2023 recap: BigSea50k, Wokingham Half, Marlow and XC

BigSea50k July 2023

2023 was a great running year for me. I did have some slight injury experience but it wasn't enough to actually stop me from running. Last year it was my left hip, this year it is my right.  While the left did stop me running at one point, on the right it never really did, and it has cleared up now. 

It was a race year of two halves. The first half was ultras (Chilterns 50k, BigSea 50k, and Race to the Stones 100km non-stop). The second half was half-marathons (Windsor, Oxford, Marlow, Windsor Trail). 

Worst run of the year (but still fun): Manchester Marathon (injured halfway through).

The most fun race of the year, and one I think went best, was the most recent: Grim Challenge in Aldershot.  

I'll go through these in order, month by month:

January: 190 miles. Highlight was training in Spain on a work trip.  

February: 166 miles. Highlight was a 1:34 at Wokingham Half.  I have no idea how I ran the race this faster other than to say, I must've been a bit fit?  All later races this year were more than 5mins slower!

March: 198 miles. Highlight was training Manchester, often with John Roberts (BFR). The *training* went quite well, but the race itself did not!

April: 125 miles. Highlight: Manchester Marathon. A great race, but what a strange run! Ran the first half, and literally walked from mile 14 onward.  My best speed walking pace because I really wanted to finish.  The downtown and Altrincham sections are the best.

May: 171 miles. Highlight: Chiltern Ridge Ultra Trail 50km. Beautiful day on the day of the King's inauguration party weekend. I had been poorly since Manchester, as in physically ill with a mysterious illness, and I definitely felt it.  I also paced the Bracknell Half Marathon, which was interesting.

June: 167 miles. Highlight: BigSea Ultra-trail 50km. Another beautiful day. My favourite ultra so far, due to great support and route.  Samaritans 10k: enjoyed it but couldn't run 'fast'.

July: 154 miles. Highlight: Race to the Stones 100km non-stop. DNF at 45 miles due to weather.  Said I wouldn't sign up again, but by October I'd signed up again.  I'm looking forward to using everything I learned during this time, going over the highest mileage I'd ever tried all in one go.  In July I also did some running in Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, which was fun, but very humid!

August: 187 miles. Highlight: Just running! Nice to enjoy the off-season.  Completed the final BFR handicap run of the year, and managed a complete set for 2023.

September: 156 miles. Highlight: Windsor Half Marathon.  Didn't run this race very well as I had set my sights on beating my previous HM time for the year (1:34), but didn't even come close!  It was hot but fitness for this kind of race just wasn't there. I also did some running in Texas during a family visit there, which was beyond hot, even in the mornings.  

October: 192 miles. Highlights: start of XC, and Oxford Half.  Managed a decent time on the flat Oxford HM course (1:41) but am still wondering how to get my HM fitness back.

November: 158 miles. Highlights: Marlow Half! I love Marlow, it was my first time, and I did the downhills so fast! hitting sub 6mm paces at times, and still managed to finish running strong.  All that track work paying off!  Windsor Trail Half a couple of weeks later was excellent, and I perfected my 'passing the whole way' strategy: starting far enough back to being passing people the entire race.  I did this during this month's XC races too, especially Datchet. I have a blackened middle toe-nail from Marlow (but the nail is holding on).

December: 121 miles so far (expected 160), to reach close to 2000 miles for the year!  Highlights: Grim Challenge: so hard, and so fun, and so very painful.  My toes are still recovering and I bruised a big toe.  Finished in a pretty good place too, in the top 10% or so for both age and overall.

I'm happy with the early Wokingham Half effort which was in my top three of all time, and I'm happy with my learning experience on RTTS despite the DNF.  BigSea50k around Corfe Castle was the top race of the year.  And all the club running and XC of course! 

Race to the Stones 100km non-stop 2023

 

I LOVE THIS COURSE, and that is why I would run it again, in a heartbeat.  It was a beautiful, unforgettable day of ultra-running, which is what I love doing.  I love training for races, especially long ones with long training blocks of six months or more, and when the training goes well, as it did in this case, there's no better feeling than arriving on the start line.

This is what I looked like when I decided not to finish, at the 72km (45mi) mark, cold, unable to stop shivering, having just come through my second thunderstorm of the day, just before dusk settled in, with wet socks, soaked torso and legs, and blisters covering both feet. I was running alone, with no crew support, and had done so for the entirety of the race.  So I called in the cavalry to save me, and got a ride from Foxhill to home, with a quick stop at Avebury to get my bag.

In addition to clothing failures (i.e. running shoes aren't really designed for this kind of thing, and the hikers have the right idea, dressing in waterproof shoes and warm coats), my body was shivering and burning up calories, heading into calorie deficit due to lack of food. This despite eating 6 hard-boiled eggs and ten rice balls I'd brought with me; six gels I carried with me; a jacket potato with cheese and beans with a bowl of soup and a roll at base camp; two large bean and egg burritoes and a Chia Charge bar with peanut butter porridge/oatmeal and Lucozade for breakfast; six more gels I got at the check points; 5 bananas; lots of fruit and loads of proten bars; despite all this it wasn't enough to keep me going or warm.  

I chatted with a lot of people, because this was my strategy for how to get around, but when darkness came, they'd all bunched up into (mostly young) cliques. I got a lecture from one guy from London about how you're not supposed to eat during an ultra, and that's why he'd thrown away most of his food at base camp. I think he was having a mental breakdown, but he passed me at checkpoint 7 when I pulled out. 

This was my longest-ever continuous run, so it was a victory in a way.  

Two things I blame on the organisers: 1. they ran out of protein food at the base camp, announcing that there were no sausages.  There were only packaged sweets at the checkpoints.  Contrast this with what was supplied at BigSea50k, and the difference becomes clear: have real food available to support your runners. There were only two checkpoints with real food here: cp2 and base camp.

The other thing I blame on the organisers (and I'm not one to complain much), is the start time. Last time I did this race I started at 6am.  This time I wasted four hours of daylight waiting for my start wave AT 8:50AM.  I had to pass a lot of walkers.  

I think that running this non-stop is much more difficult than running it in two parts with a rest between.  The reason for this is that running at night is actually very hard (especially when near hypothermic), and because your body can really go downhill very quickly without that break in between.

This is what I saw at the end of the day after the rain cleared, and it was a consolation prize of a sunset.  It was carnage as several groups and individuals pulled out around me at checkpoint 6, most citing blisters.  For me it was blisters, my left knee, my back, and my brain that all gave up on me.  I could barely walk to checkpoint 7 where my ride was waiting for me, and this was the hardest thing I've done in my life so far.  

BigSea50k 2023

 

My second 'warmup' ultra of the summer, BigSea50k, was also my best ultra-marathon, just in terms of consistency, how I felt, how well I ate, paced myself, and enjoyed myself.  In just under 2 weeks I'll run Race to the Stones 100km non-stop, and I feel ready, especially after doing BigSea. RTTS has a bit less elevation than BigSea, over twice the distance, so RTTS will feel relatively easy in terms of gradient.

Nutrition continues to go extremely well, and I ate better on this one than I did in the Chilterns a few weeks ago, because the BigSea aid stations were set up for instant calories, of which I ate precisely one of each of: banana, sausage roll, soreen roll, and an orange slice, washed down with 350ml of flat Coke.  I also took on one hard-boiled egg and one gel per aid station, as well as a few salt tablets.  

I felt stronger running than walking all the way to the end. The most challenging parts were the stairs, which consisted of hundreds of concrete slabs placed on end, one above the other, and carved out behind each were eroded damp soil crevasses.  Here's where the poles came in really handy. Going down was treacherous on these steps, so the poles held me back from a big bad fall.  Going up they helped with speed.  Otherwise, the ground was so uneven my faithful Lekis ensured that I remained stumble-free.

There was a lot of overgrown entrenched narrow single-track running, and there was a lot of SW coast path overgrown shoving through bushes and getting scratched up.  Actually, the first couple of miles were on beaches and sand dunes too.  This variable terrain was really interesting and fun.  Some of the aid station volunteers were lighthousekeepers, and they were grumpy, which I loved. They had no clue about running and clearly thought we were crazy (which is accurate!).

The weather was very hot, but moderated by some mist and breezes, so overall not too bad.  You had to watch the hydration, for sure, so I took on about 1.5 litres or so between the aid stations.  I made some new friends and chatted with some for a ways, and then we'd break up and re-form into new groups.  One such chat took place in an urban area (Swanage), after which we were back up another steep hill and over into the Knoll Beach area, where one of the famous Pig restaurants is.  The run down the other side into the golden beach and forest was glorious and unforgettable.  

RTTS will feel like a victory lap and a glorious bit of fun after the summer so far.  I've done it before, but last time it was broken up into stages, so I did the 100km over 2 days in 2021.  This year, I'll go all the way through in one big go. The question is: which is harder: all in one go, or staged.  I'm really not sure, because it was incredibly difficult (if not impossible) to run during day 2 last time, but the advantage could be in nutrition.  I think if I keep myself well fed as I did at BigSea, this RTTS 100km non-stop run should be a breeze.  Full disclosure: I'll be walking up ALL the hills!

My ultra summer: Chiltern Ridge Ultra Trail and beyond

2023 summer is my summer of ultra, and as I head into my last big training run for Race to the Stones 100km non-stop (the BigSea 50k ultra trail this Sunday the 11th of June) I realise I haven't been documenting my journey so far this year. Other than in my own training diary, of which I'm a religious keeper of notes, observations and strategies for each and every upcoming race.

The first of my two 'warmup' ultras was the Chiltern Ridge Ultra Trail 50k in May 2023.  It is a really lovely little event, just a couple hundred people on the start line, and we had sunny weather for it too. It was the day after the coronation of King Charles, so the countryside through which we ran was sprinkled with picknicking, games, and hikers.  

The summit of the run is Ivinghoe, which Robert MacFarlane talks about in the Icknield Way section of his book The Old Ways.  We had a great view there.  By this time, about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through, I had 'buddied up' and found someone who was running at my pace. We were kind of racing each other, but he also saved me from a couple of wrong turns because I had decided (foolishly it turns out) to run without Navigation turned on.  Some of the signs had also been tampered with by other people on the trail.

All the various ultra strategies were being tested, from footwear to pacing to nutrition. Footwear went well, with only one clear small blister at the end of 32 miles.  Choice of socks should help here as I was wearing road running socks.  Nutrition, as I have posted on Strava, was excellent.  I tried caffiene gels for the first time, towards the end of the race, and liked that.  These were both provided on the course, and carried by me, having bought some GU gels in a last minute splurge at Chertsey's Rock & Ice.

I downed 4 hard boiled eggs, but will go with 5 this time, as they are a great savoury and extremely easy to swallow protein option.  My crew (Diane) brought me a sausage bap which was great but that was a one off!  So this time I'll bring burritoes for more savoury on the BigSea.  Pacing was good too, with running strong at the end, and sustainable throughout.  I never really pushed it that hard, but I motored up the hills with my Leki poles, passing people the whole way in a fast walk.  Downhills are a strength too, as I don't really get quad burn even on a few thousand feet.

The hardest part was I guess mental, being separated from the pack for most of the latter half, with the sporadic exception of my new friend who helped me not get lost.  What got me through was the scenery, the sense of cameraderie, brief chats with walkers on the move, and really having mainly internal goals.  I was motivated to get the medal too, which does help, and did motor a bit for that finish line feeling.

I'll blog BigSea too, especially as I'll be using it as a chance to get in more like 55k as its finish and start have a gap between them.  This way, I can hopefully get in 55k, a mental leap over the halfway barrier that some find at RTTS base camp.  The strategy there (to which I'm increasingly turning) will be to get in a good feed, but not spend too long there.  The main thing will be to just get going again while the light is still strong, and to finish not too long (<2 hrs) after dark. 

Here's a new trailrunning hat I got at Chiltern Ridge Ultra Trail. It's made by Ugoku, and I love it!

 

Manchester Marathon 2023

I ran Manchester Marathon 2023 because I love running, because I was ready, and I also ran it for the medal.  I was both externally and intrinsically motivated to complete, but not really to to compete. 

My taper went not very well.  All other aspects of the training, in the four months up to the taper, went very well.  But I lost most of my fitness in those last two weeks, despite going to the gym to 'maintain' in the first week of the two week taper. 

The crowds were amazing, and the first few miles through Manchester city centre were wonderful.  Even up to halfway, this was a great run.  The whole thing was excellent and great fun.

After mile 14 I did a speed walk, and by the last few miles I was walking as fast as many of the runners. I had a definite momentum.  This made a great ultra-training run. 

I got around the course in a speedy 5 hours and 14 minutes, a bit quicker than anticipated.  There were loads of people around me the whole time, and lots of interaction. This made the whole thing much more fulfilling and satisfying than yet another long training run.  

Manchester Marathon is unforgettable for the people, the music, and the surroundings.  Around Altrincham the crowd roar was like what I remember hearing around Cutty in London. 

My big challenge now is to figure out how to recover well, and it means resting. I did a recovery run today, and will rest tomorrow, and maybe even for the rest of the week.  My A race is Race to the Stones 8-9 July, so I've got to save myself for that.  

I would recommend Manchester to anyone who likes to do this distance though. 

 

On Running Marathons

 I've finished six marathons. I also started six marathons, so the going has been good. Have I learned anything from those six? What wisdom, if any, can I pass on to those who've never run a marathon before? 

1. My first marathon was Southampton in 2018. It's not that long ago! Before I got to the start line I developed a pain on the outside of my right knee (I think it was the right, because it's my stronger leg, so it ended up doing more work).  I had no idea what the pain meant.  All I do know is that at the end of my first-ever 20 mile run, the Thames 20 in Richmond, I had this funny pain in the knee that somehow seemed connected to the hip.  I was pretty sure it would go away quickly.  It didn't.  Later on, I went to the launch of Brewer's book "Run Smart", a double launch with Hobrough launching his own "Running Free of Injuries".  Hobrough has an eagle eye. He told us we need to do single-leg squats and hip stretches. I started that very evening and have rarely missed a day of single leg squats.

ADVICE 1: DO SINGLE LEG SQUATS.  Do not let your knee go over your toe.  It has to be a squat, with your bum sticking out, and you want alignment of the knee with the outside of the foot.  This is the best single exercise for runners, for strengthening your glutes, and for keeping your alignment.  It is not a cure-all, but it is a fundamental base exercise.

I went away with my two books, which you should get, and read through them, taking notes and scribbling in the margins.

Brewer discusses the discrepancy between how much glycogen you can store in your body, and how much is needed to finish a marathon. It varies by individual, but is also quite large. You most likely need at least 500 calories to bridge the gap.

ADVICE 2: EAT. You need to carry some kind of food with you, whether in liquid or solid form. You need to eat it BEFORE YOU GET HUNGRY. If you wait until you get hungry to eat, it's too late, and you will hit the wall. THIS APPLIES TO TRAINING RUNS AND THE RACE.

Brewer notes that when you hit 20 miles you still have a very long way to go. Think of it this way (he says): You still, at 20 miles, have 6.2 miles to go. 6.2/20 is 31% of the distance you've already run.  That's almost a third! 

ADVICE 3: DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THE DIFFICULTY OF THE FINAL SIX MILES. THEY ARE, IN ESSENCE, THE RACE ITSELF.  

For this reason many marathon plans go further than 20 miles as the max distance run.

I finished my first marathon at Southampton, running injured with ITB syndrome, in 5 hours and 51 minutes.  Immediately after the race my injury cleared up and I was fine running again.  I had walked the last six miles.  

2. My second marathon was an event organised by Phoenix running events, and it took place on the banks of the Thames near Kingston in 2018. You ran back and forth along the river in 10+km chunks, completed the set four times. My father's wake had been earlier that year, and I had spent some time training in Canada, on Vancouver Island, completing one 21+ mile run after reading McDougall's "Born to Run".

Advice he was given (mind you, for ultra-running) was, if it feels hard, then you're running too hard. The only way to sustain yourself is to make your easy running truly easy.

ADVICE 4: RUN LONG AT A TRULY EASY PACE OF 10MM OR SLOWER. If you don't do this, as your race gets closer, you run the risk of leaving your race performance behind on a fast training run.  You only have one race run in you, not two, so don't overdo it.

One reason my second marathon in Kingston was so good, and why I finished a full hour+ faster than my first marathon, was that I ran my training runs easy, and because I didn't overdo it in the race itself.  It was 30C on the day, with most of the run in direct sunlight.  I actually stopped to walk a couple of times.  You need to judge the conditions on the day. I finished very comfortably in around 4hours and 30 minutes in this second attempt.

3. On my third marathon attempt I did sub-4 hours, hitting in around 3h56 I think. I was also injured very close to the race date, mostly because I didn't eat during my long runs (see ADVICE 1 above). But I got back to my long runs by doing Jeffing initially, which is a run-walk algorithm of 4mins run, 1min walk, over and over. Before that, I had been doing long walks of 16 miles.  All of this just to get back to being able to run.  On race day itself, because I was pretty fit after being a runner for three years now (I only started running in 2016), it was no problem to keep with the 4hour pacers, on a 9minute mile pace.  I cruised around.  It also helped a lot that it was a very cool 6C. 

ADVICE 5: USE PACERS TO ENSURE THAT YOU DON'T GO OFF TOO FAST. This is crucial in a marathon.  I'll illustrate why using my experience from the half marathon to contrast the difference in strategy that is involved, and is related to the glycogen deficit issue noted above.  In a half marathon, you can just gun it from the start and go all out, and make it to the end.  I did this when I ran 1h31mins in Wokingham Half in 2020.  I didn't eat or drink during Wokingham Half 2020 because there was no deficit, so going off too fast had fewer consequences.  By contrast, if you go off too fast at the start of a marathon, relying on adrenaline to power you, you are almost guaranteed to hit the wall. THE WALL IS A RELATIVE LACK OF SPEED TO HOW FAST YOU WERE GOING BEFORE. IT IS A SLUGGISH FEELING THAT MIGHT STILL BE FAIRLY FAST, BUT IT IS NOT YOUR GOAL PACE, AND YOU END UP SLOWING DOWN, WITH POSITIVE SPLITS.

Just keep this in mind. The wall is also called, 'the wheels fell off at mile 20' or 'I just couldn't keep the pace anymore', and it is related to lack of energy.  If you eat enough, you are unlikely to hit the wall.

4. On my fourth attempt at a marathon, Brighton 2021, I went back to around 4hours 25minutes, coming off shin splint injuries and a less fit body. I hadn't been to the gym because it was closed during COVID.  It was hot, etc.  but it was still a great day.  The only thing I learned from this one was that you need to be patient.

ADVICE 6: BE PATIENT WITH YOURSELF. This is meant to be fun, so have fun! If you don't like this marathon performance, you can always do another one!

5. On my fifth attempt at Southampton in 2022, I got another PB, at 3h 50mins.  It was a positive split race, but I ran the first half brilliantly.  I hit the wall. It was hot, I was hungry, and despite eating 20 or so mini-soreens and a lot of Lucozade, I got low blood sugar towards the end.  I was excreting whole mini-soreens that evening after the race. Still, it was a PB, and a very great day.  The course has over 1000ft elevation gain.

6. My sixth marathon was my most fun, and I actually set out to make the distance as long as possible by weaving back and forth from side to side to gather high-five energy the whole way. I was injured from six weeks out until the start line, so wasn't that fit, and finished in 4hours 20mins.  

ADVICE 7: HAVE FUN. THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING.

7. My seventh marathon attempt will be on 16 April 2023 in Manchester, a route I've chosen because it's flat.  My training is going better than it has ever gone, mostly because I have three rest days per week, and average close to 50 miles per week.  My goal is to go sub-3:30.

ADVICE 8: TAKE MANY REST DAYS. When your legs get tired, you need to let them recover. As your training proceeds, there is an accumulation of tiredness that takes longer to recover from. 

I have also run 5 ultra-marathons in addition to the 6 marathons.  One of those ultras I didn't finish.  It's called a DNF, and I'm proud of it, because it was a good call.  I seriously hope you finish your marathon though, so to summarise: SLS, EAT, THINK OF THE FINAL SIX, RUN EASY, BE PATIENT, HAVE FUN, AND REST!  

Follow all of these simple rules and you'll be fine, I promise!

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.