The final countdown: Endurance Life marathon

The final box to tick in terms of training for the Marathon des Sables was to run a hard, hilly, hot marathon with the full 10kg bag. This ended up being the Endurance Life marathon held around Seven Sisters and Beachy Head (no I didn’t have any second thoughts…), in Eastbourne.

Bizarrely I wasn’t nervous at all which is quite unusual for me. I think this was because I knew it was a training run, and I was also very aware that this would be a walk in the park compared to the looming race ahead.

It also was a bit of a treat – I was getting out of London to a beautiful part of England, the sun was shining and I had plenty of food supplies on my back to keep me going :-)

The race started as it meant to go along. Hills. I tried running up them all but gave up.

Not really. I reckon if I was just doing this as my big race I would have given it my all. I very much doubt I could have run up all of them – around Seven Sisters was a killer – but my strategy for the race was to finish it feeling good and confident I could get up and do it again. And again. And again. And again. And again. And again.

So I walked up the hills and shuffled the rest.

Most of the race was filled with very nice people. However my spirits were dampened a little by some dude doing the 10k who told me to “come on!” up a hill. It actually really bothered me. I started getting upset that I was really slow (all my other team mates finished at least half an hour ahead of me) and that I wouldn’t finish Marathon des Sables.

Stupidly I didn’t reason with myself that a) I was running a marathon and b) I was carrying 10kg c) it was hot, and that I had every right to be slow.

The other 99% of runners were wonderful, and why I like being part of this community. I chatted with a few runners along the way about what they were doing and their journey there. I had claps and shouts of encouragement from others, which really helped lift my spirits.
Overall I felt fine niggle and injury wise throughout the race. However I did feel a bit nauseous at various points. I’m not sure if this was down to the heat (gawd help me! Was only about 22 degrees I reckon) or my shiny, new prescription sunglasses. I had a couple of chafing marks around my left shoulder and left hip, and my shoulders were a bit sore. I also, worryingly, developed a blister after about 6 miles. I never get blisters! Argh! Why now?

So the lessons I learnt from this final preparation run for Marathon des Sables were this:-
1) Sort your bag out before you run. I hadn’t secured my side straps – hence the chafing. I ran with one side much lower than the other the entire race!
2) Check your water bottles don’t leak and you can access them easily. I’ve got Raidlight bottles and they were pretty useless – leaking sticky electrolyte drink everywhere.
3) Taping is key! Tape your feet before you race. Get used to taping. Don’t tape after the blister has developed.
4) Prepare a playlist of a different mix of songs. Running for hours and hours is a little boring at times. Music helps you through the dark bits, though 6 hours of trance music is not the best!
5) Packing your bag is a military operation. Know where everything is and pack in order of when you will need things. Keep vital equipment to hand.
6) Work out a hydration and food strategy. I’m going with 150ml of fluid every 15 minutes. That’s just under a large Raidlight bottle an hour. I’m also going to eat every hour or so – small, but regular.

Amersham marathon

Last Saturday I ran the Amersham marathon. What’s this I hear you cry? Well, it’s a fantastic informal “race” organised by a friend who is also running marathon des sables this year.

The Amersham marathon has been going for five years now and basically involves about 20 or so people who follow the organiser and complete a marathon in the beautiful Chess Valley, on the edge of the Chilterns.

People can choose to run the full marathon, join in at the half way point to run the half marathon, or with 10k to go. This year five of us ran the full distance (which actually ended up being 28 miles according to the Garmin) and then we were joined by another three at halfway.

All in all it was a brilliant run. It started early doors at 7am to ensure we finished by lunch time (v. Important) and mainly followed the Chiltern Way, through glorious rolling farmland and woods. Pretty much all of the route was offroad. At this time of year it was m.u.d.d.y – which was great for me, as it gave me a chance to run in difficult conditions, AND with hills.

My tactic for the race was to keep the PMA going throughout, as I’ve been having trouble of late with having negative doomlike thoughts, “can’t do it, I’m bored, my knee hurts”, those sorts of thoughts – sure you’re familiar with those old chestnuts if you run!

Anyway because I was running with 4 others, all male, I thought I can’t whinge. I have to be on my best behaviour, so I kept any bad thoughts wrapped away...and it worked!

My other tactic to help to keep the demons at bay was to break down the race beforehand, so I worked on a 10/10/7 split, again which worked really well. The lovely Karen Weir also suggested splitting races up into time periods, rather than miles, which I will try next Saturday at the “Country to Capital” race. This means rather than focusing upon how many more miles to go, you focus upon doing 40 minutes, then reward yourself with a short break (and also in my case some food), and carry on and so on.

What I am now experiencing frequently on long runs is that I find the second half easier. This was also the case with the Amersham marathon. I’m hoping this is 1) because mentally I know I’m past the half way point, so the race is easier to deal with and 2) because my body is hopefully getting used to the endurance side of things.

It’s fairly reassuring to know this. I feel I can cope okay with around 30 miles now. So I have the “horizontal” aspect of endurance down, I just need to work on the “vertical” side of it – being able to get up day after day and run for a long old time!

The Amersham marathon also reconfirmed one of the things I love about running. Most other runners are pretty decent, down to earth people. A bit of random banter with a group of like-minded people in the English countryside – what could be better?! Good times.