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...... 

Week in review

This was my first week of high intensity/low mileage training based on the Furman plan aimed at keeping injury at bay whilst maintaining fitness.

 

Monday - 1 hour cycle at the gym. This was at a high intensity and I averaged about 85% max heart rate. Quite a tough session and I wore my knee support to help. 10 minutes core exercises in the evening.

Tuesday- my knee was sore at the back (a new one for me!) and I think it was due to wearing the support whilst cycling! Ran 5x3min repeats at 90% heart rate (average 6:45 pace). Did 6miles total.

Wednesday - rest. Knee and legs feel like they have been worked hard so happy to let them recover. 10 minutes core exercises in the evening.

Thursday - 10K tempo run - 44:45 with an average heart rate of 85%. Felt really good with no knee twinges at all.

Friday - 1 hour cycle at the gym. 10 minutes core exercises in the evening.

Saturday- Brilliant 11.5 mile trail run around Cheyne Hill and Fetteresso forest. Slightly mis-timed as we ended up running off road in the dark with one headtorch between four!

Sunday- Rest

Overall pretty happy with this. I'm feeling my fitness is creeping up and my knee isn't giving me too much bother.

The last few months

Octobers big race was the Loch Ness Marathon. This has to be my favourite marathon due to the scenery, low numbers, course profile (HILLS!) and social event. Myself and Mike Raffan went up with my pal Al (aka "mamemeister"). I knew Al from a few retro videogames forums where he had asked about the sensibility of running 26 miles after watching the London marathon on the TV in April. He did not take much persuasion to enter Loch Ness which gave him just 4-5 months to go from zero to marathon runner. I had a lot of fun being a virtual coach :-) The trip to Loch Ness was excellent - lots of beer, laughs and an enjoyable event. Here is what I wrote at the time:

"To go from nothing to marathon fitness in 4 months is nothing short of amazing. It has been great fun for me to give advice to Al since April and be a "virtual coach". It was also a pleasure running alongside him yesterday on the big day as he is such a great bloke - friendly, decent and down to earth. We had a right old laugh this weekend. 

Although he got a cracking time for a first attempt (4:16) I was personally impressed with the fact he had a really strong race. He ran fast but always within his limits. At no point in the last few gruelling miles did it fall apart and you could tell from the determination on his face that he was not going to let the distance beat him. He really did himself proud. 

And we did a sprint finish over the line :)"

Mike, Al and myself.

Mike also got a huge PB at Loch Ness of 3:26. Fantastic stuff.

Since then I have been considering my options for next year and how I finish this one. I am drawn to trail runs, especially the longer events, however the waters were muddied by getting an entrance to the London Marathon next year. I have decided to pay for it but defer running it until 2012 thereby allowing me to chase my goal of 5 Scottish Ultras in 2011.
I have also decided to use this period of training to cut back on mileage (without compromising fitness) and properly heal my knee niggles. In fact I abandoned a 26 mile run on the West Highland Way with mates last weekend for a more sensible shorter local run. My foot psoriasis is healing a lot after getting some new cream from a specialist. Training for the rest of the year looks a bit like this:


M 1 hour cycle with core exercises
T Intervals  or hill session (around 6 miles)
W 1 hour cycle with core exercises (or Rest)
T 6-8 mile Tempo run 
F 1 hour cycle with core exercises
S 10-13 miles trail running
S Rest


Then I'll be looking to increase my long runs in the New Year to prepare for the Dee33 in March.


Also trying to lose a good bit of weight. This is ongoing and looking promising.