D33 Ultra – Training Week 6

Posted on February 21, 2012 by redwinerunner

This is not something which I like to see…

Hello from the injury bench :(

D33 Training – week 6 – 13th February – 19th February

Monday – Rest
Enforced rest as I couldn’t get a place at my yoga class – very annoyed, but my legs enjoyed the break after their big effort the day before

Tuesday – Spinning
Yes, spinning! Due to not being able to attend yoga I made myself go to my most hated class, and found I quite enjoyed it. A great Valentine’s evening with my hot boyfriend – SWEAT!

Wednesday – 6.2 miles, 56mins
Woke up and thought “Hey, why does me knee feel weird? It’s really sore to walk on! Oh dear. I don’t think I like this very much.” Regardless, I headed down to Stonehaven for a run with my friend Kynon – and ran FAST! It was a great run and wonderful to feel speed in my legs again. It’s always good to shake things up a bit so running with someone who runs a little faster than I’ve been training at recently was a great way to get my ass kicked in to gear and remind me how much harder I need to be pushing to get that sub-50 minute 10k in the Spring at Baker Hughes.
Oddly the pain in my knee was not present when I ran, but after period of not moving for a while it was agony to move and bend the joint. Different of ITB pain, this was on the inner side of my knee, on the edge and under the patella. Iced, Ibuprofen gel, and sent a silent prayer to the running gods before bed.

Thursday – 10 miles, 1hr 38mins
Back to my normal ultra pace, I finally knocked out mid-week double digits and it felt good. Again my knee had been bugging all day when I was at work at my desk and walking around, but as soon as I was out on the road running it was fine again. Ice, ibuprofen and more offerings to the running gods as I tried to keep away from Dr. Google to indulge my paranoia.

Friday, Saturday…Sunday… rest :(
After another day of pain I realised I’d have to bite the bullet and NOT RUN for a couple of days so I could figure out what was going on. For my sins I consulted both Dr. Google and Dr. Twitter, and as usual was met with every scarey outcome one could imagine alongside a voluminous chorus of REST from my twitter running family. They were all teling me things I already knew and giving advice that I would dispense to anyone asking me the same question but it’s so much harder to take your own advice when you don’t want to.

“always rest when injured, when you get back on it you will be stronger than ever!” – @sonnywinstonMDS
“better safe than sorry! No point in running on it and the possibly injuring it more, leading to not being able for longer” – @aekido
“proper rest now leads to quicker recovery. Too early back at training will resurrect injury & take twice as long to rectify” – @TheCustodySgt
“If you go then you may as well rule yourself out of D33. #besensible” – @santababy100
“Yes, definitely the right thing. A short rest now means you won’t be sidelined for ages later. Always frustrating though. – @alisonmca
“definitely right not to run injured today, we all have to rest when we need it. Getting to the start line fit is a huge thing.” – @SWJ70

For what it’s worth all the symptoms seem to be pointing towards soft tissue/patella damage or a meniscus injury, although these tend to stem from an acute event – a twist of the knee for example. I just woke up on Tuesday and the pain was there. After five days of excruciating rest I am extremely ready to get out the door tonight – the pain has gone although the area is still sensitive to the touch. Perhaps it was just a random niggle that needed a rest? Either way I feel the most energised I have since the start of this year so I am ready to smash it tonight with my 10 miles.

This weekend was WEIRD. I felt so guilty throughout – every weekend so far this year has taken the format of awake, eat, run, recover, eat, sleep x 2 and having so much time on my hands was baffling. On Saturday I cleaned my flat, did lots of washing, did some errands and dyed my hair – all things which have fallen by the wayside in the last 2 months. On Sunday I had a lie in before meeting friends for Sunday lunch and then lazily read the Sunday papers in Brewdog all afternoon. I had a proper weekend!

Unfortunately, I hate the way this looks now:

It’s my graph of my weekly mileage total for 2012 so far since I started training. If you discount the first week (where I was drunk in a cottage in the Highlands anyway) it’s my lowest mileage of the year so far, and a blip in my badass 2012miles in 2012 effort. Anyway – you can only truely focus on one goal at a time, and my goal right now is to get to the starting line of the D33 in a fit and healthy state, ready to run a strong race. My goal is not to knock out 37 miles a week consistantly. My goal is not to knock out big back-to-back runs each weekend. One step back this week will hopefully mean two steps forward this week – with luck I’ll be doing my longest run of the training on Friday – 27 miles with my friend and fellow Ultramarathon virgin, Sheri…and then it will be taper time. The work is almost done…

Now if you’ll excuse me, I really, really, REALLY need to go for a run…

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D33 Ultra – Training Week 5

Posted on February 17, 2012 by redwinerunner

Running nearly a week late on this post – I do apologise. Things are hectic in real life and busy at work so not much time for blogging. A brief round-up however:

D33 Training – week 5 – 6th Feb – 12th Feb

This week raised the bar in terms of my highest mileage ever. In fact if I’d completed Thursday’s 10 miles as planned, I would have even broken the magic big 5-0.

Monday – Yoga
Great sweaty class. I feel like I am 100% back to my full flexibility and core strength and now building on it. Really surprised at how much strength I’ve gained in my shoulders and triceps – my muscles are looking really toned too!

Tuesday – Rest
Didn’t even attempt to go to spinning, but swore I’d return next week.

Wednesday – 8 miles, 1hr 15min
A pretty speed pace for me these days, hit a few sub -8:30 miles in the middle. Good to go fast to shake things up every now and then!

Thursday – 5.5 miles, 51 mins
Tackled a hilly loop (3 miles uphill, 3 miles downhill) and planned on taking Niall with me for the first few miles to teach him about running and pacing himself up hills. I was supposed to be doing 10, but then I decided to call it a day when he finished up as my stomach was hurting and so was one of my shins.

Friday – Rest
Finally caught up with my friend (and relatively new blogger) Laura when she came over for dinner. We had a tasty curry and indulged in some terribly girly films and crap TV.

Saturday – 9 miles, 1hr 30mins
To and from Aberdeen Parkrun.

It was so nice to run in daylight again!

The run down was not a happy one – bad tummy and felt hugely sluggish and tired after not really enough sleep and too much wine. I met up with Niall and pushed him to a nice new PB at Parkrun, knocking 1min 14secs off last week’s time to get 30:48. I am confident that this week will be sub-30, as long as he stops shouting ‘NO!‘ at me when I tell him to pick the pace up or sprint to the finish. Ran the last three miles home and lounged around for the rest of the day after enjoying a brief relax on my my back ‘porch’ before it got too cold. Spring is nearly here!

Sunday – 24 miles, 4hr 31min
The longest training run I’ve ever done!

This is what I packed:

From top, to Right: 2ltrs fluids (1/2 tropical powerade, 1/2 water), 1 x salted hula hoops, ibuprofen (2 taken 1hr prior to start, 2 taken 3 hrs in to run), High5 caffeinated energy gels (only 3 eaten), jelly beans (did not eat), 6 x jaffa cakes (5 eaten), jelly fruit chews (did not eat).

I set off at 9am and met Naomi 2.5 miles in along the railway line. We headed out to do 19 together and then I would finish up, bringing my total to 24. Again I was so lucky with the weather (does this mean it will pour with rain on the day? Probably) and by the end I was running in a vest and shorts in sunshine, my long sleeve top stored in my backpack.

It was a simple 12 miles out, 12 miles back along the race route. I enjoyed myself hugely and felt strong and steady for the duration.

As I finished up I debated adding an extra 2.2 miles on to make a marathon, but decided not to play with fire. It would have been too hard to run past my front door anyway!

Unfortunately when I took my shoes off I revealed some nasty blisters on my feet. I’ll save you a close up, but the sharper eyed amongst you won’t miss the horrors attached to my left foot big toe as I enjoyed some post-run relaxation with the rugby.

The beer of course, is Brewdog…

”"

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Climbing the Learning Curve

Posted on February 10, 2012 by redwinerunner

So it turns out that despite obsessing religiously over my D33 training plan the last few weeks, I had completely the wrong mid-week running distances in my head and have really jumbled up this week. As noted here I ought to have covered the following:

However I seemed to think it was a good idea to hop from 6 and 9, to 8 and 10? I ran a fairly speedy (in the context of this training) 8 on Wednesday in 1hr 15m but last night began suffering some shin pain and stomach complaints and only completed 5.5. This is the second mid-week mid-distance run I’ve cut short in as many weeks so I’m a bit annoyed about that. It didn’t seem worth it to push through pain when I’ve got so much to do at the weekend though. I know in the bigger picture 4.5miles lost isn’t going to affect my performance in the race in five weeks but these mid-week mid-distance runs are pretty important mentally for me to complete and to miss two in a row is bad behaviour.

Next week will get a little shake up as well as some miles will be redistributed, on Tuesday I’m doing an Open Graded track session with some friends from Fetch where there will be timed Mile, 100m, 200m and 400m events, and on Wednesday I’m journeying to Stonehaven for a 10kish run around the town with Kynon. I WILL complete that 10 miles on Thursday though – no excuses!

I’ve also decided to not run the RAF Kinloss – Lossiemouth Half on Sunday the 19th. Much as I’m gagging to do a race right now, I’ve deduced that I can’t justify the entry fee and petrol money for a race just for fun. My car is due its MOT this month which never fails to completely clean out both my current account and credit card every year so I need every penny I can keep a hold of. However that means I can take part in the latest official Aberdeen Fetch Mile on the Sunday before heading out to cover the remaining balance of miles to make up my 13/13 back to back. It will be interesting to compare how my legs peform in a mile on Tuesday night when fresh, and Sunday morning when fatigued.

—

I had canvassed readers on my last post and Facebook for requests for topics to talk about regarding my experiences as a beginner ultra-runner and got no response, however there a few notable differences between this and marathon training which have interested me enough to write about them on here. Back at the end of July I wrote that which remains my most popular post to date – 10 Things No-one Tells You About Marathon Training. It contains nothing groundbreaking to experienced runners and marathoners but I’m sure the picture of my gnarly feet will always remain shock-worthy to all. In the eight weeks of training which followed that post and the 26.2 miles they culminated in I learned a whole lot more; about myself, myself as a runner, what it means to hit rock bottom in a race, and learning the hard way that despite all the training, positive thinking and encouragement in the world; the only thing that will make you a better distance runner is experience.

I read a post earlier this week by a blogger who I recently discovered who has become a fast favourite – Eat, Drink, and Run. It’s an incredibly well-written and balanced response to a somewhat inflammatory blog article about running called “Why Jogging is terrible“. I’m not going in to my own thoughts on the blog as I can’t be arsed wading into the argument (by his standards I am a jogger and I am terrible so there’s little point) and besides anything I could try and say has already been covered far more succinctly by Shelby. One of her own points jumped out at me:

“But then I read the paragraph again, and it actually kind of speaks to something that’s been a concern of mine in the running community for several years, especially as the popularity of 13.1 and 26.2 has skyrocketed: namely, the bucket list would-be marathoner who gets off the couch and decides to become a distance runner and – surprise! – gets injured.

Again: everyone has their goals and their reasons. But distance running is no joke. It requires a great deal of work to properly build up to, and a great deal of training and commitment to execute safely. And even then, experienced runners who do everything right get injured all the time.”

I suppose I am 100% guilty of this – 10 months ago I decided I wanted to run a marathon and went and signed up for it, put the work in and promptly got injured on D-Day. I was surprised at the bumpy road to recovery (although in comparison to some friends I’ve had an easy ride) and frustrated that my body didn’t bounce back like many other runners I know.

Now please note; I’m not claiming that 3 months down the line I’m anything further than an ants footstep along the proverbial runners road of experience, but in training for this ultramarathon I am already noticing huge differences in the way I feel and recover before, during and after my runs. My body has already gone through these lo-o-o-ng runs and hours on the road before and muscle memory seems to be serving its purpose. Perhaps it’s also the confidence in knowing that I’ve covered these distances before and that running 18 miles is not going to kill me, and in fact with the right fuel and weather it can actually be quite pleasant.

What has surprised me the most is my recovery times. During marathon training I would run, say, 17 miles on a Sunday and then be rendered incapable of walking due to stiffness the following day. A fortnight ago when I ran 21.5 miles however, even sleeping on a friends floor that night the next day I was up and about with no pain at all. Sure I could feel in my muscles that I’d had a hard effort the day before, but I could have easily gone for a recovery run that day had the weather not been 100% awful and I was a bit hungover and surviving on 4 hours sleep. This increased recovery speed has allowed me to execute successful back-to-back runs each weekend and has given me so much more confidence that I am ready to tackle the ultra distance safely.

I’m sure that by some more experienced runners standards I’m not ready for it – Hell, I’m sure some people are giving me the side-eye for signing up for an ultra so soon after a somewhat shoddy first marathon. On the other hand I trust my experienced friends; Mike, for example,  is about as no nonsense as they come and I’m confident that if he thought I was not capable of this he’d let me know. Just like after the marathon, I’m sure in the months to come I will have some marvellous 20/20 hindsight on how I could have done things a bit better or differently with regards to this race but that’s what a learning curve is all about.

Now, for posterities’ sake I’ll do a brief comparison of the things I was thinking about in that July post and how things are going now…

1 – Your feet are toast
No more surprises here. I’ll spare you a picture for comparison as well, but since my feet have been taking a battering for the last 6 months they are a lot tougher than they were last July. Instead of blistering and falling off, toenails (where present) are thick and warped. I have lovely callouses protecting areas which are more prone to rubbing and the ends of my toes are like rubber. Toenail count: Four!
I have also switched from wearing compression socks to compression calf sleeves, which I think has reduced impact on my toenails  as there’s more room in my shoes. I now swear by my 2XU Compression Calf Sleeves – I love them and wear them for hours after each long run for recovery.

2 – Hunger
I’m not as hungry as I expected, or maybe I’m just used to it and fuel without thinking about it now. The day after a long run I always need a big breakfast (porridge with peanut butter usually), but in general hunger is a lot less of an issue. I eat smartly and often, and still swear by pizzageddon the night before a long run.

3 – Pain
See lengthly statement above on recovery. Sure it’s not all unicorns and rainbows but I’m certainly doing a lot less complaining…maybe I’m just tougher now, or maybe my muscles are stronger. There will always be that first movement of getting yourself out of bed on a morning and moving your joints for the first time; I doubt that ever gets easier.

4 – Weight Gain
I think I’m actually losing weight this time around. I am certainly becoming leaner in some places but I’m not seeing the increase on the scales that I did last summer. Again I think this is down to experience – I know what my body needs to keep ticking over during this training and high-mileage is no excuse for eating whatever you want.

5 – GI issues
What issues? Knowledge is power and as long as you retain what your learned the first time you trained for an endurance event you should be A-OK. I’ll leave this here.

6 – I have a husband/wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/best friend???
Well being a single girl these days, this is no longer an issue for me – right now running is my boyfriend. To be fair I’m pretty much all running all the time right now which works just fine for me, although I have to be honest and say I’ve been guilty of neglecting my non-running friends in 2012. I get home from work and my run/the gym around 7.30/8pm most nights and all I want to do is put on my PJs, put my feet up and turn on the TV. If I can muster the energy to make more than a protein shake for dinner that’s a good day! My flatmate Scott is used to me turning down offers of going to the pub over some quality recovery time on the couch, although we are planning an epic flat warming party for the weekend after the D33 – hopefully I’ll have some friends left to invite ;)

7 – You will want to sleep all the time
In my own experiences this only seems to occur when you increase weekly mileage initially. After your body adjusts to what’s going on it starts to adapt but there was definitely a 10 day period in January when you could not keep me awake for love nor money.

8 – Once upon a time, you had a social life
See #6.
Addendum – I went out with some friends for the first time this year last Friday to a nice bar. I was freaking out as I had nothing nice to wear as I haven’t bought any new ‘going out’ clothes for months. I was annoyed at the prospect of wearing heels and constricting clothing all night instead of lycra and trainers (or pyjamas and slippers…). My dressing table was littered with tubes of deep heat, ibuprofen, empty GU sachets, and body glide instead of nail polish, lipstick, hairspray and necklaces. I moved house in December and I had to rummage around in the back of my wardrobe in my stack of as-yet-unpacked-because-deemed-unnecessary boxes to find a nice matching handbag to go with my outfit. Somehow I managed to pull myself together to make it out in a dress and heels to celebrate Claire’s birthday:

…and then was up to do the first 13 miles of a back-to-back weekender 6 hours after getting home. There’s a balance to be found here somewhere but I guess I’ll address that after the race.

9 – Learn to do your own washing
Well I don’t think my flatmate has any interest in washing my sweaty kit so that says it all. I have bought some nice new shiney, girly kit though which I’m looking forward to racing in at the Arbroath Footers Smokies Ladies 10 Mile Race in March (after appropriate test runs of course) including this cute Nike Skirt:

10. You WILL find out what you are made of… and you might not like it
I found that out last October in the Loch Ness Marathon of Pain. I know after that, I can do anything. 33 miles will be a breeze ;)

 

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D33 ULTRA – Training Week 4

Posted on February 8, 2012 by redwinerunner

I really can’t believe that four weeks of training have passed already. It seems like just last week I was peering down the barrell of 10 weeks hard training and now almost half of it has passed.

D33 Training – Week 4 – 30/01 – 0/02

In theory this week was supposed to be a ‘cutback’ week – i.e, a week where I would dial down the mileage after three hard weeks, in order to refresh and restore my legs. That…didn’t happen; in fact I ran the same mileage as last week but more spread out, including my first true back-to-back long runs.

Monday – Yoga
Another strong class – I have pretty much restored my flexibility and am happily touching the floor firmly in my forward folds instead of my arms dangling helplessly.

Tuesday – Spinning.
Did not attend. I still hate this class. Sorry I’m not sorry…

Wednesday – 6 miles/58 minutes
Another couple of miles with new recruit Niall. We ran and out-and-back route on the beach promenade – he ran with me for the first 2.5 miles at 10 minute pace and then turned around, I continued a further 0.5 before turning around whilst running at as hard a pace as I could handle to try and catch up with him. I ran two sub 8:30 miles which is pretty fast for me right now, but I never did catch him up and used the last mile to cool down. It was a fun game to play…I was pleased that my legs remembered how to knock out that kind of pace – they will need to do that and more if I’m going to PB at the 10k in May!

Thursday – Unscheduled rest
I actually can’t remember why this ended up being a rest day…I think I might have just had a terminal case of lazy-itus despite knowing I had a night out planned on Friday which would make fitting in 8 miles hard if I skipped the run on Thursday.

Friday – 4.5 miles/43 minutes
I fell short of my planned 8, after work on Friday it was desperately cold and as the temperature plunged below zero I found it more and more uncomfortable and headed for home as I was not dressed for it.

Saturday – 13.5 miles/2hrs 11 minutes
Saturday morning dawned cold, windy and miserable. I ran 3.3miles down to Parkrun where I ran with Niall on his first attempt to pace him for 10 minute miles. He did very well (especially turning up hungover and after 4 hours sleep – what can I say, he learns from the best!) but struggled, as we all do, on the downward stretch into the wind coming off the sea. It was a particularly nasty, wet morning but he made it round in 31m45s with only a couple of walking breaks.
I continued on, aiming to hit 13 for the day. Despite the disgusting weather I seemed to slip in to a good mental place and just kept going as I travelled around various parts of the city. I included my favourite pain-fest – the long slog uphill from the Mounthooley Roundabout along Hutcheon Street and Westburn Road to N. Anderson Drive. I eventually made it back to my front door after 13.5 miles hard running and crashed hard – i had had a coffee and a jaffa cake for breakfast, taken no fuel or fluids with me and my dinner the night before had consisted mainly of olives found in the bottom of a martini glass. This was the definition of a bonk run but I was still pleased by how my body responded.

Sunday – 13 miles – 2hrs 17m
On Sunday, I got up and got ready to do it all over again…

…at least the weather was better this time.

I had a more sensible start to the morning with a classic PBJ roll and some caffeine before heading out to the other disused railway line in the North East, the Banff and Buchan.

It was a lovely chilly, crisp morning and the trail was quite icey. My legs were not impressed at being asked to run again and things were pretty gnarly for the first 6.5 miles – I was really stiff and sore and just willing the run to be over quickly. I kept reminding myself that feeling this good will be a luxury towards the end of the D33 so complaining about any discomfort in this kind of training run is ludicrous.

The scenery wasn’t really up to much in places either…but I did bump into Mike and Annette who were out for a few miles too.

When I finally finished I felt pretty fatigued but not terribly out of sorts – no acute aches and pains or anything bad at all. It felt pretty good to have knocked out a marathon distance in 24 hours in these back-to-backs too. I took it easy for the rest of the day but found I didn’t need any kind of special recovery time at all – I am becoming pleasantly surprised at my quicker recovery times as my legs get used to high mileage.

So I have two more long distances to conquer before taper time – 24 miles this weekend and 27 the weekend after. I have tweaked my training schedule slightly so the next few weeks are going to look a little bit like this:

The yellow cells indicate a race. I’m looking forward to the RAF Kinloss – Lossiemouth Half Marathon in a fortnight – I haven’t run a race since the 20th of November last year so I’m gagging to pin a number on once more. Incidently that race will be on another back-to-back weekend so how I felt on Sunday was an indicator of how that race will feel. I certainly don’t think it will be a PB! The Arbroath Smokies 10 in March will be a great race as well – so many of my lady running buddies will be attending and I’ve never done a ladies only race before. I really enjoyed the 10 mile distance when I first did it in July at Ballater so I’m looking forward to having another crack at it on this flat course.

Since I’m at the half way point I’m going to write a post this week on how ultramarathon training has compared to my marathon training last year – what I’ve learned so far, what I’m doing differently etc. If there’s any particular topic you’d like me to address or a question you’re dying to ask then please do leave a comment and I’d be delighted to answer it!

‘Til next time…

 

 

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D33 Ultra – Training Week 3

Posted on February 1, 2012 by redwinerunner

Another great week’s training in the bag – slightly less miles than were on the schedule but everything I did was quality hard work.

Monday – Yoga
Class was unfortunately late in starting due to someone who had hurt themselves in the class beforehand and needed medical attention. Maybe this was why I didn’t feel as sore the next day as last week, but either way I feel my flexibility and core strength returning. I caught my reflection in the mirror at one point and thought “holy crap I actually look like I know what I’m doing here…! Nice!”

Tuesday – Spinning
Unfortunatly I missed spinning this week due to working too late to get to the 5.30 class. I didn’t really miss it to be honest…

Wednesday – 6 miles, 1hr 1min
This run had the most random pacing I think I’ve ever experienced. The weather on Wednesday down at the beach was breath-takingly bad. The wind was so strong you could bearly stand up in it and to face it meant getting blasted full on in the face with sand. I ran two 9 minute miles down to the beach, one 14 minute mile struggling in to the wind, one 7 minute mile streaking back down the beach the other way where I nearly took off, and two 10ish minute miles on the way back. Hard work but as usual I was glad I completed what I set out to do.

Thursday – 8 miles, 1hr 23
This run was unusual as I had my friend Niall join me for the middle four miles for his first run, ever. I found myself thinking about how on earth one dictates correct form to an absolute beginner and in doing so spent quite some time analysing my own and how best to describe it. Hundreds of people have written thousands of books on how to run and I am certainly no expert, but I found myself telling him to firstly think about how and whereabouts he landed on his feet, to relax his arms and to just move in a way that felt natural to him.

Niall successfully completed just under 4 miles at a steady 11 minute pace with a couple of walking breaks and a rest after 2 miles to stretch and loosen out. He has since been out again by himself and has signed himself up to the Baker Hughes 10k…ladies and gentlemen, I think we have another convert!

Friday – REST
I fuelled for my extra long solo journey South the next day, by eating pizza and drinking Brewdog Stout…

Saturday – 21.5 miles, 3hrs 58min
This long run was a little ahead of schedule, but I took advantage of a social event to incorporate trying a new-to-me route and save myself a little money on public transport! My friend Graeme, aka Kynon, lives in Stonehaven and was planning a birthday dinner/pub session on Saturday night. I wanted to be able to enjoy myself without worrying about a long run the next day so pulled my scheduled 20 miler forward a day. I knew it was possible to run from Aberdeen to Stonehaven, so queried a few of my ultra friends for a route and the consensus was to head in-land via Drumoak.


Unfortunately whilst the coastline between Aberdeen and Stonehaven is some of the most beautiful in the country, no coastal path extends beyond Portlethen. Instead this route to Stonehaven follows the Deeside Railway route (aka the actual D33 Ultra route) out to Drumoak and then cuts down on back roads and forestry trails with a big climb to reach the top of a hill, before a fast few final miles downhill towards the coast.

I had strict timing to keep to after agreeing to arrive at Kynon’s house at 3.45pm when he would be arriving home from rugby. To that end I judged that leaving at 11:30am would allow for four hours of steady running to my goal pace with a little breathing room to stop and rest if required. The first eight miles along the railway line were without note as I’ve done them so frequently before, but before long I was travelling along parts of the route which were new to me so I turned off my music and enjoyed listening to the sounds around me.

The weather was perfect again – I can’t believe how lucky I’ve been so far. It did get a lot colder the further inland I moved.

There was a thick frost in places and some interestingly shaped ice in the puddles. These are the kind of inane things I notice when I’m toddling along…!

When I reached Drumoak it was time to turn South and I took the opportunity to have a couple of jaffa cakes and enjoy the view of the River Dee for a minute or two.

Shortly after this bridge the road began to climb, after crossing South Deeside Road the road went up very steeply indeed and when I got to the top of the hill I turned around and saw this…

The view as seen from a smart phone is obviously fairly poor, but from my vantage point I could see right up Royal Deeside and beyond towards the snow-capped Cairngorms.

The journey continued and the miles ticked by. Between 13 – 17 my legs were feeling pretty fatigued from the hill, but I did my best to stick to my 30 min run/5 min walk strategy except when I was going up a hill I couldn’t see the top of. Once the route turned on to Forestry trails I felt a lot more isolated – the only sound was my feet hitting the ground and my breathing. It occurred to me at this point that since I was off road I could safely turn my music back on, but to be honest I really didn’t want Lady Gaga blaring in my ears when I could listen to the world around me. I emerged from the dark forest to reach the top of another hill to yet another view which took my breath away.

Miles of empty countryside ahead of me with the North Sea and Stonehaven twinkling like  gems in the distance.

At that point there was not a person on the planet who knew exactly where I was, and it felt amazing. I felt so grateful to be in good enough health and strong enough to tackle these distances, and so thankful to live in this part of the world where these trails are on my doorstep.

Breathe deeply and appreciate the moment!

I could have stayed up there all day, but there were more miles to run and beer at the end of them to drink. I floated down the other side of the hill and cruised the last few miles in to Stonehaven on the roads to arrive promptly at my destination at 3:44pm.

I felt SO STRONG at 21 miles, I could have gone on forever! Things are shaping up very well for tackling 33 miles in just 6 weeks time. The fear is gone and the excitement is growing – I can do this race, and I can do it well!

After a shower and some recovery munchies we headed off to the Marine for an amazing dinner. I’m not one to run to burn off calories, but I can honestly tell you that when you’ve covered 21.5 miles a couple of hours before and you are presented with this…

…not an ounce of guilt shall be felt. Yes, that is a 6″ x 3″ slab of breaded, deep fried Howgate Kintyre brie with redcurrant compote. And yes, it was as good as it looks.

Sunday was a quiet one, spent recovering from the indulgences of the night before. I thought about heading out for a few shakeout miles to make up my weekly target once I got back to Aberdeen, but sometimes you just know when you need a rest. I’ve had three hard weeks training and now I’m heading into a cut-back week. Much as it pains me to dial it down a notch (it goes against all my natural training urges!) I know that the body needs a few days to regroup and recover to make sure I can hit next week harder than ever without injury.

‘Til next time!

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D33 Ultra – Training Week 2

Posted on January 27, 2012 by redwinerunner

49 Days to go!

 

I’m a little behind on last week’s training re-cap, unsuprisingly due to the strains of fitting life and work around…you’ve guessed it; this week’s training! However I’ve had some thoughts ruminating on the back burner for a little while so after a brief look back at my second week of ultramarathon training I’d like to dip in to some other chat for a change.

D33 Training – Week 2, 16th Jan – 22nd Jan

Monday – Yoga
This was the first time I’d taken my regular fitness yoga class at Aberdeen Sports Village since last summer. I loved the class back then and built up some great flexibility but when I got into the depths of marathon training long runs on Sundays, I found myself in bits on Mondays when the class is held and stopped going. I found it tough to go back to! Wheras previously I could lay my hands flat on the floor in forward-fold position, I can now barely touch my toes. The endless tricep dips in the first series of positions really battered my shoulders and I could barely lift my arms the next day. A good sign of hard work!

Tuesday – Spinning Class
As ever I reluctantly dragged myself to this class, despite being in agony from the yoga the day before. It is valuable cross training as much as I hate being on a bike not going anywhere. This week was more enjoyable due to a different instructor who had new tunes and shouted more. I seem to respond well to being yelled at in that class…

Wednesday – 6.2 miles, 1hr:02min
A hill session. I ran up hill from work for a mile or so until I reached Clifton Road, which runs parallel to Hilton road even further up the hill. There are many cross streets linking the two so I ran quite far along Clifton Road and then made my way back going up and down each cross street (about 0.20 mile each way) as I passed them.

Thursday – Unplanned rest
The weather was terrible and I did not have suitable running gear with me. Instead I had to decide to defer my Thursday session to Friday and have a three day running streak over the weekend.

Friday – 8 miles, 1hr 23mins
I logged this on daily mile stating I had stiff legs. If I remember correctly it took me quite some time for my calves to wake up but I stuck with it and finished the run. Even if the last few miles were basically just me repeating ‘beer, pizza, wine, sofa!’ in my head in time with my stride!

Saturday – 7.2 miles on trails
I woke up for Parkrun with a splitting headache and very sore throat and stuffy nose. It didn’t take long for me to decide to defer my run til later in the day. I went out in the afternoon and ran over to my favourite inner city running area, the Grandholm trails, and played around in the mud for a while. Lots of incline and slippery terrain made for a hard run.

Sunday – 18.2 miles, 3hrs 21min
Long run #2! I ran out the Deeside Way yet again, which of course is the D33 course. I suppose it will pay to know it so well on race day. Again, the run went very well and I was happy with my fuelling and pacing strategy – run 30 mins, eat/walk for 5. Afterwards I was absolutely shattered – I had clearly used every last ounce of energy and found it cruelly hard to climb the stairs to my 2nd Floor flat.

All in all I am pleased with my training so far. I feel committed and secure – I’ve not skipped any runs or half-assed anything like I was guilty of doing on occasion during marathon training. I think knowing that this is such a compact schedule of 10 weeks (or 7, plus taper) has helped me focus on the fact that every run counts. There are no junk miles in my schedule, no messing around. It requires 100% commitment, 7 days a week no matter how tired I may be after work, how wet it might be outside or how sore I am.

There seems to be a positive atmosphere for change in my circle of friends right now. It’s the start of the year, people are inspired to make a change and better themselves. Of course some of these resolutions can float away over the course of the year but I’m seeing my friends setting concrete fitness goals for themselves and getting out there and starting to work towards them. Bikes are seeing the light of day for the first time in months, people who haven’t put trainers on in years are tweeting about running after work, races are being registered for and committments to fitness being made.

For example, it looks like I will be joined on the starting line at the Baker Hughes 10k by several good friends doing their first 10k including my flatmate Scott. I think it’s a wonderful race to try for your first – minimal travel for Aberdonians, big without being overwhelming, great course support and a lovely medal as a reward. There are also lots of new faces at Parkrun and I even had my friend Niall join me for a couple of miles out of my 8 mile run last night for his first ever run! His plan is to also complete the Baker Hughes 10k in May and he also has a place in the Ythan Challenge in June.

Seeing my friends discover the magic of running makes me so happy – I love to talk, do, think, say, anything about running so as far as I’m concerned the more people who agree with that the better. Seeing a beginner runner get started is so wonderful – it inspires me to continue with my own challenges and keep developing as a runner. There is no magical moment when as aspiring athletes we suddenly turn in to a runner, no piece of kit to purchase to validate ones status, no distance to cover – we are all born runners and all it takes is the first step out the front door to get going. Of course as we all know, that first step is always the hardest but the joys that are to be found beyond it are worth it every time. Even if you are stepping out in to a puddle, to be drenched by rain and blasted in the face by an icey wind. Worth it. Every. Time.

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D33 ULTRA – Training Week 1

Posted on January 16, 2012 by redwinerunner

Last week I covered 38 miles in training – the highest mileage ever in a Monday – Sunday week for me!

Monday – 5 miles/ 51 minutes – at the beach. Felt great until my hamstring started hurting.
Tuesday – Cross-training derailed by needing to take my Flatmate out for cheer-up beers.
Wednesday – An accidental fail day. I made the mistake of sitting down for a little too long when I got in from work and then failed to get up again. To behonest I think the extra rest did my funny hamstring good though.
Thursday – 8 miles/1hr23 – felt REALLY good, although it was extremely cold.
Friday – Rest. Yup, resting happened.
Saturday – 9 miles/1hr24 – It was -4C when I left the house and it really hurt to run in at first – definitely the coldest run this winter for me, which says a lot about how mild it’s been this year. By the time I got down to Parkrun I was well warmed up and somehow managed to blast an incredible 41seconds off my 5k time without even trying! I left on a high, delighted to be out training on such a gorgeous morning with my friends (including Flatmate who ran his first 5k ever at Parkrun!) and covered a further 3 miles.
Sunday – 15.7 miles/2hrs50 The big one. The longest I’d run since the Marathon in October. I ran it in the same way I’d expect to run the D33 – run for half an hour/walk and eat for 5mins, and this worked very well. I took 3 gels, 8 jelly beans, a packet of hula hoops, and a camelbak of powerade/water mix – I had no tummy troubles at all and felt well fuelled thoughout. It was another gorgeous cold day and I took the opportunity to run out along the Deeside Way and back again and emulated the start and finish of the race by starting from the lower Duthie Park carpark. It was a very positive run and I finished feeling powered up and excited to continue training for this ultra – I CAN do this!

Here are some phone pictures from along the route…

I also made a point to smile at every runner I passed on the route. It was at around this distance during marathon training that I started getting a bit lonely on my long runs alone so I thought that if I made an effort to communicate with my fellow trail users then that would perk me right up – and it worked. A simple smile goes a long way – everyone I smiled at smiled right back at me and I continued on my way feeling refreshed. Why not give it a try and smile at a stranger today?!

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Training Plan – D33 Ultra

Posted on January 12, 2012 by redwinerunner

So for the last 10 days or so I’ve been doing my head in trying to come up with the best training plan to get me in my best ultramarathoning shape for the D33 Ultra in 10 weeks time. Well, last week it was 10 weeks away…now it’s 9. My wonderful running family on twitter were quick to advise and I received many recommendations for the following book by Byron Powell:

Relentless Forward Progress

It contains training plans for races of 50k (31 miles) up to 100 milers and beyond, alongside essays by various Ultra champions from around the world giving their own tuppence-worth of guidance in to this unique sport. The other piece of advice on training plans which I heard over and over again was “It depends…it depends on the individual everyone finds their own way one way or the other”. So basically, if I thought I was stumbling into the dark without a torch here, then I was 100% correct.

The book arrived on Monday morning and I tore into it on my lunch hour and again after work. So far it’s been a great read and everything he’s covered is loosely what my ultra friends have always told me so there’s been no nasty surprises so far. There is a training plan for a 50k race which could be applied to my 33 mile race easily – except it’s for a 24 week programme and as mentioned above I have at the time of typing, 9.

The initial training programme is based on 50 miles a week or less, with cut back weeks for recovery and a three week taper. It is suitable for someone who has been running 40 mile weeks for 4 – 6 months and has raced a marathon in the last 3 months. Well that’s not entirely me…I raced half a marathon then stumbled through the second half with an injury,  took a month to recover before training/racing again, and then sat on my backside for three weeks before signing up for an ultra. On the flip side he also makes clear that re-entering training again after a month or so of rest is perfectly acceptable and all the cool ultra kids like Killian Jornet do exactly that and don’t run over winter at all whilst focusing on other things like skiing.

So never one to be discouraged and always blinded by my own ambition, I am ploughing on through the book and am in turns inspired and terrified. I have considered my goals and racing strategy for this race as you cannot make a training plan without knowing exactly what you are setting out to achieve:

Goal 1: – Finish. No really, just finish by any means possible. If I achieve this I’ll be delighted. Completing a 33 mile race by normal standards, is frankly, ridiculous. I was reminded of this when telling my colleagues of my new goal and their jaws hit the floor. That’s what happens when you hang out with extreme distance runners all the time – the amazing becomes the norm and you forget what you’re actually achieving.
Goal 2: – Finish in under 7 hours. That’s 4.7 miles an hour and achieveable for me even if I have to walk a lot. This ties in with below…

Race Strategy: – Divide the race in to chunks. First half of race: run 5 miles, walk half a mile whilst fuelling. This will equate to roughly an hour for 5.5miles – I could repeat this 6 times and in theory I’ll end up at the finish line after 33 miles but realistically I expect in the second half of the race to take walking/eating breaks every half hour. I expect that the further into my training I get, I may find running by time rather than miles to be a better strategy i.e run half an hour, eat and walk for 5 mins. I’ll take fuel with me in form of gels/beans/clif bars/water with nuun, but there will also be a checkpoint/fetchpoint at 6/27 miles and a half way checkpoint at 16.5 miles which will have ultra fuel laid on. My Fetch friends manning the checkpoint will provide epic relief and encouragement and have offered to take food orders in advance so the Fetchies running this race will know exactly what’s waiting for them at the checkpoints. There is also a drop bag service to consider.

So with the above in mind, here’s what I’m tentatively working off right now…

Mondays – relaxing Yoga to stretch out any nasties
Tuesdays – a spinning class for cross training
Wednesdays – a good hour on my feet
Thursdays – roughly an hour and a half on my feet
Fridays – Total rest
Saturdays – Run 3 gentle miles to Parkrun, fast 5k at Parkrun, 3 gentle miles home
Sundays – Looong sloooow ruuuun. Or Race as noted.

I know I should have a cut back week in there somewhere – possibly on the week beginning the 30th January – I’d maybe knock 10 miles off the long run and ease off during the week. I think I’m going to have to play this one by ear…the training plan is totally flexible obviously, but this is what I’m setting out to achieve.

I’ve already been presented with a challenge in that for some reason out of nowhere my right hamstring has begun to hurt. It feels like someone has a finger stuck hard right hard in behind the knee – I missed yesterday’s run because of that. On Monday I ran through the pain and it loosened up eventually but after 5 miles my right ITB began hurting again a la the Loch Ness Marathon of Pain. So I’m pretty sure that I’m in for a rough ride with this – in my darker less lucid moments I’m wondering if I’ll even make it to the starting line. All I can do is my best.

To be honest, the race is terrifying me. I’m scared I’m not good enough and that it will chew me up and spit me out and I’ll fail. All everyone has said to me since I signed up is how much fun it’s going to be and what a great day out running it is – but what if I fail to apply the training correctly? What if I do another Loch Ness and train just fine and then my body falls to pieces half way? What if I end up running by myself for large chunks of the race and end up losing mental strength? What if I end up taking so long that the only people left are George and the marshalls and my friends?

I’m scared even to admit I’m scared – I feel silly doing so. I touched on this earlier but when you spend most of your social life with distance runners you genuinely do get your perception skewed. Thirty three miles is a long damn way to go on your own legs and when so many runners you know cover that kind of distance for a lark on a weekend you feel a bit weak revealing that you’re intimidated by it. I don’t doubt that if I make it to the starting line in one piece then I WILL be absolutely fine and it WILL be a great day out running – I’ll get to meet many twitter/blog friends in person and if I complete the race then I will wear my ultramarathoner status proudly… But staring down the barrel of that much training in that little time is pretty intimidating for me right now and I’m not afraid to admit I’m scared. People sometimes talk about distance runners like we’re machines…we’re not. Well not all of us, and not all of the time.

It’s time for me to HTFU and get out there, there’s a lot of miles to be ran.

 

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As another year comes to pass.

Posted on January 5, 2012 by redwinerunner

Hello, running friends. It’s been a while hasn’t it? 2011 has come to a close without a great deal of chat over here at Redwinerunner, but I can assure you that things are getting back to normal and you can look forward to some more frequent posting from now on. I left you with great promises of taking part in the Marcothon; unfortunately I have to report that my attempts to complete it failed quite early on, as life got in the way and I found myself unable to find sufficient balance. I did however enjoy some festive running, including a Christmas Eve Parkrun and a lovely deserted five miles on Christmas morning which set me up for the day perfectly.

Finishing Christmas Eve Parkrun - 27m 30s photo: Carolyn Milne

It’s been a difficult and stressful month for personal reasons which have no place here, which is why running and the blog had to take the back burner for a while. When things in life get particularly hard, hobbies and social activities can be amongst the first things to fall by the wayside as we struggle to keep our heads above the proverbial water. After a couple of weeks without running my anxiety levels were through the roof, I was stressed to the high heavens and to be perfectly honest I was close to breaking point…until I put my running shoes back on and went for a damn run.

Running has brought me many tangible things to my life; fitness, achievement, friends, medals; all wonderful things for which I am very grateful. But it’s the benefits to my mental wellbeing which matter the most to me when I put on my running shoes. For me it’s an escape, it’s freedom, it’s just me and the road, all problems are left at the front door when I leave it. I find that the still world comes alive in new ways when I pass it in motion on a run; solutions to current problems present themselves all of a sudden, and my fears become minimised. I become a better version of myself, a version which I can only attempt to clutch at in day to day life as I get through the day thinking of the moment I can turn on my Garmin and get back into that world. When people ask me why I run, I usually give them a fairly conventional answer – fitness, achievement, friends, medals – but the truth is that it fixes me. It keeps me going, it keeps me moving forwards, it is a light for me in dark places when all other lights go out.

This has got a bit heavy; please humour me as I wear my heart on my sleeve. If you’re a runner then perhaps you’re nodding in agreement; I know I’m not the first person to realise this. So in 2012 I want to put even more of myself into my passion, I want to have the courage to give it my all, to push past my mental boundaries and to never be afraid to keep trying to be the best runner I can be. Here are my goals:

  • A sub-25 minute 5k
    With regularly attending Parkruns every Saturday I expect to achieve this by Spring. My current PB is 27:02
  • A sub-50 minute 10k
    Like last year, my big 10k PB attempt will be at the Baker Hughes 10k on the 20th May
  • A sub-2 hour Half Marathon
    I don’t expect to do this before the summer due to other goals, but something to keep trying for as Half Marathon is still my favourite distance.
  • A 4:3X Marathon
    This was my original marathon goal for Loch Ness Marathon which I failed to achieve. I plan to do another Autumn marathon and would love to have a successful marathon experience without injury this time. I think this is probably the most intimidating goal of the list, I still haven’t forgotten the pain of my injuries.
  • Complete my first Ultramarathon
    Yesterday I signed up for the D33 Ultra which takes place in Aberdeen on the 17th of March. Last year I came to see the finish – this year i’ll be on the starting line.
  • Smile at more runners whilst out running
    Well why not? A smile goes a long way, if more people smiled at strangers then the world would be a happier place. Pay it forward.

My first race of the year will be the RAF Kinloss to RAF Lossiemouth Half Marathon on the 19th of February, following that will be the D33. I’m currently writing my training plan which I’ll be sharing with you soon; for now, let’s take a look back at 2011 in pictures.

January - Running Shop XC series - Haddo House 3 miler

February - Running Shop XC series - Balgownie 3 miler

March - RunGarioch 10k

April - RunBalmoral 10k

April - Graeme Cooper Memorial Race

May - Baker Hughes 10k

June - Supporting Mike at the West Highland Way Race

June - the Ythan Challenge

July - My first half marathon, Stonehaven

July - My 2nd Half Marathon, Dundee

July - my first Fetch Mile

July - My 3rd Half Marathon, Dyce

September - My 4th Half Marathon, the Great Scottish Run

October - My first Marathon, Loch Ness

November - my fifth Half Marathon, Fraserburgh

 

December - Christmas Eve Parkrun

Here’s to happy running in 2012 to all!

 

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Marcothon 2011

Posted on December 1, 2011 by redwinerunner

It’s December the 1st 2011, which means it is the first day of the 2011 Marcothon!

The Marcothon is a month long running challenge which takes place throughout December. Started in 2009 by Scottish Ultramarathoners Mark and Debbie Martin-Consani, participants commit to running every day throughout the toughest month of the year for weather, work, and social commitments. The outcome is a great athletic base-building exercise which will see us step in to January training with a great head start, rather than the traditional stuggle to get back up to speed after the traditional (at least) two weeks of bacchanalian seasonal excess.

Marcothoners are required to run a minimum of 3 miles or 25 minutes – whichever comes first -  every day throughout December, including Christmas Day. Last year hundreds of runners throughout the world took part and supported each other through various online mediums – this year’s facebook even page can be viewed HERE . There is also a twitter account which can be followed – @themarcothon – and so far today marcothoners have been documenting their attempts using the hashtag #marcothon.

I’ve been taking it easy since the Fraserburgh Half Marathon and have not run a step since last Sunday, which is a reasonable 10 days off after a hard PB race. I’m looking forward to getting running again but the challenge honestly could not have started on a worse day! I’m working at the evening concert tonight which means a working day from 08.30am – 10.00pm approx, and where I normally would be able to sneak out for a few miles around 5pm, I have to be at an Estate Agents for a very important appointment to sign a contract on a new lease. Originally I had planned to dare go out for my first ever workday lunchtime run, however a staff meeting scuppered that plan and I need to think again! I WILL find half an hour to do these miles…it just might not be at a conventional time. Thus the challenge of the Marcothon is presented :)

Quite a few of my international blogging and tweeting running chums are joining in, including Meg from WatchMeGoRun and Mari from Orange n Green – it’s not just a challenge for loopy Scottish runners! There’s still time to squeeze in your 3 miles today: Are you taking part? Leave me a comment below so I can see how you get on – it seems like such a simple thing to do but when life gets in the way 3 miles can be pretty hard to accomplish!

I’ll update on my progress as frequently as I can; unfortunately life at Red Wine towers has turned on its head somewhat here recently – amongst other things, I currently do not have access to a computer or internet outside of work and I’m not entirely sure when I will have that again. Don’t forget you can follow me on twitter (@rhinomittens) or ‘like’ the blog on facebook if you haven’t already (https://www.facebook.com/Redwinerunner) and join in the Marcothon chat there!

Happy running!
~RWR

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