Marcothon = FAIL

I've failed at the Marcothon this year - a bout of gastric flu and a late night shopping trip to Decathlon meant that I didn't run on Sunday or Tuesday. I reckon one of them is excusable, but I really should have gone out for a run when I had a sore tummy. I'm going to try and only miss the two days though as I'm quite enjoying getting out every day, so hopefully I'll run every day from now until the 31st. I ran for each of the first eighteen days of December so at least I completed a half-Marcothon.

Icebugs and headtorches

If I'm honest the novelty of running on frozen water is starting to wear off. At least my least worn pair of trainers have been getting plenty of action. About 9 years ago I was persuaded by a Runners' World article to buy an expensive pair of Swedish trainers - Icebugs - which as trainers go are not that great. They are heavy, spongy, ill-fitting and they hurt my big toe, but they have something that has made them a bit useful over the past few weeks - little metal spikes that stick out of the outsole and give quite good grip on ice. They are pretty much Volvos for your feet.

Last weekend I went for my first run on the West Highland Way for a long time. I left the car at Drymen and ran to Milngavie to meet Dave (who ran the West Highland Way last year in a little over 20 hours), then we ran back together to Drymen before Dave headed on up to Rowardennan. What should be the easiest section of the WHW, along the old railway past Dumgoyne, was really hard going - tiptoeing along a ridge of hard snow and ice, and every so often one of your feet would hit the slush and fly away from underneath you so you'd lose all momentum. At least we weren't the only folk daft enough to be out in the less than perfect underfoot conditions - we bumped into Debbie M-C and Sharon Law on the route.

The sun came up as I passed Carbeth

So I did 24 miles, about 16 of which were on ice and slush, and I was done in when I finished but it was good to get out for a long run and chat with Dave.

I've run all seventeen days of December so far so my Marcothon is still alive. The last few days have been a bit difficult and I've been very close to deciding to quit before heading out at 10.30pm with a headtorch on to do the minimum 3 miles on icy farm roads. When I really can't be bothered, I do an out and back from the house, with the first mile and a half an easy downhill - by the time I get to the bottom I've got to turn round and get home and then that's me done. I'm past the half-Marcothon now so hopefully the run in will get easier.

Early morning run round Kings' Park

Yesterday was day 7 of the Marcothon and last night when I got home from work having run back from the station via Tesco to pick up some essentials, I was feeling worn out. I had a couple of niggling pains in different parts of my legs and reckoned I could probably do with a rest day. Instead, I figured that if I went for an early morning run today then I could do tomorrow's run in the evening and have the best part of 36 hours of rest in between. I had seen on the weather forecast that today was being to a beautiful clear day so I went for a run round a snow covered Kings' Park in Stirling as the sun was coming up.

It was a lovely 6km run on hard packed snow, though it was a bit parky at minus 10. At the end of it I felt motivated and inspired by running and was looking forward to the running every day for the rest of the month, rather than worrying about it.


So over the first week of the Marcothon I've done about 34 miles - not as much as some of the other Marcathletes (or is it Marcothoners?) out there, but a decent week of running for me.

Snow on Sauchie Craigs

I went for a very nice 9 mile run today along the road past North Third Reservoir and back home along the top of Sauchie Craigs. North Third Reservoir is a fantastic little place near Stirling that is not that well known but has some really nice footpaths for running on, and great views of the Southern Highlands. If you're ever in the Stirling area it is worth searching it out and going for a jog.

We've got the best part of a foot of snow but the first 5 miles of the run was along a path that plenty of people have used recently so there was a decent trail through the snow, then along a wee road that had a nice firm covering of snow on it.

Better to run on than tarmac

Then I left the road and climbed up on to Lewis Hill and along the top of the Craigs. The views were wonderful but the snow was deep so I wasn't breaking any records. From the few footprints in the snow on the path and the length of the stride, it looked like only some runners had been this way in the few days since the heavy snow fell. I reached the trig point at the top of Lewis Hill where there was about 18 inches of snow but it wasn't too bad following the trail left by the last people here.

The path along the crags - still number 1 in my top 5 paths for running despite the snow

The kilometre or so along the top of the Craigs, usually along a grassy, winding, gently descending path that is a joy to run on, took about 8 or 9 minutes through the snow rather than a more typical 4 or 5 minutes. At the end of the Craigs the rocky path drops steeply into Windy Yet Glen, and it was great to be able to throw myself down this section without having to worry about twisting my ankle on one of the melon sized rocks that litter the path - they were well buried and out of reach.

I soon joined the forest tracks and farm tracks on the back of the hill and had an easy run back home along some nice trails. I was happy to get home after 9 miles without really feeling tired, and am hoping to do something a bit longer next weekend.

Lovely clean shoes and the Marcothon

At last I'm doing a bit of running after having colds and coughs for what felt like months. I've been doing pretty light mileage, about 25 miles per week, for the last two weeks and the longest run so far has been 8 hilly miles, but over the last few days I've started to feel like a runner again.

We've had snow here since last Saturday and I've been wearing my Mizuno Wave Harriers - shoes that normally only get taken out when I am going for a run through some clarty forest or muddy farmland, so last Saturday morning they were covered in dried mud or worse. 30+ miles of running in the snow has transformed them into the cleanest shoes I own and I'm very pleased because they are excellent.

I've been reading some of the WHW race related blogs and came across a few mentions of the Marcothon. It sounds like a great thing to aim for in the run up to Christmas so I'm going to do my best to run at least 3 miles each and every day of December. Fours days in and it's going okay - getting out tonight was a bit of a drag but once I was out in the snow with my £7 ebay headtorch I was glad to be running.

I need to get some photos on this blog so hopefully I'll remember to take my camera with me on tomorrow's three mile epic. I might go mad and do four miles.

A training plan

I've been thinking a bit recently about how I should train for the WHW race. For the first two ultras I ran I followed a fairly detailed plan doing typically 50 miles per week, and the odd week longer than that. Training took up a lot of time which wasn't always that popular with the rest of the family. Plus, I ended up getting either ill or injured at some point.

Last year, I did much lighter mileage, averaging only 15 miles per week for the five months before the Cateran Trail race, but always including some quality sessions (hills and intervals) and cross training each week. I wasn't as fit for the Cateran Trail race as I had been for the Highland Fling the previous year, but there wasn't that much difference considering how many fewer miles I had ran in preparation. Also, in the five months before the Cateran Trail, I had only done two or three long (15+ miles) runs.

I'm pretty certain that 15 miles a week and a handful of long runs won't really cut it as preparation for the WHW race, but I want to keep the plan simple and make sure I get quality training in rather than getting obsessed with weekly mileages. So my training plan for the WHW race in June 2011 is not really a plan but a set of objectives:

1. Each week, do either one long (4+ hours) run, or 2 fairly long (2+ hours) runs on consecutive days
2. Do one interval session each week - something like 5 x 1km or 4 x 1 mile
3. Do one hilly (at least 400m ascent) run each week
4. Do some cross training each week - most likely mountain biking
5. Try and do a 30+ mile run in each of January, February and March, the Highland Fling in April and the Cateran Trail in May
6. Rest properly and don't get ill or injured

Let's hope it works.

Motion sickness?

I went for a run along the Tay at lunchtime - a nice easy 4 miles. It's October, it's Scotland and it's raining so the river is quite full at the moment and the wee path I run along was right next to the water. The Tay is a big river (I think it has the biggest outflow of any river in the UK) so as I ran along half of my field of view was the river. I was running downstream at almost exactly the same speed as the river so the right half of my field of view was moving past me as normal when you run, whereas the left half appeared to be stationary. It was quite a strange sensation.

After a couple of minutes I started to feel decidedly queasy, I think due to my wee brain getting confused by half the world moving and the other half not moving as I ran. After a mile and a half I pulled away from the river and soon felt fine.

In the ultras I've done I've usually started to feel a bit nauseous after about 35 miles, though I seem to be coping better with it each time, and presumably it will be something I'll get used to as I do more and more. Maybe now I've discovered a way to try and get used to running while feeling queasy without having to run 34.9 miles first to create the sensation.

I suppose the alternative would be eating 6 cream cakes before going running - that might work.

Zermatt Marathon 2007

I'm still not running much, and don't have a lot to write about my training at the moment. So instead here is a report I wrote a few years ago about running the Zermatt Marathon on 7 July 2007:

The Zermatt Marathon

In 2005 we visited Zermatt for the day as part of a family holiday to Switzerland. While we were there, I picked up an entry form for the Zermatt Marathon, which was being run about a month after we were there. It looked like quite a challenge, and something that I thought I would like to have a go at some day.

In late 2006 I decided I wasn't getting any younger so entered the 2007 Zermatt Marathon. The route is the standard marathon distance of 26 miles, except that the finish is a vertical mile higher than the start, at an altitude of over 8,000ft. This means that most of the 26 miles are uphill. For the next few months I did what training I could to prepare for the event - basically this meant planning running routes that took in as many hills as possible, rather than avoiding them.

I persuaded my friend Jeff to have a go at the Zermatt Marathon with me, though he is a very good runner so I didn't expect to see much of him after the start of the race. In June 2007, we took part in the Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon, a two-day mountain navagation race held in the Scottish Highlands every year - each team has to be self-sufficient for the weekend so this meant we carried a tent, sleeping bags, food and a stove for the whole event. The event was really tough, but definitely helped to build up our stamina, and get some "hill strength" in our legs. Unfortunately it also wrecked my feet, which wasn't great four weeks before the Zermatt Marathon.

The Zermatt Marathon was held on a Saturday, so we flew to Geneva the day before, drove to Tasch, then caught the train to Zermatt. Competitors in the marathon can use their race number to get free travel on the train up the valley to Zermatt, and the Gornergrat mountain railway, on the Friday and Saturday of the race weekend. We arrived in Zermatt in the afternoon, so took the mountain railway past the Riffelberg Hotel (where the race would finish the next day) and up to Gornergrat. At just under 10,000ft, we got our first taste of the effect of altitude as we both were out of breath walking from the railway station up to the Gornergrat view point.

The next morning, we had an early breakfast in our hotel in Zermatt (we stayed at Le Petit Hotel, which I would recommend to anyone looking for somewhere to stay in Zermatt), then caught the train down the valley to St Niklaus, where the marathon would start. Having seen how far up in the mountains the finish was the day before, I was nervous since we seemed to be starting a very long way down the valley. I had originally set myself a target time of five hours, but was now thinking that I would be delighted just to finish the race.

At 8.50am, the runners set-off. The first thirteen miles took us back up the valley to Zermatt, passing through a number of small villages on the way. This part of the route ran very gently uphill though there were a few steep inclines along the way - in total we climbed about 2,000 feet over the thirteen miles. My plan was to run very easily for the first part, an aim to get to Zermatt in a little over 2 hours. Then I would have about three hours for the second, harder, half of the route to be within my five hour target. I reached the Zermatt Bahnhof in 2 hours and 5 minutes feeling quite fresh - I had been making the most of the regular refreshment stations and was taking on plenty of fluid as it was already a hot day.

The next two miles weaved through Zermatt before the big climbs started - next was 4 miles uphill, climbing nearly 2,500 feet, up forest tracks to Sunnega. Most of the competitors I was with walked up the hill, but I found a steady slow jog pace that felt okay so managed to make up a lot of places on the climb. By the top the heat, distance, climb and altitude was starting to take its toll. From Sunnega to Riffelalp the route runs along the tree line as it contours across a wide valley. The views from this section of the route were spectacular, and helped to take my mind off the pain in my legs. The route was mainly flat on this section so it was a chance to relax and try to cover some miles at a decent pace - by the time I reached Riffelalp I was confident of achieving my five hour target time, though I wasn't certain as I knew what came next.

We passed Riffelalp after 24 miles. It was now only 2 miles to the finish at the Riffelberg Hotel, the only problem was that the Riffelberg is over 1,000 feet higher than Riffelalp. I was forced to walk for this final climb, although I just managed to break into a slow jog for a photo in front of the Matterhorn. The last ascent was very painful on legs that had little left in them - I think the extra stamina I had gained from the LAMM a month earlier really helped here. The last quarter of a mile were gently downhill, and it was good to be able to run the last section in such a spectacular setting. I crossed the line just under 5 hours after leaving St Niklaus.

It's difficult to describe the feeling of elation on completing this marathon. It was a brilliant experience - spectators along the way were very friendly and encouraging, the refreshment stations were excellent, and the entire route was through stunningly beautiful scenery. After I finished, I took a pint of the free beer that was being offered (though I went for the non-alcoholic option), sat down on the grass near the finish and drank in the view. My legs didn't hurt, they just felt absolutely empty - I think a marathon uphill on mainly soft surfaces does not hurt the legs as much as a more traditional marathon, but there is no doubt it took more out of me.

I met up with Jeff - he had finished 17th overall in about 3 and a half hours - an incredible achievement! He had enjoyed the race as much as I had and we were both as high as kites. It was such a beautiful afternoon that we took the train up to Gornergrat again to take in the views, and had a celebratory beer at the Gornergrat Hotel, with a great view of the entire route.

I would recommend the Zermatt Marathon to any runner who is looking for a bit of a different challenge to a normal marathon. The event is very well run (as you would expect from the Swiss), and is a great experience.

Running into Battle

We were on holiday last week - we had a lovely week in East Sussex staying in the countryside between Hastings and Battle. The weather was dry and sunny and the kids had a great time on the beach and even in the sea. I managed to get out for a couple of nice runs in around Battle - there are loads of public footpaths in the area so it was easy to plan some nice four and five mile loops from the place we were staying. We went to the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs one day and they were quite awesome, and another day we hunted for dinosaur footprints in the rocks by the sea (we were able to find a couple we think - at least Alex my seven year old son was convinced).

It's a really nice part of the country and well worth a visit.

Begin at the beginning

In September 2008 I ran my first ultra-marathon, the High Peak 40 Mile Challenge. I finished in a time slightly better than I'd hoped for, and more importantly really enjoyed the experience. Before that race, I had experienced a few long off-road runs - I'd finished a couple of marathons in the Alps, and had even managed to win some prizes in the A and B courses of the Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon in Scotland. In 2003 my dad ran the St Cuthberts Way in a day to celebrate his 60th birthday, and I joined him for more than half of the route.

In 2005 my dad finished the West Highland Way race in about 23 hours and at the time I thought there was no way I could even comprehend doing something like that. Now, with three ultras under my belt, and having finished the most recent one feeling like I had more left in the tank after 55 miles, I'm thinking it's time to find out whether I could finish the West Highland Way race. So this evening I sent off my entry for the 2011 race - now I just need to wait to see if I get one of the 175 starting places.

Over the last couple of years I have found that there is a huge amount of valuable information and tips on running ultras on the internet, mostly within the blogs of the ultrarunners themselves. One of my favourite things about ultras is the camaraderie and sense of community amongst the runners, and it seems a part of that community spirit comes from the number of runners who share their thoughts and experiences online. So this will hopefully be my contribution to that community, though we'll have to wait and see how valuable it is.

If nothing else, it will hopefully encourage me to do some training so that I'll having something to write about.