No Goal Only A Dream

Transgrancanaria is a race a I’d fancied having a look at since watching some coverage last year, the scenery looked amazing, the weather was warm and it looked like a good day.  So back in January I completed the medical forms and signed up for the race, put it to the back of my mind and concentrated on my next block of ‘marathon’ training.  It wasn’t until the middle of February when I started to check out the course profile and previous times that I realised this was slightly more challenging than I’d realised, if I’m honest I hadn’t given the distance or elevation any thought!

125km and 8,000m of climbing, bang in the middle of marathon training when I’m trying to get these little legs of mine to move a bit quicker is probably not the best preparation.  Throw in the fact that living in the middle of England I’m a bit of a ‘flatlander’ doing all my training on flat tarmac at this time of year, most would say that’s not the best way to build up for the event.

Despite my lack of attention to the detail it did present lots of opportunities, a family holiday in the sun, a great day out in the mountains, some much needed ‘race’ experience and the chance to line up against the ‘big boys and girls’ at an Ultra-Trail World Tour Series event.  It would of course also help from a training perspective with some of the longer events planned for later in the year but possibly knacker my Spring marathon legs, time will tell!

The course traverses its way through the mountains from one end of the island to the other starting out in the small town of Agaete and finishing in the popular resort of Maspalomas.  The race kicked off at 11pm on the Friday night, a grand start with live music to get the adrenaline pumping and the elite runners having their own cordoned off start area.  Not your usual turn up in a muddy field and off you go start that I’m used to in the UK.

The first 10k gave me a taste of what was to come, 1400m straight up, mostly on rock.  I took a moment half way up to look back down the mountain at the other 800 or so head torches lining the trail for as far as you could see, I never get tired of that sight during these night time events.  Avoiding runners’ flying poles (you should have a licence to use those things) I made good progress and reached the first check point in 1:19 (52^nd) roughly where I thought I’d be.  Game on, this is going to be awesome.  

A quick stop to refill the water bottles and I was off into the 8km descent before the next 1200m climb.  Well this is where I got taught a lesson, what felt like hundreds of runners passed me. On every descent the Elite ‘mountain goats’ literally skipped passed me as I resembled something like Bambi trying to keep up with them on the technical terrain. 

A couple of tumbles, including one a little too close for comfort alongside a pretty steep drop, I decided to back off and run to my ability rather than risk being carried off the mountain in a helicopter!  I ran alongside Nuria Picas for half an hour or so. What an amazing athlete, completely focused on the task in hand and moving effortlessly.  Needless to say this was short lived and she left me for dust along a technical section, I later learned she retired through injury, maybe I was pushing the pace too hard for her!

The rest of the night was pretty miserable, as more runners passed me on anything technical I became grumpy, made an awful decision not to refill my water bottles at the next aid station (so I could make up ground on those who had passed me) the next one was an hour away, doh!  In my state of meltdown I missed a couple of gels too which this early on into a 20 odd hour race is not particularly helpful.  I made a conscious decision to take my time at the next aid station, get some food and Coke inside me, reset and head off again. 

By the time I reached Artenara in 4:54 (84^th) I was cold and ready to throw in the towel, I got even colder sitting around as the wind came in and temperatures plummeted.  I left the aid station a shivering wreck and had to stop again to fumble around with my pack to get my jacket on to try and keep the wind out. Such an amateur, anyone with any sense would have done that in the aid station.  The next couple of hours were spent just putting one foot in front of the other willing it to get light with the hope that would re-energise me.

Sunrise came as I was leaving Teror where I arrived in 8:04 (77^th), my spirits lifted as I took my head torch off for the first time and looked forward to the day ahead.  By now the trail was becoming a little more ‘runnable’ and the views were stunning.  The early morning sun on the mountain ridges with just me and my thoughts was so peaceful, one of those moments I only truly appreciate after running through the night and experiencing the sunrise between the mountains.  I was beginning pass some of those who steamed passed me earlier in night and the next few hours were most enjoyable, I’d reasoned with myself that this wasn’t an ‘A’ race, sit back and enjoy the experience and stay in the moment, checkpoint to checkpoint.

Pico Nieves is the highest point of the route at 1930m. I reached there in 12:52 (54^th) and in good spirits having enjoyed the warmth of the morning sun and the feeling of moving much more freely than I had during the previous 8-10 hours.  I’d stocked back up with gels at the drop bag station and from here on it the course elevation would suggest it was mostly downhill to the finish. 

Downhill it mostly was apart from two nasty short but steep uphill sections that were a welcome break from the constant pounding downhill.   I was once again reminded that my descending on technical terrain was definitely not a strong point.  On anything flat or uphill I was passing people with ease but as soon as there were any steep downhill technical parts out came Bambi!  The legs by this point we’re pretty trashed and began to pay for the lack of race specific training during the last 30km.

I reached Ayagaures, the last significant aid station in 16:04 (59^th).  There was 12km to go along a rocky dried-up river bed – it wasn’t what the legs wanted and there were a few expletives being thrown around by this point.  At this stage I’d worked out I was well under my 20 hour bench mark and as consequence my mind allowed my body to slow quite significantly, shuffling the last 15km in two and half hours!

 

The last 300m takes you on a switch back past the finish line before you run down the carpet to 100s of cheering supporters waiting for their runners to come in, a truly amazing sight and well worth the effort get your backside through the race and to the finish line for.  I turned the corner to see my wife Gerry and the children screaming at me as I hobbled last few hundred metres.

A finish in 18hrs 29mins, 61st place, fourth placed Brit, behind Andy Symonds, Kim Collison and Duncan Oakes.  A fair performance considering my lack race specific training.  This was my longest race since the Autumn 100 last October, the distance and time on the feet were no problem at all which is a good sign for later in the season and the recovery since then has been encouraging too.

What I did learn was if I’m to perform to my full potential at these type of events I need to put in some race specific training, this will condition and quicken the legs but also give confidence to fly downhill rather my Bambi style approach!  I need to drink more, dehydration had an impact on my performance in the latter stages and had I been in true race mode this would have been a problem.

Having the biggest and longest mental break down in the dark has taught me heaps, it is possible to get through it and providing you stick at it you’ll be surprised at just how far in the game you still are when you come out the other side (I was convinced I was 100s of places back when in reality I was still in the top 100).  Finally ensure you do enough non-physical preparation before, how will you feel? Where do I want to be and when?  Plan for those tough periods, how much do you want it etc?  If you don’t it’s a whole lot harder, but then again I already knew that…………

I had no goal, but the dream was just to be out there enjoying a day out in the mountains.

Link to highlights video

Gear used:

Inov8 Race Ultra 270’s

Exposure Verso Head Torch - Seriously bright and with the lightweight battery pack had enough life to run for 8 hours without compromising the brightness.

Salomon S-lAB ADV SKIN3 5 SET race vest - First time I’ve used this, extremely light weight and super easy to removal gels from the stretch pockets and stow away the wrappers.

32 torq gels -  Fantastic tasting and cause me no gastric problems, apart from 10 cubes of cheese, a slice of baguette and Coke this was all the energy food I used.

S!CAPS - Sodium replacement ensures I can just survive on water and gels without having to worry about electrolyte replacement.

Montane Minimus Smock - Ever reliable, super lightweight and did the job I needed it to in keeping the wind out.  Without a jacket I wouldn’t have finished the race, I allowed myself to get too cold before I put it on.

It doesn’t always go to plan

After finishing the season so strongly last year I didn’t think I find myself sat here searching for motivation.  It’s fair to say these last 3 months have been a chore, a grind, pathetic the list could go on!

After the A100 I took some time off anything serious to let my body recover fully before I set about the next block.  Rest, easy running followed the mileage build up.  Well, a temporary change in job location during November put extra stress and hours on to my days meaning most of my plans went out of the window, which added to my grumpy runner state!  Still, I battled through taking mileage where I could some of it good some of it bad, but most of it in the dark and wet but I was at least 30% behind where I wanted to be.  In the spare time I did have over Christmas all I wanted to do was be around the mini Brookman’s and spend hours ‘helping’ build the boys lego!

I took some of my own advice and decided to look forward, not worrying about what I’d missed out on, just concentrating on what I could do here and now.  With the C2C less than three weeks away this was all I could do, I had a 30-mile day out planned on the course in early January.  This would usually get my mind back into frame and looking forward to the race.  It was an absolute bogfest, cold and hard going, which usually I would thrive on, but this just added to my misery and lack of enthusiasm for the upcoming event.  I returned from the recce knowing my heart wasn’t in this one but I did what I could (more like wanted) to get my mind set.

Race day came and I stayed in the mix for the first 15 miles or so but the combination of a minor ‘niggle’ and ‘I just don’t want this’ meant I sat back, gorged on torq gels, sang along to the iPod and jogged the last 25 miles at 8:20’s until that finish line finally appeared along that sodding canal!  I finished in 5^th place, 5:24 which was eight minutes slower than last year.  Not a performance to be repeated if I want to compete at a level I set last year.

So I’ve learnt if you don’t really want ‘it’ there is no point in trying to compete at the top end of the field when its strong, it makes you more depressed!

Time now to reflect and put things in perspective for the next week or so.  The progress I’ve made during the last 18 months has been good, a couple of wins and podium performances last year have taught me ‘how’ to race when it counts and aside from the broken ribs it’s been relatively trouble free and enjoyable. I need to build some consistency into my training, increase the mileage slightly and focus on some speed ahead of the marathon in April.  Back to basics with the strength and conditioning work, my trainer is going to seriously kick my arse when she gets her hands on me next week.

 

Next up it's Transgrancanaria which I'm really looking forward to - 125k, 8,000 meters of climbing, in the warm!  Hopefully I'll find the mojo out there somewhere.

 

 

 

Teaming up with TORQ

I've used TORQ gels for the past year during races and have found them to be some of the best both in taste and performance wise, I ran the Autumn 100 earlier this year solely on them and water with no stomach issues so they agree with me too!

Shortly after the Autumn 100 I was delighted to be approached by TORQ and asked if I'd like to join their running team for 2016.  Needless to say having been so impressed with their products I didn't hesitate to say 'yes'.  Next season is set to be an exciting one racing in TORQ colours and testing out some cool new gear from some of their associated sponsors.

Here is a link to an article they have written about me!

Autumn 100

Following the disappointment of my first ever DNF at Lakeland this year the Autumn 100 quickly became a target race in journey to find some of that fitness I had earlier in the year.  The A100 is organised by Centurion events who are some of the best at what they do.

My preparation leading into this race had been solid, a couple of key races targeted successfully, some heavier training weeks, more strength and conditioning than I had ever done although not hard considering I was doing zero this time last year and the nonphysical training was coming together nicely.

The A100 consists of 4, 25 mile spurs each returning to the village of Goring where the central checkpoint is held, runners have 28 hours to complete the distance and if you finish in under 24 hours your get the famous Centurion race buckle.

Until now the only 100 mile races I had completed where the Lakeland 100’s where the terrain requires more of a run hike approach, the A100 however is relatively flat so runnable the whole distance.  I was curious whether I could maintain the effort levels enough to run the whole thing, having recced legs 2 and 3, studied some previous race data I was sure I could.

The plan was to get into half way in 6:30 allowing 8:20 for second half, the slow down from 25 miles from the top of the pack in previous years looked pretty large and I was confident I wouldn’t need to slow this much.  I had pacers planned from 50 miles, crew to throw me drinks along the way and my nutrition plan nailed to ensure I didn’t waste time at aid stations, usually I like to browse and pick from the huge variety of goodies on offer, not this time, in and out.

Leg 1

The 24 hours before a race are always the worst for me I get nervous and come race day I just want to crack on and stop thinking about what could go wrong.  We were joined on the start line by Centurion Race Director James Elson increasing the strength of the line further.  My homework suggested I had 4-5 runners to be aware of so the addition of James added another exciting element to the mix. 

This leg is the flattest of the race and I was very conscious not to go out too hard and suffer later on, I settled into around 7:30 min mile pace and got to the 12.5 mile turn around in 1:26.  On the way back to Goring I past hundreds of runners coming in the opposite direction as they made their way out on the same leg, this gave me a boast seeing many smiling happy faces.  One quick crew stop and a non eventful few miles back into Goring in 3:02, 8 minutes ahead of schedule.

Leg 2

This leg is the toughest from a technical perspective, a long stretch through the woods and a few hills thrown in just as you start to fatigue.  I feared the this leg the most, my recce of this a couple of weeks earlier sucked and I was aware I’d probably start feeling crap at some stage along here.  Sure enough on the climb out of Goring I started to feel crap and was overtaken by a couple of runners, I told myself to hang in there, there was a long way to go and I’d allowed myself some flex to have a bad leg.  I reached the turnaround in 4:57 and headed straight back out 2 minutes behind schedule.  The demons remained for the rest of the leg but I was comforted by the fact that those ahead of me seemed to not be widening the gap and soon I would be picking my pacer.  I arrived back into Goring at the 50 mile point in 6:39, 9 minutes down on schedule.

Leg 3

I took a couple of extra minutes more than planned at Goring and walked out of the aid station with my pacer for 3 minutes before we got going again.  Something to learn from as my heart rate data shows that every time I did this my effort levels never returned to where they were pre aid station – No Walking!  The next 2.5 miles were a gentle climb onto the top of the Ridgeway, I struggled here and my pace felt slow but I continued to run and resisted the urge to walk.  By the time we were on the top of Ridgeway I felt great and we stepped on the pace, my pacing team did a great job on this section pulling me along and we put 15 minutes into third place during the next 20 miles.  Looking back this was real turning point in my race, my confidence started to grow and I gained the much needed buffer for the number of errors I was about to make on the Leg 4.  We came off the Ridgeway and back into Goring in good shape in 10:28, 4 minutes down on schedule.

Leg 4

During my research of previous times for this leg I was intrigued why everyone seemed to slow down so much, I was confident that I could go well over this section and not slow as much as others had done previously.  What I had forgotten was how during the final stages of a 100 miler your mind wanders and you make crazy decisions you normally wouldn’t.  This section of the course is the darkest and together with a tired mind it is easy to make a few navigation errors, looking at my data it appears I lost 6-8 minutes gaining bonus miles and another 5-6 taking too long and walking out of aid stations.  Despite the navigation errors and faffing around to change my head torch as it stopped working I made good progress to the turnaround point at 87.5 miles, hobbled up and down the stairs into the aid station in 12:52, 21 minutes down on schedule.  Later examination of the head torch suggests it wasn’t flat, merely I’d not turned it back on after coming out of an aid station!  

The section after the turnaround is flat and I found my legs putting in 3 miles at 8:30 pace, a good sign for the future.  I don’t remember much after this point other than repeatedly asking my crew for a split of where third place was as I was convinced he was closing me down, I wasn’t the best of company let’s put it that way!  The final few hundred yards into Goring approached quicker than I’d anticipated I could hear cheers of encouragement from supporters and I made a point of enjoying those last few yards back into the Goring Hall for the final time. I was greeted by my family, crew and pacers, an amazing feeling and so proud they had been part of my journey to get myself to both the start and finish line in such good shape.

15:06:53 for one hundred miles, 3^rd fastest on that course, 4^th fastest at any Centurion event  and one of the quickest 100 times on UK soil this year, an achievement I could only have dreamed of a few years ago.  Not bad for someone who has only been running more than three times a week for the last 2 years!  I can thoroughly recommend a Centurion event, they know what they are doing, the organisation is second to none, everyone is super friendly and supportive, sorry if I didn’t return the favor as a grumpy runner passed through the later aid stations!


Thank you to the fantastic 9 who gave up their weekend and deprived themselves of sleep to crew and pace a sweaty lad around the countryside.

A slightly cold crew Andy, Gerry & Dionne

Pacers, Andy, Conor &  Tim

Next up is a bit of time off from any structured running, an opportunity to plan the winter months and spend more time with ‘Team Brookman’.