Camelbak Quick Grip Chill Bottle Holder (and Ultra Running Belt) Review

 

Normally I wouldn't have given this bit of kit a second glance. But a few factors came together during my marathon training that led me to acquire the Camelbak Quick Grip Chill bottle holder.  I will, specifically, really only be using this holder for the lead-up to Manchester Marathon 2023, or for the final few weeks of marathon training in any given plan, more generally.

What drove this was practicing nutrition during long marathon training runs. I used to run with a belt that held a water bottle, but those didn't hold enough food. For my own particular metabolism I need to get a lot of calories in during marathon or longer distance runs.  I've come to see equivalence to ultra-marathon distances, actually, and the marathon is, for me, just the beginning of an ultra-length run.

What I need for an ultra-length run (and therefore for a marathon), is 250 calories per hour.  I start within 30minute max, loading up on calories. Jason Koop has a recipe for rice-balls that have about 120 calories per ball, so I try to eat a couple of these per hour, one every 5-6 km.  On a four hour run that's a few rice balls, plus I'll eat gel (home made, with dates), and Kendal's mint blocks, either one about once per hour or so, in good amounts. 

Koop recommends (in his book Training Essentials for Ultrarunning) keeping water separate from electrolytes so that you can measure your intake. It's better to be slightly under-hydrated, and slightly over-electrolyted, which I found out the hard way during my first 100k Race to the Stones when I got overhydrated, making my electrolyte levels drop badly.

To fit all the food in, and to avoid carrying a running vest during a marathon run (and this is the difference from my ultra-training, in which I always wear a vest), I started running with a bottle in my hand.  Now the problem becomes how to get all that food out of my Camelbak Ultra Running Belt (which it holds easily) while carrying a water bottle. 

The answer is: not very easily.  I ended up having to hold the bottle under one arm while grappling to get the food out from around back, and sometimes I dropped the bottle, and I also tended to slow down a lot during this whole procedure, which you don't want to do when you're practicing marathon pace during a session.  

My front pocket of the Ultra Running Belt was, in addition, holding my phone.  I needed to get that phone somewhere else too.  So I got the Quick Grip Chill Bottle Holder to hold the bottle and, as a bonus, it also holds my phone.

Now I can use the Ultra Running Belt to hold the sugar and gel up front where the phone used to be, continuing to use the back for the rice balls.  With the strap handle around my hand, I can push the bottle up my arm, freeing up both hands, and keeping the bottle from dropping to the ground.  During yesterday's long run I was able to keep a pretty good pace, and get down the rice ball I needed, while keeping everything I'm carrying controlled and in position.

On the day of the marathon, I probably won't need to bring the hand held bottle holder, and my phone can move to an arm strap if needed.  

I am learning that how I treat the marathon affects how I treat the ultra-marathon, and that they are related.  I don't see the ultra as a long marathon, because they are very differently paced, but I do see the marathon as a short ultra, in a way, because of how I fuel the marathon. Without fuel I always hit the wall.

I have consistent half marathon times I'm really happy with at the sub-1:35 pace, but my marathon times are all over the place! I'd like to get them more consistent, and with training to kit and nutrition I'm beginning to feel confident I might finally be able to hit my sub-3:30 goal when I run Manchester on 16 April 2023.

New Year's Running Revolutions for 2023

 

The week from Boxing Day to New Year's Day was very good. Boxing Day I managed 20 miles with Bracknell Forest Runners, including a whole new section of paths and trails paralelling London Road, taking in Ascot Racecourse and some other areas.

Overall, I got in 56 miles for the week. After the 20 miler on Monday, I took a rest day, and the day after that I went to the gym. Thursday I got back to running in a big way, with a 13.5 mile run following my course called "Trailrunners 8:30s" which 'satnaved' a run that I'd done with the BFRs a couple of years ago.  It is the most 'traily' course I have on my watch. Actually I'd like to figure out a way to code all the trails, tracks, and roads in Swinley and then put together a scale of trailiness. But when I think about it, there's so much variation, that it's nice to have different kinds of trails put together to mix things up.  All winding rocky single-track might get tiresome after a while. You'd want some springy pine-needly double (or triple) track roads thrown in just to make things interesting.  Still I can dream of my 'master map' that's probably only exists in the minds of the veteran runners of Swinley that I follow around each week.

One of the best runs I did over the holidays was my Christmas Eve run, that followed a course of the first run I ever did with Bracknell Forest Runners. It's called "My First Forest Run" on my watch, and it's from 19 May 2019. It's in a tie for my favourite forest run, with the one noted above that I did on the 29th of Dec.  Overall I think I did a pretty good job of pacing myself.

The long run on Boxing Day was at a brisk pace of sub 8:30 from Mercedes to Blacknest Gate, and then it settled down into some easy to moderate pacing, depending on who I'd latched onto going around Virginia Water Lake. I got going with a couple of people who are doing preliminary base training for their upcoming spring marathon efforts, and finished off with the north-of-Ascot section at another good brisk sub-9 pace.  Overall the run came out at sub 10mm, and this included a little bit of walking I'd thrown in just to give it a kind of 'ultra' feeling.

I had also, on the 20 miler, tested out my recipe from Jason Koop's Training Essentials for Ultrarunning: his bacon-egg rice balls.  I at five of these balls on the Boxing Day run, and they were excellent. Washed down with water they went down nicely, and provided a nice salty snack and some mid-run carbs to keep me going.  Koop recommends water with food so that you can keep track of hydration and electrolyte consumption separately.  I think I agree with this approach now that I've tested it.  So the Boxing Day run was beneficial on many levels. It was an ultra training run of 3.5 hours, in which I tested both walking and eating along the way.  I finished feeling quite fresh.  This is a very auspicious start to my ultra-training plan for my Race to the Stones 100km run on 8 July 2023.

The two trailruns I did were of quite different pacing, but both were very beneficial in a way the long 20 miler hadn't been: they were trailruns (as opposed to the mostly road 20 miler). The Christmas Eve one was deliberately slow: 11mm+ pace because it was a day after a hard session I'd done to re-introduce tempo runs into my regimen. On the Eve of Christmas Eve I'd done a 'tempo/tempo/hills' run around South Hill Park, with 12/6/6 at tempo pace (7:30mm or faster) and four 90 second hill efforts up to Hilton.  The day after that, any trail run was going to be easy, and I'm proud of myself for how evenly I paced Christmas Eve after that, all 11mm, with not a single mile under 10mm, and this for a 12 mile run.

The last run of the 56 mile week that just ended yesterday, was yesterday's group trail run at 10mm pace, and it was just so relaxing.  We did selfies (see www.instagram.com/gwilymeades ) at Hut Hill and elsewhere, and I actually chatted a bit (or at least it felt chatty to me).  On the Boxing Day 20 miler too, I had managed to keep up the flow of chat fairly well (for me anyway), and I think it contributed to an overall sense of flow for the run.

So, as I head forward into the new year, my priority is on recovering well, which, today, I've done. Sorely tempted to do back-to-back social trailruns, I held back today, and stayed inside, and read Aschwanden's Good to Go: How to Eat, Sleep and Rest Like a Champion. I can only compare it to other iconic, scientific, and easy to read books like Hutchinson's Endure and Epstein's Range. Good to Go deserves only the highest praise. I'm polishing it off in a day. You get all the scientific studies you could need, but wrapped up in excellent science writing narratives and participatory exploration of the the recovery techniques discussed.  It's great, and all runners should read it.  It's perfect for a recovery day.

The other one I've been reading, which I treated myself to as a feel-good (but not necessarily rigourous) read, is McDougall and Orton's Born to Run 2. One of the first things they recommend doing is taking a week off to explore various small 'exercise snacks' of various squats, deadbugs, and quick feet mini-drills to wake up and reconnect the bodies and brains of long-distance runners. It's a really different book from the first one, to which it constantly alludes, but the really nice thing about it is that it follows up with some of the 'characters' from the original Born To Run, and it gives you hands-on information, including crucially several recipes from Pinole Bars to Posole, energy gels and bars, special recovery drinks and meals, and all kinds of inspiring food ideas.  It's also a training plan.

As we head into the new year, I'm looking forward to my second run of the year, a 'Fatigue Efforts' session of 5 * 90sec with 30 sec recoveries, and also my first marathon training run on the 8th of Jan.  As mentioned in an earlier post, my training plan this year consists solely of club runs, with the addition of a Friday tempo or hill run, alternating by week.  Sunday runs will be beefed up, and I'll have up to 3 recovery days per week (Tues, Thurs, and Sat). Back to back running will be Sunday/Monday, to give that all important 'tired legs' approach for my ultra on 8 July.  With that said, the marathon is also a training run, and it takes place on the 16th of April in Manchester.  My next race, however, is Wokingham Half Marathon. If you're running it, I'll see you there, but also at the 'training' runs, by which I mean track, MNCR, and Sunday runs at the lookout.

On NOT using a training plan

2023 is shaping up to be a lot of fun. I've decided not to use a training plan (based on some discussions with two of my fast running friends at BFR) for two reasons:

1. training plans are usually not written for you, the runner

2. they become too obsessive

What will I use in place of a training plan? Well, my training plan will be to USE MY RUNNING CLUB AS MY TRAINING PLAN! This means doing ALL THE CLUB RUNS: MNCR, Track, and Sundays at the Lookout.  Add in Friyay/Hillyay and a couple of recovery runs and I'll easily get 40 miles a week.  No obsessing: just show up and run!

WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THIS BEFORE? (oh wait, I did...I just tried some other stuff that didn't work as well).

The only modification I'll make is to add more mileage on the long runs on Sunday as needed.

The only written running plan I'll use is later in the year for my 100km RTTS all in one go run, in which they provide a low-mileage plan that actually looks ok.

The races I'll do this year include: 

-Wokingham Half

-Manchester Marathon

-Race to the Stones 100km non-stop

-Windsor Half Marathon

And the plan is:

1. MNCR 7-8 miles (plus w/u & c/d)

2. Tuesday/rest day

3. Wed. Track 5mi + 3mi w/u + 1mi c/d

4. Th recovery 2mi + GYM squats 

5. Fr hillyay

6. Sat recover 2mi

7. Sun 2.5 w/u + 8mi + 2.5c/d (HERE IS WHERE YOU ADD IN MILEAGE FOR THE MARATHON TRAINING)

I'm also considering doing Run to the Sea again, 50kms in Bournemouth.  Should I do it?

London Marathon 2022

It was both my hardest effort (481 acc. to Strava) and my best run of all time, by which I mean, in the time I've been a runner, which is the last six years, I enjoyed the run more than any other I've ever done.  I achieved what I'd call a 'flow' state during this run, a state of mindful conscious reaching out to the crowds and the course that made the whole thing incredibly enjoyable and effortless-feeling.  

I ended up running 27.7 miles in part because of the above strategy, the honing in on faces in the crowd, to make eye contact, and to, above all, smile to take away the hurt. It worked! When I'd key in on the people flowing past, their outstretched hands, and their voices calling my name, I found myself running faster. I was amazed, and stunned when my splits starting coming up closer to 5min/km instead of my target of 5:50.  I had to slow myself down several times.

The result was an even or possibly even negative split race for me. There were two points where my emotions dipped a bit, one early on, and then one around 17miles.  The first one was easily overcome because I was still relatively fresh. The second was was overcome by seeing my wife Diane who miraculously appeared at 17.5 miles, giving me a big boost. Also by the sheer amazingness of the supporting crowds who seemed genuinely invested in pumping up the volume and the positivity.

This was my favourite run of all time. Check out the photos, map, and medal on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/7899929845

Thanks also to everyone who donated and supported my charity of choice, Treloar's!

Are you really an ultra-runner if you've never DNF'd?

 

Today I ran some of the copses of Bracknell as a way of starting my training for the London Marathon 2022. The weather has cooled a bit, but it's still nice and sunny, and heating towards mid-day. It's still July but the marathon date (2 Oct) is surprisingly only 10 weeks off.

Having completed a PB marathon and 10k in the last few weeks, and also having 'completed' my first-ever DNF at Snowdon, I'm being careful to recover properly before taking on new challenges or races. I've been taking it easy since Snowdon, but also just revelling in the fact that despite the DNF it was such a fun run and great day. 

Besides which, are you really an ultra-runner if you've never DNF'd?  I would say NO!  Now I'm an ultra-runner!

And I'm going to shoot for a PB at London, which I've left as a fairly easy mark having finished in 3:50 at Southampton back in April.

I'm running for charity (Treloar's), so please donate if you can: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/gwilymeades

Southampton Marathon 2022

At the start line: focused!

It wasn't that hot of a day, but the new course is very hilly, even more so than when I ran my first marathon here back in 2018. 

What I'm saying is: they've added hills since then. And it was really hilly back then.

After completing the marathon this year, with all its delights, including 4 times over Itchen Bridge, Strava told me that the course (two times around the main loop) had 1050 feet of elevation gain.

One thing I will say is: it felt like it!

Psychologically this is an interesting course. You got a loop within a loop, and you have to do the main loop twice if you're running a marathon.  That's four loops, which is why you cross the bridge that many times. 

Some will say, the bridge isn't really a hill.  I beg to differ: it really is! It's not as big as that REALLY big hill later on, but the bridge is not flat. It looks like a mountain when you're running up it, and it goes on for a good long while. It's hard!

Powering across Itchen Bridge

Photo: Colin Mitchell

Now, I had some strategy going into this race, though technically, it was a training run for me in preparation for my 10 July 2022 Xterra Ultra Snowdon race. With that said, I spent at least five to six weeks doing marathon-specific training, using the training plan provided by Southampton.

Just past halfway, feeling great!

The photo above shows me just past the halfway point, feeling great. My strategy was to maintain an 8 minute mile pace throughout the race, with even pacing. With that said, my watch reads in km, so I told myself not to ever go faster than 5 min/km as a rule, so as not to go too fast (which I inevitably would).

The first mile was slow, and then they got a bit too fast, but not by too much. Splits were around 7:58 mins per mile at times in the early going. Later, the first time up the hill for example, I told myself to pace it out, and dropped down to maybe 8:30s.

I knew the second mini-loop, on the east side of Itchen, would be possibly the toughest psychologically. This is the 15-19 mile zone. It was hard, but not that bad. A big boost came when I crossed Itchen for the last time, and actually this was a nice spot because the wind had a big cooling effect, and the temps were creeping upwards.

At mile 20, just past the stadium (which we ran through, and was a big boost), the pace dropped just a bit. This is where in my first marathon in 2018 I had decided to walk.  Not this time. I didn't walk once during this race.

To mile 22 I was fine, there was a breeze, and some bands were playing really excellent music. It was a nice day for a sunny run.  Then I turned the corner for the final hill and the wind completely dropped away, there was no shade, and I was surrounded by concrete.

At the same time as I hit a 10min/mile pace, so did everyone else around me.  We were, at least, in sync, and I wasn't being passed.  Through the university area we finally got some shade, and there was great support through there too.  

I switched from Soreen/Lucozade power mode (one quarter of a Soreen mini per mile maintain up through mile 20), to Lucozade and water only (though I did power down a big block of Kendal sugar bomb). The water was the key thing as I had dutifully kept my energy stores up, and now just needed to sweat.

I was sick of Soreen, but cool due to having taken water at at least 10 different stations.  There were a lot of water stations, and a lot of water to be had at each, not in little sippy cups either.  These are proper sack/bubbles, with more than enough to quench the thirst.

The support was excellent, it was fun, and the course is amazing, with a lot of variation. I would run it again, actually. It was my Personal Best marathon time (that is, of ALL TIME, FOR ME), at 3:52:44, beating my previous best by a couple of minutes. This despite the fact that I took a wrong turn at the (very silent, unsigned) split point where the HMs carried on to their own finish line, and we took a left for our second half.  

For a training run, I'm super happy with this. I had trained to go faster obviously but as all marathon runners know, nothing ever really goes according to plan on race day, and you take the good with the bad.  Actually there was very little of the latter, nothing bad to report (just that unclear split point), and I love every aspect of this course, which has helped in my ultra training and racing to come.

What winning the Radgick Award means to me

I keep a running journal to manually record my route, distance, time, and notes on daily runs (or rests), with one entry for every day, whether I run or not. It started out as a Runner's World pre-formatted book that I'd bought at Smith's, but after a couple of years of those, I just started writing out the headings each time, always making sure to include some information on how the run went. This might be how I felt, or how the weather was that day. I paraphrase below from my journal entry for today.

Yesterday I received the Radgick Award for ultra-running from Bracknell Forest Runners.  This was an incredibly validating and meaningful award to receive for me.  It has a great deal of value in addition to that which I gained from completing Race to the Stones and Run to the Sea this year. That extra bit of recognition really helps, and its value goes way beyond the physical object.  And it's not just about looking back. 

I now have added inspiration about what went so well last year, and how to apply it to the coming one. I've identified 5 things that went well and that I plan to continue doing:

1. I listened to my body. I didn't run when I felt that doing so might result in injury or sickness.

2. I was consistent. Long (10, 12, 15, 18, 20+ miles) training runs occurred at least every other (if not every) week.

3. I let myself recover: 2 rest days per week

4. I did strength training (at the gym or at home): 2 times/week

5. I paid attention to eating enough and eating well before, during, and after running

My goal race for 2022 is the 60km Xterra Snowdon Ultramarathon. It looks crazy written out on the page (and even crazier looking at the elevation profile of the course). In the meantime, I have Wokingham Half and Southampton Marathon as milestones on the way to that midsummer dream, about which I will be blogging in the months to come.

I feel that I must also add that, while training for ultras often involves a lot of solo running, it wouldn't be possible without social support from friends and family, and without a lot of social and group running. Track, MNCR, and BFR Sunday runs from the Lookout are the true inspiration behind successful ultra running!