Wednesday 22 August 2018

A Long Run (and a Long Blog Post)

Messing around at Hangman Ultra

I don't often run more than 20 miles unless it's in a race but today decided I needed to do something that vaguely mimics race conditions. It gave me a chance to test kit as well as my legs. They all survived although a few issues with both!

Preparations
Last night I filled bottles with electrolytes and water and placed them, along with a variety of my usual running snacks, by the front door. The plan was to run three 8.7 mile loops using the chest of drawers by the front door as a mini CP. The loops would be mentally challenging and I would alternate direction to make it bit more like the out and back nature of A100. Although I really need to reacquaint myself with running in the dark I didn't set an alarm. I've been having dreadful issues with insomnia recently and wanted to give myself the chance of sleeping in if by some miracle I wasn't awake at 2am. Luckily although it was a broken night's sleep it was way better than I've slept in a while so in the end I didn't head out on my run until after 8am.
I should also mention that although 25 miles is really not far I still ate all the food last night.

Kit
It's been a right pain trying to find a race vest or pack that's right for me and to be honest I'm still not completely happy. I tired the UD Race Vesta 4.0 which is mostly great but mine developed a tear in the 'burrito pocket' within a mile of its first use and also the plastic strips where the waist and chest straps attach finish right under the collar bone and REALLY rub and dig in. I absolutely love the cinch technology as you can get the vest to fit really nicely (ideal for me as I'm short in the torso) but the issues mentioned meant I had to send it back.
I love my Decathlon race vest-pack thing (no idea what it's called) but it has no zipped pockets and it's quite easy to lose things out of the rear storage pocket when the pack is really full. I still might use that for A100 though as so far it's got the hydration option that works the best for me- soft flasks with straws.
I do have one of those fancy Salomon S Lab Sense Ultra vests now. It's very comfortable, very light, I can just about get all my kit stashed in it without worrying about stuff falling out BUT as I have a rather shorter than average torso the vest sits quite low on me which means it's hard to drink from the soft flasks as they don't have straws. I've tried using my Aonijie soft flasks and they do fit but it's extremely hard to get them in and out and that's not a load of faffing I want to be dealing with.
Anyway, today I went with the Salomon option as I wanted to try a different way of stashing my sticks. I can actually shove them across my back in between the vest and me and that's quite comfortable, secure and leaves them both easy to get to and easy to put away again.

Clothes
I'm really not fussy when it comes to what I wear for running. I have a few items from an American company called InkNBurn and I just love them. Beautiful designs, very comfortable, hard wearing, and the skirts have 2 large-ish pockets. But today I went with a Decathlon skirt as it has FOUR pockets so a really good option with the rather minimalist Salomon vest. Injinji socks all the way though! They don't stop my getting mashed up toes (nothing does!) but they are very comfortable.
Underwear- seamfree knickers are a great invention; I have no chest endowments of any significance so a crop top does fine.

Shoes
Foot wear has been a nightmare similar to the race vest situation. Inov8 have tinkered with their width fittings so designs that once were perfect now really don't work for me. I can't wear the new Roclites as they come up quite narrow which is a huge shame as they are great trail shoes and can handle most terrain. I've ended up with the Trail Talons which are comfortable but I'm not convinced how well they'll to handle more than a smidge of soft mud.

The Run
Not a huge deal to report. I didn't stick strictly to a 10/5 run-walk strategy but I did endeavour to ensure I had regular walk breaks to give muscles a break and to allow for eating. In fact I ate far more than I would normally on a training run- probably took in around 500-600 calories- but didn't have any stomach issues and felt good on it.
Snacks comprised: Mini Cheddars, a small Wild Trail bar, a Cadbury's Brunch bar (that one was a bad idea), couple of ginger oatcakes, 1 Marmite and PNB roll, half a cheese roll.
Usually I turn to little tubes of nut butter on a long run but just didn't fancy that today.
Not sure I drank enough although I did have two wee stops, but I liked having one flask of electrolytes and one of water because sometimes you just want plain water.
Physically and mentally the first loop was strangely hard going. I got home and got sorted and out the door again within 5 minutes feeling a bit better.  Five miles into loop 2 I really didn't know how I was going to get round, but even on a relatively short run like this there were lows then highs just like in an ultra. Getting through each low and then feeling a bit better again does give you a boost. My legs  got a bit tight by loop 3 and I now have a very small niggle in one knee and a slightly gribbly hamstring. Nothing to fret about, I think it's just tight quads making themselves known and also a reminder to pick up my heels more.

To sum up: I have a kit solution that more or less works. I can run 25 miles in 5 hours and feel like I could probably go straight back out and do another 25 without too much misery. I can eat more than I thought on a run and that seems to help energy levels. I can be efficient at an aid station. I can deal with feeling physically and mentally a bit crap in the beginning stages of a run and get through it. My walking has improved hugely.

All in all it's been a productive day: lots learned and a bit of reassurance gained.
'Rutherford Steps' or a stairway to heaven at mile 25 of today's run

PS. Yes, I know 3 x 8.7 is actually 26.1 miles. And that's what I ran in total, it's just that each leg of A100 is 25 miles.


Friday 17 August 2018

A Poem on UTMB week

UTMB. Everywhere is full of it. I will never run even the baby race of it now. Physical limitations mean I cannot safely attempt mountains. Crippling financial limitations mean travel is out of the question.




Rocky, snow-clad peaks Pierce two hearts. Dangerous footing Shatters one to pieces More tiny than scree. Free of adulthood's travails, The other dances over boulders.

Tuesday 14 August 2018

A quick update

Maybe yesterday's moan about how useless Royal Mail has been sent shock waves through the ether as the faulty UD pack I posted THREE WEEKS ago just turned up today! So finally I get my refund and an exchange for a Salomon race vest after all. Phew!

They say it's good to change things up from time to time in training so I thought I'd swap this morning's run for a session on the elliptical cross-training device of doom. Bad idea. I could only cope with 4 miles in 50 minutes before the sheer monotony of it (and I was doing an intervals program) got the better of me. I think I'll have a proper run later!


Monday 13 August 2018

Postcard from Limbo

It's not been the greatest of summers. Pretty much everything (much of which isn't for blogging about) seems to have taken a nosedive all at once and it's been an endless string of bad luck although at least as far as training goes thankfully I've managed to avoid anything worse than a few niggles.

I'm in a strange place with running. It's just two months until the Autumn 100 which is both still a long time yet really not long at all. At the moment there are days when I want to run for hours but just as many when I don't want to get out of bed let alone run at all. If I was a proper runner I'd have at least 1 more block of structured training but because of other demands I can't do anything much in terms of structure or volume over the holidays and I don't want to ramp things up once I'm back to work in September as that seems like too much too late. But as it is it feels like it's too long a time to just be waiting.

Kit preparation has been a nightmare. Ended up paying a small fortune to replace my worn out trail shoes (the misery that it is being a very wide-footed runner!). The UD race vest I bought had a fault so I sent it back only to have Royal Mail lose it so no refund or replacement. Think I'll be sewing on bits of elastic to my Decathlon vest so I can be sure all the mandatory kit doesn't fall out! I don't have a watch that will last the duration of the race- the Garmin 230 doesn't charge on the go- but no way can I fork out for a new watch with better battery life/charging.

Right now it's very hard to feel positive about it all but I really don't need anyone else to tell me that success in a 100 miler is down to mindset. Given the disaster this year has been, I think I've done more or less the best I can with training. The complete lack of longer ultras for race practise is definitely a worry as I've done nothing significant since June last year, but that's been out of my control. Diet is something I can control and I've been doing my best to eat well despite mostly swinging between comfort eating and not wanting to eat all. Sleep is another matter. But maybe being used to functioning in a sleep-deprived state will be enough to get me through 27 hours of being on my feet and rather longer with no sleep at all.

To be perfectly honest, I'm scared of what will happen and scared of failing. People say as long as you've got to the start having done the best you can that's all that matters. But how do you know if you've done your best both in terms of preparation and on the day?

Answers on a postcard.