Life is an ultramarathon

The Ironman is now behind me and I'm turning my mind towards the Hardmoors 110. Whilst I'm resting physically, I'm already preparing for the race. I bought the Cleveland Way Footprint map, but the copyright dates back from 1991, so I'm not sure how accurate it is...

I've also traced the path on Memory Map, based on more recent Ordnance Survey information. That provides an insight on the ascent. Not that I didn't believe Jon when he told me it was about 6,000m in total, but I wanted to see its distribution along the path. The total ascent is about 5,700m... Not bad for a path that doesn't go much higher than 400m! This is because the path goes continuously up and down the hills. I'll have to focus my training on "quick" successions of up and downhill sections in order to be able to restart easily after each ascent.


Distances in miles as provided by the Hardmoors 110 roadbook (PDF).
Elevation in meters given by Memory Map, accuracy depends on hand-drawn trace.
Click to enlarge.

As for the shoes, the Asic Gel Orient that carried me on my first UTMB start to show some tiredness signs. I'm going to replace them soon. I'm thinking about the Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra. Any suggestions?

Ultra unexpected ascent.

Some people including myself, suggested that ultrarunning is some sort of extension to hiking. Just as if hikers progressively build up their walking pace and end up running. I think this is actually only partly true. It depends how and why you like hiking.

The hare

I noticed that during most of my hiking trips, I try to see as much scenery and attractive features as possible in the given time. This leads to walk fast, climb up to the summits and dive down to the gorges and lakes. There are clear spatial and temporal objectives, set more or less consciously. I want to climb up this mountain, I want to sleep at this lake tonight, etc ... To some extend, this is fairly similar to race conditions, where I want to pass this checkpoint at that time, etc ... Everything is planned beforehand and I'm adrenalin-driven towards a set of objectives. I'm not running, but I'm already a hare in my mind.

The tortoise

Another way to hike is not to bother too much about location and time. Just walk and see. Change plans on the way. Add extra detours. Rest somewhere for sometimes. This approach is advocated by many hiking guide books. Believe it or not, this happens to me as well. When I'm depressed and I don't have the mental energy to chase after an objective. Or when I see the end of a multi-day hike approaching and I don't want to rush it anymore, to stay longer. Being the tortoise is not as easy as might look. Because less planning also means more uncertainty that could potentially lead to stress if not well handled.

The tortoise approach is not reserved to hikers, though. Many non-competitive ultra-runners are also tortoises in their mind. This typically happens when you don't have a time objective in mind and want to enjoy the scenery. The race is there, but not considered as such. It's an aid to the run (water stations, route marking, massages, ...) and a nice way to meet like-minded people. It's worth noticing that many hares on the UTMB reduce this event exclusively to a competition and suggest tortoises to run around the Mont-Blanc at another date if they're not happy with it. They completely miss the point and just don't see that the event is much more than a race.
Some event organisers already caught this trend. Many ultra-races are open to tortoises, with a fairly long time limit. Even some marathons now welcome walkers by extending the time limit to 8 hours.

Being hare or tortoise is not so much a matter of physical capabilities in the end, it's mostly a mental state. Hares can hike and tortoises run.


Tortoise and hare in summer 2005

The hare's need for symbols

Whether it's hiking or running, the hare approach often needs strong symbols. Such symbols push people forward by supporting and augmenting the objectives. They add extra motivation on adrenalin-driven races and create virtual objectives on hiking paths. They could be for example running from a city to another, cross a mountain or follow a river. These symbols are one of the reason why races such as the UTMB became so popular so fast: around the highest mountain in Europe, across 3 countries... These same symbols drove lots of attention and admiration to the "Tour du Mont-Blanc" long-distance hiking path before the race was first organised. For example it was described on TF1 (a French populist TV channel) as one of the most famous and hardest hiking path. This is clearly not true. While it's not an easy path, several French long-distance hiking paths are technically harder (GR54 and GR20 to give only 2 names), not even considering the rest of the world... This shows how the symbols can augment the physical reality of a hike or a run in the hare's mind.

A symbol I quite like is to join two places with my feet. Modern transportation methods are more or less a form of teleportation, as you are very little involved in the navigation and certainly not immersed in the environment. And you miss a lot. The world is not continuous anymore, but made of a set of discrete points. Running or hiking makes you feel like you reconnect these points, and gives a very good feeling of belonging to this continuous space. While running from London to Brighton for example, I've seen evey meter of ground in between the two cities. Note that this also applies to smaller scales; for example walking in cities instead of taking the tube.

The tortoise's need for simplicity

On the other hand, the tortoise seeks for the simplicity of the journey. Running and walking are simple activities by essence. Simplicity can mean various things depending on the context and person. Hiking with a tent makes things easier, as you are free to sleep wherever you want, thus reducing the need for planning and reaching objectives. Sleeping in refuges also simplifies things, as there is less equipment to carry and you get to meet more people.

The best of both world

And often hikers/runners are tempted by both the hare and the tortoise. I've been thinking of running the whole length of the Thames (300km) in one leg. This is the most extreme option (at one end of the scale) that would probably take between 40 and 50 hours. In order to see more landscape and therefore run during daylight only, I've also thought about splitting the journey into 3 consecutive running days of about 100km. This is a bit of a softer option. But it still involves major milestones and fair daily mileage. It's still a hare option. Lately, and somehow strangely, I've been thinking seriously about walking along the Thames following a day-to-day basis, without real plan. Without really knowing where and how to sleep the next night. My new very-waterproof clothing may have helped this thought, as it would allow to sleep outside anywhere by virtually any weather and without any further equipment (such as sleeping bag and tent) that requires more careful planning.
Note that running in the rain is often perceived as a form of escape: the hare seeks the finish line to get a hot shower. Hiking in the rain shouldn't be seen as an escape. The tortoise feels comfortable in the rain. The hare mentally projects himself towards the next checkpoint whereas the tortoise enjoys the current moment.

The same person can clearly be hare or the tortoise or anything in between at a given time. Now, is it possible to become simultaneously the hare and the tortoise? Get the best of both worlds? I'm actively looking after that. I don't think I've reached this stage yet. This probably requires a bit more experience too ...

Ultra confused.

That's it. My running plans are fairly set for the year 2008, as I've registered for the following events:

• Tough Guy (27^th January) intense and muddy winter assault course (see also this entry)
• Nice Ironman (22^nd June) 3.8km swimming, 180km cycling, 42.2km running around Nice (see also these entries)
• Hardmoors 110 (26^th to 28^th September) 110 miles cross-country run in the North Yorkshire Moors (see also this entry)
• Dublin Marathon (27^th October) a nice way of finishing the year, with a hope to get closer to 3h.

It's not too far from what was planned about 4 months ago. I hope everything will go well, and I wish my PhD was as well planned ...

Ultra plans.

Jon is organising a brand new 110-miles ultra trail on the Cleveland Way, crossing through the North Yorkshire Moors and then following the coastline. I'm quite tempted to join in, as it would remind me some days out around Hull (Scarborough, Rievaulx, ...). The only issue for me is that you need a support crew.
Official website for more information: http://www.hardmoors110.co.uk.

Ultra first Hardmoors 110.

I think it's now time to decide what will be the main sporting events of my year 2008. I've got some fairly well defined plans but I also feel undecisive about others. I'll give a confidence index to all these ideas, and we'll see by the end of 2008 whether I was correct or not...

As previously argued I won't run the UTMB again in 2008 - confidence: 99%.

The main ideas so far are the following:

• the CCC (100km in 2008?) or the potentially new race starting from Champex - confidence: 5%.
• a marathon on 1^st January, starting at midnight. How cool would that be to start the year by a night marathon ? I see it quite friendly and not too fast. This idea has already been implemented, for example by the Neujahrmarathon. Champagne available at aid stations - confidence: 10%.
• a long ultra in Spring:
  • the Grand Union Canal Race - 233km from Birmingham to London - confidence: 10%.
  • OR the Pennine 100 miles, a trail involving night navigation - confidence: 20%.
  • OR the full Thames Path OFF (most likely solo and without assistance) - 295km from Sea to Source - confidence: 30%.
• the Dublin Marathon in October to close the season (I could nearly do it this Automn actually ...) - confidence: 40%.
• the Nice Ironman (June) OR the UK Ironman (August) - 3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.195km run - confidence: 70%.
• I'm registered for Tough Guy (c) at the end of January (if they eventually send me my "passport" back) - confidence: 99%.

The long ultra and the Ironman being obviously the most important, I may decide not to do both. In this case I'd replace the unselected event by a (relatively short) 50 to 100km trail.

More generally, I'd like to enter more (small) races for the fun.

Ultra plans.

Ultrafondus, the French ultrarunners association, running a monthly paper and a website, started a survey on ultrarunners mental preparation. After replying to this survey, I compiled and translated some of the questions.

• What is mental preparation?
  Mostly 3 things: The capacity of prior projection into the race, the relaxation just before the race and the lucidity during.
• What is the proportion of mental preparation in a performance objective?
  It's quite hard to estimate, because mental preparation can be done at any time, in the office, in the tube, before sleeping... I would say roughly about 50%. I guess this proportion increases when the objective comes close.
• Do you do a specific mental training?
  No, training comes by itself. It's often an advantage, but sometimes a problem as it may not happen (see question on improvement).
• What kind of training do you do precisely?
  Mostly imaginary conditioning. As an easy start, I simply imagine the route using maps and elevation profiles, as well as pictures and videos. Then I add the hardest possible conditions. For the UTMB for example, I imagined the snow, wind, hail, cold, mud, as well personal conditions such as cramps and hypoglycemia. Reports and stories about the 2003 edition help ... I try to visualise that as precisely as possible, up to a point I can actually feel the same as during the race. I try to see how I could deal with it. Actually it's fairly tiring. It gives the impression that these conditions are known and helps to make them less alarming.
  I also try to convince myself of a couple of strategical points beforehand, for example not to suddenly withdraw, but at least try to walk for a few hours and decide afterwards.
• What could help you to develop mental skills?
  Maybe a team mental training could help, just as for the physical bit.
• What techniques do you mostly use during the race?
  When it's not going so well, think about something else, look at the landscape, try to cheer up with simple things such as a glass of water. Try to listen to your body in a positive way to make the pain(s) less ... painful.
  When it's going well, focus on the stride while trying to keep optimistic. Or look at the landscape anyway
• How did you get your mental skills?
  I didn't really mean it. Hiking in hard conditions, fear of the UTMB, internet forums...
• What mental skill would you need while racing?
  The lucidity in hard times.
• What is your best mental skill?
  The race previsualisation.
• What mental skill do you need to improve the most?
  It seems that my mental preparation is mostly linked to a sort of fear of the race. The mental preparation then comes by itself, as it helps to demystify the objective and I feel better afterwards. So no fear means no preparation... And then I'm in trouble when I don't take an ultra seriously enough. For exemple, once a race has been run and then known (eg. UTMB 2005), it will look a priori easy the next year. Follows a natural laziness. I should then force myself to work on mental preparation depending on the objective and not on the fear of this objective.
• What is the advantage of a mentally performant runner compared to others?
  In ultramarathons, there are often harder moments, not to say always. The numerous overtaking runners then make you mental drop quite badly. The tiredness helping, it's quite easy to withdraw at the next water station. A mentally performant runner will ignore the DNF sirenes and will simply slow down a bit until it gets better. Probably less stress as well, and therefore a better sleep before the race.

Ultra survey.

All three today

Following some weird chest pressure after the 3 Forts Marathon, I've stopped running for 2 weeks. I've started again this morning with a gentle run around Hyde Park under the sun. I'll see how I feel with increasing distances.

A while ago, I've bought a road bike in order to train for long distance training whilst keeping my knees shock-free. I've never used it much, because in London it's a bit of a pain... Lately I found the solution: take the train at the nearest station (West Brompton) to get out of London quickly. On Sunday morning I took the train to Milton, a small village South of Guildford and did a nice 66km ride on small countryside roads near the North Downs. I know some of you will say that for such a short distance, there's no real need to take a bike... Although it's mostly flat, there were many short but steep ascents on the way. Also some of these small lanes have big holes that you'd better avoid while bombing down on a road bike...

After 6 months off, I eventually managed to get motivated enough for a short swim this afternoon.

As I cycled in this morning, I can say I've done a triathlon today...

Ultra gentle restart.

We're in mid-February, the relative rest period is over and it's time to devise a more detailed training plan for the next 6 months.

Overlall, great care will be taken to follow my feelings in order to avoid over-training, injuries and to keep the pleasure going. I know that this UTMB will be much more a matter of staying injury-free than a brute force issue. A well-trained mind can always compensate a lack of strength, forget gentle pain, but can't fix a serious injury.

As mentioned earlier, there will be three main phases in this training plan: speed, endurance and hill training. However, these phases won't be disjoint and will overlap in a continuous manner. The aim is to combine a fair base speed with a good endurance factor.

• Speed training - Feb, March, April
  Last year, as I couldn't train as much as I wished, I focused mostly on long runs, which decreased my base speed. This may also have affected the strength of my muscles and led to the tendinitis.
  I've now gently started speed training again and I'm already a bit faster than I used to be a year ago (10km in 43min lately). More work is necessary. Since the New Year, I've mostly ran distances between 10 and 13km. Sometimes gentle, sometimes fast, and sometimes with intervals. As for the latter, after 5km warming up, I push a 20 to 30 seconds sprint 5 times during the following 5km. When I feel good, I need to emphasize more on that sort of runs to increase my base speed.
  With this training, good feelings are back on short distance, so is the appetite (*), and unfortunately so is the kind of irritability while not running for 2 days in a row...
• Endurance training - April, May, June, July
  My endurance factor has never been very good and I have to work on it. It's OK up to a half-marathon distance, but it decreases quickly beyond that distance. I can run the marathon (42km) at 12km/h, but London-Guildford (60km) at 10km/h and London-Brighton (90km) at 9km/h.
  One of the long distance will be run on the 3 Forts Marathon which is a 27 miles race (43.5km) in the hills with 1050m of ascent. This kind of race is sometimes referred to as a "marathon+". This race will also kick off my hill training.
• Hill training - May, June, July
  As I mentionned earlier, I'll need at least 3 serious sessions in the hills, in Wales or in Lake District and maybe an overnight run (just for the fun). They could be between 40 and 60km. A long distance hike in serious mountains at the beginning of the summer would complete the training.

Ultra careful not to get injured.

(*) I'm eating lots of Nutella(c) sandwitches during the day, I didn't dare to take my first UK-bought Munster cheese ... too smelly.

As expected, it was snowing this morning (1 to 3cm on the ground). I love the gentle cushionning provided by the fresh snow. London is great for that: pavements are not gritted, even on the bridges, so the snow stays longer. For the first time in years I wore a long-sleeves T-shirt on a short distance run. They're usually reserved for negative temperature or ultras. This therefore was worth a post...

Also, as forecasted by Fred, the transportation seems to be in a real mess this morning. 3/5 airports closed, lots of delays and cancelations on the trains. Many schools are closed and radio stations advise to drive only if really necessary...
Let's face it guys, London's latitude is about 51°30' (ie. closer to the North Pole than the Equator), and we're the 8th February (ie. in the middle of the winter), snow falls are to be expected. Signal failures and broken down trains should follow their usual rate...

Ultra discovery.

I've been quite surprised and impressed last week-end by the number of trail runners we met while hiking in Lake District. I think we saw about 20 to 30 runners in less than 24 hours. It was clear to me that running in Hyde Park, an I-pod on an arm-strap matching the brand new running T-shirt was a fashionable thing to do. Is it becoming has-been already ? Is trail-running the new fashion ? Have your say !

Ultra fashion.