St Neots Riverside Half Marathon - 1:35:41 (7:17 min/mile pace) - new personal best by 3 minutes

Ivan paced me to a personal best half marathon time on the St Neots Riverside Half Marathon Results 2007.

I awoke, not keen to exert myself out in the cold but after cycling to Ivan's house, his enthusiasm was soon catching.

We were soon parked up by the local army cadets, had a last quick toilet break and were off to the start with a couple of minutes to spare.

The race was chip timed, meaning we had a chip on our shoes which would time when we went over the starting line. This makes for a much more leisurely start. Normally nobody wants to waste time waiting to cross the start line whilst the clock is ticking so there is often jostling. No so today but the adrenalin kicks in and everyone wants to get going, so the race was still quite thick for a mile or so.

It was a cold day with some strong wind across the fields at times - it certainly encouraged some drafting. The course was really nice with a couple of hills to play on, though the road was slippery underfoot at times.

We deliberately set out slow, a little behind the 7:28 min/mile pace I had chosen as a target. Then we picked it up a little to get some time in the bag so we could accommodate the slow miles over the hills.

The first couple of miles were quite hard as cold and creeking muscles try to get working. I reckon mine start to settle down after about 6 miles and I feel fine for a few miles after that if I'm pushing the pace (I feel fine ALL DAY after that at a relaxed pace!). I was pleased to have got rid of a stitch I'd picked up early in the race too. Ivan told me to breath out slowly with my chin on my chest and I was astounded by how quickly the stitch faded - I wonder why that works!

Our performance felt quite measured. If a reason arose to pick it up a bit, I could always do it without over-stretching it. Sometimes, for example, when it's windy it is worth catching up to a big group of runners ahead and using them as a wind break. At other times, like, during a hill climb, everyone suffers a bit so it's a good time to turn it on a bit. So, this was perhaps the most measured race I've ever done. I think it was partly cardio-vascular fitness that allowed Ivan and I to run like this. Even after 11 miles we were breathing easily and still making a good time.

As the race progressed we both started having a few muscle problems. By 12 miles the pain behind my right thigh was pretty intense and I was wondering whether I would make the last mile still running. I tried to make a big effort to run lightly, as Ivan seems to always do. I was pretty surprised that the pain faded.

After the mile 12 sign appeared I realised that I had a bit left and so closed up to some of the folks ahead. As we passed the 20km sign (12.5 miles) I started picking it up even more. Seeing the 400M sign I really pulled, with Ivan alongside me, and we made up quite a handful of places. With 200M to go I heard Keith cheering me on, and although I thought I might have gone too soon but I locked on to the guy ahead and started working up to a full sprint. I didn't think at the time but this was a bit unsporting since I got just ahead of Ivan in doing so, and he had clearly had an easy run of it pacing me around. The whole race he had seemed extremely relaxed, ad if he was walking whilst the rest of us were pushing. Well, in my mind I was outclassed and our finishing times are the same, I just couldn't help the sprinting antics! I think I might be part sheep dog.

So, my official time was 1:35:41 which was done by the chip so is probably accurate. The GPS I was wearing made it 1:35:30 with an average pace of 7.17min/mile and an average heartrate of 159BPM.

Splits- mile 1 / 7:24; 2/7:09; 3/7:28;4/7:35;5/7:22;6/7:14; 7/7:07; 8/7:15; 9/7:30; 10/7:26; 11/7:17; 12/7:20; 13/6:49.

Good fun to see Anthony, Stanni and Keith their too. Keith put in a blistering time of 1:27 something. Hard to imagine running that fast!

Sharon and Ange sent me a link to a photo of me crossing the finish line (not very flattering!).

Climbing

I finally made a little progress with climbing tonight. With some excellent tutoring from Dustin I managed to get up a 5.9, which had a hand hold at the top which looked WAY out of reach but I finally got it. I then got halfway up a 5.10-. I didn't climb much but felt a bit better about it than usual.

Ultra-marathon 50k (31 miles) Ridgecrest - Over The Hill Track Club (OTHTC) - 50k Personal Best (5:00:47)

Yesterday Sienna's Scott and I headed down the I395 for 5 hours, past Yosemite and Mammoth to Ridgecrest in the Mojave desert, for our first Ultra Marathon, the OTHTC 50k. Neither of us have even done a marathon before but that didn't stop us 'carb loading' on the journey down managing to cram in pizza and pasta in the space of far too few hours. We had a few beers in preparation too.

I'd done a little more training than Scott having run the Rim Trail recently. For his first ultra he aimed to try and beat 6 hours; I figured I'd try to break 5 hours though I didn't have much to base my target time on other than wishful thinking.

7am came around quickly and before we knew it, we were off and running with about 300 other people of all shapes and sizes and ages. The start was quite busy, clogged up and slow in the way that most races are. After a mile things had thinned out a bit but there was still a lot of swapping of positions going on. This meant I was overtaking quite a few people for a while. Scott was being more sensible and was sticking to a more sane pace so we split up pretty quickly.

The day started pretty cool, just above freezing I think (in fact we ran over a patch of ice on the car park). I had gloves on for perhaps as much as 10 miles.

After about 3 miles I got chatting to a lady who, like many other runners, had a bright pair of Dirty Girl gaiters on (I think her name was Kristen Farley). Actually the maker of the gaiters Chrissy, was also racing. Kristen was a former geology professor and is now a wellness coach helping to introduce people to the concept of getting fit and eating well. After a couple of miles I discovered that she was also not unfamiliar with running 100 miles races and seemed quite well known in ultra running. Wow did I feel outclassed. Pretty soon another lady joined us, Ceal Klingler, who was the race director of the Bishop ultra marathon and a very cheerful person to run with. Both women looked extremely strong and consistent so I really enjoyed running with them. One GPS measured mile was paced at 8.08 pace - WAY TOO FAST.

After about 4 miles the first lady slowed a little to talk to a friend and I carried on running with Ceal. After a while she told me she was casually aiming for 4 hours 30 pace. I had to explain that I wasn't and I worried that I was slowing her down. But Ceal wasn't super competitive and was happy running at the pace we were going at so we carried on together. At the aid stations she wasn't too keen to stop at all and because I was carrying quite a bit of water with 'Perpetuem' in it I didn't need to stop either. So we ran together, chatting for about 20 miles. Ceal is the first person I have heard express saddness at the California flag which proudly boasts a Grizzly Bear - extinct in the state for more than 50 years.

As 20 miles neared I could see Ceal was looking very strong and was starting to stride ahead of me a bit. I told her to get going but she spent some time trying to motivate me to carry on at the same pace. After another mile I really had to send her packing since I was slowing and feeling heavy and she was looking light and strong. Ultimately she beat me by 15 minutes - quite some margin.

At 20 miles I was still ahead of my virtual partner on my GPS who was pacing at 9.38 min/mile but after the next 3 miles of climbing I had dropped to .7 mile behind 'him'. On the downhill I was able to reel in the virtual partner but only very slowly. By mile 23 it looked like I would finish around 10 minutes behind the virtual partner with a time of 5:10. This was disappointing but I really didn't have the legs to eat in to the lead enough on the downhills.

As it neared 11am I was too hot with my helly hanson (smelly helly) and windproof shell on. So I had to wrestle the shell off whilst running along.

My legs were hurting by now. Early in the race my adductors felt notchy but that had faded early on. By mile 23 I had a lot of pain in the hip flexors and startings of pain in the gluts. Another couple of Ibruprophen seeemed to help a bit.

I passed the 26 mile point with nonchalance, it didnt seem very relevant today but the time looked like 4:18 or so (the GPS was under reading so perhaps it was a little faster).

I got to the last aid station and slowed for a little rest and a drink. I thought there were 3 miles to go but I noticed (late) that there was a sign saying 1.6 miles. I had 15 minutes left before the 5 hour mark and I realized I could make it so I picked up the pace a lot and shut the pain out of my mind (I was surprised how well that worled). I caught up and overtook the older guy in front of me and ploughed on. As I rounded the front of the college I had 3 minutes to get to the finishing line. I had no idea exactly where the finishing line was though so I just hussled. As I made a lap of the car park I knew I wouldn't make it but still gave it everything. I crossed the line at 5:00:47 - dammit. Fortunately there was free beer on tap to console myself with, and, in fairness I was quite pleased with my time. I was 46th overall and 15th in my age group. My GPS tells me that I burned 5,150 calories over the distance - lucky we did a lot of carb loading!

Scott came in under his target time of 6 hours and was also glad of the beer.



Here are my splits (roughly due to GPS problems):
0:09:38
0:07:47
0:08:09
00:09:08
00:09:42
00:08:08 0:52:32 -----10k
00:09:21
00:09:37
00:10:55
00:10:42
00:09:32
00:08:19
00:08:49 1:59:47 ----- 13 miles
00:10:07
00:11:12
00:09:58
00:10:21
00:09:43
00:09:36
00:09:43
00:11:59
00:12:57
00:11:58
00:10:36
00:09:27
00:10:12 4:17:36 ----- 26 miles
00:10:29
00:10:01
00:10:41
00:09:53
??:??:?? 5:00:47 ----- 31 miles

There is something quite nice about the ultra runner community. People were extremely friendly and chatty. The race itelf was extremely well organized with race directions some of the best I have ever seen. The route was marked with orange tape and chalk arrows. Aid stations were also very well organized and friendly and at each one they took everyone's number as they came in - very safety consious. At the end of the race we got excellent running shirts and every runner got a raffle prize - whoever had worked the sponsorship angle had done a splendid job. For our $65 entry fee we got a whole lot of stuff - even Pizza and Beer at the end!

Ceal and her husband Stacy, friendly folks.

Sienna met us after the race after a multi-hour epic drive down from San Francisco. Scott and I stiffened up a lot on the way back and were glad to have dinner in the very nice Whisky Creek Restaurant in Bishop before the last leg of our drive home. At one point on the drive back I saw Sienna brake - she later told me that a mountain lion ran out in front of her car! It's unusual but there are lots of deer around and that is the mountain lion's favourite food. Wow.

Many of the pictures on this page are from Bad Water Ben Jones the race photographer. Most excellent - huge thanks. Larger versions of some images are on his website.

Advice from Terry

As I left the building tonight I bumped into Terry, my running coach. She has been very enthusiastic about my ultra run and told me that with her first ultra she just went out to go the distance. I have known Terry and Dave Adams long enough now to know there is a need to factor in a certain 'coefficient of Adams' in any conversation about sport. They are both extremely modest and in equal extreme, incredibly fit.

I was therefore not surprised to discover that Terry won her first ultra - and it was on the professional circuit at the time (they got extra points for doing ultras).

The thing I've learned about sport is that there is always someone better than you. In my case they are often 10 or 20 years older than me to. It's all good, humbling and inspirational at the same time. I never feel competitive or jealous or anything about such people, just admiration and respect and considerable motivation from them to just get out there. It's really nice to hang out with people this tough who understand well what it takes to run 50k. The shared understanding is more of a silent nod than a HUGE WOW. As much as anything I feel that these folks know that running 50k is not a massive deal. It's tough yes but it is what it is.

Ultra Runner

I realized at lunch that this time next week I may no longer be just a guy, I'll forever more be an 'Ultra Runner'. I am sometimes informed at lunch that I am on "rare form" which I realize really means barking mad. So, I fantasized about the super hero costume I will need to wear and then counted on the fingers of one hand the only other ultra runners in the building who would soon be the only people I could talk with. Well there may be more but are at least Terry (former pro runner), Dave, Ron, Bill and possibly Brian - an elite crowd indeed (actually, that part is serious, they are exceptionally fit, all of them, not to mention an inspiration).

James even did a cartoon of me (when he finally finished singing).

Sienna said I'd probably trip and bash my face on a rock and have to retire after about half a mile. She's probably right.

Ultra Ironman

I wonder about an ultra ironman event in the UK. How about a channel swim (19+ miles); cycling end-to-end of the UK (1000 miles or so) and running the west highland way race (95 miles). I wonder how long it would take...

A regular ironman is 2.4 mile swim; 112 mile bike; 26.2 mile run.

Training run - prision hill - 20.5 miles

To prepare for our 50k High Desert Ultra Run in Mojave in December, Scott Sager (Sienna's husband) and I had to get some miles in today. We set off in Carson City, near their house, and did a couple of laps of the 'dog park' by Carson River before heading up Prison Hill to follow the route of the Escape from Prison Hill Half Marathon. After quite some time Scott told me it was the hardest half marathon in America. Although we were walking the hills, it was easy to believe.

I ate some gel at 7 miles and a cliff bar at 14, where I also took ibruprofen and an enduralite capsule to replace the lost salts. The pain in my legs was starting to come on around now, especially in my gluts but it was nothing like last weekend and I could run through this pain ok.

We finally got back and went to Reds, my usual thursday night karoke bar, for some welcome food.

After today's performance I think we are ready to try the 50k (31 miles) in less than 6 hours. Neither Scott or I have ever run a marathon before, so it's a bit odd going straight to an ultra trail run but as ultras go, it's not supposed to be too difficult (though I still have a hard time imagining a 31 mile run can be easy).

Snow-Shoeing Mount Rose (8 miles?)

Sienna led this Bently Adventures trip to Mount Rose and it was just Rich and me who showed up.

We're not had much snow yet so were not too sure we would need the snow shoes. Making our personal decisions, Sienna took nothing, Rich took snow shoes (both left!) and I brought trekking poles. I figured if someone got in trouble the other 2 would have a snow shoe each and would carry the third person.

We took the entertaining and shorter way up towards Rose and soon lost the path amid the small sprinkling of snow that was there. We continued on up and up and finally along a snowy ridge, which we had the decency not to slide down. The snow eventually gave way to a volcanic looking surface (which looked especially funny with Rich standing on it in snow shoes). Sienna used to work for the USGS and knew a bit of geology, so I asked about the rocks. She switched into Mrs Scientist mode and started explaining all about rocks with geological jargin, including some I had never heard before, such as when the rocks 'blurp' up in the molten magma and sometimes form 'nubbits'. I really should have paid more attention in school.



From the ridge we got a bit lost and had to drop down a few hundred feet before heading for Rose proper.

We encountered a little ice including a dodgy section on top of a little river but it held ok. Then we started up Rose proper. We found some pretty slippery snow on a narrow trail but managed to not slide to our deaths.

With getting lost and suchlike it was getting a bit late so we picked a lunch spot in the snow and sat on some rocks. I had my foam sit mat, which was very nice on the snow. I got out my stove and made some hot chocolate which was pretty welcomed. My only mistake was bringing little paper cups left over from some party or another. I hadnt realised they were waxed. So, we had a nice few servings of chocolate and wax and a little rest.

By now it was getting late so we gave up on our quest for the summit, some 1,500ft above and plodded home. We'll, we plodded back to the car and went to eat mexican food at a little place in Incline village. Pretty nice, especially the ESB beer.