Fixed and Happy

Great week.

I worked in Ireland Monday to Wednesday. Monday I worked in Londonderry, then Tuesday and Wednesday in Belfast. On Tuesday night, instead of using the hotel gym treadmill, I decided I would see if I could find my way around the city centre and down to the river for my first run in almost 2 weeks. I managed to find the river and followed it for a while before hitting the docks and ending up in some industrial park. I carried on for a little while before returning by almost the same route, just tagging an extra section on the end. I didn't want to run too far, especially since the whole route was on concrete or tarmac (however totally flat). I capped it at 7 miles and felt fine. The calf didn't cause me any issues, despite there being a smallish residual knot (even now).

I did intend to run on Wednesday night but my flight home was delayed. I didn't get back home until 10pm.

On Thursday night I ran 9 miles. This time there were a few hills probably around 1000ft, but I had no choice due to lack of time to drive to somewhere flatter!

A change in plan meant that the climate chamber sessions were changed to Friday night, and also tomorrow and Tuesday nights. On Friday I did my usual gym session with no problems.

I'm really busy with work at the moment, so Friday was a rush. I finished work temporarily at 3:30pm and drove to the university where I was met by the three students and one lecturer (I'd better not mention names until I get permission, but they know who they are!). I wasn't sure what to expect and had brought all my MDS kit.

I had a few surprises in store. Firstly I handed over a urine sample taken that morning. I was a little dehydrated, but not too much, though I was told off a little and told to drink more in the day! Next they took a blood sample, which was the first surprise, but I think the scar will heal in time (finger prick)!

I had to fill in a medical questionnaire and disclaimer too. I went into change and gave them my naked body weight too. They told me for the first session I would not be wearing any shirt so they could attach wired temperature sensors to me. I then got a free body shave; well little squares in various places at least, and sensors were attached to my arms, legs, chest and back. The next surprise was that I would be having a rectal core body temperature sensor. It was certainly an unnatural experience [me] inserting I'd guess the final 5" of a wire. I also had a heart rate monitor strap attached too. I was clearly already agitated by all this with a HRM of 72 standing still!

The climate chamber had been heated to 40C with an approx humidity of 50 - 60%. I walked in and my famous last words were "Is this 40C? You know I thought it would be hotter." I did however add "I bet I won't be saying that in 10 minutes though". I'm glad I added that last bit, on reflection!

All of the temperature readings were logged at the start and I was told I would be asked to read from 3 charts in front with numbers from 1-20, 6-18 (I think) and finally "a cold to hot chart". I'll have to check what the first two charts meant specifically, but it was all around how comfortable I was feeling at any given moment.

Two of the students stayed in the chamber with me, slowly baking, whilst the third student and the lecturer sat the other side of the window. The treadmill was set to 8kph and I started to run. This is of course a leisurely pace, especially without a pack, and one that I could maintain for literally hours and hours and hours without effort under normal circumstances. I chatted to them for the first 10 minutes, as they took readings every 5 minutes and asked how I was feeling (from the charts). I chose the numbers which were generally "Very comfortable", "fairly easy", and always "Hot" though!

After 15 minutes I was getting hot, and my 'chart' answers were creeping up the board to "less comfortable" and "less easy". My heart rate climbed from an initial few minutes at 120 to 150, 160, then 168 was the last I remember hearing logged. My core temperature started at 37.4 I think and also started to rise.

From 20 minutes onwards I was feeling fairly uncomfortable, and the easy 8kph pace though not hard in itself, was just cooking me. I asked for the speed to be taken down slightly around 25 mins I think. By 30 minutes I was giving answers of "feeling very uncomfortable" and "quite hard". My arms and legs didn't feel particularly 'hot' though they were bathed in sweat. My head however by this time felt like a balloon, and I had touch of light-headedness. They called the lecturer in once my core temp reached 39.6 and then stopped the session, as that is the safety cut-off. I certainly wasn't about to argue as I was feeling fairly ropey at this point.

Stepping outside the chamber was blissful! Still I was feeling quite hot, so they sat me down and began cooling with a fan and a bucket of water to dip the wrist into, plus some towel down with cold water. It was a good fifteen minutes before I felt fine again. More blood was taken, and also initial estimates could put me at burning through 1.5litres of water an hour at the rate I was drinking, verus weight loss. However, it's too early to tell off one session, so that may change.

It was an interesting experience and I look forward to the next two, in which I may well be wearing my MDS kit and pack. What makes it so difficult is the chamber humidity. The desert will hopefully be less than 10% humidity. When there was 20-30% in the MDS in 2006 over 150 people retired from the race; 61 ended up on IVs, 2 ended up in comas, 1 person was medivac'd to France but survived. So here I am running at 40C in 50-60% humidity, which is way over and above what I can expect the conditions to be like (at least in terms of humidity). If I had been pulled out at 33 minutes on a low humidity then I would have been concerned, but as it stands I am not. There is no way to drop the humidity in the current chamber, though there are plans for a higher-tech chamber with all sorts of capabilities. In the meantime, I am experiencing overheating the likes of which I hope I won't face in the desert. It's all good practice!

Just as valuable was speaking to the lecturer and students afterwards and getting all of the technical knowledge around overheating, and hydration. Also on the way out one of the students pointed out the most useful piece of advice in that I must learn to recognise when I am starting to feel unwell and take appropriate action. That may sound obvious, must when you are fixed on the goal of the finish line I think it is easy to ignore your own well being. As much as I want to run as much of the MDS as possible, I have to know when to slow or even stop and sort myself out. In fact I don't want to even be in that position, so I must really keep on top of my hydration. I'm really grateful for the help from the Uni and students who are geniunely interested in my challenge.

I am toying with the idea of setting my watch to interval mode and on the alarm, say every 5 minutes, take a sip or two or water. This might drive me nuts, but it might also keep me alive. I have also been wondering about a wrist cooler. I realise that these take a quantity of water to activate but this does seem an effective method of lowering the core temperature. I might quiz the students about this tomorrow.

The session finished about 6:15, slightly later than anticipated, so I had to dash off and then drive to Stockport to work until midnight. I had to be up again early and back at Stockport on Saturday morning and worked until 1pm. I got back home and 2pm and went for a run along the canal (short drive away). The idea here was that I would do minimal climbing to easy my calf muscle back to work this week.

I had already clocked up 20 miles this week of a planned 35 miles. However, I decided I would do a little more mileage and also carry more weight instead of the 5kg planned (this was a recovery week in the program). I packed 10kg and did a steady 5.5mph for 5 miles, before turning on my heals and returning at 5.6mph. I can hand on heart say that I got back to the car and barely felt like I had been for a run. I wasn't the least bit out of breath or tired at all, despite the 10kg weight.

I decided that was too easy, so on Sunday I did the three elevens.
11 miles
11 kilos
1100ft of ascent

I ran around Swynnerton old forest, in between Newcastle-under-Lyme and the A51 Stone to Nantwich road. This time I of course ran a little slower, around 5.3mph, but still finished strong. 11kg is the biggest weight I have carried in training so far (discounting day 1 of the disaster in Tenerife in December). I had attached my sleeping bag and bed roll to the backpack for some extra realism.

I enjoyed the run and was glad to finish feeling fine again. I sit now with a very sore spot on my lower back though. The pack hasn't so much rubbed (there is no mark) but I think the bouncing action of the contents (lots of 1.5l water bottles) has bruised my spine. Sadly I can't actually see the area, being where it is on my back. I'll have to ask some random person tomorrow, to see what I've done to it! I don't think I’ll be carrying a pack for a few days though. Hopefully this is just due to the nature of the training pack content, and it won't trouble me 'on the day', but it is something to be aware of. So 41 miles covered, and well.

You know what; I'm feeling inexplicably happy at the moment. I can't quite put my finger on why? Yes I am pleased that my calf injury seems to have gone, and I don't seem to be worse for wear fitness-wise, but it's more than that? Oh well, whatever it is, its welcome!

Hopefully my training will go well this coming week. I am ramping up to full scheduled mileage (74 miles). I may have some disruption because my son's mother has gone to the States on holiday today, so I have my son for the whole of this week and not just the first couple of days like normal. I will just have to fit in my training around his nursery hours. I may have to run at lunch and work late if my workload allows. I am going to try and get in a weekly clinical sports massage to keep the calf and other injuries at bay.

Enjoy your week. :-)