This is a bit of a catchup post, talking about the last three weekends, but there is a common theme, focusing on participating, rather than racing. On each of the last three weekends, I have participated in races.
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In this post I will share some thoughts about what I am calling ‘comfortable running’. The impetus for this way of thinking about running came from two sources. First, back in mid-January, I had a try at the Spine Race, running 169 miles in just under four days, and this resulted in my being tired, stiff, and with my running pace much reduced. Secondly, two of my friends in my running club have just come back to running after a pause and are signed up to run a half marathon on 7 April, and they wanted a plan to be able to do this.
My recent Spine ultra has had a big impact on my regular running. In this post I look at how I have started my road back to normal running.
On Monday, 1st of May, I participated in the Milton Keynes Marathon. The news is mostly good, a) I was able to run (after my recent mishap on the Northern Traverse), and b) I finished in 3 hours 36 minutes 25 seconds (which is my second fastest ever marathon time).
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A funny start to my running year
In the run-up to Christmas, I had a sore throat and then a cold – so I kept away from people as much as possible and wore a mask when travelling back from Australia to home. I also dropped my running down to just 3 to 5 slow kilometres a day and had a lovely, quiet Christmas Day and Boxing Day with my family. However, on 27 December, I tested positive for Covid. I suspect I caught it Christmas shopping on 23 or 24 December. So, I isolated until I tested negative, which was yesterday. I took a short solo run each day to keep my streak running. On 30 December my streak reached four years, but my run that day was another solitary run, modest in both distance and pace.
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2022 A Great Year For Running
Today, I have now completed four years of running every day, or streaking as it is often called. This year I managed to run 4458 km (2770 miles), which is an average of 12km a day (about 7.5 miles). My total would have been a bit higher, but 2022 finished with two weeks of cold and one of covid – so that was three weeks of solo runs of about 3 to 5km at a very steady pace.
Why Streak?
People often ask me why I run every day. My main reason is that I feel it gives me a sense of control. Every day, even when my day is jam-packed, with things beyond my immediate control, the process of making sure I find time for my run returns a bit of control to me. Of course, it helps that I actually enjoy running.
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How far can I run in six hours?
On Sunday, I took part in a very different event from the 10km cross-country race I did on Saturday, see a post about Saturday’s race here. Sunday’s race was set up to see how many 5.4km laps of a hilly course the participants could complete in six hours.
The race started at 10:30am and we had to finish whole laps before 4:30pm. A total of 68 participants started the race, and we were a good mix of types. Some people just intended to do one or two laps, several were aiming to do four laps (a bit more than a half-marathon), some were looking to see how far they could walk in six hours, and others were running to see what they could do in six hours.
Sometimes a really stark example is what you need to get a clearer view of something that you normally don’t think about. This example of a 26-story pig skyscraper producing and slaughtering over one million pigs a year has made me think about meat eating in general.
From a pig welfare point of view, this plan is probably no worse than the conditions that many pigs are kept in around the world. From an energy consumption point of view, it could be better than most intensive pig-rearing operations. From an environmental point of view, the use of waste to produce biogas is a good thing, certainly better than letting it run off into waterways (as often happens here in the UK).
I spent the weekend having a lot of fun taking part in the Ranger Ultra South and North races. On Saturday, the race was 50 km from Ashbourne to Edale, on relatively easy paths and terrain. Sunday was a much more demanding 43 km from Marsden to Edale, down the Pennine Way, taking in Black Hill, Bleaklow, and Kinder Scout (not to mention plenty of bogs and streams made deep by the recent rain). The race can be treated as a two-day stage race, or people can enter just Day 1 or Day 2. Day 1 is a great introduction to participating in ultras. Day 2 is shorter, but you need some mountain skills to be safe on the terrain, and Day 2 takes most people longer to complete than Day 1 (typically from 30 minutes to 2 hours longer, despite being shorter in distance).
This event is a really well-organised event with some of the best helpers and definitely the best sweepers of any event I take part in (big shout out to Pete, Suzanne, Coralie and Lizzy). The sweepers really came into their own on Day 2 when the weather turned quite nasty after sunset, with rain and even some snow. There is an interesting discussion about the relative merits of trackers versus sweepers. On multi-day events, where the racers are pretty expert in hill craft, it makes sense to use gps trackers – and it would be pretty impossible to have a sweeper. But, for events that take less than a day, and which do not have difficult time cut-offs, it can be very reassuring for less experienced runners to know there is somebody behind them who can help if necessary.
I ran this race last year and did quite well, finishing 13th out of the 37 runners who finished both days. This year I was quite a bit slower, about 25 minutes slower on Day 1 and about 90 minutes slower on Day 2.
Because I was slower this year, I had a bit of a think about why, and the implications going forward. There were no obvious reasons why I was slower this year, I am in good shape and I am not injured. I finished each day without blisters, aches and without being exhausted. The conditions on Day 1 were similar to last year. The conditions for Day 2 this year might have accounted for a few minutes of being slower, as it was harder to get through and around the bogs and streams.
Maybe I was more focused last year (I was building up for the Pennine Bridleway Challenge), maybe this year I have been doing more road races so me speed has shifted towards shorter events with easy surfaces, or maybe I just didn’t try as hard this year ?
Does it matter that I was slower this year? NO! I had two really good days on the fells, seeing lots of my running friends and meeting new people. A few years ago this would have been a very good time for me (I am faster now than I was, ten, twenty and thirty years ago). There will be a time in the future (I hope the distant future) when I would love to run as fast as this, or to be able to run at all. I am running in the middle of the pack, and that is still pretty good.
Over the next few months, I will keep an eye on my speed and see whether it is indeed dropping. I have been meaning to do more conditioning/strength work, so now I have something to help remind me of the need to get on with it. I think I will run better if I lose 5kg to 10kg over the next year. I have felt this for a few months – but I need to action it.
However, I am not going to beat myself up about running slower this year. I am lucky to be able to do what I do (in terms of time, cost, health, opportunity etc), so I will appreciate what I have (and try to train a bit smarter and harder).
If you are interested in trying out ultras in the fells, check out the Ranger Ultras website – there are events to suit every level.
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A World Team Bronze
On Saturday, 3 September, I participated in the World Masters Mountain Running Championship in Clonmel, Ireland. I took part because I wanted to experience a World Masters event, and I wanted to find out if I was good enough to take part in events at this level. I have been to Ireland before, but every previous trip has been to Dublin, so this was a great chance to see more of the country.
The event was quite a big affair. On Saturday, there was the World Masters race and an open race on Sunday. In the World Masters event, there were over 400 runners from a wide range of countries, including Japan and the USA. Because I made my mind up to take part quite late, the local accommodation was booked, and I ended up staying about 30 minutes away from the event (by car).