DNS

Firstly, my thoughts are with the people in Nepal today after they have experienced the second earthquake. I am currently reading Runner by Lizzy Hawker which spends a lot of its time in Nepal meaning my mind was already in those beautiful mountains and now even more so.

I had my first DNS at the weekend when I missed the Ben Lomond hill race. There was a few contributing reasons to why I didn’t make the start line, but mainly it was that family commitments meant that I couldn’t run. Whilst this was disappointing because I really wanted to do the race as it looks great, it was also a good lesson to learn. We don’t always get what we want and nor should we. There are hundreds and hundreds of other races I can take part in, and me not making this one really doesn’t matter at all. OK, I missed a great run on what turned out to be a gloriously sunny day that would have given me a fantastic workout. What really mattered though was that I made a choice and put my family first and they will always be more important than any race.

The one thing I did do though was to get in touch with the race director to let them know I couldn’t start. The race was part of the Scottish Hill Racing championship which is a really popular competition. By letting them know it meant that someone who could run got moved up from the waiting list and hopefully had a great day as a consequence. As well as it being good etiquette, I think there is some karma involved and hopefully I will make a race I’m on a waiting list for in return. There was a big discussion related to this in one of the online running communities I’m part of about the number of races which are pre-entry only. It is a tough topic to approach, if you are a race organiser I can understand how knowing how many people will take part helps you to plan more effectively. The downside is that people can’t always plan far enough ahead and it creates a culture of people signing up to races not knowing when they do if they will be able to make it. The other aspect of pre-entry races is if people are allowed to transfer their entry. Some races state that the administration of allowing this is prohibitive whilst others allow it freely up to a point just before the race.

A friend of mine runs a small business which provides timing systems to races and says that when you have pre-entry, if you don’t allow for transfers you are likely to lose as many as 30-40% of sign ups. If you allow transfers then it is typically 10%. That’s a huge difference! Given that many of these races are run by local running clubs and used as a means to generate much needed funds, you would think that they would want to allow for transfers to make sure more people sign up to each race. Seems like an odd economy to me. Anyway, if you are signed up for a race and can’t make it; do the right thing and let the organisers know. It takes seconds to do and helps them organise a better race.

In other news I managed to get out for my first long run post-fling on Sunday. I headed out into the Lomond Hills with a bunch of intrepid squirrels from Falkland Trail Runners. We headed out of Falkland through Maspie Den, over Creag Mead and across to Whitecraigs and Bishops Hill, then back to Falkland via Glen Vale and the base of West Lomond. 22km in total in about 2h 30mins with 600m of elevation. It was a driech day with a low cloud that hung in the air and a wind blowing in from the west which, when exposed, bit through all layers of clothes. Despite that, we all had a great time. This was a longer run than normal for the squirrels, we usually stick to a 10-14km run on a Sunday, however a few of the club wanted to get some longer runs in around the hills so we headed out and had a fantastic day despite the weather.

Squirrels in the mist

Squirrels in the mist

The pace of Sunday’s run also caught me off guard. Despite the distance and elevation, it was run at a touch over 5min\km! I think all the training leading up to and completing the fling have really improved my running, I am feeling really strong in all the runs I’ve done since the race and feel confident about my running. Yet another benefit of running an ultra. I’m in Munich for work this week so will be heading out for a couple of morning runs around the English Garten. It is as flat as a pancake, but a great city trail to run around, so I’m looking forward to it. The weather is also spectacular so I will enjoy the warm weather running. Considering how strong I am feeling in running, I am now almost convinced about signing up to the Great Glen ultra in July. It is the race that caught my attention and got me into ultra-running in the first place, so I feel like I owe it my participation. I’d also love to complete the race as it is spectacular countryside all along the route. I’ll let you know if and when I sign up and if I do, hopefully I won’t be a DNS.

 

A new day

Interesting morning here in Scotland so a slight digression from my ramblings about running.

Scotland's political map - yellow indicates SNP

Scotland’s political map before and after – yellow indicates SNP (Picture:BBC)

The Scottish National Party (SNP) has had an enormous turn of support in yesterdays general election winning 56 of the possible 59 Scottish seats in the UK parliament. Considering how the country used to look politically this is a huge turn around. Personally, I like it. The SNP want to do away with nuclear weapons which will always get my vote. I also feel like Scotland suffers from a lack of equality as part of the UK so hopefully this will bring about a positive change of Scotland’s future.

Dumyat Hill Race

Pronounced Dum-eye-at apparently.

Last night was the Dumyat hill race organised by Stirling University and part of the Bog and Burn series of races. Dumyat is a comparatively small hill at the western end of the Ochil hills just outside Stirling and tops out at 390m. The course is a straight up and down starting from the university campus. It begins on a tarmac road which you soon turn off and up through a steep wooded section, over a burn, more woods with a short, near vertical mud wall to clamber up, then you are out on the long open slope to the summit with a few rocky sections to contend with. Just before the summit is a wire fence to deal with and a knee deep bog on the other side waiting to trap tired legs. Then you get to do it all again in reverse on the way down at high speed!

Dumyat hill race start - Picture credit Stirling University

Dumyat hill race start – Picture credit Stirling University

I started out towards the front of the pack at the start line, letting the feather weight racing types dash off from the gun. We streamed up the road and through a hole in the wall to a dirt track heading through the woods. I spot Judy from the Falkland Trail Runners in the same pack as me and I know she is a really strong runner so I stuck with her almost all the way up the hill, she eventually pulled away from me about three quarters of the way up. As the hilly section starts proper in the woods, there is a stretch which is particularly steep with bared tree roots and soft, slippery mud inbetween. The race attracts the usual hill running crowd but also a lot of students. There were plenty of shrieks and screams as road shoes lost their grip on this section and bodies were flying all around me.

The woods eventually open out to stile and after that it is a long steady drag to the summit. It is good hill running trail all the way up for the most part with a mixture of beaten tracks, boggy bits and rocky sections. Dave from the Lomies caught me up as we were going up this and pointed out that it is one of those hills that is just about runnable the whole distance, which means you are knackered by the top! About 500yrds from the summit the front runners started to hurtle past us on their descent. It was my first race where I’d been in this situation, other races were on circular routes so I’d never got to see the fast guys. They plummet down the hill and it is a spectacle to see. If you’ve seen these sci-fi films where they are out in space and then all of a sudden asteroids start flying past, it’s a bit like that. the long, slow plod of the up hill runners contrasts dramatically with the speed and recklessness of the down hillers.

The summit eventually comes up, I don’t remember much about it other than a cairn and a trig point. I didn’t stop to take in the view but I imagine it was pretty fantastic as the weather had cleared by now and the earlier rain clouds had moved on. I set off down the descent which is the bit I always enjoy. I left the group I’d been running up with almost immediately as I picked up some speed. It is a great course for a fast descent. Before I knew it I was at the bog again and doing my own asteroid impression as I flew past those further back in the field.

Coming down the muddy descent at Dumyat

Coming down the muddy descent at Dumyat (Photo: Finlay Walton)

By the time I reached the woods I’d made up about 10 places and had a group of another 5 in sight ahead of me. My legs were feeling strong by now, my breathing had settled down after the excess of the uphill slog and I was enjoying it. The ground was soft and I had my Inov-8 Mudclaws on so the slippery mud in places was my friend. After crossing the stile I remembered the really steep muddy bit and realised it was coming up again soon. I quickly discovered it along with about 8 people trying to slip and pick their way down it. I figured I had nothing to lose so decided to go for the bold approach and ran right down it, passing a huge group of people on the way. I was crapping myself that I would hit a root and make an arse of myself any second, but I managed to get away with it.

All that was left then was the last bit of trail down through the woods which felt like familiar territory by now. Up a slight incline to test tired legs, through the whole in the wall and back out on to the road. By this point I was with a group of 3 other runners who I’d caught up with. We all had enough left in our legs for a fast finish and I passed over the line mid group with a time of 46m 57s. My moment of glory though was just as I crossed the finish line and I tripped on the timing mats, flying head first towards the crowd of waiting smart phone cameras. Only my ego was really damaged, but I suspect it made a few people laugh and made for a decent photo (please contact me if you have one!). Hector Haines from HBT won the race with an impressive 35m 14s.

I felt fantastic at the finish, it is a great race with a great mixture of types of running. I was also happy that my legs held out after the fling. Next it is on to Ben Lomond at the weekend which I think will be much more of a challenge.

Running improvements

I got a delivery today. I thought with all the running I’m doing, I should work out how to get better at it. I read about this book in Scott Jurek’s fantastic book “Eat and Run”, so decided if it was good enough for Scott, then it was probably more than good enough for me.

Groovy 70's style

Groovy 70’s style running

Having flicked through a few pages, whilst it looks retro styled, the program inside looks like all common sense stuff that us runners tend not to pay attention to. I’ll get stuck into it over the next week and will perhaps write a review.

Jedburgh 3 Peaks Ultra

To affirm my madness and new addiction to ultra running I signed up to the Jedburgh 3 Peaks Ultra last night. After the fling, a 38 mile trot through the Scottish Borders sounds like a training run!

I’m excited about this race though. I ran the 3 Eildons 10 mile trail race earlier this year and it is brilliant running territory around that part of the world. The three Eildons are interesting interludes midway through the race and will be quite a test I imagine. Much of the trail around there is alongside the River Tweed too, which means it is usually wet and muddy. Should be fun.

Me right at the back coming down off the 2nd of the 3 Eildon hills

It is likely to be the last race of the season given it is in October. I’m hoping by then that my endurance has built up and I can complete the race in a respectable time. The alternative of course is that by October I’m knackered band I have to drag my whimpering arse around the course. Time will tell.

Highland Fling – lessons learned

It’s been a week now since I finished the fling, my legs started to feel human again about Monday evening and I even went for a 5km slow run on Wednesday morning without any real discomfort. All in all, I feel like I got away with it in the recovery stakes. I didn’t know what to expect after running such a crazy distance, 53 miles is a bloody long way, and how I felt immediately afterwards suggested I was going to be walking like someone who’d shat themselves for weeks to come. I didn’t though and in the post race high, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I would\will do in the next ultra.

Several times I’ve stopped myself and asked “Whoa there! Your next one? Who said this was something you’d be doing again?”. As the days go on though, all I can think about is giving this whole thing another try. I think one of the things driving this though is all the niggly little things in the fling which I feel didn’t go as well as I hoped they would. Running an ultra takes a lot of training and a lot of planning.

Nutrition

In the fling I went with a real food strategy. There were three real downsides to this:

1. Time – real food takes time to eat, in a race, you need to save time, even a long endurance race like an ultra.

2. Bulk – my drop bags were huge, which I know isn’t a problem. When I transferred the food to cary with me to the next CP though, that turned me into a pack mule. I don’t want to be that runner.

3. Gagging – real food, after 20 or more miles, is a real turn off. Knowing that I had to eat my sushi roll or sandwich to give me the calories to get me through to the next CP really ate away at my mind in the race. All I wanted was liquids.

In the drop bag at each checkpoint I had things to eat at the check point which were a veggie sushi roll to give me lots of rice for the carbs and seaweed for some nutrients. I also made a sandwich for each checkpoint. I’d tried both in training runs, but after 20 miles, neither worked.

In each bag I also had snacks to take with me on the next stage. I had a chia charge flapjack, which are fantastic bundles of energy. I’d also made up some ziplock bags too with some cashew and almonds as well as dried apricots and figs. I also had some high 5 Zero tabs in each drop bag to put in my water bottles to keep my electrolyte levels up. Lastly, I’d cut an orange into segments, one for each bag. In my training runs leading to the fling, I found that after a while, my mouth just wanted something refreshing and I thought that oranges would do the trick.

The sandwiches, whilst sounding like a good idea, really sat heavy and were really hard to eat. That meant that I spent so much more time in the checkpoints than I wanted to, but also it just added to the gagging feeling I found I got after about 20 miles of running. No more sandwiches then. The sushi was also like eating soggy cardboard by the time I was on my 3rd round of it, and I never want to see a sushi roll again as a consequence.

The snacks worked out ok, on much of the walking uphill sections I tucked into the fruit and nuts pouches. I don’t know how much they gave me in terms of energy or nutrients, but they were tasty and easy enough to eat, so I think they can stay. The oranges were divine and really lifted me. They are a must for next time.

From the 2nd checkpoint in the race, all I wanted was liquid. In hindsight I wish now that I had used some gels in the 2nd half of the race. I really don’t like them, but I see now how liquid calories are probably the right thing to do in a 50 mile+ race. I’ve done some research over the past week and discovered Tailwind Nutrition. I manage to grab some of their endurance powder whilst in Seattle for work this week to try it out between now and Edinburgh marathon at the end of May. I’m hoping that something like this will be at the core of my strategy next ultra. That would mean I get refreshing liquids constantly, my drop bags don’t look like a picnic hamper and importantly, I will spend less time in checkpoints and have less to carry between them.

Kit

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My kit list for the fling was as follows:

  • New Balance Leadville v2 trainers – perfect, will use them again
  • Inov-8 Race Elite shorts – perfect, really comfortable
  • Icebreaker merino 200 long sleeve – The weather forecast was cool\cold and the merino top works for me in most temperatures.
  • Salomon Trail top – I love this top, great for keeping wind off you and fits really well
  • Salomon SLab ADVSkin 12 – This pack is good, the two chest bottles I like as the water doesn’t slosh about. The pouches in the back were great too for holding excess kit
  • OMM Kamelika Smock – The weather forecast showed rain and possibly snow. This smock has seen me through the worst of the Scottish winter hill running.
  • Injinji trail medium socks – I used these to prevent blisters, but ended up with one small one of the end of a toe. Generally though, they were great

Generally, all of this worked well. In future though, I’m wondering if I need to take as much kit. I think I could get away with fewer layers, perhaps just wear one layer and have the smock to go over the top if the weather turns horrible. I was looking at what other people use, the guys up the front of the race all seem to run with barely nothing, a hand held bottle, a small bum bag or flip-belt. I’m going to give this approach a try on my next long run and see how it goes. I think it might take some training to get used to it, but if I can, I suspect it will stop me from faffing about in the race with kit on the hoof or in CP’s.

Logistics

I travelled to Glasgow on the Friday before the fling and stayed in a city center hotel. All the hotels near the start line were fully booked by the time I got my arse in gear to sort it out, but they are generally travel lodge type hotels, which I don’t usually enjoy. I stayed at the Hilton Grosvenor by the Botanics. This was a 20 min walk to the race hotel for registration on Friday afternoon which gave me time to calm my nerves down a bit. It was also an easy taxi ride to Milngavie on Saturday morning for the start. I’d definitely do it this way again.

Strategy

With this being my first ultra, I was nervous and really wanted to just stick to a slow pace and complete it. My goal when I signed up to the fling really was to just complete it. It was only as I got closer did I have naïve aspirations of completing it in 10 to 11 hours. My naivety gave me the kick up the arse I deserved in the time stakes, but in general I’m really happy with what I achieved. If I want to improve, I need to change some of the things around my food and kit that I’ve spoken about in this post, but I think I also need to get more endurance training in. I had a long stretch from about 10 to 30 miles where my hips ached quite badly. They were never going to stop me, but I was frustrated that it felt like something that, if I’d trained more, I could have avoided this. What I would like for next time is to hold a steady, slow pace all the way through. Looking at peoples races on Strava, I can see that those that do really well maintain an almost exact pace all the way. My pace varied from 5min\km to 11min\km. I think 6min\km is probably my target pace, but it is going to take some focussed endurance training to get to it.

Taking everything into consideration, for my first ultra, I think the logistics and planning worked really well. I never went through a stage in the race where I felt like I needed more food, and I was never in a position where I was worried about getting to the race, having the right kit or anything like that. I think there is room for improvement though. Travel lighter, fuss less at CP’s and focus on getting calories inside whilst on the move.

I’m going to try to post some details about my main runs with each blog post:

Hoka Highland Fling

  • Time: 11hrs 46min
  • Distance 53miles\82km
  • Kit:New Balance Leadville v2, Inov-8 shorts, Icebreaker long sleeve, Buff, OMM Smock, Salomon ADV skin 12, injinji socks
  • Weather: Sunshine
  • Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/292451934

Ultra marathon dreams and beyond

This is my first post so I’ll try to keep it short and sweet. Last weekend I completed my first ultra marathon, the fantastic, the amazing, the superb Hoka Highland fling. The race experience itself was brilliant, but the training build up to it was also a wonderful experience as well. A year ago I decided to start running to lose some weight and get a little healthier. I started with a 5k jog\walk and twelve months later I find myself crossing the finish line of a 53 mile race in a time of 11hrs and 46 mins.

Me finishing the 2015 Highland Fling

Me finishing the 2015 Highland Fling

It’s been a journey as they say, and along the way I’ve contracted an addiction to running and in particular to running in the hills and for long distances. I’m going to try to write about all these things in this blog in the hope it inspires others to join in this little known community of addicts. I take part in Scottish hill races and other local running events around Scotland and I am already looking at my next and subsequent ultra marathons, so there should be no shortage of things to talk about. I’m also a running gear addict too so you can expect to hear me harping on about what I like and don’t like as I spend what feels like half of my salary on things I probably don’t need. That’s it for now, thanks for reading and please feel free to get in touch to say hello if you want to.