 miles
Week 5: 50 miles
Week 6: 54 miles

Typically inconsistent. Life (wedding and honeymoon) and that calf niggle got in the way. Still it's not the end of the world and I hope I can have another C2C style performance when I was averaging 60 mpw for 5 weeks coming in to it.

Joe Grant

In the last month I've stepped my mileage back up again in preparation for the heart of the racing season. I've felt much more relaxed about my own running coming in to 2012, because of the way my 2011 season panned out with injury blighting me seemingly at every turn. I decided to take a much more laid back approach through December and try to tune up enough to have fun at the standard opening 2 races of my running season: Country To Capital 45 and Rocky Raccoon 100. 

For December and much of January before a low level taper for the 100, I just ran for runnings sake, enjoying being out on my feet and not having to worry about an injury flaring up. Running in the English winter has it's low moments, particularly when the mud becomes thicker than soup in the fields, but it's also incredibly beautiful. Each mile run up until Rocky was at a super slow speed and almost every mile of the 400 I ran as prep was on trail. 

Both races went well up until the final quarter of Rocky, but that was ok and I had a great time out in the US with Ian and we'll both be back to race in 2013. It proved to me that I can get moving at a decent clip off of largely base mileage and I've certainly noticed this year that having a much longer and bigger base from cumulative distance running is starting to pay dividends. 

The miles are building back up again at the moment but the major difference is that I'm running to a plan set by a new coach - Joe Grant. Joe is an Englishman living in exile in the US and has an extremely low key and intuitive approach to running. I've really enjoyed the consistency of running 6/ 7 days a week on average this year but more than anything I've enjoyed running without the pressure of a garmin, schedule or a distance pre-arranged before I've even left the house. 

Reading Joe's blog I started to feel that he could bring a bit more structure to my miles but allow me the freedom to continue to run as I pleased. I knew he would also be encouraging with a pretty crazy racing schedule. Most importantly though, I wanted his input into building in longer distance self supported efforts which fit neither a training or racing moniker. I made it clear to Joe that sometime in 2012 I wanted to have a crack at both the South Downs Way in it's entirity as well as longer self supported efforts on both the Beacons Way and South Upland Way. 

More recently I've taken to running more without a watch and with as little kit as possible. I think it's easy to end up carrying more than you need and certainly at C2C with just a rainjacket, handheld bottle and 20 gels I went super light and had a great day. I used the same plan at RR100 to good effect. 

The opportunity to run the SDW as an unsupported effort has come around a lot quicker than expected. Neil Bryant and I both had 'holes' (read 2 weeks free either side) in our schedules for mid-May and so 4 weeks today we'll be setting out from Eastbourne in the hopes of reaching Winchester in one push. I am finding myself more excited about this one run than I am about any race I have coming up. Maybe a sign of where things are headed...

I think racing is important and certainly I enjoy it almost every time I toe a start line but longer self supported efforts and actually appreciating the environment/ terrain a little more are becoming much much more important factors in my outlook on the sport. 

Another Day on the SDW

12 miles, 800 feet climb - Ditchling Beacon to Southease. Started in a cloud, finished in beautiful sunshine.

It's Back

I genuinely don't believe the good people over on the Centurion Running website want to read this stuff so I'm back posting my old training/ racing logs again.

I am pumped right now about the upcoming few weeks. Firstly to see how the marathon goes this Sunday and secondly to get a good 50 under my belt for the summer at the Highland Fling.

Most of all though I am totally inspired to get out there with Neil Bryant and run 100 miles on the South Downs Way for no other reason than that we can. Will we 'DNF' it? Possibly but again who cares. This time I am out there just for the journey and that is really exciting right now.

Neil is, I believe, right now one of the strongest ultra runners in the UK. He has a very bright future at the really long stuff and it'll be great to see him powering over the downs first hand.

Today: 13 miles 1:59.

Test

Rocky Raccoon 100 2012

Texas in February. I'm going to start this post in the style of a true Englishman, talking about the weather. I first came out to run Rocky in 2009. It was my first 100 miler and I was greeted with glorious sunshine, 65 degree temperatures and low humidity. It felt like a summers day. Last year, I found a quarter of an inch of ice secured to the exterior of the car on race morning thanks to an ice storm and a temperature of minus 5 degrees. This year we had the most specatacular thunderstorm I have ever seen. I was rooming with Ian Sharman at Motel 6, last years course record holder and joint coach on our new Centurion Running coaching program. When we opened the motel room door on Saturday morning his first words to me were 'well I guess there won't be any records today'. The drive to the state park was like being on a Hollywood movie set, lightning illuminating the sky every 90 seconds and rain falling so heavily on the windscreen ('shield') that I was sure I'd missed the exit to the park and was heading back towards Houston and the airport. I probably would have just carried on if I hadn't seen the giant statue of Sam Houston leaning white out of the darkness signalling the turning in to the park entrance.

On the Friday afternoon we'd gone down to the park for the race briefing with Ian's crew chief and previous RR100 finisher Meredith Terranova. Just before the briefing, there was a kids 1 mile race and we ended up marshalling the half mile turn around point whilst Ian handed out the medals to the finishers at the end. We hung around and chatted with Bob the chief over at Drymax socks for a while whilst Ian got called away for signatures and photo ops which he clearly found quite surreal but we thought very funny. I even got to hold his water bottle a few times. The briefing was short and we didn't stay long before we grabbed dinner and an early night.

The course at Rocky Raccoon consists of 5 x 20 mile loops. There are quite a few out and back sections and consequently the opportunity of seeing other runners on course isn't just a possiblity, it is a guaranteed certainty. The course is all trail, with 5500 feet of climbing and no strictly technical sections. That being said there are a couple of short steep ascents which certainly get you working and lots of rolling terrain which as per usual, turns from easily runnable to positively mountainous by the 5th loop. The course also has one more significant card up it's sleeve - roots. They are absolutely everywhere and especially at night they are out to get you. I don't know anybody who's run this race and not ended up on the floor at least a few times. It's easy to look at Ian's 12:44 last year and think that the course represents a guaranteed PB opportunity. It's undoubtedly quick and many come out here looking for it, but those who don't train on the trails come away sorely disappointed at the level of concentration they need to apply to get around in one piece and in good time. How Ian turned in a 12:44 around there is, however, completely beyond me. I think if the trail were crushed gravel, even with more climb I could understand it better but it isn't. You can't switch off even for a minute and concentrating hard while moving that fast takes a real level of skill.

This year there was one much more significant issue to face and that was the mud. As we arrived at the startline, the tarps that had been laid down for our drop bags had turned into paddling pools. I dumped mine under a disused barbeque instead, reluctantly removed my jacket and ran to the startline. I stood cowering behind Ian, Hal Koerner, Karl Meltzer and the 2011 Badwater champ Oswaldo Lopez and and 90 seconds later we were off into the abyss.

I had a very clear target in mind for this race based on the training I had been able to log. During November 2011 I had banked precisely zero miles in recovery from a bad bike crash. I had started training in early December and had 8 weeks of solid base training under my belt, ranging from 55 to 105 miles per week, averaging out at maybe 65-70. I had included no speed or hill work at all prior to the race and the only tempo sessions to speak of were the workouts I had at the CC to GE marathon, Country to Capital and one other longer run on the Thames Path. My expectations were based on my legs feeling strong, but having no significant speed. I felt that a good day would be good enough to get me a time some way under 18 hours and that even a poor run would see me under my 2009 time on this course. My plan was to pace for 18 hours, pick it up if I felt strong and take what I could get if not. I was absolutely determined, however, that I would ignore everybody elses pace and run my own race. The importance of doing that in a 100 mile race, in particular over any other distance, is enormous. Scanning the results yesterday it is amazing to see how many people lay down crazy fast first loops before spiralling out to 4th and 5th loop times almost three times slower. Even pacing throughout the race is arguably the only way to have a successful and certainly the only way to have an enjoyable day.

I found myself running early on with a Russian guy calle Dima who had finished last years Tor Des Geants and a couple of Americans shooting for 18 hours too. We formed a nice pace group, sensible through the first hour of darkness and staying upright through the streams and open water ponds that had formed on various sections. Keeping anything dry was a joke and certainly prudence was required through the thicker sections. Whilst it was undoubtedly the wettest period of the day, the worst of the mud was yet to come, as 600 runners behind us were yet to go through it, on each of 5 laps and multiple times per lap. It became a real mess. Very quickly I realised that it was taking more energy to move over the terrain that it had last year and an increase in effort yielded slower times. I made it through loop 1 significantly slower than 2011 in 3:07 and as per last year saw Ian hotly pursued by Oswaldo, Hal and Karl around 5 miles ahead as I came through 17.5 and they through 22.5. To run a 3:07 felt like a 2:55 in 2011 terms and Ian felt the same way. The next time I saw him was on another section of out and back towards the end of his second loop. He shouted out to me that the mud was making it very difficult to stay in touch with the time he wanted to run and it was quite obvious we were all going to have to re-evaluate our goals. Still that's what happens in trail running and highlights the importance of having a Plan B. Having lost significant time against my pre race target even in the first 2 loops, I switched my focus towards a 20 hour finish instead. 

I came through the 40 mile start finish out on to loop 3 in 6:39 for just under 10 minute mile pace and felt confident with no problems to report. My legs felt great and I knew I had a lot of running left in them. Loop 3 was again relatively incident free but the pools of mud out on the course which I had powered through earlier, had become soup like and extremely tricky to negotiate without having a strong core/ stabilising muscles. Indeed Ian tweaked his hip flexor in the mess and sadly had to pull out just past the end of lap 3. He will be back again and on a clear day I have no doubt that the course record would have been in his sights once again. I reached the 60 mile point in a good level of daylight with 10:28 on the clock requiring a very straight forward 9:32 final 40 miles to come in under 20 hours. I could see the carnage unfolding around and a lot of people had chosen to stop on account of the conditions exacerbating the inevitable issues commonly faced during a 100 mile run. In fact on the womens side, I had already passed Liza Howard and Jill Perry the two favourites who were on their way out too. 

I grabbed my headtorch and my next 20 miles worth of gels and went out on to loop 4 with a spring in my step and felt good. My aim was to bank as much as I could mileage wise before the sun went down and made the roots and mud/ water even more tricky to negotiate. I had in my mind that a 4 hour loop, a paltry 12 min mile pace would get me in a good position to tackle loop 5 with plenty of time in the bank. The middle part of every loop is a 6 mile section called the Dam Road loop, it is more remote than the rest of the course and probably the trickest section. As I came back through Dam Road aid station at mile 72 I began to experience some pretty severe chest pains. I shrugged them off and put it down to indigestion as I switched the lamp on and made it back to the 80 mile point in 14:50. 

By now the temperature had dropped significantly and as people's pace dropped in the dark and added distance, so did their core temperatures and there were a few very sorry looking souls out on the course even at a point less than half way through the race. I set off on loop 5 with strong legs and with plenty of energy but as soon as I picked up my walk into a run, my chest felt extremely tight and frankly I was concerned. I continued with prudence and power walked my way through the first 3 miles or so. Slowing down, cooling down and with pretty severe blisters the last lap was set to be rather less pleasant than the preceeding 4. By the back side of the Dam Road Loop at mile 90 I was having real trouble breathing deeply and knew that my running was done. Even dropping into a power walk I found myself cruising past a lot of people still run-shuffling in that all too familiar ultra style. I feel bad about saying it, but knowing that you are lapping people, some of them for the second time does make you feel better about your own position. It certainly made me realise that suffering it out for 15 miles was pretty insignificant vs spending another 15 hours out in the mud bath. 

By now my Garmin had died and when I reached Park Road aid at mile 95.6, they told me the time was 1:09am, 19:09 into the race. I wish I could say that I had it in me at that point to dig out a 51 minute finish, but I aboslutely didn't and so I stuck my freezing cold hands in my pockets and strolled it in. I really enjoyed that last section reflecting on the enormity of the distance put behind, knowing that I was going to finish and under no real time pressure.

In the end I crossed the line in 20:19 for a PB but a mile away from what I had hoped to achieve. Certainly there are mixed emotions coming away from the race. Turning up to 'run a time' is against the principles of most of my training where I log miles when I want and do so without the pressure of a watch, pace or splits. That being said there is a time for running against the clock. In the end you have to take the conditions handed to you on the day. Race enough and you are going to be handed golden days where everything is set up for you to race to your full potential and capitalise on it for a 'PB'. Other days, like Saturday, you can have the race of your life and bank a time 1/2/4 hours slower than you would have under the right conditions. That's life and a huge part of why trail running is so much fun.

I'm pleased I was able to switch to plan B without losing focus but disappointed that I was forced to slow down in the final quarter by something 'out of my control' such as nutrition/ hydration/ leg strength. It was undoubtedly the onset of asthma as the temperature dropped during the night time stage that made my chest contract. I probably could have run through it had I not harboured a lingering concern that it might just be something a little more serious.... In the end it looks like 45% of the runners dropped which I guess shows just how important it is either to re-evaluate your goals and carry on pushing even when it might seem pointless, after all a 100 mile finish is still a 100 mile finish. Or to enjoy running around in a lake. 

Another good year in the books for this race now 20 years old. In the end Hal Koerner won the men's race with a 13:24. That is a truly astounding time on a course playing maybe 5% to 10% harder than 2011. Could he have gone sub 13 on a clear day? I think so. Sadly for him rather than being able to celebrate he found out at the finish line that his rental car had been towed with all his stuff in it and having left his car keys on the front tyre. Not ideal after a 100 mile run. Karl Meltzer and Oswaldo Lopez secured ver respectable 2nd and 3rd place finishes in the mid 14 hour range. After the top 2 girls dropped, it was left to Sabrina Moran to run in with a 17:09, winning by almost three hours. The 2nd and 3rd place girls were the two finishers in front of me. 

Ian will be back next year. So will a host of top guys and girls shooting for hard early season racing and potential course records. I think I will be too, it's hard to say why but the race really has something about it, especially if the weather is good and hopefully there'll be a few more Brits there too. Who knows I might even be able to run a bit faster....

Blog Permanently Moving Home

Thanks to all of you that read this blog over the last few years.

The webmasters over at Centurion Running have moved this blog including all old posts over to a new location. Click here for the new blog. All new posts will go straight on there and that way I don't keep having to write everything twice. Thanks for watching and please check in now and again at the new address.

James

Weekly Summary: Dec 5-11

Monday: zippo
Tuesday: 3.5 miles 0h33
Wednesday: 14.3 miles 2h27
Thursday: 14.3 miles 2h23
Friday: 14.3 miles 1h59
Saturday: zippo
Sunday: 13.1 miles 1h46
Total: 59 miles 9h09

Not sure what to make of that week really. I was convinced on Tuesday that I wasn't going to be able to run for another few days at least due to a chest infection lingering on for a couple of weeks. Then I went to see the doc and his diagnosis of asthma (??!!!) meant I could resume training straight away albeit with the aid of inhalers. I always intended for base training through December in time for the usual early season main event, Country to Capital 'if you're not there, you're nowhere'. So as per the last post, I selected my route and then put in three days of grafting. The incredible difficulty I had in breathing on Wednesday and Thursday scared me somewhat and I was left feeling like I was in trouble even running 10 minute miles on fairly moderate trails.

Anyway, Fridays effort was better and didn't feel too difficult. Saturday I rested up and Sunday I paced a friend at the Bedford Half Marathon. His aim was to run 8:20 miles for a 1h50 effort and stayed nicely on pace until the final three mile stretch where he stepped it up to 7:30s. I felt ok, easy enough to make conversation at that pace but any climb and I coughed and spluttered my way up the hill. I tried to pull him along a little bit quicker than 7s at the end and felt fine doing that. My legs were great, absolutely no grumbling whatsoever but my lungs are really a big issue. Whatever the case I am absolutely miles off where I need to be at this stage but I am ready for a lot of hard work and long slow miles on the trails over Christmas to get the base fitness I need going in to the new year and a bit more tempo/ hill stuff.

Staying fit and healthy is the number one priority and shaking this asthmatic chest is more than important.

This past week saw three of the four major US 100 mile lotteries drawn - and I was ofer three as they say over there. Hardrock had 720 applicants (some with up to 7 tickets each) for 100 places. Western States had 1960 applicants (some with up to 3 tickets each) for 273 slots. Massanutten had around 400 for 200 places. So I am on to plan B for the first 7 months of the year and I am equally excited about what I have lined up. For once I am not trying to over-reach and run a crazy early season race. The only time I built up slowly was in 2010 and I had my best season ever so that's exciting. My 'a' races are the Thames Trot 50 in Feb and then Comrades and the WHW race in June. What comes after will be down to the UTMB lottery. It will either be that or Sparta. Either way I am excited about the potential of all of those races.

Base Training

I am trying to put together a string of consistent daily training runs. My chest infection has cleared but it has left a case of pretty bad asthma behind for which I am on prednisone and two inhalers. First time I've suffered with asthma since I was a kid and it is debilitating to say the least.

I really didn't expect to be back running this soon. I called our fatass 100 off just recently because almost all of our signees dropped out but also because I figured I wouldn't be able to even get out and mark out the circa 16 mile loop. So I am delighted that for now the worst of my problems is a coughing fit every time I crest a hill....

Anyway so the loop I have set out as a daily run is a 14.3 mile excursion which takes me in an almost perfect loop out from our house. 95% of it is on trail which is at times pretty muddy but it has enough of everything to keep me honest including some small rollers but no significant climbs unfortunately. The 14ish miles has about 1200 feet of climbing, not really enough but as good as I am going to get around northern Hertfordshire.

Having seen the doc on Tuesday afternoon, he gave me the go ahead to resume training, advising me to take an inhaler on route. On Wednesday I head out for the first time in almost 2 weeks and purposefully didn't look at my watch, walked every hill and just enjoyed being out in the fresh air. I have vowed to myself that this period of base training is about time on my feet, not as much about the watch, I am just grateful to be on my feet right now. I got back to the house in 2:27, the slowest I've done that route in by over 15 minutes in 10 plus goes. Yesterday I got around in 2:23 and felt totally out of puff on the hills, to me they were un-runnable. The good news was that my legs felt great, no sign of aches, pains of muscle stiffness. Tonight I did decide to got out and push a tempo effort. I took the ventolin before I went out and ran all but one of the climbs, with only minor bouts of coughing fits. I got back to the house in a somewhat forced 1:59:53 as I blasted the last bit of track to get in under 2 hours. It's not perfect but I'll take it.

So I am looking to continue this streak. Sure it's not going to be possible to get out of the house for 2 plus hours every day but whenever I can I plan to bank the same miles and build it in consistently. Most of the sessions will be at 10 minute mile pace, walking plenty and getting everything used to being out again, trying to avoid picking up injuries. If I can throw in the odd 2 hour tempo effort I will. Incidentally 14.3 miles x 7 happens to be.... insignificant really but intriguing nonetheless.

I have been listening to the ultrarunner podcasts while I've been out each time and they are fantastic. If you get the chance to download them and take them out, do it. In particular the interviews with Sunny Blende on nutrition are massively helpful for ultrarunners of all abilities and experience. My own personal favourite is the Frank Bozanich interview but I've been over that before.....

Happy running.

PS Good luck to everyone in the WS lottery tomorrow afternoon. I am in there too....

721

That's the number of people in the Hardrock lottery today - for 104 slots. That represents (according to somebody else) a 9% of chance for those with one ticket, getting in. I need something to brighten my week as I have been totally wiped out by a chest infection which seems to be doing the rounds. It seems that when it rains it pours! When I shake it off it will be back to heavy base training until the end of the month.

The Thames Path aid station list is now up over on the website. There is also a special edition one for volunteers with more information that will go out a little nearer race date.It feels good to have the locations officially sanctioned and permitted, it is a lot of work finding the right spot at the right mileage on the course, then finding the contact details and asking them to let us use their land/ hall/ boat house all night one weekend in March - but we're just about there!

Week Ending 27th November

On the way back, very very slowly. One day at a time, one run at a time. First week back with regular running for 6 weeks or so which is good. All on trails as usual, some hills. Nice slow run with Drew on Sunday to cap it off. If I can get rid of the chest infection I might speed up a bit.

Monday: 5 miles 0:45
Tuesday: 8 miles 1:10
Wednesday: 5 miles 0:42
Thursday: 14 miles 2:10
Friday: zippo
Saturday: 8 miles 1:05
Sunday: 11 miles 1:50

Total: 51 miles 7:42

Great resource on the relative difficulty of US ultras, something close to my heart. 40 miles at Barkley ranks as hard as finishing Western States.....?

Hardrock lottery is Sunday 4th and Western States the weekend after. We hear on West Highland Way Race soon as well, I think, so 2012 might start to look a little busier in a fortnights time. Either that or it's back to the drawing board....

http://www.RealEndurance.com/FinishTimeList.php

The Unbridled Joy of Running

On Sunday I went out and jogged a few very slow miles and felt no pain at all in my shin or knee. On Monday I did the same, again nothing. I started to get excited that things were actually starting to look up after so many weeks and months of wishing away pain. Tuesday I hit the trails just as the light was fading and ran multiple mini loops on the trails immediately around the house, just in case I felt anything at all and needed to get back quickly. I covered about 8 miles and felt dreadfully out of breath but again no pain. Wednesday I ran a few miles in the evening later on and yesterday I went out on my regular 14 mile loop for the first time in ages. I've been carrying a chest infection so my lungs about fell apart and I am seriously out of shape but 2 hours and 10 minutes later I arrived back home in one piece, with no pain, not even a glimmer of tightness in my knee. There was a moment there about 12.5 miles in, running down the trail in the sunshine when I could almost physically feel the depression of not being able to run leaving my body. It will take a long time to get back to where I once was fitness wise and I might get injured again tomorrow, who knows, but for now - it's all good.

Patience

Back in January Mark Wooley wrote an epilogue to being injured, sharing with everybody a little nugget of advice which I should have heeded a long time ago. Quite simply he said if you dedicate 100% of your energy into injury recovery, listen to the healthcare experts and wait until you are completely healed you will get better much more quickly and completely. Halfway measures just prolong the injury.

As I've mentioned numerous times, I have forced myself through month after month of painful training through debilitating injuries this year. The main reason I did so was because I had committed so much time and money to certain big 2011 ultras in late 2010 - letting them all pass me by was not an option I wanted to take financially and I didn't want to find myself waiting another 5 years to get a spot at Western States. Did this end up causing longer term problems? Yes. Was it worth all the pain in the lead up to and during the race, just to finish? Yes. Most people would say it was a pretty stupid decision to race three 100 milers on chronic fractures. I would do the same over again in a heartbeat. The races were too important to me and I knew upfront I was in for a long lay off period if I could get through them. To me that was worth it. It has if anything only served to make me a stronger person psychologically. Certainly the next time I run a 100 miler fit and healthy I will be thinking, hang on you got through a harder race than this on zero running for 2 months so guess what, you'll be ok.

Subsequent to the summer I had time to let my bones heal a little and my body and mind to get some respite from the constant nagging stress of being undertrained for upcoming races. Then I crashed my bike, ran 50 miles on a bad knee the following day and set myself out for another 4 weeks. Was this a stupid decision? Absolutely, I should have waited to find out what the knee damage was. I tried coming back to training/ racing prematurely so many times this year and it's taken until now to learn properly from that.

This past 2 weeks I did absolutely nothing. I have tried to shake out the knee, shin, hamstring and any other minor niggles and wait with patience until I was 100% ready to try again. Almost a month of no running means lost fitness which eats away at you each day.

Three things I've learned this year. If you don't let your injury heal 100%, you will just exacerbate the problem - maybe not straight away but certainly in the short to medium term and you will be out for much much longer than if you wait that extra week to make sure you are 100% ready. Two, you will get your previous fitness back much quicker than you think. Knowing what it is like to be in good shape is 80% of the battle. Three, don't take for granted your being able to step out of the door and on to the road or trails for that precious few miles. There are people out there who cannot train and some who will never run again. If you are sick or have a minor niggle, don't complain about it just wait and make sure you are ok before you take it up again. Treat it as an enforced rest period. It will help re-ignite your hunger for running and cost you almost nothing in overall fitness.

Tonight's 5 mile pain free run was maybe the sweetest 5 miles I have ever logged. 5 miles!!! Last year I would have considered that borderline pointless. Baby steps right now....

What a performance from Hal Koerner this past weekend at Javelina. He executes everything he does with a level of class you rarely see nowadays. Forget the results, you get the impression he would be the same guy if he were a mid to back of the packer. Inspirational stuff. His report is here. Take a chance to look at 102 mile by mile split times....

Streaking

I always intended to have a race I went back to year after year. It is after all great to stick with an event and support it from the outset. The trouble with streaking is you never really know if that event might one year cease to exist, leaving you hanging...

Really long streaks of super hard events do exist. At the race briefing for Badwater, Chris Kostman the RD makes everybody who has finished the race stand up. He then asks who has finished twice and those with only one finish sit back down, and so on until there is only one man left standing - Marshall Ulrich with 17 official finishes since 1990, there are a couple of DNFs in there. Does that mean it doesn't count? Then there was the chap at Leadville this past year who stood up to be recognised in the pre race briefing, having started and finished the last 28 Leadville 100's missing just the first ever race. Feet in the Clouds, which if you haven't read, you should, is full of stories of people like Eddie Campbell with 40 - 50 year streaks in fell races like Ben Nevis.

I wonder what the greatest race streak of all time is. Meaningful race that is, not park runs etc.

Today I will head out of the door for a run for the first time in almost two weeks. My knee feels a lot stronger, I guess I'll find out how strong later tonight. It would be nice to be able to blog about running for a change rather than various other subjects.

Finally the trailer for this looks great, I can't wait to see the full thing. There are a lot more Brits in the WS100 lottery this year already. Hopefully we can have as good a showing as 2011 and an even better result at the front end of the field than Nick Clark's 3rd and Ian Sharman's 10th. I would expect we will see both of those super talented runners to go better at the very least.

Ultra Growth

This is a subject that deserves looking in to in a lot more detail but this week a few things really started to ring through just how much our sport is growing.

When I started running in 2005, we entered the Marathon Des Sables for 2006 about 9 months before race day. Jim and I had plenty of time to make a decision, about 180 of the 200 UK places had been taken by the time we applied but there was no pressure to place the deposit down to secure the place. At that time Western States still operated a two time loser policy in the lottery and the UTMB had no lottery at all being only a few years old.

Bear in mind I talk about the above like it was a different era, this was only 6 years ago! On Saturday at about 7am UK time, the Western States lottery opened and currently, 1411 people are registered. That's an average of 18 people per hour so far and there are 11 days left to apply for a place. This doesn't sound like huge numbers compared with some of the big city marathon fields, but Western States is restricted to a 5 year average of 369 starters. About 70 of the places are taken by Montrail Ultra Cup winners, top 10 finishers for both sexes and sponsors. With one ticket in the lottery last year, the chances of getting a place were about 10%. This year, it is going to be way way down on that. They have got to do something about their qualification criteria ie. make it compulsory for someone to have finished another 100 before being eligible to apply. That way you boost the start up races plus you allow runners to gain experience at running 100 miles before they launch themselves into 41000 feet of elevation change and some extremes in temperatures all inside 30 hours. Western States is not the hardest run out there but it isn't toward the easy end of the spectrum either.

Hardrock, traditionally the hardest 100 out there had 427 people applied for 100ish places by November 5th. The projection is that they will have 800 applicants for those slots - and many of those will have more than one ticket. My chances of getting a spot? Way less than the 10% last year. And this is a race for which you may only apply if you have finished one of the 'mountain 100s' on their list!

UTMB are going to be forced into changing their policy next year because if they continue to allow all those who fail to get a place in the preceding year, a guaranteed slot the following year, they like Western States will find that in a years time, their field is full before the previous race is even run due to the number of lottery applicants. Their points system is sensible and they are lucky that they can cope with a massive starting field but the numbers wanting to and eligible to compete are growing exponentially. Selfishly I hope they don't change that policy until 2013 so that I can at least be sure of a place in the next 2 years to avenge 2010's abandonment at St Gervais following the avalanche.....

Lakeland 100/ 50 sold 850 places in under a month. This is a race which started in 2008 and had 12 100 mile finishers and about 40 50 miler finishers. 

Dick Kearn who organises the Grand Union Canal Run which has become arguably the most prestigious UK ultra, had to turn as many people away as he let in through the lottery this year.

And finally our little old races. Brand new, no real heritage but I hope they appear reasonably well put together.... Astonishingly in the first 48 hours of the SDW100 being open, we had 31 applicants. Our Thames Path 100 which has never been staged before, sold out to 250 applicants 7 months before race day. I still can't get my head around that.

It is quite clear that there is heartbreak occurring all over the ultra world at the moment with people missing out year after year from gaining places in their dream races. I think more and more race directors are going to have to wake up to the necessity for more stringent qualification standards and staggered starts WITHOUT inflating the costs. The latter will only serve to form the beginning of the end of what ultra running is all about. Increases are acceptable but there is a limit. When I look at the entry costs for Ironman these days, it blows my mind and it quite obviously alienates those unable to afford the financial commitment that traveling to and from a race entails, let alone paying £400 for a one day race.

There is a poll on the website at the moment which I hope will give us some idea of how long those who stumble upon our page have been running ultras. I am expecting to find that the numbers have ballooned since 2009. A quick glance at the first 40 votes shows that this is likely to form the outcome.

Last but not least it's important to recognise that this is ALL POSITIVE!!!! More and more people are getting out on their feet and experiencing what it feels like to go long on the road or the trail. It is wonderful to see the races that began as small not for profit enterprises are starting to see some reward for their hard work and commitment. Who could possible begrudge them that? Too many great races died before this boom began: The Thames Meander, The SDW80, London to Brighton Road Race to name but a few. They all ended prematurely because they couldn't make ends meet financially or couldn't get the volunteer support needed to ensure safe running of the event. It is all of our duty as runners to give something back and so many more are now doing so. As a race director I know for sure we couldn't stage any of our races without that generosity of spirit.

SDW80

After launching the SDW100 entries yesterday, we had the usual initial flurry of quick fire registrations. One of the pre-requisites on the entry forms is declaration of previous running experience. One of our earliest entrants yesterday listed SDW80 as one of his preceding ultra finishes. 

It is a big goal of mine to create races with a real pedigree for quality and a real depth of history. What I mean by that is, I haven't set up these three races as one time opportunities. I would dearly love to be sitting here in 30/40/50 years time with each one still going strong. If we continue to put as much love and effort into them as we have for the past year (Centurion was born 12 months ago this month) then I think we can sustain and even grow from where we are. 

The Thames Path and North Downs Way have had many races staged on them, past and present. The same is true of the South Downs Way with one major difference. The core of the race we have created is not our own. 

I am deeply interested in the South Downs Way 80, a race organised for many years up until the late 1990s. I was made aware of it a good few months ago in conversation with Dick Kearn. Dick and I both sit on the trail running association committee and I used last night's post meeting dinner to pick his brains a little more about it. The race was organised by Harry Townsend and existed for 16 years attracting up to 600 runners, eventually coming to a close in the late 1990s due to lack of funding. The course itself travelled 80 miles from Queen Elizabeth Country Park to finish at Eastbourne Rugby Club.

Dick is too modest to talk about it in much detail but in 1993 he won the race and has fond memories of it, as do most of the people I talk to about it. The over-riding sentiment is that you could count on Harry to deliver a proper race day experience. Things that were raised were the depth of medical support, the regularity and size of some of the aid stations, particularly at the barn on Truleigh Hill and the care and attention of the volunteers. A lot of this, in fact arguably the framework of it has been picked up by Oxfam Trailwalker and there was conversation of Harry having passed on a lot of information relevant to the formation of that event which attracts massive numbers each year to the 100km course.

The similarities between our race and Harry's cannot yet be made. Certainly in terms of a course, ours is 20 miles longer and will take a slightly different route into the finish. The athletics track where we will end the SDW100 literally backs on to the rugby club which was the finish point of the SDW80 which is, I think, rather poignant. 

I only hope we can build as successful, well executed and most importantly, much loved a race as Harry's. I have asked Dick to try to contact him and see if he would perhaps like to be a part of it in 2012. Whether that will happen or not I don't know but I sincerely hope we can continue the legacy of long distance trail running events on the South Downs Way. 

SDW100 2012

Entries are now live for the South Downs Way 100, 'the big dance'. 200 places for 200 lucky runners....

Here are the details. The course is the finest in the land (biased opinion). And you get to finish on the running track at Eastbourne....

Early Morning Lotto Application

I wasn't going to do it, then I was, then I wasn't. In the end I threw my name in there. With such a slim hope of getting a place the worst that can happen is that I get an extra ticket for next year. The best that can happen is that I go back and come home with a shiny silver one this time....

50 names already in the hat and it's still nightime on the West Coast. People are predicting 2500 entries by the close of the 2 week window. For 250ish places.

HRH Lottery

Lottery season is in full swing and the big ones are all filling up fast. It seems that the sport really is reaching peak levels now. AJW eulogises on the Hardrock lottery here. Hardrock is right at the top of my list but this will be my first time with a ticket in the hat so I have pretty much no shot. 

I have my name in for West Highland Way too and will be doing the same for UTMB and Western States. 

This is what I meant in my last post by having no idea how the year will pan out. The only dead cert so far is Comrades. I'd like to add Sparta to that but I'm not sure if the registration criteria will change. At the moment I think I can get in to that just by paying up (Badwater is my qualifier, the only race I've done over 220km's non-stop which is one of the three standards to achieve).

So many permutations from the set of races that all cloud my potentials calender at the moment. Perhaps the worst outcome will be if I get waitlisted for Hardrock and only find out I am in a few weeks before race day... I'd take it. 

A New Leaf

It is definitely time I turned over a new leaf. For a long time I've been wallowing in the depths of debilitating injuries, constantly assessing the level of severity of my shin, knee, achilles etc and worrying about trying to stay fit enough to simply make it through some of the big expensive events I signed myself up for towards the end of 2010.

The crash was just the latest in a long series of unfortunate events this past year, ultimately keeping me off of the trails for weeks and months at a time, in order to have a shot at hobbling around some of the great races I had yet to run.

Now that I'm through that period, it's time I took a step back to assess what it is I am trying to achieve.

There are still a number of unfulfilled goals on my bucket list but the real danger with having a list is that the items on it risk becoming boxes that need to be ticked rather than experiences to be enjoyed. The best example of this was the pressure I put on myself to start Western States this year, despite being chronically injured, unsure of whether I could even crest Emmigrant Pass successfully, let alone make it to Auburn. Of course I wouldn't take back my finish there for anything but my enjoyment of it was maybe 50% of what it should have been because of my state of physical disrepair. I guess we are all becoming victim a little to having to commit to races so far in advance and worse, to take the opportunities to race when we are presented them because that opportunity may not arise for a long time/ ever in the case of Western States.

I have always gotten the most out of my training by having one significant goal to aim for. There's nothing better than immersing yourself in a proper training routine and finding out what you're capable of as a runner. This past year I've forgotten a lot of what that is about.

So instead of rushing back on this latest knee injury I am going to sit it out a while and keep my head down. It's important now to relieve myself of the stress of fighting to get fit too fast and just let it happen. It's not about a few weeks good training or even a couple of months, I want to get back to a place where I can train for 18 months/ 2 years without significant issues arising. Racing is a part of that too for sure, I enjoy the races equally to great training sessions and I've missed out there too. There will always be another injury/ minor set back and maybe the next one isn't too far away but I intend to maximise my enjoyment of simply running in the meantime. One thing is for sure, I no longer take being able to step out of the door and on to the trails for granted.

So here's to an attempt at turning over a new leaf. Not being pressured into big mileage weeks and rushing back on injuries to make races that will always be there in the future.

Regards 2012 a lot of us are now sat around waiting for the big lotteries to open/ be drawn for 2012. I like many others have my name in a few, unlikely to get a place in some and almost certainly not in others. My year could take a very definite road slant, or mountain trail slant. I'm kind of intrigued to see how it pans out, highly likely a mixture of both I would guess....

'If you want to win, first you have to know how to lose' Frank Bozanich.

I've had a lot of help and support this week from different people regards the latest injury. I mentioned at the beginning of the last post, that following the bike crash and severe pain at Caesars Camp 50, that I had moved from a self-diagnosis of inflamed itb and bruised soft tissue - to physio diagnosis of torn lateral meniscus. I'm pleased to say that I am now back at the former which is huge news for me. I am yet to have the scan as I wait to hear from the NHS, but the knee problems have improved daily and fingers crossed they will continue to do so.

I exchanged a few e mails with another experienced ultra runner who happens also to be a GP, Mark Fresch. He read that last post and has helped clarify a few things for me. It's acts of generosity like this that make the ultrarunning community what it is. Together with Mondays physio work and the improved movement, I am now fairly sure that it was/ is my itb that's causing problems.

On Thursday I had no issues locking my leg in a straight position and was able to move up and down the stairs without pain. I set out of the door for 2 miles alternate running and walking on flat trails on instruction from the physio. It didn't end well and I was in pain almost from the word go. On Friday I ran/ walked a mile. It was incredibly slow but I got it done without any discomfort whatsoever. On Saturday I ran 3 miles and today 5. Little progressions each day coupled with a bucket load of icing and stretching but it feels like I am inching my way slowly back. The knee still feels a little sore at times and there is a tingling sensation much of the time I am running but by dropping in walking breaks it immediately goes away. More physio in the morning, taking it one step at a time. I will feel extremely lucky despite everything this year, if I am able to avoid anything more than a few weeks off of running with bruised soft tissue out of all of this.

On a totally separate note I've got a new hero. Frank Bozanich. Quick Facts:

Out of 100 ultras, he's won 44
His 50 mile PB is 5:05
He's won races in his 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s
He says it like it is

There is an awesome podcast up now at www.ultrarunnerpodcast.com which is well worth a listen.

My favourite Frank Bozanich quotes:

'I don't use dropbags, I just put my shoes on and let's go!'
'I have to laugh at these people wanting to do forefoot running and stuff here today'
'I see these people with these backpacks all loaded up. Go back to being simple. Running is a very simple process, just put one foot in front of the other. Do your training and you'll be fine'
'I used to train 200 miles a week and most of that was sub 7, a lot of it 6 minute pace'
'I can remember running Old Dominion in 1980, 10 days after running the 100k in Biel, in 15:18. The whole race I ate nothing and drank de-fizzed coke and water'

He is right, there are an awful lot of people out there now offering advice and recommendations as to how you should run, what you should carry, how often you should race etc etc. If it ain't broke, don't try to fix it, unless you get yourself a coach. Somebody that can help you is this guy, he knows what he is doing.... link