Old Faithful

It has been an up and down, then back up week!

I rested on Monday and on Tuesday did a 13.5 mile trail route, taking in 1400ft of ascent. Despite the nights getting lighter I am still finishing the weekday routes in the dark, so I have had ample practice with a head torch now. Despite the manufacturers claims of 80 hours life on the Petzl plus, I've noticed that the brightness deteriorates after a lot less than half of that. In fact I'd go as far to say as it is probably a quarter of that. I'll have to make sure I only use the torch on low beam in the evenings on day 1-3 of the MDS to ensure my battery is still at near to full strength on the long day 4, when I really need it.

On Wednesday I was up at 4am and flew to Belfast, then drove to Londonderry where I was working. After work I checked into the hotel and went straight down to the gym to do a session I was dreading; 13 miles on the treadmill. Given I am training at an steady endurance pace, there is nothing more demoralising to know that you will be running on the spot for the next 2 hours. Still, it is good mental training I told myself. So I watched plenty of people arrive, workout and then depart whilst I jogged away. I think I heard every track of the music they played twice, and had no headphones to listen to the TV's. Still I got through the session and was left very hungry. The hotel restaurant had absolutely no pasta on the menu whatsoever, so I told the maître d' I needed a high-carb meal and she said it was no problem. She suggested a big bowl of pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and pesto. Since I eat this myself at home twice a week it sounded perfect. She came back and asked if I wanted any meat. I thought about it and yes, but just a little. The food took an absolute age; 40 minutes I'd guess, and when it arrived there was about half a chicken piled in slices on top of some (and not a very big bowl either!) pasta in full on tomato sauce with some pepperoni. So, absolutely nothing like she described! Still, I wasn't about to wait another 40 minutes, so I just ate it, needing to replenish those burned carbs. I was still hungry, and unsurprisingly there was no rice pudding on the dessert menu, so I left. I went down to the bar, eyed up a couple of scones, then bought and ate them to top me up.

I worked all day in Londonderry on Thursday and drove back to Belfast for my 18:45 flight back to Manchester. It was the first time the flight had actually been on time; a miracle. However, when I arrived the car rental place had no cars at Terminal 3 and took about 20 minutes to get one brought over from terminal 1. I eventually got home at 20:45 and just decided that it was too late to start running 12 or 13 miles. It's not so much the distance as the risk involved with running over rough ground; fields and woods, at night. If I were to put a foot wrong and twist or break my ankle I'd never forgive myself this close to the MDS. I decided to defer my run to the following day.

I woke on Friday and knew immediately my calf muscle was in bad shape again. I had tightness from the Popliteus behind the knee down the inside of my calf. It was tender to the touch again too, and the stubborn knot that I have had for weeks was worse too. It was not as bad as a few weeks ago, but I certainly didn't fancy my chances running 13 miles, then a full weekend running with heavy pack on top of that. It was almost as if sensing my need that my Uncle phoned and said that he could fit me in for an appointment; life-saver! I drove over and had 40 minutes sports massage on just the left calf. I didn't realise it, but my Peroneal tendon on the other side of that calf was in really bad shape too. So bad in fact that even after the full session it was still really painful and poor. My uncle then came in and continued, but with added 'oomph'. It is a case of just grinding your teeth and whimpering as he works it (knowing it is doing you good!), but it did ease he said. After that I hobbled (you would too after all the treatment!) into the next room and onto the interferential machine for 10 minutes. My uncle didn't want me to run at all; not on Friday or all weekend. In fact he said he thought I'd done enough miles and he'd be happier if I didn't run another step until Morocco.

I compromised and said I would not run that evening, and I would see what I was like for the weekends planned routes. I thanked him, as always, and I will no doubt be going for a few more sessions before I go to the MDS.

So I didn't run Friday. After the treatment there would have been no chance anyway, I was just too sore. I applied some Voltarol cream to the calf at the same time as doing my nightly foot care routine.

On Saturday it still felt tight, but I thought I could manage some kind of a run. I had planned 16 miles in with a full pack. Not wanting to tempt fate, I opted to try and run the distance but with a lightweight pack of just of 2kg (mostly fluids). However, to offset this, I decided that I would run at 9 minute miles instead of the usual pack-bearing 11-12 minute miles. I started running and just really struggled from the off. I always stop (stopping my watch) after about 10 minutes and do a full stretch routine, but this did little to help, even though I stretched for longer than usual. My left Soleus was tight and so was the area behind that knee. After about 3 miles I stopped to stretch it again, but again no improvement. I was getting the pins and needles, loss of feeling in my feet which is a sure sign my calves are not good. I was time conscious that I had to get back to collect my son from my mother, who was babysitting him, by 12:15pm. These extended stretch sessions had eaten badly into my time. I decided I would have to cut the run short, but wondered if I would even make it another couple of miles? Already I thought that Sunday’s long run would be lost. I was really demoralised at the thought of my last big mileage training week in ruins. I continued on and after 4.5 miles, almost in the space of 200M, I suddenly felt right. The numbness went, as did the tightness. Everything had just taken a really long time to warm up.

I had lost a lot of time and could only target 14 miles. My pace had suffered too and I had only averaged 9:19 minute, at the 7 mile stage. I turned on my heels for the return trip and tried to pick up the pace. I thought maybe I could grab a few seconds per mile back and bring the average down. I watched it tick very slowly down as the miles went by and wondered if I could actually get it back to a 9 minute mile average? Of course this would mean running the second 7 miles at around 40 seconds per mile faster than the first 7 miles. My pack wasn't too heavy and getting lighter as I drank, so I pushed that little bit more, and despite the route ending on a 2 mile incline I somehow got the average back to 8:57. So, the session had gone from disaster to triumph. I was happy, and Sundays run was back on.

I went out for a friend’s birthday meal on Saturday night in Manchester, but drove home afterwards leaving everyone else to go onto the bars. I got in just after midnight, and slept well, right through to 9:15am. I packed my rucksack, weighing in at 12.25kg and planned a route that would take in 2000ft of ascent; more than the 1500ft of ascent in the 'Grindleford Gallop' event that I had wanted to do that weekend. I wore clothes that I would wear in the MDS, but at the last minute threw in a lightweight Pertex jacket into my rucksack 'just in case'. I left in glorious sunshine and sunglasses but just 1 mile into the route at the top of my local 'hill' exposed to the elements it started hailing and went very cold. I slipped on my Pertex top to protect from the wind, but the hail turned to sleet, then rain and soon soaked me to the bone. Then, almost as soon as it had arrived, the weather changed again; back to sunshine. I dried off my glasses and ran on, and dried out in the process. It took me a long time to warm up again, but eventually I settled back into it. I ran the route from memory, even including some small 'new' sections which I managed to navigate successfully. After 10 miles there is a good 3 mile ascent which was quite steep at time leading into Swynnerton Old Forest. I stopped at 11 miles to fill up my electrolyte and found to my horror that the bag had burst. I had stored it in an unusual place, and I made a mental note not to do it again. So, I was down on electrolytes but had been getting through my cashew nuts at a steady pace.

My legs and calves started to feel tired after about 16 miles in the hilly forest terrain, aggravated by the lack of electrolytes no doubt. I was averaging 5.1mph at this point and was determined to keep it like that to at least the 20 mile mark. I remembered that sometime last year I had done a similar route and managed a 5.0mph average up to 20 miles before dropping off to a 4.8 or 4.9 in the last mile or so. Of course at that time I was carrying a much lighter pack. I can't remember exactly, but I'd guess it was 7 or 8kg. If you want to be a train-spotter you can look back over my old posts and find the one where I took a photo of my watch showing the 5.0mph average at 20 miles and tell me what my pack weighed!!

So I wanted to beat that average time despite having a much heavier pack. Despite tiring, I picked myself back up with a few psychological tricks and distractions and hauled myself from 18.5 to 20 miles and maintained 5.1mph! Yay! Still, when I did it, I knew that wasn't enough. I now had to finish the route and not lose any more time. In between then and the end were two unpleasant inclines, which tortured me. I was running on empty by now; no water or nuts left. I ran down the last hill and stopped my watch, fairly well spent, still at 5.1mph average; 22 miles covered. The heavy pack really had made itself known later in the route, but vitally had not rubbed me at all. You know why? I was using my old faithful two year old Raidlight Sac Runner pack, and not the Raidlight Evolution II that I have been using since December.

As soon as I had put the pack on that morning it had felt right. The Evo II has been serving me well, but as the weight has increased, so has my discomfort. I was getting rubbed by the pack, something I had never experienced with the old Sac Runner. Additionally the Evo II has some design flaws in my opinion. The elastic strap which houses the 1.5l water bottle on the front pack has frayed and torn because of the stress of the bouncing action. I don't think it will last much longer. The elastic on the Sac Runner is about 3 times thicker. Also when the Evo II straps are pulled tight, preventing any sideways 'swing' as you run, it sits too high on you back, again in my opinion, and causes the rubbing I have been getting; The Sac Runner always sits around the waist. I wanted so much to like the Evo II. It has some great features like the road book holder and it's smaller and more lightweight, but it is just not working for me. I did contact Raidlight about the quality issues, but they could only offer me a front pack from a Sac Runner in replacement, which lacks the two centre clips that the Evo II pack has. I declined as that would make the front pack bounce too much.

You've already guess that I will of course be taking old faithful with me to the MDS. It needs a lot of patching up in the form of sewing and duct tape, but I'm sure it will see me through the event. I feel strangely comforted knowing that it is coming along, battle scars and all.

So this week I didn't quite manage my planned 75 miles because I missed out that Thursday/Friday session, but still 62 miles isn't bad. I am also happy because it was with an overweight pack of over 12kg. I hope that my pack for the MDS will weight around 10-10.5kg, including 1.5l of water. I've always had this piece of probably totally groundless knowledge in my head that it takes 3 weeks for any physiological changes, from any running, to have an effect on my body. I am happy because today is my last 'big' run, I carried a very heavy pack, and it is exactly 3 weeks to the start of the MDS.

I am relieved to make it through this week and can begin my taper now. I will get plenty of treatment where required and must now concentrate on getting strong. That's not to say I am putting my feet up, as I still have about 35 miles planned for this week, and if I am feeling fine I may do a few more (but not too many!).

Have a good week.