Week 28 Weight 68.8 Rory DNS

This week I have got some real transaction on the plan. It is the standard Cockbain plan of 5*10km per evening  plus a Rory. The stretching is paying off and the pain in my hamstring around the sit bone is disappearing

As we had an extremely hot end to the week I did two halves over the weekend instead of a Rory

This week coming all 10km will be targeted  at sub 5:00mins/km pace.
The target schedule is
Wk 28 5:00
Wk 29 4:50
Wk 30 4:40
Wk 31 4:30
Wk 32 4:25
Wk 33 4:20
Wk 34 4:15
Wk 35 4:10
Wk 36 4:05
Wk 37 4:00

This ia very  agreesive...but we will see combined with a half a kilo a week weight loss..

I also will add a hill and interval session two mornings a week. Add in the swims on Wednesdays and Saturday  and the HIITS sessions and we will be well sorted.

Foodwise it is one meal of protein and salad per day. Only when I  do a Rory will I add gels and sis go.

Week 25 weight 72 Rory DNF

It was all going so well.
I completed  three 10km in bin bags in under 50mins. My weight was dropping

Then Friday I burnt out...I couldn't  complete 10km in a bin bag in one go. I had to stop and remove the bin bag

I  tried a Rory on Sunday with out a bin bag and felt the same again. Plus my weight  had gone up four kilos.

I  sat back thought about what I was doing  wrong and chatted to Tiny and Ugly.

The  general  conclusion  is that I was going to  hard. I was expecting to run as fast as I  had done in February  after not trained for speed for four months. The weight gain was mainly due to water and wine over the weekend.

I  had no real target other than as fast as possible, therefore I  was going lung busting fast at the start and fading rapidly.

I have  created a new plan for the runs per week.

I  set myself a target of completing all runs in under 5:10/km pace this comming week.

The week after I will  reduce that to 5:00/ km and continue with that 10second  reduction per week as the weeks go on. As it gets fast the incremental reductions will get smaller to remain achieveable.

Thus I have a concrete target to achieve each week. This is way I  am  motivated.  Small increments  per week. Not big gains.

I  will do the same on the weight. This week the target is to get under 69 kilos and maintain that over the weekend  by not changing my eating habits at the weekend.  All alcohol is out for the duration of the training

This is not going to be easy. But I need to commit to finish this race.

Week 24 Weight 69 Rory 3:48

A bit late. Sorry  Anne. Have you done that proof  ready yet?

I did my first  Rory since March. 3:48 quite happy with that after such a long lay off.
I  have  started running  regularly  and I  am hoping to have  a proper schedule sorted out in the next two weeks. There are several  key points when planning a schedule
1) Make sure it fits with work and home life.
2) Make sure it fits with  my travel.
3) Make sure not to do too much too quickly.
4)Make sure there is enough speed work in there for Sparta
5) Make sure  that the goals are set in accordance with what is achievable.

Week 23 Weight 70.3 Rory Half 1:59

I went to the Physio and he  told me  my injury is not a tear, but just short muscles.

I got a few new stretches to do and I am back running.

This week coming will be  the first of back to full training.

In the meantime take a look at the Road to Sparta Trailer 

https://vimeo.com/130293703

Week 22 weight 72 Rory DNS

A week at home and my weight has suffered.  A few too many beers and home cooking don't help.

I  managed a couple of swims and finally a run of six kilometres. On the journey  up to Dortmund  I paid for it as the stiffness in the hamstring was worse.

I really don't know  if  I should  train normally with intervals and hills, train easy or not train at all.

I  have  a physio appointment on Thursday when I can get some authorative advice.

Week 21 Weight 70 Rory DNS

The last three weeks I have been recovering from the 24 hour race.

Most of the soreness was over by the middle of the first week.

But this hamstring is still not right so I am not running. I am still doing the seven minute HIITS and a bit of swimming.

I have an appointment on 11th June with a physio.  Hopefully as that will be a month since the race it should be almost better.

I am quite pleased to have kept the weight stable around 70kg for the last three weeks. 

Nothing more to add

Week 20 Weight 69.6 Race 160km in 21:30

Having done my first twenty four hour race, my respect for the GB 24 hour has gone stratospheric. Being disciplined enough to maintain the pace they do is quite an achievement. It is so hard to do that. 

I  was  disappointed in myself, very disappointed and I am normally that way after a race for at least a week after a race. That is normal. I recover quickly  and to me that means I  don't  push myself hard enough in a race. So now that first couple weeks after the race is over and I now I have had time to properly assess my performance I can write sensible blog.

I  know the potential is there to do a lot, lot better and I am nowhere the limits of my endurance. All that is missing  is a few mental tweaks and then I will finish a race and be so completely  fucked I won't  be able to move or even think. 

Then I will have  something to be proud about.

That day is coming I know it. I learnt so much this weekend about how to adjust my performance so that the day is even closer.

My preparation went well, although  I  have  had a niggle in my hamstring since the end of February  that just won't go away.  It only starts bothering me when I run fast doing interval or tempo work.  As this race was all about pacing slowly and consistently  it didn't  bother me and it is not an excuse.

As I am a contractor, every day I take off costs me a lot of money and I  have  a lot debts to pay off so I  can ill afford it. Therefore  as the race started at 15:00 on Saturday I decided to take the train there and back. There was a train drivers strike in Germany and that meant some of the trains I planned to take were cancelled.

I  managed to get to the village of Steenbergen  via five trains, one bus and eight hours. As Neil Bryant said, I should have worn a tracker.

On arrival  I was issued with my race number and started to get changed. As I was doing this Bridget Brady arrived. I first met  Bridget at Spartathlon  in 2012. That time she had been pulled and put on the crowded death bus.  Then she had to endure a fat drunk sweaty Englishman next to her for the next six hours who didn't stop talking and had gone further than her. Poor woman.

I  was quite please that almost the first thing she commented on was how much weight I had lost in the last three years. It  is at least six kilos

We arranged our food supplies in boxes at rear of Bridget's car in the refreshment zone. I had loads of stuff. but I am still a chunky guy and need loads of food.

Self made energy bars 

Self made gel

GU Gels

Rice crackers 

Rice pudding

Yogurt

Cheese

Nuts

Chocolates

Bridget asked if I had any gels and when I pulled out the bin bag containing the 50 or gels she was a tad shocked I had so many. I love sugar and this stuff tastes no different to me.

We went off to the start where there was an MC who made announcements throughout the  race. He made a bee line for Bridget and chatted away to her.  After that every time we went by he had a few words for her. Dorty old man

The pace we started out was very slow. 6:30 per km. Maybe that was too slow.

The weather was OK. A bit blowy to start with and after a couple of hours we had a some rain for a while. Nothing to worry about  though.

Running well at the beginning

I ran with my water bottle  and sipped constantly. I hit my usual miserable stage around 45km where I question why on earth I am doing this and how rubbish I am at it. The new fat gel that I made for the race from Greek yogurt, butter and macadamia nuts worked a treat and pulled me through that first dip quite quickly. The first thing I have  noted for the future is  that I  had laid out of my food wrong.  I  had it merely dumped in a box and it was not well organised.  The next time I will prepare it better with a set order  of food for different laps like I normally do for 50km  & 100km  races.

We were slow and quite a few people lapped us early on. I  was not worried as I  knew our slow constant pace would pay off in the long run. I  said to Bridget that we would  make up loads of distance on them during the night. 

As the night drew in the organizers  laid out jam jars  with  tea lights in.  Quite  a nice touch I thought.  There was a lady called Anne Van Dalen walking bare foot in the opposite direction for most of the race encouraging  us. That was also a positive thing. I  noticed  she picked up the rubbish  the runners dropped which was very thoughtful  of  her.

We were  definitely  slowing down and around midnight Bridget took a time out in the car for a short nap of about  15 minutes. It didn't  help my speed and motivation that number of runners had dropped from 50 to at most a quarter  of that as most people snuck off for a break. I felt very sorry for myself  plodding around on my own.

I need to learn to pace myself in the middle of the night and run a  the same pace as earlier  rather than slowing  down.

At around three am I needed a dump and I  laid the biggest single cable I have done in a long while. That thing was at least a meter long and proof I was eating well. There were two portaloos on the course  and as I am used to festival toilets I was not expecting this to be a pleasant experience. However I noticed how clean the toilet was and very well stocked with toilet paper. I  wonder if it was Anne cleaning the toilets. Whoever it was I thank them very much.

After I caught up with Bridget  she said

"We are running  really slow at the moment, but I have an idea Rob'

'What's that Bridget?"

'We run fast  for two thirds of a lap, and then  power walk for the other third.'

Muggings here thought that was brilliant. And volunteered to do the running pacing. I surprise myself at my own stupidity.

5:00am Running well 

5:00am walking badly 

Don't wanna do this

This really worked on my mood and speed. When I ran with Bridget and had a job to pace us round I was fine. I really felt like I was achieving something and the pace was really good.

Left on my own while in the walking break I  drifted back to feeling sorry for myself.

After the third lap of doing this I learnt to just ignore him by distracting myself with minute examinations of my surroundings. When I  was running I had a goal and got us there. When we were  walking I didn't have a goal   and drifted back. My chimp came out to play and bug me. Really moaning about how hard it was and that I should quit. When I distracted him by looking at the surrounding countryside and raising questions, my walking tempo increased. So run walk when tired is a good strategy  during the night as long as I distract the chimp.

Be in the moment  as those hippys say.

A little later Bridget complained that our walking sections were too slow. I was rather ungentlemanly and pointed out that she was setting the walking  pace. Nevertheless I lengthened the running section per lap so that we ran nearly two kms of it and only walked in the refreshment zone.

The food was good. I didn't  feel sick and had enough to eat. It was just that it was not well organised  so it  delayed me as I  made a decision  what to eat when on almost every lap. That wasted loads of time.  Macadamia nut are top top food. Try them on your next ultra. Full of fat amd crunchy. Perfect.

As we got through the early  morning  my C goal of 160km or one hundred miles got closer and closer.  Strangely this cut my motivation  some what. About this time Bridget found out she was third lady and in with every chance of finishing  second.Now I truely  believe  goals work. Having a goal to reach really motivates me at least.

But the b of 211 was far too far away to be realistic and of any use in the race. A bit like my weight goal of dropping 10kg for the last few years and never reaching it. Now I  target half a kilo a week as it is better to target  incremental  losses per week.

Another lesson learnt is to set them closer together and closer to reality, realistic if you like. 

I reached my C goal of 100 miles and took the decision  of pulling  out  at 160km  and 21 hours 30 minutes.and pulled out to make  my way home. I  set off around 1:00pm and got back to my flat at around 10:30pm.  I will never travel by such a circuitous route again. If I do this race again I will rent acar and drive up the night before.

The next day I woke up and apart from a little stiffness I  was basically  fine. Which goes to prove that I didn't  push myself anywhere near my limits.  I  think it is an interesting problem...how to motivate when alone. I am determined to crack it.

I graphed the pace per 2.3km  lap.  I am the orange line  and Paddy Robbin's  pace on the same  course in 2013 is the lower blue line.  

Several point to note for the future. 

1) See how constant Paddy's pace was compared to mine.

2) Note how I was gradually slowing throughout the night.  

3) Note at 4:00 am the pace picks up as we run walk

4) Note how the pace drops as I approach the goal.  and motivation  to run  further goes.

The organisation was really good. Pre race I asked a couple of silly questions about getting there and got helpful detailed replies. The course was very well marked out.

Would I do the race again? Definitely. It was cheap as chips at €70. Next time!  

Could I  have  gone further  and stuck with Bridget to finish  with 180km? Of course I  could have.

In summary 

1) Drive there

2) Organize my food better

3) Employ run walk at night with distractions.