The beauty of nature and running

Now and again I go for a run and the beauty of the natural world can be awe-inspiring. I’m very lucky where I live because of the Malvern Hills, a wonderful range of hills in the English counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and a small area of northern Gloucestershire. The highest summit of the hills affords a panorama of the Severn valley with the hills of Herefordshire and the Welsh mountains, parts of thirteen counties, the Bristol Channel, and the cathedrals of Worcester, Gloucester and Hereford. Although the highest point of the hills (Worcestershire Beacon) is only 425 meters (1,394 ft) above sea level, there are some decent climbs, all of which I can run without the need to resort to power hiking. The weather the past couple of days has seen blue skies, bright sun and zero degree temperatures, one of my favorite weather conditions. There has also been a low lying mist at ground level, so as you could imagine the views from the top of the hills have been magical. Yesterday I went for a 4 hour run, and throughout the whole time I was up there the whole of the world looked as though it was covered in a thick blanket of white marshmallow!
A week ago I managed to get out onto the Cotswold Way for a 15 mile out and back run starting from Broadway Tower. There were gale force winds and horizontal rain attacking from all sides, it was fantastic! The next couple of days I will be down in Berkshire, so will get the chance to hit the Thames Path, The Ridgeway and some of the Chiltern Way, can’t wait!

Everything has appeared to come together over the past couple of weeks. I’m running well and really enjoying it. Since going minimalist, my training has been patchy at best, so it’s really good to get some consistency in. I don’t have any races planned until the new year so I’m hoping to knuckle down and get some really quality winter training under my belt. Hell yeah…..

Endurance Life CTS Dorset and Beachy Head Marathons

Well, it’s taken me a while to get my arse into gear and write a report for my latest races…so long in fact that it’s a 2 for 1 offer!

Endurance Life CTS Dorset, 16/Oct/2010, Ascent 5,176 ft

During September and up until the race, my training had been pretty poor to say the least. About 12 months ago during a non-running activity I suffered a bit of a knee injury. Short version, my left leg went one way and my patella went the other! This injury stopped me running for about 4 weeks, and when I did start running again, it “niggled” for a few months after. Then, whenever I tripped or fell over on the odd occasion, I would surely enough always land on my left knee and it would flare up. Eventually it dissipated and I forgot all about it, that was until I went out for a leisurely 16 mile run. About 14 miles in my knee just flared up. No warning, nothing. I hobbled the last 2 miles home.
So, throughout September and the beginning of October, I was restrained to running 3 times a week at a very leisurely pace.

So, race day arrives and my initial plan is simply to run, with no expectations and see how I go. This would ordinarily be quite difficult because of my competitiveness, which was made even more difficult when I looked at the entrants list to find my number. Scrolling through the names I notice Jez Bragg, arguably the best ultrarunner in the UK and a world class athlete. For my competitive personality, this was too good of an opportunity to really test myself, so I get in the mindset of running hard. My race plan now was simply to see how long I could keep up with Jez (turned out not long!).

The race starts and we’re off along a 2-3 mile stretch of shingle beach, Jez is leading and I’m trailing about 5 metres behind. We eventually come to the end of the beach and are greeted by some vertical steps, which we duly climb. At the top, Jez starts stretching his lead until we hit a grass field. Unfortunately, he runs towards the wrong side of the field and myself and a couple of runners call him back. At this point I’ve been caught up by two other runners, one of which I’ve run with before, Nathan Montague. Nathan is a very talented runner and I expect to hear great things from him in the future. Definitely a name to watch out for.

Jez catches up with the three of us within a couple of miles, and the three of them run pretty much side to side while I run a couple of metres behind. My plan now is to keep them within eyeshot and hope I have the strength to hit the last 6 miles or so pretty hard.
We all hit the first 2 stations within seconds of each other and I’m feeling pretty comfortable. I’m putting effort in, but not anything exceeding my usual racing effort. Then at around mile 15, my legs start to feel really heavy and I really have to put an effort in just to keep moving. My knee feels a little tight and there’s a bit of pain, but not bad enough to impede me that much. A couple of more miles in and I somehow manage to crack my knee (yes, the left one) while climbing over one of the many stiles. I immediately feel nauseous, but struggle on. There’s not too much pain, but I find the next couple of miles extremely difficult. I’m feeling extremely sluggish and I’ve allowed negative thoughts into my mind. I would like to say that I gave my self a kick up the arse and just got on with it and enjoyed the fine views that the Dorset coast has to offer, but I didn’t. The final 10 miles or so felt like hell, and I’m simply happy just to finish. I manage to hold on to forth place, over 20 minutes behind 3rd place and about 24 minutes behind eventual winner Jez.

Looking back, I really did expect far too much. Putting that extra pressure on myself, lead to my self doubt and negative thoughts. It spoilt the race for me, which is a shame because the route and location is pretty stunning.

Beachy Head Marathon, 23/Oct/2010

A week later and I’m standing at the start line of yet another trail marathon. Following my last race, I decide take this one completely relaxed, enjoy the run and put no expectation on myself.
I notice at the start, Stuart Mills, yet another very talented ultrarunner and winner of the Lakeland 100 this year, and winner of the Beachy Head on numerous occasions.
The race starts and around 1700 runners set off straight up a 100+ metre climb to Beachy Head. I get to the top and realise I’m around 5th place, running comfortably. Stuart is running ahead with two other guys and I pay little attention to it. I’m here to enjoy myself today!
I get to the first station around the 8.8 mile mark and am surprised to find myself in 6th position. I leave the station in high spirits and continue onwards and within a couple of miles I notice I’m gaining ground on 5th place and it feels pretty good. I’m really enjoying the run and feel strong, and I eventually catching him on a climb. We chat briefly before I move onwards. I now find myself running behind 4th and think I’m gaining on him as well. I hadn’t seen the first three runners since the first couple of miles, and didn’t think I would again. But, after about 13 miles I notice 3rd position just ahead of 4th, who’s just ahead of me. The guy in 3rd looks like he’s slowing down quite a lot and soon enough I pass 4th and 3rd within a couple of minutes of each other. As I catch up with the runner in 3rd, we briefly chat and he mentions he hasn’t seen 1st of 2nd for quite a few miles. This information doesn’t bother me too much. I didn’t expect to be in this position in any case. So, I plunge on and enjoy myself. The course is fantastic, running through open fields, woodland paths, coastal paths and some pretty meaty climbs. The weather has also turned out nice, the sun shining high in the sky. A beautiful day for a run along the coast. I get to 20 miles in and I arrive at the infamous Seven Sisters, a range of short steep climbs along the coast. I’m starting to feel quite tired now but there’s no way I’m giving up on 3rd without a fight! I battle over the Sisters and low and behold I can see the 2nd place runner ahead of me. Unfortunately, he’s about a mile in front of me with only a couple of miles left, but looks tired. Can I catch up with him? Well…….no! I reach the last climb up to Beachy Head and he’s nowhere to be seen. There’s only the short descent back down to the start/finish and I cross the line in 3rd, three minutes behind 2nd but a long 10 minutes behind winner Stuart Mills.

I really enjoyed the whole experience of the Beachy Head, and although I was nervous about my knee at the start, running 2 marathons a week apart appears to have worked magic on it! Since then and after 1 rest day, my training has been going well. I feel a lot stronger and have been lucky to run everyday. Here’s to some good running…………………………………………

My venture into minimalist running (part 2: The Transition)

Injury wasn’t the only reason I was looking into minimalist running. For me, running is a type of meditation, a way of getting away from all the “hustle and bustle” of modern living. It’s a way exploring oneself and the environment in which one lives in. Running is simple and uncomplicated and for me it is important that I keep it that way to really enjoy and get the most out of running. I believe that my attempt to improve my performance by wearing “modern” running shoes with all their over cushioning and pronation technology, using a GPS watch to record every single detail and drinking the latest “recovery” drinks, overcomplicated things and removed me from the simplistic art of running. I needed to “reconnect” with my body and the environment around me. So all my running shoes went to the back of my cupboard, my GPS watch went to someone else and protein drinks went in the bin.

Six weeks passed and I’m itching to get back out on the road. During this recovery time I put a lot of effort into researching barefoot/minimalist running and felt confident that with patience and discipline I would be able to change my running form for the better. I also purchased a pair of Vibram Five Fingers KSO, which is essentially a “foot glove”. I would like to say that I was brave enough to go completely barefoot, but I’ve personally found that a certain amount of protection is essential (more on this later).

First words of warning! When you first go for a run without shoes it feels great! Why do I issue a warning if it feels this good? Simply because of this. You will want to run as fast as you can for as long as you can. The problem and danger with this is that although you may be used to running fast and for a considerable distance, your feet, ankle and legs will not! It will take time for all the muscles in the feet, ankles and legs to develop to minimalist running. After my first run, my calves were tight and my feet were sore. I had to take 3 days off running!
I really found it difficult at first to reduce my mileage and speed so dramatically. I was used to running around 100+ miles a week, ranging from 6 min/miles to 8 min/mile depending on distance. I was now running 3 miles, 3 times a week at a very conservative pace! Mentally, it was very tough, but I understood that I it was going to take time and that I was essentially starting from scratch. I very slowly built up mileage and my pace started to increase, now and again I would go too far or too fast but my body would tell me if this was the case. If the soles of my feet started to feel like they were burning or my calves were screaming with pain, I knew I had to stop, I was pushing it too soon. I would rest until my feet and legs completely recovered before I ran again. A couple of months had passed and the cross-country season came around. Most of the races are around 5-6 miles and I had built up to around that distance so felt confident I could take part. I needed a pair of shoes though! The courses are mostly mud and grass but with sections of tarmac. Although my VFF KSO’s were great on hard surfaces, on wet grass and mud there was no grip so I would have to slow my pace dramatically to combat the lack of traction. Obviously this isn’t ideal under race conditions so I start scrawling the internet for “barefoot” running shoes (yes, a contradiction in terms) that have grip which can handle UK terrain. After not much luck, I eventually came across inov-8. I already had a couple of pairs of their shoes, but now found them too built up and heavy. I also had an issue with the last (fit) that they use with their shoe range. The inov-8 design philosophy is to design footwear around the natural function of the foot. I had a problem with this. How can inov-8 say they design footwear around the natural function of the foot when none of their shoes are shaped like a human foot? I also had issue with the fact that inov-8 shoes had far too much cushioning. So, to vent my anger and confusion I sent an email to someone at inov-8 stating that I believed that although their philosophy was sound, their shoes were not. Guy from Inov-8 got back to me, sent me a pair of the newly released x-Talon 212 and a friendship was born. Now and again I get sent a pair of shoes, which I “test” and give feedback. Although inov-8 has not produced what I would call the perfect minimalist multi-terrain shoe, they’re going in the right direction and they’re getting close…anyway, back to the story.

A couple of months have passed now and my feet and legs have gotten stronger. Everything about the way I run is changing, my stride is relaxed, my cadence is increasing and my foot strike is below my centre of gravity (pre-minimalist running my foot would land on its heel a foot in front of my body). Most importantly I’m not picking up any of my former injuries, I’m really enjoying running and to cap it all I’m picking up pb’s in both the 10k and half marathon distance (I’m wearing racing flats at this point). Within 6 months of starting my transition I work up to running a trail marathon, then pretty much 12 months from the date I fractured my foot, I’m taking part in my first ultra. I wear some inov-8 f-lite 230’s (very light and flexible, still have issues with width though) and 44 miles later I finish second. Then, with the endorphins still pumping around my body I enter the Lakeland 100. To make things even more exciting, inov-8 send me a pair of Bare-Grip 200 (a new fell shoe with NO cushioning, NO midsole and NO differential) a couple of days before the start. I consider the fact that it may be to soon to run over 100 miles wearing minimalist shoes, but I had made a commitment and I was feeling pretty good so went for it. Turned out it went pretty well.

So…that’s pretty much the simple version of my transition to minimalist running. Below of some questions that I think people would ask and some other pointers I’ve picked up from my own experience.

Why not commit to running totally barefoot?

To be completely honest, I can run faster when I’m wearing shoes. I can run totally barefoot, and I often do for a mile or 2 after a training run. I can run barefoot on most terrain, but have to slow down a lot when running over technical, rough terrain. Obviously this is counterproductive to running fast, so I look for shoes that offer just enough “protection” for the environment I’m running in. I see barefoot running as a training tool to improve technique and increase strength in my feet and legs. It also allows me to feel closer to the environment I’m running in.

What did I do to maintain some fitness while injured?

Cross-trained! I discovered Octathalon – a fantastic cross-training fitness challenge. It is now a stable diet in my training regime. I try to do it at least 3 times a week in addition to my running.

Some simple advice if you’re thinking of trying barefoot/minimalist running.

Start SLOW and build up very very slowly. Take your time and enjoy yourself. Don’t follow exactly what you read or hear about barefoot/minimalist running. You will discover what works best for you.