RtRx7 The Aftermath - Or The Toll 7 Ultra Marathons Took On My Body 3 Months Later..

It’s just under 3 months after I ran 336 miles in one week, did 7 ultra marathons in 7 days and completed one of the most significant events in my life so far. Upon finishing the week my body broke down as soon as I crossed the finish line it felt, everything that had held together through the week suddenly sighed a sigh of relief and let go. I was limping on badly mangled toes and feet, with the skin of my feet after 3 days of finishing going really dry and blistering and all of my toenails bar one dropping off over the forthcoming weeks. But I did it! Rtrx7 was a success! After conceiving the idea a couple of years previously but being too scared to even utter the words out loud it was an amazing feeling to have attempted something original that no one else had done and said couldn’t be done and to have pulled it off.

 The challenge itself was to run 7 times around the island of Jersey in 7 days; 48 miles each day taking in coastal path, beach, road and cliffs which equated to about 4000ft of elevation each day. Someone I knew had already done 7 marathons in 7 days here in Jersey so this was the only way to up the ante. Little did I know what I was attempting! I knew it would be hard but I rationalised it that having done the Marathon Des Sables a year or so earlier I would have a lot of advantages compared to that; I would be able to be supported, I could fuel adequately, I could sleep in my own bed and it was going to be a lot cooler than the Sahara Desert.

So in the early part of 2014, plans came together and bit by bit the challenge became a reality, with the ultimate reality being when I lined up on the start of the 2014 Greenlight: Round The Rock ultra-marathon on Aug 2^nd. This was day one for me, and when everyone else had finished their stint, I would have to go home, recover and get up again and do it all over.

I won’t go into too much detail here about the challenge itself as I am hoping to sell the rights for the story to an award winning novelist or film maker and get Keanu Reeves to play me in the film. Suffice to say the week was hard, took me places I had never been in terms of despair and joy and is a definite cornerstone and reference point in my life.

The day after I had finished I woke up and was a little stiff and slightly hung over after a few glasses of champagne after a big do to celebrate completing it as well as the live televised lottery draw for the local charity I was raising money for – Jersey Hospice Care. It was a lovely feeling to know that I wouldn’t have to circumnavigate the island again that with the most testing thing I had to do being interviewed by a local radio station at 9am and to not say any swears inadvertently!

So what toll did the challenge take on me? My feet and toes were in a bad way, for about 3 weeks afterwards I had really bad dry skin on my feet and it was flaking off all over the show. I lost all my toenails bar one or two and had lots of callouses at various pressure points on my feet. Physically in an injury sense I was OK, going into the week I had a bit of a groin issue that I was a little worried about but this didn’t really become too much of a problem which I was thankful for. Injury was one of my biggest worries for the week as it was something that I couldn’t account for or foresee if it did occur but for 336 miles I came out of the week quite lightly.

3 months down the line I can now see that I was quite run down by the week after it was over. I took a couple of weeks off running after rtrx7 but was quite keen to get back into some form of exercise quite quickly as believe it or not I started to put weight on after the challenge quite quickly. I ran for 90 hours over the week and burnt and estimated 35,000 calories and was nowhere near replacing these but seemed to not have any adverse weight loss, which was good. During the MDS I lost a lot of weight quickly and people commented how emaciated I looked at the end of the week, so I expected something similar for RtRx7. I think my body was in shock to be honest and wasn’t sure what was going on, almost as if it went into survival mode and wanted to then hang on to any calories that I put into it. It is something that has continued over the last couple of months with my weight going up and normal training not being enough to sustain my usual running weight, which has been a little troublesome; being lighter = going faster and my initial goal after RtRx7 was to run the Jersey Marathon in early October. I started to speed train at the track and do shorter more intense runs a few weeks later, reasoning that shorter runs would be good for the body. The first track session I did was “interesting” to say the least and I struggled, on a superficial level I felt recovered I think but under the surface I was needing to rest or at least exercise at a much lower intensity.

Through September I built the training with Jersey as my goal. It was good to have a goal after the euphoria of completing RtRx7, it was a massive part of 2014 and as happens after these things there was a come down, which I expected to a degree having done things like this before. I was mostly pleased to have done it, but it was taking time to process the week. It was intense; 90 hours of running which when coupled with recovery, eating and sleeping didn’t leave much time for reflection or leisure time. For the first week or so afterwards I was dreaming I was running around the island and would wake up tired as if I had done the actual run! Processing the week was an ongoing thing and one I enjoyed, lots of photos were taken, lots of messages sent in support through the week and lots of positive take aways in general, I would say now I have processed it all and it is almost as if it never happened, just like being back in work on a Monday morning after being away in Barbados for 2 weeks previously and by lunch time it being as if you had never been away. The memories are there, but almost as if it was someone else living it.

A big issue for me over the 3 months since has been tiredness: I remember googling how to recover from something like this and there weren’t many search results that gave any meaningful advice as there are few documented precedents. There are the usual rules of one days recovery for every mile you have ran, which would have meant me not running til the following July, by which time had the weight gain continued I would have been a wallowing blob sitting there unable to see my feet and having to be lifted to the loo by a crane! I was back in work a week later and I was going to bed at 10pm most nights and getting up at 8am to try and recuperate, I became obsessed with sleep; how much I could get, how to make it up if I couldn’t get my ten hours that night and when I could snooze over the weekend. I have always like sleep to be fair but it took on an extra sense of urgency and at the time I didn’t realise how much toll the challenge had taken me, only now with the benefit of hindsight can I see it. I met a friend of mine Graeme a few weeks ago who had completed the Grand Union Canal Race back at the start of the summer, which is a 145 mile race along the Grand Union Canal. He was in a similar boat to me and said that it took him 3 months to get over it fully, likening running during that time to having an elastic band attached and someone holding on to it whilst trying to run, a feeling I completely empathised with.

I think it is natural for us runners to want to do what we do best and to be in full training and not to be tapering or recovering. I for one only paid lip service to recovery runs, recovery periods, periodization and proper tapering, taking them only when I started to feel jaded rather than being proactive. In the last couple of weeks however I have started to read a book about the 80/20 training principle which in short is a training method where 80 % of training done is performed at sub lactic thresholds and the other 20% is done above as this is the optimal ratio to get the benefits of training, the result being that when an athlete comes to do the 20% aspect they are more rested to hit it hard. The 80% enables the athlete to increase volume of training and therefore strength without stressing the body. I have enjoyed this book immensely and have adopted the principle wholeheartedly, having worked out my optimal zones and now training within them. It is early days but I feel more rested and relaxed after the sub lactic runs and have been burning off a lot of the weight from RtRx7 as a consequence of the training zones I have been working in. I think that had I been aware of this method I would have definitely adopted this post RtRx7 as it would have enabled me to train at a low intensity and maintain fitness but not push too hard in the initial stages of getting back to full training.

Next for me is the XNRG Druids Challenge this weekend; average of 29 miles per day for 3 days this will be a great test to see just how far down the recovery road I am. The goal is to get out and enjoy the weekend primarily and hopefully get a good solid performance in as well. Training in earnest will begin soon for the 2015 Marathon Des Sables in April, and I have secured a place for the race of all races The Dragons Back which takes place in June 2015. Lots to train for and lots to look forward to over the coming year!

The fundraising and challenge is completed for RtRx7 for those of you who missed it I put together a little video of the week to show what went into it, available here:

The challenge would not have happened without the support of the following companies: Marks and Spencer Jersey, Clink Hostels, BNP Paribas Jersey and Mymemory.co.uk.

The people who helped me with the organisation of both the fundraising and through the week were many: big thanks to Karl Moss, Ben Garland, David Stokes, Bruno Francisco, Rod Bryans, Euros Williams, Steve Hayes, Peter Wright, Simon Lester, Shane Hugill, Simon Mackenzie, Robbie Campbell, James Hope, Dave Double, Will Evans, Anna Goncalves, Shaun Maloret, Sam Horsfall, Neil Ginnis, Trisha and Darren from Yoga Matters, Piers De Gruchy, Bryce Alford, Cameron Purcell, Brendan Roberts, Sam Wade, Mark Nicol, Lee De St Croix, Jemma Jelley, Neil Walker, Thomas Robertson, John McGovern and the one person who held the whole operation together Nicola Gott – without her I could not have got through the week, she was there to take me to the start every morning at 6:30am and to drop me home every night, sometimes at 10:15pm, some might say she had a harder week than me and I would be inclined to agree!! I have tried to name everyone there so hopefully I have got everyone..

Finally I would like to say that I hit the target of £15,000.00 raised for Jersey Hospice Care due to the massive generosity of everyone who donated and big donations from Clink Hostels who gave £2000.00 to the cause and my place of work BNP Paribas who donated £2,200.00. I would like to thank them both as well as everyone else who donated and showed their support.

Endurancelife Classic Quarter June 2014

After the dramas of Transvulcania I decided that the only way to put the ghosts of my DNF to rest was to quit ultra-running altogether and take up scuba diving instead. Well that was my initial thought anyway, but then common sense prevailed, I realised I had about 14 pairs of running shoes, multiple rucksacks and buffs to work my way through before I could even consider retiring from running!!

So on to the internet I go.. The criteria – a 40 mile ish ultra in June and hilly. The Endurancelife Classic Quarter seemed to fit the bill and after a little research, soul searching and deliberation I pushed the button and entered the race. I had about 3 weeks at this point until the race but felt happy I was mostly ready to go as if nothing else Transvulcania had been a great training run.

Upon further investigation the race appeared to be very similar to the terrain on the cliff paths here in Jersey, rocky paths, steps here and there, beautiful views, I was very much looking forward to taking part in the race and having taken part in a couple of Endurancelife races I knew that it would be a challenge.

Training for the race consisted mainly of preserving the shape I was in from Transvulcania – which meant a couple of longer weekend runs, hill sessions and some strength session just to keep ticking over. More importantly was my mental approach; after another DNF I have to admit my confidence was low, and I was doubting my ability to stick at it when the going got tough. I saw the CQ as a way to redeem myself in a way and to prove that I can still run ultra-marathons. The flip side of this being if I DNFed at this race then perhaps the truth was that the ultra-distance stuff wasn’t for me after all. So no pressure really, perhaps more of a moment of truth or clarity!

June 6th I set off from Jersey Airport once again in search of adventure and endeavour. Over the last few years I have done this journey on so many occasions – finish work on the Friday, hotfoot it to the airport, fly to in this case Bristol but also many other UK destinations, drive to where you need to be that night, get up at an ungodly hour next day, run an ultra-marathon, spend the Sat night recuperating, drive back to the airport on Sunday fly back to Jersey and back in work for Monday morning as if you were never away! These weekends sound quite intense but I do kind of enjoy them it almost adds to the challenge in a way. This time I was to drive from Bristol airport to Penzance which the Sat Nav informed me would take 3 hours or so. I was due to be on a shuttle bus at 4am from Lands’ End to the race start so I figured sleep might not be in abundance that evening. I accepted this as part of the race and when I arrived at Penzance, checked into a lovely B&B, got my race gear sorted and tried to get some shut eye.

3am – the alarm goes off after 4 hours of sleep. I feel ok though, although it is dark outside and there has been rain overnight. I make my porridge, get my race kit on and stumble out bleary eyed to drive to Lands’ End to make the shuttle bus. I get there about 4am and line up to get my race number and get on the bus. Its dark, it’s windy and its cold and once again I am stood at the wrong end of 40 odd miles thinking “What am I doing here??” We get on the bus a wonky old double decker and I get chatting to a few guys a bit of small talk here and there and we settle in for the journey to Lizard Point – the start line. After a while I am struggling to get warm as all the windows are open on the bus. So I close a couple of the windows and all of a sudden everything goes blurry. “It’s my hay fever playing up” I tell myself but No! The bus is filling up with smoke from the engine and slowly we are being asphyxiated.. So the windows are opened again and the bus sputters on not being able to make the smooth transition from 2nd to 3rd gear and emitting the pungent smell of gasoline. The irony was not lost on me; here we are some extremely fit people about to do an ultra-marathon being transported to the start on a bus that was a mobile gas chamber!!

Anyway we finally make it and by now the sun had come up – Glad to be alive I stepped off the bus and made my way down a pathway to the start. It was a beautiful view there and felt very peaceful. There were about 200 or so runners and everyone seemed friendly, we had the race briefing then at 6:30am we were off. I was towards the front and saw the front pack head off quite quickly, I knew for me the goal was to complete this race and not blow myself up or do anything silly that may jeopardise me finishing. So I settled into a rhythm and adopted a complete rather than compete mind-set and vowed to be in the moment and do the best I can do at each moment.

This was my first experience of Cornish coastline and I really thought it was beautiful. It was indeed very similar in terrain to Jersey which was great, I had been advised to wear my trusty Inov-8’s by a local guy Tom whom I have become acquainted with through the power of running related social media and as the climbs got a bit rockier and slippier I silently thanked him for this advice. I was in fact hoping to see him at some point along the way as he had messaged me to say he was doing the relay race.



So I was ticking off the miles, I was feeling pretty good and got to half way pretty pain free. I usually have issues with my hip flexor or knee which necessitates an Ibuprofen which I believe is the cause of my GI issues during races’ but I had decided that I wouldn’t use these during the race favouring keeping the hip mobile with various exercises if it played up and K-taping the bejesus out of my knee! About 25 miles or so we hit the town of Penzance and the terrain turned into concrete promenade and quite flat. I was starting to feel fatigued at this point but it was a strange sensation as the body felt great muscularly but I felt weary, a sensation I wasn’t really used to as my body is usually the first to go! After clearing Penzance the climbing started in earnest; I had been warned there were a few nasty little climbs in the last third of the race and it didn’t disappoint! 

This was where it started to get difficult; I was really feeling fatigued and started to alternate walking with running. It was hot and the climbs were hard going, but I kept going. I was kind of glad in a way that the going had got tough as I was so committed to finishing this race that I wanted to suffer for it in a way, just to prove I still had the edge. I was being overtaken by a lot of people and I wasn’t bothered to be honest, there was a relay race also out on the course both 4 men and 2 men and I wasn’t sure who was racing what so I just got on with getting the job done and completing this race. People running in football tops and board shorts came past me and all the while I was getting closer and closer to the finish. I recall getting to about the 39 mile mark and the climb up to the Mynach Theatre from the beach being particularly hard going. There was luckily a checkpoint at the top of this and I am not ashamed to say I collapsed on the nice soft grass and took it easy for at least 20 mins.. I overheard that one of the racers was heading to the shop at the theatre and I asked him if he wouldn’t mind getting me a can of coke as I thought the sugar rush might help, he came back and said that the coke was on him, a real heart-warming moment when I was suffering! J


So it was now time to finish the race off. I set off from the checkpoint knowing I had 4.7 miles to go, but also knowing it would be fairly up and down. I set off and tried to run but the body was having none of it! I power walked and with relentless forward progress being my mantra. I was finding it hard and it was hot but I was committed!
                           


About another mile or so in and in my own little world I was aware that someone was walking behind me. I turned and we exchanged a few words “I hope you don’t mind me following you I just find it easier to follow peoples feet!” said Helen. We got chatting and she had injured her knee which meant that she was struggling to go downhill, we walked and chatted and whiled away the miles – it had got cloudy now and a little cold, typical changeable Cornish weather I am led to believe and it was quite nice to have the cool for a little while. The end was in sight now and I was pleased as well as enjoying having met someone to chat to on the way to take me out of my head and enjoy the last part. I hadn’t really done much socialising in Ultras for quite some time, I was always looking to compete or do my best time so had always been quite serious at races. I recall the first Ultra I did – Round the Rock – and meeting people along the way and chatting to them and finding out where they were from and why they were racing and this struck me as being as great a reason to do races as racing itself! I had lost touch with that somewhere along the way I think, the competitor in me had taken over and whilst I did enjoy competition perhaps the real enjoyment in this type of race was to be found in the connecting with other people who have similar interests and outlooks? I think the truth is somewhere in-between but for this race this was a great experience and really helped me.


The finish line – 44 miles (44.7 to be exact!) and we were there! Helen and I crossed the line and I was broken but really pleased to have finished the race. Getting the T shirt and medal from this race was quite poignant for me as I fought hard that day and came through the other side. There had been times at races when the T Shirt is given out before the race starts where I will never be able to wear that T shirt due to not finishing the race, too many times that had happened so I savoured this one! I said goodbye to Helen and wished her well with her injury and went to the bar and although tempted to get the cold pint of lager I had been fantasising about since seeing someone drinking one in a beer garden in Penzance I thought better of it and got a pint of orange juice and lemonade and sat at the bar texting the people who had wished me well for the race that I had done it.

It was now time to pick my car up from the car park and drive home to the B&B. I got back showered and chilled out for a bit then hit the town on Penzance. I had fish and chips and a large chocolate sundae and then headed back to the B&B for an early night. Rock n Roll!!

So what do I take away from this race? It wasn’t a result in the classic terms in that I placed well or set a PB, but I feel like I learnt how to suffer again and reconnected with the reasons why I run Ultra Marathons again. This really couldn’t have come at a better time for me as I have the biggest challenge of my life coming up in about 6 or so weeks; Round The Rock x 7 (or RTRx7). I will be running 7 times around the island of Jersey in 7 days equating to 336 miles over the course of a week starting on the 2nd of august with the Round The Rock Ultra Marathon and I will then be back next morning at the start line to repeat the run again, and again and again for 7 days straight. The route will be mostly off road along the cliff paths so will be challenging terrain taking in around 3,500 ft elevation each day. I am attempting RtRx7 as it has never been done before. Last year I did the Marathon des Sables which was the equivalent of 6 marathons in 6 days across the Sahara desert and so this year I wanted to do another challenge. I thought something close to home would be good, and as 7 marathons in 7 days has been already done here I decided to up the ante and have a go at this challenge.

www.justgiving.com/rtrx7

I am doing this challenge to raise money for Jersey Hospice Care. As most Jersey folk are aware Hospice is a great local charity that has touched everyone here in some way. I think the work they do is amazing and so valuable and wanted to try and do something to support that. I ran the MdS last year in memory of Natalie Moss, a friend of mine who sadly passed away in 2012. She spent the last 6 weeks of her life at Hospice and the care she received was second to none. Thanks to the support of so many of my friends and local people here in Jersey I raised just under £15,000 last year for Jersey Hospice. I would love to try and exceed this total with this challenge but initially I have set my total to £15,000. Last year I initially set out to raise £5,000 and raised almost triple that, so I really hope that this challenge captures people’s imaginations as much as the MdS and encourages them to dig deep!

To get to my target of £15,000.00 I have set up a just giving page up ready to take donations: http://www.justgiving.com/RtRx7 and I will also be planning separate fundraising events along the way to both publicise the challenge, to raise funds and to have a bit of fun. I am also looking for people to accompany me on legs of the challenge also so any aspiring runners are more than welcome to join me for short or longer parts of the day.


With 6 weeks to go it has become very very real now and I am nervous but confident that I will give everything I can to complete the challenge. Training for this is a bit of an unknown quantity really, how does one train for 7 lots of 48 miles?? I am trusting in the fact that I am fit and able to do the distance of 48 miles and focussing on boosting confidence and belief by thinking about all the concerns I have about the challenge and trying to address them; Recovery, willingness to suffer, belief, potential injuries and GI problems to name a few. On the recovery front I am fortunate in that I recover well and quickly and by body will put up with a lot of punishment. Training for the MDS taught me the importance of good recovery strategies and I understand what I need to do and when to optimise my recovery to feel good for the following day. The willingness to suffer comes from having a reason to push on when all other markers and signs are saying that it is best to call it a day; I have my reasons why I am doing this and I believe as I train I am solidifying these so that when the chips are down these will keep me going. Injuries are a variable that I just can’t control but hope that the gods of running will smile on me!

The week just gone has seen me run 10 miles a day along the same route for a week, which sounds like a simple undertaking, but in fact has taken it out of me! I went through a bit of a dip on the Weds but then seemed to have had ups and downs as the week has gone on. With working and life going on it has been a great indicator of what to expect (x5!) each day so a very valuable exercise all in all. My speed through the week has declined slightly but I am happy with the recovery element of the week as well as dealing with the monotony of running the same route each day. I plan a rest day for the Saturday then a six hour run on the Sunday then back into normal training for the following week. Another idea I have is to walk the entire hilly north coast of the island just so that should the wheels fall off on any of the days I know how long this section would take me.

All in all with 6 weeks to go I feel as confident as one can about this challenge. There are lots of variables that I can’t account for but I feel that compared to the MDS for example where I did the equivalent of 6 marathons in 6 days and carried all my own food, slept on a bit of foam each night and couldn’t just jump in the sea at the end of each day there are a lot of up sides that make this completely viable. I just hope that someone reminds me of this on day 4 when I am sitting in a pile of my own vomit and tears and my legs have given up working on me!!

So if you feel compelled to donate to this challenge, please visit my justgiving page: http://www.justgiving.com/RtRx7 and also any words of encouragement/abuse or offers to run with me if you happen to be in Jersey over the week of 2nd Aug can be directed to paulburrows2000@yahoo.com

More on the training and prep as it happens.

Transvulcania – The Directors Cut

Omens and superstition… I never really used to go in much for these but over the last few years I have really begun to take them seriously. Take for example Magpies; when I see one on its own (which seems to be an alarming amount at the moment as I live next to a field that seems to be the designated Magpie hangout for my town!) I have to salute and say “Good morning Mr Magpie sir” as if the course of my day now depends on it! If I see two I am happy in the knowledge that all will be ok. If I see one then two? This is where it gets tricky… Does one supersede the other or do both apply, or do they get added up?? Who knows..

So on to the beginning of my tale: We arrive at the airport my friend Simon, his wife Sam and I to begin our journey to La Isla Bonita (La Palma) to be told straight away by the kindly EasyJet staff that the check in had closed for our flight and that if we wanted to fly we would have to send the bags by mail. Awesome start to our journey, taking in Jersey to Gatwick, Gatwick to Gran Canaria and Gran Canaria the following day to La Palma. I thought at this point we might have fallen at the first hurdle, but we were able to negotiate a deal with British Airways (gawd bless them!) whereby one of us flew with them to Gatwick and checked all our bags in paid the excess, so off Sam went whilst Simon and I dashed to make the Easyjet flight and joined the commoners..

La Palma: Called La Isla Bonita due to its amazing scenery and stunning views. We circled the island on the approach to the runway and I got a glimpse for the first time of those massive climbs that we would be encountering a few days later when we lined up at the start of Transvulcania Ultra Marathon – 73kms up pure up and then pure down – no inbetween! I was nervous and kind of looking forward to lining up to take on the race, the fact that Kilian Jornet, Sage Canaday, Timothy Olson, Anna Frost, Emelie Forsberg to name but a few would also be taking part meant that this was going to be a special race. It has been commented before but there really are few other sports where you can line up along side the best in the world in the same race and same course and I love ultra running because of this!

We arrived in La Palma early Thursday morning and found our apartments in Tazacorte which conveniently enough was where the vertical kilometer course was that afternoon. For the uninitiated the vertical KM is a race where people try and run up a hill a kilometer in height as quick as they can. After unpacking and getting sorted we scoped out the start line where the Salomon banner was, the red carpet was out and the vertical KM course looked very steep indeed!

The main draw of the vertical KM for me (and many other judging by the cheers for them) was Kilian Jornet and Emelie Forsberg and predictably they ran later in their respective classes. It was a great afternoon watching all the runners though, some quick, some struggled a little and I recall Simon and I saying at one point “We should have entered this!” conveniently forgetting that we had to do a 73km lap of the highest points of the island in a couple of days!! The vertical KM kicked off Transvulcania for me, a real celebration of running, brave heroic people running up the mountain, running celebrities milling around, I was like an excitable school girl! I managed to get a photo with Timmy Olson and had a little chat with him, and then a bit later at the awards ceremony for the vertical KM I saw my chance and got my picture taken with the one and only Kilian Jornet! Standing next to him I saw how he was as good as he is and how I am as average as I am.. He is quite a small chap and carries virtually nothing up the mountain, whereas I stagger up carrying my lanky limbs and inferior VO2 Max.. Kilian finished 3rd in the vertical KM by the way, with what appeared to be 2 local guys taking first and second place. Emelie did not podium but looked like she was enjoying the run as she came past.

The following day was race registration, hop in a car, pick up another of our party – Bruno – from the airport and then make our way to the registration point in Los Cancajos on the other side of the island. I had arranged to meet a couple of my friends from MDS –Gordon and Guy – that morning who had arrived the previous night and were doing the Ultra so was a great vibe altogether. We made our way over to registration picked up timing chips and race numbers then made our way back to Tazacorte. I decided to then grab a few hours siesta as sleep would be short in demand that night. Our nearest shuttle bus to the start was leaving at 3am on Sat morning which meant getting up at 1:30am to get sorted and drive to that town. An ungodly hour to be awake! I awoke in the evening had a big pasta meal, hung around a bit and not really knowing what to do with myself and nerves starting to kick in went back to bed to try and get somewhere near an accumulative night’s sleep in there somewhere.

1:30am – the alarm goes off, I stumble around trying not to wake my roommate for the night Bruno who was doing the marathon and so didn’t have to be up til 6am! Silently cursing him and wishing I had entered the marathon instead, I took all my stuff in to the bathroom, got dressed for action and made some porridge. Simon and I sat there in silence, perhaps a mix of tiredness, trauma at being awake that early and trepidation at what lay ahead. We got in the car, drove to Los Lianos (or so we thought..) and then realized after 30 minutes of driving that we were on the wrong road. So a near 2:30am sleep deprived exchange of short words, a quick U turn all the way back to where we had started and finally we hit Los Lianos a full 30 minutes after the shuttle bus was due to leave. There were people stumbling around town so it was obviously kicking out time in the clubs and we managed to get directions in my limited knowledge of Spanish to the bus station. We got there and thankfully there was still a coach there! We ditched the car, thanked our lucky stars and proceeded the journey to the start line at Fuencaliente.

I must say at this point when I stepped out of the front door of our wonderful apartment in Tazacorte the weather was most agreeable; probably about 10 degrees Celcius and a perfect balmy summers evening. Upon stepping off the coach at the start line we were met with the whirling cauldrons of hell!! It was windy, and I was dressed inappropriately to say the least. No jacket, my X-Bionic Fennec top that had served me so well in the MDS some arm warmers a buff and a hat were the extent of the clothing I had on my upper body. I was cold, tired and a bit stressed after the getting lost experience earlier but walking down to the start line was pretty amazing, it is definitely everything you see in the photos and more. A great atmosphere and luckily as we dropped down to by the lighthouse the wind subsided somewhat and I warmed up.
At 6am we were off, the start of Transvulcania 2014! 45 miles, 14000ft of elevation to come, & I was a little underwhelmed if I am honest.. We started to climb from the start, & joined a long line of 1,500 or so runners & walkers making their way up the mountain. I clocked my first mile at 23 minutes & really hope this wasn’t going to be the shape of things to come! It was chaotic at the start but as the first few miles played out there seemed to be some equilibrium & I was feeling ok with the climbing. I had trained hard on the hills in Jersey & whilst I could never replicate the elevation of La Palma I felt that I had done enough to feel reasonably confident. I had a strategy in mind for the race; as much as one can for a race that one hasn’t done before! It was to climb for the first 13m, the middle bit looked “easy” on the profile so this was where I would make my time up then I would glide home downhill on the third part. So part one was going ok, it was dark and windy and the black dust was clinging to me as I had worked up a bit of a sweat, but I was in a rhythm, running where I could and keeping it real. About 2 or so hours into the race the sun started to come up & I remember coming into the first major checkpoint of the race. Surprisingly there were loads of people there & it gave me shivers down my spine as people were cheering & really making us feel like heroes.

On and on the climbing went.. I was feeling ok though, I was pushing hard but I felt within my limits. By around 11am it had started to get warm but I was enjoying the scenery and playing the little mental games I do when running ultras, ticking off the miles, ¼ of the way through, 1/3 of the way through etc etc.. I recall getting to the El Pilar refuge which to me signified the end of the first third of the race and there was a few miles here of nice up and down running and I felt so good. I was on top of my nutrition, my hydration was good and I was even I daresay enjoying the race.. Coming out of El Pilar and this was the second major checkpoint and again lots of people were around and this lifted me. I was running a lot around this time, even the inclines and making good time. I had had a few bits of food from the checkpoint; some water melon which was amazing and a power bar type thing which I tried a bit of, it wasn’t great and I left the rest of it in my rucksack. I was running along ticking the miles off, and looking forward to a bit more running rather than climbing..

So the climb to the highest point – Le Rocque De Los Muchachos; This is where the race began to get interesting. I think about 21 miles into the race I started to get a few little aches and pains and the various underlying issues I had been managing for the last few months – my hip flexor and my knee – started to play up a little. I decided to take an Ibuprofen just to try and delay the breakdown I could feel was on the horizon. The Ibuprofen kicked in and everything was ok for a bit. Then the heat started to bother me, I was really starting to feel the sun, I was also hungry, so at the 27 mile or so mark I decided to sample one of the cheese and salami rolls that had been laid on at the checkpoint there. I ate it and pressed on, the push for the highest point was on, up to 2,400metres and then it was all downhill – literally as it appeared on the course elevation! By now I was having to stop every now and then just to have a little stretch and I could feel that the climbing had taken it out of me, I was truly at my limits and I just wanted the relentless climbing to be over. This is where things went wrong for me; the cheese and salami roll wasn’t welcome in my stomach but rather than doing the decent thing and just getting rid of it, my body started to complain.. I felt weak, my stomach started flipping over, I felt nauseous and a little bit sorry for myself and I knew which was this was going to go.. I started to slow down dramatically, I could see the top of the climb but it seemed every corner I turned it didn’t seem to get nearer, the sun was really bothering me by now, I had to seek out shade and rest every 100 meters or so as my body was in full rebellion. I was that guy that everyone was going past with his head in his hands and every one of them asking “Are you OK?” or words to that effect in Spanish or French.. I knew the game was up in my heart of hearts, but I also knew that I had to get to the highest point to be able to drop out – purgatory!! I carried on with my rest every 100 meters tactic savoring every bit of shade I could find. Eventually my body had had enough of the cheese roll and told it “Your names not down so you’re not coming in!” I was sick and so now I was completely devoid of energy.. The further I got to the top the more people were sitting by the side, one guy looked in worse bother than me and some medic from the top had come down as it looked like he had injured himself. I continue the odyssey to the top.. I got there eventually and after nearly 12 hours I decided to quit. It was a tough decision as I had been building towards this all year, but I knew I had nothing left to carry on. So for the second time in a race I posted a DNF

Upon getting to the top and before definitively deciding to quit I sat down for a good 15 or so minutes and had a good think about it. I spoke to a friend on the phone who tried to talk me round and I really soul searched. I know it was the right decision at the time as I was spent. I had nothing left, had gone so close to my limits before being sick and then that left me no reserves to finish the job really. I was informed by Simon and Bruno (who both did really well in their respective races; the ultra and the marathon) that the rest of the course had been completely downhill and I wonder if had I know that whether I would have pushed on and seen how I felt. Second guessing, however, is no good and is a recipe for sending one mad I believe. I do think about Transvulcania and I have a tinge of something, not sure what it is at the moment, but it has made me think hard about what I want from running. Over the last couple of years I have improved so much as a runner and I think I have changed in my approach to running from enjoying it primarily to competing and getting results and being concerned with times and paces and all the other units of measurement us OCD runners like to concern ourselves with. I love to train, and I love to race but lately I suspect I might have been racing for the wrong reasons. I recall doing Transvulcania and being so focused on finishing the race, ticking off the miles, playing the little distance games I play in my mind and getting the medal that I forgot to be in the actual moment and enjoy the race for what it is – one with breathtaking scenery and amazing challenges. I would be pushed to say that I enjoyed much of the race, purely for my own reasons and this worries me significantly.

The rest of the week I had in La Palma was spent relaxing in the sun and recovering from the race. I was so tired after the event and slept a lot. I did however want to have a crack at the vertical kilometer course and so on the Tuesday Simon and I set off and had a go at it. It was steep but really enjoyable with some amazing views of Tazacorte Bay. I also had the bonus of getting on the same Strava segment leaderboard page as Anna Frost the female winner of Transvulcania for 2014 – she was well quicker than me I hasten to add but I will take these small victories!

So back to life and back to reality – In August I am due to run Round the Rock 7 times in 7 days in aid of Jersey Hospice Care. I was worried after Transvulcania – “Have I gone soft?” “Have I lost my edge?” “Have I lost the ability to endure suffering to complete a race?” These were all questions that I faced as I recovered from Transvulcania.

My response? Get on the internet and book another race! Get back on the horse! The criteria? A 40 mile or so Ultra, In the UK, around early June – The Endurancelife Classic Quarter fitted the bill perfectly! Race report for that to follow!

Back to the initial subject of Omens and my logical mind knows that the whole Magpie thing is rubbish really, and I am trying to train myself to not buy into the whole superstition thing as life is complicated enough right? The omens weren’t so good for Transvulcania however, but even so I have taken away a lot of valuable lessons from that race as I have from every race I have done. Running has been such a journey for me; I remember setting out to start training for my first marathon on 1st January 2011 and the journey since then has been amazing; my life has changed beyond recognition and I have found a niche where before I felt I did not really fit. I guess I went through a period of steep improvement for a few years, thinking at one point I was invincible and could do anything! My times got quicker, my distances got longer and my limits expanded. I’m now I am on the other side of that with the gains being seconds and the concern being more about how well I am placing rather than how much I give and actually maybe enjoying it. Transvulcania was a big awakening for me and since then I have done a lot of thinking about my motives for running, about what I enjoy, what I will go through to finish a race, what motivates me to finish a race and to do well. So onwards and upwards – Classic Quarter race report to follow soon.

Transvulcania 2014 Build Up

So I am here finally! It is the first major race of the year for me, and after a bit of a mission of a journey to get here, spanning 24 hours, 3 flights and quite a bit of waiting around I am here on the La Isla Bonita to be part of the toughest Sky Running race, Transvulcania.

I am staying in Tazacorte which is a lovely little town on the coast and hosted the vertical mile race yesterday. An amazing event where runners run up the hill pictured above and is actually a Kilometre up in the sky. I and my friend Simon sat about a ¼ of the way up the mountain and saw people running up with ungodly speed, and was lucky enough to see Kilian Jornet and Emelie Forsberg doing the business. Kilian came third in the event but I suspect he is saving himself for the main event on Saturday!!

There are a lot of runners based here in Tazacorte; lots of tell tale Salomon trail shoes and backpacks around yesterday! We saw Timothy Olson and Kilian around the town which was pretty amazing, almost a little star struck!!

As I write this I have less than 24 hours til the start of Transvulcania, when we arrive on the plane I got to see the mountains I would be climbing first hand and close up and they are big!! For those of you who aren’t aware the race is around 15,000 feet of climbing covering 73 kms along the volcanic rim of the island. Its an epic race and this year sees a really strong lineup taking part in both the male and female race; Kilian Jornet (winner 2013) Timothy Olson, Sage Canaday, Emelie Forsberg (2013 winner of ladies race) Anna Frost (Winner 2012) are all here so it promises to be a spectacle to watch as well as to be part of !

Today sees us going to the expo to pick up race numbers and soak up the vibe. I hope to meet up with a few friends I know today also who are over for the race, although with 1,500+ people taking part in the race, meeting up by chance might be a bit of a tall order!! Once done with the expo, relaxation this afternoon, eating plenty of food and then some shut eye as we have to be at the shuttle bus pick up at 3am in the morning for a 6am start at the light house!! Not sure sleep will matter once I am at the start line however, heres hoping!!

A full race report will follow!!

A Blank Canvas

So here we are a new year and a new base building period for the forthcoming calendar of races. I, like many others I suspect, took the time over Christmas to rest and recuperate both mentally and physically from running and to let little niggles heal and get straight for 2014. I also suspect like many others I might have put a few pounds on over the festive period, which was initially a little startling and was something I wasn’t too happy about. Various discussions with my coach, girlfriend (who runs as well) and other runners have settled my mind about this and I have actually come to view it as a positive as my coach likened it to running with a weight vest which in turn should strengthen the muscles and as the weight comes off (hopefully) the strength will stay, making a stronger, faster, leaner Paul! Or something like that anyway!

Further to my last post, which saw me at the end of 2013 pondering “Has my fire really gone out?” I am pleased to report that my fire is on its way back.. It may not be burning like the inferno that it has whilst at the peak of my powers, but there is a little spark and due to the rest and time away from running I am feeling “the love” coming back, which is great news indeed! I spent alot of December not really being sure of what was going on, I was in a very unfamiliar place; not really wanting to run, lacking motivation, feeling despondent and this permeated to the very fabric of my character. I think over the last 2 years I have very much become “Paul The Runner” and I suspect that alot of people identify me as such also, which is great when things are going well and I am on form, but actually not having run much through December I suddenly realised I had nothing to talk about!This was quite disconcerting and led me to think about getting a little more balance in my life.

So onto 2014 and taking the theme of balance I have decided that this year I will race less, train more and live more life in between. I have a race roughly every 3 months this year rather than every 6 weeks (on average) last year and I am looking forward to the next 5 months training leading up to my first race Transvulcania in May. After that is the SDW 100 that will be a test as I am yet to complete the 100 mile distance and then Round the Rock Ultra here in Jersey (with maybe a little charity based twist – watch this space for more news on this). These races will be interspersed with a few trail races and shorter distance “fun” races and hopefully a few trips to run in awesome places around the UK.

Another thought that I have been toying with over the winter is addressing the issues that cropped up strength wise over the latter part of the year for me particularly hip flexor strength, core strength and a dodgy knee. I am taking the relative down time as a chance to sort my knee and to do some weights to address any weaknesses or imbalances I may have. I have discovered the joy of kettle bells and have purchased a few various weights off Amazon and a few evenings a week you will find me doing a KB workout of lengths varying from 15 to 45 mins with plenty of vids available on Youtube. I have been enjoying the new challenge of kettle bells to be honest, learning the technique and the variety is really fun and most of the exercise are either very leg dominant or engage the whole body so even after a few weeks I am noticing gains in strength in classically weak areas for long distance runners. I have been running and then coming home and adding on a little 15 minute session which is plenty enough time to do 10 or so different exercises.

Now we are into January proper the training again starts in earnest and I have noticed the relative loss in fitness after a rest period. Sessions that I would sail through normally have turned into heartbreakers leaving me a gasping broken mess, but that’s the other side of resting and I know the fitness will come back, the weight will shift and I will hopefully jump to the next level. I love the feeling of 2014 being a blank canvas waiting for me to make my mark and I look forward to getting in the groove, working hard and creating more good experiences similar to last year.

I would be interested to hear about how readers of this blog have been training through the winter, what have you been doing to be faster, stronger and better this year? What hopes do you have for 2014 in terms of races? What did 2013 throw up for you in terms of issues that you hope to address in 2014?

The End Of A Love Affair....

So over the weekend a very important relationship for me ended..

We had been together for nigh on 2 years now, shared some good times, bad times, awful times and amazing times. We had travelled around the country together taking in the various sights that good ole Blighty has to offer and spent alot of one on one time just soaking up the view and connecting with nature..

We met across a crowded Ebay auction about 2 years ago, when I saw them I knew they were the right trail shoes for me.. Inov-8 Roclite 295's oh how you have served me well.. In the last 2 years I have run nearly 600 miles in those bad boys; from my first trail race, to my first trail marathon, my first ultra marathon and my first multi day ultra marathon. I have to say they never let me down, I have always felt confident running in whatever conditions Mother Nature has thrown at me, and I think I have experienced her greatest hits! From the slippery clay of the Jurassic Coast, to the slippery mud of the Jersey North Coast, to the Slippery Clayey mud of the North Downs (see the theme here???) and so on and so forth..


Anyway I would like to bid them a fond farewell, I hope you will join me in raising a glass to my faithful, battered, muddy Inov-8's.. I will be consigning them to the bin this evening.. By the way I have replaced them with a much younger, sexier model who is sure to give me many ups and downs over the coming years!! :-)

There is a shoe in there honestly!

The weekend just gone I participated in the XNRG Pilgrims Challenge 2 Day Ultra on the North Downs Way in Surrey. My mate Pete and I flew over on Friday night and were lucky enough to spend a night in a travel lodge in Aldershot. Saturday morning I awoke after a great nights sleep and we set off to the start line, not really knowing what to expect, but having the vague idea that the course would be less extreme than the Dorset Ultra weighing in at about 3000ft of elevation as opposed to nearly double that in Dorset.

Remember these Signs?

I was set to start at 10am, but it was so cold I asked if I could switch to the 9am start to get going.. We started and the day was beautiful, cold, sunny and perfect for a 33 mile run.. Apart from the mud! Right from the off I paired up with a couple of guys who ran way beyond my ability levels, and one of who had a GPS map of the route on his IPhone and seemed to know the way, there were alot of points along the initial part of the route where the signage was not obvious so I thought it prudent to stick with them.  We blasted off at a crazy pace running all the hills and completely turning my carefully thought out race strategy (drawn on the back of a fag packet!!) out the window.. By 15 miles I had said goodbye to my fast friends, taken a few wrong turns and set about the painful task of living with the damage I had inflicted by committing the cardinal sin - Going out too fast! The rest of the race passed uneventfully, if a little painfully with beautiful scenery and some very muddy pathways along the way. The XNRG crew at the check points were all very friendly and supportive and were a welcome sight after a couple of hours on my own listening to my cheeky girls play mix on my IPod.. The checkpoint food was also spot on, with a selection of fine cheeses, pretzels, sausage rolls and other culinary delights. I finished the day in 5 hours 20 mins with no real wrong turns and a lesson learnt about the need to control pace at the start of a 2 day event. I had a massage right at the end of the race which set me up for the next day and kept the aches and pains at bay. The field was a very strong one, with the winner for day one coming in at just over 4 hours and breaking the course record.

That night was spent listening to ultra endurance athlete Andy Mouncey doing a presentation on Ultra marathon running and his career which was very entertaining, and was good to see him manning checkpoint 2 on Sunday morning giving words of encouragement to all people moving through. The big highlight of the Sat evening for me (apart from the delicious Pasta Bolognese) was when the last 3 guys in from the race arrived in 12 hours later after starting at about 8am and the whole room erupted in a standing ovation for them.. This sent shivers down my spine and summed up one of the things I love most about ultra running.. One of the 3 had a bottle of Stella in her water bottle carrier, I think she had earnt that!

The Presidential Suite For Me!!

Onto day 2 and after a restless nights sleep in a school gymnasium with 200 other smelly endurance athletes the lights came on at 6am and up we got. 8am start for the race today, and the course was the reverse of the previous day taking 33 miles of the beautiful North Downs back to Farnham which psychologically was home for the day.. Pete and I had a flight to catch at 7pm which added a nice little bit of motivation  to make it snappy so off we went. The legs were stiff to start and I decided on keeping a steady pace initially so that I could ease into the day and not blow up too early on. This plan went out the window when I took a wrong turn about 10 miles in, and added an extra mile or so plus an extra hill to my race. I trudged back up that hill a broken man after galloping down it like a leaping gazelle.. I joined the race and the North Downs Way once more and set about trying to reclaim some of the time I had lost. I did hit a few bad patches periodically and thought that it was going to be a long day indeed, but after bumping into a few people and chatting a bit along the way I found my spirits lifting and hitting a nice flat section where I got into a good rhythm and ticking of a good few miles which made everything look a lot better.

A bit further down the track I bumped into 3 runners around the 20 mile mark who were obviously preparing for the MDS and had done both days of the Pilgrims with the rucksacks they would be using in Morocco plus approximate weight. This was where I learnt my second valuable lesson of the weekend: Its good to run with other people! I stuck with the guys I met, Tom, Damian and Therese and really hit it off with them, we had a good couple of hours together and the banter was great and really kept my spirits up through the latter part of a very tough couple of days. I look forward to this type of camaraderie in the desert, particularly touching base again with all the people I met over the weekend who will be doing the MDS: Joey, Warwick, Sally, Gordon, Pete, Susie, Rory, Ian, Stuart, Kate and alot of other people who I chatted to along the way, at meal times, ran with and said hello to.

In summary the Pilgrims was a great event, well organised and great value for the entry fee. There were alot of MDS 2013 competitors there which was great to put face to names and to exchange information. I would not hesitate to recommend the event and will probably venture back there myself next year. Lots of lessons learnt for the MDS as well as a great confidence boost ahead of the big one.

More to follow soon!

I will be running in aid of Jersey Hospice care and in memory of my friend Natalie Moss - if you would like to donate please visit my just giving page here