The Real Relay - An Amazing Running Feat

Hi

Just a quick post about the Real Relay.  If you are like me, then you are more than likely to be one hundred percent in support of the London Olympics and really looking forward to it, although I will be missing the opening ceremony due to a more important event!.  However, there was a wee bit of disappointment when I discovered that the Olympic Torch Relay was a bit of a farce!  Looking at the publicity surrounding the Olympic Torch Relay you are strongly encouraged to believe that the Olympic Torch Relay covers 8000 miles, with the torch being carried by 8000 runners, so simple each torchbearer runs one mile.  The BBC website illustrates what I assumed was happening with the Olympic Torch Relay.

When you go to the Official Olympic Torch Relay website the same illusion is being portrayed .  Today it states "The Flame will travel 107.66 miles through 12 communities before arriving at Popes Meadow Park in Luton for the evening celebration. A total of 131 Torchbearers will carry the Flame through the day."  So when I discovered that in fact the torch travels more than 6000 of the 8000 miles in a car, I was rather disappointed!

Fortunately, Endurancelife, the people that organise some awesome endurance events, also felt the same disappointment and decided to take up the challenge and set in place the Real Relay!  The Real Relay website describes what the Real Relay involves:

The Endurancelife Real Relay is an exciting attempt to follow the entire route of the official Olympic Torch around the British Isles in one continuous non-stop journey, running every step of the way.  Starting out from Land’s End at midnight on Monday 28 May, ten days behind the official Olympic Torch, the Real Relay will involve hundreds of runners from across the British Isles running through the day and night on an 8000 mile mission to reach London in time for the Olympic Games opening ceremony. We’re calling on runners from all over the British Isles to join the relay by signing up to run one or more of the stages (below) and help achieve one of the greatest Olympic endeavours of all time.

So as you would imagine, the task Endurancelife set to the running community of the UK was a very demanding challenge.  Well with the Real Relay now into day 40, the runners of the UK have carried the Real Relay baton non stop, 24 hours a day, covering close to 5000 miles.  Tonight the 500th leg, each leg is on average 10 miles, will be completed.  At times the Real Relay has got behind schedule, for example due to floods, or simply due to some rather demanding legs, such as reaching the summits of Ben Nevis, Snowdon, and Scaffel Pike, but at the moment it is bang on schedule.  The progress of the Real Relay can be tracked online on the Real Relay website.

Although the Real Relay started at Lands End ten days after the Olympic Torch Relay, the Real Relay is scheduled to overtake the Olympic Torch Relay at Dover on Wednesday 18th July.  Immediately prior to reaching Dover, that morning the Real Relay passes through East Sussex, and I am very fortunate to be running one of the relay legs.  At 4:15am on the morning of Wednesday 18th July I am scheduled to run the 12 miles from Seaford to Eastbourne.  The Real Relay follows the route of the Olympic Torch Relay, running through all of the towns that the Olympic Torch actually travelled through by foot.  However, since over three quarters of the Olympic Torch Relay is travelled by car, Endurancelife allows each leg runner  to decide the route they wish to take during the sections in which the Olympic Torch Relay travelled by car.  I have therefore decided that I will cover the 12 miles from Seaford to Eastbourne along the footpaths of the South Coast which include the awesome landscape of Seaford Head, Cuckmere Haven, the Seven Sisters, Birling Gap and Beachy Head, before dropping down into Eastbourne.

To date the schedule of the Real Relay has been set at typically ten minutes per mile.  However, in order to overtake the Olympic Torch Relay at Dover, the schedule has been slightly quickened.  I have therefore been allocated 1 hour 40 minutes to cover the 12 miles, which works out at exactly 8 minutes 30 seconds per mile.  A bit quicker, although hopefully should be a reasonably comfortable pace, although I have seen some reports that the baton is reasonably heavy due to the inclusion of the gps tracking device.

I would like to share this great occasion. so send an open invite to any runners out there who would like to run the Real Relay leg 613 with me, and help with the carrying of the baton.  If you would like to run the leg, simply send me an e-mail franstu@talktalk.net or leave a message on Facebook . Along with being a great opportunity to strengthen the unity of the UK running community, it is also a good opportunity to raise money for the charity CHICKS.  All Real Relay runners are encouraged to donate a minimum of £10 to this worthy charity. To date over £7000 has been raised from the Real Relay.

I look forward to receiving contact from many runners out there.  The more runners the better.

Thanks

Stuart

Endurancelife Classic Quarter 44 Mile Ultra - Mind Games

Hi Again

IF YOU HAVE ARRIVED HERE FROM THE RUNFURTHER WEBSITE TO READ MY CLASSIC QUARTER RACE REPORT, YOU MAY WISH TO SCROLL DOWN THE PAGE TO WHERE IT STATES RUNFURTHER RACE REPORT STARTS HERE.  

THE FIRST SECTION OF THIS BLOG POST IS ABOUT MY RATHER 'ALTERNATIVE' APPROACH TO TOTAL TRAINING, AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MIND GAMES.  THE ENTIRE POST IS WELL WORTHY OF A READ, HOWEVER, I APPRECIATED NOT EVERYONE HAS LOADS OF TIME TO READ ULTRA LENGTH BLOG POSTS, HENCE THE POSSIBLE SKIPPING OVER OF THE FIRST SECTION OF THIS POST!

A little delayed but it is taking me a while to get back into blogging mode after my lengthy time off.  As the Classic Quarter 44 mile ultra approached, my first ultra trail race in over six months, the self doubts regarding my ability to perform back to my usual level prior to my lengthy time off from running was a real issue, which required serious attention during my preparation.  Yes, this race really demonstrated the truthfulness of Chris McCormack's (Australian Triathlete, Double Hawaii Ironman winner and heaps more) words of wisdom from his 2011 book titled I'm Here to Win: "The mind games that take place before the starting gun ever fires is really the critical point of a race."

Back in January I planned by seven races for the year.  Each year I try to support the Runfurther UK Ultra-running championship series, so when I saw that the Classic Quarter 44 mile ultra was part of the series, I immediately sorted out my entry.  Being an Endurancelife race, one is guaranteed that the course would contain awesome scenery, be well organised, and be a real challenge.  Then came February, my fractured foot, and no running at all for exactly eight weeks.  During this time I was in New Zealand with other priorities, so it was pretty well a complete rest for two months.

Now one can read the running magazines and the dated text books on 'Principles of Training' and the principle of reversibility, i.e. how quickly one loses fitness when not training.  Over the last few years I have realised the many limitations of the sports science literature prior to 2000, so I knew this reversibility issue shouldn't really be a concern, as performance is determined by much more than simply physiology.  However, even knowing this doesn't stop the self doubt from occurring.

So ten weeks out from the Classic Quarter race, and therefore 15 weeks prior to the Montane Lakeland 100 (my key race for the year) I slowly jogged a few miles to test out my foot.  Verdict, okayish, but as you would expect, with none or minimal weight bearing for 8 weeks, the foot isn't going to feel right!  But for whatever reason, I had decided that 10 and 15 weeks were the minimum time duration I required to be able to perform to my absolute best in the 44 and 105 mile races respectively, so I had no choice, I had to continue my run training, having another week off, was not an option.  I had been doing that for the previous three weeks!

Fortunately my brother-in-law, the 'famous' Ken Maclaren, from the Triathlon publishing company KinEli Publishing just by chance was slowly getting back into running after a year off due to a dodgy knee.  So my first week back into run training was a maximum of 4 miles at around 11 minutes per mile pace.  Exactly what I needed to ensure I didn't over do it!

As you can imagine jogging very slowly at 11 minutes per mile pace for 40 minutes max doesn't really instil confidence regarding the possibility of blasting off the front at the start of my upcoming two races, my usual strategy that I adopt to illustrate the appropriateness of my "Run as fast as you can, while you can" philosophy!  At around the same time I discover that Pete Roper, three times winner and record holder of the Classic Quarter race has entered, and the self doubt begins to escalate.  Those of you that haven't heard of Pete Roper, wouldn't know that pretty well every trail race he enters he wins, many in some pretty impressive times for off-road marathons.  I had never raced the guy, so although lacking in self confidence, I was sort of excited about the prospect of finally racing him.

So as I gradually build up both the pace and duration of my runs, having convinced myself that ten weeks physical preparation was fine, the real battle was to master the self doubt due to my lengthy time off.  What was my strategy?  Well fortunately being in New Zealand, not working and not training I had the luxury of some spare time.  I joined the local library and read quite a few sporting biographies, including two books about Jack Lovelock, one being a recently published transcript of his training diaries.  Now I guess probably 99% of non-kiwis would have never heard of Jack Lovelock, but if you are from New Zealand then you would be well aware of his running feats, World Record holder for the mile in 1933 in a time of 4:07, pretty well unbeaten for the mile/1500m for the entire race season of 1935, and then winning the 1500m Gold at the 1936 Olympic Games in a World Record time!  Now what was so significant regarding Jack Lovelock was that at the end of the 1935 race season, by choice, he took four months off totally!  From October 1935 through to February 1936 he did not run, not even once!  He did some long hikes/walks and the occasional boxing match, but no running.  So here was the World's best miler in the 1930s, able to regain is form, to set another World record after having 4 months of non-running.  So me having two complete months of, not a problem.  If he could set a World record, then surely I shouldn't have any problem in regaining my previous race fitness.

The one thing unique about my preparation for the Classic Quarter, different to other race preparations was that this time my preparation included focussing on one athlete.  For all other races, I simply focus on myself, and totally ignore the likely opposition.  I always find it is better to focus on what you can control.  But for this race, the prospect of racing Pete Roper who had won the Classic Quarter three times, each in record times of 7:17, 7:14 and then the amazingly quick 6:33  further confirmed that extensive preparation were needed in order to prevail!  But here I am, two weeks into training still not having run further than 6 miles in 45 minutes!  Extensive physical preparation wasn't the answer, so instead of my usual 40-50 miles physical and 40 - 50 miles non physical training per week, the volume of non physical training was increased. Yes, as far as I was concerned I was now a 100 mile a week athlete!

What do I mean by non physical training?  Well this consists of training to win the battle over the self doubts, that I was finding difficult to keep at bay!  Jack Lovelock's story was a good starting point, and then I read more books about other New Zealand athletes such as Anne Audain, John Walker, Peter Snell and Dick Taylor.  All of them had the same message, the essential need to have self-belief, to overcome the doubts that always nag within one's mind.  So as my physical training was slowly progressing, my non physical training was accelerating.  I was storing away within my mind every little bit of positive evidence I could to build up my self-belief that come the start line of firstly the Classic Quarter and then a bit later in the year the Lakeland 100, that the confidence would be present to run my usual race, without any fear of suffering later due to any perceived lack of preparation.  This is the key to performance, all great endurance athletes tell the same story, conquer the self doubt, and you conquer the event, which subsequently conquers the opposition!

In addition to reading sporting biographies I researched the race, everything I could about the course, the village names, the location on the Cornwall coast.  Prior to my preparation I had no idea Lands End is actually the most western point of Britain, not the most southern.  I sourced photos of the course, previous race reports, race finish times etc.  All the hours doing this research, I recognised as training, and allowed me to create more realistic visualisations of the race.  Leading up to the race, pretty well every run on my own, I ran the race in my head.  And as mentioned above, it involved running away from not just all of the anonymous runners, but for this race, running away from Pete Roper at the start of the race.  I researched his race splits in comparison to other runners in his races and found that he typically runs with the lead group to around two-thirds / three-quarters of the race before moving away.  Great I thought, this suits my strategy perfectly.  So the visualisations of leaving him for dead at the start of the race, was a 'done deal'!  Not a problem, without any doubt easily accomplished.  And from that success in self-confidence, the rest of the race visualisations follow a similar successful pattern.

One key feature of these visualisations is that the more material you have to create the visualisations, the more real they are, and therefore the more successful at entering your sub-conscious.  This is the level which you have to work on.  Yes, it is simple to say to yourself, I will run hard, I will grit my teeth, try my best, push myself to the limit.  But all of this is at the conscious level.  It works to a tiny degree, but only minimally.  It is the removal of self-doubt, the creation of self-expectations of what you are capable of, at the sub-conscious level, that massively determines performance.  This takes extensive preparation, and with less than ten weeks of race preparation, hence the need to increase my weekly 'mileage'.  Including Pete Roper within my visualisations stressed the importance to me that thorough training was going to be required to out perform such a quality athlete.  My at times casual approach to training was not going to be sufficient.

In addition to making the visualisation real, the race time/duration component of the race is paramount.  Having a realistic clear race duration is essential in order for your sub-conscious to have a meaningful conversation between your body and mind (although the two components do act as one - conversations still take place).  You must know whether you are going to race for 6 hours or 8 hours.  The race duration severely affects one's race focus energy in relation to one's running pace.  If you are only racing a half marathon, then running at half marathon pace isn't that mentally difficult, it demands standard levels of race focus energy.  However, try running at half marathon pace when racing the first half of a marathon.  Physiologically nothing has changed, however, it is so so much more mentally demanding, it feels heaps harder, the race focus energy to maintain the same pace is massively more, because of the expectations that have been established at the sub-conscious level.  So my visualised race duration for the Classic Quarter, simple, 6:32, i.e. one minute quicker that Pete Roper's course record.

Well finally let's get to race day.  Well it didn't take me long to get back into my rather lengthy blog posts!  I arrive in Cornwall on the Friday evening and discover that Pete Roper is not racing, apparently injured,  One part of me is relieved, phew!  But the other part is angry!  I had spent 10 weeks,  preparing to 'leave him for dead' on the start line.  Luckily I had overnight to try to reset my strategy.  re-alter my visualisations, at this late stage to try to adjust my sub-conscious.  Hopefully this example illustrates that including other athletes within your visualisations / your preparations is not wise.  You can't control them!  Always better to simply focus on yourself, what you can control.

As I head to the Penzance Youth Hostel for last minute preparations, just by chance I happen to bump into two amazing guys. Yes, it just so happens that staying at the youth hostel on the Friday night were Mal Law from NZ and Tom Bland from the UK.  Just by chance whilst in NZ I stumbled across their website about the amazing charity run that these two guys were planning to undertake in June, i.e. running the complete South West Coastal Path of 630 miles in 14 days.  And here I was chatting to them as they were trying to refuel after completing their sixth day of the journey.  They looked pretty exhausted, and it appeared to me that they somehow had lost the most important ingredient required in order to perform, that being retaining the joy of running, i.e. enjoying the present moment whilst running.  Now I have never attempted something as ambitious as these two guys were doing.  It was truly a demanding challenge, so I didn't convey my thoughts regarding the need for enjoyment, as I felt my lack of really knowing what was involved didn't qualify me to comment.  Anyway it was great to chat to them about their experience, albeit after their sixth long hard day, positivity wasn't really flowing.  I'm not sure how they got on,  Details regarding their awesome challenge are on their website http://www.coastpathrun.co.uk/ unfortunately the daily blogs aren't up to date.  But Mal and Tom if you are reading this a huge well done to both of you.

RUNFURTHER RACE REPORT STARTS HERE

I get to sleep in the Penzance Youth Hostel dorm with three alarms set for 3:04, 3:06 and 3:08 am. just to prevent any possibility of over sleeping.  I wake up at 2:59am before my alarms so fortunately don't wake anyone else up.  I immediately conclude, yes, today everything will go to plan.  Remember the importance of filing away every bit of positive evidence you can, to confirm that your high self expectations are valid.  A quick drive to Lands End, the finish line, and onto the bus to transport us runners to the start.  I meet the 'ever present' Nick Ham, who I think is half way through completing his third, or maybe his fourth Runfurther Grand Slam, that involves running all 12 races in the series each year. 

We arrive at a wind blown Lizard Point, register in the village hall, before strolling down to the very southern tip of the UK.  I guess there are around 150 other runners all set to race 44 miles into an extremely strong head/cross wind, back to Lands End.  I chat to various runners, totally calm, which really surprises me,  Considering where I was at less than ten weeks ago, with the self-doubt rapidly developing, to be in such a calm state, totally confident that my preparations had gone well was quite an achievement,  Yes as Chris McCormack stated above "The mind games that take place before the starting gun ever fires is really the critical point of a race."  Why was I so confident?  Well mainly due to the fact that I had carried out 100 equivalent miles per week for the last 6 weeks or so.  In terms of my physical training, the 9 weeks of complete running miles were; 30, 25, 65, 22, 44, 67, 38, 79 and 55 miles.  During that time I had run five times longer than 15 miles, with 2 runs over 20 miles, being 22 and 25 miles.  Many ultra runners may consider this level of physical training as a bit on the light side, but to me I was totally happy with my preparation for an undulating 44 mile trail race.

Having sorted out my 'not recommended' preparation overnight of having focussed on one athlete within my visualisation, I had readjusted my strategy to start of quick, but not at a ridiculous pace and if need be to run with the lead group.  The race starts and without starting too fast, before I know it I am out on my own in the lead.  So much for potentially running within a lead group!  Well I don't need a second 'offering' to lead the race, so for the next 10 - 15 minutes I run at a pretty high intensity, never looking behind to see how close the following runners are.  The focus here was to run my own race, focus on what I can do, challenge myself, test out my race fitness, assess just how good my TOTAL training had been.

Probably around one hour into the race, I get a glimpse of second place.  To my surprise he was not much more that 40 - 50 seconds behind.  I think right, this could be a battle, he's just watching me, keeping an eye on me.  I continue along the absolutely awesome coastal path, with a real mixture of terrain including shingle beach, steep climbs, grass cliff tops etc.  At two hours into the race we run around the very picturesque village harbour of Porthleven.  As I complete the loop around the harbour, I am again able to judge my lead, which would have been around 4 minutes.  A bit more substantial but still felt quite close.  I am however quite pleased that the second place getter is still reasonably near as it keeps me focused to run hard, not to ease off.

Around the 22 mile mark - Battling tthe headwind towards Penzance

The miles just seems to fly by due to a combination of the amazing views, as well as the need to really keep 'your wits about you' in order to remain on the coastal path, as it times it wasn't really obvious.  There is a really tough stretch along the flat cycle path directly into the strong headwind as the coastal path heads towards Penzance.  And then a few more miles of road following Penzance before re-joining the undulating off-road coastal path through to checkpoint three at Lamona Cove and then the last water station at Minack Theatre, with just a little over 4 miles to go.  Throughout the race I had been keeping a casual eye on my race time, and occasionally checking my GPS watch displaying the miles covered.  Each time my rough calculations confirm that a sub 6:30 was likely hence beating my visualisation record breaking finish time.  However, upon reaching the last drink station, it becomes clear that although I had noticed that I had eased of the pace, due to the messages in my head arguing, "take it easy, you are literally miles ahead, don't overdo it, remember your key race is only 5 weeks away!"  It was now clear that breaking the record may now not be a certainty. 

My GPS trace near the finish

Whether due to the slight panic of the need to get a move on, I'm not totally sure, but after having successfully navigated myself along the South West Coastal Path for the previous six hours, I now discover that I have somehow run off course and have ended up being inland.  Rather than back tracking I decide to continue along the footpath (without the acorn symbols) which seems to be taking a long about way of returning to the coast.  I make my way up a steady climb along a muddy farm track before reaching the top of the small rise.  I can see the coastline clearly ahead, and Lands Ends is in the distant to my right.  I have a dilemma, do I turn left and return back to the coast line at my first opportunity which will definitely result in losing many minutes, or do I continue straight ahead and re-join the coast after it has curved towards to north, which would probably balance out my going off course, but more likely result in a slight short cut!  The desire of setting the record is tempting.  No one would know the route I travelled, that is except me! 

The purple dashes showing the coastal path.  The blue dashes showing the tempting short cut!

After a few seconds of indecision, pleasingly now, I make the correct decision, and head straight back to the coast, and re-join the coastal path with a sign showing Minack Theatre 1.5 miles.  My GPS watch shows that I have run closer to two miles since leaving the drink station at Minack Theatre.  The error gets me angry and my pace rapidly increases as I try to regain the lost time over the last 2.5 miles.  The large buildings are clearly visible in the distance, and it becomes obvious that breaking the record is no longer possible.  I continue to run hard and finish in a time of 6:35:53, 2 minutes 43 seconds slower than the record.  Although there is some disappointment at missing the record, overall I am really pleased with my performance.  Second place runner is Neil Kirk in 7:31, using the race as good preparation for the 200 mile Dragons Back race at the start of September, only finishing ahead of third place Oli Bloomfield by 31 seconds.  First place women, Isobel Wykes, was closely behind in 7:34, with Lucy Clayton second (8:14) and Nichola Taylor third (8:32). Race results.

I chat to the Endurancelife guys that have put on such a superb event, and then shortly afterwards compare my checkpoint split times with the first relay team of four, who start 30 minutes behind me.  One excellent feature of  Endurancelife races is that immediately upon crossing the finish line you received a small printout of your race splits.  The relay team of four have beaten me, by six minutes.  After gaining a good lead over them during the first two legs up to 22 miles, I lose 1 minute to their third relay runner on leg three, and then lose 19 minutes over the last 11 miles!  Yes, those messages within my head encouraging me to ease off were successful.  Looking at my heart rate trace, between 32 and 40 miles my average heart rate was between 5 - 10 beats per minute lower.  (Click here to go to Garmin Connect to view my GPS and Heart rate data).  Yes a substantial easing off!  I wasn't fatigued, I just was 'weak' within my mind, as Chris McCormack expresses it (see signing off quote in my pre race blog post), I listened to the "bad angel on my shoulder" wanting to slow me down.

Well, already within three blog posts, I'm back to my usual ultra length duration.  With now only four weeks exactly to the Montane Lakeland 100, being back up to my usual performance is required.  Now time to move it on up to the next level of performance.  Yes, 15 weeks preparation now feels ideal.  The perfect duration of build-up for a perfect performance.  Reminder, every bit of positive evidence you can seize, store it away within your mind.

I subtitled this race report "Mind Games", hopefully I have illustrated just how important these mind games are.

Time to sign off with a relevant quote from another great endurance athlete, Chrissie Wellington, from her book titled "A Life Without Limits".

“Remaining positive really is one of the most precious faculties for any athlete.  That, and an ability to stay focused and disciplined.  Develop a mind bank of positive images and thoughts – family, friends, previous successes, favourite places, a big plate of chips.  You need to build it up as you would any collection, but soon you will have a range of thoughts to flick through when next your body and soul are screaming out for relief”.

All the best with your mind games,

Stuart

Endurancelife Classic Quarter 44 mile Ultra - Quick Update

Hi,

Just a quick update on yesterday's race down in Cornwall, which was part of the Runfurther UK Championship Ultra Trail Series.  The race went really well, and it was nice to gain 1000 points for the Runfurther series with first place in 6 hours 35 minutes. 

I guess there were around 150 - 175 runners at the start point at Lizard Point, the most southern tip of Britain.  During the race it was dry with the sun making an appearance at times, however, the very strong head wind pretty well the whole way had one benefit at keeping the temperature down. The course followed the Cornwall Coastal path the entire way to Lands End, the most western tip of Britain, hence the name of the race the Classic QUARTER, as we ran one quarter of Britain's coast! 

With three times winner and current record holder (6:33) for the Classic Quarter Pete Roper not able to run due to injury I found myself running on my own immediately from the start, and ended up finishing 56 minutes ahead of the second placed runner (7:31), who unfortunately I have forgotten his name, likewise for the women's winner who finished 4th overall in 7:34.

So another great event put on by Endurancelife.  It felt really good to be racing again.  The excitement builds as it is now less than five weeks to go to the Olympic Opening Ceremony, I mean the start of the Montane Lakeland 100!

Hope all of you that raced this weekend had pleasing performances.
Stuart

Hi, Yes, after a short break I am back!

Hi, welcome back to my UltraStu blog.  Yes, it has been a while since my last post, way back in February!  In my last post I spoke of injury and illness and finished the post highlighting "the need to focus on the positives, to process effectively any negatives, to fully live within the present moment".  Have I been achieving this over the last 17 weeks?  I guess time for an update!

Those of you who have followed by blog over the last two years will have noticed that in addition to not commenting on injuries I also have never commented on religion.  Are the two related?  Well maybe they are!

Back in February I mentioned that I was heading out to New Zealand with my family for a lengthy period of time to spend some quality time with my father-in-law John, as his health was declining.  In order to make the most of the upcoming less than ideal situation in New Zealand, I contacted the race organiser of New Zealand's premier ultra trail race the Tarawera Ultra Marathon and sorted out an entry to take on Anton Krupicka from America and the top Kiwis and Aussies.  Now, although I am ultra competitive when it comes to trail racing, I feel that I try to keep a good balance between training, racing and family.  However, at this particular moment in time, when family needed to take total priority, the attractiveness of the Tarawera Ultra was consuming some of my focus!  So what happens?  Yes, immediately before flying out to New Zealand I suffer a stress fracture in my foot.  Sufficiently broken to put me out of running for eight weeks. 

Now I would like to think that upon arriving in New Zealand and seeing the poor health of my father-in-law, focusing on supporting my family would have taken top priority, however, maybe the Universe, the greater power above, God, whatever you want to call it, knew me better, and hence, the stress fracture!  So, I found myself instead of suffering from disappointment due to having an injury, I was actually quite pleased that I was injured, so I didn't have any selfish distractions.  Sadly, John's health declined at a rapid rate, so we weren't able to spend as much time with him as we had hoped.   However, he had lived an active and fit life, pretty well right until the last few months, and he was able to peacefully pass away being surrounded by his loving family.

So during my time in New Zealand (I am now back in the UK) I tried to focus on the positives, and gave plenty of thought to the 'bigger picture'.  The importance of family, the importance of fulfilment, the importance of enjoyment.  The need to set goals, to challenge oneself, to aim for ones best, to not accept mediocrity.  And what I was discovering was that the messages I had learnt during my last four years of ultra trail running, seemed to be totally applicable to life in general.  So being in New Zealand was a sad time, whilst also being an enlightening time.  Now I just have to implement my ideas, ambitions and beliefs!  Not just think about it, but to actually do it!

As I mentioned above, my stress fracture injury prevented me from running for exactly eight weeks.  Below is a photo of me trying out some cross-training!

Thanks to all of you that sent me e-mails / left comments, expressing confidence that my positivity would prevail and that I would come back stronger.  It's nice to feel part of a friendly, supportive community.  Also thanks to those of you that e-mailed me commenting that you were missing my blog posts.  Again, it's nice to know that people find worthiness within my 'words of wisdom'.  And lastly I received an intriguing e-mail/message from one blog follower.  After a bit of "rambling" (her words), she outlined her goals: "Be the best I can be at long distance. Compete instead of just running races. Take my training more seriously. Seize this opportunity now to do what I absolutely love before its too late and life gets in the way." and then she asked if I was able to assist her in achieving her goals.

So after I recovered from my ego boost, I had to give some serious thought to whether I had sufficient time to establish a successful coaching relationship, which would significantly assist her in achieving her goals.  I set up this blog over two years ago, in order to share what I had learnt through my ultra trail running.  So, after deciding that I did have the available time, I thought that it was a great opportunity to further share my knowledge, so I said yes, and I am now officially an ultra trail running coach!  Looks good typed out, and I am finding that it is proving to be very satisfying.  She sends me short e-mails with some questions /comments regarding her training, racing, goals etc., and I simply send her an e-mail back with my thoughts.  I not sure that she entirely knew what she was getting herself into, as strangely my e-mail responses tend to go on a wee bit.  I start with one of my ideas/philosophies, then tend to go onto the next , and next etc.  Anyway as I said above, it has been very satisfying for both of us.  Since coaching began, she has raced once, probably achieving her best ultra trail result to date and is all set for her first 100 mile trail ultra shortly.  For me, the timing was ideal, as it provided a running challenge whilst I was injured. 

So am I now a retired/semi-retired competitive ultra trail runner?  Well those that know me, you will know that the answer is definitely NO.  Yes, I am finding reward in seeing my coaching client improve, but I still have the strong hunger to run faster for further. So I am looking to successfully combine the two.  And as I am a strong believer in TOTAL training, I am able to log the time involved in coaching as training.  So following my foot injury, I have been back up to some big training weeks, including physical training, visualisations, thoughts on race preparation/positivity and coaching.

The overall timing has worked out really well, as the TOTAL training has come together ready for this weekend's Endurancelife 44 mile Classic Quarter Ultra Trail Race in Cornwall.  I have raced a few of the Endurancelife races now, and one thing that is guaranteed is that the course will be extremely scenic but also very challenging.  So I am really excited about racing again, after quite a break.

Whilst in New Zealand not being able to run, I also did quite a bit of reading.  I first read the autobiographies by some of New Zealand's great runners including, Jack Lovelock (1500m Gold in 1936 Olympics and World Record holder for mile and 1500m), Peter Snell (800m Gold in 1960 and 1964 Olympics, 1500m Gold in 1964 Olympics and World Record Holder for 800m and mile), John Walker (1500m Gold in 1976 Olympics and World Record holder for mile) and some other New Zealand runners less well known; Dick Taylor (10,000m Gold in 1974 Commonwealth Games beating David Bedford in a World Class time) and Anne Audain (3,000m Gold in 1982 Commonwealth Games, but more well known for being unbeaten on the roads in the United States for two years in the early eighties).  So I was discovering as much as I could from these great athletes.  They weren't ultra trail runners, but they understood about performing to the best of their ability, that just so happened to be the best, or near the best in the World.  What was really interesting was that similar themes/characteristics were common to them all.  I haven't got time to share them now, another post, but the key one that stood out was their inner belief in their ability, and that their preparation had been effective for their key goal race.

I also read a few other books by a few triathletes, and a few former All Blacks.  Again enlightening.  Different sport, especially the rugby, but some key messages the same.  Then to bring it right up to date and specific to ultra trail running, I was privileged to be sent a final draft copy of Andy Mouncey's book titled "Magic, Madness, and Ultra Marathon Running".  I found the book a really interesting read, especially identifying the similarities and differences in what I had experienced in ultra trail races in comparisons to Andy.  Those of you not aware of Andy, I first met him during the 2010 Lakeland 100, well actually after the race at the finish line as he got second to me.  Since then we have worked together on the Alpine-Oasis Running Camp out near Chamonix prior to the 2011 Ultra Trail Mont Blanc, and will be working together again at the upcoming Alpine-Oasis Running Camp in Yorkshire Dales (Ingleton) during the weekend of 13 - 15th July.  I am a guest for the weekend running camp, so will be contributing and sharing my ideas on trail running, whilst on the trails, around the dinner table, and I guess also occasionally at the bar! 

Anyway back to Andy's book.  It's not too thick, a good light read, with some key messages, albeit slightly 'hidden away'.  Having read the final draft, my feedback comments were then able to be incorporated within the published copy, and I even get a mention on the Amazon UK website, (“As with the journey of life, the messages are not always obvious, not always easy to see. But if you read this book with an open and receptive mind, and are able to feel beyond the race descriptions, then what is really important within ultra trail running (and possibly life) will hopefully become that little bit clearer.” Stuart Mills, Seven time Beachy Head Marathon Champion, and Lakeland 100 Winner 2010), where you can purchase a Kindle copy for only £7.57.  Sorry if it sounds like I'm a salesman for Andy's book.  Unfortunately I'm not receiving any commission, although I'm sure Andy will shout me a beer or two up in Yorkshire (hope you are reading this Andy!) 

I think now is an appropriate time to finish tonight's post, before it becomes another ultra post.  It feels great to be adding to my UltraStu blog again.  It great to be running again, and really exciting to be racing again this weekend.  I hope all of you out there have been enjoying your running and working towards and achieving your personal challenges.  I have been keeping a bit of an eye on the UK race results and there definitely have been some great performances.  Long may it continue throughout the year of 2012.

All the best,

Stuart

PS Exactly 5 weeks today (as it is now Friday) until the opening ceremony of the Olympics, and for hundreds of you out there that simply means one thing: Yes, the start of the Lakeland 100!

PPS Nearly signed off without a quote. Having read loads of books I have plenty to choose from, however, the quote from Chris McCormack - Awesome Australian Triathlete/Ironman - from his 2011 book titled "I'm Here to Win" has been quite relevant recently as I carry out my TOTAL training for the upcoming races:

"The mind game that takes place before the starting gun ever fires is really the critical point of a race.  It's when you have that good angel on one shoulder and a bad angel on the other.  One is saying "You can do it, mate!"  The other is whispering, "Why are you here? You can't win!"  The angel you decide to listen to will determine whether you are competitive or an also-ran.  There's always a voice in everyone's head saying "You haven't done the work, mate.  You know that track session you missed? It's coming back to get you on this hill."  That's what holds you back.  Each race is a new war against the evil angel! Mastering your own self doubts is the battle!"

London Ultra - A Different Experience

Hi All

If you were wondering what happened to my London Ultra Quick Update post, well there wasn't one, with the picture below probably immediately explaining why!

Those of you who have been following my blog for a while may have noticed that there has been one running related topic that I have never mentioned.  Yes, you guessed it, injuries.  There are probably two reasons why I haven't written about them within my blog posts: (i) Injuries are usually associated with a negative response, and I try to focus on the positive aspects of running, and (ii) Since writing this post I haven't experienced any running injuries to prevent me from running.  Well at around the six and a half mile mark during Sunday's 50km London Ultra race I had a new topic to write about!

Due to heading out to New Zealand for three months (now moved forward to this coming Saturday), the opportunity to race all of the top Kiwis, Aussies, a top Yank (Anton Krupicka) and a top Brit (Martin Cox) over 100 kilometres of trails in the Tarawera National Park was really exciting.  In order to feel fully prepared for the Tarawera Ultra Marathon I felt I needed an ultra race, hence me being on the start line of the 50 km London Ultra in the South East of London, ready to race clockwise along the Capital Ring walking route to the Perivale Athletics track in the North West of London.

After a quick drive from my mate Dave's house to the finish, I boarded the coach along with around 60 other runners that transported us to the start.  It was a beautiful crisp morning, not a cloud in the sky, and with the sun adding some needed warmth.  Although there were four drinks stations on route I decided to run with my inov8 bumbag that enabled me to to carry some water, a jacket, some gels and an energy bar.  Just at the last minute I also put in a £10 note, with the thought that I might arrive at the finish before the van that was transporting our bags, as I was planning to race the 50km pretty quickly.  So some money to buy some coffee and cake at the end would be useful.

Last year the race was jointly won by fellow GB teammate from the IAU World Champs Craig Stewart in a time of 3:42, which works out at only 7:08 mile pace.  Being in London I was expecting mostly tarmacked paths or pavements, but also some off-road trails, so not entirely road.  However, with only limited off-road running I was expecting to run a lot quicker that my usual ultra trail races, but I thought, it could only be beneficial for my Tarawera preparation.

We have a ten second count down and the field of around 250 runners slowly depart.  I am immediately leading but I don't have much of a gap with there being three runners only around 15 metres behind me,  The route follows the Capital Ring walking route so there are green finger posts / signs to follow.  In addition there are some red arrows spray painted occasionally on the ground, and we were also provided with a detailed map, although just a wee bit too small!  Not knowing the course it was a bit tricky for the first mile leading, looking out for signs, arrows, and cars as we were crossing a few roads.  Then all of a sudden I hear a shout, "this way".  I look behind and see the three runners head off up a side street.  I was obviously very grateful for them shouting out to me, but then realising that they didn't shout out until they had actually made the turn, rather than immediately upon seeing that I had not turned left, when I regained the 20 or so metres to rejoin them I wasn't really in a talkative mood.  I therefore decided that I wouldn't do any more leading of the race and I would just sit at the back of the pack and let them lead me along the route.

Looking back now I'm not really sure why I had such a negative response, but I think it could have been due to my left foot feeling a little bit uncomfortable.  For the last two weeks my left foot had felt a little bruised, nothing painful, just a dull ache.  I attributed it to running a bit too much on the frozen uneven ground, but I wasn't overly concerned about it prior to the race.  However, already after one mile it was beginning to gain my attention.

Just two nights earlier, I had had a great evening presenting my ideas on running to 70 runners at an event put on in conjunction with local running club Uckfield Runners.  My talk was really well received and the idea of maximising positivity and dealing with / not focusing on negativity seemed to resonate with many runners.  So as my foot began to feel worse, and with there also beginning to be a feeling from within asking "Where is the scenery? Why am I running along these pavements / running across roads?"  I was experiencing high levels of negativity.  I thought back to my presentation from the Friday night, knowing the solution is not to focus on the negative aspects, but to focus on the positive.  So I focused on running fast, breathing hard, feeling a high heart rate.  This was after all the reason I was doing the race.  To have a blast out, to extend myself, to run hard and fast.  And we were running quite quickly.  After the slowish first mile of 6:28, the next two miles are 6:09 and 6:04.  And these miles involved many sharp 90 degree turns and passing through kissing gates etc!  Nothing too fast when compared to road marathons, but compared to ultra trail pace it was a little bit quicker than I was used to.

So as the miles continued I ignored my foot and focused on smashing Craig Stewart's winning time consisting of 7:08 mile pace.  After the first four miles the pace eased off a wee bit.  Although the pace had slowed I was still finding that my race focus energy usage rate was still quite elevated.  I visualised my Race Focus Energy Fatigue Model which I had talked about on the Friday night.  Due to the pain from my foot, combined with my other negative thoughts the RPE-RFE arrow was definitely rotated upwards, thereby increasing the RFE usage rate even though the actual RPE had declined following the first few quick miles. I then started questioning the wisdom of running another 25 miles, on a foot that by now had become quite painful.  I knew what I should do, and that was to stop.  But with my first Ultra DNF still fresh in my mind form Mont Blanc, a second DNF was definitely not welcomed.  Luckily I knew deep down what the correct decision was, so this decision was made and I simply stopped running.

So here I am somewhere in the South of London, 25 miles from my car.  I locate my position on the race map, and as I realise there is a train station just around the next corner, I feel for my £10 note, and I am very grateful to my thoughtful sub-conscious or maybe another influence, for provoking me to carry some money probably for the first time ever in a running race (apart form UTMB where it is required kit).  As I travel on the train and then the tube to the race finish, I experience a strange feeling.  There isn't any shock or extreme disappointment like that experienced at UTMB.  I know that I have suffered a serious injury as immediately upon stopping the pain has significantly magnified.  I know then that the anticipated excitement of racing the Tarawera Ultra Marathon just four weeks later is highly unlikely.  But again I simply accept it, without any real sense of disappointment!

Come Monday with the pain not decreasing, combined with increased swelling, a quickish visit to the local hospital (yes, I was pretty impressed with the service provided by the NHS, thanks), for an x-ray confirms what I suspected; a fractured metatarsal (to be precise, a fracture slightly distal to the proximal head of the second metatarsal) was clearly visible!  So it is probably a minimum of six weeks of non-running and then a very cautious return to training.  My warm weather training camp in New Zealand will have to be on hold for a wee while!

So, as I reflect on last Sunday's experience, two aspects spring to mind: Firstly, I am more convinced than ever that my Race Focus Energy Fatigue Model immensely helps to understand endurance running performance.  Although the RPE wasn't excessively high, the RFE being demanded during the six miles I raced definitely was.  Yes, as I tried to convey to the audience on Friday night, endurance running performance is much, much more than simply VO2, lactate threshold, and running economy.  And secondly, as I am all set to depart to New Zealand to spend time with my father in law as his health declines, what is truly important within ones life really stands out.  As I sat on the train travelling through London, rather than the intended running, I couldn't but help think to myself that there are more meaningful things to get upset about and to focus my energies on, than simply me not being able to run for a few weeks and miss an awesome ultra trail race.  And I guess one of the real lessons I have learnt over the last week or so and what I hope to carry forward during the uncertain times in New Zealand, is the need to focus on the positives, to process effectively any negatives, to fully live within the present moment, and to have my goals of What do I want? Why do I want it? and How much do I want it? clearly established to allow them to guide my way, not in terms of an endurance running race, but to assist me in maximising my experiences, that I share with my friends and family, along the amazing and fluctuating journey of life!

Well on that rather 'different' note, I think it's time to sign off.

May I wish you all the best with your journey,

Stuart

Plans for 2012

Hi

Yes, another post already.  Yes, thought I better sort out  my plans for 2012 before the year was half over.  Tonight's post will only look at my planned races for the year, my following post will consider my planned training.

In looking at what I hope to achieve for 2012 I first spend quite a bit of time reflecting back to the previous year, i.e. 2011.  As my last post indicated 2011 was a mixture of a year, with some great highs, but overall there is a feeling of not achieving what I set out to do.  At the start of 2011 I had two main focuses: (i) Get selected for and then perform well whilst representing GB at the World Ultra Trail Champs, and (ii) Perform well, improving upon my 2009 performance at UTMB.  So for 2011 it was a tick for (i), and a still to be achieved for (ii). 

Initially it was tempting to go back to UTMB in 2012 to complete what I did not achieve, however, I believe that it is only possible to race well in one 100 mile race per year.  I'm not really sure what has led me to form this opinion, but sticking to only one 100 mile race fits in well with all of the other commitments I have during the year.  Although from having raced and completed two 100 mile events, both times it took a minimum of seven weeks before I felt recovered, i.e. I didn't feel tired at the start of a run! 

Anyway, with only one 100 mile race per year, I decided to stick with my original plan, to race the Montane Lakeland 100 in 2012, and then go back to UTMB in 2013.  The Lakeland 100, although only having raced it once, (although also watched it 2011), it really is the UK premier ultra trail race.  There is such a strong positive friendly spirit, a real community feel for the event.  With the recce weekends really adding to the overall positive experiences from being involved with the race.  I am already looking forward to the evening of the Olympics Opening Ceremony, where I hope my preparations will have gone well and at 5:30pm I will have the confidence to 'blast off' in accordance with my ultra pacing philosophy and fully enjoy ever moment!

This therefore leaves six other races to decide upon.  Why six?  Well, having got back into racing in 2007, after only racing one or two marathons per year for the five years prior to that.  It was when reviewing years 2007-2009 that I noticed that I had raced seven times in each of these years.  With these three years being my most successful in terms of race performances, I decided then that seven races per year must therefore be the ideal number.  Nothing scientific, based on little evidence, but it just seemed to feel right.  So now I simply stick to seven races, with the marathon being the shortest distance I race.  In essence the marathons are my speed work for the ultra races!

First race to add is the Beachy Head Marathon ( http://www.robin-web.co.uk/beachyhead/ ).  My local marathon that is entirely off-road within the South Downs National Park.  I have mentioned this before, but trail marathons don't come much better than this event.  Having run it ten times, all ten Beachy Head Marathons (it was formerly known as the Seven Sisters Marathon for 21 years), I feel a bit like 'part of the furniture'.  The last few years this race has just sort of been 'tagged on' to the end of my racing season. However, after being beaten into second place in 2011, the plan is to give the race increased focus for 2012.

The other five races?  In order to perform well at the Lakeland 100, a race is needed around 5 -6 weeks before.  The Endurancelife Classic Quarter 44 mile ultra trail race at the end of June is therefore ideal (http://www.endurancelife.com/event.asp?series=55&location=138 ).  Having raced three Endurancelife races, their courses are spectacularly scenic, well organised, and there is always a really good 'buzz'.  The Classic Quarter race has been going for around five years now, but this year it is on the same day and course as the Endurancelife Coastal 100 mile race, so the buzz on  the day should be even greater!  The Classic Quarter is also part of the Runfurther National Series, which I try to support whenever I can, as with the race being part of the series it often results in a slightly stronger field which is always a bonus.  Trying to fit in four series races is not always possible, and with Lakeland 100 no longer being part of the series (I guess due to being sold out prior to the series being announced), unfortunately I will not get four series races in during 2012.

What about the early part of the year?  Well it got down to deciding between the Highland Fling ( http://www.highlandflingrace.org/ ), a great event that I have raced twice, or the Fellsman ( http://www.fellsman.org.uk/doku.php ) which I haven't run, and for 2012 being the 50th anniversary.  Both events were on the same day.  Just as I had finally decided on the Fellsman, we received some news from New Zealand that the health of my father in law was declining.  After evaluating what is most important to us as a family, i.e. me, my wife Frances, and our two boys Robert and Chris, we made the decision to head out to New Zealand for a significant length of time, i.e. three months, in order to spend quality time with our extended family.  So come the start of March we are off to New Zealand.

The initial prompt to go to New Zealand although negative and worrying, we have decided to make the absolute most of our time whilst there and are therefore really excited and looking forward to this great opportunity to spend extended quality time together.  Just by chance, the Tarawera Ultra Marathon ( http://www.taraweraultra.co.nz/ ), what has now probably taken over from the Kepler Challenge as New Zealand's premier ultra trail race, is taking place two weeks after we arrive.  So some quick communication with Paul the race director, and I am added to the elite field, just in time for the latest press releases:

http://www.taraweraultra.co.nz/2012-elites.html

http://ultra168.com/2012/01/29/anton-krupicka-to-race-nz-tarawera-100km/

Then to top it off, Anton Krupica, as well as all of the top Kiwis and the top Australians will also be on the start line!  The first time I heard of Anton Krupica was this time last year, when after I posted by 2010 review, feeling pretty pleased with my 2276 miles, a comment is left on my blog saying check out this Krupica guy, who has completed triple your mileage.  So I checked out his Riding the Wind blog http://antonkrupicka.blogspot.com/ , well worth a visit.  So now I have the opportunity to race against him (and all the other 300 or so runners), I just can't wait!

In order to be fully prepared for the Tarawera Ultra Marathon a quick search of the race calendar was required to find a race, to get in some speed work, and to develop the important confidence.  So in one and a half weeks time I will be lining up on the start line of the 50km London Ultra ( http://www.ultrarace.co.uk/events/details/?eventid=111 ).  Checking out last year's results it was jointly won by Craig Stewart (GB team mate in Connemara, Ireland) in 3 hours 42 minutes.  So this gives me some indication of the demands of the course in terms of race duration. With regards to terrain, undulating or flat, muddy or dry, I will have to wait for the day to find out.  So an early start to my racing this year, prior to hopefully some warm weather training in New Zealand.  I'm not totally sure of what other races I will do whilst in New Zealand, however, with trail running just at the start of a boom out there, I'm sure I will be able to find one other exciting event.

This now just leaves one more race for the year, in between the Lakeland 100 and the Beachy Head Marathon.  For a wee while, following UTMB, there was some thought to maybe moving into multi-day ultra events.  I have never raced a multi-day event and the idea to give it a go seemed appealing.  Probably the most prestigious multi-day event I have heard of is the eight day Trans Alpine Run ( http://www.transalpine-run.com/alps_cross_start.htm ) at the start of September, that runs through Germany, Austria and Italy.  Being only 5 weeks following the Lakeland 100, would I be recovered?  Another concern was would the prospect of running such an big event detract me from the Lakeland 100 being my key focus for the year.  In the end I decided to leave the Trans Apline Run until 2014 (well that is really long term planning!).  But the idea of a multi-day event within the UK still sounds appealing, so I am tentatively thinking about the three day Ring of Fire Ultra Trail event (http://www.ringofire.co.uk/ ) at the start of September, that invloves one complete circuit of the Isle of Anglesey, North Wales.  However, no firm commitments will be made until our return from New Zealand in June.

So all sorted, my seven races for the year:
19th February - London Ultra - 50 km
17th March - Tarawera Ultra Marathon - 100 km
May - Race in New Zealand
23rd June - Endurancelife Classic Quarter - 44 mile
27th July - Montane Lakeland 100 - 104 mile
September - Ring of Fire 3-Day Ultra - 131 mile
27th October - Beachy Head Marathon - 26 mile

It looks like it should be another great year of trail racing.  Remember if any of you are doing these races, please say hello and introduce yourself.  It is always nice to meet readers of my blog, as with over 40,000 hits I know there are at least a few people that read my 'words of wisdom', but until I meet them they are simply a number on the page counter!

Just a couple of things before I sign off.  A week before Christmas within the blog post http://ultrastu.blogspot.com/2011/12/thoughts-on-pacing-strategy-for.html#comment-form I gave my views on the negative split.  Starks asked the following question; "If you were to run a road marathon next week, what would be your estimated splits for both halves? How fast would you run the first half? As if you were running a half marathon? Similarly, how fast would you run the first 10K?"  Having not raced a road marathon for quite a few years I didn't really know how to answer, so I dug out some data from the 1995 London Marathon where I set my personal best time of 2 hours 29 mins to try to look at how much of a positive split is required to take into account fatiguing during the event.

I looked at my average heart rate and average mile pace for five different 5mile blocks during the race.  I ignored the first and last miles.  I looked at how much I fatigued, how much I slowed down, and how that related to my heart rate for the slower pace.  During the race I did a massive positive split, being 71:16 and 78:18 to give me my 2:29:34.  The table below shows the data.  Really interesting in that for every 30 minutes of racing, for approximately the same heart rate, I slowed 13 seconds per mile! 

I don't think having this much of a positive split is really ideal as I must admit that I wasn't really doing proper marathon training at the time, as I was training for Zofingen Duathlon, which at the time was like the Unofficial World Champs in duathlon, consisting of 13km run, 150km bike, 30km run in an undulating and snowy part of Switzerland. (By the way I finished in 34th place!)  So I was doing quite a bit of cycling at the time.  What is interesting is that the fatigue is evident even for miles 6-10 where I require an increase in heart rate of 4bpm to run at a mile pace 4 seconds slower.  Remembering back to the race now, I still recall that the first half just felt relatively easy, and a real buzz, as the miles just 'flew' mile literally!

So what does this data tell us.  Not sure really apart from confirming that to run a negative split in race time requires a massively unbalanced split in intensity / effort / race focus, what ever you want to call it.  No wonder less that 5 percent of runners achieve it, and I would expect that most of those runners would have achieved a faster finishing time if they hadn't gone so slow during the first half!

So I'm not sure if I have answered Starks question, but it was interesting for me, going back nearly 17 years!

My second aside before I sign off is that I am doing another talk.  Yes, having presented in Lake District, Yorkshire, Cheshire and Dorset last year, I was approached by a fellow runner within my village, whether I would like to do a talk to help promote the recently renamed running club UCKFIELD RUNNERS (formerly Utopia Runners).  So at 7:00pm on Friday 17th February at Uckfield Civic Centre I am doing a presentation titled "Marathon Running Preparation Principles to Enhance Personal Achievement"  The talk will be relevant for both novice and experienced runners.  Click HERE for more details: 

E-mail Peter Wilkes petetherunner@btinternet.com to reserve a place.

Time to sign off with a quote from 2010 Western States winner Geoff Roes on his thoughts on speed training.  Relevant as I have been giving some thought to my planned training for the coming year:  "Racing 50 or 100 miles is about strength and endurance.  It's about nutrition and hydration. It's about patience, stubbornness, and determination.  It's about lots of things, but it's really not much about leg speed. ... I do believe that doing speed work in training for 50 and 100 mile races (especially hilly, technical ones) does nothing to make us "faster" on race day." (Geoff Roes, 2011)  Pg 42 from the book titled Relentless Forward Progress by Bryon Powell (An okay book overall, but it does have a few pretty good sections).

Stuart

Review of 2011 - A Year of Many Highs and the Occasional Low!

Hi,

About time I can hear you saying.  It is now February, 2011 is long gone!  Well yes, a wee bit late, but hopefully better late than never!

So tonight I will briefly(?!) look at last year in terms of both training and racing.  Firstly training.

First statistic: Total Mileage = 2217 miles.  This consisted of 259 runs so an average of 8.6 miles per run, and with a weekly average of 42.6 miles.  Comparing to 2010 it is very similar:
2011 - 259 runs, 106 rest days, total 2217 miles, average of 8.6 miles per run

2010 - 260 runs, 105 rest days, total 2276 miles, average of 8.8 miles per run

2009 - 195 runs, 170 rest days, total 1783 miles, average of 9.1 miles per run
2008 - 199 runs, 167 rest days, total 1806 miles, average of 9.1 miles per run.

This mileage was 59 miles less than 2010, but was my 5th highest running mileage year since I started training in 1978, with the previous highest years being: 4th 2276 (2010), 3rd 2300 (1983), 2nd 2520 (1981) and 1st 2588 (1984).

Since I got back into racing in 2007 my mileage has averaged 1935 miles per year, with the last two years being significantly more than they previous three years as illustrated in the figure below.  The reason for the increase I guess was the acceptance from 2009 that to perform at the next level up in 100 mile trail races I felt I needed more than 35 miles per week.  How much more I don't really know.  But I don't think that that much more is needed, as the most important physiological attribute for ultra trail racing is running economy, and this is mainly influenced by the total miles ever run, not specifically in the previous 16 weeks prior to the race. 

The table below shows how my training changed during the year, with some good months leading up to August, but following UTMB, the training tended to ease off.  The month of June from the numbers definitely looked like the best months training, and thinking back to then, I do recall feeling confident leading into the World Champs.

Yes, one of the key benefits from the physical training is to develop ones self confidence, self belief.  Therefore planning to do more miles during the year was to bring me a wee bit closer to the typical weekly mileage other ultra trail runners of similar standard were reporting to be doing, and would therefore raise my self confidence.  The added physiological benefits would also be a bonus.  One key aspect of my training for 2011 was to ensure that I didn't increase my mileage too much, so I felt tired all the time, lost my desire to run, or developed an injury from doing more than I was used to.  Fortunately during 2011 none of these negative possibilities eventuated.

That didn't mean I didn't get injured though!  No, at the beginning of February, after a really good build-up in New Zealand over new year, followed by a good month's training in January, it all came to a crashing stop for 3 weeks, as I was 'wiped out' on the ski slopes and fractured my shoulder.  I had in total three weeks off training.  Even though I was well aware that I wouldn't lose that much fitness during the time off, it still knocked my confidence and therefore affected my first two races of 2011.

The first race of the year was the Endurancelife Sussex Coastal Trail Series, that took place on my home training patch, around Beachy Head within the South Downs National Park.  I was reasonably satisfied with race, running the entire race on my own to finish first.  However, it was my inability to remain totally race focused throughout, with my focus and subsequent pace dropping off substantially during the last 40 minutes that was a concern.  It wasn't a physiological problem, and I guess this was the start of me really trying to work out and identify the role of 'Race Focus Energy' in relation to ultra trail running performance.

The second race of the year was the 53 mile Montane Highland Fling.  This probably had the strongest field of any ultra trail race in the UK during 2011, with it being a UK Athletics selection race for the 2011 World Ultra Trail Champs.  Throughout my blog I preach the message "Run as fast as you can, while you can".  I usually put this into practise and 'blast' off at the start. Thinking back now I don't really know what led to me lacking the confidence to adopt my usual strategy, probably a combination of the time off training back in February, and the concerning 'losing it' during the latter stages of the Sussex Trail Marathon.  There really was a lack of self belief.  If I couldn't keep focused for 26 miles, how could I expect to keep focus, and therefore keep the pace up for 53 miles? 

So come race day, my strategy was totally different, simply run alongside Jez Bragg for as long as possible.  You can see from the wording of this strategy that immediately it was flawed.  It was rather negative, implying that at some stage I would not be able to keep up.  And remember one of the 'golden rules'; one performs to their self expectations!  The race was going to plan, with three of us, Jez, Andrew James and myself out in the front.  Then at around the 24 mile mark I just 'lose it' in a big way.  Often I think people 'blame' lack of carbohydrate energy for their slowing down, where it is most likely a lack of Race Focus Energy that causes them to slow down.  However, on this occasion I had fed like a total novice, and had neglected my carbohydrate intake, so me 'losing it' was definitely carbohydrate related.  I managed to struggle for three miles to the next feed station, take on some food and get back into a reasonably pace.  But it really knocked my self confidence from the already pre-race low, so my performance for the second half of the race wasn't really as good as what I would usually expect from myself, and I ended up finishing quite some time behind the winner Andrew James, in 6th place.

Fortunately UK Athletics were selecting a team of five male runners for the World Champs.  With Jez not being available due to his racing in the States, that provided the opportunity for me to just 'scrap' into the team.  So a few weeks later, there in black and white on the UK Athletics website was my name Stuart Mills representing Great Britain and Northern Ireland, listed in fifth place!  Yes after watching Dick Taylor win the Commonwealth Games 10,000m at the 1974 Christchurch games, and then reinforced by watching John Walker win the Olympic Gold medal over 1500m at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, the dream to run for my country was finally realised, all be it having swapped nationality during the intervening years!

Even though I had been selected for the British team, I knew I had to up my performance from the Highland Fling.  Knowing that it was the development of self belief that was needed I decided to try to run every day, rather than the usual one day a week off, and put in one decent long training run of 41 miles, being a Trail-blaze run along the South Downs Way.  But what was really needed was a confidence boosting performance at my one and only race prior to the Worlds, being the 35 mile Northants Ultra, part of the Runfurther National Ultra Trail Series.

Leading up to this race I therefore spent loads and loads of hours preparing.  This consisted of inspecting the Ordnance Survey map in detail, noting all of the contour lines.  Searching on the web for previous race reports/results, and calculating my splits for each of the checkpoints.  Based on my calculations I worked out that I should be able to complete the distance in 4 hours 17 minutes.  Now the race record was jointly held at 4 hours 45 minutes by Andrew James, no 'mug' of a runner.  Remember he was the guy that beat Jez Bragg up at the Highland Fling.  Hence why it took me hours of preparation as I had to double check my calculations.  Yes they were correct, I should be able to take 28 minutes of the course record!

So come race day, the plan was totally clear.  Blast it from the start, and that's what I did, with the GPS data showing that I ran the first 4 miles in 24:09!  I got a significant lead, and then went off course, so was caught by Dave Jelley during the middle stages.  We ran together for a while briefly chatting before I went ahead and then I ran off course again, so some more chat.  Then with around 5 miles to go, I was able to significantly up the intensity again, back into race focus, and finished running strongly in 4 hours 20 minutes.  Yes, not 4:17, but I was pretty happy.  My self belief was back after being able to run strong at the finish, although I did take it a bit easy during the middle stages.  I was well aware that come the World Champs five weeks later, I would require total race focus throughout the entire seven hours of racing!

The World Champs quickly arrived, and again leading up to the race I had spent many, many hours doing non physical preparation.  It had taken me ages to get it clear in my head that I had to adopt my usual strategy, blast off at the start, regardless that I was running with the best runners in the world!  As the race started, it wasn't really too fast a start, so without too much effort I was leading the World Champs.  With a camera right in my face from the cameraman on a quad bike, combined with the noise of another camera crew above and the down draft from the helicopter, I was totally buzzing!  Fortunately the buzz lasted for the next 7 hours, and I was the first British runner to finish in 15th place overall, to achieve probably my best ever running performance!  What a high!  Running satisfaction doesn't come much better than that.  From 'scrapping' into the British team, I was first from the team of five GB male runners to finish, totally illustrating the 'Power of Positivity', with Enjoyment Being the Secret Formula!

Then within seven weeks I go to the totally opposite extreme.  UTMB DNF!  It took me ages to recover from those seven letters.  Eight weeks after UTMB at my local Beachy Head Marathon, although at times I ran well during the race, deep down I had not recovered, I ran without any desire, without any buzz, without any passion / purpose.  I guess I was fortunate to finish second.  Yes positivity is important, but the underlying physiology also plays it's part.  I was still able to run a 'respectable' time, I guess due to the consistent physical training I had carried out from March through to August.

My seventh and final race of the year was another Endurancelife Coastal Trail Series Marathon, this time in Dorset.  In some ways it was a bit like the Northants Ultra, I just had to get it right on the day, so I could go into 2012 with renewed confidence.  Two weeks before the race I was up in Cheshire, having been invited to do a talk by the Delamere Spartans running club.  Whilst there I had a really enjoyable and cruisey 34 mile trail run along the Sandstone Trail.  So at least I had completed one training run longer than 13 miles since my DNF in August.  I also reflected on many of the messages I gave out during my talk, and decide that I needed to put them into practise!

So after finally getting my desire and focus back, I run pretty well for not too far off 4 hours, over a very demanding but enjoyable coastal trail course and am pleased with my performance, and therefore feel back on track for another great year of running in 2012.

In trying to summarise my 2011 year, it is quite difficult.  In terms of my race performances I had two extremes, the amazing high at the Worlds and the 'crushing' low from the DNF at UTMB.  However, I don't base my evaluation of my year of running simply on race performances.  Overall it has been another great year, with I guess the real highlights being meeting loads of great people either at the races, or at the number of talks I did during the year.  Yes, race performances are important, as it is always good to challenge oneself and to try to continue to improve as an ultra runner from year on year.  But it is the fellow runners within the ultra running community, which really provides me with the most enjoyment.  I have met some great people during the year.  So to all of you that I have met, thanks for making ultra running such a great sport and such a friendly community.  I hope to meet you all again in 2012, as well as meeting loads of new runners.

Here's to 2012.  I haven't got time to go into detail now, otherwise it will be March before I get this post published, but there are some changes to what I had originally planned.  Take a look at the following two links to get an indication of where I will spending a few months of this year. 

http://www.taraweraultra.co.nz/2012-elites.html

http://ultra168.com/2012/01/29/anton-krupicka-to-race-nz-tarawera-100km/

It all looks really exciting!  My next post, whenever that will be, will expand on what I have planned and will outline my goals for 2012.

I wish you all the best as you strive to achieve your goals this year.

Time to sign off:  "The first step is to establish ones goals, the next step is to put a plan in place and then attempt to implement this plan.  Achieving the goal can be and often is rewarding, but I guess the true satisfaction comes from the actual process, the striving towards the goal.  The experiences you have, the challenges you encounter, the people you meet, the enjoyment you share.  Yes, there is more to ultra trail running than simply the running!"  Stuart Mills, 2012.

A rather belated, Happy New Year,

Stuart