UltramarathonMike

It’s 3AM, in the past 48 hours you have endured a full day at work, a six month old with a temp of 39.3C, a 4 year old with chicken pox, managed 4 hours sleep and have been awake for 21 hours straight. Yet still you your stood on Filey Brigg, 40+ miles from home, there is pretty much 80 miles of partly un reccied route ahead of you, it’s seems to be blowing a gale and it’s pitch black … but somehow it still feels like a good idea.

I would like to question my general state of mind at these moments but to be honest I’m usually having way too much fun.

Today was practice for the Grand Union Canal Race and the main part was that my long suffering Dad, Dave, was working as Crew Manager (albeit with a crew of 1). He was due to meet me shortly before 7am at West Heslerton, but there was 20 miles to go before then. Did I mention it was dark? After Adam had helped me out with an extra top and left me on my own I set off through Filey, after a couple of map consultations I found myself lost at the edge of the town down a culd-e-sac where the route should carry on. 5 minutes of backtracking and chancing around I was back on track, the route was not marked as such on the map but was clearly signposted … provided you found the signpost.

The wind had dropped and it was quite cold but altogether quite pleasant running and my head torch was providing adequate light, I followed the route through Muston, occasionally taking unnecessary long ways around fields. This carried on for a few miles before I took the inevitable wrong turn, turning left down a track across a field before the actual track across a field, after a mile or more I realised I was not on track and had wandered off course and was carrying half of North Yorkshire on my feet. After ten or more minutes of map orienting, using the compass to take back bearings from potential features and working out the lay of the path I had ended up on I worked out where I was, this led to a plan to get me back on track, ten minutes later and some ducking and weaving/crashing through a wood scaring animals I was back on track.

The sky had cleared by now, the temperature had dropped and the ground was crunchy underfoot. I plodded on keeping pace despite the very steep climbs and sharp downhills (which I foolishly didn’t expect!), scaring more wildlife. Up towards Staxton I could see some light on the horizon, after turning on to the road I looked up at the sky, it was crystal clear and the moment I looked up a shooting star ripped across the sky. Always a beautiful sight which really makes dragging yourself out a worthwhile exercise.
After Staxton I passed many pigs, many many pigs and almost 50 minutes later than planned I finally reached my Dad waiting patiently at the checkpoint (looking pretty cold). The sun was out and peanut butter on white bread was the order of the day, I fuelled up, got some fresh liquid and swapped maps, placed my GPS in a position it was unable to pick satellites up on and headed off. The route was a little more gentle at this point and my pace picked up with the daylight, but any road sections remained slippy underfoot. I was slowly making up a little time.

Without the undulation of the first section the pace was much more steady, but the larger hills did make themselves known, the views over to the moors (still with some snow) and the Howardian hills was an early morning delight. I kept up knowing I was entering more familiar territory and the company of Danny Aldus after the next checkpoint.

Sometime after 10am I arrived at Wharram Percy car park, a familiar place from days out with the family and past events. I was still of schedule but not so far behind as to worry. Knowing that there was some minor pain in my foot I changed my shoes, map, refuelled and set off with Danny through Wharram Percy. I took 100mg of caffeine as I had now been awake a long time, I was hoping this wouldn’t suppress my appetite, thankfully I was right and I was still OK taking and wanting to take on food.
We arrived in Thixendale in good time, I grabbed some jelly babies and we set off again, a good chunk of the route was now under the belt and whilst I was refusing pain killers for my foot (as to avoid masking the pain) I was feeling great.

We passed through Fridaythorpe in pleasant sunshine chatting about Dannys upcoming Hardmoors 55 race and various other topics. As we carried on into the classic steep sided dry valleys we headed towards Huggate. Before reaching Huggate the route climbs sharply out of the steep valley and then drops down on a farm road to the village, at this point I knew my foot was becoming a problem, the steep uphill and downhill made it hurt.

After some soul searching, rational thinking and some wise words from my Dad and Danny I regrettably had to do the one thing I and most ultrarunners don’t do, the sensible thing. Today’s training was over, around 47 miles (including getting lost!) and just over 10 hours later that was it. The rest of the route would have to wait another day.

As my last post explains I felt great post race (and continued to do so), the day was in no way a failure and my foot has turned out to be not so bad. Still some you win some you lose and I am ready for the next run. As for the Wolds Way – I’ll be back shortly to make sure I get that route nailed.

It is the challenges we don’t complete that teach us the most

I’m not normally one for pontification or quotes, but for me that really sums up today.

Yesterday I embarked on a rather epic training run, to run from Filey to the Humber Bridge via the Wolds Way, a mostly off road total of 80 miles.

Sadly due to a problem with my right foot I made the decision to stop at around 47 miles, as devastating as this was it was the sensible thing to do and really the only option. So before I post a my usual report I thought I’d round up what I got from the day:

• Being awake for 21 hours before starting wasn’t an issue, even without much sleep on Thursday night (children and chicken pox, not a recipe for sleep). I was close to or on for a 50 mile PB.
• Neither today nor yesterday have I at all felt like I have done any sort of large run this weekend.
• The core work has paid off and I felt very comfortable after 10 hours.
• My nutrition and hydration systems worked well, mix of food was good.
• The 100mg of caffeine (2 * Pro Plus tablets) used pro-actively at 10am didn’t suppress appetite/hunger.
• My Dad is going to make great crew.
• I can listen and think rationally!

Thanks to my Dad, Dave, for crewing, Adam Bryson for driving me up in the middle of the night and Danny for turning out and putting some good miles in with me along the way.

The vast length of the GUCR has really scared me into action, to this end I am not far from starting my longest ever run, and a training run at that.
I have jumped on this enthusiasm to do something I have had on my mind for a long time, a single stage run of the Wolds Way. My recent training has been towards this step in the big picture. I have kept it quite because I know what a massive task this is and how the dates have been moving around. Sadly at the last minute both Megan and Joshua are unwell, Megan has developed Chicken Pox and Joshua has been running a temperature of 39.2C (and that makes a 6 month old SERIOUSLY upset), along side his cold he probably has the pox too. This has made the past 24 hours quite difficult, but thankfully we are still on. This is with great thanks to Vickie.

I frequently run sections of the Wolds Way and growing up with the end (or start) of the trail at the end of the garden this one has special meaning for me, it’s almost a homecoming!

By the time I have finished I will have covered 80 miles and over 7000ft of ascent. In order to try and finish in the daylight I am setting off at 3am from Filey. Most importantly my “Crew Chief” (my long suffering Dad) we will have had many hours practice crewing for me in prep for the GUCR and will have a much better idea of what to expect.

Whatever happens, it’s going to be great fun. My friend Danny Aldus is popping along for the ride, a nice slooooow 20 mile run before he competes in the tough looking Hardmoors 55.

Now part of the new ULTRArace series this was the second running of the 29.3 mile Grantham ultra, the course takes in 29.3 (a bit less I think though!) miles of the now mostly disused canal between Nottingham and Grantham. The terrain is canal tow path, mud, grass and is surprisingly resistive.
Today I was really really keen on ensuring I kept a constant pace, something I am not very good at one my own, and was using my Polar rs3000x to ensure I kept pace. 9 minute miles was the goal, stick on a few minutes for checkpoint faffing and that gives a 4 hour 30 finish.

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This time last year I was into the final preparation for the MdS, things were getting packed, repacked, ECGs, medicals and training were all in full swing. This year though, I am just winding up and the training events are getting more and more wild.

This week is a 90+ mile week with the longest run being the 29.3 mile ULTRArace Grantham organised by Mr Coleman. I did the recce and then day one of the race last year.

What I have found has been astonishing this week is the speed of my training which was consistent on the same run both Monday, each around 9 miles and at 8.3min/mile and yesterday I ran just a shade shy of 16 miles in around 7.3 min/miles average. OK, so I’m barely going to set the world on fire with these times but for me they are excellent and the consistency over three days is a great sign that things are on track. Tomorrow will be a nice slow long run ready for Saturday.

That’s all just small fry though compared to next weeks GUCR ‘dry run’ along the Wolds Way … more on that shortly!