Causeway Crossing – 50k Ultramarathon

Follwing last entry I have continued to follow the 50k training plan which as stated before included two weekend long runs of 24 mile. I found these reasonably hard but glad that knowing if I could do 24 mile, then a marathon distance should be do-able and an ultra of 31 mile should be just about achieveable with a bit of effort.

I went into this causeway crossing knowing that my legs should be fresh after tapering and my only major concern was the fact that it was a trail run. Trail runs for those not familiar to the comparison to road running are different depending on the trail conditions and the elevation / gradient. To be honest I was poorly prepared for trail running with only a mere 6 miler Cavehill trail run done before this event.  With hindsight I overlooked the significance of this big time. I also overlooked the fact that my Garmin HRM footpod calibration is slightly incorrect when doing trail running too.

The run got off to a good start at 11am (at the rope bridge overspill car park shown above) with great conditions, mild weather with a light cool breeze occasionally.

The run was road, grass for the first few miles then went into the beach and rocks for a few mile after this, before the majority of the rest normal trails. Have to admit the scenery was spectacular with approx 40 participants there appeared along the route good atmosphere with plenty of smiles and occasional cheering on of each other ‘good job’ etc. I saw a few participants taking stops and regular photos taken using there phones. The causeway coast is absolutely beautiful I have to say. We started at the Carrick a reed rope bride car park and the route took us to Dunluce Castle and back.

I had 3 gels which I planned to take at 9 mile, 16 mile and final one about 25 mile to carry me through last few miles.

I was beginning to find it tough at about 12 miles according to my Garmin, but I knew that in 3 miles was the turnaround and return leg, so I knew I could rely on this to give me a bit of a lift knowing that soon I would be returning back. The only thing was at this part I couldn’t see any signs of Dunluce Castle and at one stage at the top of the ‘tourist’ causeway area rocks area, I didn’t see a turnoff sign. I ended up running the wrong way leading me to run for a mile or so before I realised I made a mistake and had to ask a few tourists for directions and got back on track. Later after this mishap I checked my Garmin again and was showing that I covered 17 miles – still with no sign of Dunluce Castle and my turnaround point! I was beginning to dismay!

My concerns were also not helped with the fact that I had used my second gel with only one left – with over half the route still to go. The only consolation to a degree was a reminder to myself was that I had dropped off my lucozade bottle at a 7 mile point into the race, so I knew that on the return journey that toward the end I would have some much needed energy liquid to boost me. Unfortunately I didn’t read the pre-race info re feed stations as it stated that only at approx 6 mile and 15 mile points they served banana, fruit cake, juice and water. for some reason i thought there was twice the amount of feed statiopns.

Looking back at the race now I maybe should have took a hydration pack as I only took 3 cups of juice at the 15 mile mark and my bottle of lucozade towards the end.

Finally I reached the halfway point and checked my Garmin which showed that I covered over 19 miles! When I saw this I compared this to my longest ‘road’ run done so far – 24 mile. I knew at this stage that the remaining half, if I managed to get through it was going to be very difficult, as it would equate to 38 miles (some difference than 24 mile!)

At the half way point I gulped down 3 cups of juice and took a banana and a bit of fruit cake to eat along the way back. As I started back I tried to eat the fruit cake but only could manage a couple of bites on my dry mouth, I was more able to eat the banana, which was a welcome solid food in my stomach.

On the way out I forgot to mention a had for several miles a pain in stomach similar to as if you have eaten something dodgy, with sharp pains in stomach. Thankfully they cleared up before the half way point where I got some foods in me. On the way back I decided to try and take in some of the views a bit more along the coastal route. The route was mostly a trail type along the cliff edge. Watching the sea coming in crashing against the rocks and the lovely inland where cattle grazed was very nice with the odd walker and seldom fellow participant in the race.

On the way back my body began to break down. My legs were increasingly getting heavier and sorer and with the sun in full swing and I think dehydration was setting in a bit. Thankfully I wasn’t getting any GI issues making me want to do number two’s but only the odd water stop behind the bushes a couple of times. Also I was very thankful that I had no injuries but my right knee definitely didn’t like the downhill’s very much. I quickly decided to take interval walks. These initially were only on going down hills to avoid the knee pain, but the uphills quickly reverted into walks as well. On the way back I did go through about 20 minutes of having a stitch, so eventually I was walking about a third of the time. I have to admit the return part of the run was pretty difficult for me, however I think this was down to poor planning (nutrition, hydration, lack of trail running, reliance of unreliable Garmin footpod mileage calculator). I think the most difficult thing to cope with was the mileage difference between 24 and as I thought 38 miles. I later found out that I really didn’t do 38 miles, I only did 50k / 31 miles, but my constant checking of my Garmin at the time of the race watching it climb eventually up to 38 really mentally drained my willpower. That was tough more than anything else to deal with.

Thankfully as I stated earlier I finally picked up my dropped/stashed lucozade bottle at around 7 miles before the finish which gave me a bit of an energy and hydration lift to carry me towards the end. After this as I ran/walked toward the end I was looking for the last marker /end point which for me was the carrick a reed rope bridge island. This seemed to take a long time before I eventually reached it and passed the finish line – at last! Thank God! My first ultra – yepee!

ps - got a couple of souveniors - a 100k tshirt (even though i only did 50k), whats with that? and a runnning vest sunburn ! i have emailed and asked for a medal, not sure if i will get one.

my messed up garmin reading  -

If you want to get a good idea of the event check out this youtube clip of similar event the normal Causeway coast marathon - basically same route and organisers <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3NKgFdZSEl0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

my splits -

Long Runs, Failing HRM's and Trail Running

I was a bit worried coming into last weekend bearing in mind Saturday mileage was a 24 mile followed by 10 mile on Sunday. If all went according to plan then the total weekly mileage would equate to 56 miles; the highest total I ever had done. I thought the training was going pretty well physically but I definitely feel that my body was beginning to feel the extra strain being put on it, have to admit I have been feeling more tired lately in every way. However, I was enjoying the running immensely seeing my fitness and endurance level improve over time.

On Saturday I decided to do a long run route I know which I thought measured about 13 miles roughly. I thought that if I can do almost 2 laps of it, it should cover the required 24 miles needed for my session. The run seemed to be going pretty well with 12 miles gone when I noticed that my Garmin fr60 hrm watch began to play up. It initially stopped, then after resetting it and stopping and trying to fix it I finally gave up on it and decided to just guestimate the rest.

I new there was still about 2 miles left roughly of route and I still would have to do it all over again if I wanted to complete my desired 2 circuits.

To cut a long story short I ended up completing the run. It was the longest and most fulfilling training run I have done over the last 3 yrs. Also very pleased in the time it took 3 hrs 45 min’s (as my watch was banjacked I checked the listening time on my ipod music playlist to work out how long exactly I had been running). Based on the fact that now I know from previous runs that I can manage 22 mile in 3hrs I think I should easily have covered the other 2 mile (prob more) in the extra 45 minutes that I ran.

Pleased with this performance I took my usual cold bath afterwards which helps a great deal speeding up recovery I think about 50%. I still feel painful the next days after long runs but not to the same degree as I used to. On Sunday I decided to be flexible with my run schedule, I was still buzzing with being pleased with Saturdays run. I decided as the upcoming Causeway Crossing is essentially a trail run I should do a bit of trail running with some hill workout included. So I decided to go to Cavehill Country Park.

I have always wanted to go to Cavehill, especially as with recent runs in Carryduff there were parts of the back roads were I could stop and look into the distance and see both the Mournes and Cavehill in one panoramic viewing, its pretty breathtaking in those weekend spring lit morning runs! In my previous blog you can see one of those photos.

The night before I checked the Cavehill website for the route which showed a 4.5mile circular route which looked pretty decent. On the Sunday morning I started off with my trusty iphone to both take pictures and also use the newly installed imapmyrun app to track my mileage (as the Garmin at this stage continued to fail to work!).

Within minutes I was getting lost with the route with dead ends, trails leading to roads or going to junctions with poor signing. I finally decided to ditch any ideas of doing a proper 10 mile (2 route) run and just treat the workout as a fun run. I ended up basically stopping every few minutes to stop, take in the great views and take a few snaps.

In the end I only did according to my iphone 6 miles, but with the many stops I took 1 hr 20 minutes. Still, I have to say I really enjoyed the opportunity to try trail running. It is more difficult than road running with the constant up and downs, and side to side. It is also a lot more mentally draining as you are constantly analysing the trail in front of your accessing how to land etc. I suppose it’s the comparison to driving when on a motorway cruising along compared to road rallying, essentially chalk and cheese. I also had a chance to try out my addidas karrimor trail trainers. I had bought them a while back just as leisure trainers, but now they are added to the rest of the running shoe clan I have.

From hear on in I will do I modified training schedule taper over the next 3 weeks. I messed up my training plan a bit, so my printed plan thinks im doing the race in 2 weeks but im not doing the race for 3 weeks so I will play about with it a bit and do a slow taper before the end of march. Really looking forward to the run in causeway. I ordered a ‘Salomon XR Energy Belt’ do carry some fluids and gels in the ultra. The ‘High 5’ race belt I have used in the last 3 yrs for marathons and long training runs is great but now I need a little bit extra to carry fluids as well as the ultra will be 31 miles. I also ordered a Garmin FR70 hrm watch with footpod as replacement for the broken one I have. Maybe in the next blogs I will let you know how I get on with these and how im getting on with the saucony mirage minimalist trainers also. Here are a few pictures I took in the last run :-

Great Views

All going according to plan

Hi Folks,

On the running front thankfully no injuries, the odd ache and minor niggles probably due to high volume of running mileage per week but hopefully nothing disastrous happens before any events this year. I’m really trying to stick to my run training schedule although it can be hard. The odd day over last couple of weeks I haven’t quite done the mileage stated for that day, although I try to change things a little by either doing a second short run later that day or adding a few miles the next day. The fitting in time wise can be difficult as anyone else would know that has followed a plan. I have to say though that I do believe that the body enjoys the routine and I especially love the endorphin rush – the body’s natural drug.

Today just done another long run but didn’t go great. Had to make a couple of ‘pit stops.’ Thankfully I managed these ok, but I think I regret drinking half a pint of apple juice last night – think it upset the stomach this morning.

Here are a few pictures I took recently of the 'Old Belfast Road', a quiet back country road near where I live in Carryduff

The other picture is of my best buddies......I mean guddies :-)

Will hopefully do another blog next week. Next week I have my biggest milage total to do. After that I will start to taper before the Causeway Crossing at the end of March. If all goes well at this I will then probably reduce running and start to get back to swimming longer and do the odd bike ride as I need to prepare for the swimathon in april and the Dublin Maracycle later in the year.

Until later…..Phil

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly!

The Good

From a training perspective I am very pleased with how things are going. I am going to ATP Personal Training Bootcamp sessions twice a week which are good fun. Don’t be fooled by the term ‘Bootcamp,’ it’s mostly dominated by women having a bit of a laugh at the big rugby guy trainers. I imagined there would be no women and it would be really intense – army style. Thankfully the guys that run it are really decent bunch and you can push yourself as easy or hard during the varied sessions if you please so I would highly recommend. The voucher deal I got only lasts a few weeks but hopefully I can learn a few cross training ideas to do at home.

On the running front, I am increasing the weekly mileage. I was really pleased with how this weekend’s two long runs went. Did a 20 mile yesterday followed by 11 mile today. Trying to plan each run a bit better. I am making sure I get good nights sleep, then when I wake get some food in me first thing -  a banana and crunchy nut cornflakes  / peanut butter and jam sarnie. During the run I take with me some caffeine tablets and gels and having left an energy drink at a roughly 7 mile point, I take some fluids at this stage. After the run I go for a 10 minute session in pool as cool down then as a reward to myself 5 minutes in sauna to finish off the session. This routine seems to be working well. During my cool down session today tried aqua jogging which seemed nice (PS – during same I tried running backwards in aqua jogging – impossible!)

The Bad 

Couple of weeks ago I had to used my bike to get to work as my car was getting some work done to it. Normally when I commute to work I do it from the Queens PEC to Bangor which is about 1 hr but in this case my commute (from home in Carryduff) would take double that – both ways, thus to say I wasn’t keen to do. Unfortunately the weather too dampened my spirits as it was pretty cold (around zero) and regular showers. Anyhow I decided to go a slightly quicker route direct to Bangor via Ballygowan, Comber, Newtownards back country roads instead of Saintfield, Ormeau, Sydenham route. I got about 7 miles when my chain appeared to lock up. As a novice bike mechanic I played about with it for about 10 minutes in freezing cold and darkness (apart from my bike light) before deciding to return home to Carryduff. I ended up walking in pouring down rain for about 2 mile along the roads in my bike cleats (yes – bikers you know bike shoes aren’t meant for walking in!) until thank God, a good Samaritan stopped and gave me and my bike a lift home. To cut a long story short eventually I made it to work using my trusty mountain bike I used when I was a teenager although that night I slept like a baby after approx 4 hrs biking on top of a days work!

The Ugly

Thought I had the long runs well planned – but forgot to prepare for nipple rashes!

Stuck for Words and Waving to Cows

Dumbstruck!
Went to the launch meet up of the NI Decaman at Chainreaction store tonight. Went with main intention of meeting thee Gerry Duffy and hoping he would be doing a short talk about his events he has done (32 marathons in 32 days around Ireland ) then recently doing a Decaman (10 ironmans, 10 days) (and winning!).

When I arrived a bit early I quickly realised it was only a meet and greet session and promotional launch for the first NI Decaman run by Tri Limits. To be honest I was a bit overwhelmed whilst waiting to speak with Gerry as I stood and waited around and decided to browse around the store.

I was one of the few people on my own and the main key people at the launch where busy chatting to each other and getting about 100 friggin photos taken, I felt like a stalker in the background J eventually things quietened down and I was struck by the fact that 3 key sets of people were there that are involved in my challenge journeys over time  - Neill Grainger from Ulster Cancer Foundation (I went a few years back with him to Ben Nevis for charity fundraiser), then there was Robert from Tri Limits (whom organised my last half ironman for me last year), and finally Gerry, whom is currently someone who I hope to be a bit like with my crazy desire to hopefully do an Ironman and Ultra Marathon run sometime in the future.

I usually have little difficulty in chatting away to new people and rarely get nervous, but struck by these factors and the craziness of these inspiring people in front of me i quickly became nervious and dumbstruck.

Then when I eventually got round to finally plucking up the courage to speak to Gerry and ask him to sign my book ‘who dares runs’ I forgot the questions I wanted to ask him and forgot to ask him for a photograph.

At least I suppose I got his autograph and he wished me well to ‘good luck with the training’.

I also forgot to ask the guys from Tri Limits about maybe doing the cycle leg 112 mile portion in July single portion event of the Decaman events over July. Nonetheless, July I hope will have other priorities and if I don’t get the long cycle done then I’d be happy if I can do the Dublin Maracycle at least.

Endorphins Running High!

Since last time thankfully I have continued doing two or three runs a week and yesterday even did a commute to work on bike which felt great. My dog mcgregor has been taken a few times and he is loving it but im sure he thinks im crazy when he see’s me waving and saying hello to the horses and cows as I run past – not sure he’d understand that when your filled with natures natural drug euphoria it makes you do crazy things!

Until next time………c ya later and ‘enjoy your run’

New Year’s Resolutions

Hi Friends, 

First of all Happy New Year! 

Well it that time of year to re-assess and set targets for the coming year. To be honest im both scared and quite exited looking into the unknown and looking forward to the crazy adventures im sure I will have. Since last blog I have done the smoke patch thing for 12 weeks, and since that slipped back on for a while but im re-focussed and hoping the New Year I will stay on track and be fit and healthy. I noticed also towards the end of the year I almost put on a stone in weight so I need to get back into training to burn off those cal’s !

Anyhow with regard to what I’ve been doing training wise, well not much has changed. I continue to regularly swim but only for about 15 mins each day. The last couple of weeks iv clocked about 4 runs which im pleased with and especially tonight with my first 6 mile run in several months. It went very well especially because I also managed to take my dog with me on a dark country road run with most of it on non pavement roads. I used my new Petzl Tikka XP head torch which I would highly recommend as it makes those dark dangerous road runs a lot safer and more fun. Me and my training partner (McGregor the dog) startled field of sheep and also a field of a few horses that where in nearby fields as we ran past.

Unfortunately I have not been doing any cycling but hopefully I will soon. My aim in the coming months is to initially focus on running, then introduce weekend cycles and hopefully the odd cycle to work, March time increase long swims (as I will be doing April 5k swimathon) then May the Belfast Marathon. After this my priority aim is the half ironman in Dungannon. I am going to aim to beat my PB of 6hrs 4 mins for this. If into the latter part of the year I could do bonus aims these would be either of /all of: - Dublin /Belfast Maracycle, Mourne Way Half Marathon and finally possibly another half ironman  

This year I would also like to introduce some cross training and also try out some specific workout types (eg tempo run, fartlek runs, speed intervals). I might also look into self testing lactate threshold.

Before I leave I forgot to mention that I might do a blog listing the podcasts from itunes I regularly listen to. These are mostly triathlon related but I find them very helpful and motivating.

Best of luck to fellow fitness bloggers out there for the New Year!

Take care,

Phil J

Back on track

Its been a very long time since my last blog. sorry but since last time there has been not much on the fitness side going on since achieving the half ironman several months ago. it seems as if my mindset was just to do that and give up altogether :-(

Anyhows, since then unfortunately i have gone back on the smokes and stopped running, cycling and halfed the amount of daily swimming each day. really noticed how unfit i was especially each friday when i play a game of footie with some friends; every ten minutes or so im begging to jump back into nets for a break, really feeling knackered!

Over the last 2 weeks i have tryed to get back on track again. I went for short 3 mile runs both last weekend and today, and also today i went for a 20 minute cycle. felt good to be back out - brought back memories of why i love triathlon training so much. hopefully i stick with it and get back to my old self. I have also been 2 weeks almost off the ciggies with help of the smoking patchs.

On the swimming side i am thinking of concentrating more on technique with regard to trying out things iv never took any heed of before - number of strokes, better form (from Total Immersion) and also trying backstroke for a few laps in each session. I never realised how technical swimming can b when you start analyzing different parts of it.

Last but not least, i recently heard of the forefoot running style. i tryed it today (for only about 20 seconds), felt a bit weird but i understand why it should reduce the impact damage on knees.

Hopefully not too long til next blog :-)