Snacks and Drugs and a Rotten Cold

It is raining. It is cold. And it is windy. I am twelve miles in to a long run and I am standing at the side of the road as cars and lorries race by, their draught blowing even more wind and rain in my face. I am eating. A sausage roll. A cold one. And I am thinking to myself, “well this is a scenario I never foresaw when I took up this running lark”.

But this is where I am. This is the reality of ultra marathon training. But why a sausage roll? Isn’t endurance training all about gels, energy bars and electrolyte drinks? Well it is. And for my previous marathons this has been how I have fueled. But for the ultra, which is thirty three miles (more than 50km), there is a real prospect that I will be out on the course for six hours or more, so I think I need more than what I have been eating for the marathons. And I need something to counterbalance the rest of the stuff which is pretty sweet.

“it tasted great”

To that end, I asked some people who have done ultra events before what they would recommend. Now none of them suggested a sausage roll to be fair – salted, boiled, and salted, roasted, potatoes were a popular recommendation - but what they did say was to have something that you really like. Something where, even if you did not particularly fancy having, you would wolf it down like your life depended on it. I am partial to a sausage roll – hot ones mostly to be fair – so when I was considering my options this was the decision I made. And it tasted great.

It was maybe a bit chewier than I would have liked, but it hit the spot. I didn’t eat all of it in one go, just a couple of bites to keep me going. And I am still taking my gels and energy bars too, but at least this gives me another option. I am also going to further experiment next week with a fruit scone. How nuts is this?

“wind things down a bit”

Distance wise, it is truly nuts, but one thing did this week – long run apart and we will come back to that – was to wind things right down. With my cold still lingering around and little prospect of the cough I have had since New Year shifting, I got some advice from a friend to scale things back, concerned that I was pushing myself so hard, while being ill, that I ran the risk of making things worse by continuing to try and train as if I was fully fit. It was good advice.

This week I only ran once – the five mile group at my local Jogscotland club – and that was it. I was planning to go out again on Thursday, but other things got in the way and while I could have chosen to run, I decided against it. Then when it came to my long run, I made a decision to really slow things down. Too often on my long runs I have been completely shattered by the end. And I mean completely. This time I wanted to try and finish the run and at least feel that I had something still left in the tank.

“I do not expect to run all of it”

Going back to what I mentioned earlier about the prospect of being on the course for six hours and maybe more, the reality of the ultra is that I do not expect to run all of it anyway, there will be some parts where I will walk, so for this week’s long run I was focusing as much on time on my feet as anything else.

Going out too hard is a mistake I think every runner makes at one time or another. The longer the distance, the bigger the mistake and the more you pay for it later on. It is one thing to go out too fast in a 5km race, but it is something else completely when you go out too fast on a very long distance. The harder out you go, the more time there is for you to have to pay that back.

“my head felt clear”

Another reason for taking things easier is the ongoing battle with the cough and cold. This week I decided to attack it a bit more with vitamin C and regularly using cold and flu tablets over a period of days leading up to the run. This was to try and at least clear my nose and give my body a bit of a break from the blocked up head and hacking cough. It seemed to work, as I had a couple of days where, in the evening at least, my head felt clear. I am never a fan of taking drugs but I am a bit at the end of my tether with this thing now.

It was miserable when I set out on the run just after 6am. Wind coming straight off the sea from the east blowing in bursts of rain when went off and on for most of the duration of the run. I set out to run at around eleven minute mile pace, as I said, I wanted to try something different and comfortable. That became clear to me when I stopped at around six miles to have something to eat and I noticed how relaxed my breathing was.

“hanging on for grim death”

As the run progressed, of course, the effort increased and things became harder but over the past month I have been making noticeable progress. It was not that long ago where I set out to run a half marathon distance and was done in by eight miles. Then when I went to run fifteen miles and was shattered by eleven. Then to do seventeen and was done in by fifteen. And then last week where I set out to do twenty and felt like I was hanging on for grim death by the time I got to seventeen. Every run has seen that really tough stage happen later. Endurance running is about enduring things – the clue is in the name – but by persevering and adding the distance gradually, it does become, if not easier, then at least a bit more comfortable.

This time round, I met my friend Maxine when I was at around sixteen and a half miles and was aiming to get to twenty two miles and four hours of running. Eleven minute miles is roughly five and half miles an hour. The last few times when I have met her, the closing miles of my run have seen me stopping quite a bit, walking in parts, and unable to have a conversation. Yesterday, I only walked once, up a short, steep slope, and we had one stop to have a drink and a bite to eat. It is all about progress.

“two crazy runners”

We ran a looped route, the second half back up a steady slope which I managed and as we got back to where her car was parked – in a supermarket car park – I was only a few minutes shy of four hours and about half a mile shy of twenty two miles. So now I would like to formally apologize to anyone parking in the Tesco car park yesterday who saw two crazy runners running loops around it. I got to four hours running. I got to twenty two miles.

And then I went home and ate and drank lots. And then I went out with my wife into town and ate and drank lots there too. The end of one run is the start of the recovery for the next one.

I know my training has not been ideal. This should be the period where I am doing serious mileage throughout the week, in addition to the weekend long runs, but life has just got in the way. It is what it is. Again it is another week of hoping the cold will finally clear off as next weekend I have another big run to get through. After that it will be winding down the mileage to prepare for the ultra event. There are only four weeks to go.