Final thoughts before La Trans Aqu

I catch a train on Friday at 6pm to Birmingham international airport. I've booked a hotel for the night because my flight to Bordeaux is at 6am on Sunday. I did get an offer from my folks to give me a lift straight to the airport, but they would have had to get out of bed at 2 or 3am. Also, I figured I can more or less fall out of bed and be at the airport terminal, hopefully getting more sleep. That said, I never really sleep well in hotels. I wonder what I am going to sleep like under canvass for a week with aching muscles next week!

I re-weighed my La Trans Aq' items after finding some digital scales in the house. I found quite a few discrepancies from what the manufacturer claimed were the weights. I have updated the previous blog post with the new weights of things. The net result was not a great deal different, as some were over and some under weight. One thing to bear in mind is even lightweight freezer bags weight 5grams. When you are using 6+ a day that soon adds up, something I had overlooked. I will be re-packaging some food items into freezer bags during the admin day in France, to reduce the weight a little.

I have had to weigh and measure all my electrolyte and recovery powders and bag them up already. If I don't make a blog post, check out the front page of Le Monde for a headline that reads "UK Citizen arrested at Bordeaux in massive drugs haul". All these bags of powder look very dodgy indeed!

I've been listening to Michel Thomas's Basic French lessons this week, trying to store up some useful phrases. However, he didn't tell me how to say "Please carry me, I can't run any further" or "my feet are basically two large blisters".

I'm sure I’ll struggle through somehow though.

I've made a table below that shows the days distance in miles and kilometres, the cut-off average speed for each day(if you finish with a slower average you are out), my expected average speed (mph) - low estimate, my expected average speed (mph)- high estimate, and the time in hours to complete based on the low and high speeds.



I've actually been optimistic with all of those. I am basing them on my UK performance, trying to factor in the heat in France a little. It may be that I can finish the first short stage a little faster, but on the flip-side later in the week I could be down to a hobble or crawl and finish significantly slower. These cut-off times are stricter than the MDS, which because of the intense heat can be done more slowly. It is not possible to walk La Trans Aq realistically. Not when you factor in navigation errors, stopping at checkpoints, tending to foot problems etc. I have to be in a 'run' mindset, albeit at a comfortable shuffle speed.

Not sure what the weather will hold at the moment. It has been raining all over Europe, but is forecast to get warmer this weekend. I am expecting to start with a temperature of around 25-27C. I'd actually like it to be hot, very hot, uncomfortably so in fact. I actually want to suffer because of the heat and get a small taste of what Morocco will be like next year.

I'm taking my mobile phone, mainly to take photos with now and again. If I use it sparingly, I also hope to be able to update this blog in the evening. I've set it to publish entries made to the blog email address (not the one in my profile), so hopefully I can post up something short and sweet just to say I'm still alive each day!

You can also check out the results page each night on the website. I'm race number 107. You can't send me any messages from the website I'm afraid, like the service the MDS offer.

I'm not 100%, but I'm as good as I can expect at the moment after the issues in the last few months. Things have gone well recently. I know I am capable of the longest day distance, as proved a month ago. I know what pace to run at, my nutrition is in order. I just lack experience. I don't feel too much pressure for this event. I am using it as a learning experience. I'd love to finish the event though, so I'm going to do my best to do just that.

Hopefully you'll hear from me from this Monday night (4th June) onwards. If not, keep and eye on the results and I'll post up my story when I get back. I arrive home late on the 11th. I'll post up a short and sweet version of events on the 12th, and then write up a day by day account during that week.

Wish me Luck!

La Trans Aqu packing list

Ok, I've finalised, packed and weighed my rucksack for La Trans Aqu which starts a week tomorrow. I fly out to Bordeaux on Saturday, get a train to Lesparre and then get picked up and taken to the first bivouac.

First of all, this is the equipment I will be wearing. The numbers beside are weights. I've only showed weights for non-wearable items which I will must still carry. It may be possible to leave some of these items with the organiser, so I have no shown these with the main packing list.



Next up is my equipment. Those shown in bold are the mandatory items.




Total kit weight is 3616 grams, including the optional carry items such as my phone, money etc.

A few items to mention here: I am taking two spare pairs of socks. I plan to use all three pairs in one day on the longer routes to reduce blister risk.

Instead of taking running tights and a thermal top for the night run and for around the bivouac at night, I am packing a disposable paper suit. These are well used in these kinds of events by all accounts. I've seen footage of people using them in the MDS. Running tights and a Helly Hansen thermal top was almost 500grams, versus the paper suit 150grams. No contest.

P20 sun cream; I’m only taking half a small bottle, because it’s only my legs and face that is not covered.

Insect repellent might sound a little extravagant, but the organisers have warned us that there are very unpleasant biting horse flies that can cause a real plague and people can react badly to the bite. If we get thunder storms or wet weather just before the event, this will kill them off and I may be able to ditch this. If not, it is an essential.

My one luxury is a Thermarest Prolite 3 bedroll. I need to sleep as well as possible, so this will help. I'm also packing earplugs to aid sleep too.

The first aid kit is an essential. Unlike the MDS the organisers do not want you to have your feet tended to by the doctors. They are your responsibility and you will be docked 30 minutes penalty for each foot care visit. I totally agree with them to be honest. I have going to tape up my feet with Leukotape as usual, and use Bodyglide to lubricate. The Friar's balsam is both an adhesive for the tape and also a disinfectant. A small pair if scissors is essential for the neat binding of feet with tape. I have approx 8 hollow sterile needles which can be inserted and will drain any blisters, then a dozen Compeed blister plasters of various sizes.

Apart from lightweight cooking equipment, that's it. No non-essentials. No extra clothes, no MP3 player etc. I've been as brutal as I could with the packing, only sacrificing a little extra weight for sleeping comfort.

Finally, this is my menu for the week. This first lot will be packed in by rucksack at the start - Food for day 1 and 2, and everything up to and covering the run on day 3.



The rest below will be packed into a lightweight bag, and handed to the organisers. The bag will be returned to me at the end of stage 3. It contains rations for the evening of day 3, and everything for the rest of the week. The idea here is that your rucksack is a little lighter at the start. The downside is that it never really goes down much. As soon as it starts to get lighter, it's loaded backup up to max on the start of day 4. This 'drop bag' can only be a maximum of 2 kilo's. Mine is right on the limit at 1986g.



I must carry minimum 2000kcal per day, but I am typically packing just over 2500. This is from experience and knowing 2000 does not fill me after a day’s effort. I am eating a big calorie breakfast of slow burn carbs (oats), the perfect breakfast for ultra running. My evening meals are again all slow burn carbs, mostly rice or pasta. One Rego recovery drink immediately after the days effort, and one Rego Nocte before bedtime to help me sleep and further repair my muscles. It is a very boring menu, but its food that I eat day in and day out. I really do eat oats for breakfast and rice or pasta for virtually every meal at home!

I have some Batchelors pasta or rice meals most nights, with a couple of Mountain house (crème de la crème of dehydrated food) for special treats after the longest days. The Pop Tarts are a very lightweight, high calorie treat, for a desert.

This is a typical days rations, all bagged up, labelled up (in French) with my race number (107). This is then all packed into another larger freezer bag labelled with the day of the week.



My approx pack weight for each day is shown below.



These weights could be slightly out when it comes to the start line, depending on any last minute decisions. Note I have shown the pack weight, but also the pack weight with the 1.5 litre of water that we are handed at the start of each stage. This will empty, only to be replaced approx every 13-17km. If the stage is very hot, we may get given 3 litres though!

I have been training with a 7kg pack (or more) for a while now, so I am happy that I have got the pack to just less than 7kg (with water).

I am only packing either 2 or 3 electrolytes each day. I have read in the MDS people pack 6 or more each day. This is the only real uncertainty for me. 2 or 3 have been ample in the UK, but France will be a lot hotter. I only plan to mix every other checkpoints water with electrolyte. Also, bear in mind I am carrying Endurolyte capsules with me, 2 per hour. I hope this will prove to be a good strategy. If not, at least I will learn a lesson the hard way for next years MDS!

My fully packed Raidlight pack is shown below. The second shot shows the front-pack with a 1.5l bottle of water in situe.




If anyone has any comments to make, or thinks I am making any terrible mistakes in my equipment or food please email me before Friday, from my profile link!

Mow Cop punishment.

I had my usual day off training on Monday, and followed up on Tuesday with a pace run. Only scheduling in 30 minutes for this weeks sessions, meant a quick 3.5 mile blast up the hill to the local monument, over the fields and back home. It's a familiar route, taking in about 320ft of ascent, pretty much all in the first mile. I didn't start off running quickly, but speeded up as I went along. Starting on a steep climb it's difficult to run this route quickly, plus there are a few stiles to negotiate and a slightly divoted field. However, I ended up with a reasonable pace at the finish of 7:55 minute miles. I've finished this route in little over 7 minute miles average when I put my mind to it though.

On Wednesday I had to travel down and into the very centre of London (EC3), by the gherkin building to collect to equipment from Accenture's building. I despise driving through London, I'm sure everyone does. It took me almost 2 hours to get back out to the M1 after sitting in gridlocked traffic. I got back too late to do any training.

The following day I took the equipment up to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, helped set it up, and then returned home, clocking up almost 800 miles in the last 2 days. Again it was too late to train when I got back.

On Friday I was on babysitting duty after 5pm, so couldn't train again!! So, nothing for 3 days. Runners will know what I mean when I say that you feel as though you will lose all your months worth of training benefit in a matter of days unless you keep getting out there. OF course it's not really the case, but that's sure how it makes you feel.

So, Saturday, ridden with guilt I decided to punish myself with a tough route. Too tough for a week before a big event, but I felt I needed it.



I decided to run to Mow Cop castle and back. Mow Cop is a castle ruin just over 6 miles away. Well, actually it's a folly really, but it looks pretty enough and it's the only 1000ft peak anywhere near me.

I loaded up with 7 kilos as usual, including 800ml of SIS Go Electrolyte. I mixed it up wrong and made it twice too strong. As a result I hardly drank any at all.

Still using by backup orthotics, as my main pair are having to be altered again after I was unhappy with them. They made them so thick I can barely get my foot in the shoe!

I used the trainers with the Velcro around them for the gaiters. During the course of the run I must have scuffed a rock as a 3 inch section is left hanging all torn. Well, at least I found the weakness at home and not in France in a week’s time. I've bought what looks to be the strongest adhesive you can buy and will set to work on a repair later. So much for paying £10 to have them 'professionally' attached at a cobblers. If you want something doing, do it yourself right?

I only managed to average 4.7mph on the ascending 6.25 miles due to hitting a mile long section of fields where the grass was thigh-high.



I was forced to walk through this, as running was impossible. I took a few shots of the castle during the ascending route, you can see those below.







The final climb is steep, but assisted by steps. I reached the summit, clicked off a couple of shots of the view. Those of you sharp-eyed should be able to make out the world famous Lovell telescope at Joderell Bank . Sorry it's facing thr wrong way today. I'll ask them to point it at the castle next time I'm up there! EDIT: Actually the resolution is too bad to see it, oh dear. You'll just have to click that link if you want a picture.




It took me an hour an 18 minutes to get there. I decided to go back a slightly different route for the last 2 miles of the route, to avoid the fields. It's the same distance back, but because of the better terrain, and it's pretty much all downhill, I did it in an hour and 2 minutes.

My foot arches were a little sore en-route and also afterwards. I think this was a combination of tight muscles and the backup orthotics. I am going to get a sports massage this week, just to make sure I am in top condition for the event.

Last night I packed my rucksack for the event. It took a long time, weighing out all the food and bagging it up, labelling it with my race number. I did plan to use the pack today for a dress rehearsal training session, but the weather is awful - non-stop rain all day. I don't want to risk any of my kit, so I going to do a session tomorrow instead.

What I will do later is post up my complete packing list and a couple of photos too.

All coming good at last.

I've had a very successful week.

After Monday, my day off training, I ran every day, no gym sessions this week.

I did an 45-55 minute run on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. On Tuesday I started off thinking I would do a very gentle run indeed (10 min miles), but ended up picking a hilly route and running a little quicker at 9 min miles. On Wednesday I did intervals; 2 minutes fast, 3 minutes recovery. Thursday I decided to pick a familiar route heading down to a canal and then putting in a loop of Westport Lake before coming home. This turned out to be a very useful run for all the wrong reasons. It's 80% concrete or tarmac; surfaces I avoid at all costs. I pretty quickly found that I was experiencing foot pain on the mid part of my left foot when on this hard surface. I knew that this was the orthotic in my shoe causing this. In my running shoes the orthotic that has been built, to replace the insole has an 8mm lift on the heel to compensate for a leg length difference. (I didn't even now I had it until a couple of years ago when I started getting pain when running). Anyway, the lift tapers down from 8mm towards the front of the shoe. There is a hard plastic plate surrounded by foam. Where that plate ends, and the foam begins I was getting pain. I had to keep stopping every half mile it was so bad.

So, I struggled home, but I was pleased. I had found a potential major problem that I would otherwise not have known about unless I had chosen this route. I dropped my shoes off to sub4 and they are sorting out the problem. I was due to pick them up on Saturday, but couldn't get back to the shop before it closed.

My car is in for a 12k interval service at the moment, dropped in on Friday morning. It won't be ready until Tuesday! So, car-less instead of going to the gym for my session with Clive, Clive came to me and we went out for a run. I just wore a light 2.5kg pack and we did a local hilly little route at a faster pace than I would usually run with my pack. I was forced to use my second pair of orthotics (reserved for my shoes) and I did get a few problems, but nothing too serious.

On Saturday, still using the same orthotics I planned a 10 mile route, carrying 7kg. I assumed I would run at 5mph, my long-distance-shuffle speed, so 10 miles would cover the 2 hours I had penned in my training plan. The weather was shocking, and I once again took on the characteristics of a drowned rat shortly after leaving the house. I passed a few cars on one short stretch. I hope I got sympathy from the drivers and they saw a poor, bedraggled and drenched guy loll by with his rucksack.
Soon after, the rain eased up and I headed into Bathpool, a reservoir and sports field whose single claim for fame is as a crime scene for a famous murder about 30 years ago.

I managed to avoid the 'Black Panther' and safely navigated Bathpool, before heading up to Talke pits (you've guessed it, another former mine!). From there I headed down into that bizarrely named wood 'Parrots Drumble'. I took a photo for you, so you can see. It's like a grown up adventure playground with loads of these bridges across streams, fallen trees and narrow ankle-breaking paths. Sorry the first photo is a bit blurred. Hard to keep still when you have briefly stopped mid stride, snatched out your camera phone and clicked off a shot before running on.




Once through Parrot's Drumble, I dashed across the very busy A500. There is a gap in the central reservation where the footpath crosses it. Big thanks to the council for not building a footbridge. I then headed into Audley and Bignall end (yes more mines) and up a fairly steep road for about a mile, across a field to the local Wedgwood monument another mining legacy, before the final 1.5 mile downhill dash home. I love finishing on the hill, as it gives an opportunity pull the average speed back up after losing it on the ascent. The 10 mile route had a total of 830ft of ascent and I did it faster than planned, averaging 5.3mph. Very impressed! I know 5.3mph sounds pathetically slow, but when you are carrying an extra stone in weight, and your knees are not thanking you for it, it's an achievement. Speaking of knees, I had forgotten to put my cho-pat strap on, but my knee was ok. I iced it as a precaution, and took an ibuprofen just in case.

So today, Sunday, I need to run for 3 hours, so I planned a 15 mile linear route; running from home to my parents house. However, my parents’ house is only 5 miles by car, so I had to be fairly creative in my route selection. I took in Apedale, Silverdale, Audley, Keele (as in Keele University), Butterton, Hanchurch, Swynnerton old Forest, and Clayton. The route map is below; but more importantly the hill profile and speed profile from the effort.



There was 1350ft of ascent in the route, but slightly more descent. However, the hills were longer and steeper than yesterday and some of the terrain less friendly.
I set off at 5.3mph, knowing that I would struggle to maintain 5mph on this route by the end. There was a little more tarmac and hard surface running that I would have wished, but using the less severe second pair of orthotics I had no foot pain. Once again I carried 7kg; 800ml of which was SIS Go electrolyte (I used the same the day before too). I remembered the knee strap this time. It was quite a warm day today, plenty of blue in the sky. I'm not sure of the temperature, perhaps 19 or 20C?

This shot is looking over towards Keele.



After Keele, the terrain took a turn for the worse and I had to negotiate some heavily cattle-divoted fields. You really have to watch every footstep to avoid turning an ankle.



However, this kind of ground also builds ankle strength, so it's a double edged sword. All was going well and I was feeling strong to 10 miles into the run, when I hit an obstacle. Again, I apologise for the picture quality here:



For the record I was wearing my La Trans Aq outfit; Ecomesh shirt, cycling shorts, MDS1100 shoes, Asics Kayano socks, and cap. The only item of interest there is shorts, and those pretty plants in the photo are 150metres of waist-high stinging nettles.



Ignore the bit of a scratch, it's the red blotches/spots that you are looking for. both legs from the thigh down were nettled hundreds of times. I am sitting here at 11pm at night 4 hours after I have finished and my legs are still throbbing and tingling. I've even tried a hay fever (anti-histamine) tablet, but nothing works.

So, after having to run through hundreds of stinging nettles I had my way into Swynnerton Old Forest. Here I ran out of electrolyte and tired somewhat. My pace did slow to 4.9mph as I tackled the steep sandy forest tracks.



Swynnerton old forest has been an excellent training ground over the last few weeks, and I am expecting the terrain in La Trans Aq to be similar.



As I began the leave the forest, a welcome descent meant that I was able to pick up my pace over the next 1.5 miles, and despite ending the route on a challenging bank I managed to pull the average time back to 5mph and finish in just under 3 hours.

I've iced my right knee and taken another ibuprofen tonight. I think the amount of miles I am clocking up with the extra weight is a big factor in a lot of these knee niggles. Bearing that in mind, I think I will shorten my routes next Saturday and Sunday, as the week after I will be on the start line for La Trans Aq. I am tapering more this week anyway, but now is the time I should be healing and gathering my strength for 2 weeks tomorrow. So I will do less miles next Saturday and Sunday and concentrate on feeling as close to 100% as I can.

A few other items have arrived this week. Some earplugs, so I can get to sleep. Apparently we are often sleeping by the sea, so I don't want crashing waves keeping me awake. Also arrived; 2 forms of insect repellent to ward off horse-flies. The organisers have warned us that there could be a plague of these nasty stinging flies and they really are a menace, and my medical certificate and ECG. I hope they accept my ECG, which shows as borderline. I have sinus rhythm and left ventricle enlargement (something like that anyway). Basically these are physiological changes to my heart that are because of endurance training. They are common in endurance athletes, so I hope I get through La Trans Aq medical. I am taking a letter from a cardiologist along with me. I saw one last year because of the abnormal ECG, and he said 'it's normal for someone trained like you'. So, I should be OK.

So, 2 weeks to go before La Trans Aq. I plan to do a full dress and kit rehearsal next weekend to iron out any faults in my planning.

I will post my kit list and take some photo's later in the week. Until then, have a good week.

Soaked to the skin and cold, but happy.

Before this weekends training, a few words about the training in the week. My last post detailed Tuesdays run.

I had a blister from Sunday that wasn't too bad, but instead of leaving it to dry out I ripped it off on Tuesday night. Fool. I then could hardly walk for two days, let alone run, so I lost Wednesday and Thursday.

On Friday I did my usual gym strengthening session, with some core muscle exercises again.

I decided I needed to do two reasonable distances this weekend, as it would be my last opportunity to put some serious mileage in, before I have to taper to gather my strength for La Trans Aq in 3 weeks.

On Saturday I planned a 14.5 mile route, once again heading into Swynnerton Old Forest; similar terrain to what I expect meet in France. The route map is shown below, along with the hill profile.



As you can see, it's an undulating route; plenty of long hills. Using the knowledge I have gained over the last couple of weeks I decided that I would make a good attempt to run the whole distance (and not run/walk in a 20:5 minute ratio). I knew that this would not always be possible as I would be hedge and stile hopping, ad well as have some steep hills to tackle. I set a pace of just over 5mph and was loaded with 6kg of weight. I didn't carry any food, and just 800ml of SIS Go electrolyte.

No sooner had I left the house, and it started to rain. It started to rain heavily. I was wearing a long sleeve Railriders Ecomesh shirt and shorts. Pretty rapidly I looked like a drowned rat. The rain persisted for 80% of the run. I was thoroughly soaked to the bone. After the first 6 miles, I exit the forest and for the next 3 miles it's uphill into Swynnerton village itself. It isn't steep, but a long slow incline for that long takes it toll. I had to stop whilst in the forest quite a few times, and I also slowed to a walk for very steep short sections. Once out of the forest the terrain picks up and I could resume my target pace. At 9 miles there should have been a welcome downhill past Beech Caves but the route was a small section of road. Both knees ached at this point. It's amazing the difference the tarmac roads have on my joints. I am so used to running off-road that my legs really complain when I hit a hard surface. This is probably also because my current New Balance 1100MDS shoes are nearing the end of their life. I have almost clocked up 300 miles on this pair. I think the softer ground is offset by the pack weight, so the cushioning is starting to fail.

Once past Beech, there is another undulating woodland section that sadly runs parallel to the M6 so it's a little noisy. Climbing out of beech was hard work as I was back on the tarmac, and so it stayed for the remainder of the route. I finished in a respectable time, averaging 4.6mph for the 14.5 miles. I was happy enough with that, as I had run where I could and carried 6kg.

The following day, I was planning to run a little further, but the weather forecast was worse. Instead I planned a route just over 12 miles, and thought I would play it by ear. If it was dry I would add some more on. I packed the same weight 6kg, and once again carried 800ml of electrolyte. The route and hill profile are below.



Once again, I planned an undulating route. I knees were feeling fine after Saturdays efforts, so I set off at the same pace. A steep hill opens for the first 1.5 miles, followed by the same downhill. 30 minutes into the run the heavens opened. It really poured down and just didn't stop. In fact its 6 hours later now, and it is still raining.
I pretty quickly became cold and wet, my shirt stuck to me and a biting wind freezing me. I was half tempted to call it a day half way around and head back, but I knew I had to do the 12 miles I had planned. I had to do it for 2 reasons. First, this would be my last opportunity for a tough 12 mile run before taper. Second, it's good to finish a run despite adversity. It's character building!

After the first 3 miles the terrain improved as I picked up an abandoned railway line that used to service some of the local mines in Audley and Bignall End. After that I headed into a country park. Well I say country park because that is what the map says, but actually it's just an old opencast mine area that has been reclaimed by nature and spruced up by the local council. Still it was nice enough, what little I could see through the deluge of rain. A mile of slow incline tarmac followed. My knees did ache, but less than yesterday. I then went down into Silverdale and through into the site of the old dismantled Silverdale Colliery. It closed in 1998, and there is little left of it, but building foundations now. The pit entrance is still there, but huge boards seal it off.

Whenever I run around my area over the fields near me I always half wonder if I will end up falling down an old shaft or the ground will open up beneath my feet. The entire area is riddled with mines and they extend for miles underground in every direction. However, on this occasion I was spared and managed to join another disused railway line in the colliery grounds which lead right into Newcastle-under-Lyme and past my old high school. My legs were bearing up fine, but I had run out of electrolyte. I cut back along yet another old railway line, and then headed into Apedale (another old mine, surprise surprise). The last 2 miles were all on the road and I started to feel a little tired at this point. My left leg I could feel just start to tighten, so I popped three Endurolyte capsules to fend off any cramp. I managed to maintain my pace all the way home, and stepped into the door wet and cold, but happy. I had averaged 5mph, just under 2.5 hours for the distance.

So, I did 35 miles this week. A little less than I should, but the blister put pay to that. However, just a week after completing the 35 mile route it shows I can recovery quickly enough to put in strong endurance performances.

My taper begins this week. I will use the extra time to plan all the fine detail for La Trans Aq - I have almost finalised my week’s nutrition, and my packing list. I will post both when I have.

No lasting knee pain to speak of this week. I have continued to use the cho-pat strap, and so far so good. It's nice to be running again, virtually pain free. We take it for granted until we get injured. As long as I keep on stretching, and spend plenty of time on warm up and cool down, as well as stretching when needed during the routes, I hope I will stay pain free. Touch wood.

That's it for now, more next week.

Training Plan 2007 Month 5 (La Trans Aq countdown)

Below is a modified training plan for the next 4 weeks. I've specifically tailored it from my spreadsheet to fit my training for La Trans Aqu, which starts on the 4th June.

I've adapted the training session for more endurance running focus, but not forgot to add a weekly speed (interval) session it to keep it balanced. I'll continue to use a 7kg pack, but I will taper over the weeks by 25%, 50% and then 75%.



I did my hour long session today. I did plan a 10k route, a very easy and flat one. I drove to the place I intended to start, but the car park had some really suspicious looking young guys in a knackered BMW. When I drove into the small country park car park the car looked empty. I was just parking when I saw the window was half open. I thought that it was a bit strange then a lad poked his head up. They had tilted the front seats right the way back. One of them sat up, but put his arm up and kept his face looking away. Smoke drifting out of the window, so I figured they were off smoking joints. How not to look suspicious: Sit in a car park in a clapped out BMW, tilt both front seats back and wind the windows half way down to let out your joint smoke. Obviously not the smartest of cookies and definitely not the kind of people I wanted around my car for an hour whilst I was out running.

So, I pulled away and drove back home, and made up a running route as I went along. The problem with running from my house is there is a hill in any direction to get you started. I was supposed to be doing a light recovery run. This quickly became a tricky and hilly cross country over the deep cattle-divoted-ankle-breaking field route. This was then followed by a dash across a very busy dual carriageway using to reach the other side of the footpath and into a pretty woods called, somewhat bizarrely, Parrot's Drumble. It's a Bluebell wood nature reserve that I have not run in for a long time. It's a nice woodland route with wooden steps and footbridges crossing lots of bright orange streams. They are contaminated with iron-oxide from long abandoned mine works you see.

Anyway, this route requires maximum concentration as the path is very narrow and every step the roots of the trees are raised on the path. One slip and that's your ankle done! Not a wise choice of route given I am doing the event in a month! Once I exited the wood, I then had knee high grass and barbed wire fences to negotiate before finding my way back to the road and the 3/4 mile slog up a long hill, before the last 700m down hill to home. It was only a 5 mile route, and I stopped a couple of times for several minutes to do a full stretch routine. I also felt a little fatigued from the 35 mile effort at the weekend, which is understandable I guess. This wasn't the recovery run I had intended for today! However, overall I feel fine. A couple of sore tendons behind the left knee from Sunday, but none of the knee pain I have been having, and no ibuprofen needed. Yay!

Intervals and more running tomorrow.

Until next time.

35 mile ultra training session

First this weeks training: On Tuesday I did an 8 mile run, with no pack, at a deliberately slow pace. I ran at just a touch under 10 minute miles. The route was quite an undulating one with some good long climbs, but at the slow pace it was very straightforward. Two reasons: One, it's good to have an easy session in the week, all the more so because of the big session planned for the weekend. Second, I was using a Cho-Pat knee strap for the first time. The idea of the knee strap is that it makes your kneecap track better as you run. It's the kneecap movement with is the main cause of knee pain.

I was working away from home on Wednesday, but on Thursday I did a 10k interval run. Again I picked a tough undulating route, but did 2 mins run, 3 mins jog for the first 5 miles. At the mile point I then did some hill intervals. I only did 4 reps of this hill, as I was already fairly tired from the effort. The hill is short and steep though. It takes approx 20-30 seconds of hard and fast running to reach the top, by which my heart rate was over 170 bpm. Then, a nice slow jog to the bottom by which my heart rate has gone down to 120 and then the same again. If I was just doing a hill interval session on its own, I would usually aim for 10-12 reps on that hill, but 4 was enough by this time. I jogged the last mile or so home and sank some Rego recovery drink straight away, to ensure I was fit and recovered for Sunday.

On Friday I did my normal gym session, doing plenty of core stability at the moment.

Saturday I was tempted to run, but I didn't want to grossly increase my weekly mileage and tempt injury, so I have it a miss. Below is the route and the hill and speed profiles from the effort. The GPS battery gave out at about 32 miles, so the speed recording stops. Also, any flat spots you see on the speed record are where I lost GPS for a few minutes.




So, Sunday: I needed a confidence booster exactly one month before La Trans Aqu. So, I just needed to know that I could cover the distance in the minimum time allowed, which is 12 hours, or roughly 3 miles per hour. So, I decided to walk and then perhaps at 25 or 30 miles, if I felt fine I would introduce some running. I aimed to walk between 3.6 and 3.8 mph and finish within 10 hours. I loaded up my pack to 8 kilos. By day 3 of La Trans Aqu, which is the long day of 55km, my pack including 1.5l of water is only likely to weigh 5.5kg. However, I overfilled it because I had to carry all the liquid for the day, as I would not be passing checkpoints of course. Also, I figured a little overweight would be a confidence booster.

I had chosen what looked to be an interesting route. The first 20 miles were flat, joining a canal about 1 mile and a half from my house. However, what looked to be an easy flat start quickly became a bit of a horror. I had hoped that the footpath besides the canal (towpath) would be un-made i.e. an earth or grass footpath. It wasn't. It was concrete with tiny little stones cemented into the mix. I did take a photo, but for whatever reasons my camera phone has error'd today and I've lost all my pictures. So, I apologise for the lack of pictures in this post. This concrete path was very hard on my joints, worse than running on tarmac even, as tarmac or asphalt is about 10 times softer than concrete believe it or not. The towpath was this same hard concrete for the first 11.5 miles. It was torture with an 8kg pack on.

It wasn't a very warm day, perhaps only 14C, so I was not drinking my water at a very fast rate. I had used very little in the first few hours, and it was all going straight through me, so I was very well hydrated. I decided that for this reason I would dump 1 litre of the water. This would better simulate the conditions on the day, as well as take some of the load off my tortured feet.

At 11.5 miles the towpath turned into a regular footpath, all grass and packed earth. Immediately my feet felt relief. I had by now travelled down into, and then out of Stoke-on-Trent, and up towards Cheddleton near Leek. At this point the canal follows the path of the river Churnet down into the Churnet valley. The route is much more picturesque at this point. I took tons of photo's, including the Churnet Valley steam railway which I didn't know existed and scared the daylights out of me as it came past "Choo Choo!!" I reached the half way point, 17.5 miles, in 4 hours and 52 minutes. This was exactly 3.6mph, which I had found was a quick but comfortable pace carrying the weight.

An idea had been forming in my mind for the last few miles, that instead of waiting to see how I felt at 25 or 30 miles, I should start running at the half way point. I stopped at half way, taped up a couple of areas of my feet that I felt might blister and then began running. I settled into the nice easy 5 - 5.2 mph pace that I found worked well last weekend (you can see the speed profile suddenly goes up at 17.5 miles to about 5mph). This nice pace was about to come to an abrupt end though. You can see the hill profile on the map route. At 20 miles, I had decided that I needed to work in some tough terrain as it would have been all too easy to follow the nice flat canal all the way to my final destination of the town of Uttoxeter. So, at 20 miles, I took a sharp right following the Staffordshire Way footpath for the next 10 miles. As soon as I left the canal I had to climb steeply (and I mean steeply) out of the valley. It was tough to walk up, let alone run. My pace dropped off to under 0.5mph as I ascended the 350ft climb.

What I hadn't factored into my time/distance calculations were the hills you see on the profile (practically all of the 2000ft+ of ascent was in the last 20 miles), or the fact that the British footpaths mean that every couple of hundred metres you have to stop to climb over stiles, do commando rolls under farmers electric fences, dodge livestock, or run/walk to your waist in long grass. All of the above I encountered over the next 10 miles. Just trying to maintain a 3.6mph average required a massive amount of effort. I had to ditch a run 20 minute, then walk 5 minute routing, and simply settle for running whenever I could and being forced to walk when the terrain dictated it. All of the steep hills killed off my pace to under 0.5mph, so I had to run harder at the top to balance it back out. Even with the running, my average dropped down to 3.4mph. What hadn't helped was that then encountered a group of 40 men (I think they were the gay ramblers association or something. That's what I heard them say anyway), who were negotiating a stile. I had to stand at the very back and wait my turn before running past them all and up the next and last steep climb.

I then got a nice downhill and up ahead could see a castle on the skyline. It's a familiar sight if you are fairly local, and one you will recognise if you are a rollercoaster fan. I could see the Alton Castle, of Alton Towers theme park fame. Sadly, I didn't have time to jog up and have a ride on Oblivion or Nemesis, so I headed up and into the town of Alton itself. I rapidly passed through Alton and back into country fields and stiles. I'd noted happily that I had passed through the 26.2 mile barrier and was well into ultra territory. Maybe this had a negative psychological impact, or maybe it was the effort I was putting in, but at 28 miles I was starting to feel tired. It was the first time I had felt tired really. Yes, my legs had been aching for a number of miles, not helped by the concrete towpath start, but until then I had felt strong. I had been drinking SIS Go electrolyte mixed to half strength (one sachet in a 1.5l bottle of water to be precise). I had also been periodically having some of the snack mix I made up, which consisted mainly of cashew nuts and dried banana chips, but also contained dried cranberries and mango. The regular intake of the drink and food certainly helped maintain my efforts to that point.

You can see on the speed profile at about 28 miles, my pace drops, and stays low right off the chart which only lasted until 31 miles when my GPS battery ran out, and so speed recording. Looking at my watch at about 30 miles, I had bought the average back up to 3.5mph, but of course now felt shattered just only walking, and was barely managing to register 3.3mph before the GPS ran out.

Then, I remembered what turned out to be my saviour. At about 31-32 miles I remembered that I had packed a SIS Go carb gel (I have one planned for the long day for emergency use). I ripped off the top and eagerly guzzled it down. The SIS ones are very easy to take, and need no water at all. However, I upped my intake of fluid too; conscious that I had maybe that was contributing to my ailing performance over the last few miles. At just past the 32 mile mark, when I suddenly went 'zing'. The carb gel hit my bloodstream. It was like Popeye eating his spinach! I felt great again. I have it a few more minutes to hit fully, recover my strength and at 32.5 miles I started running, and I ran the remaining 2.5 miles non stop. I ran at a reduced pace of 4.7 - 5.0 mph, but I ran it all the same. My finish post, The Racecourse pub and hotel (near Uttoxeter horse race course) came into sight. I started to fade a little then, perhaps my body knowing it was all over, or perhaps the carb gel ran out? Anyway, I jogged or whatever you want to call what I was doing by then into the car park. I took off my backpack, collapsed into the car, and thankfully started drinking the SIS Rego recovery drink that was handed to me by my gf. I also took off the knee strap. My knee hadn't bothered me at all, other that the last half mile where it felt a little sore. I put the ice pack on it as a precaution, and also took my first and only ibuprofen of the day. This was more precaution that pain though.

The drive home took 20 minutes. My gf asked it if was demoralising to know that had taken me 9 hours 41 minutes and 1 second, had taken just 20 minutes to return home. Yes it was a little! I had stiffened up by the time I got home, and was walking like John Wayne. I had a hot bath, a Rego Nocte drink, a good night’s sleep and in the morning I was fine. Hardly any aches or pains, I would have been fit to do it all again, which of course I'll have to in France.

I had done what I set out to do. I had managed to pick the average back up to 3.6mph, and finish the second 17.5 miles exactly 1 minute faster than the first 17.5 miles. When you take into consideration the all the ascent in that half of the run, plus the challenging terrain, and exhaustion, I had done well. The pack weight when I had finished was still 5.5kilos, about what I will be starting the long day of La Trans Aqu with, not finishing it.

My feet and toes are in good condition. All the preventative foot taping with Leukotape paid off. I got one blister at the back of my right heel, which was my own fault. I should have filed down some skin the night before in that spot. It's not a terrible blister and feels ok today. I've walked around all day today with no issues.

So, one month to go to La Trans Aqu. I have done the distance of the longest day (actually a little more), with more pack weight to start, and over probably tougher terrain. It's just to confidence boost I needed.

I took today off, but I'll do an easy 10k tomorrow as a recovery run.

See you next week.