Disaaaaster!

Not ideal preparation for the race.

Having finished work until after the race I had a few goals whilst off work:
1) Be well rested
2) Have all my kit sorted out
3) Remain injury free

I'm doing ok on 1) and 2), but number 3) is proving harder than I thought. After best part of 10 days with almost no cardio training, last Thursday I decided it was time I went out and enjoyed the ability to run in the middle of the afternoon and the lovely weather. Fifteen minutes into the run however my left calf muscle gave a disturbing popping/squelching sound and I almost fell to the ground with the pain, unable to stand on my left foot, or walk on it, let alone run on it. Five minutes at the side of the trail hoping it was just a really bad cramp and trying in vain to stretch it out left me fearing the worst. I turned, somewhat dejectedly and hobbled off in the direction of home. A fifteen minute run out turned into a fifty minute incredibly painful limp home, interspersed with a liberal amount of swearing and cursing as I played through in my head what this might mean for the race in just two weeks' time.

At home I had a hot bath, elevated my foot and applied ice and took anti-inflammatory drugs to try to minimise the damage. And continued swearing. I seriously thought that was my race over - a quick google of torn muscle injuries didn't help as I discovered recovery time was at best 2-3 weeks, at worst several months. Given that I couldn't put any weight on my left leg, I was fearing the worst.

The next day I went to see a physio recommended by Darryl - Derek French. I'd heard of him a long time ago through the tri-club so his reputation was widely known about. He said it was too early to determine exactly what I'd done, and that the key thing over the next few days was RICE treatment - rest, ice, compression and elevation, just what I'd done since the injury. He also applied an electrical therapy to my leg (a bit like a TENS machine). It passed electrical pulses into my injured muscle to stimulate the healing process and felt quite odd, very tingly and made my foot twitch. 25 minutes of that and I was amazed at how much better it felt. I was warned that the injury would start to feel worse again as the treatment wore off, but it did make me feel a little more positive.

Since then (it's now Monday) I've rested a lot, applied a lot of ice, worn compression socks all day and night and sat with my foot elevated for many hours and it's got a lot better. I can walk with only a slight limp, although I can't push off from my left foot with any force. I guess I'm protecting it a bit as it's made my sciatica flare up a bit more in the last few days too. I'm back to see Derek the Physio tomorrow, followed by the Chiropractor Lee at Breathe Pilates recommended so I'll have a better idea of how it's recovering and hopefully have some improvement in my back too. Based on how much improvement I've seen in 4 days I'm confident (notwithstanding any more injuries!) that I'll make it to the start line, although I have no idea what it's going to mean for my race pace.

Apart from the injury my preparations have been going pretty well. I've got my ECG done, thanks to my friend Alli the Cardiologist. Oddly the ECG print out stated "abnormal ECG", although Alli simply scribbled over that with a biro and wrote "normal ECG" next to it. I assume the race doctors will be fine with that!

Luckily I didn't need to shave my chest for the ECG

According to the ECG, I also have a "marked sinus bradycardia" which I understand translates to a slower than 60bpm heartrate (mine showed 49bpm) and "1st degree AV block" which I think is a slow electrical impulse - Wikipedia suggests potentially some more sinister risks with this, but very low ones, and the Alli the expert didn't seem phased by it so I'll not lose any sleep over it just yet.

Apparently it's "normal".



We also had an evening with a couple of sports psychologists at Sheffield Hallam University on Thursday evening. Just 4 hours after my injury it was potentially excellent timing as my mood plummeted. In fact the conversation was a little unstructured and seemed to loosely cover areas we'd touched on at the Racekit training weekend last October. It was useful to remind ourselves of some strategies to deal with things going wrong, but the whole session seemed a bit predicated on us all assuming the worst and risking crumbling at every turn.

The weekend also saw the start of our heat acclimatisation training in the Virgin Active sauna. Nothing at all camp about three middle-aged men spending their Friday night sweating in the sauna for 45 minutes. Three sessions in total over the weekend ahead of the more formal heat chamber sessions at Sheffield Hallam Uni next weekend and every day in the build up to the race. Not sure I feel totally at ease in the heat just yet, but I'm assured it will help.

I now have all 4,885grams of food parcels packed up ready to go. I am now focusing on keeping the rest of my kit to somewhere under 5 kilos so that my pack isn't ridiculously heavy at the start of the week.

19,401 calories for the week, including pork scratchings.

Tomorrow's physio visit will determine whether I can look at doing some more cardio work ahead of the race, and indeed may give me a clearer idea on likely target pace for the event. Apart from that all I can do it work through the still ridiculously long list of admin to sort out before I depart.

Not sure what to put in it yet, but my pack has been pimped ready for action

Tapering, admin and nappies

Not a typical week in my build up to the race. I've managed a total of 8 miles - actually a welcome relief after the previous two weeks, and also managed to be up working until midnight and undertaking many visits to the hospital pre, during and post the birth of my third child Eddie.

Latest distraction from training

The little man arrived on Wednesday 14th and has pretty much dominated the week's activities, as one might expect. It adds another dimension to the preparations for the race, is likely to mean I may struggle with enough sleep before heading to Morocco, and makes me very glad I've got all my key training out of the way before this week.

Apart from a solitary eight mile outing on Sunday (a most pleasant change without a pack of any kind) the only training has been some Pilates - both a one-to-one session and a "reformer" class - lots of sliding up and down on a platform using assorted bars, straps and balls to develop core strength and increase flexibility/mobility. Both are quite hard work, but still seem to be doing me some good. To see if I can push things along a bit I've signed up to see a Chiropractor recommended by Lee at Breathe Pilates next week. Not sure what that will entail.

We've also been contacted by an MSc sports psychology student from Sheffield Hallam Uni who wants to work with us to develop our mental preparations, so Rich, Darryl and I are heading there later in the week to see what we can glean from a few sessions with him.

In between all of the above I'm trying to work through my seemingly endless list of jobs to tick off before I fly out on 5th April. This has been helped enormously by having now finished work until I get back from the race - first two weeks of paternity leave, followed by some annual leave and before you know it, a whole month off - brilliant!

It's getting very close now, and I'm starting to get really, really excited.

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.