First things first, let me start by wishing the three of you who read this a Happy New Year. It is now approaching exactly one year since I started my ultra marathon running adventure, and thought I'd put a post on the blog outlining some of the main memories and lessons learned through the year. It's been a year of ups and downs. Successes and lessons learned when things didn't go quite to plan. Looking back on the blog from when I started 12 months ago, I marvel at some of the crazy shit I took on and put myself through. Remember that I started this year and this journey as a novice distance runner, who was well overweight and ageing rapidly. I now go into the next year even older, still overweight, but with a degree of wisdom that can only be acquired through experience... i.e. fucking a few things up along the way.
Lesson 1 - Winter trail training sucks
Mud, rain, wind, cold, snow, getting soaked through, mild-hypothermia, hosing yourself and your running shoes down, slipping over, running endlessly on what feels like the spot and getting nowhere quickly, are all part of the fun. Jan through to March in the UK. It was shit, but sweet Jesus it builds resilience. Train when it's hard and when you finally do your challenge it really does make a difference.
Lesson 2 - Time on your feet, not distance, matters most
It never matters how far you go when you train. All that matters is the time spent on your feet. Trust me when I say this, but you will not give a shit if you are putting in 8 min/km or 9 min/km when you are 25km into a very long training run. What helped most was spending hours on my feet. Whether running, walking or hobbling (a lot at times given my achilles and ankle issues), what made the biggest difference was the hours upon hours spent on my feet... 230 hours running this year and about 200 of those up to when I took on the Jurassic challenge in May... That, rather than the 1000+ miles of training I've run, is what built the basic ability for me to go from zero to running 84km non-stop in just 5 months. The year ahead will see me almost double that in time on my feet and distance. 2000 training miles and almost 500 running hours await me in 2022. Needless to say distance sets the target, but time moving is the focus. Get that time on feet right and the distance will take care of itself.
Lesson 3 - What you eat really matters when you get older
I'm not a small guy. I started this journey at 112kg (246Ibs) in January this year. I got to 96kg (211Ibs) by end of April. Then I added carbs. It did not go well. I'm VERY sensitive to carbs. I fucking love them! But they are the DEVIL! Shortly I will be saying goodbye to them mostly from my diet. I have to do this in order to shift the target 20kg I want to get rid of by the time September comes around. Weight makes a MASSIVE difference to how you feel after tens of thousands of steps. You cannot outrun a bad diet... I tried. It didn't work. The beauty is I know I can shift the excess. I know how, and I know it works. I'm over a stone lighter than this time last year. And that is after Christmas excess and almost a month off with a back issue. I know that carving high GI carbs out, increasing fats and oils, intermittent fasting, and getting better fat adapted ahead of a big challenge makes a big difference. I will repeat this with additional lessons learned, knowing it'll cut the pounds away.
Lesson 4 - Do the rehab work
If you've followed my blog you'll know I'm injury prone. I always have been. Even in my younger days of high level competition I'd dislocated joints, sprained ankles, torn muscles, etc. All of which came from pushing too hard too quickly... and then not doing the work to rehab after the fact. Investment in treatment, knowledge, and time to stretch, roll, pummel, exercise specific weak spots, etc has paid off. This time last year I was struggling to walk down a flight of stairs without being in pain. Fuck, some days I struggled to walk to the en-suite after getting out of bed! Today I can get out of bed AND walk down stairs without having to do it sideways. Even a day after training. That is a big fucking deal for me! It means the effort and pain in doing the work has paid off. There's still a long way to go before I can take on sprint training (which I have always loved, BTW) again, however I know I will get there. This is means a lot to me as I have ALWAYS been fast. In fact surprisingly fast for my size over 50m sprints. One that sees me still faster over short sprints than most guys half my age and 30kg lighter! It's something that shocks people to see an object with my mass moving faster than other things around it. Granted, I can't do it for long... but over the distance I can do it for, I can hold my own surprisingly well.
It hit home for me a few weeks ago when out running with my wife (who runs nearly every day, and does so much faster than me, while being half my weight). We had reached the end of our street and decided to race home... and I utterly blitzed her. A moment of old-man-glory that saw me scream past her and finish the sprint a couple of seconds ahead in front. A moment that would have seen me unable to walk properly for at least a week (not an exaggeration!) a year ago. But one that saw me fine to jog again the next day. That is HUGE progress!
This means I'm in a better starting spot than the same time last year. I weigh less for a start at 104kg; and my injuries to my ankle/leg are so much better now, meaning I can train more effectively. If I can hit 85kg by the time I run 300km in September 2022, I'll be in very good shape indeed. And this leads me into lesson 4...
Lesson 5 - Knowing it's possible
This time last year I thought I could run an ultra. And I did. This time last year I thought I could run 100km, and I almost did, with a nasty toe problem being the only reason I didn't finish (I ran 84km). I had it in my legs. I am certain of this.
Now, one year on, I absolutely KNOW I can do this. I have the roadmap. I'm fitter and lighter than when I started. I have learned a huge amount, and I have way loess long term injury issues. I know that it is possible for me to run 100km in under 24hrs; and to run 300km with 6x back-to-back 50k ultras.
This changes things considerably. It means I have a plan I can trust, along with lessons to guard me against problems I encountered earlier in the year, and that came up when I tackled the Jurassic 100. That means the plan is good. All I need to do is simply put the work in, execute the plan, and I will achieve what I set out to.
I have both the gift of time and knowledge of what works for me, which I didn't have previously. Before I had a good plan, but it wasn't tested. Now I have results that prove the plan is good. This gives me huge confidence in my targets. Before I had a target of weight to lose, and a plethora of injury problems which had dogged me for a decade that part of me didn't know for sure I could overcome. But now I have the confidence my weight will come off. Confidence that I will have the distance in my legs at the point I need it. Confidence in my mindset to tackle and workaround problems that come up; and the confidence that my body can cope with what I am going to ask of it, rather than fall apart along the way. This is a game changer and one, experienced runners can often take for granted. I may be approaching 50 at speed. I may be one of the heaviest runners to toe the start line of an ultra marathon. I may be slower over long distances than may seasoned park runners and half marathon guys... but fuck, now I know that I can outlast most western-world humans on their feet while moving across some of the most challenging trail routes in the UK... and that feels really fucking good. It gives me a significant advantage in those darker moments when the demons and doubts pop up when you don't feel so hot and the pain sets in.
Lesson 6 - Gratitude for what matters most of all
This Christmas I was reminded what is most important in all of this... The people I love. I am blessed to have a family that supports me, loves me, and is backing me in this journey. At the start I think they thought I was mad. By the time I took on the 100k challenge they knew i was not.
They've been there through my whining about eating salad for months at a time, through to the teeth-sucking I was doing with every step I took after my weekly long run. My wife heard me moan the most about the pain and her patience is immense with me. My kids have had less time with me, as much spare time I have is taken up with running, stretching or researching. and I cannot express how grateful I am to all of them for their support and patience. This coming year will be an immense drain on my time and energy. Which means it is also a drain on theirs and I love them dearly for their support. I'm lucky to have it.
This Christmas this was brought into sharp focus for me due to my friend's wife being given the worst news. That, after having lost a lung to cancer, it is now returned. Heartbreaking for me, but devastating for them. Friends of the same age, with children the same age. A family now fighting for a future together, with an entire deck stacked against them. It's just fucking unfair.
My friend is one of the people I've gotten into this whole journey with. He was there at my first ultra walk. He was there with me when I ran my first and my second ultra-marathon this year. To hear this hurts my heart as they have so much life and love to give. My chosen charity is Cancer Research UK for a reason, and news like this is one of those reasons. I am so very grateful for those who are behind me. My wife. My friend's wife. My friends. My colleagues. My family. Those who have had to fight cancer with everything they have. Now, I am behind them. Running for them as well as me. Running in solidarity that the fight goes on and to keep going until you can't. Supporting those where quitting isn't an option, and to raise money to support research that one day will eliminate this cruel disease.
For those who wish to support this cause please check out ,y just-giving page:
Thank you, and Happy New year xx
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