Life is an ultramarathon

There are 80 runners registered so far, and my race number will be 37. The field will probably be fairly competitive, as the race is part of the Runfurther Vasque Ultrarunning series.

1. Route

I've received the official route for the first edition of the Hardmoors 55 last week. A few changes to the route as compared to the Hardmoors110. Checkpoint 1 is at the tip of Sutton Bank (White Horse), which brings a few extra kilometres. It follows the Cleveland Way after Osmotherley, instead of short-cutting by Cod Beck reservoir. And finally, the race passes through Slapewath for the last checkpoint before finishing at Guisborough

2. Mapping

Before the inaugural Hardmoors 110, I was wondering what kind of mapping solution would be appropriate, and went for the full 1:25,000 laminated OS maps. This has been proved not ideal, as folded maps are cumbersome on the run, and not suitable for the occasional peak.

This time I've made some small laminated route cards bound with a key-ring. The easiest way I found to build them is simply to slice my laminated OL26 map. I have to admit that cutting a map into pieces made me feel a bit awkard, as if that was a sacrilege. The map is double-sided and the route crosses the whole map, but rather luckily the route doesn't overlap across both sides. The advantages are two-fold: first it'll reduce the weight by about 60% from 200g to 80g, and secondly it will be much easier to keep in hand and follow the route card by card. The drawback is obviously that if I get seriously lost or need to withdraw, I will lack of an overview.


Hardmoors 55 OL26 map slicing.
The card sizes and placements are accurate, but the route is approximate.

3. Objective

In 2008, I took 14 hours to reach Saltburn on the Hardmoors 110. Completing the Hardmoors 55 in 12 hours seems like an achievable goal, but it's not going to be easy! Here are my expected split times, based on speeds measured on the Hardmoors 110, and hoping to slow down a bit less in the second half on the Hardmoors 55.

			Split		Total		Limit	Speed
			km	time	km	clock	clock	km/h
Start	Helmsley		0	00:00	0	08:00	08:00
CP1	White Horse (Sutton Bank)	w	14.5	01:32	14.5	09:32	10:00	9.43
CP2	Osmotherley Village Hall	DB	20.9	02:30	35.4	12:02	13:00	8.32
	Lords cafe		12.1	01:34	47.5	13:37		7.68
CP4	Wainstones		4	00:32	51.5	14:09		7.47
CP5	Bloworth Crossing		8.1	01:09	59.6	15:18		7.04
CP6	Kildale Village Hall	DB	8	01:12	67.6	16:31	20:00	6.61
CP7	Roseberry Topping		9.7	01:35	77.3	18:06		6.1
CP8	Slapewath	w	7.2	01:15	84.5	19:22		5.72
CP9	Guisborough Cricket Club		4.1	00:44	88.6	20:06	23:00	5.5

Ultra mapping

I've noticed a few peanut butter cravings after long runs recently.

In terms of energy-to-weight ratio, it would make a lot of sense. Indeed, all commercial gels are based on carbohydrates, which provide 4 KCal/gram. This ratio is fairly constant across the main carbohydrate sources: glucose, fructose, maltodextrin, or potato starch. The only difference is the speed at which the energy is assimilated by the body. So the final energy-to-weight ratio of a gel depends mostly on the amount of other ingredients (mainly water) added to the carbohydrate base. The highest ratio I've found during my tests was 3.75 KCal/gram in the Honey Stinger, thanks to the little bees drying out their product with their wings. Conversely, this means that a SiS Go Gel with a poor ratio of 1.3 KCal/gram is probably composed by 2/3 of water and 1/3 of maltodextrin.

Peanut butter packs 6 KCal/gram, because of its high fat content. Typical composition includes 50% fat (9 KCal/gram), 25% proteins (4 KCal/gram like carbohydrates) and 20% carbohydrates. Peanut butter also contains salt, which might be beneficial during long/hot runs. Because protein and fat are slower to digest than carbs, that might be a suitable option for multi-days runs.

We're still far from the 9 KCal/gram you would get by stuffing your bag with lard or olive oil, but that's a step forward .

Ultra energy content

With such a name, these shoes can only be good (although there are also the "Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra GTX", which must be amazing) . I bought these trail running shoes on Saturday and tried them straight away on a 29km run the next day. That might not have been a brilliant idea, as I came back with a massive blister under my left arch. I hope this is only a first-use issue... I needed something intermediate between my road running shoes and the Flyroc in order to replace my beloved Asics Gel Orient that carried me on 3 UTMB. The Flyroc are a bit too hard on the concrete (and get worn out pretty quickly on hard surfaces). The Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra is a classic trail running shoe, pretty lightweight, without too much cushioning. As for the grip, it's not too bad on wet grass (although I was expecting a bit better), but not so good in deep mud. I can now wear the following:

• New Balance M1062 for the road and hard paths (next: Vienna Marathon)
• Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra for the easy trails (next: Cambridge Boundary Run)
• Inov8 Flyroc for the mud, technical trails and off-path (next: Hardmoors55)
• Vibram Five Fingers for the fun

Obviously, with experience and practice you can still fly downhill without the need of a massive grip, but it nevertheless makes things easier when you're tired.

Ultra Salomon XA Pro 3D

Qualificative points required to enter the UTMB over the ages:

• 2003 and 2004: "free" entry
• 2005 and 2006: fully booked
• 2007: 1 point *
• 2008: 2 points (2 or 1+1)
• 2009: 4 points with maximum one 1-point race (4 or 3+1 or 2+2)
• 2010: 4 points in 2 races maximum (4 or 3+1 or 2+2)
• 2011: 5 points in 2 races maximum (4+1 or 3+2)

Ultra progression

(*) the term "point" was not used, but the qualifying races at the time would be considered as worth 1 point by nowadays standards.

The week-end before last I ran the first leg of the Hyde Park Relays, as part of the team "Baton Tossers". I managed a 19.25 time on the 5.164km loop. This is not too bad given my current general lack of serious training, especially at high speed/short distance. This is the shortest race I've run since my first ever race more than 10 years ago. Using the Riegel prediction formula, that would give me a marathon time of ... 2:59:58! I guess I can keep training.

Not so ultra.

PS: quite a few people, like here, say that the formula means that the "speed declines by around 6% when the distance doubles". I cannot really agree with that. Consider Riegel's formula t2=t1*(d2/d1)^1.06, and assuming d2=2*d1, then t2=t1*2^1.06. The speed v2=d2/t2=(2*d1)/(t1*2^1.06)=v1*2^-0.06=~v1*0.96. That is a reduction of speed of 4%, not 6%. Am I missing something here?

As I start to plan more carefully the Thames Source Quest (TSQ), I'm wondering what approach to take in terms of support. Interesting definitions of 'unsupported' are provided on trailrunningsoul.com [1] and Fastest Known Time [2]. The main disagreement seems to be related to water supply.

Unsupported
This really means no external support at all from any human being and therefore carrying all the supplies the whole way, except what can be obtained from natural sources. Water should only be obtained from natural sources according to [2], but could be supplied externally according to [1]. That said, the definition of a 'natural source' of water is not as obvious as it seems. If a spring in the mountains is natural and a free tap next to a river lock is not, what about a pipe draining the water out of a spring? I would say natural, but I can understand some would disagree. Food could potentially be harvested from natural sources too [1].
[1] prohibits the usage of phone calls, but surprisingly reckons that being offered a shelter and water is acceptable. The position of [1] here lacks a bit of coherence and seems biased towards classifying the Marathon des Sables as unsupported, which I cannot agree with. With all due respect to the toughness of this race, I can hardly consider unsupported an event where tents, water and medical crew are waiting for you every night.
Furthermore, a valid issue pointed out by [1] is how to react to local by-passers offering water, food, shelter or whatever else. If would be rude to refuse...

Self-supported
This means that no support team is following the runner. However, it is possible to grab whatever is on the way, including buying in stores or hide supplies in advance [2] (as at least one team did during the PTL last year). This is what I've done (for the water only) during my solo London to Brighton run, and this is also the spirit of the PTL. Because nothing is black and white, [1] also differentiates between several forms of self-support, the most permissive one including a crew following loosely the runner. I'm not too interested in that, so I won't discuss it in more details.

Supported
A team is following the runner the whole way to provide food, drink, spare clothing and all other needs.

As a summary, I would consider 'unsupported' the following:

• Water can be obtained from natural sources only, like [2].
• Food must be carried or obtained from natural sources only, like [1].
• Shelter must be carried (tent) or natural shelters must be used.
• Phone calls are prohibited as they offer mental support, but sending out SMS about your progress is acceptable... as long as you don't read the answers .

In one sentence: take everything you want from the nature and give back everything you want to whomever you want. Now, this is only my definition. I'm not saying I'm going to run the TSQ unsupported as yet .

Open for debate.

Ultra unsupported

A few days ago, Mommas brought to my attention an article questioning the use of cushioned running shoes on BBC News. This was actually a summary of some research carried out at Harvard. The original article by Lieberman et al., entitled "Foot strike patterns and collision forces in habitually barefoot versus shod runners", is now published in the prestigious scientific magazine Nature. The authors recorded the ground reaction force of different groups of people, essentially some habitually shod, some never shod, and others habitually shod but running barefoot (eg. Vibram Five Finger users). The experiment confirmed that rear-foot strike, commonly adopted by modern shod runners, is only made bearable by the highly cushion shoe heels dissipating most of the ground force reaction impact. Barefoot runners will prefer mid- of fore-foot strikes, using their arches and ankles (through their calves) to avoid a hard landing, and potentially restoring the reaction force energy later through a spring-like effect.

Although most conclusions are already known to people showing interest in barefoot running, it is nice to see that a very high-profile rigorously scientific article eventually points out that:

The incidence of [repetitive stress] injuries has remained considerable for 30 years despite technological advancements that provide more cushioning and motion control in shoes designed for heel-toe running.

Ultra Nature.

I've received my Wonde Proud SPT10 and SPT100 last week. These two devices, or personal trackers, are not much more than a GPS and a mobile phone bundled together. They can be programmed to send out GPS positions every time or distance interval through SMS or GPRS. Indeed, I'm actually writing a software platform for real-time runners tracking. More on that later!

Ultra tracking

I'm now registered to the following events:

• Hyde Park Relays (13/02) 5km for the fun.
• Cambridge Boundary Run (07/03) a potentially muddy marathon.
• Hardmoors 55 (20/03) - 55 miles in the North Yorkshire Moors: the first half of the Hardmoors 110. First edition - over 40 entries to date.
• Vienna City Marathon (18/04) - maybe running a sightjogging(c).
• La Petite Trotte à Léon (PTL) (24/08) - circa 240km +20,000m around the Mont-Blanc, teamed up with Leo, as "Two Chameleons". 72 teams registered without a draw this year.

Plus these two offs:

• Thames Source Quest (TSQ) (May) - 296km along the Thames from the Thames Barrier to its source. A long-thought personal project.
• Paddy Buckley Round (PBR) (July) - 104km +8,700m on harsh terrain in North Wales.

Ultra start of the year!

Check out Tomo's report and advice. Looks really promising to me!

Ultra winter.