Ridgeway 85 (still not sure if its 87miles) report and perfecting YOUR moment

It was been a long time since a real post but I guess you can say it has been head down with work and training for the last few months.
This past weekend I raced?...the Ridgeway 85 which is an 85mile run organised by the TRA and doubles as their UK Trail Running Championships. I'll keep this brief as although a lot happens over 20hours its fair to say I had two defining moments. The second of these moments was when I was cruising along in about 15th feeling real good before the heavens (or my feet) opened up......gushing....bulging.....gnarly blisters. BOOM the last 20km was a complete death march to the line and in a hobbling kind of run i ended up 22nd in 20hrs 12mins. All things considered I would have taken it at the start.
The first, and most significant moment of my race was my ordeal between 30-50km. It was bad, I felt bad, I had nothing and I didn't know why. In these dark moments of a race you start to question everything- did I train enough, did I put in enough hill repeats, have i eaten, am i hydrated, am i injury free? Each answer was a yes yet I still wanted to throw the towel in, curl up in a heap and cry like froddo sans ring....I was a mess. I tried to force my mind towards the forward relentless motion mantra and eventually things would turn around. Eat, drink, talk, electrolytes and run when you can.....an hour later and I still had zero to give, it sucked. As I was honking up an hill during a hail battering shower I just decided to stop and sit on a log. It was over.
I took a minute looked around and let my mind wander to scenery and the image of runners behind and ahead. At this point a decided to just be. This moment is were I was suppose to be, I was meant to sit down and take in the environment (which was great let me add, Britain really does have some beautiful trails). I was not meant to be running hard at this point, I excepted my moment, got up and shuffled my way forward. I instantly knew I had to stay in this moment. Racing did not matter for know but its kind of funny how for the next 70km I made huge inroads into the runners ahead and my 50 too 120km split was 5th fastest overall. Their was something very disassociated yet connected about this moment. 20hours is a long time to be running yet it can be over in a flash if you just be.
This is something we can add and think about in all aspects of life. Western society makes us over analyse and question everything. In some ways it can push people to seek new information and stimulate the mind but other times it can and will break you down at some point. Accept your moment and work through it- positivity is great but sometimes you just need to be you.

Eating tasty, healthy food for less and race recovery

I have always been a conscious food eater. I never diet but I do occasionally attempt to change my eating habits. There is zero point in "dieting" if you are not going to stick to it long term. Yo-yo dieting will have a very detrimental effect on your body long term and the more and more you do, the less your body will respond thus leaving you attempting to diet but shifting no weight. Subtle changes to your diet that are easy to stick to long-term will have a positive effect on physical and mental well being, for example, eating more protein at breakfast can stop mid morning hunger strikes, or replacing iceberg lettuce for a darker leaf as it will add more vitamin and minerals to your daily consumption. But if I could choose one factor to look at then my advice would to be eat seasonal.
Seasonal foods will always taste better, be fresher and perhaps more importantly (for me anyway) be cheaper. 2 less obvious benefits but important nonetheless are: 1. Less transportation costs also means a lower carbon footprint for the food you are buying and 2. It supports the local economy which again is real important giving the economy climate.
So whats seasonal right now other than the obvious strawberries? Here is a list to get you started:
PEAKING:
Jersey Royal New Potatoes
Broccoli
Carrots
Asparagus
Rocket
Spinach
ALSO IN SEASON
Peas
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Broad Beans
Mushrooms
Basil
Beef
Chicken
Rabbit
Mint
Raspberries
Cod
Salmon
AND MUCH MUCH MORE. Check out www.eattheseasons.co.uk


On a 24 hour race recovery front. Things feel good and healthy, light runs to warm the muscles with lots of stretching and self active release technique for the sore bits. 12 hard training weeks before the Ridgeway 85! On it like sonic.
Peace


Footnote: As requested by a disillusioned friend I am legally required to state that I eat a ton of biscuits. I think I was even eating a Malted Milk as I wrote this post. There you go Mr.Paul O'Malley

Move to Keep Moving

The title probably sounds like some kind of running mantra but its a phrase I kinda coined during another warm and painful run today. I was running along the Thames Towpath around Barnes (again) and I passed two very different people of very different ages who were having a similar problem. First was a very old gentleman who lets say 'was well journeyed' who was really struggling to keep moving along in the 23+degree weather and I thought to myself dang that looks hard.....that will happen to me one day (to be fair its probably how I look after every race!). The second person was a generously proportioned girl with an astronomically bad attitude towards walking or maybe just exercise. She was only a young girl and she was out walking with her parents (I presume, maybe they just stole her which was why she was whining.....) with every scrapping, stomping, shuffled step she moaned about being tired. At this point I thought to myself.....besides the thought of pushing her in the river.....that she will end up just like the old guy when she is older- barely able to move.
At this point my running mentality took a new twist. My body was aching, my throat was on fire and my iliotibial band was at breaking point but instead of continuing to dwell on how crappy training can be sometimes I refocused on how great it is to be able to cover the distances I can with my singular skinny human frame. I was just enjoying movement as we were all intended to do. The way I look at it- the more you move now the more you will be able to move in your twilight years. Everybody will have some sort of physical deformation as they get older and older but surely the more you move when you are younger the more you will able to move when your older, agree? Their is the argument that the fitter you are the more depreciation of mobility you will get and by running myself into the ground (excuse the pun) the wheels will eventually come off. However, if I can walk/run 100km per week now and had a 50% depreciation by the time im 70years old then I can still do 50km per week. Compare that to the girl who probably moves day to day no more than 15km per week, if she is hugely lucky she might only get a 25% drop off by the time she is 70 but that means she can only move 7.5 km per week, that's 1km per day!
Now obviously these are all hypothetical numbers and im definitely not suggesting the old man must have been a lazy arse in his younger days, his problems could easily be non-fitness related. But then again its widely reported that staying healthy at a young age can dramatically cut the risk of heart diseases and strokes http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3324107.stm
I guess this rather weird post just brings me around to saying enjoy movement and move more now to move more later (hmmm like that, my own quote). Your own two legs can take you to places that no plane or car or boat or train can. If you dont believe come and join me for a hike sometime. Below is a picture of a secret spot of mine and another picture at the top of a mountain range......only feet can get you to these spots! On another note, monthly training numbers are updated at the bottom of this page. Distance isn't much but vertical is good which is keeping me strong. I'm at 15400 vertical so far which is almost half of what I managed last year and its only April! Well done to all my marathon folk, seemed pretty good across the board, hopefully prague next month will be as fruitful for runners on my training programmes and on my insoles. Happy Easter

Why?

It's a question we all ask ourselves in life no matter what it is we do. When ultra running is involved the question gets flipped- I'm always asked "why would anyone want to run that far, that much". It is certainly a question I asked myself once or twice both during and after my long, arduous and painful race 4weeks ago. However, despite only logging a measly 100km (that's a shocking 25km week average)since the race I have entered a 90miler weekend race in January AND I have been one of the fortunate few to be selected for the coveted 145mile grand union canal race in may. This has really left me thinking WHY!? Sometimes I think hard about it but in reality the answer is simple.......their is copious amounts of money to be won at ultra races, its ridiculous how much money is available in the sport- I actually think it could make me a millionaire. 2nd reason- girls. For some strange reason a man running for 24 hours, shitting in woods, pissing down his leg and sweating liberally seems to attract women like bees to honey. Honestly sometimes I actually get groupies chasing me like I have a pair of jimmy choos in my bag. And thirdly, the jet set lifestyle- the races take me to all kinds of exotic places that I could only have dreamed of visiting. In what world would you get the opportunity, and this is just 2010, to visit places like marshside kent, streatham and aldershot! only celebrities get opportunities like this. So all in all, the why question is simply answered! forget the nature and freedom, allowing my introverted side indulgence and away from a hectic London lifestyle (yes introverted as ironic as it is being a blogger!) and forget the strength I gain mentally and physically on a trail....nope money, women and jets have got my dialed into my running again...its go time.

Other than this little impulsive post, I do have some things I'm doing with the blog over the next few months. My online training programme will hopefully be available in December and I hope to have a dedicated section for training programmes for all distances. I have tailored a lot of programmes this summer for people and results have been great so I will share these with a view to gaining some momentum on the selling of bespoke programmes. I also think I will try to produce a trainer guide for both road, trail and fell shoes- I have had great access to test shoes with backcountry so hopefully I can create quite a comprehensive list that people will genuinely log on to see and not just because they are my friend and I tell them to :-). Happy trails