I have just finished running he Al Andalus Ultra Trail. This was my first five-day stage race and it was also my first long race in a warm climate. It was a great experience, and I have learned lots that will make my next race more successful.
Today was the British Masters multi-terrain championship, run across 30K of the North Downs (18.6 miles). The Championship was run as part of a larger event, the Istead and Ifield Harriers’ 30K North Downs Race. This was the first time I have taken part in this race, and I was hopeful of doing well.
Depending on the terrain and conditions, I would expect to be able to run 30K in about 2 hours 30 minutes, so I had 2 hours 45 minutes in my mind as a target (given this was off-road and warm). However, the temperature was higher than I had anticipated, reaching 30C°, and the race did not turn out as planned.
As you can see from the profile of the route, the race starts with about 10K of uphill (with the odd downhill). The first couple of km were roughly at my target space, about 5 mins a kilometre. However, my heart rate was above my target range. For a two to three-hour race, I try to keep my heart rate at 139 beats a minute. But after 2K it was bumping up to 144, partly the hill and partly the heat. From 2k to 9k I kep trying to keep my heart rate at 139, but it was not working. The slope and the heat meant my heart rate kept bumping up, reaching 151 beats a minute. As a point of reference, if my heart if typical for my age, my maximum heart rate is 154 beats a minute, so 151 beats is too high for more than a sprint.
Running inside myselfAt this point, I decided that I needed to switch to my plan B. My plan B, whenever the going gets too tough, is to ‘run inside myself’. This means taking my foot off the pedal by choice, before I have. My plan B is to make sure that I do not get into stress. I shifted my heart rate down to 135 (by shortening my stride length, which means going slower), and I started walking up every hill. Basically, I decided to run this race more like an ultra.
Running inside myself, I was able to enjoy the scenery, have fun on the steep descents, chat with people, manage my water intake and avoid overheating. On two occasions there were people with hose pipes sprinkling the runners, and this was an amazing joy to receive.
And the resultInstead of my target of 2 hours 45 minutes, I took 3 hours 20 minutes. This meant I finished 161st out of 428. The general race did not have a 65-69 age group for men, so I was grouped with men 60 to 69. In this group, I finished 7th out of 22 – I was not the only runner to be slower than that had planned to run. The winner of the 60-69 group was Ifan Lloyd who ran an amazing 2 hours 22 minutes, which meant he was 15th overall.
In the British Masters Championship, I was running in the 65 to 69 age group and was delighted to win the silver medal. The winner of the Gold Medal was quite a long way ahead of me. Even if my run had gone to plan, I would not have got gold.
Visiting New PlacesOne of the great things about taking part in championships is that I often get to visit places I have not been to before, and Gravesend is a place I had not visited before. I travelled down on Saturday, getting there mid-afternoon, and after checking in, I visited the town, the riverfront (it is on the Thames, downstream from London, and had an enormous garlic bread with cheese followed by gnocchi. Gravesend has played a major role in the defence of the UK, with gun posts dating back to Henry VIII in the 17th Century.
One thing that struck me was how friendly everyone was. I had several conversations with locals, which did not fit my more Northern picture of the South of England, and I was delighted to have my pre-conceptions refuted. Although I was also delighted to spot a real piece of local culture, a café specialising in pie, mash and eels.
Last week I wrote about running in a half-marathon for the England Masters team. But, most of my running is not about racing. Twice a week I ‘train’, which tends to mean running fast for a period of time, often in some form of repetitions. But, most of my running is not about training. An average day is 10km (6 miles) of steady, low heartrate running. But sometimes, my running is just about joy, and that was the case today.
I had a new first today, running for England in a Masters’ England versus Wales half-marathon competition. I am going to split this write-up into three parts, 1) how the race went, 2) how I qualified to run for England (and what does it mean), 3) how you could start winning medals, running for your county, region, state or country.
Last weekend was a long weekend in the UK, with a public holiday on Monday. This provided a great opportunity to join friends, mostly from the Redhill Road Running Club and head over to Snowdonia for three days of social fell running. Of all the types of running I do, social fell runs are my number one favourite. These runs leverage the running fitness I have built up through training and racing; they are in wonderful countryside, they are in the company of friends, and they have a sense of adventure. I am a big fan of adventures. My adventures do not have to be big adventures, but I want a regular supply of them.
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).
Well, that race did not go to plan. On Saturday morning, I set off to run 278 miles (just under 300K) along Wainright’s Coast-to-Coast route.
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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.