Back to back Ultras

As I sit with my feet up, icing my achilles tendons, having scrubbed the dirt of in a hot bath, treated the massive blister which I picked up at mile 12, and down my pain killers with a chilled glass of wine - I now reflect on the last 2 days doing back to back ultras. I broke the rules. In running you are not meant to increase your distance by more than 10%.. Last weekend I ran 15 miles. On Saturday I left Inverness with 9 pals (6 of them doing MdS - The Tartan Army) to run the 79 mile Great Glen. Snow lay on the ground as we ran 41 beautiful miles buy unfortunately after 12 miles I picked up a blister which I treated straight away. 1 mile later, protecting the blister, I went over on my ankle and took a heavy fall - close call as it could have finished me. We continued and passed the marathon 26.2 mile mark; I was now into new territory. The group worked well together as we tried to get the pace right. When we finished I realised I was chaffed under the arms and my rucksack had rubbed me raw on my lower back - ouch. Unfortunately my blister was now 4 times the size and by mistake I ripped it off - double ouch. I was surprised to be able to run the next day but 8 miles in the weather turned, cold rain so I has to run without glasses which wasn't easy. My blister, chaffed armpit and raw back continually remined me I was doing back to back ultras and it was good practise for MdS. We ground out the run as we were cold and wet. The route was reasonably flat compared to the 4,500 ft (I will verify this once I've downloaded my garmin) the following day but this meant more running and the cold made that difficult. We were surprised when we learned we only had 12 miles to go. 12 miles, piece of cake. That was fine till the weather turned, the wind picked up and the rain came down. My core body temperature dropped and I started to struggle. The wind was so strong you couldn't run. I lost all feeling in my fingers but we trugged on. When we got to the end we went to a pub with a real fire and that's when the shakes started. I ordered a hot chocolate and almost threw it over the barman! 2 cups later, a bowl of soup and a change of clothes and I started to recover. But when I went outside to pick up my car the shakes started again. The 79 miles, the wind, rain, sleet and sub zero temperature had taken their toll. This has been an incredible experience. I have gone beyond the rules of running, beyond whatever I imagined possible but for a reason. This has given me the experience and the confidence I require to complete MdS. I entered the "hurt locker". I went to some very dark places but always believed I come out the other side, which I did. You need to do this if you are going to push the boundaries and not only am I proud of my achievement but also that of my new found friends that I will spend 2 weeks in the desert with learning a lot about what is achievable if you really want it. Another glass of wine I think then off to bed!

Rush, rush, rush

This is meant to be an easy week but all I seem to be doing is rushing every where! 6am and on the turbo for a spin followed by yoga this morning. I am so glad I silenced the voice in the head telling me to stay in bed as I felt great afterwards. Then for a hectic day at work and I'm now about to shovel some food down before going out to my sons careers night. As soon as I get back I need to clear the car boot out to be ready to take my gear for the weekend and my pals mountain bike on the way back down the road from Fort William after we've finished The Great Glen run. I've still got to pack my rucksack tonight for the run and draw up a list of itens (food) I neet to take up with me on Friday. However I also need to pack for London and am off on the "red eye" in the morning for wall to wall meetings till 9.30pm. Then up at 5am for an early flight back to Glasgow before heading up the road to Fort William where I will leave my car and take a bus to Inverness for a 6am start on Saturday morning. I'm beginning to think the 79 mile, two day run might give me the chance of a rest!

Planning phase

Yesterday I climbed back on the turbo trainer for a sweaty workout. It really is a great way to start your day and I followed this with a yoga session. This week I am easing down on the training but keeping active at the same time so my body doesn't shut down. Today I'm resting but 5.5 hours in the car seemed like a workout. I'll be back on the turbo 1st thing in the morning as going out in -2 degrees and risking running in the dark on snow covered roads is not worth the risk. I met with 2 x MdS vet Tony to go over my food and nutrition plan for the MdS. It's invaluable getting his input and tips as if you get this aspect wrong you won't be finishing. He also advised me to wear my gallses when you leave the tent in the middle of the night for a pee as when you turn back and see 100 identical tents it could cause a problem! As I said, invaluable.

Feeling guilty

It's always the same when I take an unscheduled rest day. I feel guilty especially as the weather conditions are ideal for a run. But I know this will prevent injury and my body needs to rest this week with next weekends monumental effort. I've iced my calf muscle today and it's feeling good so that's a relief. I won't waste the time as I need to prepare my equipment and food list as I am meeting my pal on Tuesday night to go over my MdS plan. He's done it twice before so will be able to keep me right. Tomorrow I will start my yoga and core work but today I am going to out my feet up and rest. I'll just have to shove the guilty feeling to the back of my head as the mistake most people make is over training and not enough time resting. So back to the footie on the telly!

11 weeks to go

With 11 weeks to go I'm preparing for the biggest test yet next weekend with The Great Glen. 79 miles in 2 days. So 15 miles of trail running in freezing conditions has set me up nicely. After all I just have to more than double it and then repeat it the following day. My calf muscle is a bit tight so I've decided against running tomorrow. I will have minimal running next week but will concentrate on my yoga and core exercises with some spinning on the bike. Tapering is an important part of preparing for major events. I'm looking forward to a change of training next week. I'll report back later.

Turbo to the rescue

My calf didn't feel too bad when I woke this morning but listening to the howling wind and looking at the temperature made me think, today wasn't worth the risk or the pain of venturing out. My calf could do with an extra days rest. Fortunately a good sweaty turbo session brings you to life so I jumped on my bike for the first time in a few weeks. 10 minutes in and I thought I'd lost all my fitness as it seemed harder than I remebered. Then I checked the resistance guage and it had been cranked up - those meddling kids (quote from Scooby doo)! Got the setting back to normal and my wee legs were spinning to their hearts content. 45 minutes later I slid off the saddle and headed for the shower. It had certainly helped with getting my heart rate up and the temperature in the room was hot which is good practise. But tomorrow, subject to not being snowed in, I'm off for a longish run and an even longer one on Sunday. I just hope I don't freeze to death in the process. Have a good and safe weekend folks. Wrap up warm and don't be going out unless you need to!

Extreme temperatures

Global warming - it's bloody freezing out there. Fortunatley today I took an extra rest day as my calf muscle was feeling sorry for itself. I managed to get a sports massage this afternoon and now feel much better if a little sore and tired. A sports massage is a bit like a work out but the good news is my calf muscle is just strained from the high mileage last week. So as the forecast is gale force winds and snow tomorrow I think I'll switch to the turbo trainer to give my calf some more recovery time. It's still a good workout and will keep my fitness up. This means I will have two back to back long runs at the weekend assuming I don't have to strap tennis rackets onto my feet! The last piece of news is my high tech running shorts arrived (mega bucks!). However to test them I have to run with nothing under or over them. This wouldn't normally be a problem but at -3 degrees this might not have the desired result. I'll try and get access to an indoor track where the temperature will be more like the Sahara Desert!