So my running "year of runner-reborn" ends today.
I have pretty much achieved what I set out to do, for which I feel thankful and very lucky. It helps when you have an understanding family, supportive friends and a lifestyle that allows, and I know this is not the case for everyone.
So here's the objectives I set myself at the start:
To run 2012 miles in the calendar year 2012.
According to my GPS tracker software on Endomondo I have finished the year with 3407 km, which is 2117.46 miles. This took me 353.3 hours of "on the feet" time, and theoretically "burned" 328,957 calories
That's 5.78 miles and a Big Mac, medium fries and barbecue sauce every day for a year burned.
To run the 2 big city marathons of London and New York.
The nature of the entry systems meant that I "bought" a charity place, for Spinal Research, in London, pledging to raise at least £1700 and entered New York on the ballot, the results of which I would only know in the week after running London.
To take some "insurance" I entered another marathon in the USA on the weekend following New York, in Richmond, Virginia, as I fully expected the 12-1 against ballot odds to count me out of New York.
I ran London, and had a blast in 4:12:31.
I got in New York on the ballot, and decided to try to run both marathons on successive weekends.
New York was controversially cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy, but I got to run Richmond on the following saturday in 3:48:37.
As the year went on I added some challenges to keep the fund raising going:
To run an ultramarathon.
I ran my first ultramarathon, in Nottingham, on October 7th finishing the 50 km trail / road race in 5 hours 32 minutes.
To run the entire length of the Ridgeway National Trail in 4 days
I completed my 4 days of the 143 km route on sunday December 9th, smiling and surrounded by fantastically supportive family and friends.
So all that remains is to name the running highlights and set some objectives for 2013.
My top 5 for 2012 are:
5. Running a 20 mile training run on the day of the New York Marathon, round lower Manhattan, past ground zero and then finishing with a lap of central park with around 15,000 other runners, mainly foreign, who were determined to have their day out despite the cancellation.
4. The last 4 miles of the Nottingham Ultra. After running through the 26 mile point I realised that the marathon distance was merely a staging point for longer distances and anything might be possible with the right preparation. This changed my running mindset for ever.
3. The third day of the Ridgeway run, which included crossing the 2012 mile point for the year and allowed me to run 5 miles with my son, James on a glorious winter day in the Chilterns. Again I felt the sense of power in being able to cover long distances in all conditions, given the right preparation, and it meant I knew finishing the last 30 km would be relatively easy the next day.
2. My age-graded sub 4 hours "PB" of 3:48:37 in Richmond. This hurt, both from the on the edge endurance running and the achilles pain that was fairly constant. But it made me think I could still get quicker over the marathon distance, something I never believed possible at the beginning of the year.
1. The London marathon. It is an iconic race, with many annoyances due to the large field and the constant weaving around to dodge water bottles. But nowhere surely beats London for support, the views and the huge feel good of so many people all raising money for their personal charities. The total elation I felt after the 21 mile point, when I knew I would be "OK", was unmatched at any other time of the year.
And what of 2013?
So far just three objectives :
1. To run a 3:40 marathon - which is a Boston Qualifier (THE most iconic city marathon that obliges you to have an age-graded time qualification). I have entered Milton Keynes on May 6th.
2. To run a proper mountain marathon. I want this to be the Jungfrau Marathon, in Switzerland in September.
3. To run further than in 2012. An average of 6 miles a day would seem reasonable - and that is 2190 miles.
Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running.
Follow @Nariokotomeboy
Monday, December 31, 2012
Friday, December 21, 2012
Goals achieved - The Ridgeway
I thought I would let a few weeks pass before blogging on my experience of running the Ridgeway.
And this is not going to be a minute by minute journal of what happened - I wanted to resist the temptation of that which I have read on other running blogs.
Here are the bald facts though.
DISTANCE
The Ridgeway is "advertised" as being 135 km or 87 miles long, but I would assume that would be the "direct route". Weaving around and dodging puddles etc adds a fair bit and my GPS logged 143 km.
TIME
I ran / was on my feet for just under 19 hours spread over 4 days. I didn't bother hitting pause for each break or stop, of which there were many,
WEATHER
I never really had any rain or snow while I ran. It was fairly windy but mercilessly the wind was mainly out of the SW to NW quarter, so generally behind me. On the thursday at the start it was minus 5 C, and possibly warmest on saturday afternoon at around plus 8 C. I never felt "warm".
PACERS & SUPPORTERS
I had someone running with me for about 80 km of the route.
Bryan Elliot ran 20 km from Hackpen Hill to Foxhill
Nick Chubb ran 21 km with me from north of Chilton to North Stoke
James Massey ran just under 9 km from Chinnor Hill to Princes Risborough
Bruce Haskell ran the first 10 km on Day 4, to Wendover.
Trevor White ran the last 20 km from Wendover to Ivinghoe Beacon.
Mary Jacob ran the first 23 km on Day 4, to Tring Station.
Kieran Fitzhall ran about 15 km from the Hale to Ivinghoe Beacon
Graham, Siobhan and Sarah from Plumstead runners did the entire 30 km on the last day.
Abi Salmon incredibly weaved around the route on the last day on her trusty bike and took on the might of Ivinghoe Beacon at the end.
Horsemen and women came out! Joss Gray and crew came up from Upton near the A34 to scare us with their horses. Phil Roelich surprised me with flapjack and nuts at Aston Rowant and cantered with me to Chinnor Hill. Karen Bartlett and Margie Gibb were awaiting us on top of Whiteleaf Hill on the last day and Jen Hart eventually found us in the woods above Wendover to trot along with us for a while.
Michael Rogers and Lulu Kyriakou were impromptu photographers at the vital moments on days 3 and 4 and took some great shots.
At the finish there was quite a party, with family and friends, many of the aid station volunteers and Claire Lomas and her mum coming to lend support and cheer me up the last hill.
They were all great fun, provided much needed morale boosts and adjusted well to my snails pace.
FEEDING & LOGISTICS
Some amazing people gave up their time and came along to help me get through this, compliantly following my aid station planning and throwing vast quantities of cake, sweets, hot and cold drinks my way.
Dominic Sancto nursed me to the start on day 1 in the freezing cold and helped on the first day. Andrew Fell helped him kick me up the trail at Overton Hill.
Jennie Smith was the angel at aid station 2 and 3 on day one, when the weather was at its coldest and my morale was at its lowest.
Dave Marson performed an epic role on day 2, getting me to the start and taking me home, as well as manning every aid station and providing beef stew for Nick and I at the end.
Patricia Clifton added a touch of class to aid station 3 on Day 2, even down to designer beetroot juice shots.
On day 3 the Massey family took over, providing all the aid and holding the tape as I ran through the 2012 mile barrier at Chinnor Hill.
On day 4 Janice Hawes and Jean Kennedy, supplemented by Jim, provided vast quantities of sustenance to 8 of us throughout the day. Chris and Sue Trim made the long journey from Ringwood to lend moral support.
REFLECTIONS
I was a little scared, but really quite euphoric at the start.
I had planned this and as it turned out nearly all of the planning paid off. I never felt underfed or watered; I had enough of the right type of shoes and clothes. The weather was consistent with the time of year; I had great supporters; my injuries held off for the most part. I knew where I was going and recognised the terrain.
None of these facts mean anything really, as anyone who runs long distances know. What is written above is just a list of things that can go wrong and make it worse. But long distance running is painful, it is monotonous, it puts you in a long drawn out discussion with your essence about the "why" of it. Long distance running offroad adds the profound annoyance of the underfoot that totally cuts any rhythm from your gait. The Ridgeway is "country" and it is green but it is as far away from sheep meadow or hillside as can be imagined. There is some wildlife of course, but not much. Not enough in fact. Not even many rabbits (hibernating already?) or even the Red Kites over the Chilterns.
The views are good.
Yes the views are very good.
Mostly in the first half it is a poorly maintained rutted track, mutilated by horses, mountain bikes, offroad vehicles and tractors. People actually use it to get around and go to work and the various forms of transport, the "any means", spread across it at will. No-one thinks "oh I'd better leave that part in good condition for pedestrians". The transport pecking order has the runner right at the bottom of the list. So almost every stride is of a different length, every few minutes brings a threat to ankle stability and much motion is zig-zag. Puddles were boggy or at the beginning frozen and lethal. Much of the second half is mud splayed by horses and other pedestrians, with ruts hidden under beech leaves, with the occasional clay field to suck every ounce of strength as it accumulates on even the most high-tech offroad sole. Worst of all, sharp points of chalk and flint stick out everywhere. It follows the "ridge, stupid!
Nevertheless I enjoyed myself. Immensely. That enjoyment was of course about the endorphins, the bloody-mindedness of setting a goal and achieving it, and, I won't lie, the backslaps and compliments of others. There is also an immense empowerment that gradually dawns on you as the miles go by and you slowly realise any distance is possible, if you are well trained enough, eat and drink right and are stupid enough to run just for the sake of it. I will do something like this again, probably sooner rather than later and less well supported, and covering more miles by day. It won't be in winter, though, as my fingers were never warm for 4 days and I would like to be able to take the hat off.
Did it hurt? Yes each day ended with sore legs but I recovered frighteningly well.
Maybe age dulls the senses.
Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running. Follow @Nariokotomeboy
And this is not going to be a minute by minute journal of what happened - I wanted to resist the temptation of that which I have read on other running blogs.
Here are the bald facts though.
DISTANCE
The Ridgeway is "advertised" as being 135 km or 87 miles long, but I would assume that would be the "direct route". Weaving around and dodging puddles etc adds a fair bit and my GPS logged 143 km.
TIME
I ran / was on my feet for just under 19 hours spread over 4 days. I didn't bother hitting pause for each break or stop, of which there were many,
WEATHER
I never really had any rain or snow while I ran. It was fairly windy but mercilessly the wind was mainly out of the SW to NW quarter, so generally behind me. On the thursday at the start it was minus 5 C, and possibly warmest on saturday afternoon at around plus 8 C. I never felt "warm".
PACERS & SUPPORTERS
I had someone running with me for about 80 km of the route.
Bryan Elliot ran 20 km from Hackpen Hill to Foxhill
Nick Chubb ran 21 km with me from north of Chilton to North Stoke
James Massey ran just under 9 km from Chinnor Hill to Princes Risborough
Bruce Haskell ran the first 10 km on Day 4, to Wendover.
Trevor White ran the last 20 km from Wendover to Ivinghoe Beacon.
Mary Jacob ran the first 23 km on Day 4, to Tring Station.
Kieran Fitzhall ran about 15 km from the Hale to Ivinghoe Beacon
Graham, Siobhan and Sarah from Plumstead runners did the entire 30 km on the last day.
Abi Salmon incredibly weaved around the route on the last day on her trusty bike and took on the might of Ivinghoe Beacon at the end.
Horsemen and women came out! Joss Gray and crew came up from Upton near the A34 to scare us with their horses. Phil Roelich surprised me with flapjack and nuts at Aston Rowant and cantered with me to Chinnor Hill. Karen Bartlett and Margie Gibb were awaiting us on top of Whiteleaf Hill on the last day and Jen Hart eventually found us in the woods above Wendover to trot along with us for a while.
Michael Rogers and Lulu Kyriakou were impromptu photographers at the vital moments on days 3 and 4 and took some great shots.
At the finish there was quite a party, with family and friends, many of the aid station volunteers and Claire Lomas and her mum coming to lend support and cheer me up the last hill.
They were all great fun, provided much needed morale boosts and adjusted well to my snails pace.
FEEDING & LOGISTICS
Some amazing people gave up their time and came along to help me get through this, compliantly following my aid station planning and throwing vast quantities of cake, sweets, hot and cold drinks my way.
Dominic Sancto nursed me to the start on day 1 in the freezing cold and helped on the first day. Andrew Fell helped him kick me up the trail at Overton Hill.
Jennie Smith was the angel at aid station 2 and 3 on day one, when the weather was at its coldest and my morale was at its lowest.
Dave Marson performed an epic role on day 2, getting me to the start and taking me home, as well as manning every aid station and providing beef stew for Nick and I at the end.
Patricia Clifton added a touch of class to aid station 3 on Day 2, even down to designer beetroot juice shots.
On day 3 the Massey family took over, providing all the aid and holding the tape as I ran through the 2012 mile barrier at Chinnor Hill.
On day 4 Janice Hawes and Jean Kennedy, supplemented by Jim, provided vast quantities of sustenance to 8 of us throughout the day. Chris and Sue Trim made the long journey from Ringwood to lend moral support.
REFLECTIONS
I was a little scared, but really quite euphoric at the start.
I had planned this and as it turned out nearly all of the planning paid off. I never felt underfed or watered; I had enough of the right type of shoes and clothes. The weather was consistent with the time of year; I had great supporters; my injuries held off for the most part. I knew where I was going and recognised the terrain.
None of these facts mean anything really, as anyone who runs long distances know. What is written above is just a list of things that can go wrong and make it worse. But long distance running is painful, it is monotonous, it puts you in a long drawn out discussion with your essence about the "why" of it. Long distance running offroad adds the profound annoyance of the underfoot that totally cuts any rhythm from your gait. The Ridgeway is "country" and it is green but it is as far away from sheep meadow or hillside as can be imagined. There is some wildlife of course, but not much. Not enough in fact. Not even many rabbits (hibernating already?) or even the Red Kites over the Chilterns.
The views are good.
Yes the views are very good.
Mostly in the first half it is a poorly maintained rutted track, mutilated by horses, mountain bikes, offroad vehicles and tractors. People actually use it to get around and go to work and the various forms of transport, the "any means", spread across it at will. No-one thinks "oh I'd better leave that part in good condition for pedestrians". The transport pecking order has the runner right at the bottom of the list. So almost every stride is of a different length, every few minutes brings a threat to ankle stability and much motion is zig-zag. Puddles were boggy or at the beginning frozen and lethal. Much of the second half is mud splayed by horses and other pedestrians, with ruts hidden under beech leaves, with the occasional clay field to suck every ounce of strength as it accumulates on even the most high-tech offroad sole. Worst of all, sharp points of chalk and flint stick out everywhere. It follows the "ridge, stupid!
Nevertheless I enjoyed myself. Immensely. That enjoyment was of course about the endorphins, the bloody-mindedness of setting a goal and achieving it, and, I won't lie, the backslaps and compliments of others. There is also an immense empowerment that gradually dawns on you as the miles go by and you slowly realise any distance is possible, if you are well trained enough, eat and drink right and are stupid enough to run just for the sake of it. I will do something like this again, probably sooner rather than later and less well supported, and covering more miles by day. It won't be in winter, though, as my fingers were never warm for 4 days and I would like to be able to take the hat off.
Did it hurt? Yes each day ended with sore legs but I recovered frighteningly well.
Maybe age dulls the senses.
Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running. Follow @Nariokotomeboy
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Ridgeway BAM Day 2nd day plan Dec 7.
The plan for Day 2 (friday) of the Ridgeway BAM is as follows.
Start at 9 am where the Ridgeway crosses Blowingstone Hill, south of Kingston Lyne in Oxfordshire in the Vale of the White Horse.
Grid ref. SU 32285 86257
Map as per the finish on Day 1.
The route continues across the Lambourn Downs and is mostly wide bridleway here, but quite exposed.
DAY 2 Aid Station 1. 8 km arrive c 9:58 am , depart 10:10 am.
Will need: charge drink bottle, a snack.
This is where the Ridgeway crosses the A338, Manor Road, south of Wantage
Grid ref. SU 39474 84340
The terrain changes little in this part of the Ridgeway, and conditions will depend greatly on the weather.
The terrain varies somewhat in the next section with Didcot power station dominating the view off to the left, but few villages are seen in this part of south west Oxfordshire.
The long last section is downhill! The route follows roads down into Streatley and across the Thames into Goring, before turning north along the bank of the river, through South Stoke to finish the day in North Stoke, by the church.
Day 2, Finish. 38 km. Arrive 15.15 pm latest.
I hope some of you can join me on the way.
Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running. Follow @Nariokotomeboy
Start at 9 am where the Ridgeway crosses Blowingstone Hill, south of Kingston Lyne in Oxfordshire in the Vale of the White Horse.
Grid ref. SU 32285 86257
Map as per the finish on Day 1.
The route continues across the Lambourn Downs and is mostly wide bridleway here, but quite exposed.
DAY 2 Aid Station 1. 8 km arrive c 9:58 am , depart 10:10 am.
Will need: charge drink bottle, a snack.
This is where the Ridgeway crosses the A338, Manor Road, south of Wantage
Grid ref. SU 39474 84340
The terrain changes little in this part of the Ridgeway, and conditions will depend greatly on the weather.
DAY 2 Aid Station 2. 17.1 km arrive c 11:16 am , depart 11:30 am.
Will need: charge drink bottle, a snack.
Here the Ridgeway moves into Bury Lane just before crossing under the A34 by a small tunnel.
Grid ref. SU 47930 84046
The terrain varies somewhat in the next section with Didcot power station dominating the view off to the left, but few villages are seen in this part of south west Oxfordshire.
DAY 2 Aid Station 3. 27 km arrive c 12:42 pm , depart 12:55 pm.
Will need: charge drink bottle, a hot snack and a cuppa.
Here the Ridgeway runs into a lane on Thurle Down, above and to the west of the Thames-side town of Streatley on the Berkshire side.
Grid ref. SU 56707 81236
The long last section is downhill! The route follows roads down into Streatley and across the Thames into Goring, before turning north along the bank of the river, through South Stoke to finish the day in North Stoke, by the church.
Day 2, Finish. 38 km. Arrive 15.15 pm latest.
I hope some of you can join me on the way.
Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running. Follow @Nariokotomeboy
Monday, November 19, 2012
Ridgeway BAM 1st day plan Dec 6.
The plan for Day 1 of the Ridgeway BAM is as follows:
Start at 9 am at the western end of the Ridgeway, on the A4 near West Kennett, west of Marlborough.
@monty_white is my "starter" and will launch me on my way, but others are welcome of course.
I am hoping various friends and helpers will provide me with an "aid station" at 3 points on the route, but if not will be carrying provisions with me. Here are the broad details. Please see the earlier blog post for the full route to help anyone joining en route.
Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running. Follow @Nariokotomeboy
Start at 9 am at the western end of the Ridgeway, on the A4 near West Kennett, west of Marlborough.
@monty_white is my "starter" and will launch me on my way, but others are welcome of course.
I am hoping various friends and helpers will provide me with an "aid station" at 3 points on the route, but if not will be carrying provisions with me. Here are the broad details. Please see the earlier blog post for the full route to help anyone joining en route.
There is in fact a fair bit of parking at the start of the Ridgeway, but I will not be hanging around!
I am hoping to reach the first road crossing after a bit less than an hour, at Hackpen Hill. Again there is a large car park as the path heads towards the Barbury Castle hill fort.
DAY 1 Aid Station 1. 7 km. arrive. c 10.00, depart 10.15.
Will need: charge drink bottle, a snack.
The next section follows the top of the ridge, crossing the gallops on the downs. It is pretty exposed, but later descends towards the A46 near the Ogbournes, and crosses the A46 at the hamlet of Southend where there is a layby in front of some cottages.
DAY 1 Aid Station 2. 15km. Arrive c 11.20, Depart c 11.40.
I will need: re-charge drink bottle. A hot drink (soup), snack.
The route then immediately climbs up again and is fairly undulating, crossing the M4 east of Swindon, just south of the hamlet of Foxhill. The aid station will be at the cross roads there.
DAY 1 Aid Station 3. 23 km. Arrive c 12.50, depart 13.00
Will need: coffee or tea; recharge drink bottle; snack.
The longest leg - but only 11 km, I have left for the last, as if all the timings slip, I should need no more support after this. But anyone is welcome to await me at the finish which is up the hill from the village of Kingston Lisle, where my car will be parked with a change of clothes and a hot drink.
I would hope to be there within an hour and a half maximum from Foxhill, unless the weather is really bad.
DAY 1, Finish. 34 km arrive 14.30 latest.
Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running. Follow @Nariokotomeboy
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
A week of running across the pond
Written on Nov 10th and 11th
I am starting this blog post basking in the glory of my best ever marathon in Richmond Virginia. I am also feeling the aches and pains from the effort. It turned into a warm day today, and although once again I think I got the eating and drinking right, the hard surfaces took their toll. I was ready for the finish as we charged the last steep downhill half mile.
My time was 3:48 and change, not far off my lifetime best from the 1998 London of 3:46, but given 14 more years on the body, it is a far better result than that first marathon and a 24 minute improvement on my 2012 London Marathon.
As the previous post described, my week here started in bizarre fashion, as along with 1000's of other foreign runners I found myself marooned in New York with no marathon to run. Well actually I was in Newark, NJ to start with, and I started my stateside running by hammering out a frustrated 5 miles on the Hilton's treadmill at 5 am on Saturday. No signs of flooding or storm damage in downtown Newark, but parts of the city have a pretty run down feel anyway, and trains into Manhattan were sparse.
I headed off to Penn station and went straight to the marathon expo, 6 or so blocks away. Bizarrely I got my number, t-shirt and start-zone bag (including mineral water) before heading into the merchandise area.
A big knock-down sale was on and people were grabbing stuff by the armful, guilt free, due to the signs everywhere claiming proceeds would go to the Sandy relief effort.
As I walked over to my hotel, I had time to reflect on the chain of events that had allowed this 42 year icon of big marathons to get embroiled in the politics of disaster management. In the time I've been away, a great deal has been said and I really don't want to go into a long rationalisation of what happened, but clearly a politically divisive New York City Mayor couldn't hold to his "renewal" argument for running the marathon in the face of social and mainstream media pressure. Talk by Sunday was that runners may have suffered abuse or worse en route. That would have been interesting...
Now sitting on an Amtrak train headed back on the Northeast route to Newark.
This is not a travel blog, so no real reports here of most of my 3 days in New York, but Sunday was "run day" and I decided to knock out 20 miles, almost enough to test me like a marathon, but hopefully not enough to bury me for Richmond. So I headed off for lower manhattan at 6.30 am, and the streets were quiet enough for me to run down the middle of fifth avenue and then broadway, with Bruce Springsteen on the earphones. Corny, cliched, all of that.
As I gradually tacked south and east and gently downhill through the swanky Gramercy Park into the more grungy lower east side, I gradually began to see more evidence of the storm. In Chinatown it was harder to tell, but once below City Hall, there were no more traffic lights, and by the South Street Seaport, the devastation was obvious.
I had to weave among crews of workmen obviously hired in to clean up. Ground floor businesses were being pumped out and the odd piece of urban landscaping had been destroyed. I decided that I shouldn't really be in people's way and I headed off past Battery Park to the former World Trade Center area, spotting on the way some other runners heading for the Staten Island ferry to help with the relief effort. On another day, in another city, I may have joined them, but I had pretty much decided that a donation was more appropriate and that in the words of the Springsteen song, I thought New Yorkers should heed the call: "wherever this flag is flown we take care of our own".
When I was a commodity trader, back in the way distant past, my various firms had offices in Broad St and by the Trinity Church in lower Broadway. The exchange was in 4 World Trade Center, and I had dined in the Windows on the World restaurant, on the 107th floor of one of the Twin Towers. I most certainly would have rubbed shoulders, and probably spoken to, people who suffered on 9/11, and I have always felt the need to pay my respects at Ground Zero. I was able to do this in about as low key a way as possible, looking in through the fence, with no-one else around except me and a security guard, with the magnificent Freedom Tower across the site to the north.
I didn't hang around long, didn't need to...and it was bloody freezing! I headed north, ducking into a 7/11 to refuel.
By the time I reached midtown again, the city was waking up and the avenues were full of runners, most of them heading towards Central Park. As I came into Columbus Circle, this had become a slightly unruly multinational swarm of Lycra. The crowd-sourced, unsponsored New York City international marathon had clearly replaced the "big one".
With nearly 20 km already on my running "clock" I briefly flirted with the idea of going the "whole way" but soon thought better of it. I had started off the morning "on empty" and was snacking and drinking from convenience stores en route, but I had no intention of risking "bonking" without getting a medal at the end. So I ran one lap of the park more or less, with a dip out by the "Met" for Gatorade and junk food. It was crowded, raucous, odd, but gave food for thought on the nature of big city events. It was both contrived and authentic simultaneously, particularly when, bizarrely, I ran through the marathon finish line the wrong way, with people actually in the stands cheering everyone - why? I might only have run 5 km!
Early on Monday I went back for a run in the park, and this turned into something of a smack down with some French runners and a couple of locals. The park is certainly a great place to run if you are stuck in a city as big as New York, but despite all the hype, I don't think it matches what London can offer, although it may be more runner friendly in terms of traffic. I imagined the marathon course and had to reflect that the last 5 miles of the London marathon more than match the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.
I won't be coming back to run. This was a one-off. Other nationalities may look to New York as the cradle of running, and be drawn into the attraction of running its marathon, regardless of the cost, but as a Brit.....I'll take London. The main reason is that New York's strength (its very international flavour) also makes it not a true mass participation event for New Yorkers in the way London is for Londoners. Perhaps that is why the city turned against it so easily this time......it is no longer "New York". Even ignoring the flights, the extra cost of entry and hotel premiums make it around 8 times more expensive than running London. Mr Brasher, Mr Bedford you have got it so right - and as for the "baggage problem", why don't NYRR just look at what London does and follow it?
At the time of writing, NYRR are yet to define how, or indeed if, they will recompense runners. They are also, I believe scandalously, using a pretext of funding the post-Sandy relief effort as a means of appropriating runner entry fees for a race that 18,000 foreign runners could have avoided flying out for. An offer of "ballot avoidance" for 2013 appears to be all that is on the table right now, which would presumably involve foreigners paying two year's entries for one run, or in excess of $600. They appear to be acting like a monopoly. They may have a monopoly on the "New York City Marathon", but to the runner, the distance remains the same, and there are many prettier places to race (Richmond for starters) than the famous 5 boroughs.
Rant over. (But here is the Village Voice's take on the story today.)
After New York, Amtrak brought me down to Washington DC for 3 days bracketing the 2012 presidential election (I am officially a student of political ideas right now - in DD306 with the OU, so this constitutes a field trip!). Again this is not a politics blog...though friends would not be surprised to know I have plenty to say on the subject! I only permitted myself one run in DC, on the Wednesday, so I made it a good one.
Not many tourists get to see Capitol Hill, the National Mall, the National Monument, Vietnam War Veterans Wall, the Lincoln memorial, Reflecting Pool, Jefferson Monument, Potomac park and Navy Yard in a day - I ticked them all off on a 12 km run! Be a runner = speedtourism.
And so down to Richmond, confederate capital in the civil war. I thoroughly immersed myself in one of the museums while the weather gradually improved on Friday. Clear, sunny and no breeze at all by Saturday morning, and that meant an unexpected marathon in t-shirt.
From 21 miles onwards, I became more and more determined to give it the lot, knowing another road marathon was probably a long way off, and that I had around £10,000 of sponsorship money raised since the London marathon that needed to be justified. The best way to do this is to race people which is what I did, at the same time as a bit of shameless "crowd milking".
Go Coffeeman! Go UK!
Good jaarb, great jaarb! (strange phrases really)
Normally a relatively steep downhill finish to a race is an excuse to stretch out and finish like an athlete, but in a marathon with Achilles' tendon soreness, it was plain horrible.
Medal (a London 2012 style biggie), space blanket, water, slice of pizza, bagel, banana. One hour wait for bag at the most ridiculously organised baggage reclaim ever seen. Very, very slow hobble back to my hotel a mile away.
Just one celebratory beer, and a sore Achilles today.
The trails are beckoning from back home......Wendover Woods, I am on my way.
Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running. Follow @Nariokotomeboy
On to the big one
Written on Nov 2nd.
Writing this post from 38,000 feet above Newfoundland on my brand new iPad mini.......
About 48 hours from now, I hopefully will be basking in the glory of having completed the New York marathon, but like all 48,000 of us due to run this Sunday, it has been a week fraught with uncertainty.
You would have to have been trekking in Amazonia to have remained unaware of why this week. Hurricane Sandy, the so-called "once in a lifetime" natural disaster, has punched coastal New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area square on the nose. Some of us have been tracking the storm and the devastation that followed it almost as keenly as those poor souls who found themselves trapped in its path. Like many runners coming in from overseas to run the "world's greatest race", I am really not sure what to expect in terms of disruption to plans, inconvenience, and the reception given to us by a city that desperately needs to repair itself.
In the end apparently the New York Road Runners Club left it to Mayor Bloomberg, and he pushed the "go" button on Wednesday.
With much of lower Manhattan suffering worst from the flooding, the transport network there remains suspended, including the Staten Island ferry which was due to ferry me and thousands of others to the start. A decision was taken late Thursday UK time to bus us all over from midtown, and I have managed to switch from a small room in a very expensive hotel downtown, to a slightly more expensive one just off Times Square. The consolation is that I will be nearer the number pick up point, the finish itself and Penn Station from where I will be leaving for Washington DC on Monday.
I think I will find it an even more interesting experience. Lets hope we at least don't get booed in all five boroughs.
Back to running, last weekend I did something that I have been meaning to do for months, and that is run in my first Parkrun.
Parkruns are a fantastic concept and, after some eight years, can now lay claim to being a sort of global popular movement, with 5 km timed runs now being available in locations worldwide every Saturday morning. Staffed by volunteers, they are totally free, although there is a moral obligation to offer some of your own time to help if you become a regular. And there are plenty of regulars. At the event I went to in Milton Keynes, not only were there 280 or so runners on a freezing Saturday at 9 am, there were several there sporting t-shirts proudly showing they had run more than 50 of them, or even 100!
Probably a little unwisely, I did treat it as a race, and logged a time of 22:27 which at around 7:15 per mile is a pace I have not run at for about 6 years! Using the arcane factoring up method, this running pace indicates a potential for a 3:40 marathon (and probably a return to the type of injuries that plagued me 20 years ago when I was a "proper" runner).
Don't go betting on me to do THAT this weekend, but I do have a sneaky feeling I can beat the 4:12:31 from this year's London marathon by a few minutes, if I stay healthy.
.....and then we landed, I turned my phone on and the first message said:
"Sorry to hear it's cancelled you must be gutted".
Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running. Follow @Nariokotomeboy
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Fuelling and some food for thought.
Over the last few weeks since I have been increasingly getting into the world of ultra-running, I have spent a good deal of time listening to the Talk Ultra and Marathon Talk podcasts on my long runs. I am also currently studying for an Open BSc degree with the Open University and was studying Human Biology until a few weeks ago.
I have also recently read a recent book by the famous South African sports science “guru” and iconoclast, Professor Tim Noakes.
Together these influences have made me question how all of us who run long distances should be fuelling ourselves. Indeed, Noakes himself, in his famous definitive work, "The Lore of Running" reiterated these tenets some 20 years ago. The scientific consensus is changing rapidly on the high carbohydrate diet, carbo loading and feeding yourself full of carbohydrate “fuel” at moments of tiredness (or even hunger).
Like many of us involved in sports, I have always believed that a muesli / porridge and fruit breakfast was the way to start the day and after that, wholegrain bread, pasta, rice, fruits and vegetables and low fat proteins were the way to go to optimise my nutrition for exercise and by implication general health.
I, we, and by implication, everyone could seemingly benefit from a more open-mided approach, particularly where fats and protein are concerned.
After I come back from my double marathon week in the US on November 12th, I intend to put away the road shoes and start a month’s specific training for the Ridgeway BAM, involving 5 to 6 hour sessions on 4 consecutive days in occasionally quite arduous offroad conditions. My blog will probably also deal a great deal with the fuelling issue and I intend to see if I can make use of some of this “new” thinking as I build up to and during that week in December.
Talk Ultra 19 featured a long and extremely though-provoking interview of Ian Corless with Barry Murray, a practising endurance exercise dietician. I have cut and pasted the text of an article from his website below. Warning - it odes perhaps assume some knowledge of “nutrition biology” but should also be of interest to anyone thinking a bout sports nutrition who lacks the biology. The article is not prescriptive, more explanatory of the systems involved, but the best way to stimulate your thinking on this is to listen to the podcasts I mention, particularly the interview with Murray and interviews with Tim Noakes on recent episodes of Marathon Talk and Talk Ultra.
Also googling “Paleo Diet” will describe the rationale behind this. As “Nariokotomeboy”, now star of a BBC 2 documentary, I feel it is my role to point this stuff out to everyone.
(That was tongue in cheek - but if you follow the evolutionary biology, you will “get” why this stuff cannot easily be dismissed.)
Enjoy!
FAT ADAPTATION AND FUEL EFFICIENCY: THE SECRET TO ULTRA ENDURANCE PERFORMANCE - (Barry Murray)
Endurance sports require the body to produce energy for a very (and especially “ultra” events) very long time. Thus, it would seem logical that to improve your endurance performance, it would be wise to make your body very efficient and robust at producing energy. One of the key components of achieving this is being selective about the fuel source. The main fuel source that is used directly to produce ATP (i.e. energy) is glucose. In terms of food, the type of foods which contain glucose are carbohydrates. Hence, this is what has led to the hundreds of studies which have looked at the relationship between carbohydrate feeding and exercise. Out of these studies have come the hundreds of recommendations that tell us to eat carbohydrate foods if we want to improve performance. So glucose = energy, carbs consist of glucose, therefore, eat carbs to produce more energy. Sounds simple right?
Unfortunately, when it comes to ultra endurance, it’s not that simple. There are lots of reasons why so let’s look at them in a bit more detail
1. Exercise Type/Duration
The majority of these studies typically involve 1-3hrs of exercise and are carried out at medium intensity. There are very studies which have tested athletes exercising for longer than 5hrs. When we look at times to complete ultra endurance events such as ultramarathons, ironman and adventure races, the “exercise” time can be anything from 12 to 24hrs, even longer in some cases. Thus, we cannot fully correlate the findings of the 1-3hr studies with ultra races.
1. Experimental Conditions
In addition, the majority of these studies are carried out in the laboratory on treadmills and ergometers under controlled conditions. While this is critical to laboratory experiments, it doesn’t replicate the conditions of racing over varied terrain and in the temperatures experienced during races held in mountains and desserts. This brings in a huge psychological component into the equation that is likely (without there being any studies, just my own opinion) to have an effect on physiology. In other words, even if they did conduct studies involving 12hr/24hr runs on the treadmill or riding on stationary bikes, the brain signals which control energy systems, muscle contraction and perception of pain etc, are likely to be different. So even if these 1-3hr studies are referred to as “endurance” investigations, do they really tell us what’s going on inside the body of an ultrarunner doing a 100mile mountain marathon??
1. Subjects/Participants
As most of these studies are conducted at Universities the volunteers that are put through the study are typically students in their twenties. They are also predominantly male students. In most situations, they will be “untrained” individuals with little experience of a proper exercise regime although there are many studies that have used athletes. However, the majority of the studies are on individuals that have very different characteristics and make-up to a typical ultra endurance athlete. Those competing in ultramarathons and ironman are more likely to be older and have several years of serious endurance training clocked up. So, it is suffice to say that there would potentially be different outcomes between those sets of individuals if we were to compare 10 untrained students compared to 10 experienced ultra endurance athletes.
These points above hopefully explain why the recommendations on the back of sports drinks or even the recommendations in the scientific literature cannot be applied to extreme ultra endurance events. In order to investigate this further, we need to back track a bit to understand how the produces energy. Is it simply one pathway and one system that convert glucose to ATP? Is glucose the only molecule that we can make energy from? The answer to these questions is no and examining all the other energy pathway systems is the key to understanding how ultra endurance physiology works.
Energy Systems
Now for the science bit. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but understanding how your body functions is the key to understanding how food works. So very briefly, here are the different ways your body can produce ATP (i.e. energy)
PhosphoCreatine System: ADP +Cr P –> ATP
This system is used to produce the first 10-15secs of energy that we need for sprints. Obviously, this is not a system that ultra endurance athletes use very often. It doesn’t require glucose or oxygen and it is fuelled through the use of creatine, a natural molecule produced in the body consisting of 3 amino acids.
Anaerobic System (Glycolysis): Glucose –> Pyruvate + ATP + H+
This is a system more familiar to people which burns glucose quickly and coverts it to lactic acid. The result is quick energy, the type needed for high intensity exercise like interval training or hill climbs. This process doesn’t require any oxygen but the trade-off is a large production of hydrogen ions which decrease the pH resulting in muscle fatigue.
Cori-Cycle (The Lactic Acid Cycle): Lactate + ATP –> Glucose
Despite what people think, lactate is not the bad guy. The acid builds up and muscle fatigue/pain is mainly caused by an increase in hydrogen ions (which lowers the pH). The lactate produced in the muscle can be recycled in the liver and converted back to glucose. This glucose can then be shuttled to the muscle and used again to produce energy.
Aerobic System (The Krebs Cycle/Citric Acid Cycle): Glucose + O2 –> CO2 + H2O + ATP
This is the main system that our cells use to produce energy. It’s a series of enzyme controlled chemical reactions that use oxygen to breakdown glucose. The first few steps of this reaction involve converting glucose into a smaller carbon chain intermediate. What’s important to note here is that both fats and proteins can be broken down and converted into this exact same intermediate. In other words, as well as pure glucose, our cells can use fats and proteins to fuel the aerobic system.
Lipolysis/Beta-Oxidation
Lipolysis is the conversion of triglycerides into glycerol and free fatty acids. These free fatty acids can then be transferred to muscle where they are further broken down through beta-oxidation to prepare them for the Krebs Cycle. The advantage of using fatty acids is 1. The amount we can store is far greater than carbs and 2. They provide roughly twice the amount of energy per gram. So we have lots more of this type of fuel and it produces more energy. The only disadvantage is that because they are much bigger molecules than glucose, they require more oxygen for their combustion. Therefore, fatty acids from the plasma and adipose tissue are oxidised at a higher rate when the intensity is low (i.e. when you can take in more oxygen, i.e. breath more)
ITMG (Intramuscular Triglycerides) Fat Oxidation
So when fats are used to produce energy, they can come from three different locations. 1. Adipose Tissue, where the majority of itis stored 2. Muscle and 3. Blood Plasma. The fat stored in muscle is called Intramuscular Triglycerides. It is this which gives meat its marbled appearance. As ITMG’s are already present in the muscle, transport and delivery is not an issue. Therefore, the ability to use them is increased especially as exercise intensity increases.
Glycolytic Proteins/Protein Oxidation
Amino acids (such as Leucine, Isoleuncine and Valine) can also be converted into Acetly-CoA (the intermediate that both glucose and fatty acids are converted to) and then used in the Krebs Cycle. It is estimated that 5-10% of energy can come from the oxidation of proteins. However, this is not ideal if amino acids are not plentiful as it means that the source of amino acids will be from muscle tissue. This can be reduced by supplying amino acids and increasing the rate of fat oxidation to spare the use of protein.
Glucose Alanine Cycle
Just like the Cori Cycle, where a waste product is converted back into glucose, the same can be done with amino acids. The amino acids Alanine and Glutamine can be used to convert Pyruvate back into Glucose.
This needs a re-cap
We can produce energy quickly using the PCr and Glycolysis systems. This produces energy that can be used for seconds/minutes at high levels of intense exercise. Aerobic metabolism can then be used to burn glucose, fatty acid and amino acids to produce more ATP for longer periods of time. Glucose can also be remanufactured through the conversion of metabolites by recycling lactate and alanine.
To simplify, there are 3 fuels (glucose, fatty acids and amino acids) that can be used to produce ATP and there are 3 ways of providing glucose to the muscle 1. Consume it 2. Cori Cycle and 3. Glucose-Alanine Cycle.
What can be taken from this?
Ultra endurance is essentially about exercising at low intensity for a long period of time (although there may be short periods where medium to high intensity efforts are required). As ultra endurance events take several hours to complete, optimising the body’s ability to use fatty acids (adipose and ITMG) as the predominant fuel to produce energy can significantly help performance. There are 4 factors that support this 1. Glucose is stored as glycogen in the liver and muscle; however, we only limited stores of roughly 300-400g of glucose which can fuel only approximately 3-4hrs of medium intensity exercise. 2. Once the bodies’ stores are used, glucose needs to be consumed. However, only 1g per hour can be absorbed (for a 70Kg athlete, this equates to 280kcal). Considering we can burn anything between 300-500kcal/hr during an ultra endurance race, we are still unable to meet the energy demand by purely fuelling on carbs. On the other hand, fat is present in large amounts in comparison. A 70Kg athlete with 10% body fat will have approximately 7Kg of stored fat which equates to 69,000kcal. This is theoretically enough to provide energy to fuel several days of exercise.
How does this improve performance?
There are several ways that improving the body’s ability to burn fat as a fuel during ultra endurance exercise. An important point I want to make first is this; fuel from carbohydrate is still important and some people are not suited to fat adaptation. Also, the emphasis is on ultra endurance events lasting >8hrs. In other words, events where the pace at which you exercise at has to be relatively slow.
Improve Fuel Efficiency
This essentially means that by increasing the efficiency at which you burn fat, you can go for longer and a faster speed. To give an example, let’s say you currently can only rely on fat as your predominant source of fuel while running at 9min/mile. Then, by improving your fat adaptation, you use the same amount of fat as fuel but can run at 8min/mile. This can improve performance through a variety of knock-on effects as discussed below.
Carbohydrate Sparing
Simply, by using more fat for your fuel, you use less carbohydrate. This means that your carbohydrate reserves are retained in the muscle for longer where they can be used during periods where you have to increase the pace/intensity e.g. a steep climb, a break-away etc. A more complex benefit to this is the effect it may have on metabolic fatigue. When the muscle is completely empty of carbohydrate and fat and protein cannot keep up with the ATP demands, an increase in reactive oxygen species occurs. This increases oxidative stress causing structural damage to muscle fibres and the mitochondria. This is essentially what causes the severe muscle damage that ultra endurance athletes experience after several hours with steep ascents and descents.
Protein Sparing
In a similar way to “carbohydrate sparing”, the more the body uses fat as a fuel, the less protein it uses. This may reduce the risk of ammonia build-up which is a by product of amino acid oxidation. Ammonia is linked to metabolic fatigue so the less ammonia the better.
Reduced Risk of GI Distress
It is conceivably possible to rely more on carbohydrate than fat and still perform well. As your glycogen pool empties (after 3-4hrs), glucose from food needs to be supplied to the muscle. The amount needed would have to be close enough to your energy expenditure. So if you were burning 400kcal per hour, you would need to consume roughly 300kcal. This would equate to 70g of glucose (1 sports bar = 30g, 1x 500ml sports drink = 30g). The issue with this is that it can cause GI distress. Consuming 70g of glucose per hour during a race lasting up to 24hrs or longer, is not only impractical but it can cause stomach upsets. Hence, needing less food is desirable.
Studies
So are there any studies to prove or support any of these benefits? Well, as I discussed in the introduction, there simply aren’t any performance studies conducted on athletes competing in these ultra endurance events. There are 3, 4 maybe 5hr studies, but as I mentioned, these findings cannot be directly related to what goes on metabolically in an event lasting 24hrs. However, there is some supporting evidence which I will summarise as follows:
1. Fat adaptation increases rates of fat oxidation and spares carbohydrate (1)
The study conducted by Carey et al, used trained cyclists and the duration of exercise was 5hrs in total. Although there was no improvement in performance, the study did show that the rates of fat oxidation increased. Again, we can’t directly compare these finding to what happens during a much longer event so we can’t draw any definite conclusions. However, it does show that it is possible to improve your fuel efficiency, by increasing the rates of fat burning and limiting the use of carbs. Thus, the benefits discussed above could apply i.e. improved fuel efficiency, carbohydrate sparing, protein sparing and reduced GI distress.
2. Improved Performance (2)
There are one or two studies that actually show how endurance performance can be improved with fat adaptation. The studies showed that there was a varied response amongst the individual athletes – some performed better, some slower, some no difference. They then correlated this with the Respiratory Exchange Ratio (RER). This is a measure of how much fat you burn versus carbohydrate at various intensities. Those that naturally had a better RER value (i.e. burned more fat than carbs), showed an improved performance with the fat adaptation protocol. These findings are possibly what govern this whole concept i.e. it works well for some, not for others. As with all aspects related to health, nutrition, and exercise, no one shoe size fits all and individuals need to find out what works for them.
3. Improved metabolic adaptations (3)
There are a couple of studies which show how fat adaptation improves metabolic adaptations. These are things like upregulated lipid enzymes (carnitine acyltransferase) and transport molecules. Again, this did not make a direct improvement in performance but once more, the exercise study used was very different to the context of an ultra. The exercise protocol used in this particular study was 2.5hr steady cycling followed by a 40km time trial. Thus, we cannot correlate it with a 12 or 24hr event. However, we can postulate that the improved metabolic adaptations can contribute to the benefits previously discussed.
References
1. Goedecke JH, Clark VR, Noakes TD, et al. The effects of medium-chain triacylglycerol and carbohydrate ingestion on ultra-endurance exercise performance.International Journal Sports Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism 2005; 15: 15-27.
2. Carey AL, Staudacher HM, Cummings NK, et al. Effects of fat adaptation and carbohydrate restoration on prolonged endurance exercise. Journal Applied Physiology 2001; 91: 115-122.
3. Van Proeyen K et al. Beneficial metabolic adaptations due to endurance exercise training in the fasted state. Journal of Applied Physiology 2011; 110: 236 – 245.
Here is the link to the online article.
Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running. Follow @Nariokotomeboy
Friday, October 19, 2012
Shoes...decisions, decisions, decisions.
Warning - this is "the running shoe post". Probably good to read just before you need to drop off to sleep.
Today I went for my last long run prior to the double up marathon week in the USA in a fortnight's time. Around 21 miles, all on the country roads around my home. Autumn in full leaf-changing glory, constant drizzle, beanie hat pushing the headphones right into my ears.
I listened to episode 19 of Talk Ultra which brought me to 3k from home and just time for a bit of Springsteen to see me home. Talk Ultra is a fantastic way to get through a long run. Ian Corless seems to be right at the centre of the Ultra scene and the interviews with top competitors such as Tony Krupicka and Anna Frost after the latest "Sky race" were very topical. However the main interview with Barry Murray about the Paleo Diet and endurance training was fascinating. You can catch Talk Ultra on itunes.
The run couldn't have gone better really, and taking out the walking sections where I was troughing flapjack or re-filling water bottles, I was easily able to cruise along at a 5:45 x km pace which is tantalisingly close to a 4:00 hr marathon. I even finished faster and the only after effects are a bit of ankle soreness - a shoe issue, which will be the subject of a soporific discourse later in this post.
The context here is that I know I am capable of running "sub 4" again. My PB, age 42, is 3:46, and even that day I finished with so much in hand that I probably should have gone for a 3:40. The story of the last 15 years definitely suggests I should have gone for it when I could.
Then, in my comeback in London in April, I negative split the race to finish in 4:12:30. Physically I could have gone quicker, but as it was I started in the 4:30 section, and passed 1700 runners in the second half. That is hard to do in such a busy race with water bottles flying everywhere and people stopping in front of you.
In New York, there is a field of 48,000 runners and it is meant to be a slow course anyway, so if I can cruise along at 6 min x km pace and enjoy my day, I'll be very happy. The theory is I will have enough in my legs to try to "race" in Richmond, but I realise this goes counter to most theories about post-marathon recovery.
So I am faced with 2 marathons in 2 weeks time, 6 days apart. The first one is harder to run a fast time in, but may take away the chance of a fast time in the second. A quandary which I will resolve at some point.
But the main point of this post is to talk about shoes.
Like most runners I have been blotting paper throughout my periods of running seriously for the marketing claims of the major shoe companies. I am now in my dotage and have had it up to my eyeballs. It's just "mass customisation" to provoke sales. A bit like people who really think they want to try a Stabucks Gingerbread Latte (wrong blog - sorry).
I know I over-pronate and have tended to go for "motion control" shoes. I am now pretty certain that this is total hogwash, and that the most important thing for me, and probably most runners, is to rotate your shoes. Never let your feet get biomechanically "lazy" by getting totally used to one type of shoe. This is the route to overuse injuries for me of the many small ligaments and tendons around the ankles and feet. I also believe that the minimalist "feel of barefoot" shoes have a great deal to offer every runner, maybe not everyday, but certainly part of the time.
So here's my shoe list with some comments on each one. First the mainly road shoes.
Mizuno Wave Nirvana 7 - 8 months old; cost £70. I've run 612 km in them. They are motion control shoes, but have a flexible forefoot which suits me. The toebox is a little narrow that doesn't suit me and as you can see they strangely curl up a bit! At the moment I run roads only in them and intend to run the New York marathon in them.
Nike Air Zoom Structure Triax 14 (what a load of waffle). 14 months old; cost £78. I have run 991 km in them. Again these are motion control shoes. They are a little snug and can give me some pressure pain in the ankles. Good workhorses and I ran the 2012 London Marathon in them. Next to retire.
Inov 8 Road X 233. 2 months old; cost £95. I have run 123 km in them. These are minimalist shoes with a 6mm drop from heel to toe, extremely light, a very thin midsole, I call them my plimsoles and I absolutely love them. They encourage toe-heel footstrike and I pitter-patter along in them. have run up to 25 km but am using them to "transition" into other neutral minmalist shoes. I am very tempted to use them in Richmond for the marathon, but this is a little scary.
Saucony Hattori AW. Nearly a year old; cost £55 (crazy, there's nothing there!) I have run 110 km in them. These are almost barefoot shoes, with a zero heel to drop and they scare me a little - hence the purchase of the "plimsoles". They will get used though - but over short distances for the moment.
Now for the offroad, trail and cross country shoes.
Salomon XR Crossmax Guidance. 4 months old; cost £60. I have run 69 km in them so far. They are compromises really - designed at the offroad market but with enough cushioning and motion control to use on the road as well. They are quite stiff in the footfoot and I am not sure if they suit me really. Good grip on trails though.
Asics Gel Fuji Trainer. 2 weeks old; cost £75. I've already run 75 km in them, including the first 30 km of the Nottingham Ultra. Nice and flexible in the forefoot and they are OK on roads as well for part runs. I think I am going to like these.
Salomon Speedcross 3. 6 months old already; cost £90. I've only run 58km in them. These are the real bad weather winter offroad shoes as they have a mud clearing sole design. It's all clay around here and I hate that feeling of running across a field and taking half of it with you. I'll only be pulling these on in the depths of wet weather or if I get involved in some serious offroad challenges.
Lastly - Saucony Progrid Omni 08. A year old; a snip at £56. I've run 1004 km in them. They are road workhorses, but have cost me a sprained ankle offroad. Very happy with them, especially in terms of comfort, but I think the midsole is buggered after 1000k, so they have been retired to be "trainers". No more running for them.
You can wake up now, I've finished!
Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running. Follow @Nariokotomeboy
Today I went for my last long run prior to the double up marathon week in the USA in a fortnight's time. Around 21 miles, all on the country roads around my home. Autumn in full leaf-changing glory, constant drizzle, beanie hat pushing the headphones right into my ears.
I listened to episode 19 of Talk Ultra which brought me to 3k from home and just time for a bit of Springsteen to see me home. Talk Ultra is a fantastic way to get through a long run. Ian Corless seems to be right at the centre of the Ultra scene and the interviews with top competitors such as Tony Krupicka and Anna Frost after the latest "Sky race" were very topical. However the main interview with Barry Murray about the Paleo Diet and endurance training was fascinating. You can catch Talk Ultra on itunes.
The run couldn't have gone better really, and taking out the walking sections where I was troughing flapjack or re-filling water bottles, I was easily able to cruise along at a 5:45 x km pace which is tantalisingly close to a 4:00 hr marathon. I even finished faster and the only after effects are a bit of ankle soreness - a shoe issue, which will be the subject of a soporific discourse later in this post.
The context here is that I know I am capable of running "sub 4" again. My PB, age 42, is 3:46, and even that day I finished with so much in hand that I probably should have gone for a 3:40. The story of the last 15 years definitely suggests I should have gone for it when I could.
Then, in my comeback in London in April, I negative split the race to finish in 4:12:30. Physically I could have gone quicker, but as it was I started in the 4:30 section, and passed 1700 runners in the second half. That is hard to do in such a busy race with water bottles flying everywhere and people stopping in front of you.
In New York, there is a field of 48,000 runners and it is meant to be a slow course anyway, so if I can cruise along at 6 min x km pace and enjoy my day, I'll be very happy. The theory is I will have enough in my legs to try to "race" in Richmond, but I realise this goes counter to most theories about post-marathon recovery.
So I am faced with 2 marathons in 2 weeks time, 6 days apart. The first one is harder to run a fast time in, but may take away the chance of a fast time in the second. A quandary which I will resolve at some point.
But the main point of this post is to talk about shoes.
Like most runners I have been blotting paper throughout my periods of running seriously for the marketing claims of the major shoe companies. I am now in my dotage and have had it up to my eyeballs. It's just "mass customisation" to provoke sales. A bit like people who really think they want to try a Stabucks Gingerbread Latte (wrong blog - sorry).
I know I over-pronate and have tended to go for "motion control" shoes. I am now pretty certain that this is total hogwash, and that the most important thing for me, and probably most runners, is to rotate your shoes. Never let your feet get biomechanically "lazy" by getting totally used to one type of shoe. This is the route to overuse injuries for me of the many small ligaments and tendons around the ankles and feet. I also believe that the minimalist "feel of barefoot" shoes have a great deal to offer every runner, maybe not everyday, but certainly part of the time.
So here's my shoe list with some comments on each one. First the mainly road shoes.
Mizuno Wave Nirvana 7 - 8 months old; cost £70. I've run 612 km in them. They are motion control shoes, but have a flexible forefoot which suits me. The toebox is a little narrow that doesn't suit me and as you can see they strangely curl up a bit! At the moment I run roads only in them and intend to run the New York marathon in them.
Nike Air Zoom Structure Triax 14 (what a load of waffle). 14 months old; cost £78. I have run 991 km in them. Again these are motion control shoes. They are a little snug and can give me some pressure pain in the ankles. Good workhorses and I ran the 2012 London Marathon in them. Next to retire.
Inov 8 Road X 233. 2 months old; cost £95. I have run 123 km in them. These are minimalist shoes with a 6mm drop from heel to toe, extremely light, a very thin midsole, I call them my plimsoles and I absolutely love them. They encourage toe-heel footstrike and I pitter-patter along in them. have run up to 25 km but am using them to "transition" into other neutral minmalist shoes. I am very tempted to use them in Richmond for the marathon, but this is a little scary.
Saucony Hattori AW. Nearly a year old; cost £55 (crazy, there's nothing there!) I have run 110 km in them. These are almost barefoot shoes, with a zero heel to drop and they scare me a little - hence the purchase of the "plimsoles". They will get used though - but over short distances for the moment.
Now for the offroad, trail and cross country shoes.
Salomon XR Crossmax Guidance. 4 months old; cost £60. I have run 69 km in them so far. They are compromises really - designed at the offroad market but with enough cushioning and motion control to use on the road as well. They are quite stiff in the footfoot and I am not sure if they suit me really. Good grip on trails though.
Asics Gel Fuji Trainer. 2 weeks old; cost £75. I've already run 75 km in them, including the first 30 km of the Nottingham Ultra. Nice and flexible in the forefoot and they are OK on roads as well for part runs. I think I am going to like these.
Salomon Speedcross 3. 6 months old already; cost £90. I've only run 58km in them. These are the real bad weather winter offroad shoes as they have a mud clearing sole design. It's all clay around here and I hate that feeling of running across a field and taking half of it with you. I'll only be pulling these on in the depths of wet weather or if I get involved in some serious offroad challenges.
Lastly - Saucony Progrid Omni 08. A year old; a snip at £56. I've run 1004 km in them. They are road workhorses, but have cost me a sprained ankle offroad. Very happy with them, especially in terms of comfort, but I think the midsole is buggered after 1000k, so they have been retired to be "trainers". No more running for them.
You can wake up now, I've finished!
Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running. Follow @Nariokotomeboy
Friday, October 12, 2012
The Ridgeway BAM - update
I am definitely back in "training" since the Nottingham Ultra (in quotes because I don't consider it training - just running). In fact I've run every day since, with diminishing after effects
It does just show that post-run fatigue is partly mental - my recipe is normally eat well, rotate the shoes and put my feet up when not running. It seems to be working so far as I managed a pretty steady road 17k yesterday in the rain - bliss.
I do have to admit to having some trepidations during the ultra about my ridgeway challenge. When I was at the 35k mark more or less and cruising along quite nicely, it did suddenly hit me that I had to manage this distance every day, for four days, on harder terrain and inevitably with worse weather.
I'll go slower - and eat more. I'll have company. It'll be fine....
I have to thank the "early adopters" who quickly put their names forward to run part of the way with me - Amy, Jo, Abi, Mary (actually it is beginning to look quite glamorous) and my old mucker from the Ridgeway multi-stage run many years ago, Trevor White, to balance that out. Trev's knee is pretty knackered these days and although he keeps his running going and just completed the Great North Run again (he's a Geordie), Trev has committed to run alongside for the last 10 miles. We could be quite a crowd by then - don't wait for me, I'll get to Ivinghoe Beacon eventually.
I'm working at my last event of the season this coming weekend, at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain and it promises to be freezing cold as it often is, but a great chance to see close friends for the last time this year. Time to pack away all that is "coffeeman" for 2012. It is just fantastic that this week saw me pass the £13,000 mark in total donations for Spinal Research, most of this raised across the counter of my coffee trailer. Thankyou, all of you, your generosity is amazing and (that bloody word again) inspiring. And there's plenty more to come from those foolish people who agreed to sponsor me per mile for the 2012 miles in 2012. Well the good (or bad) news is I now have less than 400 miles to go and the 2 marathons and the ridgeway will account for over a third of that - cheques to Spinal Research, you can start writing! My £15,000 target does now look possible.
So, as well as some celebration cake, I am taking this little flyer to Larkhill to distribute to my friends and maybe snag some more participants..
Sorry about the spell check underlining!
Now time for an hour out on the roads before I hitch up the wagon. The sun's out!
Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running. Follow @Nariokotomeboy
It does just show that post-run fatigue is partly mental - my recipe is normally eat well, rotate the shoes and put my feet up when not running. It seems to be working so far as I managed a pretty steady road 17k yesterday in the rain - bliss.
I do have to admit to having some trepidations during the ultra about my ridgeway challenge. When I was at the 35k mark more or less and cruising along quite nicely, it did suddenly hit me that I had to manage this distance every day, for four days, on harder terrain and inevitably with worse weather.
I'll go slower - and eat more. I'll have company. It'll be fine....
I have to thank the "early adopters" who quickly put their names forward to run part of the way with me - Amy, Jo, Abi, Mary (actually it is beginning to look quite glamorous) and my old mucker from the Ridgeway multi-stage run many years ago, Trevor White, to balance that out. Trev's knee is pretty knackered these days and although he keeps his running going and just completed the Great North Run again (he's a Geordie), Trev has committed to run alongside for the last 10 miles. We could be quite a crowd by then - don't wait for me, I'll get to Ivinghoe Beacon eventually.
I'm working at my last event of the season this coming weekend, at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain and it promises to be freezing cold as it often is, but a great chance to see close friends for the last time this year. Time to pack away all that is "coffeeman" for 2012. It is just fantastic that this week saw me pass the £13,000 mark in total donations for Spinal Research, most of this raised across the counter of my coffee trailer. Thankyou, all of you, your generosity is amazing and (that bloody word again) inspiring. And there's plenty more to come from those foolish people who agreed to sponsor me per mile for the 2012 miles in 2012. Well the good (or bad) news is I now have less than 400 miles to go and the 2 marathons and the ridgeway will account for over a third of that - cheques to Spinal Research, you can start writing! My £15,000 target does now look possible.
So, as well as some celebration cake, I am taking this little flyer to Larkhill to distribute to my friends and maybe snag some more participants..
Sorry about the spell check underlining!
Now time for an hour out on the roads before I hitch up the wagon. The sun's out!
Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running. Follow @Nariokotomeboy
Monday, October 08, 2012
I finally become an ultrarunner....after 30 years.
Two years ago this would have been inconceivable, but having begun "proper" running in 1982 and despite many lapses over the 30 intervening years, on October 7th 2012 at about 1.45 in the afternoon I finally became an "ultrarunner". At 42.2 km in to the Ultrarace Nottingham Ultra, in the middle of Wollaton Park in Nottingham, I crossed that line into the zone of "more than a marathon".
Limitless possibilities now open up with the boundaries all being linked to preparation beforehand and mental approach on the day.
Many non-runners find it hard to grasp how you go about running for an hour, believe they can never run for the four hours needed to run a road marathon, and cannot contemplate further.
"Further" is where I intend to do some research over the next few years and the first taste of this new running delight seemed to go fairly well.
People had always told me that "ultrarunners" were different to the people who run city half-marathons and marathons. Now I don't hold a lot of store with that sort of stuff. I believe there's no such thing as people who can't run (due to some physiological disadvantage), or who can't run far. In fact I am firmly with the "born to run" camp - those who believe modern humans evolved as persistence hunters, with specific adaptations enabling us to run long distances in the heat to catch faster running, but less well adapted, game. So any of us can do it (and I think we probably should - but more on that another time).
But to be attracted to running much more slowly just so that you can travel longer and longer distances is, I have to admit, totally at odds with most of what the running industry is all about, and so ultra-running, by definition appears on the fringes of the running community - if such a thing exists.
Every Brit now knows who Mo Farah is and what a great champion he is, but I wonder how many know and admire Ellie Greenwood, Mimi Anderson or Ian Sharman (and his last post makes this one look a bit silly!). Never mind totally iconic athletes and role models such as Scott Jurek or the phenomenal Kilian Jornet - move aside, F.C. Barcelona, Kilian is the sporting sensation of Catalunya.
So the 60 or so people who climbed onto a double-decker bus just by Nottingham Castle at 7.15 on a sunday morning were, by definition almost, "outliers". But they were reassuringly normal sounding, although clothing and kit was not typical of your average 10k roadrunner. Packs of all sizes, bottles, and bottle packs everywhere, calf compression tights and almost everyone with some type of hat. Everyone, without exception was eating rather than drinking. A few were chatting animatedly and some were remarking about how many first timers there were. I have to admit to being slightly psyched - but luckily I am now very familiar with my running strengths and weaknesses, at least at distances up to the marathon, and, as it turned out with only 83 starters there was never going to be a problem with "running my own race". In fact from 12 km up to about 30 km, I only saw about 4 other people - and each of those several times as I (a) got slightly lost a few times, (b) had to "organise" pack, drink, food, camera(!), headphones, clothing (c) needed a pitstop.
So here are some impressions of what took a sunday morning to late lunch-time to accomplish. We started with a cup of tea and a number session in the Blidworth Leisure centre, not far from Mansfield.
New York Marathon take note - or maybe 48,000 bags bring slightly greater logistical problems....
Once we were off, it was all pretty low key - just follow the bloke (or in my case, women) in front and try to spot the markings and no blow up.
I started off in (new) Asics Fuji trainers which are trail shoes with a tread pattern that seemed ok on the roads and the first 30 km or so did involve quite a few muddy sections and lots of really easy forest trails. A good choice. I also ran very conservatively early on, walking most of the uphills and trying to keep my pace above 6 mins per km. I zoned out while listening to episode 18 of Talk Ultra and only re-surfaced again after 2 and a half hours.
I had asked Debbie, my long-suffering other half to meet me at the 30 km checkpoint (there were 4, each providing water and snacks) so I could change shoes.
Here I decided to reduce my load to what I would take on a normal long run - just GPS tracking on phone and a drink bottle, plus some Clif Shots. So having started with a back pack, arm pack and bottle, I was now in "running free" mode, and this must have inspired me to get a bit of a shift on. I started passing people reasonably steadily from there on in to about 5 km from the end, although by now there were quite large gaps between runners.
The footpath / trail / field / lanes mixture started to end as we came into the city and, as I began to recognise the area around the hospital, I began to start to tire a bit, with thighs and hips beginning to complain a bit. Mentally I was OK, although in my head, I was beginning to expect the course to be a bit short and I found this a bit distracting. Some music for the last hour might not have been a bad idea, but my headphones were already in Debbie's boot!
I somehow kept a bit in reserve for the last 2 km or so and finished with a bit of a flourish, stuffed some proper food in and headed for Starbucks - that is the only part of the day I am a little ashamed of....
Amazingly when the results came out online later in the evening I saw I had passed 27 runners in the second half and I came 34th out of the 83 starters, still 1 hour 40 behind the winner, but nearly 3 hours in front of the last man home (ouch!).
What's next? 5 miles on monday for starters.
Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running. Follow @Nariokotomeboy
 |
| How Endomondo recorded the run. |
Limitless possibilities now open up with the boundaries all being linked to preparation beforehand and mental approach on the day.
Many non-runners find it hard to grasp how you go about running for an hour, believe they can never run for the four hours needed to run a road marathon, and cannot contemplate further.
"Further" is where I intend to do some research over the next few years and the first taste of this new running delight seemed to go fairly well.
People had always told me that "ultrarunners" were different to the people who run city half-marathons and marathons. Now I don't hold a lot of store with that sort of stuff. I believe there's no such thing as people who can't run (due to some physiological disadvantage), or who can't run far. In fact I am firmly with the "born to run" camp - those who believe modern humans evolved as persistence hunters, with specific adaptations enabling us to run long distances in the heat to catch faster running, but less well adapted, game. So any of us can do it (and I think we probably should - but more on that another time).
But to be attracted to running much more slowly just so that you can travel longer and longer distances is, I have to admit, totally at odds with most of what the running industry is all about, and so ultra-running, by definition appears on the fringes of the running community - if such a thing exists.
Every Brit now knows who Mo Farah is and what a great champion he is, but I wonder how many know and admire Ellie Greenwood, Mimi Anderson or Ian Sharman (and his last post makes this one look a bit silly!). Never mind totally iconic athletes and role models such as Scott Jurek or the phenomenal Kilian Jornet - move aside, F.C. Barcelona, Kilian is the sporting sensation of Catalunya.
So the 60 or so people who climbed onto a double-decker bus just by Nottingham Castle at 7.15 on a sunday morning were, by definition almost, "outliers". But they were reassuringly normal sounding, although clothing and kit was not typical of your average 10k roadrunner. Packs of all sizes, bottles, and bottle packs everywhere, calf compression tights and almost everyone with some type of hat. Everyone, without exception was eating rather than drinking. A few were chatting animatedly and some were remarking about how many first timers there were. I have to admit to being slightly psyched - but luckily I am now very familiar with my running strengths and weaknesses, at least at distances up to the marathon, and, as it turned out with only 83 starters there was never going to be a problem with "running my own race". In fact from 12 km up to about 30 km, I only saw about 4 other people - and each of those several times as I (a) got slightly lost a few times, (b) had to "organise" pack, drink, food, camera(!), headphones, clothing (c) needed a pitstop.
So here are some impressions of what took a sunday morning to late lunch-time to accomplish. We started with a cup of tea and a number session in the Blidworth Leisure centre, not far from Mansfield.
 |
| Pre-race briefing |
 |
| Chuck your bag in here |
 |
| The start - fast men on the right. Yours truly far left. |
 |
| P*ss off that way and we (might) see you later |
Actually the route was pretty well marked throughout and the maps given to very runner were very clear and of good quality - no complaints there.
 |
| At 12 km - still in full ultra gear |
I had asked Debbie, my long-suffering other half to meet me at the 30 km checkpoint (there were 4, each providing water and snacks) so I could change shoes.
Here I decided to reduce my load to what I would take on a normal long run - just GPS tracking on phone and a drink bottle, plus some Clif Shots. So having started with a back pack, arm pack and bottle, I was now in "running free" mode, and this must have inspired me to get a bit of a shift on. I started passing people reasonably steadily from there on in to about 5 km from the end, although by now there were quite large gaps between runners.
The footpath / trail / field / lanes mixture started to end as we came into the city and, as I began to recognise the area around the hospital, I began to start to tire a bit, with thighs and hips beginning to complain a bit. Mentally I was OK, although in my head, I was beginning to expect the course to be a bit short and I found this a bit distracting. Some music for the last hour might not have been a bad idea, but my headphones were already in Debbie's boot!
I somehow kept a bit in reserve for the last 2 km or so and finished with a bit of a flourish, stuffed some proper food in and headed for Starbucks - that is the only part of the day I am a little ashamed of....
 |
| Uphill finishing sprint past 2 naive runners chatting. Bandit! |
Amazingly when the results came out online later in the evening I saw I had passed 27 runners in the second half and I came 34th out of the 83 starters, still 1 hour 40 behind the winner, but nearly 3 hours in front of the last man home (ouch!).
What's next? 5 miles on monday for starters.
Evolved to run. Born to run. Older, greyer, still running. Follow @Nariokotomeboy
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