Ware tada taru shiru

This coming week I am taking inspiration  from the tsukubai that stands in the grounds of the Ryōan-ji temple in Kyoto,

Details here

The kanji written on the surface of the stone are without significance when read alone. If each is read in combination with 口 (kuchi) - the shape of the central bowl - then the characters become 吾, 唯, 足, 知 which translates literally as "I only know plenty" (吾 = ware = I, 唯 = tada = only, 足 = taru = plenty, 知 = shiru = know). One of the underlying meaning "what one has is all one needs".

In other words I already know what I need to know to finish Spartathlon. 

I like this idea so much I have the lid of the basin tattooed  on my arm.

Spartathon 2019 Get 2020 done

I have just got back from  crewing Paul Ali on  Spartathlon.  I returned in a lot better mood than last year and rather inspired. It was nice chilling with Tom for the six days.  We met too many people to list in detail and came away with load of stories.

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Me, Paul, Alex and Tom

Paul and me at the finish

Sasha, me, Lance with Tom in front

Paul's Special shirt

Special care

Some of the stories that stick out

Meeting & helping all the runners and crews all through the race, but mainly at CP22.

Running down the road after Jonni  screaming "safety pin" with Gill Thomas shouting back "I have one:" I think the help we both offer  makes Gill and me  the Spartathlon Mom & Dad.

Getting the South African  lady auto assistance at midnight in Ancient Nemea to "fix" her car that wouldn't start.  It was a true blonde moment...the car was still in gear.

Getting Steven Carr to eat after throwing up loads of black bile at Lykria

Getting a lady s caps at Nestani fro her runner despite the fact she was very rude.

Hearing "Hello, hello" very quitely at Nestani,  looking round and not finding anyone there.  I thought I was hallucinting,  but it was Steven Scobies partner who is shorter than me and I had looked over her head.

Hanging out with our Tom, Sasha, Lance, Rowli, Handsome Tom at checkpoints  on day two.

Seeing Jonni running down the road screaming "PEANUTS! I AM EATING PEANUTS" immediately before he threw them back up.

Talking to the poor DNFers and understanding, especially after four failures myself,  how hard it is.  I don't think the runners who finish this  race the first time, can truely appreciate how bad, how disappointed, how truely sick with themselves,  a runner who has put years of effort to get into this race and then DNFed feels.

I spent Monday evening getting drunk with two of them and became more inspired.

I got myself a little red Moleskin and have started to get fit myself.  I have just less than 100 days to get ready for the Athens 24 hour and get a qualifier...

As Mark Cockbain would say "JUST GET IT DONE!"

30 days days of praise

As a reward for actually finishing a race a friend offered to send me 30 days of praise. Needless to say he was not expecting me to finish and was then stuck with having to come up with 30 days of sarcasm dressed up as praise.  I think he did rather well...You may even guess who this smug sarcastic  shitebag is. if you do,  slap him one  from me.

Day 1:  Good morning Rob. May I compliment you on your ability to walk quickly in big circles. I hope you are fit and well today.

Day 2: Good morning Rob. May I offer my congratulations on your run last weekend. I was impressed with your efforts especially for a man of your age.

Day 3: Felicitations good sir and may I tip my hat in your direction after your recent run. It may have been an effort but remember sweat is just all your body fat crying.

Day 4: Hiiiyyyaaa lovely, briiillllliant run on the weekend. U R Ammmmmmaaaazzzing. U ok now hun?

Day 5: Good morning Rob. May I compliment you on your sterling display of intestinal fortitude and mental resilience at last weekends race. I hope to see a further display of these traits at ALL your races going forward.

Day 6: Hey awesome effort dude, great race at the weekend. I knew from the start that you were going to crush it. You got this man!

Day 7: Morning Rob. Running for 24 hours is not just for the elite, young, gifted, athlete. You have proven anyone can do it, congratulations!

Day 8: Morning Rob. You may not be talented. You may not be the best. You work hard. You don’t give up (much). You keep going. You cross start lines. You cross finish lines. YOU ARE A RUNNER!

Day 9: Morning Rob, your third best 24 hour ever is still better than no run at all. Congratulations!

Day 10: Rob, salutations and greetings. Remember the runner you were before your race was weak compared to the one you are today.

Day 11: Rob, I admire your physical ability to withstand many miles on your feet and your mental toughness. You sir are a stable genius! Anyone who says otherwise is spreading FAKE NEWS!!!

Day 12: Morning Rob. Not everyone will understand why you get up at 5am and run before the sun, in the rain or when it’s cold. That’s ok, you’re here to live your life, not make them understand.... and also to have something to write on your blog.

Day 13: 

Rob, epic effort at the recent race. Never be afraid of being slow. Just be afraid of not trying at all.

Day 14: Good morning Rob, I was thinking about your recent run and it struck me that the miracle was not that you finished the race but you had the courage to start.

Day 15: Good morning Rob, I hope you are recovering well from your recent run. Well done on the finish, I’m glad you didn’t listen to all the doubters who said you couldn’t do it.

Day 16: Morning Rob, congratulations on your recent run. Most impressive considering a man of your size needs to take twice as many steps as other people. Well done!

Day 17: Good morning Rob, congratulations on your recent 126.8km run over 24 hours. Did you know that the 24hr world walking record is only 190km? You should definitely aim for that in the future.

Day 18: Good morning Rob. You sir have proven that you don’t need a runners body to run but you need to run to get a runners body.

Day 19: Good morning Rob, congratulations on finishing the race. Remember slow runners make fast runners look good and I’m sure they appreciated your efforts at your recent race.

Day 20: Congratulations on your third best 24 hour run of 126.8 (I assume you meant miles not km). Very well done!

Day 21: Good morning Rob, may I extend my heart felt praise for a good run. Remember, pain is temporary but your time posted on the internet lasts forever...

Day 22: Good morning Rob. Congratulations on your recent race result. Remember that finished near the back will always trump Did Not Finish which will always trump Did Not Start.

Day 23: Good morning Rob. Congratulations on your recent run, I was particularly impressed by your ability to drag out 126.8km over an entire 24 hour period. Your persistence was most admirable.

Day 24: Good morning Rob. Congratulations on your recent race. Your race strategy to start slowly and maintain a slow pace throughout the entire race showed great determination and discipline particularly when others were running much faster than you.

Day 25: Good morning Rob. Congratulations on your recent run. I was most impressed by your ability control your emotions during the race. It appears you are learning the ability to take personal responsibility for your performances. Well done, this is the first step to becoming an ok runner.

Day 26: Good morning Rob, I salute you on your recent run. The way you demonstrated your incredible navigational skills to avoid ANY bonus mileage during that race was particularly impressive.

Day 27: Good morning Rob. Awesome race man, awesome. Your ability to carry all that body fat around for 24 hours period without breaking down and comparing yourself to much thinner runners was most impressive. Kudos to you sir!

Day 28:  Good morning Rob, congratulations on your recent ultra-athlon. Your ability to stay awake and maintain a brisk walking pace for 24 hours was amazing. I am in awe of your physical and mental capabilities. Legend!

Day 29: Good morning Rob and well done on your recent run. Did you know that a body fat % of over 25% is considered clinically obese? So despite only covering 128.6km in 24 hours, if you consider the fact that you were pushing 29% body fat then I think that must be a herculaneum effort. Much respect to you sir

Day 30: Good morning Rob, well done on your recent run. It was adequate.

Bonus One: Hey Rob, I’ve just passed 126.8km into the race in 15.5 hours and it made me think how amazing it was you managed to spread that distance out across a full 24 hour period. Your mental determination to maintain a slow pace was incredible.

Bottrop 24hour Rave Report : better than washing 25kg Fosse Septique's Charcoal basket.

That went well!

A lot better than expected and I conquered my demons. More to the point I know where they come from and how to get rid of them now. 

Bottrop is less than an hour from the flat I stay in during the week so I  jumped on the trains and made my  way there.

I met an old friend Bridget Brady and a couple of her pals. Which is always nice.

 

Me and Bridget

 

Sarah & Bridget in the front, me a little bit behind

The race is a 1.2km loop around a park. Fairly flat and mostly tarmaced path. There is a well stocked refreshments tent staffed by very experienced people. 

I placed my gear just after the refreshments tent. I bought a chair with me to rest on and a couple of bags. One bag had clothes in and the other stocked with food.

Me & my gear

The clothes consisted of 

• Loads of t shirts
• Four pairs of shorts
• Undershorts( to cut down on chaffing)
• Loads of socks
• Several Warm layers
• A space blanket ( because sometimes I get very cold)
• Buffs, hats and gloves

The food consisted of

• A couple boxes of peanut butter porridge
• Rice puddings and greek yoghurt 
• Some snicker sticks
• Gels and tailwind 

The race started at 11am which I think is a good time. Those that start later mean you have longer to go after sunrises on the second day. As I wrote in the pre race blog I was determined to keep my head straight. Ian Hopkins my running pal in Germany was convinced that it was to do with the gels so I wanted to stay off them.

I coated my under carridge in vaseline and resolved to renew that very hour. The first couple of hours went well in the heat .  I was taking proper five minute walking breaks every 30 mins. I would eat a bit of peanut butter porridge each 30 minutes. I changed my shirt every three hours shorts & socks every six hours 

The timings I have are

18km in twos hours

33km four and a rice pudding

40km in five

47km in six and a complete kit change and a Greek yoghurt.

68km in nine and then eased off to keep my head straight 

100km  in 18! wow that was slow

 

Then my time keeping and note taking went a bit off. I was focusing on my four pebble breathing meditation. 

I also enjoyed myself chatting to people I know. One guy recognized me from my Spartathlon finish and said they used me as an example.

" You went back four times and finally finished it in your fifties" 

Which was nice. Another guy,  one of the official timers,  recognized me from TorTourdeRuhr from 2014 as he leant me  his phone so that I could quit.  This time  I was determined not to.

I know I  took a couple of half hour breaks overnight and walked a lot. An awful lot. I bored poor Sarah with my incessant chatter.

Some time around four am I was eating some peanut butter porridge and chucked it back up. This didn't upset me at all and I kept my head straight. I just walked back to my kit, sat down, brushed my teeth and took some mouthwash. Then I got up and kept going.

Zebra thinking!

I was mainly eating TUC biscuits and brezels. No gels at all. 

I liked that I continued to the end and covered just over 126 km in the 24 hours. So a rubbish distance to be expected as I am very heavy at nearly 80 kgs. 

I  felt really  good in the last few hours. So much so that I worked out with a bit of effort I could get my third best distance for a 24hour. Which I just went and did.

Very happy as you see from the medal picture. 

Lessons learned

• The biggest was that I can keep my head straight by staying off the gels
• Vaseline and lots of it stops chaffing
• just keeping going and mediating

I am now looking at another 24hour to get that pesky Spartathlon qualifier.  

Thanks to those that have inspired me ( Mark , Fish,  Jo & Nicky) and those that have cajoled me, you know who you are and what you are. But most of all to those that have supported me especially my wife and sister.

  

Bottrop 24 hour pre race preparation

I have taken a while to  update this blog.  I was going to add something about the lesson learned at the last 24hour,  then I really got  a writers block. Unlike at the 100km in Wuppertal where I broke through the mental barrier and completed, I failed to do this at the Stadtoldendorf 24hour. Ian Hopkins, who crewed me there, denied me sugary gels with the hope of making me have a small sugar crash early on and then recovering.  This was opposed to having a big unrecoverable one later on.This appeared to work  but then I had a serious case of chaffing.

This time I have bought some long trucks to go under the shorts and three tubs of vaseline to reduce the chaffing :-)

I will not wear a watch as this has a negative affect as I constantly look at it, wasting time and recalcuating the pace.  The aim is to just run for 25 minutes and then walk for 5 and repeat 48 times.

Frankly I just want to run for 24hours and be there at 11:00am Sunday.  If I reach 180KM that would be a bonus. This is only an average of  8 mins/km. Any other higher targets are just too much at them moment.  I want to break the mental barrier and complete the race on my own. 

In terms of a food plan I will have:

• Peanut Oat bars every 30mins
• Water per odd hour
• Tailwind per even hour
• Rice pudding or greek yoghurt every three hours

The weather is forcast to be  good.  No rain, sunny on Saturday with a high of 28° and low of 17°. Sunday is similar with just a little more cloud. . 

I need to remember that I may feel bad, but after 30 minutes everything will be  ok.

I just need to feed, rest and go again.  I have bought a chair to rest on. 
I may call Call Chrissy when I am feeling bad for encouragement.

• Every three hours I will change my shirt and add vaseline.
• Every six hours I will change shorts and socks.
• I have Caffeine gels and pills and music for overnight.
• I have lots of warm clothes including a space banklet.
• For those little uplifts I can brush my teeth or change shades/hats and I can also take extras from checkpoint.

For motivation I have three bands for the people I know who can't run any longer and I have my magic book  with the WAW plus other notes.

This is going to work because I am well prepared for running, my core is stronger, my food is better and I am mentally tougher than before.

The link to live results for during the race is below

https://my.raceresult.com/113583/participants?lang=en

Getting there

A week after the hundred km I fan in out local race, the Obernhain 10km. It was bucketing down at the start. I managed to get a third place in my age class. I put this down to it being very wet so not a lot of people did it.

This last week I ran 20 on Tuesday with Fatih. That was very tiring.

On  Sunday I 30km on a 450m loop. So at least 66 laps getting ready for the 24 on 22 June.

I kept up the weekday fast and furious Insanity sessions as well.

So getting there.

I am going add a stairs session and a swim in the morning  this week.

At bloody last.

Well I have completed an ultra. 100km done, that is the furthest I have run since this time last year. I knew I was woefully unfit and heavy, so a decent time was never on the cards. The only target I set myself was to finish. and finish I did in 12:25...bloody slow, but a finish is finish. 

The WHEW100 is a very nice course. Pretty much all asphalt all the way. It drops for the first forty km to the Ruhr, then you do twenty odd kms along the river, then a climb to ninety five and a slope to the finish.

The organization is second to to none. Race director Guido Gullenkamp and the team put in a very good race with 12 well stocked well run refreshment points.

I did my usual prepared labeled 75ml bottles with a scoop of  Tailwind and two gels fixed on with a rubber band. Not sure if that is actually enough. Two gels is around 50g of carbs and the scoop of Tailwind is another 10-15. Given my weight at around 78kg that's at least 10grams short, if I was taking only  an hour between refreshment points. Although these were on average eight kms apart there was no way I was going that fast.

 

The first sixty km I did at an average of 6:30mins a km then I had a toilet break and dropped to an average of 8:00mins a km only increasing slightly as the last ten kms came into sight. After 60kms I was alone on the course and bored. Extremely bored. Five hours of very slow running. Only my new JBL Endurance Dive headphones pre loaded with Patti Smith, Sisters of Mercy, Gang of Four, GoldFrapp  and many others stopped me going out of my mind. I didn't try and calculate finishing times or worry about any of that shite. I just adopted a routine of RFM and overtook loads of walking people in the last 20kms. I really don't see the point of walking when you can run with a little more effort.

 

It was worth it, I got a nice medal.  A nice t shirt,  which I will wear at next weeks Obernhain 10km. But most of all a lovely text from Chrissy saying how proud she was that I stuck it out despite being so slow.