White Peak Race Report

Ok, so I've been useless at getting this write up done. I know you expect nothing less from me though, so here goes anyway.

The week leading up to the race had been a shocker, even by my normal bad standards. Training had been real slack, I hadn't planned a taper but as it turned out I may as well have because of how little I'd done. This of course was mostly down to my stupid work hours which meant that although I hadn't trained I was still a wreck. Friday (race eve) I was up at 1am for work and when I finally left work at 4pm I still had the 3h30m drive up to my parents house in Wolverhampton. Thankfully, although I had to stop a couple of times through sheer tiredness I managed to skirt my way around all the rush hour congestion points making for a relatively easy journey.

A little snack, a bit of socialising and it was soon time to hit the sack ready for my 6am alarm call (that turned into 6:30am). The drive up to Cromford near Matlock was nice, easy and a lot quicker than I expected so I was there almost spot on 8am in time for registration to open. Then it was just a case of milling around, deciding what I was going to wear/drink/eat etc and meeting up with the podcast/twitter rabble before heading out to catch the bus to the start.

We were at Thorpe in plenty of time, there were plenty of portaloos and a van to take all out baggage back to Cromford after the start. It was when I was rummaging through my bag that I discovered my ipod and remembered that I was supposed to be taking video (ooops).

I'd decided to wear a long sleeved white UV resistant top for the race, this drew a few glances as the temperatures soared but having seen many people wearing them at hot Ironman races it was worth a try, this was an experimental race after all. The other experimental plan was the run/walk strategy shown on my video.

So the race starts and as always someone goes shooting off at the front for 400m or so, things soon settle down though and after a mile I'm heading the field. I'm not worried about this as I know I'll get passed again once I stop for a walk break. On my first walk break I lose a couple of places, but when I catch and pass the new leaders at 3 miles they opt to run with me rather than just let me go. It seems a strange move considering the conditions, I'd expect everybody to just do their own thing, but I've no worries I'm not expecting to win or even finish in the top group, my only target is a 3:00-3:30 finish.

I carry on my plan up to 10miles, there is a clear leader who has broken away while I'm sat bouncing between 2nd & 4th depending on my run/walk position. We're (supposedly) almost at the end of the 11miles of climbing, apparently from here it's flat for 11miles (yeah right). I had a new issue though, I was busting for the loo and it wasn't a simple stand up jobbie. Just before the turnaround a heavenly vision appeared, sure the water station was welcome but there was also a toilet block there. I made my excuses to the crowds and made a beeline for them (don't you just hate it when you only fart!!!). When I reappeared a couple of minutes later the feed station crew shouted to me that I'd gone from 2nd to 10th, I could live with that.

And so the race went on, I worked my way through the field until I was back solidly in 4th place with nobody passing me on my walk breaks. I could see the leaders on the long straights but I wasn't gaining on them at all............. then 18miles appeared.

At 18miles I was 4th and the 3rd place runner was a minute ahead, the leader was around a minute ahead of him. It had been like this for quite a while. Then suddenly I noticed that the leader had dropped to 2nd and then dropped to 3rd. Almost as soon as this happened the new leader dropped to 2nd and the lad who had been 3rd was now leading, but still only a minute ahead. Then suddenly everything changed as within a mile it seemed that all of the top 3 blew apart and by 19miles I found myself leading the race again, this wasn't in the plan.

I was feeling shot to bits but then I had been all race, my heartrate had constantly been around 20bpm higher than I would expect for the pace that I was running. However I was obviously in better shape than the folks around me and as I hit the 20mile point a couple of them seemed to be holding on so I decided to put an extra mile in before my walk break. Now I was in the lead and in a clear lead, it seemed crazy to imagine because I knew 3:10 was going to be a struggle but I was in with a real shout of actually winning this thing.

At 22miles a series of sharp descents started which lead you down towards the finish. On each descent I felt great, but on the flat section that followed each one my legs felt more and more tired, I was clear and out of the sight of all my competitors though it was just a case of keeping my legs turning over and the win was mine.. That was until 25miles when I looked over my shoulder and saw a runner in the distance, surely he was too far away to make a difference with little over a mile remaining. I flew down the final descent and then there was less than amile to be run along a canal before we got to the finish line. My legs could no longer cope with the flat surfaces though and my quads were verging on cramp. I tried to alter my stride and fight off the effects of cramp as taking a walk break now would surely give me chaser an incentive, it didn't walk though and suddenly they just locked up. I was forced to stop, not just walk and as I got myself moving again I was overtaken and relegated to second.

The good thing about not having any hopes or expectations from the race was that I really didn't mind being passed, it had happened, so what, the lad had obviously paced his race to perfection and he deserved it fully. I was also happy because 3rd place was nowhere in sight so I didn't have to push on and risk wrecking my legs any more to defend my position.

So that's it really. I pretty much limped over the Finish Line in 2nd place with a time of 3:11:59, my Garmin of course tells me that had I not wasted a trip to the loos at 11miles then I'd have won, but that's all hindsight. I'm happy with 2nd, it's more than I could have expected from the race so how can I possibly moan about it.

My run/walk strategy (almost) worked to perfection especially considering I was really in no shape to run a marathon. My long sleeved top worked a treat too. So onwards and upwards. The next event will be a total change, Burnham on Sea Sprint Triathlon. Wonder what joys will happen there?

White Peak Marathon.

There WILL be a proper race report soon, but things have been a bit hectic. There might even be a half decent viseo at some point. This however is purely raw footage that I took during the race taken straight from my ipod nano.......... Pure loathing of my own voice means that I haven't actually got all the way through it myself yet, so apologies if there is any swearing (I think it's clean!!)

20 weeks to Kona

Tomorrow (Saturday) I will be 140days away from Ironman Hawaii.

This is the point when I start thinking about all the important questions like, can I afford a new £4k bike? ;-) Of course the answer will as always be NO!!! At least with this being Kona there will be no new wetsuit or disc wheel thoughts as neither will be allowed.

This is also the time when many people start their training plans proper as most seem to be either 16 or 20 weeks long. For me this is normally the time that I start thinking about shelling out the cash and getting coached for the final 16 week stint. The thought will hammer around in my head for 3 weeks at which point I'll realise that the combination of my stupidly long work hours and my half soaked attitude mean it will be a total waste of money.

Tomorrow is also the day of the Matlock Marathon which I entered in a moment of madness. With my addiction to running podcasts it was too hard to resist when I found out a group of them were meeting up to do the Swift Half Marathon. Of course (as is my way) I decided that the half was too short to justify the 10hrs of travelling that will be involved, so I entered the full. Hence I'm now going to be rocking up to the start line totally unprepared and undertrained, nothing new there then.

The Marathon will be only my 3rd run over 1hr since Grizzly in March. One of them was the CaniX Half Marathon that I did with Rosie a last month and the other was a 15mile run out to Bideford last Sunday where I practiced the run/walk/run routine that I'm hoping will get me through the race.

I can't claim to do the Jeff Galloway plan but I am a big fan of run walking in longer races when it's a better option than my legs giving up the ghost with several miles to go. So far run/walk has got me a Marathon PB in Wolverhampton last year and helped me through my Kona Qualifying race in Florida. This time will be slightly different however as I'll be using it specifically because I know there's nowhere near enough miles in my legs to run all the way round.

My next post will tell you how good Matlock went, or how much I fell apart. It should be an interesting experience either way.

15mile practice run.

Cani-X Neolithic Half Marathon.

Cani-X or Cani-Cross is an event where you run with your dog. They have events scattered all around the country and even have EuropeanWorld Championships. Most of their events are only up to 5-6km but at Neolithic they do a long course Half Marathon event. As 'both' people who read this blog know I enjoy taking Rosie pup out running and she seems to enjoy running rings around me. I've also enjoyed doing the Neolithic Marathon several times, but as I've done no long runs since Grizzly and I've already got to blag my way around the White Peak Marathon on the 22nd May it seemed the perfect time to attempt our first Cani-X race.

We planned to leave home at 7am but as always we were 30mins late so after a quick blast along the A303 we shot straight past Stonehenge and headed for the race start at Charlton Clumps (both half and full Marathons are point to point). Never 'ever' have I driven anywhere so awkward to find. Unless you have an OS map there are no markings, directions or signs anywhere. The only sign at the bottom of the road we were supposed to turn off at was one saying it was a dead end!!! We got there eventually though having driven for a mile or so against the flow of traffic from the Mountain Bike event which had started earlier (sorry folks). Luckily the tracks there were plenty wide enough for us all although squeezing past the coach that came the other way was a little tight.

Finally at the race start we'd missed most of the race brief but as it was our first event we were happy when Richard took the time to come over and say Hi, check Rosie was likely to make the distance (no problems there) and just run through the basics with us. Then after a quick toilet stop (for me) it was time to hit the Start Line. Normally these races are done on a Time Trial basis with a rolling start, but with this course being so open it was easy enough to just start everyone together. The race started and immediately a Border Collie came charging through the field minus it's owner!! Lots of shouting followed as the dogs owner tried to get it back along with a little bit of swerving to avoid it and some laughter by many of us who no doubt thought it could easily have happened to one of us. Things soon settled down though and we'd just got ourselves positioned nicely near the front when just 2 minutes into the runRosie decided that it was toilet time (why can she never go BEFORE a run). Luckily I'm well aware of her toilet habits and had poo bag in hand ready and waiting for the moment. The next stroke of luck was that the course started with an out and back section and so as I ran past Shelly who was sat in the car about to drive to the Finish at Stonehenge she gained a new 'freshly bagged' passenger (not so lucky for her I guess).

We were soon back in the flow and Rosie was dragging me back up towards the front of the pack, so much so that even with the 'stop' we completed the first mile in 6:20.
The course is classed as off-road, but it's mostly on dusty tank tracks which although filled with potholes (plenty of puddles for the pup to drink out of) is pretty good under foot so you can still haul along a bit. As this is a Bank Holiday weekend the recent hot spell had taken a break just in time to leave the day cool enough for the dogs to not worry too much. There were drink stations every couple of miles and they'd all got plenty of water for the dogs to drink and cool off with. Rosie of course would rather drink out of mucky puddles so ignored every single fresh water opportunity. There was also a marshall bombing about on a quad bike checking that none of the dogs were being pushed too hard (fat chance) or suffering in any way that would make it dancgerous to continue, we can make our own minds up but dogs are loyal enough to run through all sorts of pain to keep with their owners.

Back onto the race then and we made out way back up to the front and ran alongside David Maisey and his two dog combo for the first 3.5miles. During the time we chatted and I found out that David had run London Marathon in 2:55 just 7 days ago and his wife is training for IMUK in Bolton (even dog running you find Triathletes :-D ). On one of the climbs David told me to push on ahead, we'd been averaging 6min/mile pace and with a Marathon fresh in his legs it must have been pretty tiring. From then on it was just me & the pup against the course and I just had to wonder whether any of my pre race worries would come back to smack us around the head.

Could Rosie run 13 miles on the lead? Had I got the training in my legs to keep this pace? Which one of us would explode first? Would we make Cani-X fools of ourselves by bombing off the front and then getting passed by half the field towards the end?
Thankfully there were positive answers to all of my worries. I knew the distance would be no problem for Rosie but even having to stay on the lead and run at a constant pace which she's so unaccustomed to she was strong from start to finish. There were only two real barriers to our progress (other than drink stops) one was a trail near the end which Rosie seemed uncomfortable on, it was particularly rough under foot and her paws would have been tired and tender by then. The other was 10.5miles in when Rosie decided it was time for another toilet stop. I'd managed to hide her poo bags in an unreachable pocket on my camelback (rules said we had to carry a litre+ of water) and had to remove it, dig them out, clear up after her, put the camelback back on etc etc etc. That mile ended up being our slowest by almost 90secs, a lesson to be learnt I think!!

So all in all the run was a great success, we finished in 1:23:27 which I think is the quickest man & mutt time for the race (although the course was altered) and Rosie was glad to recieve her bag of treats and her medal. After the race we chilled (literally, it was freezing cold - brrrr) and spoke to a few of the other caniX runners and organisers. I did tell them I was unlikely to do any more events because of the short distances, my Ironman training and the travelling involved ............... but, the next event is only in Exeter. If Shelly fancies another trip out to watch her pup race it might be fun, I could bike out there to get some miles in. I've seen some of the previous results and on a shorter course we'd get absolutely hammered because '''I''' simply can't run fast enough. We'll see, the closing date isn't for another week. Who knows???