Western States 100

Well here we are again, it's the day before the big one. I'm now registered, checked in and pretty much all set. Conditions look almost too good to be true - record low temperatures forecast for race day tomorrow, no snow and plenty of great singletrack to get stuck into. Happy days.

Following the race is probably best done via several different 'feeds':

Twitter: #WS100
Facebook: there should be updates posted directly to my page
iRunFar: live feed
Western States Webcast: the official webcast!

In reality, you will probably need to piece together information from all four sources to get a decent picture. Don't forget it's pretty wild out there on the course, not the easiest place to provide modern standard comms.

The race starts at 5am US west coast time, 1pm GMT (Saturday 23rd June).

Enjoy. I certainly intend to....

Running Fitness article: Mind Matters (1)

For the last year or so I've been working with sports mindset coach, Kylie Roberts, and we've just written the first in a series of three articles for Running Fitness magazine on training your mind for long distance running. This isn't specifically geared towards ultras, but it's fair to say that the longer the distance involved, the more the mind comes into play. Hopefully runners of all different abilities will find it helpful. The article can be found here.

The goal setting template referenced in the article can be found here.

The North Face 105, Blue Mountains, Australia

Saturday's race was, well, errrrrr, pretty eventful to say the least. Disappointing, unfortunate, darn unlucky - all those sorts of words come to mind. I ran fairly conservatively for the first leg through to CP1. I figured that was the sensible approach given I had only raced three weeks beforehand, I had travelled half way round the world to get to the race with limited time to deal with the jet lag, and it's kinda my style anyway. On the fast fire road out of CP1 I was really feeling good and starting to settle in and find a good pace. I was running with a young guy, Ben from Brisbane, and we pulled each other along nicely. At the ladders and single track descent off the end of Narrow Neck we were starting to pick guys off and move through the field towards the leaders - the first of many casualities from the fast pace early on.

But that's where disaster struck. A chain of 5 or 6 runners - including me - all running within sight of each other, completely missed a turn off down to CP 2, Dunphy's Camp. The course markings had all been taken down - no arrows, crosses, pink tape or anything else which had been used so thoroughly elsewhere. It turns out the vandals had been out and cleared a whole section of markings, and we were the first runners without course knowledge to suffer. We continued on an undulating vehicle track for quite some while before realising there was something seriously amiss. Looking at the splits, I believe it was a mistake worth over 30mins (5kms+), possibly a bit more given that I was running hard out of CP1. So I went from being within striking distance of the leaders to about 25th position at CP2, and completely out of the sharp end of the race. Gutted.

I decided to press on and finish the race to the best of my ability, and see if I could record some decent split times to at least demonstrate the sort of time I should have recorded! I was pleased with my splits from CP2 to 3, 3 to 4, 4 to 5, which were all ranked 2-4 overall. But obviously running in a time trial format without anyone to actually race, it is still hard to really compare. I hoped to claw myself back into the top 5, but I only managed to make 7th, albeit overtaking plenty of top guys who hadn't taken a detour.

The TNF100 race itself is an absolute cracker, and worthy of much more detail than this, so I will post a more detailed write up in due course, once back in the UK later this week. My Fellsman write up is also overdue - it just needs a little tidying up which I will get round to very soon.

Thanks to everyone back home for all the support.

Spring has sprung

I LOVE this time of year. There is something very special about the start of spring with the gradually warming temperatures and the countryside coming to life again after the winter lull. It’s also a dangerous time of year - I tend to get carried away and want to pack every spare moment full with plans for runs, walks, trips and whatever else I can think of. So guess what? The calendar is looking pretty stacked all of a sudden. Hey ho. Lots to look forward to.

My running is also coming back to life. An injury enforced two months off over the winter has given my legs a freshness I haven’t had for quite some time, and I’m relieved to say the niggles I had are now well in check. Phew. It’s quite amazing how quickly the body can bounce back from a period of no running. In the midst of it you feel like you may never find ‘it’ again and the negative voices in the back of your head are working overtime, but of course that’s just your mind playing around. In reality, running fitness is a long term project, and whilst the sharpness on the outside does disappear quickly, all that hard work over the years which has gone into the core of your legs, is of course still there. Thanks goodness for that.

I was hoping to run the World 100km in April which is the same day as the London Marathon on 22nd April however I’ve decided to pull the plug on that. It’s too soon, and there’s too much pavement pounding involved. Not worth the risk. My 3^rd GB vest will have to wait a bit longer. I will be ready fitness-wise, but I probably won’t have the durability in me to batter the roads for 7 or so hours. I may however sneak a shorter race in towards the end of April – I’ll hold that decision for a few weeks. I’m now targeting, with a lot of excitement, the TNF 100 in the Blue Mountains of Australia on 19^th May. I’ve never travelled down under before, so I’ll be excited to be a tourist and see some of the sights of the Sydney and Blue Mountains area, as well as the prospect of some great racing of course.

Training wise, for me March is all about building some base. As Twitter will tell you I’ve been swimming daily during my injury spell and, rather worryingly, I’ve been enjoying it. I couldn’t have written the script for that one. But I’ve now decided to try to keep it up even as my running mileage increases as it seems to loosen my legs and joints out remarkably well, which will hopefully help to maintain the durability and overall strength when I really start to crank the running up in April. I’ve run a great mixture of distances from 5 miles to 40 miles over the last couple of weeks and I will keep up the variety for motivation, interest and as a good overall balance. I’ll also do the weekly Bournemouth AC marathon sessions which are seriously good workouts, albeit on the flat. In April I will step up the sessions and work at threshold a lot more with a view to being ‘fit’ for early May. My fitness for the TNF 100 should flow nicely into Western States where I’m going for my 3^rd finish. I can’t wait.

So despite a challenging start to the year, it’s all heading in the right direction :o)

My athlete bio

The Camp 4 Collective, directed by superstar outdoors photographer Tim Kemple, has just finished this great video piece for The North Face. When I saw the video for the first time I was pretty much blown away by how well they had capture my sentiments for trail running.  It goes deep!

It's quite scary the amount of time on location and in the editing room that goes into something like this, but I'm sure you'll agree it was worth all the effort.

Nice Curves

As an ultra runner with a day job in construction project management, the combination of architecture and competitive athletic sport tends to get me pretty excited. Last Saturday I was fortunate to have the opportunity to go along to the UCI Track Cycling World Cup at the incredible new Olympic veledrome in East London, designed by Hopkins Architects. As both the first event to take place in the Olympic veledrome and having official Cycling World Cup status with medals up for grabs, it had a lot of meaning.

Typically, when I attend big sporting events such as a rugby test match at Twickenham, I get excited, but not that excited. Going along to watch this event and seeing the Olympic Park for the first time had me going like a kid a Christmas. Arriving at the Olympic Park for the first time I was impressed at how 'together' it’s all looking. The venues are all now complete providing plenty of time to fine tune everything over the final few months through a carefully planned series of test events. Those involved in the construction industry will know just how important this stage is in getting it absolutely right when it counts – and it’s not a process that should be rushed. Full marks to LOCOG here.

The Olympic Stadium at sunset, with the Aquatics Centre in the foreground

In reading the instructions to get to the event, I was slightly disappointed to learn that arriving at Stratford tube station (for the Olympic Park) would bring you out in yet another colossal Westfield shopping centre, but I was actually pleasantly surprised by its design, feel and layout. It’s not really your typical all-under-one-roof shopping centre, but like more a well designed mini city centre complete with hotel blocks, pedestrianised streets and lots of outdoors ‘piazza’ type spaces. The buildings do of course involve plenty of glass and shiny cladding materials, but it’s all slick looking and tasteful, and won’t date half as quickly as some of the town centre monstrosities you see going up around the UK. It’s also important to bear in mind that this ‘hub’ is pretty much essential to bring people here in the long term, providing the eating, drinking and shopping facilities visitors will need both during and after the Olympics, and will strongly help provide the legacy we promised to provide and the public desperately craves to avoid any Olympic wastage. So, whilst it does seem to rather unfortunately emphasise shopping as the UK’s favourite ‘leisure’ activity, and of course encourage people to spend money at a time when we probably shouldn’t, I do think it’s the right concept.

Despite the maze of roads, bridges, underpasses and railway tracks snaking around the various parts of the site, there really is a ‘park’ feel to the area as a whole. Well, if you ignore the towering galvanised metal security fencing running around the venues that is - hopefully these will go post-Olympics. It despertately needs to all be open in the long term. The landscaping is still very raw despite apparently vast numbers of trees and shrubs having been planted everywhere you look. It’s almost a shame there isn’t more time to allow it all to mature because I suspect in five years time it really will be transformed and come alive. But if you take a step back and think about the transformation of the site as a whole, involving a soil de-contamination process which literally meant washing the stuff, it’s almost incomprehensible. So whilst we have huge great lumps of concrete and steel dotted around in the form of the venues, equally there are miles and miles of snaking and interweaving paths, green spaces and walkways to explore, including plenty which run alongside the waterways. Nice. I can genuinely see that it will be pleasant way to spend a day – wondering around, and exploring, the London Olympic Park.

And so to the veledrome itself. Appropriately nick-named ‘the pringle’ – well in keeping with the British love affair with the not-so-good-for-you potato snack – it’s curves on the outside beautifully reflect the shape of the track within. The timber cladding wrapping the outside is smart too, helping to soften it further and mirror the timber surface to the track itself. The spectator experience is also spot on – the veledrome has a genuinely intimate feel about it despite being only 6,000 capacity - created by steeply raked seating areas and the opportunity for spectators to wonder around the generous circulation spaces and take in the track from various angles without being restricted to your seat. You can get right up close to the track’s perimeter barriers, almost within touching distance of the cyclists. It’s a great all round spectator experience.

Fish eye view of the outside of the Olympic Veledrome

And with my technical hat on, I sat there taking in the make-up of the structure. The roof is cleverly supported on a web of steel cables making it efficient, clean and most importantly, curved. The concrete structure is beautifully finished so it can be exposed and shown off in many places – not so easy to achieve if you know the ins and outs of the construction process. And the air conditioning nozzles are cleverly coordinated and detailed into the exposed concrete fronts to the seating structure, demonstrating some smart engineering detailing. 

The cladding wrap - close up

When you look at the quality of the end product, you consider the extreme technical performance requirements of the building, the fact that it had to be delivered to a fairly modest budget (ok, it did cost quite a bit) and that time was of the essence, this is a very, very impressive building. Full marks to the design and construction team.

And, as you will have seen from the news, the performance of the British team was also mighty impressive. Plenty of medals all round, with the British cyclists visibily responding to the ‘wall of sound’ the spectators generated as they powered their way round the track. Having never seen a track cycling championship event in the flesh before, the speed, skill, acceleration and power of the athletes was simply incredible. The fastest lap was recorded by Sir Chris Hoy – under 10 seconds for 250 metres – mind boggling. It was also extremely insightful to watch the British team go about their business in the centre of the track. A pair of binoculars helped – but the teams are all based on show – so you get to see everything from the warm up and mental preparations, to the racing itself. It really adds to the spectacle and the experience. As a team what was really obvious was how well drilled and organised they were. Little was said to each other, they all had a job to do, and they went about it meticulously. They are a very successful and experienced team, so what I saw probably wasn’t all that surprising, but there is certainly a lot to be said for good management and a highly professional approach.  

The British girls do battle in the head-to-head sprint

I came away from the day feeling inspired, impressed and very excited about the London 2012 Olympics ahead. If the other venues and events get close to what I experienced, it’s going to be a very special Games indeed. It did however stir up a feeling of disappointment as I haven’t been lucky enough to secure any tickets for the actual Games. So aside from the marathon and triathlon which I will watch from the open streets, my Olympic experience will be limited to the television in my front room. 

Having said that, I suspect my experience on Saturday may not be surpassed, even by the Olympics. One of the reasons that Saturday’s atmosphere was so electric was that the venue was visibly packed full of cycling enthusiasts. Everyone understood the events, how it all works (and the way the track cycling events work is not always straight forward) and responded with enthusiastic support accordingly. Being slightly sceptical, I’m not sure the same will be said for the Olympic cycling events. From the statistics I’ve seen about the high proportion of Olympic tickets which have gone to the ‘sponsors’, I fear the prawn sandwich brigade may be in town, in which case the atmosphere will undoubtedly suffer. And given the quality of the venue, that would be nothing less than a tragic waste…..

2011 in pictures & 2012 look ahead

Like last year, I thought I would put together a few snaps from the year gone by to try and tell a bit of the story. It's the time of year to reflect on how the preceeding year went, and think about the changes which can be made to improve things for the coming year. I've certainly done plenty of reflecting over the past couple of weeks and I would say in summary it was a rather average season by my standards, but I won't bore you with the detail of that here. Anyway, here are a few of my favourite photos.

In terms of plans for the year ahead, my season will once again be based around Western States and UTMB, for which I have already secured places for both. They are, hands down, my favourite races, and motivate me like no others do. Western States suits my running style and strengths almost perfectly, and I still feel there is plenty of room for improvement, even taking into the account the 'fast' nature of the 2011 snow course. And UTMB always draws me back year after year, as a race which tests your inner strength and mental resolve considerably more than any others.

In addition to these two, I am hoping to qualify to run for Great Britain in the World 100km Championships in April, Italy. For the first time in a few years the timing and location both work well for me and I've re-discovered a bit of my road running mojo of late. I'm also fascinated to see whether I can go quicker than my 6h 58m PB of 2009 set in Galway. Of course there's only one way to find out.

There will hopefully be other races too, with a bit of luck starting with The North Face Trans Gran Canaria race at the beginning of March, but that's dependent upon me successfully shaking off an ankle niggle which has been troubling me since the The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 miler last month. It's nothing too serious, but certainly worth attending to properly at this relatively quiet time in the season. I suspect some time off running will do me a huge amount of good, and in reality forced rest is the only way that could happen. Did I just say rest? Well not really. I mean, rest from running. I'm keeping myself fit by cross training - hiking, swimming and gym work - all good stuff to build the core strength over the winter.

Anyway, we shall see how it all pans out, but needless to say it's going to be another exciting and fiercly competitive season in the ultra world.