Disease ridden and banging the Devil

Best laid plans and all that! Those that know me will be aware that I am *slightly* prone to changing my mind about races and all things running. The amount of times I've signed up to a race/run/plan and then backed out is a bit of a running joke. After starting my high mileage plan in March I decided to abandon all ultramarathons and concentrate on racing shorter distances. This has paid off by getting under 40mins for 10K and under 90mins for HM.

The next stage was to carry on with Hadd training and try to achieve a sub 3hr marathon. I was hoping that would have been at Loch Ness this year.

But (and there was always going to be a but!) my psoriasis came back. It has slowly started to get worse since I resumed eating dairy in May. However it got really bad when I was on holiday in Ireland and to my horror it had returned to my foot

No need to panic though - I have gone back to a fully vegan diet in the last week and seen significant improvement. I have also returned to the creams and potions supplied by the NHS specialist. Things are looking better and I've only needed to superglue my foot together once

Here's the rub though. I've realised that I may not be a consistent runner forever. God knows whats round the corner and maybe this time next month I'll be on the injury bench for months until the pox dies down a bit. So while I still have the chance, do I really want to remember my running as a means to an end - regimented training and a struggle to hit a self imposed timed goal? When I thought about my mates running on the West Highland Way next weekend having a whale of a time with fantastic scenery I was simply jealous. That is what I'd like to remember if it all goes pear shaped.

So change of plan. I'm running/jogging/bimbling the Devil O The Highlands Ultra next weekend (well, I'm on the reserve list) and also Speyside Ultra at the end of August. I have no time in mind and am running it with Mrs_Shanksi - I want to take it easy, enjoy myself and have a whale of a time with mates. I'll continue with the Hadd training because I really enjoy it and it is superb for my fitness. Long may it continue

Hiatus

I've not put any updates here since the D33 race as I've been taking a small hiatus from long distance running. My injurys last year meant I've been left with less than optimal running fitness and I made the decsion to abandon ultra running at least until I had retained my form up to marathon distance.

Progress is slow but I am feeling fast again. I am training daily with Mike using Hadd methods and have developed my areobic base considerably in the last 4-5 months. Heart rate training at 300(ish) miles per month has yielded good results. I've set a new half marathon PB of 1:29 (from 1:35) and new 10K PB of 38:53 (from 40:29).

Thanks to Rhona for the pic

Not sure I'll do another 10K this year as they are too bloody fast. The plan is to do 2 half marathons over the summer (Dyce and Moray) to try and get closer to 1:25 and then my main race is the Loch Ness Marathon in October. My PB is 3:23 so I'd like to hammer that.

Then, I am hoping to test the waters with a longer run again. Hopefully I should cope better with a larger areobic base and some strength in the legs. At the moment I am thinking about a longer run late October/early November but will wait to see what Mike's plans are. Whatever happens I'll still be trying to use Hadd methods as they have worked out really well for me. Here is the plan for those who are curious:
http://www.counterpartcoaching.com/hadd.pdf

A huge congratulations to all the WHW runners at the weekend. Massive well done to Mike for his 21.5 hour finish - the man is a machine!

Dee33 2011 - summary and thoughts

The Event:

First and foremost it must be said what a superb event this is. George Reid has something to be really proud of here - well supported and marshalled, run like clockwork without a hitch, friendly, and it feels like a *fun* event. The route is 16.5 miles along the Deeside Way from Duthie Park (Aberdeen) to Banchory then 16.5 miles back. To begin with, it isn't very scenic (unless you have a thing for looking at council estates) however it soon opens into a decent rural run over track. For 189 runners it never felt too congested which was excellent.
It was great to see some new and old faces. Definitely a friendly bunch and lots of pre-race chat kept the nerves in check. I really can't recommend this highly enough - a great day out!

Summary of my run:

- I ran with a new tshirt AND a new waist pouch. I had never worn these before the race. I'm not sure why I was so stupid but the combination was a good one and it worked out well for me!
- I have been training with Mike for the past month and a half. We had agreed that we would run the first 10 miles at 8:30 min miles and then the rest at 8 min miles. Personally I knew I could hold this pace until at least the 20 mile mark but was not sure how things would pan out after that.
- When the whistle went, it felt like a very fast start. We soon settled into a pace but were a little quicker than the 8:30 min miles as planned. With hindsight I should have slowed at this point and stuck to plan.

- Here are my splits (minutes per mile/heart rate bpm) for the race. There were toilet/water refilling/checkpoint stops at miles 8,17,22,25,26. In total I took 6mins 37secs for these necessary stops which I think I'm quite happy with.

- Basically I ran hard with Mike for the first 27 miles. We came in at the marathon point about 3:36ish. About mile 27 I had stopped for a gel and knew I'd needed to slow down. Mike ran on and I was happy to fall back to try and death march the final 6 miles.
- My death march wasn't as slow as I'd thought. Then at mile 31 Ian Beattie overtook me and I was determined to try to stay on his heels as long as possible. This really helped.
- My last mile wasn't too shabby considering the state I felt I was in.
- By my watch I came in at 4hrs 41mins which is pretty much the time I was after. Really can't complain about that.

Lessons learned:

- Even though it feels tough towards the end, it does not take much to help performace. For me, a little bit of competition seemed to stoke the fire.
- Running with a water bottle at 250ml meant I could run lighter. However, it also meant I had to stop at every water station which was a faff and lost time anyway.
- If you run at marathon pace (or as near as dammint) then you'll probably only be able to run a marathon- DUH!. With hindsight I'd rather have ran slower but stronger the whole distance than a decent marathon with a 6 mile shuffle.
- I felt sick after the 3:30 mark. I think I need a lot more variety in my food rather than just tortilla wraps and gels. Perhaps it was the heat but I need to think of extra food types to eat.
- A walk/run strategy during tough times isn't as slow as I thought and certainly isnt failure.
- In future I want to be less concerned with fast pace/heart rate and more concerned with enjoying myself!

The next race on the agenda will be the Highland Fling on 30th April. It is 53 miles over the first section of the West Highland Way. However, before I enter I want to run longer (both distance and time) just to make sure I can. To that end I think Mike and myself are going to run for a day in the hills sometime during the Easter holidays.

Thanks to those on facebook who I've nicked the piccies from :-)

D33 this weekend

It has been a while since I updated this blog. As this weekend is the first big run of the season (Dee33) it is a good time to reflect on the differences between what I planned to train and what I actually did train! Before Christmas I drew up a training plan to take me to the first race whilst minimising injury. It was a fairly sensible approach which I followed in January with the exception of skipping the longer runs. However, my knee was getting bad again and I was starting to doubt my ability to train for ultramarathons.

By Feburary I'd had enough of being sensible. I decided to have a "last hurrah" before throwing in the towel and increased the weekly mileage considerably (from 25 miles per week to 60). I also did a couple of 20 milers as well. Contrary to common sense, my knee slowly started to get better! On 21st Feb I switched to a Hadd training programme. Hadd is a high mileage plan goverened by very specific heart rate training. It has always appealed to me and has a dedicated following over on Fetch. This is my current weekly training (with % max heart rate):

Monday: 1hr @ 72% - recovery run
Tuesday: 1hr 15mins (1hr @ 82%)
Wednesday: 1hr @ 75%
Thursday: 1hr @ 78%
Friday: 1hr15mins (1hr @ 82%)
Saturday: 1hr (or longer) @ 72% - recovery run
Sunday:90-120 mins (or longer) @ 80%

I am now on week 4 of Hadd's plan and already feel a massive increase in fitness. I'd be confident of attempting a personal best at any level of race just now (especially marathon) and this is a good position to be in just before a major race. My only concern is that I have just ran 3x20 milers in preparation and this may be too little in terms of long endurance, however the other side of the coin is that I have been running every single day for a month so am accustomed to "tired legs". We will find out on Saturday. I hope my knee behaves!

Plus I am 14lbs lighter than my previous ultramarathon which should help a little..

Training Plan for Dee33

This is the plan I have drawn up for the first Ultra of the 2011 season (Dee33). Distances are based on John Kynaston’s plan.

I will already have a decent base before starting this plan (tempo running and a number of long runs in Nov/Dec 2010).

The weekday hard sessions are the type that I find beneficial. Tuesday will be run at Half Marathon race pace (around 7-7:30 minute miles). Thursday will be longer tempo runs but done at marathon race pace (around 7:50 min miles). Wed and Sat will be done at ultramarathon race pace/recovery pace (8-9min miles) and the Sunday run is just run at whatever I feel like on the day.

I have incorporated hill sessions to prepare for Ultramarathons following the Dee33.

A fistful of Spinach

Well, I'm as surprised as anyone but for the past few months month I have been vegan. Apart from a wee wobble last week but we won't mention that!

 

I had been reading the excellent "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall and was intrigued by the section on diet. Scott Jurek, one of the most accomplished ultra runners, thrives on a simple vegan diet and Dr Ruth Heidrich turned vegan after cancer and became an ultrarunner.  The book made me think about trying to eat a little more healthily.

 

This initially prompted me to try a smoothie as a meal replacement - not to lose weight (as the calories equaled my sandwich anyway) but to increase my intake of raw fruit and veg. To start with I had a pre-workout smoothie (spinach and pear) followed by a post workout smoothie (orange and ginger). This worked really well for my running and I started to feel a lot better generally. I also lost a little weight without feeling hungry.

 

Then I decided to have a smoothie for breakfast as well (bananas and nut). I felt even better. Although I lost a little more weight I was never starving or feeling run down - in fact quite the opposite. And my running felt much better as well.

 

At this stage 3 out of 4 meals were vegan so a few months ago I decided to go all the way and see how I felt. It has worked out very well for me - trimmed a little flab, my running is going really well, I feel generally great about everything and I am loving my food at the moment. I have also discovered how to make a wicked curry.

 

In terms of health it has really clicked with me. I don't feel I'm lacking and don't feel hungry. In fact I feel superb. It has been a great addition to the training I am doing.

 

An average day looks like this:

Breakfast - large salad with nuts, beans and corn.

mid morning snack=fruit

pre-run lunch = banana smoothie

post-run lunch = pear + spinach smoothie

mid afternoon snack=fruit

tea= large vegan meal

supper = toast and/or porridge with raisins and nuts

plus about 8 cups of tea!

stu-pid-i-ty:noun = acting like Dave

Last week was a tough week for decisions. I had received confirmation for 2011 London marathon a few weeks ago. I've done it before and loved it but it does not really fit into my race/training plan as it is sandwiched in between Dee33 and Highland Fling.

So I thought long and hard about deferring it to 2012. I could pay now and run it in a year and a half. But did I really want to do that? Commit to a race that far in advance when I dont even know if I will want to run it? I am running more and more off road these days and the massive events like London are becoming less appealing.

I had until Friday 5pm to pay. By Friday lunchtime I still hadn't decided.

Then at 3pm I made the call. I was going to pay and defer until 2012.

Phew!

Then I forgot to pay it......