100 miles more

Another 100 miles in a week of training, straight off the back of the previous one. Knackered!

Celebrating the end of my 2nd 100 mile week on Stanage Edge

Fitting in 100 miles (5-11 March - this update isn't very up to date) with 2 day trips to London for work in the middle of the week was always going to pose some challenges, as was doing that kind of mileage straight after the previous week of 101 miles, but it's now done. The crux session of the week was a 41.5 mile trip out on Saturday going from home round Redmires to Stanage, all the way along to Strines, down to Ladybower, round the reservoirs and then back up to Strines and along Stanage, dropping down into Burbage and then home via Houndkirk and Ringinglow - if you don't know it, look it up on a map, it's a long way!

Having had 4 seasons thrown at me in one day, and being close to running out of water at 28 miles (a cheeky duck into someone's garden to replenish from an outside tap) and bonking along Stanage at about 34 miles all added to the effort, but I was pleased to be home in 9 hours 15 minutes. To put that in perspective, that's faster than the High Peak 40 last September, despite being 1.5 miles further, whilst carrying a 10.5kg pack, and off the back of 150 miles in the previous 12 days. I can't grumble at that really.

Due to Rich having a foot injury in the week, it meant that our planned trip to camp in the Peak District didn't quite materialise, and that I would be running the 40 miler alone. Instead I sought to replicate race conditions as much as possible by using race rations alone from Friday morning until Sunday afternoon and camping in the garden using only equipment I'd have on the MdS. It worked well, combining being able to see the family with managing my body through a tough weekend of training. Some valuable lessons stored away in there for the race.

Trying to replicate race conditions, by making the tent crowded!

On the following day I felt a bit sluggish but surprisingly ok and helped along by Rich who was bounding along like an over-excited kid having had an easy week of training due to his foot, I managed another 15 miles in a reasonable time (faster per mile than the previous day) and in pretty good shape. I was still glad to see it end though.

And so that concludes the "proper" training for the race. From here on in it's tapering and kit preparations. Oh, and a baby arriving imminently.

101 miles in a week

After 7 days of running back to back, I’ve finally found 10 minutes to update the blog on what has been my biggest week of training thus far – 101 miles.  I put in 12 miles a day Monday to Friday, either to or from work, followed by two 20 milers at the weekend, one walking (with a couple of miles of running at the end) and one trying to run as much as possible.  Hence Saturday’s 20 miles took me 5hours 17, whilst Sunday’s 21 miles was completed in the rain, then sleet, then snow in 3hours 52; both with about a 10kg pack.

Also, apart from being well pleased with actually covering 100+ miles in a week, I’m even more pleased that I can run a bit now too.  It’s not without discomfort, but I think that’s more due to me not actually running at all since New Year and my muscles being a bit shocked.  So far however, there have been no terrible repercussions for my back.

Possibly linked to this progress has been the trip to the Pilates expert, Lee at Breathe Pilates in Sheffield.  90 minutes of dynamic stretches and a host of other exercises on a range of equipment, followed by homework aimed at developing core stability and mobility appears to have done some good.  My back feels a lot better and Lee seems confident that I have time to remedy the worst of my sciatic issues before the race.  That’s the kind of news I like.

This week’s less than positive news came from Sheffield Hallam Uni however, where it seems the students aren’t as interested in probing and analysing two slightly fat middle-aged men as they prepare for a silly race in the desert as we all assumed they would be.  It doesn’t look as though we’re going to get a chance to get fully acclimatised in the build up of the final few weeks, although we have been offered a few sessions to help us test kit and the like, and as the saying goes....”every little helps”.

I’ve also got a bit of a sore ankle too as a result of the increased mileage, but some judicious icing and compression should resolve that before long.

So, a day off running today, then back into it tomorrow as I start my second (and final!) 100+ mile week, culminating hopefully in a weekend camping in the Peak District trying to replicate race conditions as best I can (rations and sleeping in the cold, as opposed to sand and heat) covering some 70miles from Friday morning to Sunday lunchtime.

Charitable disposition

Still plodding on with back issues and lots of time on my feet as the weeks tick by. A solid, and very wet and blustery 54km or 33.5miles in about 8 hours 15 mins a week ago Saturday was followed up with a swift 15miles the following day in glorious sunshine. Sadly that level of effort wasn't possible the following week due to work commitments during the week, as well as our first foray into the heat chamber at Sheffield Hallam University. It was a very cautious first session with 5 minutes on the treadmill followed by 5 minutes of rest, repeated 4 times - and all done at just over 38 degrees celcius. It was hot, but bearable though I was surprised how much I drank in what was a very light session.

We also held our charity fund raising dinner last weekend. Hosted by our main sponsor, Otto's Moroccan Restaurant in Sheffield on Friday night, a group of 50 kind an charitable souls enjoyed an evening of fine Moroccan cuisine, belly dancing, a charity raffle and the talents of a brilliant magician. The evening was a great success, and we added a further £725 to our fund raising total, which now stands at over £3,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support and the Bluebell Wood Children's Hospice.

Moroccan evening at Otto's

Sadly, it seems I enjoyed the evening a little too much and was very much the worse for wear on Saturday which, combined with the fact I had friends from Kent up visiting made for a training-free weekend. Apart from the obvious groggy and hungover sensation it was surprisingly nice to have an entire weekend of not putting on trainers and heading out for long hours.

Such thoughts need to be banished for now however, as with only 6 weeks to go I'm about to head into my two longest weeks training of the whole preparation. I'm aiming for over 100 miles per week in the next two weeks, plus some turbo sessions. That's a lot of time on my feet, with some critical sessions in there including what we're calling our Peaking in the Peak weekend. This will represent our final long back to back training sessions before heading off for the race. After that, my baby should be born, and I'll be focussing on heat acclimatisation, maintaining fitness and preventing further injury.

To that end, I'm also off to see a pilates specialist this week to see whether they can offer any better or more effective remedy for my back which, although seems manageable for now isn't really getting any better.

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.