Ticking Over

It's approaching the end of February and I am four long runs into my 26 marathon/ultra challenge for 2014. So far all is well. I say that, but I'm not completely immune to sports injuries and the affects of high mileage on my legs. For anyone considering doing a high number of marathons in one year then I definitely recommend investing in a good foam roller and having regular sports massage. So, in what might sound like an Oscar acceptance speech, I would like to say a few words about the person responsible for keeping me in good working order. 

I make fairly regular visits to Mike Power at Cambridge Sports Massage (www.camsportsmassage.com). Not only does he have just about the best name for someone working in the fitness injury, he quite possibly also has the best pair of hands and is incredibly knowledgeable when it comes to sports injuries. If it wasn't for Mike then I'm sure plenty of my previous challenges would have ended in disappointment, and I will be relying on his knowledge and massage skills to help me through the year ahead. So no pressure, Mike!

Now that I have given Mike a plug I'll just mention what I have been up to since the Broadmeadow Valentine's Marathon. Following the marathon I did actually have a little shin pain, which is quite unusual for me. I was due to have a one week break from both work and training after the last marathon, so it was the perfect time to just put my feet up and hope the rest would be enough to resolve the issue. As it happens it seems to have worked perfectly, but I would have been along to see Mike if it hadn't. 

My week off was planned to coincide with having some builders in to rip out my old bathroom and fit a new one. As I was going to be without a shower for a week it seemed the perfect excuse to not do anything that might build up a sweat. As it happens the work has now extended into a second week and I still have no shower, so in the last week I have been visiting friends and sneaking into gyms whenever possible.

I went for my first post Broadmeadow Marathon run last Sunday with friends: Jo, Viona and Chris. Jo was planning on running 18 miles as part of her training for London Marathon. Chris and Viona were aiming on doing 13 miles for their Cambridge half marathon training, and they suggested running the route of the half marathon. So on Sunday I met Jo at her house, we both then ran 2 miles to Jesus Green to meet Chris and Vi, from there we ran the 13 mile half marathon course through Cambridge. It was quite fun to run through the busy shopping street, dodging all the Sunday shoppers. When we were on our second lap of the course I decided to run ahead to do some pace training. I managed to run a 6 minute 10 second mile right through the central shopping street with hundreds of passers by wondering all over the place. I was rather pleased with my effort, and being a Star Wars fan I felt like Han Solo dodging asteroids.

Chris had to pull out of the run at the end of the first half marathon loop with a sore knee. He should be seeing Mike today to hopefully get it fixed. When the remaining three of us got to the finish of the half marathon course, Vi continued for home, saying a very quick "good bye" to Jo and I, and we then carried on for another 3 miles to hit our 18 mile target. I finished the run pain free, and all other runs so far this week have gone by without incident.

I won't be doing any running this weekend as I'll be on a training course in London. It's part two of Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization. The following Sunday is the Cambridge half marathon, which will then be followed a week later by the Pitsford Marathon and a week after that the Sussex Coastal 34 mile ultra. So I have a few busy weeks ahead.

Broadmeadow Valentine's Marathon

I recently remembered that I never did write a conclusion to Runuary. For followers of this blog you will remember that the aim was to run every single day of January. I tried to get others involved and said that on days that you really feel you need a break from running then a walk of at least 1 mile will count. I didn’t think that I would need to resort to any walking days, but I was ill on three consecutive days with a vomiting virus, so on those days I did indeed just get out for a walk of just over a mile each day. When I returned to running I was amazed at how great my legs felt, this really made me realise how important rest and recovery is. Anyhow, I managed 196.3 miles in total, which is 6.33 miles average per day. It made me realise that it is always possible to find enough time in the day for a 2 mile run, no matter how busy you are, and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed a short run.  Of course, once Runuary was over I immediately had the 66 mile Pilgrim Challenge to contend with (see last two entries), so my rest was delayed by a couple of days.

After the Pilgrim Challenge I had a fairly easy week, which I felt I needed.  Last weekend I only went out for a 9 mile run around Cambridge. Choice of route was affected by patches of flooding, and with the River Cam looking much higher than I have ever seen it. Then last week the only runs I did were with clients. You can tell Runuary is over!

That now brings me up to last Saturday, which had me running my fourth marathon of the year (with the Pilgrim Challenge counting as two), the Broadmeadow Valentine’s Marathon in Stratford-upon-Avon. Broadmeadow Runs (www.broadmeadowruns.co.uk) is run by Chris Seeney, who organisers a number of informal marathons each year. His events typically attract about 100 runners.

You might be wondering how a marathon can be informal. For a start the runner can decide when they want to set off. There’s usually a group start at about 8.30am for runners who aren’t interested in competing for the prizes on offer (which in December have included turkeys), and then the main start is at 9am, but people are free to set off when they like between these two times providing the time keeper knows.

Chris’s runs tend to attract people who aren’t actually that bothered about being competitive and treat them more as a social run. The first time I ran a Broadmeadow marathon was in 2011, and that year I ran the entire distance in a group with 6 other runners. Nobody in that group was too bothered about the time, even though we were all in the lead. However, towards the end we started to discuss what we were going to do about “racing” to the finish, as we knew there were prizes for the top 3 men. We all said we weren’t bothered about the prizes, but as we got to about 400m from the finish the pace started to lift and we all ended up in a mass sprint for the line. That year I walked away with third prize which consisted of a £10 voucher for a running shop and a bottle of mulled wine.

As we set off this year I was in the lead group with three other runners: Peter, Rob and Dan. We spent the first few miles chatting, talking about other marathons we’d run and a quick comparison of times. Are PBs were all in the same ball park except for Peter who had a PB of 2:44, compared to my 2:54.

The route of the marathon had to be altered at the last minute to avoid patches of flood water. We spent a lot of time running up and down the Greenway, a disused railway line on the outskirts of Stratford-upon-Avon. So from the start we ran two miles up the Greenway and then back on ourselves. At the turnaround point there was no road cone to run around, just a marshal who said, “You can turn around there lads”. We all decided we had to tap him on the shoulder.

We then ran past and onwards for the start for the second loop. This took us over the River Avon, up a hill of Cambridgeshire proportions, down to a main road for a short stretch, and then off on a concrete track up another Cambridgeshire sized hill past a farm and over the Greenway and on to a muddy footpath to the village of Welford-on-Avon. I should mention that the wind on the day was about gale force 5 (by my estimation!). The wind was in our face whenever we ran in a south-westerly direction, which meant the first section of Greenway and as we turned onto the concrete track past the farm. At this point I was leading the little group of four runners I was with. As I puffed and panted up the hill into the wind I looked over my shoulder to see Peter tucked in nice and tightly right behind me. Despite knowing he was a stronger runner than me, the b**tard was using me as a wind shield.

Welford-on-Avon was 9 miles from the start, and the first re-fuelling stop. Peter didn’t hang around. I was quite glad to see him take the lead. Our group was then briefly joined by Jamie. We headed back on ourselves back towards the Greenway. The nice thing about this run was that it did give you the opportunity to keep seeing other runners and saying a quick “hello and good luck”. On reaching the crossing pint of the Greenway we turned off the footpath to head back down the Greenway to the start. I was aware that Rob was starting to flag a little, as had Jamie. Dan and I continued as a pair for most of the run.

On reaching the start we did another U-turn to run 4.5 miles down the Greenway to yet another marshal, followed by another U-turn to repeat the same 4.5 mile stretch back to the start and then onwards for the final loop. As we headed back down the Greenway, Dan and I were passed by Martin, who was flying along. I certainly didn’t feel any motivation to chase him.

The final loop was a smaller version of the second loop. We went back over the same two Cambridgeshire sized hills, up the concrete track and back into the head wind, which was stronger than ever. It felt like I had to sprint in order to maintain a pace of about 9 minutes 30 seconds per mile. Up to that point I had been averaging about 7 minutes 20 seconds per mile. The wind was making my pace a good two minutes per mile slower. At this point I lost the will to stick with Dan. I let him go ahead as I just thought about making it the finish. The wind totally destroyed my ability to maintain a decent pace. When we reached the Greenway we turned back on to it for the final 1.5 miles to the finish, at least the wind was now on our backs.

I finished in fourth place. Chris had prizes for first three men and women, plus first man and woman over 40 and over 50. Peter was first overall and also the first man over 40, but Chris doesn’t give two prizes to one person. So I was awarded the prize for first man over 40, which I gladly accepted even though it wasn’t strictly the case. My prize was a £20 voucher for Argos.

Everyone also received a very generous goody bag that included a number of Biofizz sports nutritional products, a bar of Green and Blacks chocolate and a packet of herbal tea. Added to this little bundle was a really decent technical running T-shirt, quite a good deal for a low key marathon with just 99 competitors.

I now have a couple of weekends off which will then be followed by Cambridge Half Marathon on March 9^th, Pitsford Marathon on March 16^th and the 34 mile CTS Sussex Coastal Ultra on March 22^nd.

Broadmeadow Goody Bag

Pilgrim Challenge - Day 2

I awoke Sunday morning with the usual dead feeling in my legs after a restless night on a hard wooden floor following a 33 mile run. A little walk around started to restore some sort of feeling to my aching limbs. By the time I was dressed in my running kit the 7am group were already off on their way. Being in the “elite” group does allow the luxury of a very leisurely breakfast.

Talk over breakfast mostly centred around the complete lack of enthusiasm for the day ahead. I wasn’t looking forward to another 33 miles of mud, and neither were many others. Still, I couldn’t think of any good reason not to give it a go. I had two simple aims; not to fall over in the mud, and to make it to the finish line.

The time between the mass start of 8am runners and my 9am group always seems to drag. All I could do was drink another cup of tea and pack my bag. When it was time to start running it was quite noticeable that everyone held themselves back just a little, with the possible exception of the top three runners. The first 4 miles were all up hill. If I were running this section with fresh legs I would have run the whole way up, but I wasn’t, so I slowed to a walk on the steeper sections. I wanted to run at a more consistent pace than yesterday, and this meant being more conservative at the start.

After a few miles it became apparent that the ground had drained a heck of a lot over night. The transformation was amazing. It was almost as if someone had driven a machine over the route sucking up the water out of the ground. There were still the odd patch of sticky mud, which I was actually quite glad of. About 20 runners had joined us just for the Sunday run, and they had all heard us moan about the mud. At least they weren’t getting away Scot free, but they must have still thought that we were all a right bunch of exaggerating whingers.

Runners arriving at the second checkpoint.

The second checkpoint

To some extent the second day was a lot easier than the first. For a start, all the big hills came in the first half of the run, and the approaches from the east (the direction we were coming from) were not as steep as the approaches from the west. Despite this, and the fact that the ground conditions were much better, my average pace was a little slower than the previous day. I later learnt that this was something experienced by almost all runners, including the two leading men.

I spent most of the second day running by myself. It was nice to eventually catch up with people from the two earlier groups. Every now and again I slowed to exchange a few sentences with the people I passed. Mostly I was just saying hello and wishing them a good day, but it was nice to have small moments of chat with fellow competitors.

The only bit of drama to the day came on the edge of Guildford. Where we’d run through Shalford Park on the Saturday and encountered a small stream to run through, by Sunday the whole of the park was flooded. Robbie reached the park first and knowing the route well decided to wade across the field, which was chest deep in water. Danny decided not to follow and found his own way around the flood. By the time I had reached this section a couple of marshals had been put in place to direct the runners on a 1 mile detour. The detour didn’t mean maintaining dry feet, however. We were directed to a canal bridge and then had to run along a tow path for a few hundred metres. The water in the river was right at the lip of the tow path, the opposite bank was submerged under the floodwater. As we continued on the tow path we reached a section which too was submerged, so we had about 50m to cover in ankle deep water. Wet feet once again.

A short while later we were running through forest with patches of muddy puddles. I was amused by the number of runners who would try to run around the mud. As my feet were already drenched I just ploughed on through, taking the most direct line. Trying to zig-zag around puddles seemed a big waste of time and effort.

From about 8 miles to go I seemed to catch a lot of runners who had left in my start group. I was still running at a nice consistent pace, even if it was still slower than the previous day. It was reassuring to notice that others were flagging more than I was. One runner I passed seemed determined to try and stick with me. For a couple of miles I would pass him then he’d overtake me only for me to pass him again. This continued until just before the final checkpoint. I had a quick re-fill of my water bottle and headed off. I never saw the other runner again until he crossed the finish line about 7 minutes behind me.

About 7 to 8 miles from the finish.

Crossing the finish line.

At the finish I was drinking tea and eating cake when Neil, the organiser, announced he was going to do the male prize giving. Robbie Britton had won in a staggering 8 hours 8 minutes. Danny was second in 8 hours 47 minutes, and Joe was third in 9 hours 38 minutes. So there was quite a spread of times amongst the top three. To my amazement my name was also called out during the prize giving. I was first man over 40, which came as a great surprise. My time for the second day was 5 hours 47 minutes, which gave me an overall time of 11 hours 13 minutes, which was good enough for 13^th place overall out of 130 people who finished both days.

The top 3 men: Joe, Robbie & Danny

With my trophy for first man over 40

Pilgrim Challenge - Day 1

My lasting impression of the 2014 Pilgrim Challenge on the North Downs Way will be of deep mud, toppled trees, flooded fields and more mud.

On Friday I drove the 140 miles to Winchester to spend the evening with my mum the night before the run. For the entire drive, which took a torturous 3 ½ hours, the roads and my windscreen were battered by driving rain. Clearly, the run was going to be muddy and wet. Thankfully, the weather for the rest of the weekend was fantastic.

When I woke Saturday morning it was as if I had been transported to a different continent. The scene of a clear blue sky and the green rolling countryside was such a contrast to the greyness that accompanied the Biblical rain I experienced the previous afternoon. The view outside my bedroom window was one of complete calm, and it filled me with optimism for the day ahead.

I left Winchester earlier than needed to drive the 30 miles to the race start in Farnham. The Pilgrim Challenge is organised by Extreme Energy and, if you didn’t already know, I love their events. They have a loyal following of fans like me, and to run one of their events is a way of making new friends. Whenever you go back for more you can guarantee you’ll meet people you know and make some new friends along the way. So I was keen to get to the start to find out who else would be running. I wasn’t early enough to see the 8am walkers leave, but I did arrive in time to see the large group of 9am runners set off. I was in the 10am group of so called “elite” runners, which consisted of about 30 runners out of a total of about 200. There were some very good runners in my group, including Robbie Britton the course record holder for the South Downs Way 100, and Danny Kendal the record holder for the Pilgrim Challenge and fastest Brit ever at the Marathon des Sables.

The start of the Pilgrim Challenge. That's me waving to the camera.

The first mile of the run was mostly on road to avoid a flooded section of the North Downs Way. First we had to run across a field from the start line. The field was so water logged that everyone had soaking wet running shoes by the time they reached tarmac. When we turned off the road onto the North Downs Way proper it wasn’t long before we encountered the first section of deep mud. Several runners ahead of me were slipping and sliding all over the place as I skipped on through the slippery mud in my Innov-8 trail shoes. Choice of running shoe was going to play a big part in how well people would do, or how difficult the run would be. I felt as if I’d made the right choice.

We encountered many trees lying across the path throughout the day, but one particular wood that we reached after about 3 miles had more downed trees than anywhere else.  One very large tree lay across the path at a junction with another footpath. Because of its size and how it was lying it obscured the view of the North Downs Way and sent me off along the wrong path. Fortunately, I was called back by another runner not far behind me who knew the route well. I later learnt that many runners made the same mistake and went much further off course. Forested sections of the run became a natural obstacle course as we scrambled over falling trees or took a detour through the thick forest undergrowth to circumnavigate the ones that were too big to climb over. Who needs Tough Mudder? This was the real deal.

About half way to the first checkpoint at 8.6 miles I found myself running in a group with three other runners (Joe, Andy & Guy). We ran along together and chatted as we went, which meant I didn’t pay too much attention to my pace.

My three running companions: Joe...

Andy...

..and Guy.

Just before reaching the first checkpoint we crossed a bridge over the River Wey and then headed across Shalford Park on the outskirts of Guildford. Part of the Park had a river running through it that shouldn’t have been there, so we found ourselves having an early ice bath as we waded through a knee deep stream of freezing water.

When we reached the first checkpoint I knew I had started too quickly. At that point I decided I needed to focus on my own run. We left the checkpoint together and Joe and Andy set off at a quick pace. I was then left running with Guy, who perhaps had also decided the pace had been too quick for him. The two of us then stayed together for several more miles before eventually going our separate ways.

Me on the climb up to St Martha on the Hill

We had about 10 miles to go between checkpoints 1 and 2. The first serious climb of the day came just after the first checkpoint as we climbed the steep hill to St Martha on the Hill, one of the many churches on the route of the North Downs Way. There are great views from the hill, but I didn’t hang around to admire them for long. 

A runner passing St Martha on the Hill

Dropping down and heading to White Down Lease

Shortly after St Martha we had a long steady climb up to White Down Lease, which has its south facing slope covered with WW2 Pill Boxes. This part of the route is gently undulating, but my legs were already starting to feel drained. At some point over this section Guy was a short distance ahead of me and I watched as he slipped in the mud and fell to the floor. I started to shout out, “are you ok?”, but before I had finished my sentence I also found myself rolling in the mud as I too slipped. I got to my feet with a streak of mud all down my back and one side. When I started to run I felt as if I’d banged my left knee quite hard. I limped on for a mile before it started to feel ok again. A short while later I was at checkpoint 2, which was a great relief after about 19 miles. The checkpoints then got closer together from here on, but the route also got harder with the two biggest climbs of the day ahead of us.

Mud, glorious mud.

After the second checkpoint we had about 2 miles of downhill running, past the impressive Denbies Wine Estate to our right. I suddenly found myself being joined by Andy again. He had taken a slight detour at some point and re-emerged on the North Downs Way just behind me. Once we'd finished running downhill we reached the busy A24, where we had strict instructions not to cross the road, but to use an underpass that lies 300m north of the North Downs Way. We had been told that if we were caught crossing the road we'd face disqualification. However, when we got to the underpass we found that it was flooded and at least waist deep in water. The first wave of runners had tried to wade through, but gave up and crossed the road. By the time I got to the underpass a marshal had been positioned there to officially instruct us to cross the dual carriageway. I was happy to take my chances with the fast moving traffic rather than wade through stinking cold water.

Once across the road we had the steep climb of Box Hill ahead of us. This had my speed dropping to a pace of about 18 minutes per mile. Clearly I need to work on my power walking. A photographer had been positioned at the top of Box Hill to capture the pain on everyone's faces. Once at the top I tried to run but my legs felt dead. It wasn’t helped by the mud being particularly sticky in parts. It was an effort just to pull each foot out of the mud to walk, never mind run. Thankfully, checkpoint 3 wasn’t far off at mile 24, and what goes up eventually must come down.

Andy and I on the climb of Box Hill

I wasn't too happy to see a photographer at this point

Other runners make the climb of Box Hill

I had a feed at the third checkpoint and prepared myself for the final climb of the day up Reigate Hill and the highest point of the run. Once at the top of Reigate Hill we had a two mile section of reasonably flat running with great views to the south. By now even running on the flat was hard and slow. I would jog a few hundred yards and then feel that I had to take a short walk break. I continued like this until reaching the final checkpoint at mile 28.5. I was then assured that the final 4 miles were all downhill. This was a slight exaggeration, it was mostly downhill. I was once again reduced to a walk on the one slight incline that I encountered on the final stretch to the finish. The last mile of the run was then on streets through the town of Merstham. This seemed like the longest mile of my life. The finish at St Nicholas School couldn’t arrive soon enough.

At the finish I sat for a few minutes in my muddy clothes whilst drinking tea, eating cake and chatting to a few other runners. We were all in general agreement that the run was probably the hardest and muddiest we’d ever done. I ran the North Downs Way 50 the previous May, and although it was 17 miles further than today’s run and over the same part of the North Downs Way, I found the 50 miles in May easier than the 33 miles we’d just run. The only difference was the amount of mud encountered.

Completing the day’s run felt like a massive achievement. It had taken me 5 hours 26 minute and I was in 17^th place overall. I was actually a little disappointed with this as I had hoped to be in the top 10. I did ask myself if I could have done better, and on reflection I felt that I need to work on increasing my leg strength so that I can deal with the thick, sticky mud better. So once I’m recovered I will be aiming to do more squats as part of my training.

The idea of repeating the same run in reverse the following day filled me with dread, and talking to other runners I knew I wasn’t alone. For now I would try to put that out of my mind and try to enjoy a relaxing evening with my fellow runners. So after my tea and cake I organised my sleeping space in the school gymnasium alongside a few hundred other runners, showered and booked an evening massage. I then had more tea and cake and settled down to watch England throw away a winnable game of rugby to France.

Food followed, and after listening to three inspirational speakers it was almost time for bed. One of our speakers was Andy Mouncey, who is also a running coach and someone who takes on big scary runs (http://bigandscaryrunning.com). Earlier this year he had a second attempt at the Spine Race – a 268 mile run along the length of the Pennine Way in January. Last year he made it to 100 miles before he had to abandon. This year he made it to 160 miles and had to pull out because he’d eaten all his food, was wearing every item of clothing he had with him and was still close to hypothermia. He intends to have another go next year and will prepare better by eating more pies! With us in the room was Ed who had completed the Spine Race and Alan who had made it to 265 miles and then had to abandon as his feet were too badly infected to make it the final 3 miles. I can’t imagine how disappointed he must have been to be in a position were he had to pull out so close to the finish. It seemed way too rude to ask.  I’m wishing him lots of luck for next year. I don’t think it is a run I will be undertaking. The idea of another 33 miles of North Downs Way seemed hard enough for now.

And with that in mind I tried to settle down for the night.

Just a little postscript on other performances. Robbie Britton won the day in a mind blowing 3 hours 54 minutes, Danny Kendal was second in 4:03. Of the three runners I briefly ran with in the early stages of the run, Joe finished 6th in a time of 4:46, Andy was 12th with a time of 5:16, and Guy just behind me in 19th place with a time of 5:30.