Altitude training in the Rift Valley

I had been expecting to launch into a monologue about the merits of two long runs at 7000ft a day and how my form had improved. Having read Adharanand Finn's book - Running with the Kenyans, I was more than salivating to be able to train at such altitude and eat the local cuisine. The lowest altitude that I would be at would be 4500ft above sea level and the majority of the time would be spent at 7000ft.

With 2 days at Lake Naivasha I popped out for an early morning hour long run. I was soon left wanting. A slight incline along the main road at 8s left me gasping for air. I was shocked as this level of breathlessness I would have been expecting to run 7s or less. The strange thing that I experienced was that it was hard to catch my breath. I was not sure how to breath deeper other than to suck every ounce of oxygen from the surrounds. I still was left wanting. I headed off piste up a dried-up riverbed and up into the hills. At some point hands on knees, dropped the pace and hunkered up the hill to get a good view of the lake. Downhill back to breakfast and my first run in Kenya. Job done.

My main reason to be here in Kenya was to take a 6th Form trip to Kipsamoo School, just over 7500ft above sea level. This is an impoverished school that my school has linked up with, with the 6th Formers teaching the younger pupils and the 2 staff with me teaching the older pupils (ranging from 11-20 yrs old) and my role in training the staff and advising the leadership of the school to try to get more pupils to university.

I was utterly knocked back with emotion as I crested the hill after the 1500ft one hour walk up to the summit of the tea planting region. 350 pupils running straight for us, mostly in ripped clothes and no shoes. After some introductions there was an impromptu England vs Kenya football match, 15 on our team and over 100 on the opposition. We lost!

After 4 days of the hour walk and back down each day up to Kipsamoo School, I decided it was time for a run through the slums of the village. Anybody who has been to this part of the world knows the meaning of the "long drop" and coupled with 30+ degree temperatures and a heavy rainstorm 2 hours earlier, the smell was ripe. Not deterred, team 6th form boys joined me on a jaw droppingly stunning run through the villages with a throng of kids in tow, all shouting at us and smiling as we ran back.

My scientific head took over on the final day and I conducted some experiments using the fastest and fittest Kenyan lads. After a 1 mile flat out run I measured the recovery of the chaps and I was amazed by what I found out. Most had a resting heart rate of 70-80, much higher than I would have expected for a fit 18-20 year old. After the mile, heart rates went up to around 180-190 and then took on average 8 minutes to recover to about 90 and 5 mins to recover to below 100. My own rate started at 68, 14 bpm higher than normal and reached 180ish......I could feel this pumping through my skull (!) and recovered to below 100 also within 5-6 mins.

After this, my only exercise was the hour walk each day, plus a 5 hour walk to see the sunrise in the Kakamega Rainforest.....

Followed by a 1km swim at breakfast at 5000ft altitude above Lake Victoria. This was yet another time of being found out with breathlessness. As competitive as I am, there was a challenge of me vs 6th form with an underwater swimming contest. A 25m pool should be easy right? No! Not one of the 6th form, including the trained lifeguard to manage half a length. Add in an unbelievable ice-cream headache from swimming underwater at altitude and only I could manage the length.

having said, I can see how the altitude and diet go hand in hand for developing champions. In the 11 days of eating Kenyan food, I consumed about 10% of the meat I would normally eat and add in Sukuma wiki, green grams, rice, cabbage and especially ugali and I lost 3kg but had loads of energy.

I can see that the lifestyle is akin to hard training and would be great to have a month out here before an 100 but work and wife and impending baby might not allow this! Do I feel better? Yes....but not that much better!

Kenya rocks!

Heart of the Weald Marathon - Race Report

It was with some trepidation that I went to bed on Saturday evening knowing that my last 2 ultras resulted in a resounding brace of DNFs. I didn't sleep well that evening and woke up less refreshed than I should have. This time I would have my two Dulwich Park Runners training partners Phil and Eric with me. What surprised me is that in all of the time I have run with Eric, we have never run a marathon together. Today was going to be the day that I addressed the small dip in my journey to running Nirvana.
We shot off down to Wadhurst in good time to opt for an early start. I knew the runners start was 10.00am but the excellent organisers of the Kent LDWA event were happy to allow runners to go off early with one eye on the scorching 31 degrees of baking sunshine later that day. At just before 9.00am i checked the temperature and it was already 22 degrees.

Phil had just come back from an excellent run at the Coniston Marathon in the Lake District and although his form has really improved this season, was tired as a consequence of this from our 11 mile run back from Tower Bridge on Thursday. Coupled with this, my 48 miles in the week had me concerned that there was not much in the tank for me, although this was a training run and I wanted to run on heavy legs. We set off at 9.00am along with another runner who we quickly dropped. Down hill out of Wadhurst and into some fairly awesome scenery that I have never had the pleasure of running before. What was even better was I was running with two amazing friends and we were going to blast this course and enjoy ourselves whilst doing so. We headed down into the first of many valleys and into wooded trails. Beautiful.

The course notes for this LDWA were very detailed. The first 13 miles of the course were very technical. There was a point where 3 paragraphs covered just over a mile. There was a lot of stopping, checking, stopping and rechecking. This made for very good sight-seeing but not conducive to a quick marathon. We soon realised that this was essentially an in-and-out-of-valley run with a myriad of streams punctuated by downhill and uphill running. Then we spotted deer, bathing in a lake like some scene from the Masai. 5.5 miles in the first hour led to a cheery welcome at CP1. Biscuits, grapes and juice on offer to replenish hot sweaty runners. Off after just a couple of minutes to perhaps the harder part of the course. The hills were never more than 200ft but they went on, up, down, up, down. Much of the course was overgrown and thighs and knees were punctuated with pinpricks of blood from brambles and smarting from stinging nettles. Each field traverse was through long grass and rutted pathways and a plethora of styles, gates and narrow ginnels slowed us down but rarely dampened our spirits. No more so than a cameo 6.50s down a winding gully by Eric and me. This was the first time I thought that Phil was a bit down.

CP2 was found at 12 miles and in shade with crisps, fruit and biscuits, we refueled before heading down a road stretch. it was nice to switch off the instructions for a moment. Phil had been unusually quiet and within 20 mins, said that he was going to pull at the next CP and take the road back to Wadhurst. We regrouped, slowed our pace and kept the banter high enough to keep spirits up. The course was opening up into fields and the heat beat down upon us. Arriving at CP3, Phil eyed the OS map and plotted a course back. We joined David, who had also DNF'd at the SDW100 last month. He overtook us as we piled into a shop in Mayfield to take on the fastest drained cans of Coke in Kent. We caught up and ran with him for 2 miles, chit-chatting about ultras and enjoying the scenery. Phil and David peeled off and headed for home. Eric and I headed down a dark gully and for about 4 miles, were buzzing along at the best pace of the day. CP4 was just awesome and very needed. Cheery welcome, cherry tomatoes, crisps, coke and cake washed down with a cold wash and a hat full of water to cool now dangerously hot core temperatures and we pootled off for the last 5 miles.

I traveled light for this. Silly me. I'd been map-man for the first 25 miles and then I made 2 mistakes that added just about 2 miles onto our day. Both were in the final 3 paragraphs of the instructions. Both were my fault. I was annoyed with myself as I am the most reliable map/directions person that I know. When I listen to others, things go wrong but rarely do I go wrong. (non-believers now need to read my blog from cover to cover!) " mistakes, one up a hill and the other missing a turn 3/4 of a mile around Bewl Water and I felt like the wind had left my sails. Run-walking the last 2 until we realised that the time was ticking towards 6, yes 6 hours we blasted the last mile uphill to the finish. 5 hours 58 mins. The slowest but hardest marathon I have done in a long time. We met Phil and quaffed a much needed cider at the end. No one overtook us save for the couple who were running the 20 and beat us with our wrong turn at the end. I wonder how we finished in the field after many runners switching to the shorter distance owing to the heat?

So here we are, beetroot-faced but happy. A really well organised event and I'll be back again for one of the best LDWA events I've done. Marathon 40 is now complete.

The gauge on the car read 33 degrees when we returned. Cider rarely tasted so good.

Croydon Ultra race report - Another fall. Another DNF

I started the Croydon Ultra in the main wave....main wave being about 25-30 runners. There were 8.00am, 8.30am and 8.45am waves of a few, including winner of the NC50 Johnny Melbourne. I have no doubt he would win the race. I chose the last wave, which included long-time-no-see Steve Barnes, looking on form.

So I was expecting the Croydon Ultra to be dirty and foul and without any interest. No. The change of course had the first 6 miles head out down the Vanguard Way, through the dappled shade and at 22-23 degrees we knew it would be a hot one. Johnny had gone off in the first wave and I have no doubt he would win the race, I didn't feel I would be in the zone that I was in at the NC50 which is why I was glad of the second wave. I sat behind the leading guys knowing that a training run is a training run. Coming into CP1 at the White Bear, I began to find some mojo and upped the pace a bit, to keep the front 2 and Susan, 3rd lady of the NDW50 in my vision. The course was really nice at this point. I then knew the second part of the course like the back of my hand. All was starting to fall into place, after an early tentative pace, I found the pace pick up and a small walk break up Spout Hill and picking up 2 awesome chaps we discussed falling into potholes and my SDW100 fall.

Then it happened. I clipped a tree root, landed hip first, then head and arm. Race over. I hobbled with the guys coming into 6/7th place and struggled. I had landed on my right arm, just mended from the last fall which really pissed me off. Luckily this was softer ground this time.....well it was Croydon. Every gel in my pockets had burst and were running sugary goo down my legs and I had a headache and sore hip. The biggest issue now is that my right hamstring was very painful, over-compensating for my left hip. I pulled in at CP2, thanked Ian Campbell for his excellent course markings and organisation and went home. Bollocks. Fuck.

2 x DNF in 2 races. 2 identical falls. What is going on? I am not feeling great mentally about his at the moment but know that I need to get back on the horse, so to speak.

Bollocks again.

Recovery and July is starting to feel good.

The last couple of weeks I could have just pulled the duvet over my head when the alarm went off and bunked off work, done nothing and vegetated, much has been my malaise. I have not felt bad about the SDW100 DNF but have had a general disposition that texters and Facebookers would call Meh!

After my legendary fall I have secured the first DNF corner in Ultra Tales Magazine (thanks Paul and good luck on the TR250, minding those canals of course!) I have succumbed to some genuine post race blues and a few heavy weeks of work, plus some big chores at home with building and things. So it was to this weekend that saw the unlikely return of the mojo! Early doors saw me dive onto the train (I was late up, so not that early) and to meet Phil and Harley at Brixton for an urban run. The sun was shining and we were going to knock out some miles. 11 miles later and jumping and bouncing off walls, pavements and benches in some rampant parcour-stylee and I was back to top knockings. Soon after some showing off through the crowds of South Bank it was off to canal territory and the docklands trails and paths. An awesome run and military plan of events with the new master of ultra Mr Phil B and we were then 20 miles of canals and backwaters into our run, fueled only on fresh fruit and water. (plus a cheeky Iron Bru at the end) Sunday consisted of 2 runs. I have been aiming to stay off main roads (reasonably difficult in London!) but have found some trails and paths that offer woodland and parks which one is overwhelmed with in South London.  Sunday morning was a recovery run that turned into much quicker miles and Sunday evening saw a cheeky 5km followed by an awesome smoothie.

I'm still feeling a little rusty.

The tumble on the SDW100 has largely recovered. Tendons in my wrist and a really bad back are the spoils of my exploits but largely I still can knock out some sub-7s. Just. After a really good 9 mile run today with plenty of hills and some regained confidence, I am ready to face the world again. Mini-depression/malaise over. It is the Croydon Ultra on Saturday and I will be using this as a good long training run ready for the Thames Gateway 60 in a few weeks.

Welcome back.

Ultra Entries this next few weeks

So I've not blogged for a couple of weeks as work has been busy. I've been doing some runs but either social or supporting others, both have been great. After a recovery week last week, most of the bruising has gone. My wrist and elbow still look like I've been mauled by a dog but the rest of me is fine.

I've reminded myself that my belt buckle haul has not increased and although I am not happy about it, I am relaxed about the coming weeks. This time last year I ran the SDW100 and then promptly had 3 months of no running, so happy I was to have run a sub-24 at the first try. This summer I have no such break. This week has seen me run to support Eric on his epic 7 x Parkrun and run between in a day. Eric covered 45.1 miles and I supported over the last runs in Burgess Park and Hillyfields. Although I only ran 17 miles that day, it was the back end of the course for Eric and I hope he subscribed to my mantras for the longer runs. That said, he made a cameo 6.50s for the last 50 metres and smashed it!

I've had a couple of midweek runs which have either been slightly above or slightly below the threshold. Running a quick 4 miler to de-stress from work or switching to a much longer run to enjoy. It has been much harder this year as I am arriving home at 7-7.30pm each night, then running and then having to cook for me Mrs UB and the new bump, YES! we have a little runner in the womb!

So, with that bump in mind, I have decided to drop the 100+ quest and continue with marathons and shorter ultras. Coming up:

Next week: Croydon ultra 30 miles
August: Thames Gateway 60 miles
October: Downslink 38 miles

In between I am going to sneak in some summer cheeky marathons before the bump grows too big!

South Downs Way 100 Race Report

It all started with a dash out of school on Friday afternoon and jump on the train into town and then from Waterloo to Winchester. I was feeling so very un-nervous it was a little strange. Last year I was almost shaking with nerves until I started my 23 hrs 30 min 100 mile race. This time round, it felt different. I dropped my gear at the B&B and met up with Helen on the way. We scouted round the tiny town centre in search of a good carb load and settled on a place for plenty of pasta and garlic bread. It was great to catch up with Helen again and we began planning the little run we had planned for the following day.

 I said goodbye to Helen and then went back to the B&B to have a final sort of my drop bags. Then the much needed excitement hit me and I couldn't sleep! I must have finally dropped off and the alarm went at 4.00am, Tom lane picked me up at 5.00 and I was at Chilcomb for the start of the SDW100, nice and relaxed and ready to go. Tom saw us off and then again at the top of the 700ft high Cheesefoot head.

It was a chilly start but after a mile or so, it was jacket off, head down and start to grind out the early miles. Last year there was a sharp shower for an hour or so to take the shine off the morning. This year, windy and cloudy and a nice soft surface after some heavy rain. Puddle dodging aside, Helen and I both stated that we were not feeling it like last time around but still got a healthy clip going. The field was much larger (250) than last year but even those early miles saw a very spread field in terms of speed. Knowing the task ahead we kept our pace down to a pace that would not allow us to go into the red, not even on the hills. In no time at all, Beacon Beeches (checkpoint 1) was upon us and a friendly welcome followed by coke, apricots and cherry tomatoes was my diet. Checking my times from last year we were about 2 mins quicker for the first 10 miles, although Helen stated that she felt we were slower. Next it was onto the longest gap between checkpoints on to QE2P at mile 22.5. We must have got a move on here, assisted with the usual high quality banter, fueled on coke and fruit and even the high point of the course at Butser Hill (889ft) was run almost all of the way. On the way down with a very minor navigation error we were caught by Springfield Strider David, who had finished 20 mins ahead of us last year. As we carefully descended Buster Hill to avoid mincing our quads, I felt that the plan was starting to fall into place. I felt good. Checkpoint 2 QE2P was reached 8 minutes quicker than last year. We left the Checkpoint quite quickly after fueling on wraps, tomatoes, melon and a scotch egg. After a run/walk up to let the snacks get to my stomach, there was a period of big hills up and down but always with a run, not a walk. Helen and I overtook quite a few runners here and as we caught the last wafts of wild garlic through the wet wooded trails, in no time at all we were at the summit of Harting Down for checkpoint 3. (more coke, fruit and some peanuts) I can't work out if we were more intelligent at checkpoints or going quicker, or both, but despite my next words, arrived at Cocking aid station 30 minutes ahead of last year's times. This was an impressive 2 minutes per mile quicker than previous! Awesome! However, I was to be thwarted big style.

Catching and overtaking around 10 runners between 793ft Beacon Hill, 773ft Treyford Hill and 803ft Linchdown Hill it was off down the wide open chalk and flint escarpment of Cocking Down which we were now running down at sub 8 min miles. And that is where I clipped a rock with my right foot, flew threw the air, landed on my wrist, (actually on my Garmin) then elbow, then face and somehow my shoulder and both knees, coming to a rest further down the hill. The first thing I did was jump up and start running again. That was weird. Helen stopped me and hung my shattered Garmin in front of me. "Don't you want this then?" A few other runners caught up, checked I was OK, asked lots of questions and aside from a lot of blood and a ripped running top, I soldiered on. Looking at my face in the wing mirror of a car at Cocking aid station I realised that this was a little more serious than a tumble. I'm often falling down on long runs, losing concentration and not looking where I am going but this was me versus solid flint and chalk and the ground won. I cleaned off most of the blood at Cocking (35.1 miles) and off we went. I had my first and only gel at Cocking. Somewhere in the next few miles I think I went into shock. I felt very cold, was confused and didn't really know what was going on. I had a little walk, then continued to run, much to the annoyance of Helen who wanted to make sure I was OK. That was the dawn of realisation, after stopping very briefly at Bignor Hill (mile 42) aid station (we were now an hour up on the time from last year), that I was in pain, pain that was more than just discomfort. My face hurt but more worryingly, I was struggling to move my arm and my wrist and hand was very swollen. Then my chest started to hurt which I later realised was me also landing on the drinks bottle strapped to my chest, which was affecting my deep breathing as the bruising took hold. In my pocket, my shattered Garmin continued to beep away, mile by mile of which I was counting the miles out loud as there was no screen. Last year we walked the long cobbled Roman road up the 738ft of Bignor Hill but this time we ran all the way. The demons in my head were whispering to me to stop and pull out. These voices got louder and louder as the pain increased and I decided that I was on a real wobble, called George who was waiting at Washington (mile 54) to pace me to Clayton Windmills (mile 70) to come and pick me up. I was bailing. Wow. This should have been a really hard decision but it was easy. Something in my head said it would make sense. I didn't want to hold up Helen and I would fight another day. Amberley at mile 48 would be my last. I gave Helen a big hug goodbye. She didn't want to leave me, bless. The sun came out and a wave of relief came over me as George, Astrid and little Jo pulled up in the car. George wanted to take me to hospital but I said to drop me at the nearest train station. Hero George drove me all the way to the A&E at Lewisham, so that I could be near home for when I left hospital. Poor Linda and Tim drove all the way to Washington on the bike to come and see me, but Linda, being on the back of the bike, didn't get my text to not come. I think Tim enjoyed getting the leathers on though!

Things then really began to take toll. I felt a bit weird in the car but after the mars bar and some juice, I started to feel a bit more human. Later, the hospital told me that I had concussion. Arriving at hospital I prepared myself for hours of waiting. The service from the nurses, doctors, radiologist and consultant were excellent and hats off to them for the turnaround in about 1 hour 45 mins. The result was 9 X-rays (allegedly my arm was too big for the X-Ray table) and cheekbone. I had initially been booked in for a CT scan but the  doctor quickly worked out that I was mental anyway and lucid enough to be probably not in need of one. All of the x-rays looked fine and amazingly no broken bones. Diagnosis; concussion and ligament damage to the distal section of the left wrist, bruising/contusion to the wrist, elbow, shoulder, cheekbone and chest.

By 8.00am I was home, bathed and a steaming hot plate of sausage and chips smothered in gravy, feeling sore but glad that I pulled out at mile 48. Waking up this morning, I am obviously in a bit of pain. The odd thing is, the pain is all from the fall and I don't even feel like I ran 48 miles yesterday. I don't even have any running related stiffness at all. I've had a load of messages and texts wishing me a speedy recovery and lots of comments that I must be gutted but in truth, I am not at all. This was totally the best outcome after the fall. Had I carried on and had swelling in my brain, it might have been game over. Had I broken my wrist/arm, then the damage done by running another 52 miles might have put me out for many months. Helen crossed the line in 21 hours and 47 minutes. In my head during the mid part of our run I had 2 goals which were beginning to unfold. 1) Finish in the dark. 2) I had the figure of 22 hours as a target time. Helen achieved both of these and knocked 1 hour 43 minutes off our time last year. Well done Helen. Awesome run. The real heros of the day though: george, Astrid and Jo, who cut short their weekend to drive from Washington checkpoint at mile 54, then decided to take me all the way home. I am so very grateful for your kindness.