(I find) Another Gear

After reading (actually I'm still in the middle of it) Ray Jardine's Guide to Lightweight Hiking, and applying a style of pace-walking described therein, I've discovered another gear!

For months I've fussed and worried over trying to combine walking (at 5.5km/h) and running (at 10 km/h) despairing of finding a solution. Instead, I've found another gear. I seem to be able to pad-walk very comfortably and nicely at about 8.4 km/hour (or a few seconds under 3 minutes per 400m lap.

Tried it out today for the first time at the Caledonian, and it was effortless despite my still having some of the effects of a cold.

But I'll need to practise. And there are only 4 weeks to go.

Here's how I see it:

• Train daily to get used to the style and monitor its effect on my calves and hamstrings
• Give up barefoot training 2 weeks prior
• Give up most walking in last week
• Approach the race pad-walking say 4, then jogging 1, then walking 1. Repeat and rinse for as long as possible.
  

Not the September half in Dunedin

Mami hasn't run at all since June. She has a suspected hairline fracture (not covered by ACC).
My training has been sporadic. Neither of us, therefore, took part in last weekend's half marathon in Dunedin - a pity since the weather was glorious. We may take part in the Outram ten next month. Then, for me, it's onto the Shri Chinmoy 24-hour race at the end of November. (The starting date was changed, so I lost a little on my air bookings.)

So, what's new?

My training has been on again, off again. Some little niggles such as calves. The odd cold. And I was trying to train for too different events. Mostly I tried to use the Caledonian. I was - and still am - concerned about the surface. Really, I would prefer asphalt.

I haven't completed any long sessions. I've done two, three or four hours half a dozen times. Each time I realise that a world record is not a foregone conclusion by any means!

I alternate between thinking that 160 km is a cinch, and that it is impossible. Two things concern me: the friction, and muscular endurance.

I've learned through trial and error that alternating running and walking in several-lap bursts is too tough on the system. It is hard to change back and forth. Also, I think that depending on being able to maintain an even pace for the full 24 hours is not realistic.

Here's how I see it:

I need to do a marathon's worth jogging (from 10-12 km/h) and the rest walking (at 5-5.5 km/h). I see most of the running being done early in the day. The schedule could look like this:

walk first lap
jog 40 laps
walk 1 hour
jog 30 laps
walk 1 hour
jog 20 laps
walk 1 hour
jog 15 laps
walk 1 hour
jog 10 laps
walk 1 hour
jog 6 laps
walk 1 hour
jog 4 laps
walk the rest, possibly trying up to 3 laps for as many hours as I can

I can do 10 km barefoot in my sleep - no problem. I'll do three of them every week until after Outram. I need to concentrate on increasing the flexibility in my calves (bent knee) so that the heels touch down lightly while jogging. Otherwise I'm putting too much strain on the muscles and risk injury.

Queen's Birthday half marathon

Mami and I took part in the 2008 Queen's Birthday half marathon in Christchurch, though we weren't in the best condition. Mami has been having problems with a calf muscle, and I a niggly side of my foot as well as an unresolved gallstone condition.

Since electronic timers recorded each person's exact start and finish time, I thought I'd start right at the back and enjoy passing a few people. That went well up until about the 15 km stage when people started to pass me. I felt tight about the torso and back, so it must have been the gall bladder.

Mami passed me then, and I thought that I had her, having started at least 3 minutes behind her. No such luck - in the final 4 kilometres I lost a lot of time.

Overall, Mami ran 1.45.01 and I did 1.45.48 I hope to do ten minutes better at Dunedin in September.

Broken glass and bad weather

The forecast was poor, but since I was up anyway I thought that if I could get in my long run this Friday that that would leave the whole weekend for Mami and I. Therefore, I decided to put in 20 or 30 kilometres and then, if the conditions really didn’t permit, I could repeat the exercise on Sunday, when, hopefully, the front would have blown by.

It was dark when I began ‘looping’ at 5.10 a.m. It was cold and wet from a previous shower. The first lap you always need to check for conditions afoot. What have the students been up to? Last week there was a roadside fire, and I’d had to dial 111 (the number works on a cellphone). Today the only problem was a couple of smashed bottles outside a notorious address. I pushed a few pieces aside and carried on. I thought I had escaped until right at the end of the run when I felt a prick – had to pluck out a sliver. Then the next day I discovered another embedded chunk of glass, and then a third the day after that. Just grist to the mill, really. Oh, and beware that hump in the road halfway around!

Today’s aim to was to be (otherwise) injury free. A slightly torn calf muscle had limited what I was able to do for the previous two outings – 30 and 20 (or 20 and 30). I wanted today to do the full 12 hours if that was possible, and to crack my best distance of 72 kilometres. I wanted to keep going for the whole period running one-third of the distance (the ‘downward’ 400m and 700m sides of the 1690m ‘C’). That proved possible. I did 31 minutes per loop (equals 46 ½ minutes per 5 kilometres). I got to 77 kilometres in total.

Yes, there was sleet and a freezing wind blew up. But I wore the tights that I’d bought the week before – my first – and I wore my floppy track pants over them. I used my Goretex jacket when it was really foul. A woman called out, “Are you mad?” I think that I was. I risked cold burn on my feet – they definitely tingled when I finally took my shower. Apart from the glass I developed a blood blister on the side of my right big toe. But, perhaps because of a 10-second stretch every lap, or maybe because I’m improving, I felt better than previously. The only thing was a touch of tendonitis across the top of my left foot. Also, a slight gout-type of lingering pain in my big toe(s).

As for my plans for next time: I shan’t leave my race on the road. For the next six weeks I want to train towards the next half marathon in Christchurch in June. Therefore, I want to do at least three 10-kilometre runs per week, timing the occasional one (from 48 down to, say, 43 minutes). Also I'll complete the odd 'long' run, from an hour to an hour and a half. My next ultra training run will be in July, and then another in August. Thereafter comes the September half. Then it’s the Outram 10 in October. And then in November I fly up to Auckland . . . Not many chances to overtrain, therefore. But Osler says that the training you do for a marathon is enough, physically, for an ultra, as long as you train mentally for going the full (Monty) 24 hours (“Are you mad?”).

Along the way I was solving simultaneous equations in my head. I want to do 160 kilometres, and I expect to have to walk the last hours. Okay, so trace a line back from (24, 160) with a slope of 5 (the speed I can rely on managing).

y = 5x + 40

If I can keep going at 8 km/h pace for the first part of the race, I get another line:

y = 8x

Solve them simultaneously and you find the intersection point at the point: (13.33, 106.7)

Nifty! All I need to do is keep it up for the first half and then walk – if I need to – the rest, or push on and go for the limit, 192 kilometres. That would put me up in the medals! However, I think that realistically the sole wear or muscle breakdown would get me before then. How to achieve 8 kilometres per hour? Well, just increase the ratio of running to walking. I run at 11 kilometres per hour and walk at 5, I need to be running for half the time. I'll train on the track for up to six hours, walking two laps and then jogging four.

I've been in touch with Tom Osler, and in light of what he writes (and wrote) I'll consider sweetened tea. Other snippets of interest: I thought I'd dropped my gloves and searched for them for 8 hours, then discovered them in the back of the car! I actually did drop my jacket, but someone draped it over a fence. There was a fantastic semi-circular rainbow, but it signalled the start of the bad weather. The batteries of the Walkman that I had bought for 50 cents, still with the original batteries, finally ran flat. In the distance I saw two women pick stuff off the ground. It turned out to be mushrooms under the trees I'd run beside for many hours - I'd missed them! And I'm usually so observant!

And finally, I discovered a half-eaten muesli bar, setting off a train of thought.

1. Food is so plentiful these days that people hardly value it
2. People have no sense of the future (when they'll feel like another half bar)
3. People realise that junk food is just junk
4. People have less respect for the environment, and so they litter

And for the record - of course I picked it up and polished it off! (all except for the end bit, which I broke off and threw at a bird).

Twelve hours for the first time

On 7 March, 2008, I completed my longest training run ever: 72.2 kilometres in 12 hours. This is my third-greatest distance. It is the longest distance that I’ve run barefoot. And, at twelve hours, this is the maximum duration that I intend to train.

But only in terms of time. Over the next 8 months, until I take part in the next Sri Chinmoy 24-hour challenge in Auckland on the 1^st and 2^nd of November, I’ll want to repeat such 12-hour sessions every two or three weeks. I’ll want to increase the distance by reducing the ratio between walking and running.

I do my training at Logan Park. There’s a ‘C’ loop that I run, a there-and-back cycle that avoids the back unpaved stretch – from the end of the pavement outside Logan Park High School, to the corner of Harbour Terrace and Dundas Street. I think of each leg as a mile (though it’s slightly longer) and each triple length is almost exactly 5 kilometres (5007 metres).

I started the run-walk at about 6.30 in the morning, and finished at the same time in the afternoon. Previously, I ran further at a time – a whole leg out of each three. This time I ran less, but more often: every ‘downhill’ stretch (about 700 metres) from the school down to the corner.

Each loop took me an average of between 33 and 34 minutes (range 32-36). It was an easy schedule to maintain. I developed some mild discomfort in the muscles of the pelvic girdle (a maximum of 4 on a scale of 0-10) and to a lesser degree in the soles of my feet (3 out of 10). Muscle fatigue is what gets you in the end. The breathing is fine. The energy is fine.

Old injuries make themselves known. At 20 kilometres I passed through an iliotibial patch, and at 40 kilometres my tendonitis reoccurred. But it is a psychological game rather than a physiological one. When you pull back slightly so do the symptoms.

I believe that I over-strained to make up time while walking. I was only intending to better the 60 kilometres that I ran in 9.25 a few weeks ago, but when I appeared to be on target for a 6-kilometres-per-hour pace I couldn’t help myself.

Next time, to better my distance (say 75), I shall simply run for more of the time; on the next run I’ll do both downhill stretches – at total of 1200 out of 3300 or 4/11, but I’ll relax more when walking. I’ll aim for a cycle time of 31 minutes, and then 30 for the time after that. I’ll also stretch. I’m developing a series of 10-second stretches that I’ll rotate, one of six every ten to 15 minutes.

Incidents that made the day memorable: a fire-drill at the school; a cold and dark start (I should have worn those gloves); fun and games at the Student Centre toilet (when I struggled to fit a new roll); and standing on a piece of glass and having to extract it with a needle just before the 50 kilometre mark.

To Set a World Record

This year I have a two-fold aim: set an athletic world record and invent a new religion that makes all the others obsolete. See elsewhere for the later ;-)

On February 15, I complete my fifth long distance training run. Weekly or fortnightly I have jog-walked 20, 30, 40, 50 and now 60 kilometres. A few notes about the last outing to be written up later:

7 a.m. start - duration 9.25.30. Cold weather: the high of 14 didn't eventuate, and it didn't make the minimum of 12 degrees either! At one point I heard that it was 11.6 degrees Celsius. Strong winds too. Showers. The sun came out for a total of perhaps 10 minutes.

I completed 36 'C' laps (see elsewhere) and I ran every third. 18 min on average, when walking, 9 when running. I saved 13 minutes of every hour for each 5 kilometres. A touch of iliotibial band friction syndrome at about the midway stage, but jogging (as opposed to walking) worked it away.

I felt fresh all the way. Not much pain in that spot in my neck that I usually get. Rhythm boken by numerous 'pit stops' - no probs with hydration, and a 3-min 'number two'. The rugby club toiletes are handy for that, but so are the bushes at the back and even the Students' Centre. I once lost my key that wore a hole in my pocket.

My blue stain shorts were fine, though they chaffed slightly. Also wore a tee-shirt, a light jersey, a windbreaker and a woolen hat. No shoes of course! In the future I must bring some gloves.

The best thing I caught on the radio through the walkman (which I delayed using for a few hours) was Hey Joe by Otis Taylor on a banjo.

In terms of food, the mainstays were: garlic bread, a peanut slab, and 1 bar of a One Square Meal (OSM).

I found a single earplug that I stuffed in to cut down traffic noise. It was sportsday for a school (or schools) and at the marathon stage I was able to run with and overtake a number of pupils doing a Logan lap.

A couple of days after, I'm already running. Ran 11 kilometres with Mami. We have the Otago Rail Trail to take part in at the end of the week. The next long training session I'll do in about 2 weeks. This time I'll go for time - 12 hours, perhaps a little slower than before. Maybe 72 kilometres.

Third time on the trail

In a week's time, I revisit the Otago Rail Trail.

This time, I shall take part socially. Together with Mami and Paul, we've made up a team of three. I've volunteered to do a cycling and a running leg on both days. This is a first for me.

I've never competed on a bicycle before, although I've cycle-toured thousands of kilometres. The pain from cycling hard outweighs the pain from any degree of running, I've always felt. So anyway - a new experience to look forward to.

I thought of using a single-speed road cycle instead of a mountain bike, but I've been talked out of it. Maybe one day. It's just that without ugly dérailleurs they look so cool, and they must be more efficient. And the trail is relatively flat, as I well know.

But I suppose that as well as inclines, you can get a headwind. And so I'll do it the conventional way.