National Silver - British 100km Road Championships 2016

"W" for Wales, Weston and Wrexham AC.

On Easter Sunday 2016 I got silver in the British 100km Road Championships 2016 at Perth, Scotland. It was 42 laps (each 2.4km long); measured by IAAF. The race also incorporated the Anglo Celtic Plate which I was part of the Welsh team.

Here is a bit of history on the ACP if you're interested. 
Link (roll over me to see where I go) 

I was very pleased with how consistently paced I was.

Fuel. 
One of the main things people are interested in is the nutrition. If you're one of them then here's roughly what I ate. It's not perfect or necessary right:

Evening dinner the night before: Ate early, tinned mackeral, chicken wings, chips. 

On the day
Breakfast 
Coconut flour mixed with rice crispies and water, Cashew Nut Butter. Water. 

----------------
Whilst running
Miles 1-10
Water, 1/2 banana, savoury baby food in a pouch, 
Miles 10-30, Water with salt tablet in, dark chocolate, nuts.
Miles 30-40 Pain killers (Ibuprofen) savoury baby food pouch
Miles 40-60 Coke, jelly babies, 1/2 banana. Paracetamol 
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In hind sight I should have drank more. In total it was only 1.5 litres. The problem was that it was cold and it was hurting my tummy to drink. 

Mental 
The next question I'm often asked about these long races is to do with the mental aspect. 
What do you think about?
How do you switch off the desire to stop?
How do you cope with the pain? 
etc. 

I've read up about this and have quite a few tricks that work for me, simple things like: 
Remember you can only change what you can control (what food, what water I've had, what pace I'm doing, etc). Since you can't change other things don think about them. 
Thinking about time and distance could only be thought about when I was in a good mood as it drained me too much. I tended to be in a better state about 10 mins after drinking or eating. Thinking about my pace was necessary to stay in the "game" but I preferred to think about things OUTSIDE of the self. Thinking inside, for me, focusses on me and my pain and what I need to do to endure; it's hard. 
The other times, when I didn't need to think about the race/times/distance was fun; in a strange way. I focussed outside of the self. For example, 
- counting the park benches on the looped course in the park for great (32 of them) and I even named some of them. 
- counting the bins (8 or 9)
- encouraging people I lapped (keep smiling, you're looking strong etc)
- how are other people doing
- any funny babies or dogs 

A good book, for those interested in Sports Mentality, is 
"Elite Minds" by Dr. Stan Beecham.

The best parts of the day were seeing my support team Mike Robbins and Arwel Lewis on each lap. These two guys were there all day recording the times and handing me my food and drink. They were really supportive and I could see the excitement on their faces when I was working up the field in the final 10 laps.

I couldn't fault the organisation of the event one bit. Many thanks to all the volunteers on the day. 

Here are my splits for the day: 

Split Name
Time
Time From Prev Leg
L 1 00:10:18 00:10:18
L 2 00:20:31 00:10:12
L 3 00:30:42 00:10:11
L 4 00:40:51 00:10:09
L 5 00:50:51 00:09:59
L 6 01:01:08 00:10:17
L 7 01:11:01 00:09:52
L 8 01:20:58 00:09:57
L 9 01:30:59 00:10:00
L 10 01:41:02 00:10:03
L 11 01:51:25 00:10:22
L 12 02:01:42 00:10:17
L 13 02:11:46 00:10:03
L 14 02:21:55 00:10:09
L 15 02:31:55 00:09:59
L 16 02:42:12 00:10:17
L 17 02:52:34 00:10:21
L 18 03:02:54 00:10:20
L 19 03:13:09 00:10:14
L 20 03:23:30 00:10:21
L 21 03:34:04 00:10:33
L 22 03:44:14 00:10:10
L 23 03:54:15 00:10:00
L 24 04:04:14 00:09:58
L 25 04:14:13 00:09:59
L 26 04:24:31 00:10:17
L 27 04:35:04 00:10:33
L 28 04:45:43 00:10:38
L 29 04:56:25 00:10:42
L 30 05:07:01 00:10:36
L 31 05:17:15 00:10:13
L 32 05:27:38 00:10:23
L 33 05:37:59 00:10:20
L 34 05:48:38 00:10:38
L 35 05:58:57 00:10:19
L 36 06:09:24 00:10:27
L 37 06:20:02 00:10:38
L 38 06:30:36 00:10:33
L 39 06:41:09 00:10:32
L 40 06:51:28 00:10:19
L 41 07:01:38 00:10:09
L 42 07:11:47 00:10:09

Six degrees of separation in racing

Had you heard of the theory "six degrees of separation"?  Basically it states that everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world, so that a chain of "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. It was originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy in 1929 and popularized by a 1990 play written by John Guare.

Well, I wondered if runners are six or less steps away from any other runner in the world where a connection is when two people have been in the same race. 

It would be interesting to get hold of all UK race data (maybe the power of 10) to see, on average, how many steps away UK runners are from each other. For two runners who have been running for 5+ years and racing about 10 races a year the average might be suprisingly low.

What do you think?

Farndon 10k race report

83.21 WAVA today, I've got to go a bit quicker to get an 85 like Mr Rowlands my running buddy. I was 3rd in 33:10. Russ Bentley was first and Rob Samuels second, there was only 5 seconds between them. 31:30 ish they did. Kept with them for 2k. I was impressed with the event organisers. There was a lot of runners but it went smoothly. Last time I did the evnt it was low key, only about 50 runners. I think there was 300+ today. Pleased because it was my highest WAVA on an undulating course. Can't wait to do it next year.

OMM Kamleika Race Smock II Jacket Review

I've spent ages looking for a decent waterproof and breathable jacket to run in and eventually bought the OMM Kamleika Race Smock II.  I received it yesterday and so far it's everything it promised to be.

The best thing is that it's stretchy and waterproof and breathable. For me the other two best bits are thumb holes and a breast pocket for my phone.

I noticed, when researching that there weren't many close up pictures so here's some for you.

The hood fits nicely. You can still look sideways because it's cut back. It's adjustable around the back too. The little peak is cool too, it'll keep some rain out of the eyes.

 Good quality zips and the all important phone holder is watertight.

The draw cords can be pulled tight with one hand, with a bit of practice. It takes me two hands to loosen the cords. 

The peak of the hat. 

This last picture is the toggle on the back of the hood. It's handy to stop the hood from coming too far down on your face.

This is what the official OMM people say about the jacket:

Top Features of the OMM Kamleika Race Smock II

4 Way stretch

Waterproof & breathable

Soft and quiet face fabric

Extra Long double ended water resistant YKK® zip for ventilation

Tab away adjustable peaked hood

Reflective detail (sleeve, back)

Elasticated cuffs & thumb loops

Draw cord hem

Laminated chest pocket

Zip garage on all zips

Fabric Kamleika®

4 Way stretch fabric

Weight: 240g

Moel Y Gamelin Fell Race

Your running encompasses a wide range of activities. 
Steeplechase; 
Marathon;
Ultra;
Road;
Trail;
Mountains;
Verticle K; 
Fell Running; 
Obstacle;
Track;
Parkrun;
Cross Country; 
Sky Running;
Mountain Racing.

What type of runner are you? Surely not all of these? At yesterday’s Fell Race I felt like I couldn’t call myself a Fell Runner. I just didn’t have the skill or quad muscles to run downhill. 

The race itself was enjoyable because of the views and weather. 

My family came and watched, little Theo fell (no pun intended) himself about 10 mins before the race. He had blood coming out of his mouth. I felt sorry for him and also a bit sorry for my family who’d have to wait around whilst I indulged myself. 

The first 1/3 of the race is up and down. I got overtaken on the first steep down and decided at that point that I wasn’t a Fell Runner and to try and stay at the front would be dangerous. 
Then the 2nd third of the race was flatter. I could have taken a few people here but I decided just to keep the pace at a sub maximal effort so that I’d enjoy it. There was no point in racing because there were steep declines in the last third that I had to contend with. At the aid station was the legend Pete Norman who is world class in the Masters category; he’s so inspirational that I couldn’t resist stopping and having a quick chat. 

When I finished the race my Dad was there enjoying chating with the old guys because he used to be a runner himself. I went off to find my wife and children hoping they hadn’t died of boredom. When I found them they were surprisingly happy. I think this was because Theo had slept and maybe the view and fresh air had increased their spirits.

Weekends running, fast

So I tried my first fast from Thursday 7:30 pm to Friday 6:30 pm. I didn't feel hungry or any different. It made me realise that most of the time I eat because I'm fed up at work. I also drank a lot of coffee and herbal tea so I didn't loose any weight.  I might do it again next Friday.

The purpose of this, for me, was to help my body to recover from the week’s mini-injuries and joint pain caused by inflammation. Also it gives the digestive systems a rest.
Anyone else tried fasting recently?

I had a good weekend running. A classic five mile Tempo on Saturday on a grass field and then 15miles on Sunday.

Recovery week, NSNG, podcast fame!

This week I've been recovering from the Anglo Celtic Plate 100km. I've done about 40 miles. And 40 on the bike.

My legs are OK to run gently but no speed work, tempo runs or racing; a race would kill me at the moment. Luckily I've got no longer term injuries that can easily be picked up after an Ultra.

This week I got an email from British Athletics with the selection process for the World 100km Championships.  Since they sent it to me and I was 2 mins under the qualifying time I thought it would be rude not to apply. So I've sent them my CV. At least I might get onto the reserve list.

As some of you, as if anyone reads this, might know that in February I decided to cut grains out of my diet. I'd already cut out sugar, apart from whole fruits. It's called the No Sugar No Grain way of eating. I thought I'd give it a go for 10 days but I'm still doing it as I feel better. There are quite a few people in the world eating this way. I think it's just eating more vegetables and healthy foods that works. For me the NSNG gives me focus to eat more vegetables and fruit. For me, at the moment, it works so please don't judge me or call me a hypocrit if I decide to go back to eating grains. I doubt though that I'll ever eat foods with more than 10 percent sugar.

I listen to a few podcasts when running, one of them called Ru El s Running. He's also a NSNG runner and after doing the 100km Anglo Celtic Plate he congratulated me on Facebook so I said I'd go on his show to talk about it. So I did! He chatted / interviewed me Friday night (morning in his time zone). It'll be released soon.

That's all fokes.