A decision made, raise money for a children’s charity.
Now what event will inspire people?
How I came to enter and complete the
London to Brighton, Extreme Running, Trail run, 11-9-2011
Tom O’Connor, runner number 40
At the start of 2011 I decided this would be the year that I did something for charity. Having not tapped my friends, family and colleagues before, I felt there was the chance of raising a good amount of money. This was to be a once-only in terms of seeking sponsorship so I reckoned that it would need to be an event to capture imaginations and also possibly bring a bit of disbelief, and hopefully therefore achieve higher donations.
I was basically looking for a run to do, having run many organised half-marathons, plus longer distances in training, (or for ‘fun’ as some people put it) I was reasonably fit so I was starting from a fair base.
Trawling the internet it was astounding the choice of road and trail running around, some of the events just seemed frankly ridiculous when I first read about them, but then the mind starting going and the excitement started to build. My thinking was that I wanted to do something ‘proper’ and raise a good amount, so I would have to skip the usual marathon stuff and jump straight into an Ultra.
The idea grabbed me by the unmentionables as I realised it could be possible to raise something like £20,000 if I did this, much more than if it was a marathon, and bearing in mind I have never asked for sponsorship before and never would again. I also seemed to have ruled out any thoughts about the distance, that’s for the future anyway.
So while the excitement was high, and the bravery meter registered full, I look for an event to enter, it had to be something that people could read about or look up, something that they could relate to and then ‘bang’ there it was, staring me in the face, London to Brighton and mostly cross-country as well. Everyone knows that’s a decent hike even in a car, I have family in Brighton as well so there will be a reason to end up there, not sure that was a valid reason to do the run but it helped.
Right then, before I got any feeling of cold feet or started waking up sweating at the thought of what I could or couldn’t do, I told a few people, just so that I couldn’t really back out, and entered the race, job done. Well there’s a sort of commitment and it’s early January, the run is September the 11th. I planned to start raising money from July onwards, the run required loads of training and being able to show what effort had been put in by then would show I meant business, and I don’t really like it when you donate money and people don’t do the event.
After telling those few trusted souls the general feeling was that I must be mad, a couple said ‘you can’t do it’ and others ‘it’s insane’ and then there were those that knew me better, I’ll become a bit obsessive when I believe I can do or achieve something, I will do it or at least give the best I can, no backing out.
Ok, so it’s all decided then, told people, entered the run, now for the training!
There is just so much on the internet about preparing yourself for any running event, the amount on training is both informative and bewildering, it’s contradictory at times but once you have gone through a number of training regimes you get the feel for what’s right for you. I personally pulled apart a few regimes and blended them into one but a core starting point was Hal Higdon. I liked the fact that he had a number of different regimes and the mileage plan was a great start, but I also found that slightly longer runs later in the schedule were better for me every other weekend rather than time and distance on both Saturday and Sunday.
I learned about the run/walk method from a couple of American ultra runners and then looked up some UK guys with information about that. This was a revelation to me as it started to make sense that it’s possible to run a lot further and that training will be so different to a half or full marathon where you just want to keep running and you believe that walking is a crime. So many people seem to think walking is failure and that’s just plain wrong.
Then we came to nutrition, I was already using gels and bars on some runs but I knew these would not be enough for a run of up to 13 hours, so I started experimenting with other carbohydrate and protein bars as well as sandwiches. I was working on running for three miles then walking quick for four to five minutes, eating when walking. I found that taking a bit in every three miles really helped in building up the miles, but I was underestimating the amount of hydration needed.
I was surprised how much weight I was losing on the longer runs of around 20 miles or more, I reckoned that I was taking in enough water and electrolytes and did not feel completely drained at the end the run but there was that slight thirsty feeling. After checking my weight before and after a run I realised that I needed to drink 500ml every half hour to stay properly hydrated, this was nearly twice as much as I had been doing, I was already using a hydration back-pack so at least I was part way to being sensible.
Off to the shop then to buy another two litre bladder, on the next long run I had plenty of water, four litres of the stuff, so plenty of liquid but also a heavy pack, can’t have everything though. It was obvious the benefit of drinking more, easier runs, not as tired and felt I could stay out longer, recovery was faster too. I tried to ensure that on the long runs I would need to stop and take a leak a few times, had to be properly hydrated if that’s happening.
As well as experimenting with nutrition on the run I also tried a number of different drinks to replace what’s lost in training, powdered stuff in various flavours as well as bottled sports drinks and later on very long runs a form of Dioralyte in sachets to mix in when refilling the back-pack. It’s good to know what you like and dismiss food or drink that makes you just feel like gagging, once you know what works you can just get on with running and training.
Training.
Setting out a training plan is great, it’s look reasonable on paper and you can see the real hard stuff is away in the distance. How many miles a week? How many days of running? Mix it up with road, trail, treadmill, then mix it again with hill and speed work, yep, it all looks a done deal and it pretty much is, right up until you start hitting the bigger mileage and you wonder how you can get the time to fit it all in.
The other problem about a plan is that, as you know, they sometimes turn into a great big steaming pile of crap. You get an injury, family problems, work sends you off on some exotic (no make that pony) business trip, the wife books a holiday in the hottest place on earth. Basically any number things will conspire to ruin the plan, but you just have to accept it and deal with it, you have to be flexible, prepared to get out before the world wakes up or out late at night in the pouring rain, fed-up and bloody cold. Grin and bear it, don’t be a loser.
Starting off in January doing around 25-35 miles a week, I was already fairly fit so it was not too bad, I edged up to 35-50 in February, running my first marathon distance on the 13th, no finish line to pass, no medal, just the happy feeling of having done it. By the end of February I had a 33 miler under my belt and was full of confidence, possibly progressing a bit too quickly though.
March was a more sedate month, easing back on the distance in the hope of not getting an injury and also fitting in a golf holiday. What did I do playing golf? Got a stupid injury that’s what. I could not believe it, but fortunately nothing serious, just a pulled muscle caused by getting my hips out of alignment by not doing any warm-up. My osteopath spotted that and corrected the problem and I was ok to run again within a couple of weeks, cross-trainer was ok though so a little rest from running but fitness not lost.
April was a good month, having got over the pulled muscle I managed to get up into the 40’s per week at the end of the month, the plan was not too far out so a bit of relief was felt, this ultra was becoming an all absorbing task and was pretty much on my mind constantly, but at least I could still sleep.
May was brilliant, managing four marathon-plus distances and feeling pretty good, really starting to feel strong on runs and recovering quickly, no after effects. Cycling was coming into the plan as I found that some rest days could be filled with non-running exercise but not too strenuous, one full rest day per week was fine. The food and drink situation was well sorted by now and I was trying to train in a consistent fashion no matter if it was road, trail or treadmill, use the same drinks and food.
June was similar to May, all going fine, I had entered a couple of trail runs on the North and South Downs, both of these were great training but for different reasons, as I made a complete balls up of the North. It’s like this, the plan was there, run/walk, take in plenty of liquids and eat as I was used to, what actually happened? The run was only 30km and I changed everything at the start, I went off too fast, ran too many hills, did not drink enough, kept up with stronger runners. I ignored the plan, bad news and I struggled massively at the end, even though I finished it in good time, mentally I blew it.
So why was this a great training run? It showed me the plan was right, and no matter what happens, stick to it. This was without doubt a most valuable lesson.
Luckily the week after was the South Downs trail marathon, which is actually about 28.5 miles and was a chance to redeem myself and get the strategy right again. The Sunday of the run was due to be the hottest day of the year, typical but nothing you can do, it turned out to be 90 in the shade, not exactly an advantage!
The run started in East Dean at 10am, heading up along Seven Sisters and towards Litlington, then West and North to Glynde which was half way. There were a few checkpoints, one being at half-way where a group of ladies were doing water, tea, biscuits, sandwiches and cakes, spent about 15-20 minutes there to refresh and fill up, after all, this was all about doing the miles while orienteering, and finishing easily, plus it was hotter than hell.
From there is was a few miles to Firle Beacon, then Alfriston, Folikington, Jevington and back to East Dean. Finishing very comfortably in about 6 hours 20minutes my confidence was back on a high. Due to the heat I got through about 12 litres of water on the run but was never thirsty, I reckon that drinking issue was truly nailed, The plan was working again and I was chuffed that I dealt with the heat, pinning a handkerchief to the back of the cap, Sahara style, kept the sun off the neck as well, essential.
Then we come into July, we are off to Florida for a two-week holiday. This has to be the first time I have ever thought a holiday was going to be a problem. It would get in the way of this all enveloping plan that has taken so much effort. Let’s not make this a big issue and cheese off the family, I mapped out the days for running on holiday so that I didn’t fall behind and that would not stop us doing what we wanted.
The idea was great, right up until I had done my first 6 miles of a pencilled in 12-14, it was like running in a Turkish bath, I mean 6am and it’s 85 degrees and 75% humidity already and it’s only going one way. I got a few decent runs in but nowhere near the amount of total miles I wanted, one 18 miler might as well have been 50, I was wasted, the worst that I have felt during any run ever. I could see no point in making myself ill so stuck to a few shorties after that. I could always catch up a bit when back home in a cooler and less humid England.
In the end my mind was made up by the fact that I tripped up on a raised paving slab, no falling over, just stumbled forward and then once I regained my balance I felt the strained muscle, groin or lower stomach, really pissed off but at least I could still walk! In the event it was not too bad, a weeks rest from running, no great damage and once again I could still do some light cross-training so at least happy with that.
Back home and I knew that I was approaching the meaty part of the mileage. I ended July well with a 70 mile week which had a 30 single run in it, I could still feel the strained muscle a bit but kept the fingers crossed it would not get any worse, it was more of a niggle now but it was still on my mind. By now I had a great variety of routes for set distances, generally not doing anything that would bring me within reach of home before at least three quarters of the distance being run.
Late July and early August were always going to be the hardest three weeks with 70 to 75 miles planned in each, two marathons a week, a couple of half day holidays to run treadmill marathons at the gym before work in London and then go in. Obviously this attracted a few comments and I heard them all, madness, ridiculous, lunacy, you must get so bored, but to me I just had no other way to get all the miles done, the gym has plenty of TV’s.
On the 6th August I got up early as usual for the first of that weekend’s runs but was thinking how easy it would be to just lay in bed instead as I had a 33 miler to do. Up at 4.30am, have some breakfast, back to bed for an hour, up again, kit and back-pack on and get running. On the road by 6am and using the run/walk technique I was still quite fresh when I hit the 30 mile mark so I thought it was worth trying the next barrier and doing a very small run Sunday. Not the plan but not enough of a deviation to matter.
It turned out to be a great day and a great run, 41 miles on the road in 7 hours and 22 minutes, the time was nothing special but more importantly I felt fine and could run the next day. This was without doubt the moment that confirmed to me that I was firmly going to finish the ultra and in the given time. Going through the 40 mile barrier for the first time was an amazing feeling and I just started to laugh, another stupid distance chalked off, 41 mostly country roads, just me with the trusty i-Pod and the Garmin flashing the numbers.
With all the longer runs done it was time to taper. After the bigger weeks this was really mentally tough and difficult to keep to. Three weeks with a 40, 30 and 20 mile total, I just felt lazy and imagined I was losing fitness, I thought surely this will ruin the race day.
I relied on talking to other runners that had been though this before, my mates Paul Hayward (Pickle) and Kevin Wotton, both quality marathon runners gave me the benefit of how they felt mentally when coming into a run and tapering, I realised that what I was going through, and the thoughts I was having were all pretty normal and others have been through it, they had finished their goals and so would I. Kick out those negatives and keep a positive attitude.
Another friend, Charlie Tipper, now a personal trainer in Dorset and who is an IronMan athlete, provided massive support throughout with comments on the training plan and listening to an update weekly or so, he is always positive. He helped get me though the issue of worrying about running for 12 – 13 hours to complete the ultra and kept me from doing too much too quickly. All these guys were there when the occasional boost from a morale dip was needed, or just to listen to how training was progressing and commenting on it, lucky for me.
My wife, Moira, was brilliant throughout the training, I could not have done all this without her and she really looked after me. I was using one or two lots of kit each day and fortunately she washed the stuff for me, I got used to rinsing them through after training runs though after she’d told me too! Feeding me with the foods that were essential if not a bit boring, without her the training and runs would have been very difficult. She also very kindly kept reminding me that I had lost the plot, but in it’s own way this spurred me on.