Author Archives: Tom

Lakeland 100 – July 27th 2012

Blood. Sweat. Tears.

As I sit here typing this I have my Lakeland 100 UTLD Finisher 2012 medal nearby and I look at it and I think “Yes, you literally are the result of my blood, sweat and tears.” No, not literally as in it’s made from my viscera and bodily fluids because that would be weird and gross. And improbable. But, oh my, tears have been shed, blood has been spilt and so much sweat has been, err, sweated. There was also copious amounts of mud, rain, sun, jelly babies and, importantly, smiles.

Now I come to try and write about my experience and how the event panned out and I’m stuck. I’ve given away the ending already so there’s no suspense wondering whether I made it and no drama in wondering if I’d make it before the cut-off. I suppose it’s a little like the film “Titanic” in that you know what’s going to happen at the end – except in this case there are less icebergs, no bands playing and I didn’t get to paint a picture of a naked posh bird. Yeah, actually it was nothing like Titanic at all.

So all that’s left is for me to tell you how it all played out. Unfortunately I can’t promise it won’t be a little bit mundane.
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Lakeland 100: Death or Glory

The weekend was an unqualified success. I finished the course 32 hours, 45 minutes and 11 seconds and I’m delighted with that. I’m still processing everything that happened so expect several pages of write-up before long.

The Other 90%: The Eleventh Hour

The Other 90% is a series of posts referring to the common saying that exercise is 10% physical and 90% mental.

It’s been a while since my last Other 90% post, which prompted Sam to ask “What’s your usual way of dealing with the mental aspect of ultrarunning?”. Sam then went and ran a storming race at the South Downs Way 100, finishing in 2nd place with a time of 17hours and 23 minutes so I think he’s in a far better position to be talking about this than I am. Not only that but I can’t claim to have a “usual” way of dealing with ultrarunning as, while I have some experience with endurance events, I’m relatively inexperienced when it comes to ultramarathons.

Now I find myself with two days to go and I’ve been spending most of the last two weeks with an eye on the goal and what it will take to acheive it. This post is (the last) part of that mental training and may seem a little random but it’s a snapshot of where I’m at right now.
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Gear Check: Packing the bag

I started prepping my gear this weekend, making sure I had all the gear on the required kit list and planning my race nutrition. Out of curiosity, I also weighed everything to see how much extra weight I’d be carrying. Here’s the list:

Pack (OMM Ultra 15L) 415g
Waterproof jacket 415g
Waterproof trousers 250g
Base Layer (top) 140g
Base Layer (bottom) 240g
Headtorch 125g
Mobile phone 135g
Compass 35g
Hat and gloves 65g
Foil blanket 50g
Emergency food 50g
First aid kit 40g
Total 1960g

Other essentials that I will be taking as well:

500ml water 530g
Food 450g
Total 980g

Then I have some optional extras – luxuries if you will – that I may take with me.

Camera 205g
MP3 Player 50g
Nuun tablets 70g
Spare socks 85g
Spare top 150g
Total 560g

If I take everything, my pack will weigh roughly 4kg (assuming I take 2 bottles of water on most sections) or 3.5kg if I don’t take the optional extras.

Why would I take the luxuries if they’re going to add half a kilo of weight? Because of the mental aspect. If the weather is adverse (as it’s currently looking to be) then fresh socks/top can help give a sense of comfort. The camera I’m already in two minds; I want to be able to take pictures but I’m not sure I can be arsed to (and if it is going to be raining, I may not take it with me). Music? Some people may not like running with it, I like the option. Last year I found that I got a huge lift going around Blencathra with my music on and I flew from Dockray to Dalemain. (This year I might save that inspiration for the second half of the race.)

I know it would be possible to save more weight from the required kit list – up to as much as another 500g if I really put time, money and effort into it. If I were in the running for a top-10 spot then I’d be probably be more dedicated to saving every ounce that I could but I’m not. As a middle-of-the-pack runner, I don’t know how much my performance will be affected overall if I carry an extra ~400-500g. Obviously I’m going to move slower with a pack than nothing at all but in my favour, I’ve been training with a heavier pack, it’s still much lighter than a full mountain marathon pack (no tent or sleeping bag for a start!) and hey, even at the end of May I weighed 4kg heavier than I do now.

How much does your pack weigh?

Real relay baton

Olympic Spirit: Running the Real Relay

I came home from a few days away with the family to find out that an alternative event to the Olympic Torch relay had received coverage from some of the major media outlets including the BBC, the Telegraph, ITV News and the Independent. Inspired by the official Olympic Torch relay, the Real Relay is an attempt to get a single baton around the country, on foot, following the course of the official torch in, well, a relay; a relay run by real runners over 9 to 12 mile stretches, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Oh, and to see if money could be raised for a good cause too, with donations being made to CHICKS, provides free, week long respite breaks for disadvantaged children from across the UK.

I feel very lucky, proud and privileged that I was able to take part in this event. It turned out to be quite an adventure.
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A Challenger Appears

I want to show you something:

That’s the t-shirt I got last year at the Lakeland 100 registration. It’s a competitors t-shirt, worn by those who took part.

I’ve never worn it.

I made that decision when I pulled out of the race last year because I didn’t feel I deserved to wear it. So it’s been sitting on my shelf ever since, teasing me. Taunting me. Challenging me.

John Kynaston has posted a list of his three goals for the Lakeland 100 – bronze, silver and gold targets that he’s aiming for. It’s a good way of spreading bets on a result but also a good mental support for runners. Setting a time goal alone is tricky because there’s always the chance that if your pace slows and you get it into your head that you won’t make the target and the thought of giving up becomes very, very tempting. Stu recently found that in the SDW100. I found it last year, after a fashion, because my head was not on the race but on the idea of not getting too tired to see my friend. Big mistake – my focus should have been on the race.

So this year I’ve already set up some targets and now, with two weeks to go, it’s time to share them.
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Freaking out: Too soon to taper?

June has come and gone. In total I ran 104 miles during Juneathon month, achieving what I set out to do which was hit 3 figures. Still surprises me that some people run that in a week! Anyway, while I didn’t work out every day, the whole Juneathon challenge gave me incentive and motivation where it might have been lacking. Funny how that works, isn’t it? Actually, not funny – bloody annoying. Mind you, motivation wasn’t lacking yesterday when I went out for a 30 mile jaunt along the trails. Planned as my longest run in the lead up to the end of July, I loaded up my pack with 3 litres of water, a couple of bags of jelly babies and set off. I had thought about making it a dry run to get used to running with kit but the problem with doing 30 miles solo and unassisted is a distinct lack of checkpoints with water, food and cheery souls to wish you well. So I took water instead of kit which I think was the right thing to do.

All told, I think the run went well. 30.5 miles in ~5:30 with 3600ft ascent. The second half was definitely slower and, at the time, I’ve got admit that I wondered how I’d push on for another 70 miles but the answer to that came today: I don’t feel like I ran 30 miles yesterday and this evening I’d have happily gone out for a gentle 10 miles.

So why, then, am I thinking of starting my taper now?
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6 month review

Coming up to the end of June and completing the first half of the year, I thought I’d quickly go over the plans that I set out for myself at the beginning of the year. Let’s see how I’m doing:

  1. Thames Path 100: didn’t happen owing to illness and house move.
  2. Lakeland 100: on track, training going well.
  3. Club off-road championships: of the 6 races that have taken place, I’ve taken part in 1. I’ve been away or otherwise engaged for the rest. Of the 6 remaining, I’ll be missing at least 2. So no, haven’t really done that well.
  4. Road marathon: not going to happen this year. Plans are already afoot for next year though.
  5. Finishing Personal Training course. Have worked on this although haven’t booked the exam yet. Still in line to get a lot done before the end of the year.

It’s a good thing I’m not going to discuss this in terms of achievements or failures because otherwise I’d be feeling really bad about a potential 2/5 success rate. In another 6 months time I’ll be able to seriously review this year and properly discuss my acheivements.

How’s your year going?

Pipe dreams

You know when you have an idea that’s a really, really bad idea but it just won’t go away? To put it in common internet phraseology… that! And when someone who’s planning to tackle 100 miles of trails around the Lake District says that they’ve got an idea and it may be a bad idea then, well, context is everything.

As I may have mentioned five or six times before, I used to be a sprinter and long jumper. I also used to be young, weigh 12.5 stone and have hair on my head. The last time I took part in a long jump competition was at Walton Athletics Club’s track back in 1999? Possibly 2000? I’ve got it written down somewhere. Back in March, after moving house for the second time in a year, I found my track spikes. They were hardly worn. In the back of my head, a little voice said “Hey! Wouldn’t it be fun to do Long Jump again.” To which the neurons in my legs rather rapidly transmitted a message to my brain saying something along the lines of “You have got to be fucking kidding!” Then it went something like this:
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Gear Check: Lakeland 100 kit

The compulsory kit list for the UTLD100 is:

  • First aid kit to include: blister plasters / sterile pad dressing / bandage or tape to secure dressing as a minimum requirement.
  • Full WATERPROOF body cover, top and bottom *please note that windproof is not sufficient.
  • Spare base layer *top and bottom.
  • Head torch / spare batteries if required
  • Mobile phone *fully charged
  • Whistle
  • Hat and gloves
  • Emergency foil blanket or bivi bag
  • Emergency food & drink (additional to your general nutrition i.e. not to be eaten during event)
  • Map (supplied, waterproof and pre-marked) 1:40,000
  • Road book (supplied on waterproof paper)
  • Compass

Additionally, running gear, shoes, bag pack to keep it all in, drink, food, other stuff I’ll no doubt forget on the day and be in a panic about.

I’m going to write separate posts about packs and waterproofs because they seem to be the questions most people ask about but as a quick overview of the rest of the gear, here’s some of what I’m taking:
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