Two steps forward, one step back

Multi-stage Ultra Marathon completed – Tick!

I’m very pleased to report that the Pilgrim’s Challenge was completed in some fairly challenging conditions over 4-5 February with very little ill-effects. Having set off from Sheffield at 4am the race for those of us deemed “walkers” (for me due to back issues) at 8am in temperatures hovering around -7 degrees C. Day 1 was relatively straightforward and in fact the cold weather helped keep the going underfoot nice and firm, as it looked like it could get really really muddy. With almost 11kg on my back, slipping around in mud would have become very tiresome very quickly.

-7 degrees stops the mud being too slippy

Once I got into a metronomic rhythm with my poles click-clacking along, there was no stopping me and I managed to cover the 33 miles, with 1,200m of ascent in 7 hours 51 mins. Not bad for a walker. The overnight stop was in a school hall, with about 150 other competitors, and to try to replicate race conditions as much as possible, I stuck to race rations (with the exception of a cup of tea and piece of cake). Dehydrated fish and potato, Bombay mix and peanuts for dinner. Yum. I was surprised how little I’d eaten during the day (a mini peperami and a pack of dextrose sweets – about 250 calories in total) and yet didn’t feel especially hungry.

Still smiling at the night stop

After a fitful sleep, we awoke to a 4-6 inch blanket of snow. Near disaster for the race organisers who had been up half the night trying to sort out whether or not the race would/could/should continue and where to place checkpoints and possible re-routing of the course. Sensibly they realised that most people would go out and give it a go even if they did cancel the event and so they announced the race was still on, albeit with a mass start at 8am rather than the staggered starts anticipated in the original plan.

The North Downs Way

Walking in a winter wonderland

Luckily Rich and I had packed our Yaktrax snow grippers and they served us well for the whole 33 mile return journey as we were able to take many places on the slippery descents. The route looked great with a covering of fresh snow and although clearly tired from the day before, the additional challenging conditions only slowed me up by about 37 minutes over the whole course, finishing day 2 in 8 hours 28 mins. I was pretty pleased with that result and even more pleased with a back that stood up to a pretty rigorous two days.

The last week since the Pilgrim’s Challenge wasn’t supposed to be as quiet as it turned out, but my legs did feel quite lifeless and with the snow and ice and a trip to London with work thrown in the middle of the week, it was fairly tame. Some sessions on the turbo were squeezed into a the week but the walking suffered a little.

At the weekend, I had decided to convert the week into a “rest” week and so planned less than the normal outings. Given the now melted and re-frozen conditions on the trails I think this was a sensible move. I also experimented with a little more trotting on both Saturday and Sunday and all was going well. The Yaktrax proved their worth again fighting to keep me upright although both mine and Richard’s paid the price and started to fall apart towards the end – new ones now on order from Amazon so guarantee no more snow now until next winter!

Almost back running, near Redmires

However disaster struck towards the end of Sunday’s training as I did a proper comedy slip on ice and my legs went one way, my body the other. I remained upright but I could feel my back twist and stretch, followed by a massive familiar pain in my glute and the whole area stiffened up. I spent the rest of the day trying to stretch it and calm it down, and although it’s not as bad as I feared today, it’s certainly a backwards step. I have a physio appointment this afternoon so I shall see what she says. Quite annoying.

I’ve also been busy adding the (hopefully) final touches to my kit list including food, and testing the fuel tablets we’ll be given on the race to work out how many I’ll need to take. I’m aiming to have a full race kit ready to go by next weekend, then to start taking bits out as I realise how heavy it really is.

Ready for back to back ultras?

Well, it's the night before the Pilgrim's Challenge - a 66 mile race over 2 days along the North Downs Way. I'm aiming to be carrying as close to full kit weight as possible, if only to see how heavy that feels so I can get a bit more harsh with the trimming of kit choices for the desert. It feels like I've been sorting and packing kit all week, and this is just for a 2 day preparation event. I dread to think how much time I'll be spending faffing in the build up to the MdS.

Things have been fairly quiet in the last couple of weeks - still only walking due to the back issues, and I've been fighting off a winter cold, luckily I think I'm winning that battle. I've been tormenting myself with hours on the turbo trainer in the garage to prevent too much cold air getting into my lungs and making things worse. Also been increasing my swimming of late which is positive news on the shoulder front - and would be ideal if I was about to do a triathlon in Morocco. But I'd still rather be running.

Rich and I met up with Darryl, another MdS runner from Sheffield for a brisk, in more ways than one, walk. Beautiful snowy conditions up on Stanage and the Peak and knocking off 16 miles in 4 hours over that terrain was good going. On days like these I really appreciate where I live.

So to this weekend, I'll be carrying best part of 11kg including water. As you can see from the picture, my daughter Jess found it easy enough, so I'm expecting it to be a breeze!

Jess not struggling with 11kg

The added twist however is that the weather forecast is brutally cold with a high chance of significant snowfall. Luckily, with only 33 miles to cover each day at a walking pace, I'm only likely to be out in it for 9 or 10 hours each day. What could possibly go wrong? I'm curious to see how I cope, nervous about the length of the event and excited to get going all at once. I'll need reminding of that at 4am tomorrow when I have to get up to travel down to the start. Wish me luck.

Nervous about my nerve

I’m undecided whether a bout of aggravation to my sciatic nerve is going to mean disaster for my Marathon des Sables in just 10 weeks’ time or if it’s going to be a blessing in disguise.

So close to the race I’m obviously a little nervous that such an extensive period of extreme effort combined with the basic conditions of life on the race will result in an even more uncomfortable experience than I was expecting, possibly excruciatingly painful even. However, having re-assessed my training in light of my condition recently I can report my biggest weekly distance since I started training, with 60 miles covered last week.

All of it was done at a pace of around 15 minutes/mile, or 4 miles an hour, which if achievable on the MdS will be pretty acceptable frankly. I still can’t run really – the pounding seems to aggravate the sciatic nerve irritation and leaves me with a numb and tingly lower left leg, and considerable pain in my left glute. I’m also carrying a much lighter pack than my anticipated race weight, but it’s more positive than it’s been in the last couple of weeks.

The walking this week was split between a 6-mile route to and from work on various days and 2 longer sessions at the weekend – 14 miles on Saturday afternoon, and 22 miles on Sunday morning, both in some pretty horrific blustery conditions – not often you see waterfalls being blown upwards rather than falling to the ground! The bracing conditions were a far cry from the desert but seemed to suit me well and I had no problems on either day despite having wet feet for most of the weekend and struggling to stand up at times (due to the wind).

I’m still seeing the physio, Matthew at Hallamshire Physio, who has been excellent (though not so good as to have cured my back problems just yet!). Under his guidance, I’m spending best part of an hour a day stretching, mobilising and generally trying to improve the sciatica and he seems confident that come race day it will have been remedied – funnily enough he never uses the word “cured”.

Kit faffing continues a-pace with more of my race food coming together ready to be bagged and packed – there is absolutely nothing fresh in there to worry about it going off in the next 10 weeks. I think I’m almost there on clothing and the like too which will be a great relief for my bank balance.

Fundraising is also doing pretty well, having topped the £1,000 mark, but there’s still plenty of time for people to sponsor us via http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/ianandrichmds2012. Tickets to our charity Moroccan feast seem to be selling well and we’re thinking of one or two other ways of raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support and Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice.

So all in all, I’m in a fairly positive state of mind at this stage, though I fear sciatica may have put paid to any ambitions I had at winning the race………

New year, new challenges



Heading back to Sheffield in the
early morning snow



After some excellent running conditions in the snow and ice the snow has gone. I got good use out of the “Yaktrax” snow grippers I bought in December and was well pleased with their performance, saving me the usual slippery trepidation the snow brings.



Houndkirk Road on the day after the Derwent Marathon



The festive season is also now over and it’s now the last push to the start line. At least it would be if my back hadn’t been playing up over Christmas – disaster!

All was going so well – running on consecutive days, increasing the pack load to 8kg+,and some excellent coverage in the local Sheffield Star and Sheffield Telegraph before Christmas. Rich and I managed a pre-Christmas marathon distance run around the Derwent Dams in the Peak District which was fantastic – we completed the distance in 5 hours, carrying 8kg packs with half the distance completed in the dark and in pretty icy conditions. Both of us felt good pretty much all the way round, and apart from a close call with mild hypothermia once we’d finished it was a great success.

The training plan was always to take it easy in the lead up to Christmas and focus on back-to-back running between Christmas and New Year. The plan was adhered to, but after the 3rd of our back to back runs my back felt really stiff. The 4th day’s 10 miles was painful, and in hindsight carrying the pack that day probably wasn’t the best idea, but you know how it is. Adding to my woes, I managed to aggravate my recovering shoulder injury, rather pathetically by pushing myself up out of the sofa on Christmas day in order to get another beer from the fridge. Luckily the strong anti-inflammatory drugs I’ve been taking for that are also good for helping my back!

A trip for a sports massage, followed by a visit to the GP and then a physio have all confirmed a bout of sciatica. Luckily it appears manageable (which I take to mean it’s not totally debilitating, but it hurts!) and actually a week or so on, it does feel better. Last week saw the turbo trainer being dusted off and set up again in the garage to try to maintain my cardio fitness, whilst not running. The weekend’s long run was translated into a 15 mile march around the Derwent Dams with a light pack. That produced no ill effects in terms of my back, and was completed in sub-15 minutes/mile pace which was positive.

So, before the final push, a bit of recovery and not being silly about trying to do too much too soon. It’s not what I wanted at this stage, but as so many people keep telling me, I’m almost 40 now and I can’t expect my body to cope and/or recover as well as when I was younger. Great, thanks for that.

One thing I can focus on whilst injured however is the fund raising. As I post this update, our running total stands at £455 (http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/ianandrichmds2012) and we’re now selling tickets for a fund raising Moroccan Themed Night at our sponsor’s restaurant Otto’s on Sharrow Vale Road in Sheffield on 24 February.

Deep and crisp and uneven

The snow has arrived in Sheffield, making for slightly treacherous, though very beatiful running conditions. 

Lady Canning's Plantation, just up t'road from home

Since returning from the Brecons, the focus has shifted to getting used to running on consecutive days. And loading up the pack - standard weight is now around 7kg. It's going to be a long winter.

We've also been busy planning some fund raising for the Bluebell Wood Hopsice in Sheffield which supports families and children with life shortening ilnnesses, and Macmillan Cancer Support. We've set up a charity donation page at www.virginmoneygiving.com/team/ianandrichmds2012 which we'll be promoting more widely in the near future, as well as hosting and organising a range of fund raising events between now and April 2012.

As a result of conversations with a local Moroccan restaurant, we're now also officially sponsored athletes - courtesy of Otto and Theresa at Otto's Restaurant and The Mediterranean on Sharrow Vale Road in Sheffield. They'll be featuring on our race kit as our main (and only) sponsor of equipment. I'm very excited that someone has agreed to back us in this way.

Our next objective on that front is to get some media coverage and we've been talking to the Sheffield Star newspaper about running an article on us after we completed the Percy Pud, a popular local 10k race, in full MdS kit - there was even a camel running, but in a potentially bad omen, we failed to beat it!

We didn't beat the camel but still got the Christmas Pudding

Brecons Ultra

This post is a little out of date now, but a quick update on our performance at the Brecons Ultra back in November.  It was a long drive down to Brecon on Friday night but rewarded with a pre-race pint in a village pub, before settling down for a night in the campervan.

The race day was grey, but promised to be dry which was a bonus.  Around 120 or so people gathered together in the early morning, and then set off along the canal path for the first of two 23 mile laps - the race organisers weren't really sure how long each one was. What was certain was the massive hill that we had to climb early on the loop, made harder knowing that we'd have to do it again with another 23 miles in our legs.

Our aim for the day was to practice for the long day in the MdS, which meant a lot of walking with our new poles, and much to the amusement of a number of competitors who passed us, a stop for a hot meal to see if that strategy would pay dividends in the desert. Not overly helpful, as I found it worked really well, but Rich didn't seem to get on with the food 2/3rds of the way into the event.

Rich "enjoying" a de-hydrated chilli con carne at mile 29

The event overall was good - I felt pretty strong all the way round, although my right knee was pretty sore towards the end. Going through the day and into the darkness of a November evening was good practice and rather odd, as it felt a lot later than it was due to the dark which seemed to add to our tiredness. I was pleased with my performance though, and despite a mild dose of trenchfoot my feet held up with no blisters.

I'll definitely be taking poles to the desert, and have at last discovered some shorts which don't rub in all the wrong places so another piece of desert kit can be ticked off and packed ready for the race. Alright, so 12 hours+ isn't going to win any prizes (it didn't!), with the winner finishing in 6 hours 20 or thereabouts, but happy with the day out.

Slowing the pace

Not that my pace needs to be slowed at all really, but I figured I'm unlikely to be running all of the MdS so the last couple of weeks have involved some brisk walking, practicing with poles to help take some of the pressure off the legs. Both sessions proved pretty sucessful, not too much discomfort from the shoulder during the walks, though it's got a bit sore afterwards. Last weekend's outing was in perfect, glorious Autumnal weather - chilly, bright morning with excellent visibility.

Rich on the way back from Redmires

The other main focus since the Race Kit weekend has been pack carrying, aiming to gradually build the weight up to the full 11-12kg we're expecting at the start of the race. Joy. The fun part comes in gathering the goodies that will make up all that weight - shiny kit shopping. Currently I've working with a 6-7kg pack, so there's some way to go.

The pace will be picking up again this week (it's all relative!) as the Brecons Ultra is only 2 weeks away, which will be a great opportunity to try out our new kit and some anticipated strategies for the desert.

Other than that, things appear to be going well in training, with an increase in stretching, some strength work and avoiding injuries. Happy days.